A government minister has dismissed suggestions from Reform UK that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Labour) has incited violence against Nigel Farage as "offensive" and "ridiculous". Home Office minister Mike Tapp insisted any decision to reduce security for the Reform leader would come from an independent parliamentary authority, not the Home Office.
Reform's head of policy, Zia Yusuf, claimed on Wednesday that parliamentary authorities had reduced Farage's security protection "for inexplicable reasons". The party accused Labour of endangering politicians and activists by branding Reform's immigration policy racist.
Yusuf described Labour's conference attacks on Reform as the "most extraordinary 48 hours of demonisation and, I'm going to say it again, incitement to violence". At the Liverpool conference this week, Starmer and colleagues repeatedly criticised Reform's plans to scrap indefinite leave to remain for immigrants legally in the UK.
Security decisions
Tapp told Sky News the claims were baseless, stating: "There's no way on earth the Prime Minister, or myself, or any MP across the House - on all parties, by the way - that would want any harm to come to another Member of Parliament." He emphasised that an independent parliamentary security authority makes protection decisions, not government ministers.
The minister accused Reform of "trying to seed division with mistruths" by blaming the Home Office for security changes. In his conference speech, Starmer said Farage "doesn't like Britain" and accused him of resorting to "grievance", while predicting his immigration policy would "tear our country apart".
Starmer later stressed he did not believe Farage or his supporters were racist, providing important clarification after his strong criticism of the Reform leader's policies. This qualification came alongside his harsh assessment of Reform's immigration stance.
Public opinion and costs
A YouGov survey of 2,283 adults showed 47% of Britons consider Reform UK "generally racist", while 36% disagree. The poll found 46% believe the party's policies are racist, and 43% consider its voters racist.
Since Farage was told in early September that his round-the-clock government-funded protection would be slashed, Reform donors have stepped in to cover costs exceeding £1 million per year. All security for the Clacton MP is now privately funded after his team ruled that mixing private and public providers would be unworkable.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
