Labour have accused Reform UK of being “in an almighty mess” over the party’s shifting position on the war in Iran.

Nigel Farage said a week ago that the UK “should do all we can” to support the US and Israeli bombing of the country.

Deputy leader Richard Tice said that if Reform were in power “we would be helping the Americans and the Israelis in any way they saw appropriate”.

“If requests were made, we would have been saying ‘yes, we are pleased to help’,” he added.

He said: “If you’re asking me the question, do I think that it is in the interests of the British people, and at the end of the day that is what matters to Reform, for us to be deploying British airmen in bombing raids over Iran right now, when our allies have not asked us to do that, then, no, I don’t think that’s necessary.

“We will be very cautious before deploying British troops overseas into offensive action.”

A YouGov poll published last week showed that just 8% of the country believe the UK should be “actively joining the US and Israel” in bombing Iran.

A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “Reform spent the past week saying they’d bomb Iran.

“Now they’ve seen the polls and panicked, leaving them in an almighty mess. That’s not serious leadership.”

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Reform has never said we want to deploy troops overseas nor involve ourselves in the bombing of Iran.

“Unlike Labour, we would have defended our base in Cyprus and ensured our armed forces are rebuilt.”

Reform UK has unveiled plans for electoral reform, including a proposal to significantly restrict postal voting and remove the right of Commonwealth citizens to vote.

Nigel Farage claimed postal voting has turned the UK’s elections into a ‘laughing stock’, and that allowing non-British citizens to vote is ‘absurd’.

Currently, anyone eligible to vote in UK elections can choose to do so by post, but under Reform UK’s plans, this would be limited to the elderly, disabled, serving armed forces personnel and those working overseas during an election.

Under the proposals, Commonwealth citizens, who can currently vote in all types of UK elections if they qualify as residents, would lose their right to go to the polls.

A spokesperson for Reform UK confirmed the changes would not affect Irish citizens, who also have the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

The policy was born out of Mr Farage’s belief that allowing Commonwealth citizens to vote ‘undermines national sovereignty’ and leads to elections being fought over international rather than domestic issues, Reform UK said.

In 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated there were around 1.2 million Commonwealth nationals living in the UK.

Farage said: ‘For too long, postal voting has allowed our elections to be turned into a laughing stock, riddled with fraud, intimidation and outright cheating. It’s been allowed to go on for years and has poisoned trust in our democracy.

‘Meanwhile, allowing non-Brits – people with zero connection to this country – to vote on our future is absurd. It is right that only British citizens should be able to vote in British parliamentary elections.’

The announcement comes after Reform UK asked the police to investigate allegations of election fraud in the Gorton and Denton by-election this week.

Election observer group Democracy Volunteers warned it had witnessed ‘concerningly high levels’ of ‘family voting’ – an illegal practice where two voters use one polling booth and potentially direct each other on voting.

Farage promised to take action after the next general election if nothing is done about the allegations, adding: ‘If this is what was happening at polling stations, just imagine the potential for coercion with postal votes.’

Tory party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said allegations of family voting taking place in the Gorton and Denton by-election are ‘deeply concerning’ but branded Reform UK’s plans a ‘headline-grabbing’ exercise.

He said: ‘Rushing to impose sweeping bans on postal voting is a kneejerk reaction that risks disenfranchising pensioners, disabled people and overseas British citizens who rely on postal ballots to have their say.

‘We must safeguard our elections with proportionate, evidence-based reforms, not headline-grabbing measures that could lock law-abiding voters out of our democratic process.’

The Reform UK leader has frequently complained about postal voting when his parties have lost by-elections.

When his former party, Ukip, lost the Oldham West and Royton by-election in 2015, Farage alleged postal votes had been abused, saying the result raised questions about the conduct of elections in constituencies with large ethnic minority communities.

When his Brexit Party lost the Peterborough by-election in 2019, Farage again criticised the postal vote system.

The Brexit Party candidate challenged the result in court but later withdrew the challenge and was ordered to pay the winning Labour candidate’s legal costs.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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Election officials have said they are concerned people were forcing family members to vote in a certain way during the Gorton and Denton by-election.

After polls closed on Thursday night, an election observer group warned it had witnessed family voting in 68% of polling stations observed.

Democracy Volunteers’ intervention has caused consternation among the top three parties and threatens to overshadow the counting of votes.

They said in a statement: ‘Today we have seen concerningly high levels of family voting in Gorton and Denton.

‘Based on our assessment of today’s observations, we have seen the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10-year history of observing elections in the UK.

‘We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent by-elections, is extremely high.

‘In the other recent Westminster parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby we saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters.

