Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin has sparked a furious migration row after making a jibe at France for its World War Two surrender.
Ms Pochin, the MP for Runcorn & Helsby, took aim at France after Paris rejected Reform UK’s bid to use the Royal Navy to return migrants across the Channel.
Directly responding to France’s rejection of Reform UK’s so-called “Operation Fortress” plan, Ms Pochin said: “Pity the French did not show the same resolve in defending their sovereignty in June 1940.”
France surrendered to German troops in June 1940 after more than 330,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk.
Around 92,000 French servicemen were killed during the Battle of France, with German fatalities standing at just 27,000.
Ms Pochin’s remarks sparked a furious backlash from Reform UK’s rivals, including ex-No10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell.
Lord Barwell said: “Nearly 100,000 Frenchmen died defending their country in 1940.
“But you wouldn’t know that because you are the apotheosis of the politics of ignorance.”
Labour MP Sam Rushworth added: “This is a disgusting comment that betrays our allies – the brave French resistance fighters who gave their lives, including facilitating the British retreat at Dunkirk.
“Comments like this show why Reform is completely unfit to govern.”
Nigel Farage unveiled Reform UK’s “Operation Fortress” plan on Monday, with Zia Yusuf setting out how the Royal Navy could be used to intercept and return illegal migrants to France.
Mr Farage compared the plan to how Australia used its military to tow migrant boats back to Indonesia.
However, a spokesman from the French interior ministry said: “This would be a violation of French sovereignty as well as a violation of maritime law and international law.
“Separately, as part of the measures put in place with the UK and the arrangements deployed at the local level, the interior ministry states that the number of crossings is down in 2026.’
In response, a Reform spokesman said: “We will always stand up for British interests and protect our people, whether Emmanuel Macron likes it or not.
“Humanitarian missions do not violate maritime or international law.”
Labour peer harassed by Tory candidate says he should not be in public life
A Labour peer has said a blogger who previously harassed her should not “have any role in public life” after he was selected by the Conservatives to stand in a council election.
Baroness Luciana Berger criticised the decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine to fight the Crewkerne South division of Somerset next May.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch previously defended her party’s decision, saying the candidate was “spending every day working to solve the very problem which he knew that he had caused previously”.
Mr Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016, after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment against Lady Berger, who is Jewish.
He wrote several blog posts about the peer, who was the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, in which he described her as “an evil money-grabber” with a “deep-rooted hatred of men”.
In one post, he claimed the number of Jewish Labour MPs was a “problem”.
He was previously jailed for producing an advert illustrated with a picture of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz which promised “an absolute gas” at a rally in Golders Green, north London.
Mr Bonehill-Paine said earlier on Tuesday he had “no excuses” for his past offending and added he has since dedicated himself to “challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face”.
Writing on X, Lady Berger said she was six months pregnant when she gave evidence in Mr Bonehill-Paine’s trial at the Old Bailey.
She wrote: “It was two days of hell.”
Burnham bounce over? PM’s lead over Reform crumbles as Nigel Farage receives major boost
Reform UK has edged back ahead of Labour in the latest YouGov poll, suggesting the boost Labour received after Andy Burnham became Prime Minister may already be wearing off.
Last week’s survey had shown Nigel Farage’s party slipping to second place for the first time in 16 months. That shift was widely put down to a wave of goodwill following the change of Labour leadership.
The new poll tells a different story. Reform now sits on 23 per cent, a one-point rise on the previous week. Labour is unchanged on 22 per cent, leaving Reform back in front.
The Conservatives remain in third on 19 per cent. The Greens are on 13 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats close behind on 12 per cent.
Restore is on four per cent. The SNP stands at three per cent, while Plaid Cymru and other parties each register one per cent.
‘Pathetic!’ Zia Yusuf fumes as ‘one-in, one-out deal exposed in new Home Office data
Zia Yusuf has blasted Labour after the Home Office released its latest “one-in, one-out” deal data.
He said: “These numbers are pathetic. We’ve taken in 30 more migrants than we’ve sent to France under this scheme.
“Meanwhile, 2,000 illegal migrants have arrived on our shores in Burnham’s first two weeks, and more than 200,000 have been welcomed in by Tory and Labour governments since 2018.
“Instead of continuing to send France billions of pounds of taxpayer cash, we must eliminate the pull factors by starting a programme of mass deportations and deploying the Royal Navy to intercept migrant boats in the Channel. Anything less is a complete capitulation.”
Nigel Farage rips into Andy Burnham as PM allows early release of PC Harper’s killers
Nigel Farage has criticised Andy Burnham after it was revealed two men involved in the 2019 killing of police officer Andrew Harper are still likely to be up for early release.
