Nigel Farage is expected to criticise Sir Keir Starmer for calling his immigration policy racist in a live broadcast immediately after the Prime Minister’s speech to the Labour party conference. Sir Keir and his ministers have ramped up their rhetoric against Mr Farage’s Reform UK party in recent days, focusing on the proposal to remove the right of some migrants legally living in Britain.
The Reform UK leader will hit back after Sir Keir’s speech, saying his comments have put his party’s candidates and activists at risk, and will declare him “wholly unfit to be prime minister”, according to The Times. A party official told the newspaper: “Labour have threatened the safety of Reform councillors and campaigners across the country.” Mr Farage will also reportedly accuse Labour of lacking “vision”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool, defended the Prime Minister’s comments. He cited an attack advert published by Reform UK earlier this year that claimed Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar prioritises people from Pakistan over those in Scotland. Mr Streeting told GB News: “I don’t have a window into Nigel’s soul, but I did see the leaflet that Reform put out in a by-election in Scotland… I thought that was a racist leaflet. I really did, and it went out in Reform’s name. And if Nigel Farage doesn’t agree with that, why did he let it go out? And if he did agree with that, well, what does that make him?”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said voters “can support the Reform party and not be racist”, but insisted the immigration policy was racist. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Reform’s plans, which include abolishing indefinite leave to remain, are “immoral” and “extreme”, and that Mr Farage has “blown a very loud dog whistle” by proposing a policy that is “worse than racist”.
Labour backbencher Nadia Whittome said Sir Keir was right to call Reform’s plans racist, but criticised Labour’s own plans to increase requirements for staying in the UK. She posted on X: “Migrants shouldn’t have to do a Duke of Edinburgh award to be able to stay in the UK.” Mr Farage is expected to respond by saying: “Starmer is right – this is a fork in the road. Either we stick with a human rights lawyer happy to bow down to outdated international treaties and questionable foreign courts, rendering us incapable of maintaining our borders… or we opt for a genuinely patriotic party that will put the interests of the British people first at all times.”
