Nigel Farage has said Sir Keir Starmer’s branding of Reform UK plans as racist “will incite and encourage the radical left” and “directly threatens the safety” of his party’s campaigners.
The Reform UK leader said the Prime Minister should feel “ashamed” for his comments, which he called an “absolute disgrace” in the wake of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Sir Keir and his ministers have ramped up their comments against Mr Farage’s Reform UK party in recent days and particularly honed in on the recently-announced proposal to remove the right of some migrants legally living in Britain.
In his speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir said a person who argues that “people who have lived here for generations” should now be deported is “an enemy of national renewal”.
The Prime Minister said: “This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride – that’s racism.
“And, conference, you say or imply that people cannot be English or British because of the colour of their skin, that mixed-heritage families owe you an explanation, that people who have lived here for generations, raised their children here, built lives here – working in our schools, our hospitals, running businesses – our neighbours, if you say they should now be deported, then mark my words, we will fight you with everything we have because you are an enemy of national renewal.”
In a live broadcast responding to Sir Keir’s speech, Mr Farage said that by labelling his party’s policies as racist, “by implication, Reform supporters, Reform voters, Reform sympathisers are racist too”.
He said: “To accuse countless millions of being racist is a very, very low blow.
“Why? Well, this language will incite and encourage the radical left. I’m thinking of Antifa and other organisations like that.
“It directly threatens the safety of our elected officials and our campaigners.
“And, frankly, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk murder, I think this is an absolute disgrace.”
He continued: “This is a desperate last throw of the dice from a Prime Minister who’s in deep trouble, a Prime Minister who can’t even command the support of half of his own party. But, I’m sorry to say, I now believe that he is unfit to be the Prime Minister of our country.”
