Labour might have recognised Palestinian statehood and green-lighted a new Gatwick runway, but Nigel Farage has once again managed to steal the show. This morning the Reform UK leader held a London press conference in which he announced his plans to abolish indefinite leave to remain, make foreign nationals ineligible to claim benefits and introduce an English standards test – which would be retaken every five years. Crikey!
Reform has planned its headline domination well, with Farage and his head of policy Zia Yusuf taking aim at ex-prime minister Boris Johnson and the ‘Boriswave’ of immigration that came after Brexit. Ashfield MP Lee Anderson has also written in the Daily Express today that: ‘The Tories and Labour have turned Britain into a food bank for the world at the expense of our own people. Instead of supporting Brits, successive governments have instead spent billions supporting migrants.’ The former Conservative parliamentarian went on:
There are no better examples than the most recent ‘Boriswave’, where former prime minister Boris Johnson, despite his tough rhetoric on immigration, betrayed the electorate and welcomed record numbers of migrants into this country. This complete con of our system must end. Only Reform will address this head-on by slashing the welfare bill. The plan we have announced, which will save British taxpayers £230 billion, is just the beginning.
While Tory-bashing comes easily enough to Labour politicians, Farage’s immigration proposals are most certainly not in line with where Sir Keir Starmer’s army is on Britain’s borders. The PM has toughened his stance on the issue, but his policies have yet to bear fruit – with just three migrants deported under the ‘one in, one out’ deal with France. Even this agreement has left some lefty backbenchers frustrated – and today Croydon East MP Natasha Irons has backed a claim that the Reform plans are ‘racist’. On Twitter she reposted a statement by political columnist Andrew Fisher, that read:
Understand what this means. I work alongside a foreign national. We do the same job side by side for five years. We pay the same income tax and national insurance. We get made redundant. I can claim unemployment benefit. My former colleague cannot. This is racist.
Strong stuff. Labour’s London mayor Sadiq Khan has also condemned the announcement, fuming: ‘Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.’ And Home Office minister Mike Tapp has dismissed Farage as being ‘all anger, no answers’. Downing Street has been cautious in recent months about condemning the language used by Reform, not least given the polls have demonstrated how concerned Brits are about immigration. But will Farage’s hardline policies see a change of tack from the UK government? Watch this space…
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