Ezra LeVant examines Reform UK’s shock Runcorn and Helsby byelection win (May 2), where Sarah Pochin defeated Labour’s Karen Shore by six votes in a historically red-leaning seat. Nigel Farage’s anti-mass immigration stance resonated amid voter anger over energy costs, coal plant closures, and a proposed 40% inheritance tax on farmers, while critics dismissed Reform as racist despite its gains. The party’s campaign—promising frozen immigration, scrapped net-zero, and tax cuts—exposes Labour’s vulnerability in working-class areas, proving that economic policies now outweigh identity politics in UK elections. [Automatically generated summary]
Tonight, the Conservative Party didn't break through in Canada, but will Nigel Farage break through in the United Kingdom?
It's May 2nd, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.
You know, I can't get enough of elections.
Canada just had its big election on Monday.
I'm here on Thursday in the United Kingdom because there's a special by-election that could determine the future of this country's politics.
Look at this beautiful scene behind me.
I'm in the riding of Runcorn and Hellsby.
That's a British name, if ever there was.
It's in the north of England.
Liverpool's that way.
Manchester's that way.
And just looking at this gorgeous valley, you can see a story of the United Kingdom.
You can see the oil refinery, which has been there for decades.
And you can see the new net zero wind turbines.
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth and not a single one of them turning.
You can see down there four giant smokestacks.
There used to be eight.
That's a coal-fired power plant that they detonated because they're getting off coal.
That's why the UK pays some of the highest prices in the world for energy.
This is a country with energy poverty.
What's interesting is this is a working-class area.
In fact, the Labour Party got more than 50% of the vote just last year.
But here's the wrinkle.
The Labour MP, Iron Mike Aimsbury, he got into a spot of bother, as the Brits would say.
Late one night in front of a pub, he got into an argument with a constituent and he beat the daylights out of him.
Trouble is that whole thing was caught on tape.
Well, Iron Mike was sentenced to prison, although there are two tiers of justice in the UK.
Our friend Tommy Robinson was sentenced to two years in prison for putting up a tweet.
Mike Gainsbury had two days in prison before the judge let him go, but he was ejected from Parliament, and so the by-election comes tonight.
And what's so amazing is this district that was overwhelmingly Labour last time, well, it's neck and neck.
The Labour Party is tied with the Reform UK.
That's Nigel Farage's party.
Both candidates are women.
In the case of the Labour Party, it's a local councillor, Karen Shore.
She's tried to de-laborize herself, saying she actually set up a Facebook page against an asylum hotel, which is quite a trick, given that she was pro-migration until about five minutes ago.
She was out door knocking with one of the local TV stations, and I just got to show you this moment of the severely normal homeowner condemning Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, and slamming the door.
That's not what you want when you're a candidate going out with the press.
Take a look.
Here with Karen Shorge, the Labour candidate in the by-election.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
No chance of me giving you my vote.
Now it was a Haddispatana happily.
Well, I can't stand the man, wouldn't vote for the man.
I'm going green.
Bye-bye.
Okay.
On the Reform UK side, they're running a prestigious candidate.
It's a real populist grassroots party, but they're running a former magistrate, which is a junior judge, Sarah Pochin.
And the latest polls show that the Reform UK and the Labour are tied.
It's a dead heat.
Nigel Farage himself has come to town to campaign, which says he thinks he can win it.
It's a very interesting place.
It's a large rural sector, too.
And Keir Starmer's Labour Party has declared war on farmers.
It's really anti-human to declare war on energy and declare war on food.
Makes no sense.
Prosperous societies have plentiful, affordable energy and plentiful, affordable food.
In the UK, they pay some of the highest energy prices in the world because of their net zero madness.
And now they're demanding that farmers pay an enormous inheritance tax.
I think it's 40%, which would basically end family farms in this country.
So there's a lot of discontent in this district.
And tonight will decide not just the local MP, but if Reform UK manages to punch through, it'll do one other thing.
See, in the UK for decades, it's been conservative labor, conservative labor, like in Canada, Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal.
The great Margaret Thatcher was a great conservative.
But in the last 15 years, the Conservative Party lost its way.
It was in power until last year.
It had 14 years, and it was behind net zero, and it was behind wokeism, and it was behind online censorship, and it was behind mass immigration.
The Conservative Party was.
And so it was Conservative in name only.
