Reform UK treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick said a Ukrainian mother and three children would be sent back to their country if she lost her job under Reform UK.

Speaking to about the party’s plans to restrict welfare payments to British citizens only, Jenrick was asked what would happen to a Ukrainian family if they hit hard times.

“If you are not a British citizen, why should you have access to benefits and social housing in our country?”, he said.

“Look at the state of our public finances, you have to make tough choices.”

Jenrick was then asked by : “Would that mother and three children be on the streets? Would they be sent back to Ukraine, or would there be no benefits for them because they’re not British citizens?”

Jenrick replied: “They would have to go back home. Yeah, absolutely. But that’s perfectly reasonable, isn’t it?

“I think that you have to make tough choices.”

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick condemned the disruption of the Port of Dover by masked demonstrators, while saying he understood the frustration with small boats crossing the Channel carrying migrants.

Asked whether he condemned the demonstrations, Jenrick told programme: “I absolutely do. I’ve always hated people obstructing other people doing their daily life, whether it’s Just Stop Oil or whatever.

“And I don’t like people going around in balaclavas, which is obviously very intimidating. In fact, our party’s policy is to ban face coverings like that.

“But do I understand why people are extremely frustrated? Yes, absolutely. This needs to end. This farce of the small boats has been going on for far too long.

“And in fact you saw at our conference Nigel Farage and (National Rally president) Jordan Bardella, the likely next prime minister of France, signing an agreement which has the prospect of ending this once and for all.”

But, he added of the Dover demonstrators, “you do not go about it in this way, and the police should take whatever action they can to stop this happening again.”

Reform UK treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick reacted mockingly to questions about a protester who was apparently hit and had her hair pulled as she was removed from Reform conference, telling her to “get a life”.

The protester was reportedly knocked to the ground by Reform members in the conference hall in Birmingham, with videos appearing to show people pulling her hair, attempting to throw punches and one man swinging at her with his metal crutch.

“Come off it. I’m not afraid of hecklers,” Jenrick told .

“I’ve had plenty of them in my time. But if you go… I’ve seen the video you take, you take your chances.”

The Reform frontbencher added: “She is a far-left protester, goes into a party conference, tries to wreck the leader’s speech, and cries foul if a pensioner knocks her over the head with their Zimmer frame.

“I mean, come on, get a life.

“This person knew what they were doing. They were trying to cause trouble, and they probably got more publicity out of it as a result of what happened.”

Reform UK treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick has defended fellow party member Zia Yusuf as not racist following comments about a Somali refugee hoping to stand in a by-election.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told this morning that Yusuf’s comments were “pretty straightforward racism”, after Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, posted on X, saying:

“The front runner being foisted on the people of Holborn by Labour to replace the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer in our Parliament was born in Somalia.

“Do you understand what’s happening?”

Asked whether he thinks these remarks are racist, Jenrick said: “No.”

“I think the point he’s making is this… there’s no rule against people standing who weren’t born in this country, who came for whatever reason here,” he added.

“So I’m not here to cast aspersions upon her.

“Maybe she is someone who is entirely patriotic and supportive of this country.

“I would just say… that is not everyone, sadly, in our current House of Commons.”

Jenrick also asked: “Why are there people standing for Parliament at the moment, in fact, sitting in the House of Commons who are more interested in whether an airport is being built in Mirpur than whether the bin strike is cleared in Birmingham?

“I don’t like sectarian politics. I want people who are solely interested in putting the interests of our country.”

Challenged that he is insinuating she would not prioritise the UK because of where she is born, Jenrick responds: “It’s not about whether she’s from Somalia or the United States or wherever.

“I’m saying that if you weren’t born in this country and you stand for parliament, it’s a legitimate question to ask, where are your loyalties? Are you going to put the interests of Britain first?”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has claimed that Nigel Farage is “struggling” to decide whether he was serious about becoming Prime Minister.

Discussing Reform UK’s recent donations row, Reynolds told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “For a political party that doesn’t like foreigners much, they do seem to have a soft spot for foreign cash”.

“We have rules in this country about how democracy, and everyone has to stick to them,” he added.

During a recent Channel 4 broadcast, Reform figures appeared to be caught on camera discussing how to disguise donations from foreign sources.

“He was just so shifty in there,” he said on Farage’s interview with Kuenssberg. “I think you see someone struggling to decide whether they’re really serious about running for power or whether to keep the protest going.”

Nigel Farage has condemned the hundreds of masked and black-clad anti-illegal migrant protesters blocking the roads of Dover on Saturday.

The Reform UK leader said he “deplored” people wearing balaclavas or masks at protests.

“You should not be allowed to be masked up, balaclava-ed up and go out and protest on the streets of our country. It is wrong at every level,” he said.

“So I deplore what is happening in Dover today,” he added.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has claimed that he “wasn’t listening” when he was filmed by an undercover reporter discussing what appears to have been a scheme to funnel foreign money to Reform UK.

“I am not a compliance officer. I was in the middle of canvassing in the Clacton by-election. I turn up. I frankly wasn’t even listening”, he told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

“I was told there was a global family office based in London, so the money could have come from Singapore,” he added. “The money could come from all over the world, you know. Income could have come from all over the world into a family office based in London.”

