Reform to unveil controversial plan to fine firms and jail bosses who employ illegal workers – UK politics live

Key events

Restore Britain's Rupert Lowe declines to say whether King is a 'white Briton'

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has declined to say, when asked, whether he thinks the King is a “white Briton”.

It comes after Lowe said “white Britons will become a minority by 2063” in a video in which he offered to work with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

The BBC’s Nick Robinson asked Lowe about the issue on the Today programme on Thursday, noting that the forecast he referred to defines a white Briton as someone whose parents were both born in the UK.

Robinson told the Restore Britain leader that “because Prince Philip was born in Greece, King Charles is not, under your definition, treated as a white Briton”.

King Charles III in traditional Highland dress meets the Wounded Highlanders army veterans team during the 2026 Mey Highland Games in traditional Highland dress at John O'Groats Showground on August 01, 2026 in John O'Groats, Scotland. Photograph: Martin Grimes/Getty Images

Lowe said: “Well, many people have different interpretations of that, Nick. I mean, we can split hairs.”

Robinson interjected: “We’re not splitting hairs, do you think the monarch of this country is a white Briton?”

Lowe said:

The experience of what we’re talking about is quite clear and I think most British people, if you speak to them, would agree.

And that is why Restore Britain’s membership is growing very fast and your listeners are dropping equally fast, because you don’t reflect actually what’s happening. You try and whitewash all the things that are happening.

Polanski says people of colour 'sometimes held by higher standards'

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has defended a black university professor who resigned amid a plagiarism row, saying that people of colour can “be held by higher standards” in society.

Professor Jason Arday quit his high-profile role at the University of Cambridge on Wednesday after it launched an investigation into his “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”.

The professor of sociology of education, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, said in his open resignation letter that the “only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”.

His decision to step down comes after a series of media reports, including a story in the Daily Telegraph, alleging he plagiarised his PhD thesis and other research.

Speaking as Arday’s resignation was announced, Polanski sought to defend his decision to sign a letter which criticised the “sustained and malicious attacks” on the academic’s integrity.

Asked on LBC about the decision to put his name to it, Polanski said:

I think the whole affair sounds pretty sad. Again, I think it would be good, actually, if the [university] investigation still was carried out, because I think it would be good to know the truth.

And ultimately, I think these things should be about fair process and transparency rather than trial by media.

He added:

[The university] had already done, I think, two investigations and found there was no problem here or that the allegations were unfounded, and so [the letter] was about essentially saying that people of colour, particularly in society, can sometimes be held by higher standards.

Tories should 'think again' over Bonehill-Paine's adviser appointment, says Cooper

Health secretary Yvette Cooper has urged the Conservatives to “think again” after Kemi Badenoch appointed a former antisemite as a party adviser.

It came after Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who had been selected by the Tories to contest a council election next year, withdrew his candidacy.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, Cooper said:

I have to say I’m a bit shocked by this decision. I don’t understand it at all. And I’ve listened to Luciana Berger talk about the way she had felt with this man who was targeting her, even talking about giving Nazi salutes. I mean, just really disturbing.

This is obviously somebody who should not be in in public life. I think that every party has to take this very seriously.

We’ve seen antisemitism on the rise in our country, and we have to have zero tolerance for any kind of antisemitism, and also just demonstrate that zero tolerance across the country as well. I really hope the Conservatives think again on this.

Reform plan to fine firms and jail bosses who employ illegal workers

Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.

Reform UK says it will fine firms 10% of their global revenues and imprison bosses who employ illegal migrant workers under the party’s latest plans to bring down immigration.

Employers would be held responsible even if they were unaware of the worker’s immigration status, Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf will announce in a speech later today, with the policy being dubbed the ‘Deliveroo law’.

In a statement to the Daily Express, Yusuf said:

Under a Reform government, Britain will have the harshest penalties in the world for employing illegal migrants.

Bosses of companies employing illegal migrants will be sent to prison, and their companies fined 10% of their global revenues.

There are companies whose entire business model is based on profiting from illegal working.

Under current legislation, businesses employing someone who does not have the right to work without carrying out the correct checks face fines of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker.

Reform’s announcement comes after a government crackdown on illegal working in the delivery sector. The Home Office announced in July it had arrested 10 Evri workers who were on immigration bail, subject to strict conditions, while further inquiries took place.

Figures published in January showed visits and arrests linked to illegal working had reached their highest levels since current records began in 2019. Some 12,791 visits took place in 2025, up 57% from 8,122 in the previous year, to businesses including nail bars, car washes, barbers and takeaway shops.

A Home Office spokesperson told the Press Association:

Illegal working undermines honest business, exploits vulnerable individuals and fuels organised immigration crime.

We are already closing the loopholes that allow illegal migrants to work in the UK by extending right to work checks to the gig economy and delivery sector.

Employers who break the law face severe consequences, including fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, business closures, licence revocations and prison sentences of up to five years.

In other developments:

• Jewish leaders have turned down a meeting with a former antisemitic internet troll as Kemi Badenoch defended his selection as a Conservative council candidate. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) have declined an offer from the Conservatives to meet Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who has been selected to fight the Crewkerne South ward in Somerset next May.

• But they said they would meet with the Conservatives to “discuss their decision-making process” and urge them to drop Mr Bonehill-Paine as a candidate. Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Labour peer Baroness Luciana Berger, who is Jewish.

• Ministers continued to defend the release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers as part of the government’s early prisoner release scheme, despite a potential legal challenge from the Police Federation. Justice minister Jake Richards acknowledged the “unimaginable pain” of the deceased officer’s family but said “difficult decisions” must be made because law and order could “collapse” without a functioning prison system.

• The government is not “actively” considering an inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s UK activities, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson has confirmed. They said that while the department was “reviewing what is possible” and would “look at all options to support victims”, a public inquiry was “not being actively considered”.