And here comes Nigel Farage, and his central plank.
A decade ago was taking the UK out of the European Union, but now it's stopping mass immigration.
And that is an idea that has inspired this country.
If Nigel Farage's candidate can win in this former bastion of labor, can win the farmers and win the industrial workers and can win people concerned about immigration, not only will that be a defeat to labor in their stronghold, but it will be a defeat for the Conservatives because it will signal to every Brit who is upset with the way things are going that the alternative to the incumbent is not the Conservative Party centuries old,
but rather the populist Conservative upstart party of Reform UK.
That is just as important as beating Labor.
The Conservative Party recently chose a new leader named Kemi Badenock, a black woman who's very strong on issues, but whenever she raises them in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister says, where were you for those 14 years?
It's a compelling argument.
Tonight will decide who is the MP for this lovely place.
It'll decide whether or not Labor's grip on the working class north continues.
But more importantly, it may determine which party is the alternative, the opposition, because as we've learned in Canada so many times, unless you unite the right, you have no chance in beating the left.
If Nigel Farage's candidate wins, that will hasten the coalescing of the right behind his party.
Election Night Excitement00:15:29
It's very exciting.
And I thought I would come over for one day to cover that.
In the UK, they have a wonderful system on election night.
All the parties gather in one room.
All the ballots from the entire district are brought to one room, and they're all counted together with so many checks and people verifying.
It takes hours.
Last time I was here a year ago, they counted till 4 a.m., but everyone was there in person.
It was the most secure count I've ever seen in my life.
Like I said, every ballot was in one room.
All the different parties were in one room.
In fact, all the candidates at 4 a.m. came out to hear the results together.
It was a wonderful tradition.
There's so many lovely things about the UK.
Anyways, it's an unseasonably warm day.
As you can see, I'm a little bit hot.
I'm going to make my way into town to see if I can do some streeters.
I'm in Frogham, which is near Runcorn, and it's a market town.
It's a town that's, you know, it was in the doomsday book, which, as you know, was really one of the earliest books about what towns and cities and villages there were in the UK.
It would be sort of like the first written census of buildings.
So it is an ancient market town, and it still has that feeling.
So let's go into town and see if we can find any Brits willing to talk to us about the by-election.
I'm hoping in that market town area, they're open to chatting with a few Canadians.
It's lovely up here and I just want to pay some attention to the War Memorial to my left.
This is the kind of place that mustered soldiers in the Boer War, in the First World War, in the Second World War.
It's part of a great tradition of the United Kingdom and indeed the British Empire before it, fighting for the freedoms of the world.
And I should pay my respects to it and it's one of my favourite things about the United Kingdom.
All right, let's go downtown.
Who do you think is going to win the by-election today?
Have you thought about it?
No, not really.
Do you live here in the living here?
Are you going to vote?
We've already been with Wakefield this morning.
Good for you.
You sound motivated.
We'll see.
Do you mind if I ask?
I'm optimistic.
Can I ask you who you're voting for?
I vote for Labour.
And so do I.
Yeah, I did as well.
And you're optimistic?
You think the Labour is going to carry the day?
I think they're the only ones that have got that capability at the moment.
I'm not saying they agree with their strategies and where they are, but yeah, I'm optimistic.
What is it that you like about reform?
There's a lot of things where we're not going to tell you.
That's okay.
We're not racist.
I didn't say you were.
I would never say that.
I've just been called a Nazi.
Because you're for reform?
Because, yeah.
Why do you think people would say such a harsh thing?
I don't know, I couldn't tell you.
Do you think it's because maybe they don't have a substantive argument against your position, so they call you a name?
Drainwashed by the media.
BBC and Sky.
Yeah.
Tell you, if you vote reform, you're a right-wing racist folk.
What are your thoughts?
What's the feeling in the district?
There's deep concern about reform getting in.
So I think there's a counter-effort by people who are plotting voters and so on and so much other parties who may vote anti-reform rather than for their own party.
So that mess me, but it's a knife edge, we'll have to see.
Reform.
And why do you think they're going to win?
Because they're more in touch with the general public than any other party.
And Labour have let so many people down and the worm's turned.
That's all I can say.
They offer more of a solution to the migrant crossings.
And I think that's the big issue at the moment.
Can I ask you who you think you might vote for?
