Reform are “Plastic Patriots” and “Turquoise Tories”

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has condemned Reform UK’s latest immigration plans as “cruel, divisive and profoundly un-British.”

Reform announced they would abolish the right of migrants to qualify for permanent settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain) after five years, forcing people to reapply for visas repeatedly under harsher conditions. They also pledged to ban anyone but British citizens from accessing welfare.

Tom Gordon MP said:

“Reform are coming for our friends and neighbours, people who have built their lives here, who are working, paying taxes, and raising families. People for whom the UK is home.

Their plan to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain would rip up lives in an instant, betraying Hong Kong BNO passport holders who we promised security to, dividing families, and deterring the skills our economy desperately needs.

This isn’t the ‘Global Britain’ Brexiteers promised. It’s the politics of division and hate. It would make our country smaller, meaner, and weaker.

The truth is, Britain has always thrived when it has been confident, outward-looking and compassionate. Reform’s brand of plastic patriotism offers none of that. They are nothing more than Turquoise Tories, peddling the same cruelty and failure, wrapped in a slightly different colour.”

Tom Gordon added that the UK needs a fair and sensible immigration policy:

“Yes, we need an immigration system that balances the needs of our country with the benefits immigration brings. But pretending that tearing up people’s lives will fix Britain’s challenges is simply wrong. It won’t fix our economy, it won’t rebuild our NHS, and it won’t make families feel more secure. In fact, it risks making things worse.”