PC Harper died in Berkshire in 2019 after being dragged along the road by three teenage quad bike thieves.
Some 6,000 offenders were set to be let loose on Britain’s streets in September, including the two men involved in the 2019 attack, after serving a third of their sentence, rather than half, in a bid to ease prison overcrowding.
The Sentencing Act was amended in January, with eligibility for early release based on the length of an offender’s fixed sentence, rather than the type of offence.
In a video uploaded to social media, the Reform UK leader claimed Britain is “learning a lot about Andy Burnham already”.
He said: “Burnham said it would be awful if PC Harper’s killers were released early. He said it because that’s what the public wanted to hear. But today we learn that yes, the killers of PC Harper will be released early.
“He tells people what he thinks they want to hear, but he will not actually deliver.”
Mr Farage also pointed to the Conservatives’ record, saying the party “failed us all.”
The Reform UK leader told his 2.3million followers on X that Reform UK would deport foreign criminals and build Nightingale prisons to solve the problem of overcrowding in British prisons.
Illegal migrants spotted running off into Essex countryside after sneaking into lorry from Spain
Four suspected illegal migrants have been spotted running off into the Essex countryside after hiding in a lorry which was understood to have travelled from Portugal.
Horrified onlookers recorded video footage appearing to show the quartet cut a hole through the soft top of the lorry.
The incident took place in a layby off the A414 near Maldon in Essex at around 3pm on August 3.
Officers from Essex Police descended on the layby shortly after a video of the incident went viral on social media.
Migrant dinghy fire incident in English Channel proves Operation Fortress plan is legal, says Reform UK
Reform UK has said that today’s migrant dinghy fire incident in the English Channel proves that the party’s Operation Fortress plan is workable.
A spokesman for the party said: “This incident proves that Reform UK’s Operation Fortress plan is workable and that British vessels are able to take Channel migrants back to France without violating maritime or international law as part of a humanitarian mission.
“It also confirms that these crossings on overcrowded, dangerous dinghies are a humanitarian disaster waiting to happen and must be stopped immediately.”
Labour being ‘dragged kicking and screaming’ into protecting women’s-only spaces, says Suella Braverman
Suella Braverman has denounced the Labour government for being ‘dragged kicking and screaming’ into protecting women’s-only spaces
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Reform UK’s Suella Braverman has criticised the delay in the EHRC’s Code of Practice coming into force, denouncing the Labour government for being “dragged kicking and screaming” into protecting women’s-only spaces.
Reform UK’s Shadow Education & Equalities Secretary Mrs Braverman MP said: “It’s unacceptable that this code is coming into force more than a year after the Supreme Court’s unambiguous ruling that women are women and men are men.
“The government has been dragged kicking and screaming into adopting simple common sense and protecting women’s-only spaces.
“The government and EHRC now have no excuse in not enforcing and upholding the law.
“That means getting tough with civil servants and public sector bodies who continue to buy into nonsensical woke definitions of gender and threaten the rights and privacy of British women and girls.”
Liberal Democrats demands Andy Burnham ‘step up’ after ‘insult’ to Andrew Harper’s family
The Liberal Democrats demanded that Andy Burnham “step up” and act to exempt two of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers from early prison release, describing their eligibility as an “insult to the family and loved ones” of the deceased officer.
The party’s justice spokeswoman Jess Brown-Fuller said: “It is an insult to the family and loved ones of Andrew Harper that his killers are still eligible for early release after committing such a heinous crime.
“Ministers repeatedly assured Parliament that the most serious offenders would be exempt from these measures and it is clear that is simply not the case.
“The Prime Minister must step up and correct the mistakes made by his predecessors over this appalling case.
“The Liberal Democrats would bring forward emergency legislation to ensure that these cop killers are exempt from early release.”
Andy Burnham admits he ‘pushed early prison release to the limits’ as PM reveals three-point plan to ‘fix prison crisis once and for all’
Andy Burnham has admitted he “pushed the early prison release scheme to the limits” as the Prime Minister revealed a three-point plan to “fix the prison crisis once and for all”.
The Labour leader admitted that he had hoped he could “go even further” in the face of the ongoing crisis engulfing prisons across England and Wales.
He said: “I know there will be concerns about who will still be released early for other offences. I have pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do.
“I know I can look people in the eye and say to them there is nothing more I could have asked for without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing within months.”
The Prime Minister said “such an outcome would expose the public to enormous risk”, inhibiting the police and courts, leaving Britain’s entire justice system to “grind to a halt”.