Well, traditionally, we've gone for like Conservative because it's been a Conservative town for a long time.
But with the Labour getting in and not seemingly fulfilling his promises, I think Farage is saying a lot of things that I'm listening to.
So I might go down that alley.
Because he speaks what everyone is thinking on what issues.
And most politicians do not want to speak the truth.
Well, obviously, there are all sorts of issues.
The economy, the green issues, and of course, immigration.
Nothing to do with racism, all to do with practicalities, all of them.
Well, why didn't you vote reform?
Immigration.
Illegal and, you know, we've been invaded in this country.
Absolutely invaded.
And, you know, as a pensioner, I've had my winter fuel I was taking off £200.
It's going towards, you know, putting up these illegals who were invited in the first place.
It's never ending tired of them.
Never ending tired of them.
And who did you vote for in the past?
I voted a long time ago for the Labour Party because I gave up with them.
And then I've been voting for Naja Farage, but there's various parties since.
Labour.
Labour?
Did you vote Labour or you just think that's how your neighbours are voting?
I think before we get in this time, they were second anyway.
Did you vote?
Are you planning on voting?
And is it just out of tradition you vote Labour or is there something about them?
Do you like their Prime Minister Kier Starmer?
No, no, no.
It's the policies, you know, they do share the wealth of the country more when it gets sorted.
So it's a little more on the socialism side.
Yeah.
Do you have any view on migration?
That's something I've heard a few times, people talking about the boats.
Migration, we want people working in the hospitals, people doing the jobs that nobody else in this country seems to want to do.
The gentleman I just spoke with said the migrant crossings look bad, but it's we shouldn't be worried and they need help.
And he says we need more migration.
That's what he says.
And he's voting Labour.
Do you think he's wrong on those things?
He's wrong on the immigration point.
I have an Indian daughter-in-law who married my son, obviously.
Interracial relationship.
She's an economic migrant who works in this country and she contributes.
She has to have to pay so much money in visas over the years to be allowed to stay in this country.
And she's worked and she worked really hard.
She came legally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And the migrants in the boats obviously just came over.
Yes.
So financially it's hard for economic migrants to come to this country and thrive.
But on the flip side, the migrants have come in on the boats.
It's so sad.
So I see it from both sides.
Going to win the by-election tonight.
Reform.
Oh, you think so, eh?
Basically, the way this election campaign has been run in Runcorn and Hellsby, it's been dragged down to the lowest common denominator.
We're going to end up like the right wing in America, the way things are being pushed.
The lies that reform have told from start to finish, I actually don't have a problem with the party or what they're doing.
The lies they told in the campaign have been absolutely reprehensible from start to finish.
Why do you think the reform, at least in the opinion polls, are so far ahead of the Conservatives in this district?
I think it's a vote against Labour.
Yeah, I do as well.
Just like do you think that's why there's a lot of shy reformer voters?
That is, they don't tell pollsters, they don't say things in public.
Yeah, probably.
Do you think reform has a chance tonight, or do you think this is pretty traditional Labour?
They'll win round, yeah.
I don't think they have a chance to form in the government.
Right.
But in the special by-election today, in just this district, they'll win round there.
Oh, you think so, eh?
Do you have an opinion on this also?
Labour, nothing but traces.
They've let the whole country down.
Get them out.
What did they do that feels like a betrayal?
They've gone against the pensioners, the farmers, the disabled.
They've took money off everybody.
It should be done for treason.
Treason.
Yes.
And they're letting all the boats in.
Yeah, well, the boats, get them out.
They shouldn't be coming over that channel.
Like you thought you wouldn't have this.
None of us are conservative voters, but we all agree on the same thing.
Thatcher wouldn't have let this happen.
She stood up for this country.
Labour and Conservatives don't.
They don't stand for this country at all.
They don't stand for our party.
They don't want to look after their own people.
Simple as that.
Can I ask you why people are anti-Nigel Farage?
What is it about him that they don't like?
Because he's a supporter of Trump, because he's a liar, because he's a fascist.
I mean, how many reasons do you want?
But however many you have.
It sounds like you're not sympathetic to him.
Are you a Labour voter yourself?
I am, actually, yes.
Last question.
What do you think the Conservative vote will do?
Because it will collapse.
It will collapse.
I mean, this party is badly led.
