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 and particularly honed in on the recently announced proposal to remove the right of some migrants legally living in Britain.
The Prime Minister said he thought the policy was “racist” and “immoral” in comments to the BBC on Sunday.
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”, The Times has reported.
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”.
He is expected to say: “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“Either we stick with a human rights lawyer happy to bow down to outdated international treaties and questionable foreign courts, rendering us incapable of maintaining our borders… or we opt for a genuinely patriotic party that will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.”
Wes Streeting is among the Cabinet ministers who have echoed Sir Keir’s tougher tone during Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool.
On Tuesday, the Health Secretary raised the issue of 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.
Asked on Tuesday if he believed Clacton MP Mr Farage or his policies are racist, 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 that basically said that Anas Sarwar would prioritise the interests of the Pakistani community, and Pakistanis living in the country.
“And why was that? Well, because, as well as being a proud Scot, Anas is also of proud Pakistani heritage.
“And 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?”
During the by-election campaign, Reform also highlighted a speech by the Labour MSP where he urged more people from a south Asian background to enter politics.
Mr Streeting said: “I honestly just thought it was basically saying ‘He’s not one of us. He’s going to stand up for them, not for you’. And I just, I thought we’d left that kind of politics behind in our country.
“I want this to be a country where people can express their concerns and can speak up and can exercise free speech.
“I don’t think that people, for example, who are concerned about the security of our borders, so small boats or levels of legal, let alone illegal, migration in our country are racist.
“I don’t think that at all. But we do have racism in our country and where we see it, we’ve got to call it out. I don’t want to turn the clock back.”
It follows concerns among some in Labour that the Government has not been passionate enough in its fightback against the insurgent party.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves then said voters “can support the Reform party and not be racist”, but insisted that the immigration policy was racist and said she was not sure many people actually supported it.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Reform’s plans, which include abolishing indefinite leave to remain, are “immoral” and “extreme”.
She said Mr Farage has “blown a very loud dog whistle” by proposing an immigration policy that is “worse than racist”.
Labour backbencher Nadia Whittome said Sir Keir was right to call Reform’s plans to scrap indefinite leave to remain racist.
But the Nottingham East MP criticised Labour’s own plans to increase requirements for anyone wanting to stay in the UK, by adding a need to show a “wider contribution” to community.
She posted on X: “The PM was right to call Reform’s plans to scrap Indefinite Leave to Remain racist.
“But if we force migrants to meet standards far beyond those who were born here, that is discriminatory too. Migrants shouldn’t have to do a Duke of Edinburgh award to be able to stay in the UK.”
