Reform and Restore Britain are having a showdown over who can push the most extreme deportation and anti-immigration policies
Rupert Lowe, the ex-Reform MP who fell out with Nigel Farage, launched his own new hard-right party, Restore Britain, on Friday night.
Restore Britain started off as a movement, but on Friday, Lowe said it would become a national party.
At the launch, Lowe pledged a policy of mass deportations, saying that “millions will have to go”.
The party also says that having “A British passport doesn’t make you British”. Lowe also said his outfit will ban “foreigners” from voting and standing as candidates in elections.
In response to one user on X, Lowe said: “Restore Britain will not be putting forward any Bangladeshi candidates, I promise you that.”
Only British, Irish and qualifying Commonwealth citizens are eligible to vote in UK Parliamentary elections, so the policy suggests Restore Britain would try to disqualify people who have become British citizens through naturalisation from voting.
Since the launch, Lowe has clashed online with Reform’s by-election candidate, Matt Goodwin.
Goodwin criticised a pro-Restore account for mocking a photo of him posing with three men wearing turquoise turbans.
Goodwin responded: “British Sikhs have done more than most to take on the grooming gangs”.
“I do not like the blatant racism that surrounds pro-Restore accounts,” Goodwin added.
Critics have pointed out the irony of Goodwin’s comment, given that he himself has said UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British.
In a heated exchange with Charlie Downes, campaigns director at Restore Britain, Goodwin said: “You and many Restore people around you appear to be advocating blatant racism, calling to not just deport illegal migrants and foreign criminals (which is Reform policy) but throw out settled Brits who work hard, pay taxes, and play by the rules.”
Lowe responded by saying: “Goodwin – you are full of turquoise shit. Restore Britain’s position is clear.
“Illegals gone. Legals who refuse to work, can’t speak English, claim benefits, live in social housing, commit crime, hate our way of life. Gone.
“Reform’s deportation policy is piss-weak. Own it.”
Reform and Restore Britain are now having a showdown over who can push the most extreme deportation and anti-immigration policies.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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