The old Conservatives, who I used to admire back in the 70s before Thatcher, there's a middle-of-the-road Conservative Party that has long gone since Thatcher, 50 years of that kind of economics.
And so they've gradually gone moved right and right.
Do you think about prime ministers like Macmillan, people like that in the Conservative Party back in the 60s?
Decent people, Churchill, decent people.
But after fights and on with, I mean to Cameron and so on, hopeless, absolutely hopeless.
So I think their vote will collapse.
Well, to be honest, everybody I speak to, they're not shy anymore, they're coming out, coming out, you know, and saying, look, we're fed up with it.
We're absolutely fed up.
You know, can't get a doctor supported down there for weeks of suspension.
It's terrible.
You know, it's a dentist, forget it, forget dentists, obviously.
Sometimes there's little boats crossing the English Channel that's full of military-age migrant men.
Are they working in hospitals?
They're economic migrants.
Do they work or are they more on no?
No, they're not allowed to.
How do you feel about those boats?
Like there are hundreds of migrants a day across the channel, right?
Yeah, yeah.
They're coming illegally, right?
Yeah.
What do you think of that?
It needs to be controlled back.
That's how you do it, isn't it?
How do you feel about how the Labour is doing?
Controlling that?
Well, they seem to be shutting all the hotels.
Are they?
I don't know where those migrants are going.
Many of the migrants are military-age men who are single.
I mean, refugees in my mind are the elderly, women, children.
These are young men, right?
I haven't got a problem with families fleeing persecution, but I do struggle with younger men who are coming from countries with no war.
They're not coming from any war-torn country whatsoever.
We haven't the room to accommodate these people.
And that's the problem.
It's the accommodation.
Social housing is so precious and they're getting priority.
And so that's the flip side of having my daughter-in-law.
It upsets me that people who want to work, who are genuinely working, contributing to the country, are being classed in the same umbrella as immigrants because of their race and ethnicity and their colour.
And it's not true.
There's a lot of people who come to this country who do contribute and they contribute well.
For the first time in my life, I'm now voting against something, not voting for something.
I've had to vote for Labour.
I don't want to vote for Labour.
You've just done a £5 million cut on disabled people.
I don't want to give them my vote.
But I've had to to stop this odious little toad of Nigel Farage and his gang of liars, ex-Tories.
Getting him?
Said a potion, Tori, twice.
Not a Tory.
She's there claiming about the illegal immigrants in the hotel.
She's a magistrate.
She knows that seeking asylum is not illegal.
She knows that.
But she chose to use that word illegal so she can stoke up for emotive reasons for fear in people and push this populist agenda and get in.
It's the disingenuity and the lies that bother me.
That's the problem.
I've heard a number of people today say they're worried about immigration and in particular the boats coming across the channel of irregular or many would say illegal immigration.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Because that seems to be motivating some of the reform votes.
It's very hard because they're fighting for their life, you know, and they want somewhere to...
But they're coming from France, some would say.
However...
However, we're paying France a substantial amount of money.
To do what?
Yeah, exactly.
What do you think about that?
Yeah, I'm the same.
They must be able to stop them.
They can find the druggies, but they can't find the people to supply the boats and the engines.
Why aren't they stopping it?
Exactly.
The question is, why are we paying so much money out when we're looking at a deficit ourselves?
Now you're sounding like Nigel Farage.
Yeah.
You know, in terms of paying the French to do that.
And in the next breath, they're just letting them come over.
So if you're in business, you don't run a business without questioning why the amount of money you're paying is not getting the results you want.
Otherwise, you go bankrupt.
There you go.
That's mine.
I have to tell you, and I'm not being cheeky, What you said could be said by a reformed voter.
I'm not trying to...
It probably could.
You know, it probably could.
But I think Labour have done some good things while they've been in.
I've always voted conservative.
Oh, really?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, always.
When our local Labour MP punched a guy out, we were surrounded by BBC and Sky, all asking us questions, and they just tell the same lies all the time.
Mainstream media just tell you bullshit.
Can I ask you what your source of news is?
If you don't trust the BBC, what do you check?
I'll check people like you on the internet.
I've got three channels that aren't following the government narrative.
That's what I follow.
Concerns About Mass Immigration00:11:29
All right.
The last two people I spoke with were concerned about mass immigration.
That was on their mind and that was why they said they were going to vote reform.
What do you think about immigration?
