Farage accused of wanting to ‘take UK backwards’ – as Brexit blamed for small boats crisis

Published

2 months ago

August 27, 2025

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Nigel Farage will be accused of wanting to “take Britain backwards” by vowing to scrap trade agreements between the UK and EU, as the government seeks a permanent deal to cut checks on food and drink.

The Reform leader wants to ditch the prime minister’s Brexit reset package, unveiled earlier this year, which covers areas including fishing, defence, a youth experience scheme, and passport e-gates.

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It also includes a temporary deal to reduce the red tape on imports and exports of some fruit and veg, meaning no border checks or fees are paid – and the government wants to make it permanent when it expires in 2027.

The minister tasked by Sir Keir Starmer with improving UK-EU ties is Nick Thomas-Symonds, who will use a speech later today to say Mr Farage “wants Britain to fail”.

Writing in The Telegraph in May, the arch-Brexiteer said Labour’s deal takes the UK “back into the orbit of Brussels”, and vowed a Reform government “would undo all of this legislation”.

Speaking in central London, Mr Thomas-Symonds will say undoing it would slash “at least £9bn from the economy, bringing with it a risk to jobs and a risk of food prices going up”.

The Cabinet Office minister will accuse him of offering “easy answers, dividing communities and stoking anger”.

A Reform UK spokesperson has dismissed the incoming criticism, claiming “no one has done more damage to British businesses than this Labour government”, pointing to tax rises on firms and the unemployment rate.

Nick Thomas-Symonds is on Sky News Breakfast – watch live from 7.15am.

‘Farage’s Brexit caused the small boats’

The Labour minister’s criticism will come a day after Mr Farage revealed his controversial plans to stop small boat crossings, vowing any such arrivals – including women and children – would be detained and deported.

“If we do that, the boats will stop coming within days, because there will be no incentive to pay a trafficker to get into this country,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

Reform would repeal the Human Rights Act and leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), saying they have allowed foreign offenders to challenge their own deportations through the courts and remain in the UK.

Mr Farage said such treaties are “outdated”, and that the British public were in a state of either “despair” or “anger” about illegal immigration.

Labour dismissed the proposals as “unworkable”, while the Tories said he’d stolen their ideas.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey was more personal, suggesting Mr Farage himself was responsible for the massive rise in small boat crossings.

“The truth is, it was Farage’s Brexit that caused the small boats,” Sir Ed said. “Before Brexit, we could send back any illegal immigrants coming over in a small boat.”

Did Brexit make things harder?

Brexit ended UK participation in the so-called Dublin agreement which governs EU-wide asylum claims. It means people should be processed for asylum in the country at which they first entered the bloc.

Sky News previously revealed how former immigration minister Chris Philp, now shadow home secretary, admitted it made returning illegal immigrants harder.

But Britain’s membership of the EU did not stop all asylum arrivals. And many EU countries where people first arrive, including Italy, do not apply the Dublin rules.

Sir Ed said the government was now reduced to doing individual deals with countries to tackle the issue.

Labour are banking on a one in, out deal with the French, which will see the UK send asylum seekers to France in exchange for ones with links to the UK.

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David Lammy blames ‘human error’ for release of migrant sex offender – as confirms independent investigation

Published

3 hours ago

October 28, 2025

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David Lammy blames 'human error' for release of migrant sex offender - as confirms independent investigation

David Lammy has confirmed there will be an independent investigation into the accidental release of a migrant jailed for sex offences, as he blamed “human error” for the incident.

The deputy prime minister and justice secretary told MPs he was “livid” on behalf of Hadush Kebatu’s victims and he would be deported back to Ethiopia “as quickly as possible”.

Politics latest: Epping MP calls on Lammy to commit to closing the Bell Hotel

Kebatu, who was found guilty in September of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, was freed in error from HMP Chelmsford in Essex on Friday instead of being handed over to immigration officials for deportation.

His accidental release sparked widespread alarm and a manhunt that resulted in him being found and arrested by the Metropolitan Police in the Finsbury Park area of London at around 8.30am on Sunday.

The incident has sparked questions over how the man, whose crimes sparked protests in Epping over the use of asylum hotels, was able to be freed.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Lammy said the mistake should not have happened as he sought to lay part of the blame on to the Conservatives over the state of the prison system over the past 14 years.

He said “there must and there will be accountability” for the mistaken release of Kebatu from prison.

“I’ve been clear from the outset that a mistake of this nature is unacceptable,” he said.

“We must get to the bottom of what happened and take immediate action to try and prevent similar releases in error to protect the public from harm.”

Mr Lammy said he ordered an “urgent review” into the checks that take place when an offender is released from prison, and new safeguards have been added that amount to the “strongest release checks that have ever been in place”.

The justice secretary said the investigation would be led by former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, who also used to lead the National Crime Agency.

He also said the investigation would have the same status as high-profile probes into other prison incidents, including the attack on three prison officers at HMP Franklin in April of this year and the escape of Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth in 2023.

‘Calamity Lammy’

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick referred to a report by Sky News which detailed how a witness present at the prison observed Kebatu appearing “confused” upon his release.

The witness said Kebatu had in fact tried to go back into the prison several times, but was instead guided to Chelmsford station, where he caught a train to London.

Mr Jenrick claimed the case was proof “the only illegal migrants this government are stopping are those that actually want to leave the UK”.

“Dear oh dear,” he said. “Where to begin? This justice secretary could not deport the only small boat migrant who wanted – no – who tried to be deported.

“Having been mistakenly released, Hadush Kebatu came back to prison asking to be deported not once, not twice, but five times, but he was turned away.”

He went on: “The only illegal migrants this government are stopping are those that actually want to leave the UK.

“His officials, briefing the press, called it the mother of all – yeah, they’re not wrong, are they?”

Mr Jenrick, who served as immigration minister under the previous Conservative government, branded his opposite number “calamity Lammy”.

“It’s a national embarrassment and today the justice secretary feigns anger at what happened.”

Continuing with his attack, Mr Jenrick asked Mr Lammy whether he would resign if Kebatu was not deported “by the end of the week” – to which he received no reply.

But asked later by an MP whether he was considering his position, Mr Lammy replied: “A ridiculous question, the answer is no.”

The new checks announced by Mr Lammy on Monday involve five pages of instructions and require more senior prison staff to sign off a release, according to documents obtained by Sky News.

The instructions are effective from Monday.