Both Reform UK’s former chief of staff Dan Jukes and ex-head of policy James Orr have been removed from their jobs after an investigation recorded them talking about how to get money to the party from an American donor and asking a fake company to pay for polling.

Farage said the two individuals “have never been involved in fundraising before and they shouldn’t have been involved directly in fundraising.

“Nobody should be brought to me, unless they’ve been vetted,” he added.

The Reform leader also revealed that his family had been “begging” him to quit frontline politics. “They would rather I packed it up and walked away,” Farage said. But the Reform leader said had not considered quitting.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has condemned comments about a potential Labour candidate in an upcoming parliamentary by-election “pretty straightforward racism”.

Speaking to , Reynolds was asked about remarks made by Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf. 

Yusuf made the comments following the triggering of a Holborn and St Pancras by-election, caused by Sir Keir Starmer resigning as an MP on Monday. A potential Labour candidate to replace Starmer is a Somali-born former refugee. 

Upon learning about this, Yusuf wrote on X: “The front runner being foisted on the people of Holborn by Labour to replace the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer in our Parliament was born in Somalia.

“Do you understand what’s happening?”

About the post, Reynolds said it is: “Pretty straightforward racism, isn’t it? 

“I mean, there’s a potential candidate reference there. Spent decades in this country, huge contribution to her local community. So I think that speaks for itself.”

Challenged that he believes this is “plain racism”, Reynolds replied: “Absolutely.”

Much about Blackpool has been in decline for years. People living in this Lancashire seaside town have seen their life expectancy fall to the lowest level of any place in England. Labour hasn’t held its annual political conference here since 2022. Until very recently, there were no deckchairs on the beach because the council sold them off in 2014.

One statistic, however, has been going up: unemployment, particularly among 16-24-year-olds.

Nearly one in four young people in this age bracket here are what’s known as Neet – not in education, employment or training – according to the interim report of Labour’s youth unemployment tsar, Alan Milburn.

Blackpool has a Neet rate of 7.6 per cent, compared to a national average in England of 3.4 per cent.

Milburn tells me he was moved by what he saw in Blackpool, describing the scale of youth inactivity there as “a disaster zone for young people that demands urgent national attention.”

So, what has gone so wrong here in the north-west?

‘It can mess up your whole life’

At the Jobcentre Plus just a few streets behind the iconic Blackpool Illuminations, Tracy, a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) youth specialist job coach, is speaking to a young woman named Kim. Both did not want to give their surnames.

Read the full story here.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds denied that the government is ‘kicking the can down the road’ when asked about its commitment on defence spending.

Speaking with , Reynolds was asked about the government’s commitment to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035.

“That is our NATO commitment,” he said.

“So the trajectory that’s setting out that path is absolutely vital. 

“Don’t forget, defence spending has risen substantially since this government came to power.

“To move that amount of money… I don’t think sometimes people quite understand the scale of what that means. That is not something you just pull out the hat one day, but you put it out in a proper process.

“I don’t accept any kicking the can down the road, and money has been put into this as a priority at a time when there were lots of other demanding things and lots of things that the British public wants to see.”

The PM and the chancellor have both declined to commit the UK to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, a target that John Healey – now the chancellor – previously resigned over.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has condemned Reform UK’s plans to cut the number of people using welfare, calling them “just fantasy”.

Speaking with , Reynolds was asked whether the government will set a tangible target to cut the number of people on welfare, as Reform UK has done. 

“The Reform stuff is just fantasy,” he said.

He added, “These guys have no idea what they’re doing or proposing. So no, I don’t think that approach is the right thing.”

Reynolds also said that reforming the welfare system “will be a mission for this government”, but has stressed they must reframe the debate.

Asked about the rise in people claiming disability welfare payments in the UK, the business secretary told : “We have a higher amount of people registering themselves for disabilities today than we did as a percentage of the population after we’d fought a major world war.

“So, yes, it’s a thing.”

But he speaks about his own disabled son and says he is “not someone who is out there to denigrate people”.

A Cabinet minister has condemned the blocking of Dover roads by masked and black-clad anti-illegal migrant protesters.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told programme: “I condemn it. I mean, peaceful protest – essential part of British life, but that’s not dressing up in costumes like this and disrupting people’s lives.

“So I would condemn it, but I’d condemn the disruption it caused for local people as well.

“But it was resolved, it was resolved. But clearly, that’s not something we would want or expect to see on the (streets) of Britain.”

He declined to comment “on the security and policing side of it” when pressed on the apparent unpreparedness of the police, adding that “on the whole, the police handled it very well”.

Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds has said he is confident the Government will cut the welfare bill.

Speaking on Sunday, Reynolds said he is “very confident” Andy Burnham will reduce the UK’s large welfare bill.

He told : “I feel, if I’m being honest, in the first two years, a lot of that conversation about that piece of legislation was about the saving, what that meant. 

“Now that budget does need to come down, but you’ve got to give people that positive proposition. So I’m very, very confident.”