Immigration, we need immigration.
We have loads of vacancies.
We need them in nursing, we need them in care, we need them in all manner of professions.
And so this madness about anti-immigration, everybody comes here, if you don't get a job within a few months, they leave.
The European free movement.
What about the ones who come in the dinghies across the English Channel?
I mean, that's horrible to look at, but it is a very small percentage of the ones who come here as refugees.
Remember, they are refugees.
They're not illegal immigrants until the law says they're illegal.
But they're coming from France, which is a safe place, right?
Well, France is a safe place, but there are agreements between France and the UK, and there's more could be done.
More needs to be done.
The boat thing is very bad PR, but they're desperate people.
Could you cross the channel in a boat if you weren't desperate?
Good, either way.
Yeah.
That's my opinion.
Fair deal.
And again, I don't want to put you on the spot, but I'm just interested to hear what you admire about Labour.
You say they've done some good things.
Is there anything in particular that comes to mind?
I think some of the things they've done, it's like the Conservative.
It's like the Liberal Party.
It's like other parties.
You know, they all come up with the right words.
I'm not interested in that.
We need to see things happening and them actually saying Labour.
For me, my father was Labour through and through.
It's a family tradition.
Yeah, yeah.
And they were for the people, the working class.
Sadly, Steiner's made a bit of a mistake there because I think he's made it more difficult for people of the working class to struggle with the way that he's putting out his strategy for the future.
So maybe you're a reluctant Labour voter.
I am.
Yeah.
I'm from Canada, so I obviously don't have the expertise or the knowledge, but I read something in one of the newspapers.
Can I run it by you?
And I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong.
I heard that Karen Shore, the labor candidate, set up a Facebook page to shut down an asylum hotel.
But in her earlier political life, she was pro-asylum seekers.
Yeah, and you know what's really interesting?
So am I wrong?
Correct me if I'm wrong.
You're correct.
But you know what else is interesting?
The reform people pushing this.
If you go on Facebook, you'll also see Sarah Potion doing the exact same thing.
It's the disingenuity that gets me.
And is it on both sides?
Is it, I guess, what I'm...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Labour don't represent me anymore.
Who would you vote for then if you don't like Labour and you don't like Farage?
This time, I probably would have voted the Green Party, which would be the first time in my life I've even considered going anywhere near the Greens, but for the local MP, probably the Green Party.
But I have voted for Labour.
I've just voted mainly because it's such a tight race and I don't want reform getting it.
So after those man on the street interviews, which I thought were very interesting, we had a super quick nap because we were so jet lagged and we went for a bite at a local pub, of course.
But then we made our way to the counting center and they do it a little different in the UK.
In Canada, any district might have a hundred different polling places and those are counted and the results are sent to a central authority.
In the UK, all the voting boxes, all the ballots are brought to a central counting place, like a large gymnasium or arena, where in a secure environment, every single ballot in the entire district is counted.
And they do it so painstakingly, which takes a very long time.
But I've observed this before.
I think the trust in the outcome is total.
There's no shenanigans.
There's no touchscreen counting like the Americans have.
And so it often takes to the wee hours.
Another British tradition that I really like is all the candidates from all the parties go to this same counting place.
They don't have their different election night parties.
They may have them also, but they come and they wear these rosettes, they're called, these big ribbons and patches.
It's quite a lovely tradition.
So we went to the counting area and I was sort of dreading a very late night, but we found some entertainment in the form of professional protesters who came in from Manchester, the big city, to tell those locals they were racist.
Here, I want you to see some.
We have about, frankly, about 10 minutes of interaction.
Normally when I go to meet professional protesters, they say, oh, Ezra, Rebel News, and they clam up and don't talk to us at all.
Same thing happens to my friend David Menzies.
But here in the United Kingdom, we're not household names.
So until they Googled us about 10 minutes into it, they were actually engaging with us, which I enjoy.
I enjoy the banter and going back and forth with the protesters.
I'm not sure if they're used to answering questions.
One of the ladies did fairly well.
But here, let me share with you my interaction with the protesters.
And I want to emphasize their chief message.
In fact, it's their very name, is say no to racism.
They basically say if you disagree with them, you're racist.
Argument over.
And I don't think it's working anymore.
At least I'll tell you why in a moment.
Take a look.
So yeah, we're here.
