Mishal Husain roasted Nigel Farage in a BBC interview this morning, effortlessly demolishing his comments about migration and language.
Farage took over as the leader of Reform UK Party in a surprise announcement on Monday and declared he would be standing as a candidate in Clacton.
The politician, who has already had seven unsuccessful attempts at getting into parliament, repeatedly claimed this election will be fought on migration.
And on Radio 4 Today programme, Farage suggested cities and towns were becoming “unrecognisable” as people do not speak English.
“I can take you to streets in Oldham where no one speaks English,” the prominent Brexiter claimed.
Today’s host, Husain, replied: “Or they could speak two languages, couldn’t they? Don’t your children speak another language?
“How do you know they don’t speak another language?”
“Because I’ve been there and even the Guardian reported on it,” he said.
The newspaper has actually previously reported on the head of Oldham’s local council rubbishing such a claim from Farage.
Husain said: “And you think those people who are speaking another language might have no English at all?”
“You can sit in your London bubble,” Farage began, but Husain cut him off and asked again about his children speaking a different language.
She said: “I think they do because your ex-wife is German.”
The former UKIP leader said: “I wouldn’t comment on that, I don’t talk about my children. But if you do, I think that’s pretty poor form.
“Very poor form, unsurprising, but very poor form.”
“Perhaps we can agree that speaking more than one language is perhaps a good thing,” Husain replied.
“I can take you to streets in Oldham where no one speaks English.”
— Darshna Soni (@darshnasoni) June 4, 2024
“Or they could speak two languages? Don't your own children speak another language?”
Exchange with Nigel Farage on #r4today, Mr Farage asked how he knows people he hears speaking another language have no English???????? pic.twitter.com/zL62EOTECb
She also cornered Farage over exactly what he wants to happen to migration in the UK.
The presenter asked: “If the key thing is the numbers being limited, what’s the overall number of people you would be prepared to see come to the UK to work here?”
“Net migration at zero would be the target,” he replied.
“Well, that depends on how many people are leaving the country. Half a million left the country last year, and net migration is around 600,000 so...” Husain said.
Farage sighed, and sounded exasperated when he finally admitted: “Yeah, about 600,000 that’s right. So you’d still have room within the labour market for up to 600,000 people.”
He added that this number was still “far too many” but “if it makes you happy, that’s what we’ll do”.
When pressed, Farage also revealed he would drop Reform’s policy on processing asylum claims in British territories.
