Lee Anderson has savaged one of his social media critics after the pair became embroiled in a tetchy spat on the subject of the strain he believes immigration is placed on the UK’s infrastructure.
The Reform MP for Ashfield was reacting to political commentator and academic Matt Goodwin, who told GB News’ Michelle Duberry the Government should release data which would illustrate the scale of the problem.
Mr Anderson, who quit the Tories for Reform last year, shared a clip of Mr Goodwin, commenting: “Matt is right. Publish the figures.”
His remark drew a swift rebuke on X from a poster calling themselves TallyCat8, who says she is a member of the Labour Party who “despises the far right”.
She said: “So instead of dog whistling on X why don’t you do what a normal MP would do and bring a Private Members Bill?”
Mr Anderson hit back: “And how would I do that when I wasn’t selected? Perhaps you should engage brain before you comment.”
Tally Cat replied: “For all those liking Lee’s little attempt at a put down. Why don’t YOU engage your brains and ask for details of when he put forward his Private Members Bill.”
Mr Anderson said: “You literally have no idea how it works do you? Let’s make this stupid proof. To get a Private Members Bill you have to be selected from a ballot.
“This year’s ballot was two months ago around 10 MPs were drawn out from 650 MPs.
“Even if an MP is lucky enough to be drawn out there is literally very little chance of their Bill becoming law. Please go and educate yourself.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Goodwin said: “What effectively is happening at the moment which its why I am outraged on behalf of the British people and taxpayers you see people like Keir Starmer blaming voters for misinformation and disinformation, while not making information available to them.
“Specifically about how things like mass immigration are impacting our country, impacting crime rates, imprisonment rates, repeat offending, welfare claims, tax credits, housing, accommodation.
“Many other countries in Europe, collect this data, and they make it available to taxpayers so they can see for themselves how this experiment is changing their country. Our government doesn’t do that.
“So what happens is, under both the Conservative and the Labour governments. Recently, if you want to know crime rates by nationality, immigration status, country of origin, if you want welfare claims, tax credits, housing, accommodation, etc, etc, they’ve got this information.
“But they’re not sharing it with people. So actually, I said publicly, we need to do something about this. The five Reform MPs sent a letter to Keir Starmer, and I think what is especially outrageous is he hasn’t even bothered to reply to their letter saying, why is this information is not being shared with the British people. I think is outrageous.”
In the House of Commons, Private Members’ Bills (PMBs) are proposed by MPs who are not part of the government, giving them a chance to introduce legislation on issues they wish to champion.
The selection process for MPs to submit PMBs begins with a ballot held at the start of each parliamentary session and MPs who wish to participate enter their names, and around 20 are randomly selected, with the first seven usually receiving the best opportunity to have their bills debated on the allocated Fridays.
MPs who are not successful in the ballot may still introduce PMBs through the “Ten Minute Rule” or “Presentation” procedures, but these methods are generally less likely to secure time for debate. The ballot system is crucial because, due to limited time, only a handful of PMBs have a realistic chance of passing into law each session.
