Nigel Farage and Robert Peston conflict over remarks on Muslims

Nigel Farage has defended comments claiming young Muslims ‘do not subscribe to British values’, claiming that they think they are ‘othering’ other people living in the UK.

The former UKIP leader turned president of Reform UK denied that he was trying to ‘alienate’ Muslim communities across Britain in a clash with Robert Peston on Wednesday night.

Instead, Mr Farage, 60, claimed Muslims viewed different parts of their community as ‘other’, adding: ‘That’s the problem.’

Last Sunday the veteran general election candidate was accused of Islamophobia after claiming on Sky News ‘a growing number of young people in this country… do not subscribe to British values’ – later clarifying that he was referring to Muslims.

He was criticised across the political spectrum: Tory minister Steve Baker called his comments ‘ignorant and offensive’ while Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth labelled them ‘outright Islamophobia’.

Asked about Sunday’s comments on Peston last night, Mr Farage doubled down again and claimed Muslims were trying to ‘change our way of life’ – before adding that the ‘most worried people’ were Muslims themselves.

Mr Peston suggested during the clash: ‘What we should be doing is building bridges between communities, not alienating them.’

‘So ignoring it – brush it under the carpet,’ Mr Farage replied.

‘No no, I’m not saying brush under the carpet,’ Mr Peston fired back, ‘but what people feel when you characterise a group of people in that way is you are broadly saying they are “other” and that is not helpful.’

Mr Farage said: ‘No they think we’re “other”, that’s the problem, that’s the problem. I don’t think we’ve ever had before a group of people who think we should change our way of life to adapt to what they think.

‘And I’ll tell you who the most worried people are – the most worried people are British Muslims, working, bringing up their kids, paying their taxes.

‘They are the ones that are even more worried about this than I am.’

Asked for the evidence of this happening in Muslim communities, Mr Farage pointed to voting in Burnley, Bradford and Leeds in May’s local elections.

In Burnley, a number of Labour councillors were re-elected as independents after quitting their local party last year in protest at the party’s then-refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Bradford, meanwhile, saw a number of independent councillors elected, unseating several Labour incumbents as the party wrangles with its stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, per the Telegraph and Argus.

And in Leeds, Green Party councillor Mothin Ali apologised after using his victory speech in the local elections to say his election was a ‘win for the people of Gaza’. He had also shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is the greatest’ – after winning. 

Mr Farage said: ‘Look at the local elections. Did you not see what happened in Burnley, in Bradford, in Leeds? Did you not see sectarian politics entering into politics in this country?’

The ex-MEP, who has failed to be elected in general elections seven times, previously defended his comments on Good Morning Britain.

He claimed polling by JL Partners, commissioned by the Henry Jackson Society, backed up his claim. 

It claimed just one in four British Muslims believed Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7 – but its polling methods have been questioned.

‘It showed that 23% of 18 to 24-year-old of young Muslims living in Britain think that jihad is a good thing,’ Mr Farage said.

‘Now that of course is not a British value in any way at all and its a very disturbing trend that’s particularly prevalent among the young.’

GMB’s Richard Madeley fired back that polling carried out in 2018 by IPSOS Mori found 85 per cent of British Muslims felt they truly belong to Britain.

The presenter told Mr Farage: ‘The poll that you just quoted from has been very heavily criticised as self-selecting – people were basically drawn in through a series of clicks and by the time they were asked to register their opinion they had already made their minds up.

‘You also said in the interview that you could take someone to a particular street in Oldham and there would be nobody there who speaks English.

‘Well again that’s just not true – the Office of National Statistics say that only 0.7% of people in Oldham don’t speak English – that’s less than one in a hundred.’

Mr Farage said it was possible to ‘argue about numbers and statistics’ but it was ‘undoubtedly true’ that there is an increasing number of young people in Britain who ‘don’t only not subscribe to our values – they openly support Hamas’.

Farage had said on Sky News in a clash with presenter Trevor Phillips that a ‘growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values. In fact, loathe much of what we stand for.’

Challenged over who he was referring to, Mr Farage replied: ‘Oh, I think we see them on the streets of London every Saturday.’

Pressed on whether he was referring to Muslims, he added: ‘We are.’

His comments on Sky News were raised by Angela Rayner as she met with members of the Muslim community in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne later on Sunday.

She accused him of ‘stirring up division’, a stance echoed by Tories including minister Steve Baker.

He hit back at her in a speech in Dover, claiming she was ‘begging, begging a group of Muslim leaders to please vote Labour, you will have noticed not a single (other) woman in the room’.

Polling suggests Reform is on track to be the third-favourite party among voters – and could unseat some Tories in constituencies where voters are unhappy with the Conservatives.

Nevertheless, Rishi Sunak yesterday ruled out an electoral pact with Reform UK after Mr Farage suggested that he could stand down candidates to boost Tory fortunes.

The Prime Minister said ‘yes’ when asked if he was ruling out striking a deal with Reform after Mr Farage said he had been open to ‘a conversation’.