Nigel Farage's security cut by 75% as Labour calls him 'enemy' and Nazi sympathiser

Reform UK has accused authorities of slashing Nigel Farage's personal security just weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Zia Yusuf claimed Reform UK's leader has had his security detail cut by 75% ahead of an "extraordinary 48 hours of demonisation" by senior Labour Party figures.

Mr Yusuf said: "I thought very long and hard, even on the car journey here, about whether to share this because of its sensitivity, but I think given the stakes, I think it does need to be shared. Two weeks ago, the authorities cut Nigel's security detail by 75%. Two weeks ago, the authorities cut Nigel Farage's security detail by 75%, and then we have seen the most extraordinary 48 hours of demonisation, and I'm going to say it again, incitement of violence against the man who is the bookmaker's favourite to be the next Prime Minister, and this comes two weeks after the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, the most high-profile political assassination in recent memory. The Prime Minister knows exactly what he is doing."

Speaking to Times Radio, he added that "donors have stepped in, thankfully, to shore up that security and make sure that Nigel is well protected," but "if anything was to happen to Nigel, we will hold Keir Starmer squarely responsible."

Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political activist, was assassinated while addressing an audience on a university campus on 10 September.

The central theme of the Labour conference in Liverpool this week has been taking the fight to Reform UK, which is leading in UK-wide opinion polls.

Throughout the event, Labour ministers and MPs have attacked Reform and framed its fight with the party in existential terms.

Sir Keir Starmer warned during his conference speech that the politics of Mr Farage and Reform, which he said would threaten the livelihoods of thousands of legal migrants, was "racist" and said anyone who argues that people who have lived here for generations should now be deported is "an enemy of national renewal".

When Mr Yusuf was asked whether the reduction in security was a deliberate attempt by the state to not protect Nigel Farage, he answered: "Well, the claim I'm making is exactly what has happened, which is that it is the Parliamentary Security Department that is responsible for security in both houses, frankly, for what I can tell, inexplicable reasons, decided to materially downgrade Nigel Farage's security. Those are the facts of the matter. And I think that they place into context everything that we have just seen. Now, again, I want to be very clear that donors have stepped in, thankfully, to shore up that security and make sure that Nigel is well protected.

"So people who support Nigel and worried about him. And again, even all right thinking people in this country, I want to reiterate this, who believe that the battle of politics, to the degree that there is a battle, should be about ideas, should be about policies, and not labelling people as flirting with Nazism. Again, they know exactly what they are doing. And if the fact that this has all happened in such a short period of time, I want to reiterate, in the most extraordinary, coordinated way, coming onto programmes like yours, the BBC, Sky, the most powerful megaphone in the country, they know exactly what they're doing."

A House of Commons spokesman said: "The ability of members and their staff to perform their Parliamentary duties safely, both on and off the estate, is fundamental to our democracy.

"Any assessment of an individual MPs' security arrangements or advice is subject to a rigorous risk-based assessment, conducted by security professionals and with input from a range of professional authorities. Whilst these are naturally kept under continuous review, we do not comment on specific details so as not to compromise the safety of MPs, parliamentary staff or members of the public."