‘In Gorton and Denton, we observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed.’

What is family voting?

Family voting is an illegal practice where two voters use one polling booth and potentially direct each other on voting.

In 2023, the United Kingdom passed the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 to make family voting a criminal offence. The practice of family voting was made more clearly a breach of the secret ballot and enforceable by staff in polling stations.

Signs are often put up at polling stations reminding people against the practise.

But Democracy Volunteers said they spotted people undertaking this during the by-election this year.

What happened during the Gorton and Denton by-election?

The organisation said it attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency, spending 30 to 45 minutes in each, and witnessed family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed.

The group said they observed a sample of 545 individuals casting their vote and saw 32 cases of family voting in total, including nine cases in one polling station.

Manchester City Council said that no issues had been reported and said it was ‘extremely disappointing’ that Democracy Volunteers waited until after the close of polls to make the claims.

A spokesperson for the acting returning officer at the by-election said: ‘Polling station staff are trained to look out for any evidence of undue influence on voters. No such issues have been reported today.

‘If Democracy Volunteers were so concerned about alleged issues they could and should have raised them with us during polling hours so that immediate action could be taken.’

John Ault, director of Democracy Volunteers, said the group had raised the matter at polling stations.

He told the Press Association: ‘It is a normal international standard not to issue a comment until after a voting has finished, another accepted aspect of election observation is that you are encouraged to ask questions of staff…

‘We posed questions about family voting in several polling stations and how staff dealt with it when it arose.’

How have the parties reacted to the claims?

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said the report was ‘extremely worrying and concerning,’ Reform UK’s Nigel Farage said it raised ‘questions about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas,’ and Green Party leader Zack Polanski suggested he would back a probe into the issue.

Labour chair Ms Turley told BBC Newsnight of the family voting concerns: ‘That’s not what we want to see in our democracy.

‘So obviously we need to see the evidence and the report, and then make due decision about what authorities should look into this.”

Mr Polanski told the programme: ‘If the recommendation is that there should be an inquiry or further steps then yes I’d support that.’

Reform UK’s candidate Matt Goodwin said he was ‘deeply concerned about the extent to which the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election is a free, fair, and democratic election’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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You’d be forgiven for thinking that today’s Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester is a potentially earth-shattering, epochal, life-or-death moment for Sir Keir Starmer.

Especially if you’ve been going a little heavy on the political journalism.

Yes, we reporters do like to overegg these things. In the end, last year’s Reform by-election victory over Labour in Runcorn and Helsby told us one thing: people in Runcorn and Helsby liked Reform a bit more than Labour at that point in time.

So is anything different about this one?

I’m going to be iconoclastic here and say probably not, in the long run. They might increase pressure, but no Prime Minister has ever resigned due to a local by-election result because that would be bananas.

However – and it’s a big ‘however’ – that doesn’t mean the vote in Gorton and Denton will tell us nothing interesting.

Far from it. It’s a valuable glimpse at how Labour is performing in the sorts of places the party won easily a little over 18 months ago… and even before polling stations open, it doesn’t look great.

Surveys conducted in the constituency since the by-election was announced have indicated it’s going to be extraordinarily tight, with both Reform and the Green Party sitting roughly equal with Labour.

Keep in mind what happened in Runcorn & Helsby last May, when Sarah Pochin won by just six votes.

With two Labour alternatives from very different parts of the political spectrum available this time, it’ll be fascinating to see what calculations voters make.

Who are the main characters?

In the red corner, we have Labour’s Angeliki Stogia. Of course, that almost wasn’t the case – if Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham had his way last month, he’d have been his party’s candidate.

Instead, he’s channelled his popularity into full-throated support for Stogia, who’s currently a city councillor for a ward slightly closer to the centre than Gorton and Denton.

If she wins, it’ll be a big relief to Keir Starmer, who personally campaigned for her on Monday. Though of course, the margin of victory would give us plenty to talk about.

In the green corner, it’s Hannah Spencer for, uh, the Green Party. If you know one thing about her, it’s that she is a plumber – a job she says she’s done since leaving school at 16.

Party leader Zack Polanski has joked that the Houses of Parliament could benefit from a plumber due to their ‘leaky roofs’, and her Instagram handle is @hannahtheplumbermcr. But we also learned in a video this week that she can speak Urdu (a bit).

If she wins, it might be the worst-case scenario for Labour. It would demonstrate they can be just as vulnerable to populism on the left as populism on the right and blow apart their narrative that Labour is the only party that can beat Reform.

In the teal corner, we have Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin. He’s a bit of a celeb on the right-wing, with his own GB News show and a popular Substack.

