Ann Widdecombe. UK reform responds to latest immigration figures (alamy)
6 minutes reading
Former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, who is now campaigning for Reform UK, has said the party will argue that current levels of net migration make housing unaffordable as they seek to link their core opposition to immigration to wider policy areas including healthcare and the economy . .
Widdecombe joined the Brexit Party in 2019 and took part in the European elections as a MEP. She has remained an advocate for the party when it changed its name to Reform UK in January 2021.
Although she will not stand as an MP in the election, which takes place on July 4, Widdecombe will campaign for reform to help spread its message. She cannot “think about” turning 81 and spending another five years in parliament.
Widdecombe said PoliticsHome she knows what she is talking about when it comes to migration, citing her experience as a former immigration minister in a Conservative government. She claimed that if Britain can regulate legal and illegal migration and reduce it to sustainable levels, this will help relieve some of the pressure on the housing market.
“We will be committed to building more homes, and we will be committed to building enough, which is critical,” she said. “But I think we have to understand that if you just look at the immigration numbers, we have to build a house every two minutes to accommodate [new arrivals].”
Figures from the ONS released on Thursday show that net migration has fallen by 10 percent, but is still at more than 600,000 a year. At the same time, Britain only built just over 20,000 homes in the first quarter of 2024.
Would Reform therefore be comfortable for developers to build new homes on green fields and reform the Green Belt?
“There are plenty of brownfields around us,” she said. “Where I live, in a national park, there is still a lot of construction going on in the surrounding villages, and none of it is on greenfields. We will look at all options, but the main option will not be greenfield.”
Widdecombe said reducing immigration was crucial because it “underpins so many other things” and affects the UK economy and civil society.
“The demand for health care, the demand for housing, the depressing effect on wages. All of these things are underscored by immigration,” she said.
“So when we talk about immigration, it’s not because we want to be mean, it’s because it has such an impact on the economy. And therefore, whichever party can get on top of immigration, other things will flow.
“Remember, I was once immigration minister in a Tory government, so I really know what I’m talking about.
Reform UK has gained one representative in parliament after former Tory deputy leader Lee Anderson defected to the party in March. The party is on track to get more than 10 percent of the vote in the general election without winning a single seat. Anderson, who stands in Ashfield, is on course to lose to Labour.
“If some MPs are elected, that would be great. But most of all we want to focus on the need for change,” she said.
“If that pressure causes one of the two major parties to think in that direction, then that’s good.”
Anderson caused a stir on the Conservative benches in February 2023 when he told it The spectator magazine, he was in favor of reintroducing the death penalty, which was banned in 1965. A 2022 YouGov poll found the public opposed the death penalty by 48 to 34 percent, but a majority of Britons supported its use when it came to cases of multiple murder, terrorist acts of murder and the killing of children.
Does Widdecombe agree with Anderson – the party’s only MP – that the death penalty should be reintroduced?
“I have always said that there was a very strong moral argument for the death penalty. Because in the five years since its abolition, it has proven to be a deterrent,” she said.
“But I also think it won’t come back and that’s why, when I was shadow home secretary, I didn’t push for that because I knew it wouldn’t happen.”
Nigel Farage on Thursday ruled out running for a seat in parliament. He claimed he would focus on campaigning across the country before heading to America and helping Donald Trump become US president.
Widdecombe believed it would be a “great advantage” for the party if Farage were free to campaign and not tied to a constituency.
“The other parties might wish he had sat in one seat because he has the freedom to govern the entire country and will concentrate on the campaign,” she added.
“Thanks to Rishi, it now does not clash with the American elections in which he would be involved. And he can spend the next six weeks traveling around the country telling people why reforms are critical.”
She said PoliticsHome she was convinced the Tory Party was ‘panicking’ and called a snap election as they became increasingly concerned about a Farage comeback.
“If you just look at the numbers, reforms have gone up from 1 percent to 15 percent. The Tories have fallen from 36 per cent to around the early twenties. The gap became smaller,” said Widdecombe.
“The longer he left the election, the wider the gap [between the Tories and Reform] would receive. I think the prospect of Farage being worth a few percent in itself was terrifying [Sunak]. And they are right to be afraid.”
Labor leader Keir Starmer is likely to become Britain’s next prime minister. A YouGov survey commissioned by The times gave Labor a 25 point lead over the Conservatives.
Starmer, the former shadow Brexit secretary, had previously called for a second referendum ahead of the 2019 election. But he has since said there is no longer a reason to rejoin the European Union. Moreover, he has given no indication that he would register his party to apply for membership.
Widdecombe said she believed Starmer would not let Britain join the EU, but was concerned about what she would do about ‘Brexit’.
“There are two ways to undermine Brexit. One is to just join again, which we won’t do. The other is simply to build closer relations with Europe and shadow them,” she said.
Politicians will be fighting for voters’ attention during the summer months as people will be fixated on the Olympics, Euro 2024 and Taylor Swift touring the country. But Widdecombe has no plans to enjoy any downtime. When asked if she herself is a ‘Swiftie’, the political veteran replied assertively: “No.”
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