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'Reform is going NOWHERE!' Labour slapped with stark warning over 'dangerous' language
Oct 30, 2025
Labour has been slapped with a stark warning over propagating "toxic rhetoric" about Reform UK.Previously, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood accused Nigel Farage of "blowing a very loud dog whistle" by flirting with an immigration policy that was "worse than racist".In response, Caerphilly Reform candidate Llyr Powell told GB News' Martin Daubney: "It's going to have huge consequences, because by branding someone a racist and making that word become such a norm in society where if you disagree with someone now you've simply called them a racist, it loses its meaning.""Someone who is racist, who discriminates based on nothing else but just out of pure prejudice, that is dangerous. We're belittling that."WATCH THE CLIP ABOVE FOR MORE
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0:00
I'm joined in the studio by that man who stood for reform in Cofili
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the Cofili by-election, and that is Claire Powell. Mr Powell, welcome to the studio
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I watched this campaign very attentively from afar, and I was told that there was some vile, vile abuse
0:17
going on on the campaign trail. We've heard a lot about this in previous campaign trails
0:22
We've got some pictures we're going to show. What you went through sounds horrific
0:27
Tell us about it. It was one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life, from the attacks on the campaign office to gluing the doors
0:34
to preventing us getting in, to then actually escalating where I had death threats on a regular basis
0:40
This just became the norm in the campaign. And they attacked my home where I was staying in the night
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early hours of the morning, kicking in my door. I was upstairs, just got out of bed
0:51
a little bit trying to work out what's going on, and then I had the panic of
0:55
are these people going to actually physically hurt me? I was spat on. The sort of attacks became really..
1:02
The pressure became where family had to be kept away. I had to warn my friends. It was an unbearable experience
1:09
Sounds absolutely horrific We seeing some pictures on the screen here you exclusively supplied to us Obviously they calling you racist It almost become normal now They crossing out your face there on the placard
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They're destroying placards here. They put swastikas across your face, Adolf Hitler and moustaches
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Mr Powell, talk us through what we're seeing on our screens here and how it's impacted not just you, but the entire campaign team
1:34
Well, of course, the campaign team, we had to make sure that everyone was safe and no one was out campaigning on their own
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But the scary thing about what you're seeing here were people's houses. This was a member of the public who just wanted to support someone in a campaign and their properties were attacked as well
1:48
So even if some people think that going for the reform guy is acceptable
1:52
they wouldn't consider what they were doing to these people who were just ordinary people who were using their democratic right and their families' homes were also attacked
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So it's become really toxic, the environment. I've just seen a fraction of what some of my colleagues go through on a daily basis
2:07
I couldn't even imagine how Nigel and the rest of the MPs do this on a day-to-day basis
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But for me, a concern over my family and what was I really doing here
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I thought I was taking part in a democratic process, represent my community and what I believe in
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But it became sort of where I feared for whether it was my own safety my family my friends or even activists that were just giving up their time to campaign for what they believe in And I was spat on I was attacked in the street outside my office once
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Security would actually walk me in the morning to get my morning breakfast just because they
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were concerned about my well-being. It was a really tough experience and it's my hope that by talking about this that some
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people might be able to reflect on maybe something they posted online or how they have inflamed
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this debate. I had to use legal action against other groups and my political opponents
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to try to get them to take posts down. It just became a very unhealthy environment
3:01
And we've seen, not only in this by-election, but in previous by-elections, outsiders coming in
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We don't need to go into the names of any organisations. I understand that there are investigations going on
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But I wanted to ask you about the broader concern. We've heard Shabon and Mahmood say Reform UK is worse than racist
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We've heard mentions of fascism, of Nazis, of the very, very worst people of all of human history
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Do you think this kind of toxic rhetoric from the very top of the Labour Party, from the
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top of the Liberal Democrat Party do you think it needs to stop Do you think it could have consequences I think it going to have huge consequences because by branding someone a racist and making that word become such a norm in society where if you disagree with someone now you simply call them a racist
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it loses its meaning, its impact of what someone who is racist
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who discriminates based on nothing else but just out of pure prejudice
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that is dangerous if we're belittling that. We've seen it across the world, and I hope that they will reflect on what they're doing here
4:03
because it's had huge consequences for me, my family, and my friends seeing me go through such a thing
4:07
But think of all those other people who just wanted to vote. The Caulfield by-election, we've seen more people turn out
4:12
than ever in an election. Fascists would be the ones that wouldn't be encouraging people to vote
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Fascists would be destroying other people's property because of what they believe in and that side
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So I think if we just tone down the rhetoric, let's stick to the issues, and that's what Reform UK is going to do
4:27
So despite people telling us to go home there, they're in for a very disappointment
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because Reform UK is going absolutely nowhere. we're going to stand up for the people of Wales and what we believe in
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I wonder, actually, if the fascists, the people who call others fascists
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are sometimes the precise thing they accuse others of. Thanks for joining us in the studio today
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and I'm sorry you've been through that harrowing experience, but you've lived the tale of a tale. Thank you very much, Ashley
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It's Leah Powell there from Reform UK. There are lots more still to come between now and 5pm
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