Politics live : Starmer hits out at Reform cruel plan to restore two - child benefit cap

independent.co.uk · Feb 18, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

Full Article

LiveupdatedNewsUKUK Politics‘Protecting people who might be vulnerable because of their sex ethnicity or disability does not undermine anyone else's rights,’ Lib Dem MP saysNigel Farage has been warned that "rights are not finite" after he claimed that middle-aged white men were losing jobs because of the Equality Act.His party has promised to scrap the act on day one if it wins the next election, with Suella Braverman claiming that Britain is being “ripped apart by diversity, equality and inclusion” policies.Asked whether he could guarantee nobody would lose a job because of their sex, ethnicity or disability under his party’s plans to scrap the Equality Act, Mr Farage claimed: "People are losing their jobs now, particularly if they are white, and male and middle-aged, and that’s the problem, that actually something that was designed to stop discrimination becomes in itself discriminatory.”Responding, Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West who sits on the Women and Equalities Committee, told The Independent: "Rights are not finite. Protecting people who might be vulnerable because of their sex ethnicity or disability does not undermine anyone else's rights.” It comes after Sir Keir Starmer has accused Reform UK of pushing “hundreds of thousands of children into poverty” after the party announced today that it would restore the two-child benefit cap - a move the PM described as “cruel” and “shameful”.Farage 'playing into short sighted, divisive politics', Runnymede Trust says Our political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:Nigel Farage has been accused of "playing into short sighted, divisive politics" after claiming that middle class, white men are losing jobs because of the Equality Act. Dr Shabna Begum, CEO of leading anti-racism charity, the Runnymede Trust told The Independent: "At a time when racial and religiously motivated hate crimes and violence against women and girls are all steeply rising, it would be irresponsible to remove the few protections in place for those at risk. Claims that the country is being ripped apart by policies that seek to address long standing inequalities and discrimination are inflammatory, divisive and quite frankly dishonest. "We have a problem with unemployment which is at its highest since the pandemic. The focus should be on addressing how we improve the quality and security of jobs, not playing into short sighted, divisive politics that does nothing to help anyone and instead breeds the politics of grievance and resentment, which are entirely ineffective."Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 February 2026 15:03Farage accused of telling the ‘opposite of the truth’ Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:The Reform UK leader has been accused of telling the “opposite of the truth” after he claimed that middle-aged white men are losing jobs because of the Equality Act. Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti, a former director of Liberty, told the Independent: “Nigel Farage’s analysis is the opposite of the truth. Race, sex and age are protected under the Equality Act. Before anti-discrimination laws people in Britain had no protection from prejudice by employers and other powerful people."Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 February 2026 14:51Farage 'white men' jobs claim debunkedNigel Farage's claim that middle-aged white men are losing jobs because of the Equality Act is not reflected in the data.Employment figures from July to September last year show that people from a white ethnic background have lower rates of unemployment in the UK than those from minority ethnic backgrounds.In that period, the UK unemployment rate for people from a white ethnic background was 4.3 per cent, an increase of 0.7 percentage points on the same period the previous year.The unemployment rate for people from minority ethnic backgrounds was 8.8 per cent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points on the same period the previous year.And according to the 2021 census for England and Wales, people from White Irish and White British ethnic backgrounds had the lowest unemployment rates, at 4.7 and 4.9 per cent respectively.People from Arab and Other Black ethnic backgrounds had the highest unemployment rates, at 14.3 per cent and 14.2 per cent respectively. Millie Cooke 18 February 2026 14:29Farage says Reform UK is no longer a ‘one-man band’ – so who is in his new top team?Claiming that Reform now “has its own brand, Reform has its own identity, and now Reform has its own senior characters with their own departments to lead”, Mr Farage appointed four key spokesperson roles.Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 February 2026 14:20Rights not finite, MP says, as Farage claims Equality Act losing middle-aged white men jobs Nigel Farage has been warned that "rights are not finite" after he claimed that middle-aged white men were losing jobs because of the Equality Act.His party has promised to scrap the act on day one if it wins the next election, with Suella Braverman claiming that Britain is being “ripped apart by diversity, equality and inclusion” policies.Asked whether he could guarantee nobody would lose a job because of their sex, ethnicity or disability under his party’s plans to scrap the Equality Act, Mr Farage claimed: "People are losing their jobs now, particularly if they are white, and male and middle-aged, and that’s the problem, that actually something that was designed to stop discrimination becomes in itself discriminatory.“The protections you’re talking about were in law way before the 2010 Equalities Act.”Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, who sits on the Women and Equalities Committee, told The Independent: "Rights are not finite. Protecting people who might be vulnerable because of their sex, ethnicity or disability does not undermine anyone else's rights."It simply creates a level playing field for all of us. Should we always be aware of how we can improve those protections in the Act? Yes but that's very different from what Reform is suggesting." Christine Jardine MP (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) (PA Wire)Millie Cooke18 February 2026 14:16Farage and Jenrick disagree on pensions triple lockReform UK might not keep the triple lock on pensions if it won power, leader Nigel Farage has said today – shortly after new Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said he backed the policy.Under the triple lock guarantee, the state pension increases every April in line with whichever is the highest of earnings in May to July of the previous year, consumer prices index (CPI) inflation in September of the previous year, or 2.5 per cent. Mr Jenrick said: “I’ve always been a supporter of the triple lock. It’s incredibly important to provide dignity and security to older people on fixed incomes in the last decades of their life, particularly at a time like this where there’s such challenging circumstances with the cost of living.” But shortly afterwards Mr Farage said the policy was still “open for debate”. Asked today whether he had changed his mind, Mr Farage said: “No, I haven’t changed my mind. It’s open for debate. Everything is open for debate.”Jane Dalton18 February 2026 14:09Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on Wednesday during an address "illegal immigrants arrived on Diego Garcia some years ago and they were looked after, houses were built for them, schools were built".The asylum seekers who came to Diego Garcia were housed in military tents and lessons took place in the camp chapel.Between October 2021 and December 2022, 349 asylum seekers arrived on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which includes the island of Diego Garcia. Most of them (285) later left voluntarily.A 2023 BIOT Supreme Court judgment explained that the asylum seekers were kept in a camp on Diego Garcia which was intended to be "surge capacity" for the island's military base.It added that the camp "was an open area with military tents on concrete base pads. The asylum seekers are housed in these tents." The tents were air conditioned and the residents slept on military cots and camping beds.There were no cooking facilities, but a contractor provided three meals a day.In July 2022 teachers were deployed to the island, with the lessons taking place in the chapel.The camp was fenced off and guarded by a private contractor.Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 February 2026 14:00Reform attacks on Equality Act 'inflammatory, divisive and dishonest'Reform UK's attacks on the Equality Act are "inflammatory, divisive and quite frankly dishonest", a leading anti-racism charity has said.Suella Braverman announced plans to scrap the Act, claiming Britain was being “ripped apart by diversity, equality and inclusion” policies.But Dr Shabna Begum, CEO of the Runnymede Trust, told The Independent: "At a time when racial and religiously motivated hate crimes and violence against women and girls are all steeply rising, it is irresponsible to propose weakening the few protections in place for those at risk."Claims that the country is being ripped apart by policies that seek to address long-standing inequalities and discrimination are inflammatory, divisive and quite frankly dishonest. “We’re on a dangerous trajectory where politicians encourage demonisation of our hard-fought protections while refusing to make a difference to the economic hardships that underpin the sense of grievance that people genuinely feel. "This is just more short-sighted policy-making that plays into the hands of a select few, to win votes based on hatred. Our politics can and must be better than that." Millie Cooke 18 February 2026 13:50Starmer says Reform's two-child benefit cap shows 'total disregard for lives of young people'Sir Keir Starmer said Reform UK's pledge to bring back the two-child benefit cap showed a "total disregard for the lives of young people".He told reporters in South Wales: "This is shameful from Reform - a total disregard for the lives of young people."I hope that they absolutely never get to be in power, because this is an indication of the sort of Britain that they want to see