Nigel Farage\u2019s attack on Turkish barber shops amounts to dog-whistle racism without a credible plan to fix struggling high streets across the country, a government minister has said.<\/p>\n
Miatta Fahnbulleh, the devolution, faith and communities minister, said the Reform UK<\/a> leader was deploying the \u201cpolitics of grievance\u201d as his populist rightwing party attempts to capitalise on high street decline.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all aligned in thinking the last government failed in the last 15 years, but they [Reform] don\u2019t have the answers,\u201d she said. \u201cThey turn and do the politics of division. They blame people of difference rather than deal with the fundamentals.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if she thought the focus on Turkish barbers had racist overtones, she said: \u201cYes, I do. The fundamentals aren\u2019t to do with the colour of the skin of people running our high streets. It\u2019s to do with long-term decline and neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n Reform has made crumbling town centres a key issue in the party\u2019s drive for power, with promises to declare a \u201cnational high street emergency\u201d and shut down illicit shops as Farage prepares for May\u2019s crunch local elections.<\/p>\n With the party leading the national opinion polls, research suggests Reform has increased support most in the English towns with the highest rates of shop closures and long-term high street vacancies.<\/p>\n The party has taken aim at the growth in the number of high street barbers, claiming that many are fronts for money laundering and drug running. Farage said in Facebook video last year that Turkish barber shops were \u201cspringing up everywhere\u201d. He said they only take cash, they don\u2019t cut anyone\u2019s hair and \u201cthey\u2019ve got a Lamborghini parked out the back\u201d.<\/p>\n Figures from the Local Data Company show the number of barber shops has more than doubled in the last 10 years<\/a> to 3.1 per 10,000 people, despite a wave of closures for other types of shop.<\/p>\n Speaking in an interview as Guardian analysis reveals the changing fortunes of Britain\u2019s high streets<\/a>, Fahnbulleh said Labour recognised that many voters were becoming increasingly frustrated with seeing boarded-up shops.<\/p>\n \u201cI get it,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have had 15 years of not enough being done, of shops being boarded up, lack of investment in their communities, and \u2013 worse than that \u2013 being told things would get better.<\/p>\n \u201cI point to levelling up and every time the government didn\u2019t deliver it added to that view that politics can\u2019t make your life better. So we have to change that. People are impatient for change and rightly so.\u201d<\/p>\n She said Reform lacked policy solutions and pointed to the party\u2019s \u201cchaotic\u201d leadership of local councils it took control of last year. \u201cThey don\u2019t have a clear vision of what they are trying to do, and struggle to do basic governing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t afford games and politicians that do not have a plan and cannot drive change. So there is an urgency for us. We do believe we have the answers and we\u2019re determined to crack on and get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour has launched a \u00a35bn \u201cpride in place\u201d strategy<\/a>, handing funding to 250 regeneration projects over the next decade. This includes a community right-to-buy scheme that gives local people the right to buy buildings when they go up for sale, and licensing powers for councils to block too many gambling shops from opening in an area.<\/p>\n The government has also announced a crackdown on high street crime and illicit shops, including raids on car washes, nail bars and barber shops.<\/p>\n Retail and hospitality industry leaders, however, say Labour<\/a> has added to the headwinds high streets face, including through tax increases and a rise in the minimum wage in Rachel Reeves\u2019s autumn budget.<\/p>\n