LIZZY BUCHAN: Nigel Farage's scaremongering is latest example of why he isn't fit to be PM
'Nigel Farage's enthusiasm to be a pound shop Trump is a curious political strategy for a man who claims to have his finger on the pulse of what ordinary Brits think'
Lizzy Buchan is the Mirror's Political Editor. She has been reporting from Westminster since 2017, with a particular interest in work, trade unions, child poverty, defence and foreign policy. If you have a tip, please get in touch by email.
Nigel Farage's shameless scaremongering about paracetamol is just the latest in a long line of examples of why he's unfit to be Prime Minister.
Instead of siding with medical experts, he failed to disown Donald Trump's discredited suggestion that the painkiller could cause autism in babies.
Reform has form here. The party allowed controversial doctor Aseem Malhotra to give a conference speech earlier this month, where he spouted a wild conspiracy theory linking Covid vaccines to cancer in the royal family.
These are dangerous claims at a time when vaccine uptake for children is at its lowest rate in more than a decade - and may cause needless alarm for pregnant women. Causing fear and uncertainty like this is beneath someone who wants to lead this country.
Mr Farage also chose to echo Trump's comments about Haitian migrants eating their pets - suggesting Eastern Europeans are eating swans in Britain's royal parks. The Royal Parks said there was absolutely no evidence to support this.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage slapped down after he suggests eastern Europeans are eating swans in parksIt is the latest bit of anti-migrant rhetoric from the right-winger, who earlier this week announced draconian plans to scrap the main route to British citizenship for people who have legally come to Britain.
It casts doubt on the future of thousands of people who are living in this country legitimately and has sparked warnings the move could push the NHS and care sector to the brink of collapse.
Mr Farage's enthusiasm to be a pound shop Trump is a curious strategy for a man who claims to have his finger on the pulse of what ordinary people think.
Trump is unpopular in Britain. A YouGov tracker found in July that 70% of people dislike him and just 16% like him. Importing his most extreme views isn't likely to play well.
Reform UK is riding high in the polls but if I've learned anything from nearly a decade in Westminster, it's that nothing is guaranteed this far out from an election.
Farage has thrived on the margins of British politics for years, with an instinct of how to push things right up to the limits of what the public finds acceptable. His influence has been huge, putting Brexit and the small boats crisis to the heart of the national conversation.
But to actually win a general election, he will have to appeal to the mainstream. Many Brits won't have any truck with these kinds of conspiracy theories, nor with Reform's cruel and poorly thought out migration policies.
Voters want secure borders but that isn't the same as a desire to deport people who came here legally, who contribute to society and who pay their taxes.
People are rightly frustrated by the decline they see in communities scarred by austerity and who feel let down by Governments of all stripes. Labour knows it must do better to deal with these questions.
But Reform don't have the answers. Mr Farage has a lot to say on immigration but very little on other things voters also care a lot about - NHS, schools, the economy.
His strategy is to stoke a scarcity mindset, to make people feel as if the things they need - a job, a roof over their heads, a GP appointment - have been taken from them by someone else.
As if reducing immigration is the only way to fix public services, rebuild communities and create opportunities. It isn't.
Labour must show it can secure Britain's borders and do all of the above - or risk people buying Farage's snake oil and being left the poorer for it.
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