I stand up to racism to campaign against the racists that is Reform UK.
And just to make it clear tonight that whatever the outcome is, whatever the results are, this campaign will continue because in British societies there's no room for racists like Farage and his mates.
Now, the polls suggest that Nigel Farage and his party are in the running for first place.
Does that imply that the voters are racist?
I don't believe voters that vote reform are racist, not at all.
I think they're just desperate for change.
And because the Labour Party has let us down so badly, they're looking for something.
Anything really that's just different.
But no, I don't.
Some of them will be, let's be honest, but not everybody that votes Reform UK is racist.
I mean, I listened to all of his launch, his election, you know, conference for the North West, and there was three things who he went on and on about.
What were they?
What were they?
Muslims, migrants, refugees.
And what's the big leaflet they've given out for their campaign?
I don't know.
Stop the votes.
Right?
Well, hasn't Kierstamer said to stop the boats?
Lots of people say stop the boats.
So how come you're not saying that Kierstamer is racist?
Because Nigel Farage's party is a racist party through and through.
However, in other parties, like the Labour Party, and there's people here from the Labour Party, they're anti-racists.
There are no anti-racists in Reform UK, aren't there?
Are you sure?
Because Nigel Farage, we know you.
You're a racist through and through.
Read some of his books, read some of things that he has written and he has said, and he's absolutely a POLIC through and through.
Nazi sympathiser.
Nazi thing.
There are Nazi sympathisers with going back.
And those are the things.
That's terrifying to me.
Yes, it is.
So who's the Nazi sympathiser?
Eventually goes.
Can you tell me the name of the Nazi sympathiser?
No, what I'm saying to you is that there are far-right people who were attracted by the racist policies of reform.
The reason we're here is we're challenging the classic racist tactic that Farage and his party are using.
Pick out a minority group and use them as a scapegoat for any problems.
That's why they challenge you for that.
He can't wash his hands of the atmosphere that he's produced, an atmosphere of division and hate.
And that's no good for anybody.
Do you think that questioning the migrant boats is inherently racist?
Yes, I do.
Yeah, I do.
Because where's that coming from?
Somehow, this idea that the country is being overrun, well, no, that's not acceptable.
The country's not overrun.
There are many countries around the world that are taking far more refugees than the British government does.
But some people would say they're coming from France.
They're military-aged men.
They're hiding their passports.
I mean, what would you say to that challenge?
For one thing, if they are military-aged men, isn't it great that they have left war-torn countries because they don't want to be involved in the war?
They don't want to fight.
They don't want to go around killing people.
It's the absolute opposite.
And actually, the truth of the matter is they're not all just men.
And the fact that men do come, they come first before they bring their families because they want to make sure that it's safe for them to get here.
But France is safe.
Like France is not a dangerous place.
And they're coming from France, right?
En route from somewhere else.
They're not based in France.
They're coming from somewhere else.
Why aren't they seeking refugee status in the first country they reach?
Because it's worth knowing that for some naive reason they believe that Britain is more welcoming.
Many of them speak English.
Many have had a connection with Britain, whether it's they've got family here already or they were here as international students or whatever else.
They come because they have this belief that in Britain we are more welcome.
And actually it's worth saying the people of Britain I think are more welcoming.
I think it's politicians, people like Farage who have a problem.
The rest of us are saying, yeah, we're here.
If somebody wants to flee horrific situations and make that horrendous journey, they deserve some respect and some support.
But what about applying for refugee status legally as opposed to just showing up?
That's a really interesting question.
We hear that all the time.
Why don't they go the same?
There are no safe routes.
There are no legal routes for people to apply for.
But I mean a legal method.
I don't mean like a route.
If you think about it, if you're in Syria.
But they're in France.
No, no.
These people have come from places like Syria, Yemen.
And then they arrive in Europe and then from Europe they move on to the UK.
They don't move on from Europe.
They're coming from wherever it is, the war-torn country.
It's when they get to France that they're trying to cross a bit.
But why don't they stay in France is what I'm asking.
And I've just explained to you that many of them have connections here in Britain.
And in some ways, isn't it great that they think in Britain we're more welcoming, that actually we respect human rights?
Because that's fundamentally why they think.
Do you think it's more benefits, like richer benefits?
The benefits are not.
It's high in France.
Sorry to interrupt.
Can you just explain something?
