Nigel Farage warned of a threat to national security after a secret Afghan immigration scheme was revealed. Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK after a personal data leak of people in Afghanistan who supported British forces at an estimated cost of £7 billion.
Details emerged after a superinjunction, which is thought to be the longest lasting order of its kind and the first time the Government has sought such a restrictive measure against the media, was lifted today In a post on X, Reform UK leader Mr Farage said: “The Afghan scandal has broken.
“Extraordinary that a British government put a super injunction on all the British media that lasted over two years to cover up a story of incompetence, dishonesty and a threat to our own national security.
“An email missent published the names of 100,000 people in Afghanistan that were available to the Taliban.
“Many of them helped us during our 20-year war there, others were known to us for being frankly just bad people.
“Either way it was decided in 2023 to airlift many of them out of Afghanistan, a process that continues to this day.
“We decided that 25,000 of the 100,000 should come to the UK. Amongst the number that have come are convicted sex offenders and the total cost of the operation has been a staggering £7 billion.
“Of those that came, none of them were included in the immigration figures. There has been a total veil of secrecy put upon this by the last Conservative government and carried on until now by the current Labour government.
“The numbers are off the charts, the cost is beyond comprehension and the threat to women walking the streets of this country is incalculable.”
Mr Farage went on to hit out at both the Conservatives and Labour.
He added: “I can’t think of a better example of the total incompetence, dishonesty and genuine lack of understanding what the priorities of a British government are than this Afghan scandal.
“Labour are collapsing in the polls already but don’t let the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch or Chris Philp say isn’t this terrible, they caused it in the first place and for this they should never, ever be forgiven.”
The Ministry of Defence became aware of the breach in August 2023, and a superinjunction was made at the High Court the next month to reduce the risk of alerting the Taliban to the data.
Defence Secretary John Healey offered a “sincere apology on behalf of the British Government” today for the data breach.