Nowak said that the best way for the government to tackle the rise of Reform UK was by delivering change.
The TUC General Secretary, Paul Nowak, has likened the policies of Reform UK to those being pushed by the far-right National Front of the 1970s, in what is the strongest condemnation yet a trade union boss has given of Nigel Farage’s party.
Speaking to Left Foot Forward, Nowak was asked if he agreed with the Prime Minister’s comments that Reform’s migrant policy was ‘racist’ and ‘immoral’.
Farage has proposed scrapping indefinite leave to remain, the main route by which migrants are able to settle in the UK and which is open to people who have worked and lived in the UK legally for five years. Depending on visa type, the applicant may also need to meet certain salary or financial requirements.
After securing ILR, a person can generally apply for British citizenship after 12 months.
Farage claimed his policy is aimed at stopping 800,000 people from becoming eligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) between 2026 and 2030.
The Reform UK leader’s plans would mean that that ILR settled status would be scrapped including for those currently residing in the UK. The plans would throw the lives of the estimated 430,000 people holding ILR into uncertainty, despite many having lived in the UK for decades. Farage has used disputed figures claiming that scrapping ILR would save more than £200bn.
Nowak told LFF: “I’m very clear, you can’t out-Farage Farage, but I think the PM was right to go on the front foot and call Reform out for what are racist bigoted policies.
“The attack on the indefinite leave to remain no matter how long you’ve lived here, no matter how long you’ve worked, or that you’ve raised your family here, the idea that you could be rounded up and deported its effectively the national front of the 1970s, it’s basically ‘send them home’ and it’ll cause so much division in our country.”
Nowak said that the best way for the government to tackle the rise of Reform UK was by delivering change.
“Why are most people voting for Reform, it’s not because they’re racist, it’s because people aren’t feeling that change, they’re not seeing it public services and they’re not feeling it in their pockets, so the government must deliver on its manifesto.”
He also hit back at the Daily Mail’s headline today which misrepresented the PM’s comments and said that Starmer was not saying Reform voters were all racists but that certain policies were.
He went on to add: ‘There are good union members who voted Reform, not because they’re racists or bigots but because they feel that mainstream politics hasn’t delivered for them and that’s the challenge for the PM, to prove his government can deliver for working class communities up and down the country.”
He slammed Farage for trying to claim he represents working people, especially as his voting record shows the opposite.
Nowak said: “People have to understand the difference between what Farage says and what he delivers in reality.
“So, he says he stands up for working people but then he votes against the employment rights bill, which would improve conditions for millions of workers, says he stands up for British industry but the cheeky sod was there with his save our steel sort of placards up in Scunthorpe and then he hangs on the coattails of Donald Trump and we know those tariffs are having a direct impact on jobs here in the UK.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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