Nigel Farage to Keir Starmer on immigration: "What is the government trying to hide from us?"

Nigel Farage and four other Reform UK MPs have written to Keir Starmer to demand answers surrounding immigration and ask "What is the government trying to hide from us?".

Nigel Farage posted to X:

Reform MPs have written to @Keir_Starmer to demand the British people are told the truth about how immigration is changing our country. What is the government trying to hide from us?

Reform UKs letter to Keir Starmer in full:

The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP

Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London

SW1A 2AA

1st November 2024

Dear Prime Minister,

As you know, according to the national polls, the British people consider immigration to be one of the most important issues facing the country.

The overwhelming majority of ordinary people want to end the deliberate policy of mass, uncontrolled legal immigration and regain control over illegal immigration.

This is causing a national crisis, with public trust in politics and the system collapsing. According to new polling by Professor Matt Goodwin, only 6% of British people today say they trust politicians to "tell them the truth about how immigration is changing British society, while only 19% trust journalists - and only 27% trust civil servants to do the same. This is weakening our democracy and society.

We are writing to you because this crisis is being made worse by the fact that information is being withheld or deliberately concealed from the British public.

While other governments across Europe and elsewhere are collecting and making more data available on the impact of immigration, government departments in the UK appear to be publishing less. Why is this?

We demand that the British people are treated with the respect and decency they deserve, and are asking for the release of the following data:

1 Data on the amount of income tax, National Insurance contributions, tax credits and Child Benefit data by nationality and immigration status

2 Data on welfare claims by nationality and immigration status

3 Data on arrest rates and prisoner status by nationality and immigration status

4 Data on the sentencing of foreign nationals, including how many are repeat offenders

5 Detailed data on the financial cost, per night, of hotel accommodation for illegal migrants and asylum-seekers

6 Data on spending programmes such as the refugee integration loan scheme

7 In addition to the above, we also demand an answer to why the Office for National Statistics has discontinued analysis of our population by nationality and when this will resume

Most people in the country want this data to be collected and/or released to taxpayers. Recent polling in October 2024, again by Professor Matt Goodwin, finds that between 56% and 67% British people support the government collecting and publishing this data on crime, welfare, taxation, use of the National Health Service, and housing and accommodation costs by nationality and immigration status.

So, we ask: when will it be made available to them?

Yours sincerely

Nigel Farage MP, Richard Tice MP, Lee Anderson MP, Rupert Lowe MP, James McMurdock MP

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1852351745239683252