Reform byelection candidate refuses to disown claim that people born in UK not necessarily British | Reform UK
The Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election has refused to reject his claim that British-born people of minority ethnicity are not necessarily British.
Far-right activist Matthew Goodwin was announced as the party’s candidate for demographic diversity in south-east Manchester on Tuesday.
Goodwin was recently criticized for claiming that people of black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds are not always British. saying: “It takes more than a piece of paper to make someone ‘British’.”
Speaking at an event in Denton, the UK News presenter twice refused to answer when asked by the Guardian whether he stood behind views described by the Liberal Democrats as “racist” and “disgusting”.
According to the latest census, almost half (44%) of the population of Gorton and Denton identify as being from ethnic minority backgrounds, while 79% of the constituency identifies as British.
Goodwin refused to answer the Guardian’s questions as he posed for a photo with Reform UK MP Lee Anderson in a bar in Denton.
Anderson, the party’s chief executive, described the Manchester-born academic as a “fearless” activist who could “debate anyone at any time”.
Reform UK is trying to overturn Labour’s 13,000-vote majority and win its ninth MP following the departure of former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman on Monday.
The Greens are also mounting a strong challenge for the seat, which has a significant left-voting population and whose voters have sent a Labor MP to Westminster for decades ahead of boundary changes in 2024.
Goodwin’s selection as the UK Reform candidate surprised some commentators, given her outspoken views on British citizenship and Islam.
Just three weeks ago, he wrote that Britain’s “ruling class” had “silenced” debate about Islam in “one of the most serious attacks on freedom of speech and expression that Britain has ever seen”. More than one in four voters in Gorton and Denton identify as Muslim.
Asked about his message to the thousands of ethnic minority voters in his constituency, Goodwin told reporters: “My message to everyone in this seat is this: [that] If you work hard, if you pay taxes, if you contribute to this economy, you should be as concerned as I am about what’s going on in No 10 Downing Street.
“We have a government under Keir Starmer that is clearly out of touch with the people in this seat. “This is not about what your religion is, what your race is, what your ethnicity is.
“It’s about whether you play by the rules, whether you feel respected, whether you feel the system treats you fairly… I don’t look at it in that divisive way. I think a lot of people in this seat would say we’ve had that.” [Labour] “Has there been a party in this constituency all our lives and what has changed?”
Anderson, the former Conservative MP, said Reform UK would focus its byelection campaign on crime, the decline of high streets and multi-occupancy homes, which it claimed were home to “more than four or five single young men creating all kinds of disorder, committing crimes, terrorizing neighbourhoods”.
Goodwin and Anderson touched on the issue of childcare gangs, which are strongest in the nearby Rochdale and Oldham council areas, several times during the 30-minute press conference.
Goodwin described Reform UK’s lead in the polls as “the most significant rebellion since the rise of the Labor Party to replace the Liberals 100 years ago. This is a seismic political revolution we are all living through.”
