Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of engaging in 'worse than racist' dog-whistle politics, as she revealed that members of her family had been subjected to racial abuse near their home in Birmingham in recent weeks.
Speaking at a Spectator fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday night, Mahmood said Farage had 'blown a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country' with policies that would reassess the immigration status of people granted indefinite leave to remain. She argued that while Farage could claim his policies were not technically racist, he knew they sent a clear signal to racists that the status of those who have made their homes in the UK might be revoked.
Mahmood described the abuse her family faced, saying they had been called 'fucking Paki' in areas of Birmingham she frequents. She admitted the incidents had caused her sleepless nights and made her second-guess whether she could return to some parts of the city. The home secretary also condemned the 'unite the kingdom' rally in London on 13 September, which drew between 110,000 and 150,000 people, as evidence of a growing far-right movement seeking to define Muslims and ethnic minorities out of Englishness and Britishness.
In her earlier speech to the Labour conference, Mahmood warned that division would grow if the party failed to control immigration. She called for a fight against 'ethno-nationalism' and urged Labour to champion a 'greater Britain, not a littler England'. Home Office sources disclosed that Mahmood is examining new restrictions to halt settlement claims from over a million people granted visas between 2021 and 2024, a period known as the 'Boriswave'.