This idea of benefits, there are people, working class people in Britain, that can't live off the benefits that they are given.
Yeah, so they're wondering why migrants get the money.
They don't get the money.
The people that run the hotels where they are being housed are getting the money.
But Brits don't get free housing in hotels, right?
These hotels are not five-star hotels.
These are hotels that are being emptied because they're not fit for business, who are then being housed.
And the people that have...
How come Brit homeless can't go there?
Well, that's a question we should ask the government, shouldn't we?
Because when COVID happened, every homeless person was taken in somewhere and housed.
So that's a separate question.
It's not a case of before we had migrants, we had no homelessness in Britain.
We've always had homelessness.
But hasn't migration driven up the cost of housing, supply and demand?
Why Migrants Get Benefits00:05:40
No, no.
You know, you can't have it both ways.
You cannot have it both ways.
You can't say that they're getting free hotel accommodation and then they've increased the price of housing.
Oh, well, it's free to them, but it's the taxpayers paying for it.
They are not in housing.
The reason we have a housing crisis is because actually the government many years ago decided to not invest in building new houses.
The house, social housing they had, they sold off for profit.
That's why we have a housing crisis in Britain.
So who do you support?
Which party do you support?
Well, actually, right now, anyone but Reform UK, let's be honest.
I'll support anyone that's not racist.
It's not about who I support.
It's about recognising that we are out campaigning against a racist party.
But don't you think that calling people racist, you just sort of name-calling instead of dealing with their issues?
Well, no, you can deal with issues of housing.
You can deal with the question of refugees and safe passage.
You can do all that without being racist.
But actually, if a racist acts like a racist, it sounds like a racist, you call him a racist.
And that's what Farage does.
You have to meet yourself again.
I'm not here representing Farage, but can you tell me what he's said that's racist?
Well, the kind of comments he made when we had the riots last summer, they were racist riots.
What comment did he make?
Help me out because I'm from Canada.
Lots of comments about how the problem is it's refugees.
He actually implied that it was a refugee that did what happened in the murders in Southport.
Now, the murders in Southport were horrific.
And hearts go out to the families of those young girls.
But actually, he was not a refugee.
He was the son of the refugee and he converted to Islam, didn't he?
No, he didn't.
And he was not the son of a refugee.
He was born in Britain.
This is the important thing.
He was born in Britain.
So let's not go there.
But actually, that didn't stop him.
Can I ask you about...
I didn't see this sign before.
What are you...
What do you think about King Charles inviting Donald Trump to another state dinner?
Do you have an opinion on that?
Should I talk to someone else about it?
Oh, okay.
I was going to ask her what she thought about King Charles offering a state dinner to Donald Trump.
I'm not going to answer any more questions to you.
Is that all right?
I've spoken a lot about what I wanted to tell.
Okay, I just didn't see the Donald Trump sign before.
And I just want, so that surprised me because Donald Trump's not coming today, right?
So you didn't answer any of my questions.
I think I did.
Well, I'm happy to try again if you want.
We've answered the questions you initially asked, we're not answering anymore.
Okay, I just didn't understand the Trump thing.
I understand the Farage thing.
Are you sure you don't understand?
I'm sure if you read, you will.
And I'm sure you read.
In your job, you read.
Well, how do you feel about Kirstarmer inviting Trump to a second state dinner?
Listen, I think you know the answers.
I don't know the answer.
Why would I ask you if I knew the answer?
Because you want some answers that you know already.
I don't know.
I literally.
I don't know any more questions.
So if you can just step away, because there are other press that we're now talking to.
Are there?
Where are they?
You have to step away.
Suddenly, you're aggressive, and I don't understand why.
I love how it's almost even when I speak up, I get accused of being aggressive.
No, you like you were telling me to leave.
Yeah, because I just told you I don't want answers.
We're in a residential neighborhood and they're using a PA system at 10.21 at night.
Are you worried they're keeping kids up?
Yeah, there is kids along these houses here.
And, you know, the police are doing nothing.
You know, they should be moving them on or telling them to keep quiet at least.
But they're going on about refugees.
We've got plenty here.
We don't need any more refugees.
I think these guys are from Manchester.
It's the feeling I get.
Are you from the local community here?
Is this your house right here?
This is my house here.
What do you think is going to happen just across in the by-election tonight?
Hopefully, reform will take over.
