
The recent rioting in England and Belfast, has seen Nigel Farage and Reform trying to use the riots for political purposes to fuel people’s prejudices regarding immigration and racial tension within local communities where tensions are already high. Farage is not responsible for the primary causes of the riot as has been suggested, but he should be condemned for using the riots for political purposes and trying to polarize and stigmatize different parts of our community. It could be that Nigel Farage, is trying to emulate Enoch Powell, as has been suggested in Jason Cowley’s Reaching for Utopia. I will leave that for others to judge whether that this is the case or not.
How should Ed Davey respond to Nigel Farage trying to use the riots for political purposes? Firstly, I want to commend Layla Moran’s performance on various media outlets, by being constructive and offering support to the Government and the Police through the difficult days of the riots, which we hope to have now passed us. Sadly, it will not bring the three young girls killed in Southport back, or the untold damage done to communities throughout England and Belfast.
However, Ed Davey should lead calls for a ‘cordon sanitaire’ around Nigel Farage and Reform. A ‘cordon sanitaire’ is the refusal of one or more political parties to cooperate with other political parties considered radical or extreme. It can be argued that Reform falls into the ‘radical right’ and other parties should not join in a Coalition with them or have an electoral pact with Reform. With our politics becoming more European, despite Labour winning a landslide, these things must be thought through.
Therefore, Ed should call on other parties to join the Liberal Democrats in a ‘cordon sanitaire’ against working with Nigel Farage and Reform. I can see Labour and the Green Party willingly prepared to join a ‘cordon sanitaire’ against Reform. The Conservatives will have a dilemma on whether to be part of a ‘cordon sanitaire’ against Reform, which I will touch on at the end, although all six leadership candidates have refused to allow Nigel Farage into the Conservative Party. I think also morally it will be correct for Ed to lead calls for a ‘cordon sanitaire’ because as Liberals, we believe in an open, cosmopolitan society.