He is from the local area and has made much of the fact he used to deliver pizzas in the constituency. But despite that, he’s decided to frame the by-election as a referendum on whether people like Keir Starmer.

If he wins, there might be a silver lining for the government – they could, at least, argue that the Green Party split the vote and handed Reform another MP.

That line could come in handy for the future.

What are the latest odds for the Gorton and Denton by-election?

On Thursday, one of the most unpredictable by-elections in years concludes. The Gorton & Denton by-election has been fiercely contested with the Green party and Reform leading the way according to the bookies.

Oddschecker says the Greens continue to be the odds-on favourites at 4/6 while Reform is priced at 5/2 to win the Greater Manchester constituency.

Oddschecker spokesman Chris Rogers stated, ‘A back-and-forth betting battle has ensued in the build-up to the Gorton & Denton by-election.

‘With just a day to go until it’s conclusion, there is nothing to split the Green party and Reform in the betting split. Green received 38% of bets placed over the last 12 hours while Reform was a fraction behind with 37%.

‘Hannah Spencer and Green continue to be the shortest priced party at 4/6 while Reform are being backed at 5/2. Labour (4/1) remains in contention for the constituency they have held since 1935.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Illegal migrants would be given a free house and paid a wage with no requirement to work under the Green Party’s immigration policy.

Zack Polanski plans to let arrivals use the NHS for free the moment they enter Britain.

And they will be allowed to work ‘with no restrictions’ under plans for ‘a world without borders’.

It comes as a bombshell poll put the Greens in second place nationally ahead of an increasingly fraught Gorton and Denton by-election tomorrow. 

Unearthed policy proposals seen by the Daily Mail show the Greens plan to ‘abolish’ immigration detention and grant a full amnesty to illegal migrants to stay in Britain, even if their asylum claims are rejected.

The internal documents state that ‘migration is not a criminal offence under any circumstances’.

Last week, the party’s plans to legalise drugs including crack cocaine and heroin for recreational use were exposed.

According to the immigration proposals, the Greens seek ‘to establish a system that recognises that all migrants are treated as citizens in waiting and therefore supports and encourages them to put down roots in their new home’. 

Green leader Zack Polanski’s party would give illegal migrants a free house, access to NHS care and pay them a wage with no work requirements from the day they entered Britain

Gorton and Denton Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer has accused her Labour counterpart of ‘racist dogwhistles’ and urged her to ‘condemn her party’s racist campaign tactics’ in a significant escalation of tensions

Polanski and Spencer pose for a picture on January 30

Last night the Conservatives, Reform UK and Labour derided the ‘open border plans’, branding them ‘financially reckless but also dangerous’.

But Mr Polanski’s party said it was ‘proud’ of the policies, which it claimed have proved ‘popular’ on the doorstep during the Gorton and Denton campaign. Under the Green leader’s premiership all illegal migrants would be handed a wage ‘at the level of Universal Basic Income’ with ‘no requirement to be either working or actively seeking work’.

Migrant families would be ‘accommodated in a house or flat with exclusive use’ and lone men would ‘each have their own room’ in shared accommodation – but would be given their own property if they claimed to be LGBTQIA+ for ‘safeguarding purposes’.

The proposals add that illegal migrants ‘will be allowed to take up employment, with no restriction’ and will be ‘provided with free access to all NHS facilities’ the second they cross the Channel – with these rights remaining ‘even if their [asylum] case is rejected’.

Meanwhile immigration detention ‘will be abolished’ and even illegal migrants who have ‘exhausted all [asylum] appeal rights’ would not be deported. 

The policy says: ‘There will be no requirement for any applicant, or any person whose case has been refused, to report regularly to the Department of Migration.’

Reform UK’s home office spokesman Zia Yusuf last night branded the plans ‘dangerous’. 

He told the Daily Mail: ‘Under the Greens’ open-borders plans, not only is every hoodlum and criminal welcome to our shores but entitled to free housing, healthcare and anything else they might fancy.

The internal Green policy documents, seen by the Daily Mail, state that ‘migration is not a criminal offence under any circumstances’ and ‘the Green Party wants to see a world without borders’

The policy adds: ‘The Green Party seeks to establish a system that recognises that all migrants are treated as citizens in waiting and therefore supports and encourages them to put down roots in their new home’

‘My only surprise is Zack Polanski isn’t promising to furnish them all with free heroin and crack cocaine, which he wants to legalise. The Greens’ policies are not only financially reckless but also dangerous.’ 

The Greens plan to legalise these drugs because they ‘enhance human relationships and human creativity’.

