Ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana has officially launched a rival anti-Reform rally after doubling down on her controversial claims about Nigel Farage being “far-right”.
Sultana, who yesterday compared Reform UK to the British National Party and National Front, shared a link to the protest and urged supporters to “join the fightback”.
In her post, the 31-year-old Coventry South MP said: “We stand for solutions, not scapegoats. We’re against billionaires bankrolling division, against politicians propping up a system rigged against us, and for a future rooted in working-class unity, solidarity and justice.”
Ex-Shadow Chancellor, who was suspended from the Labour Party alongside Sultana after rebelling over the two-child benefit cap last summer, will also attend the rally at Secret Space in Birmingham.
Former Respect Party leader Salma Yaqoob and Birmingham Trades Union Council chief Martin Hoare were also named as speakers at the event organised to “reject Reform’s divisive blame game”.
The counter-protest, which kicks off at 7pm, starts just one hour after Stand Up To Racism’s “Farage not welcome in Birmingham” event.
Addressing the spat with Sultana on Good Afternoon Britain earlier today, Farage told GB News: “I think it’s disgraceful and frankly I think it’s almost inciteful. What she said about me and said about our people is very close to incitement.
“And clearly what she is trying to do is get a crowd of protesters, many of whom may not behave themselves, to turn up on March 28 – when we will be holding the biggest political rally seen in the United Kingdom for many, many decades.
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“If you believe in free speech, even if you disagree with what Farage says and what Reform stands for, and attempt to stop the event from going ahead, I think that’s an absolute democratic disgrace. It’s not the way for any elected Member of Parliament to behave.”
Rejecting Sultana’s decision to compare Reform UK to the BNP, the Clacton MP added: “Reform is non-sectarian, non-racist. We’re open to absolutely everybody. It’s just that we’re patriotic, we believe in controlling our borders and putting the interest of the British people first.”