Reform UK has announced plans to create a deportations agency modelled on ICE – the US governmental agency terrorising communities across the country.

Green MP Carla Denyer has released a video condemning Reform’s plans for an ICE-style agency, and criticising Labour for parroting Reform’s hate.

In the video, Carla Denyer said:

“Instead of standing up to Reform’s Trump tribute act, this Labour government is parroting their hate – scaling up immigration raids, changing the rules for migrants who are already living in the UK, and plumbing new depths by broadcasting footage of people being detained and deported straight into our phones”.

“Reform has nothing else to offer and sadly neither do Labour anymore. When they have no solutions they look for scapegoats, desperately dragging the conversation back to migration again and again.”

“The Green Party knows that it is inequality not immigration that is making life tough, and that’s why we are offering hope and a plan to go with it – to bring down bills, protect the NHS, and rebuild our public services.”

A Green Party spokesperson said:

“Almost two-thirds of Americans say ICE makes their country less safe; Reform’s plans are a danger to people in the UK. People here do not want to be harassed and intimidated as they go about their daily lives. They do not want to see British citizens racially profiled and arrested based on their accent or appearance. They do not want children to be terrified to walk to school. Together we must reject the politics of division and hate.”

EDITORS NOTES

1. Since September ICE agents have shot 14 people, killing two US citizens, and there have been a further 24 deaths in ICE custody. President Trump is accused of using ICE as his personal paramilitary force. The agency was criticised by a judge for its “culture of lawlessness”.
2. Almost 2/3 of Americans say ICE is making their country less safe.
3. US citizens are regularly arrested or detained by ICE based on racial profiling, accent or appearance. Last year, a 65-year-old British woman with a valid tourist visa was detained by ICE for six weeks.
4. Children as young as five have been taken into ICE custody. Small children have also been seized as hostages to compel their parents to surrender themselves. Armed raids of hospitals, churches, homes and schools are said to have “turn[ed] life into a daily terror”.

Dr Ellie Chowns MP said: “Today and every day the Green Party stands in full solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who have now spent four brutal years defending themselves against Russia’s war of aggression. We pay tribute to their extraordinary strength and bravery in the face of violence, displacement, and attacks on vital infrastructure such as the energy grid.

“We call on the UK government to redouble its humanitarian, diplomatic, and security support for the people of Ukraine, and to continue making every effort in pressing for a just and lasting ceasefire. We further call on the government to use today’s anniversary as an opportunity to defend Ukraine’s right to self-determination in the strongest possible terms on the international stage, making explicit that the UK will stand against any bad-faith actors who attempt to bully or intimidate Ukraine into appeasing Russia’s demands.

“Finally, we recognise the courage of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees living in Britain after fleeing the horrors of war; they too deserve the full support of the UK government, including provision of the security and stability needed to genuinely rebuild their lives, free from fear of their legal rights to remain in the UK being unjustly stripped away.”

The first constituency-specific poll for the Gorton and Denton by-election has today been released by pollster Omnisis, showing the Green Party leading with voters, with Reform in second place and Labour third. 

With undecided or not voting responses removed, Greens held 33% of the vote, Reform on 29% and Labour on 26%. All other parties made up 12% of the vote combined. 

Commenting, Hannah Spencer, Green Party candidate for Gorton and Denton, said

This result matches what we’ve been hearing on the doorsteps. Voters are fed up with Labour, and rejecting Reform’s division. Matt Goodwin has come up from London to spread rubbish about our communities, and by voting Green we can show him how wrong he is. I’m proud to be a Mancunian, proud that we look out for each other and proud that we’re showing the difference a positive and hopeful message can make. If voters choose me on the 26th of February, it would be the honour of my life to represent them in Westminster. 

Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party, said
“This election is about hope versus hate. Greens versus Reform. And this poll shows it. If people want to keep Reform out, then they need to vote Green on the 26th February.”

Responding to a U-turn on the cancellation of local elections in England, a Green Party spokesperson said:

“The cancellation of local elections in England was a disgraceful disregard of democracy by Labour. It was always about political self-interest and a fear of the electorate voting against this government and its inability to deliver anything but U-turns.

“It was also another sign of the disturbing authoritarian trend of a caretaker Prime Minister who has overseen moves to scrap jury trials, criminalise peaceful protest and ride roughshod over local planning laws.

“The by-election in Gorton and Denton is showing that support for this shambolic Labour government is in freefall. The old two party system has disintegrated, and the now reinstated local elections will – in many places across England – be between Reform UK and the Green Party.

“Voting is a right, not – as Labour seems to think – a privilege. People will now have their right to decide who should represent them in their local communities and who runs their Councils.”