Leicester anti-racist protesters say Reform UK not welcome here

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Around 200 anti-racists protested outside the Reform UK conference in Leicester on Friday holding banners saying “Stop Reform UK” and “Refugees Welcome Here”.

Reform UK is holding a series of regional conferences against the backdrop of a vile Islamophobic campaign by Nigel Farage, Elon Musk, the Tories and assorted far right racists, centred on anti-asylum seeker propaganda and lies about ‘Muslim grooming gangs’.

Yet the UK, faced with labour shortages in a host of industries, has an intake of refugees that is below the European average. Meanwhile, the vast majority of sexual exploitation in the UK is carried out by white men.

Reform UK and Tories echo Tommy Robinson’s Islamophobic lies

The far right and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage are deliberately trying to whip up racial hatred and Islamophobia through false claims about a grooming gang ‘cover-up’, in an echo of the lies from imprisoned fascist Stephen Laxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson).

Farage links net migration to our deteriorating services and the cost of living crisis. He does this in order to scapegoat refugees for the decades of inequality and neglect.

The Reform UK leader told the overwhelmingly white, male and elderly audience: “The population explosion of ten million – more than ten million –over the past 20 years is the biggest contributor to our diminishing quality of life.” 

“We cannot get access to health care, our children and grandchildren cannot get onto the housing ladder, the traffic is impossible – nothing works anymore.”

In a foul racist post Tory Robert Jenrick claimed “appalling crimes… from predominantly British-Pakistani men were legalised and actively covered up to prevent disorder”.

In truth it was the anti-working class and sexist prejudices of the police that was to blame for allowing sexual exploitation to take place unchecked, irrespective of the race of perpetrators and victims.

Billionaire-funded Reform UK don’t care about ordinary people

Former public-school boy and commodity broker Farage and his billionaire backers try to pretend they are on the side of ordinary people.

But they don’t really care about old people freezing in the cold or the homeless on our streets. Instead, Reform UK is seeking to stoke division in order to carry through policies that are the same as the Tories.

Property tycoon Nick Candy is the latest billionaire to donate to Reform UK – he could restore the winter fuel allowance out of his own substantial resources.

Farage and his hedge fund supporters want to privatise our NHS and further erode even further our welfare safety net.

Reform UK is growing – it now claims to have more members than the Conservative Party. By coming together to callout their racism we can stop the growth of Reform UK.

Leicester Stand Up to Racism was out in force on Friday to get the message out that Reform UK doesn’t stand for ordinary people, and that we need to organise and vote to keep the racists out in upcoming local council and parliamentary by-elections.

Christine reports – Fantastic demo last night (Friday Jan 3rd), real sense of unity with trade union delegations from Unison, NEU, Unite, students from both Unis, pro-Palestine protestors, various other campaign groups accompanied with drummers from XR. 50 protestors joined Leicester Stand Up to Racism.

SUTR protesters reported racist and sexist abuse being directed at them by those attending the hate rally.

Oppose Tommy Robinson supporters on Saturday 1 February 2025:

stop tommy robinson supporters stop the far right 1st feb london

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