Has Farage Turned This Into The 'Immigration Election'?

Nigel Farage has called for an "immigration election" after becoming leader of Reform UK and deciding to stand as the party's candidate in Clacton. The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader proposed that net migration, which stood at 685,000 last year, be reduced to zero.

- ANDREW GRICE

He said Reform would "freeze nonessential migration" to "reverse long-standing wage depression and save Britain’s public services from the burden of unlimited demand”.

His unexpected intervention in the election will put the Conservatives’ record on immigration under the spotlight, and could make it harder for them to put Labour under pressure on the issue.

Will immigration now dominate the campaign?

Farage’s prominent role, and his ability to grab media attention, will probably propel the issue higher up the agenda. Some Labour figures fear, as Peter (now Lord) Mandelson put it, that Farage could “skew the debate” towards his agenda and “syphon off some of the oxygen” from Labour’s campaign. But the issue is likely to be less salient than it was in 2019, when Boris Johnson pledged to “take back control” of Britain’s borders after Brexit.