As a result, he announced a new package of support for victims who “must be placed at the heart of the justice system”.
“This will be backed by £10 million in new funding to provide trauma-informed contacts for victims, alongside a new national helpline,” he added.
The Prime Minister also set out a three-point plan to overcome the ongoing prison crisis.
Kemi Badenoch refuses to criticise Andy Burnham over holiday
Kemi Badenoch said she will not criticise the Prime Minister for taking a holiday just over two weeks into his premiership, while he was branded “part-time Burnham” by Reform UK.
Andy Burnham, who took office on July 20, will be taking a break from his day-to-day duties to spend time with his family.
He will remain in direct contact with officials and continue holding meetings during the overseas break, with allies insisting the Government will continue functioning normally during his absence from Downing Street.
Mr Burnham’s holiday comes after his campaign to win the Makerfield by-election in June led to a rapid rise to replace Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street.
Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch said “everybody should be taking a break” while children are off school.
She told reporters: “I’m not going to criticise a politician for taking a holiday. I’m not going to criticise Andy Burnham for that.
“It’s children’s school holidays, my children are on a holiday, I hope that everybody should be taking a break. What I will criticise Andy Burnham for is not coming to Parliament after becoming Prime Minister.
“He should have done that and allowed himself to face questions from MPs. That’s what we’re elected to do. We are the elected representatives of the people. Andy Burnham was running away from Parliament. He can’t run away forever.
“I’m not going to be giving him a holiday when we come back in September.”
Kemi Badenoch suggests rent prison spaces from abroad
Kemi Badenoch said her party would rent cells abroad
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Kemi Badenoch said her party would rent cells abroad, build more prison places, and deport foreign offenders to ease overcrowding.
She told broadcasters: “We do need to solve the problem of prison overcrowding.
“We said we were going to build prisons in the Conservative manifesto, Covid derailed that programme.
“We still need to build prisons. We need to remove foreign criminals, and we should do what Conservatives had planned to do two years ago, which Labour stopped, which is rent prison spaces from other countries. Sweden does it. The UK can do it too.”
Asked how much that would cost, she said: “You cannot put a price on keeping the citizens of this country feeling safe and secure.”
Andy Burnham told to raid Britons for £12billion more in taxes
Lord Kinnock has urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to align capital gains tax with income tax rates ahead of Labour’s first Budget on October 28, arguing the move could raise an additional £12billion a year.
The former Labour leader, whom Mr Burnham described as one of his key mentors last month, said increasing capital gains tax (CGT) would provide a significant boost to the public finances.
Speaking to The i Paper, Lord Kinnock said: “I’m sure that the Government understands the utility and the encouragement which the further £12billion revenues that such a fair change in CGT would bring.”
The intervention comes as Chancellor John Healey is widely expected to announce tax increases in the Budget, with Mr Burnham previously acknowledging Labour would likely have to ask the public “for a little more”.
Nigel Farage vows to ‘save lives’ with plan to tackle small boat crisis
Nigel Farage has claimed Reform UK’s ‘Operation Fortress‘ will “save lives” after a mega-dinghy carrying dozens of illegal migrants caught fire while making the illegal journey across the Channel.
A major air and sea rescue took place in the English Channel this morning after the dinghy sank, tipping almost 160 illegal immigrants into the sea.
Mr Farage said: “We must put a stop to this. Our plan will save lives.”
Yesterday, the party chief, alongside Zia Yusuf, outlined what their team dubbed “Operation Fortress“.
‘This is as far as we can go’, claims Alex Norris as he defends Labour’s controversial release scheme
Justice Secretary Alex Norris has said that the upcoming changes to prison sentences as part of a push to protect the public from dangerous criminals were “as far as we can go”.
Speaking to GB News following a phone call with PC Andrew Harper’s widow, he said: “It suffices to say that she was very clear about her disappointment with the decision that has been taken, her anger, and her sense of feeling let down.
“We have to remember why we’re where we are. When we came to government, we were in a situation where we were days away from prison places running out.
“That means nobody getting arrested. That means people being bailed back home even after serious offences.
“We are building lots of prison places, 14,000 over the next few years, but we’ve made important changes through the Sentencing Act to make sure we don’t run out of prison places without these changes.
“We run out of prison places in October or November of this year. Now we have a new justice secretary. Andy Burnham, as the new Prime Minister, has heard the concerns about some of the people possibly involved in this, so we have paused it, and we’ve looked again.
“This is as far as we can go and still have prison places. And I know that’s very disappointing and upsetting to victims and their families, but it’s the best we could manage at this time.”