It needs it.
It does really need reform to take over because we're a small island at the end of the day.
You know, we just can't keep taking more and more people on.
Let me ask you this.
I think some people are afraid of saying what you've just said to me because they're worried that they'll be called racist or they might even be cancelled at work.
What do you think about cancel culture and having it?
You're speaking freely.
Well, you should speak freely.
I mean, you know, like I said, we are only a small island.
And while the government keeps giving them handouts, left, right, and centre and not looking after our own, it's totally wrong.
And I'd tell them to the faces as well.
But would they have them take refugees in?
More than likely no.
You know what I mean?
They won't take them into their own homes, but they want them on our streets.
You know, you go around the parks, you see them all walking around.
Don't spoil one of them because they're all male.
You don't see families, just all male.
So, yeah.
Very disgusted on it myself, personally.
But it is what it is, ain't it?
You know, until the government sits up and listen, stop giving handouts.
You know, we might get our country back.
But at the moment, country is not ours anymore.
Well, we didn't stay up all night.
We just were pooped.
But we got up this morning and the news was incredible.
Six Votes Swing Election00:02:54
Naja Farage and the Reform UK won by six votes.
Six votes and about 30,000 being cast.
An unbelievably narrow margin.
In fact, they had a recount last night.
Again, the British can do their counting quickly.
It's hard to overstate the importance of this.
First of all, to go from a district where the Labour Party won an outright majority to beating them in one year.
It hasn't even been a full year since Kirstarmer's Labour government won in July of 2024 is incredible.
But even more incredible, and this is a realignment of British politics, is that Reform UK is now the alternative to the Labour Party.
The Conservatives, which have historically been, you know, the blue, green, red, blue, red, back and forth.
The Conservative Party was very low down.
In fact, they were sort of near the Green Party.
As Nigel Farage said last night, vote conservative, get Labour.
Vote reform, get reform.
Here's some clips of Nigel Farage last night.
We clearly are the main challengers to Labour in the Midlands and the North.
If you vote Conservative, you stop our chances of winning.
If you vote Conservative, you get Labour.
But if you vote reform in the Midlands of the North, from now up until the general election, if you vote reform, you get.
And those messages, those messages are big and strong and clear.
And they're my big takeaways from what's happened here over the course of the last 24 hours.
Now, of course, by-elections are an opportunity for protest votes.
You're not changing the entire direction of the country, but you're sending a rocket at the government in power.
But that said, they chose the Reform Party to be that protest vote, not the Conservatives.
And there were other votes last night, too.
As I mentioned, this was a special by-election because the Labour MP beat someone up and was kicked out of Parliament.
But there were other local councils and mayors that were elected too, and many of them went reform.
So we're on our way back to Canada now.
And you'll forgive me this super quick jaunt over here, but there's a reason I came.
Obviously, I'm interested in the UK.
You know that.
I'm interested in the Reform Party, but I'm interested in their campaign material.
And I want to show you, this is a little campaign brochure that they used here.
It's styled as a newspaper.
It's basically a large brochure, but it looks like a newspaper.
They call it Run Corn and Hellsby's Voice.
It looks a little bit like a newspaper.
I want to show you a little bit of it.
I'll head it to you if you want to scan it later.
Campaign Brochure Analysis00:01:33
Look at this campaign language and think, could this work in Canada?
Over the last decade, 7.2 million people born outside the UK have registered with GPs, general practitioners.
Labour and the Tories have broken our NHS.
That's their Medicare system.
How do you think it would work in Canada if there was a Conservative Party that said Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney or the Liberal Party has broken our health care system over the last decade?
5 million people born outside Canada have registered with doctors.
I think it would resonate because I think that's a real problem in Canada too.
Reform will fix our NHS.
That's the health system.
But there's another promise they make.
Here's our four bullet points.
Freeze immigration and stop the boats.
Why doesn't the Conservative Party say freeze immigration?
I think that's a winning phrase.
Then they have other issues.
Reverse Labor's winter fuel cuts.
Scrap net zero to cut your energy bills.
Reward work and cut your taxes.
I don't know.
What I learned here in the UK is this, if I have to sum it up in one sentence, is that after a while, calling people racist doesn't really work anymore.
At most, it makes people have their political views quietly, but it doesn't deter their views.
And if you actually stand firmly, you might just win.