THE Labour Party have come under fire after launching Reform-style Facebook pages aimed at promoting their record on migration and crime.
One page, titled "Protecting Britain's Communities" aims to "outline the Labour Party's plans to uphold the rule of law and keep communities safe", highlighting articles about how the Government is tackling antisocial behaviour.
A second page, titled "UK Migration Updates", boasts of the number of deportations carried out by the Labour Government.
The party has also launched a series of social media advertisements, in Reform blue, also praising its deportation stats.
"Breaking news: Labour hits 5 year high in migrant removals," the text reads.
It comes as YouGov recorded Nigel Farage's Reform UK ahead of Labour for the first time. The survey showed that if a General Election were held tomorrow, 25% of UK voters would choose Reform, while 24% chose Labour.
In the wake of the news, dozens of Labour MPs set up an internal group to focus on how to handle the threat from Reform. PA reported that the aim of the group is to identify ways to better promote Labour’s work on areas like migration and crime.
One Labour source spoke highly of the new tactics in The Guardian.
“The Tories and Reform offer nothing but weasel words, while this Labour government gets on with fixing the asylum system, which the Tories broke," they said. "We intend to let the public know about our plan for change through every available channel. It’s already seen thousands of people with no right to be here removed from Britain and tough new border security measures to reduce small boat crossings.”
However, the new social media strategy has provoked anger from MPs and campaigners.
York MP Rachael Maskell (below), whose local party has set up the UK Migration Watch page, said: “I would caution the party against raising such community tensions when we know there are so many asylum seekers who have experienced persecution in their lives. I represent England’s only human rights city, where we uphold the dignity of all.”
Meanwhile, Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty International UK, told The Guardian: “It is seriously worrying that the government seems set on repeating the mistakes of the past – under both Conservative and Labour leadership.
“For anyone wishing to see that every person’s human dignity is properly respected, and that we have a fair and efficient immigration and asylum system in the UK, public communication strategies such as this only make the situation worse.”
Meanwhile on Thursday, the Tories unveiled their own plan to see off rising support for Reform UK.
Kemi Badenoch said that people who have moved to the UK should have to wait at least 15 years before they become eligible for British citizenship.
Arguing that citizenship should only go to people who have shown “a real commitment” to Britain, Badenoch urged the UK Government to make it harder for immigrants to secure permanent residency or a British passport.
