Nigel Farage is so rattled by Hope not Hate that he’s written a complaint to stop its work

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is so rattled by the work of anti-extremist campaign group Hope not Hate, which has exposed hundreds of the party’s candidates for sharing racist and far-right views, that he’s written to the Charity Commission in a bid to hamper its work.

Farage has written a letter to the Charity Commission complaining about Hope Unlimited Charitable Trust (HUCT) funding private company Hope Not Hate Limited’s “political activities”.

Under UK charity law, a charitable trust can fund political activities, but only if the activity is directly intended to support its charitable purpose and does not cross into party politics.

Farage has tried to claim that Hope not Hate is funded entirely by grants from HUCT, and accused Hope not Hate of sending leaflets to Makerfield homes endorsing Labour candidate Andy Burnham at next month’s by-election and rejecting his party Reform UK.

Clearly Reform are rattled. If only they bought such level of scrutiny to vetting their own party’s candidates many of whom have been exposed for expressing anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and racist views as well as making misogynistic comments.

Nick Lowles, Chief Executive of Hope Not Hate, called the complaint a transparent attempt to distract from ‘legitimate scrutiny of its candidate in Makerfield’. A recent investigation published by HOPE not Hate, revealed misogynistic and degrading comments Robert Kenyon made about women. 

Lowles added: “Reform may not like being scrutinised, but voters deserve to know who is asking for their support. “It’s a shame that Nigel Farage has not put as much effort into vetting his own candidates as he has done making spurious complaints to the charity commission.”