Reform UK Nigel Farage has been branded ‘farcical’ after ranting about Britain’s problems in an hour-long press conference but giving few details about how he’d solve them
Nigel Farage has been branded “farcical” after ranting about Britain’s problems but giving few details about how he’d solve them.
The Reform UK leader hosted a press conference in central London where he announced the police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire, Rupert Matthews, has defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK. It soon emerged Mr Matthews is a paranormal expert, who is an enthusiast for UFOs, aliens and the Loch Ness monster.
It comes after Nigel Farage unveiled an ex-Tory who made a racist remark on WhatsApp as its newest defector.
Labour savaged Mr Farage after the press conference, saying he only offers “anger, but no answers”. And the PM’s political spokesperson said: “Their big defection is very interesting in the fantastical and unexplained. It’s no surprise he’s added Reform’s fiscal plans to that list.”
During an hour-long event, the MP for Clacton slapped down any attempts by Labour to tackle the small boats crisis, as well as criticising its plans to reform the prison system and crack down on crime.
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Asked if he would bring in a digital ID system to tackle illegal immigration, which Keir Starmer is reportedly “seriously considering”, Mr Farage said: “I don’t support it. I don’t trust big government.” And he criticised the government for spending money on boosting border security, including a £100million cash injection which will go towards returning migrants to France.
But when challenged on how he’d deal with the small boats crisis, Mr Farage gave little detail other than that Reform will make clear that the European Convention on Human Rights is not fit for purpose and that the party would detain all arrivals in “military bases”.
He then declared that if Reform UK was in power the crisis would totally disappear within two weeks. “Believe me, we’re not going to have this problem,” he said. “Once people know that it’s not a free trip coming into the United Kingdom. They will stop coming, and they’ll stop coming within a fortnight.”
Elsewhere, Mr Farage continued his attacks on the UK’s Online Safety Act, including its child safety provisions, which came into force last month. Reform UK said it would scrap the Act, which orders tech companies to prevent children accessing harmful content, including suicidal material, extreme violence and pornography.
Mr Farage claimed the Act limits free speech but again failed to give any details on how he’d protect kids online. He merely said the UK should “debate the Online Safety Act publicly”.
Standing behind a ‘Britain is Lawless’ lectern, Mr Farage was challenged by a journalist about whether he was trying to make people afraid with “Project Fear”. It comes as Reform UK continues to centre its crime plans around alleged offences linked to foreign offenders.
Mr Farage insisted Brits live in fear, saying: “They are afraid. I dare you – I dare you to walk through the West End of London after nine o’clock of an evening wearing jewellery. You wouldn’t do it. You know that I’m right. You wouldn’t do it, and that’s just in London, let alone what’s happening in so many other parts of the country.”
During the press conference, Reform UK also hit out at prisoners being released after serving 40 or 50% of their sentence in jail. The Labour government is planning to reduce the minimum time spent behind bars for some inmates to a third of their sentence if they behaviour well.
But despite the fierce criticism, when asked if he wanted prisoners to spend 100% of their time behind bars, Mr Farage could not answer. “I think you’re asking us to put out an election manifesto,” he retorted. He said he was getting together a team of experts with “great experience” to figure out the details.
Among them included Mr Matthews, a former Tory MEP for the East Midlands. Reporting from 2011 by the Financial Times described Mr Matthews as an expert on the paranormal, who ran a course at an unaccredited West Virginia university about ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists, UFOs, aliens, sasquatches and the Loch Ness monster. And he has also written a number of books on paranormal activity.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Nigel Farage offers anger, but no answers. It’s farcical that Farage can’t say what his policies are, how much they would cost, or how they would even work. Reform aren’t serious and don’t have a clue as to how they would address the challenges facing working people.
“If Reform really wanted to crack down on crime, their MPs should have backed Labour’s tough new laws to introduce stronger sentences for grooming offenders, mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, and stricter penalties for antisocial behaviour. While Farage shouts from the sidelines, Labour is taking the tough action needed to make our streets safer.”
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