Farage accused of ‘divisive politics’ over unproven claim white men are losing jobs because of Equality Act
Nigel Farage has been accused of “plotting narrow-minded, divisive politics” after making unsubstantiated claims that middle-class white men were losing their jobs because of the Equality Act.
His claim came a day after Reform UK’s new equality and education chief, Suella Braverman, vowed to repeal the law on day one if her party wins the next election, claiming Britain was “torn apart by diversity, equality and inclusion policies”.
The Equality Act 2010, which replaces previous anti-discrimination laws, legally protects people with protected characteristics such as age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation against discrimination in the workplace and wider society.
But the Reform leader argues that these protections come at the expense of white men.
Asked on Wednesday whether he could guarantee that no one would lose their job because of their gender, ethnicity or disability under his party’s plans to repeal the Equality Act, Mr Farage said: “People are losing their jobs now, especially if they are white, male and middle-aged.
“That’s the problem, something designed to stop discrimination actually becomes discriminatory in itself. The protections you’re talking about were in law long before the Equality Act 2010.”
However, official figures from July to September 2025 show the opposite to be true; People from white ethnicity have lower unemployment rates in the UK than those from minority ethnic backgrounds.
During this period, the unemployment rate among people of white ethnicity in the UK was 4.3 per cent, an increase of 0.7 percentage points on the same period the previous year. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among people from ethnic minority backgrounds reached 8.8 percent, an increase of 0.6 points compared to the same period in the previous year.
According to the 2021 census for England and Wales, those of White Irish and White British ethnicity had the lowest unemployment rates, at 4.7 percent and 4.9 percent respectively. Arab and Other Black ethnicities had the highest unemployment rates at 14.3 percent and 14.2 percent respectively.
Responding to Mr Farage’s remarks, the chief executive of leading anti-racism charity Runnymede Trust said: Shabna Begum said: He lashed out at Mr Farage’s comments, accusing him of being “involved in narrow-minded, divisive politics that does no one any good and instead fuels a politics of grievance and resentment”.
Dr Begum also took aim at Ms Braverman’s claim that the country was “torn apart by diversity, equality and inclusion policies”, describing it as “provocative, divisive and frankly dishonest”.
he said Independent: “At a time when racially and religiously motivated hate crimes and violence against women and girls are soaring, it would be irresponsible to remove the few protections available to those at risk.”
Meanwhile, Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Paul Nowak accused Mr Farage of “selling made-up nonsense”.
“The Equality Act protects everyone in the workplace, including white and middle-aged men, from age discrimination, religious discrimination or other unfair treatment,” he said.
“Let’s be clear about what’s really going on here. Reform wants to legalize discrimination and eliminate hard-won workplace rights. This isn’t about defending working people, it’s about leaving people at the mercy of bad bosses. This is the tyrant’s contract.”
James Douglas, legal director of the Good Law Project, accused Mr Farage of being “out of touch with both the law and reality”, saying: Independent: “Repealing the Equality Act would not only take us back to 2010, it would also reverse all the progress we have made since the 1970s.”
“Scary stories about white, middle-aged men losing their jobs do not hide the fact that by opposing this, Reformation has made it clear that they do not believe in equality,” he added.
Liberal Democrat Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine, who sits on the Women and Equalities Committee, warned Mr Farage that “rights are not limited”.
He said: “Protecting people who may be vulnerable because of their gender, ethnicity or disability does not prejudice the rights of others.
“This creates a level playing field for all of us. Should we always be aware of how we can develop these protections in the law? Yes, but this is very different from what Reformation proposes.”
Mr Farage’s latest comments came after Ms Braverman, newly appointed as Reform’s chief executive for education, skills and equality, asked: “Why does no one in this government care that it is white working-class boys who have the worst educational outcomes in our country today?”
He added: “Do you know what the reform government will do? Well, on day one we will get rid of the equalities department, we will sack the equalities minister.”
“And we will repeal the Equality Act because we will work to build a country defined by meritocracy not tokenism, by personal responsibility not victimization, by excellence not mediocrity, by unity not division.”
The Fareham and Waterlooville MP also attacked the rights of transgender young people, saying if Reform came to power “social and gender transition would be banned in all schools, no ifs and buts”.
He promised to “end the trans chaos in schools”, claiming that children are being “educated about gender ideology rather than biological facts”.
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
