Reform UK leader Nigel Farage visits Portsmouth - Labour MP Stephen Morgan launches stinging attack
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is paying a flying visit to Portsmouth this afternoon.
The politician was in Derbyshire this morning, and is due in Basingstoke tonight, as part of a national tour which also saw him appear on the Isle of Wight last night.
He is in Portsmouth this afternoon, and is likely to be talking about the Royal Navy and its capabilities - a subject that he touched on this morning, saying: “Given that we can’t even send a Royal Navy vessel to defend British sovereign territory and an RAF base, we certainly don’t have the capability to offer anything of any value to the Americans or the Israelis.
“There are differing opinions as to whether we should physically join the attacks. I, as leader, am saying to you, if we can’t even defend Cyprus, let’s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.”
Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan MP has hit out at Reform UK today and said: “From crank conspiracy theorists to their ex-leader in Wales convicted of taking pro-Russian bribes, Reform is full of people you wouldn’t want anywhere near power. And their record at council level shows that when they do get into office they make a mess of it.
“They don’t stand up for working people in Portsmouth and their policy priorities are all wrong. They don’t believe in the NHS and they want to rip up protections for children online. They stand up for Russia instead of working people in the UK. And their immigration policy is extreme: not fair rules properly enforced, but deporting people who have lived here legally for years.
“As we see today in Portsmouth, his party isn’t offering new ideas or new people, but pushing even further on the same discredited policies that have failed in the past. They’re simply not fit to govern.”