Immigration Farage policy a 'clear signal to racists', says Mahmood

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has accused Nigel Farage of being “worse than racist” for using dog whistle politics as she described how members of her own family have been racially abused in recent weeks.

- Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

After a speech calling on Labour and the UK to “fight for our belief in a greater Britain, not a littler England”, she said the Reform leader has “blown a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country” with policies that would reassess the immigration status of people granted a right to settle in the UK.

At a Spectator fringe meeting in Liverpool last night, Mahmood was asked if she agreed with Keir Starmer’s assessment that Nigel Farage’s policy was racist. She said: “I think Nigel Farage is playing the trick that I think he tries to play very regularly, which is he will say something that, technically he can say is not racist, but what he really knows is he’s blown a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country.