Nigel Farage has dismissed claims his party practices policies of “racism and division” at Reform UK’s conference in Leicester. Protestors had gathered outside the venue to voice opposition to the party, but Mr Farage has insisted Reform UK is having an “honest conversation” about topics others do not wish to address.
The East Midlands conference, held this evening (Friday, January 3) at Leicester’s Athena Events Venue in Queen Street, saw key figures party figures include Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and Dame Andrea Jenkyns speak to an assembled crowd in the wake of last year’s general election which saw the party gain five MPs. Protests outside the Athena were held by groups including Leicester Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), who claim Mr Farage practised the politics of “racism and division”.
Jackie Lewis, chair of SUTR, criticised Reform for “attempting to blame all of the UK’s problems on immigration and small boats” when instead it should be focusing on correcting the “underfunding” of local authorities and tackling the shortage in public housing. However, Mr Farage has dismissed those claims.
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Speaking to LeicestershireLive, Mr Farage, who is MP for Clacton, said Reform’s immigration policies would tackle a “population crisis” and that “the blame isn’t on those that have chosen to come”. Instead, he said the blame is on “governments that have allowed it to happen”.
He also hit back at claims the party promoted racism, saying protestors were “looking in the wrong place”.
Leicestershire Police officers were stood in-between protestors and the venue’s entrance
(Image: Leicester Mercury)
Ms Lewis said she and fellow protesters were against the policies of Reform. She said: “We do not need and want the politics of racism and division in our multicultural city. We are very proud of Leicester’s history of multiculturalism. We are talking about a really mixed and diverse community.
“A number of them were asylum seekers at some point in history [and] they have made Leicester what it is today. His party is attempting to blame all of the UK’s problems on immigration and small boats and quite frankly we have to look back further than that.”
She claimed underfunding from the previous Conservative government had played a big part in current problems facing the country and that Mr Farage was seen as an alternative, but one she did not feel would deliver. “The politics Farage and the politics that Reform is offering are not going to offer a solution to the underfunding in this city,” she said.
However, the Reform UK leader dismissed notions of racism within his party’s immigration policies and said that Reform believed “everybody should be treated equally regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, religion”. He said: “The population has risen by over 10 million in 20 years directly down to legal immigration policies.
“We have made some terrible, terrible mistakes and everyone is suffering because of it. We are living through a population crisis that is affecting health, housing, traffic, infrastructure, school access, you name it.
“The blame isn’t on those that have chosen to come, the blame is on governments that have allowed it to happen at a level that is frankly unsustainable and that we can’t afford. That’s just an honest conversation that no one else is prepared to have and there is no race element to that at all. The population crisis is one of the many very real problems that we face.”
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However, Ms Lewis believed that Mr Farage did not believe in multiculturalism in the UK and Leicester. She said: “Leicester is evidence that multiculturalism works and I think Farage doesn’t want that vision of the UK. They are our strength, they are not our weakness. If you walk into the NHS, our council, you can see it with your eyes, if you walk into the shops you can see it.”
He contested that view and laid clear his view on multiculturalism. “If multiculturalism means division then we are against it, if it means segmented, separate communities we are dead against it. That we think is a disaster, a recipe for disaster,” he said.
“We actually believe that everybody should be treated equally regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, religion. We very much take the approach that the segmenting up of everybody under identity politics is a mistake and not a way for a unified country.”
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