‘It is astounding. It is disgraceful. It’s disgusting!’ Matt Vickers takes aim at ‘entirely unacceptable’ prisoner release scheme
Matt Vickers has criticised Labour’s early release scheme
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Matt Vickers has criticised Labour’s early release scheme while speaking to GB News, branding the plan “entirely unacceptable”.
Shadow Minister of State for Illegal Immigration, Crime, Policing and Fire told the People’s Channel that Labour had rejected justice.
He said: “For anybody who’s been a victim of some of the most heinous and awful crimes, like these individuals, to not see, you know, if you’ve lost a family member in these circumstances, and to see this Prime Minister making a decision that that person should still be released.
“It’s just entirely unacceptable… I remember Lissie Harper campaigned day and night, put herself forward to get justice for Andrew Harper. She’s got it. And this government is rejecting it.
“This Labour government have done terrible things. But to release these people early for those Labour MPs across the country who walk through those lobbies to support this, it is astounding. It is disgraceful. It’s disgusting.”
Kemi Badenoch slams Andy Burnham for ‘only partial climbdown’ in prisoner release scheme
Kemi Badenoch has taken to social media to criticise Andy Burnham’s announcement on releasing prisoners early
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Kemi Badenoch has taken to social media to criticise Andy Burnham’s announcement on releasing prisoners early.
Writing on X, the Tory leader said: “Andy Burnham wants a round of applause for agreeing not to release rapists and child sex offenders. He’s not getting one.
“This is only a partial climbdown. Killers, violent offenders, men who have terrorised their partners and more will all still walk out of prison in October thanks to Labour’s early release scheme.
“Yet again victims are learning their fate from press releases.
“Conservatives have a better plan. Build, rent, remove. Build more prisons. Rent prison spaces abroad. Remove foreign criminals.
“The victims of these horrific crimes have suffered weeks of uncertainty and fear. They deserve so much better.”
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable ‘beyond disappointed’ with Andy Burnham’s decision to release Pc Andrew Harper’s killers
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg has said he is “beyond disappointed” that Pc Andrew Harper’s killers would be eligible for early release.
He said: “I am beyond disappointed the Government is continuing to allow Pc Andrew Harper’s killers to be released early from prison despite the overwhelming recent public outcry.
“It is simple: if Andrew’s killers were convicted today, they would receive life sentences due to the law that was created in his name. They would not be eligible for early release.
“This decision is demoralising for all police officers and our fellow emergency service workers, not just in the Thames Valley, that put themselves in harm’s way to protect and serve their community.
“We stand with Andrew’s family, the Police Federation, our police and crime commissioner in our dismay and we will continue to lobby the Government to make the right decision.”
PC Harper’s widow accuses Andy Burnham of ‘betrayal’ as PM set to let her husband’s killers go free
PC Andrew Harper’s widow has accused Andy Burnham of a “betrayal” after he failed to exclude her husband’s killers from his early release reforms.
In a statement late last night, she said: “This is disgusting. I am beyond appalled and bristling with anger to hear that Andrew’s killers are soon to be free to roam the streets.
“What abhorrent message does this send? How dare ministers say the killing of a police officer is not enough of a ‘sickening crime’ that deserves the stiffest of punishments.
“The level of disrespect the Government are showing to Andrew and other victims – and to their loved ones such as me – is beyond contempt.
“The killers of Andrew have shown no remorse… they robbed us of our future. They are vile criminals, and they should remain in jail.
“To release them early from their already pitiful sentences is an affront to justice.
“The Government and the justice system have not just let me down… they have added insult to injury. They are meant to be on our side.
“This is an utter betrayal – and it’s one I will not be able to forgive or forget.”
Grooming gang rapists to be barred from early release scheme as PM vows: ‘Public safety is my top priority!’
Andy Burnham adopted new rules as part of changes to the Sentencing Act | GETTY
Andy Burnham has blocked grooming gang rapists from upcoming changes to prison sentences as part of a push to protect the public from dangerous criminals.
Mr Burnham, who GB News understands was stopped from going further amid fears of the prison system collapsing, also announced rapists will face tougher community supervision and a new GPS monitoring system.
The changes mean rape and child sexual offences will be added to the exclusions that were already in place for 18,000 offenders, including those who have been found by a court to be the most dangerous or anyone serving a life sentence.
However, the Prime Minister has come under fire after it was revealed two men involved in the 2018 killing of police officer Andrew Harper are still likely to be up for early release.
The Prime Minister said: “Keeping the public safe is my top priority. That’s why I asked for an urgent review of the prisoner release scheme.
“I fully understand the anger, anxiety and distress that’s been caused. I’ve heard that loud and clear.”