Mr Polanski’s party plans to create a ‘direct partnership’ between the Government and South American drug cartels to introduce a ‘sustainable supply’ of cocaine to Britain and teach primary school children how to take drugs safely.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Green policy states sex work ‘should be decriminalised’ and restrictions placed on sexually explicit material ‘ended’, except for those aimed at protecting children.

The party’s official immigration policy suggests that migrants would be free to travel to Britain using fake documents as ‘penalties imposed on commercial carriers for transporting undocumented migrants will be abolished’ and asylum claims would be admissible ‘regardless of route’.

Border force officers will be made to take a ‘neutral approach’ to interviewing asylum seekers and ‘what the applicant says will be believed in the absence of contrary evidence’.

The policy also says that illegal migrants who have been in the UK for at least five years would be ‘invited’ to stay permanently.

Mr Polanski’s plans for Britain also state that foreign students and anybody with a visa – apart from a visitors’ visa – would be given ‘the right to vote in elections and referendums’.

Last night the Tories accused the Greens of planning to ‘hand out a welcome pack to every illegal arrival’ and said the party had been captured ‘by hard-Left activists’. A Labour source said: ‘The public expect immigration controls that are properly enforced – not the open-borders plan the Greens are proposing.’

The revelations come as voters prepare to head to the polls in Gorton and Denton tomorrow, with the Greens attempting to position themselves as the main opposition to Reform after Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, was blocked from standing.

Polls suggest the outcome will be tight. Last night Green candidate Hannah Spencer accused her Labour counterpart of ‘racist dogwhistles’ and urged Angeliki Stogia to ‘condemn her party’s racist campaign tactics’ in an escalation of tensions.

It came as a poll of 3,029 voters from Find Out Now put the Green Party in second place nationally, with 18 per cent of the vote. This was behind Reform, on 25 per cent, and ahead of Labour, on 16 per cent.

A Green source said the policy proposals are different from the party’s 2024 manifesto, which is costed, but conceded that it is a ‘long-standing policy and aim’ of the party.

A spokesman said: ‘We’re proud of this policy, voted on and decided by our members… We know it’s popular as well – Green policy regularly comes out as the most popular in polls.’

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments

Farage to thank for right to vote?

Every voter has Mr Farage and Reform to thank for restoring their right to a vote. And every British voter should punish Sir Keir Starmer and his abysmal government by voting for any party except Labour in every local election until the next General Election.

Robbing any country’s citizens of their right to a vote is both dictatorial and fascist.
Stefan Badham, Portsmouth

I am glad the elections are going ahead. The government should now bring a halt to the constant tinkering with local government, there having been changes every decade since 1965.

If the government wants to save money spent on government itself, it should start with parliament. The House of Lords is the largest parliamentary chamber in Europe.

Abolishing it would save the cost of paying its members while also removing their unaccountability.
Charles EL Gilman, Mitcham

Will Starmer really stop the bots?

If Starmer couldn’t stop the boats, why should we believe him when he says he’ll combat the perils of social media and stop the bots (Metro, Tue)? Fred, Hampshire

Forget dating apps, it’s a single gloves site

I counted nine single gloves of various sizes and colours on my way to work. I’ve wondered about creating a ‘Gloves Reunited’ site – it would be gloverly to see them all matched up…AH, Leeds

Should nuts be ‘smothered in plastic’ at the supermarket?

I popped into a well-known supermarket last Thursday to pick up a cake for my mother and was greeted by shelves of nuts smothered in plastic.

This is exactly why supermarkets can’t be taken seriously on sustainability. Almost every week
I return single-use plastic to their head office – and to brands directly – asking, repeatedly, for a switch to biodegradable alternatives. They acknowledge it, send a copy-and-paste reply about ‘recycling targets’ and then launch even more products wrapped in the same planet-killing plastic. Meanwhile, they pat themselves on the back for scrapping plastic bags, as if that excuses everything.

If supermarkets want to talk about sustainability, they should start by tackling the most obvious problem staring customers in the face – unnecessary plastic on everyday items. Michelle Edwards, via email

Reader is anti-vaping

I am so anti-vaping. I was chatting to someone vaping in the street. As she exhaled, the wind blew a cloud of vape into my face and mouth.

For the rest of the day I had a horrible metallic taste on my tongue and my lips were slightly numb.

Whatever chemicals are in vapes it can’t be good for the lungs. In years to come the negative effects will show. 
Gareth, London

Stop hoarding Metro!

Can the old fella on the No.51 bus to Woolwich grab one Metro and not 14? You’re not a paperboy and I can never get one after you! Jon, St Paul’s Cray

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