Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has demanded a “halt” on immigration due to the “cultural damage” and “broken communities”. Speaking to the Daily Express at a VE Day lunch, the Clacton MP said many of the “millions of people” that have entered the UK over the past two decades “do not share our values”, which is “devaluing” Britain.
His comments follow record Channel migrant crossings this year so far, with more than 11,500 people having arrived in the UK after making the journey. Mr Farage said: “We have to call a halt. A 10 million rise in the last 20 years has devalued the quality of life for everybody, damaged us culturally, broken up our communities, broken up our sense of patriotism, and belief. And you know what? Not everything is about big business employers.” The Reform UK leader added claimed the UK has “nothing in common” with the “millions of people that we’ve allowed” into Britain.
“Many of those that have come in the last 20 years do not share our values,” he continued. “And so in a sense, we become a little bit less British every day. And I do view that as being a problem.”
The values that the Reform UK leader referenced include “duty, family, community and country” – values which he said he shares with the World War II veterans that he hosted on VE Day.
Mr Farage explained that many of the war heroes “gravitate towards me in political terms because I believe in their values,” adding that there is a concern that these principles are fading.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the real cost of migrant hotels and accommodation will cost £15billion over 10 years, according to the National Audit Office.
This is equivalent to British taxpayers paying £4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the 10-year contracts.
The figure is nearly triple what the Home Office had previously predicted, claiming that asylum accommodation contracts would cost £4.5billion between 2019 and 2029.
But they are now set to cost a staggering £15.3billion, the watchdog report said.
It added that the number of people seeking asylum housed in Home Office accommodation rose by 134% between December 2019 and 2024, from 47,000 to 110,000.