Reform defended by Ben Habib in blistering row over 'threat' to Labour: 'Starmer is ANTI-British!'

Reform defended by Ben Habib in blistering row over 'threat' to Labour: 'Starmer is ANTI-British!'

WATCH NOW: Ben Habib and Jonathon Lis clash in a fiery row over Reform UK's threat to Labour

GB News
Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 04/10/2024

- 22:23

Councillor Jim O'Neill of Reform UK gained the Marton Ward seat from Labour in Blackpool with 38.8 per cent of the vote

Ben Habib has branded Sir Keir Starmer "anti-British" in staunch defence of Reform UK after the party won a Labour-held seat in Blackpool.

Councillor Jim O'Neill gained the Marton Ward seat from Labour with 38.8 per cent of the vote, strengthening the ever-growing power of Reform UK in Parliament.


Reacting to the latest win for Nigel Farage's party, Habib told GB News that the previously "safe" seat held by Labour was "taken" by Reform UK, and warned of "many more seats" being won in years to come.

Habib claimed: "The electorate didn't see how damaging the Labour Party would be, and the electorate absolutely gets that now.

Ben Habib, Keir Starmer

Ben Habib hit out at 'anti-British' Keir Starmer as he defended Reform UK's surge to power

GB News / PA

"People say it's only five seats, but it's a bridgehead. We're winning by-election seats and we're going to we're going to have a thumping set of results in the local elections next May, and it'll be Labour and the Tories who'll be giving up their seats to Reform then."

Hitting back at Habib, political commentator Jonathan Lis questioned him on whether he "really believes Reform will be the next Government opposition", following the next general election.

Habib rebutted Lis's question, stating: "I think that Reform has it within its grasp to absolutely form the next Government. There are many challenges it faces, some from within the party, and of course, a week is a long time in politics.

"But Reform is the only political party in Parliament that is known across this country that actually has a coherent pro-British set of policies. The Labour Party is not appropriate. I say Keir Starmer is anti-British."

Jim O'Neill

Reform UK gained the Marton Ward seat from Labour in Blackpool, with 38.8 per cent of the vote

X / Reform UK

Lis was infuriated by Habib's remarks, claiming his argument was "completely outrageous".

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

Lis told Habib: "Someone who disagrees with you does not make them anti-British. It just means that they disagree with you. You have no monopoly over what it means to be anti-British or pro-British.

"I find it profoundly offensive that you seek to define patriotism in your own image alone. That is actually, ironically enough, anti-British in itself."

Standing firm on his argument, Habib then claimed that Starmer "wants the UK to be governed by Brussels".

Habib fumed: "If the Prime Minister got half a chance to take the UK back into the EU, he would do it. You have an individual in office who wishes to give up the democratic representation of the people in this country to a third power.

Ben Habib, Jonathan Lis

Ben Habib and Jonathan Lis were engaged in a fiery row over Reform's threat to Labour

GB News

"The proposal with the European Union is for people up to the age of 30 to be able to come and go as they please. That is freedom of movement, that is taking down your borders to a foreign power.

"I can go much further with why I think he's anti-British, but in my view, my points constitute an attack on the nation-state that is the United Kingdom."

In defence of Labour, Lis hit back: "We can still be pro-British, we can still be patriotic. We just have a different vision of what it means and what we want for this country.

"That's all it is, it's having a different vision."

You may like