Reform UK's Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf has threatened Vodafone with the loss of government contracts after the company defended its programme providing free mobile connectivity through registered charities.
The latest intervention follows Yusuf's letter to Vodafone chief executive Margherita Della Valle and the company's board concerning SIM cards supplied to Care4Calais.
Yusuf alleged that Vodafone was helping people enter Britain illegally and demanded that the company end its relationship with the charity. He also warned that company directors could face criminal liability under legislation proposed by a future Reform government.
Vodafone has disputed the premise behind Yusuf's allegations.
In a statement reported by Mobile News, the company said:
"VodafoneThree's programme provides mobile SIMs to registered UK charities for distribution in the UK."
Vodafone added that participating organisations were regulated by the Charity Commission and that the calls, texts and data supplied through the programme were for UK use only.
The company's published charities.connected programme provides free SIM cards to registered charities seeking to tackle digital exclusion. According to Vodafone, successful applications are delivered to a charity's registered address and the cards include mobile data, calls and texts for six months.
Yusuf accuses Vodafone of "doubling down"
Responding on Friday afternoon, Yusuf accused Vodafone of "doubling down" on what he described as its assistance to people attempting to enter Britain illegally.
That remains Yusuf's allegation. Vodafone has not accepted that its SIM cards were supplied for use in France or to facilitate illegal Channel crossings.
Yusuf said a future Reform government would immediately review Vodafone's public contracts. He also said the company would be excluded from defence, national-security and emergency-services procurement if Reform concluded that it had assisted illegal entry.
These are proposed actions by Reform UK, which is not currently in government. No public contract has been withdrawn and Vodafone has not been accused or convicted of a criminal offence in connection with the scheme.
Dispute over where the cards were distributed
Yusuf's original letter said Vodafone had issued 2,221 SIM cards to Care4Calais and claimed they had been given to migrants in Calais.
Reports concerning the programme differ on that central point.
Vodafone says its scheme provides connectivity through registered British charities for distribution in the United Kingdom. Separate reporting has said the cards supplied to Care4Calais were intended for vulnerable people who had already arrived in Britain.
No independently verified evidence has presently been published demonstrating that the disputed SIM cards were activated or distributed in migrant camps in France.
Care4Calais works with refugees and asylum seekers in both Britain and northern France, but its involvement in both locations does not by itself establish where any particular Vodafone SIM cards were distributed.
Disagreement continues
Yusuf has not withdrawn his allegations following Vodafone's response. Instead, he has escalated the dispute by setting out potential financial and procurement consequences for the company under a future Reform administration.
Vodafone, meanwhile, has defended the structure of its programme and maintained that the connectivity is provided for UK use.
The disagreement therefore centres on a question of fact: whether SIM cards supplied through Vodafone's British charitable programme were distributed in France or used to assist illegal entry into the United Kingdom.
On the evidence currently available publicly, Yusuf has made that allegation, but Vodafone disputes it and says the programme operates within the UK.