Wes Streeting has accused Reform UK of a “return to age-old racism that I thought we had consigned to the 1970s and 80s” and an attempt to delegitimise Muslim voters in the wake of the Gorton and Denton by-election.
The health secretary hit out at Reform candidate Matt Goodwin after the politician was criticised for claiming that UK-born people from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds were not always British.
Mr Streeting also accused Mr Goodwin of “saying that if you don’t look like me, even if you were born here, you can’t really be British” after the Reform candidate said “it takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’”.
Claiming this marked a “return to age old racism that I thought we had consigned to the 1970s and 80s”, he continued: “That is just about the most un-British thing I can think of….All of us have a responsibility to stand against that kind of hatred and discrimination.”
Meanwhile, distancing himself from claims made by both Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage that the contest was fought on “sectarian” lines, the health secretary emphasised the importance of defending the “rights, the voice, the space of Muslims in our country to participate in our democracy on equal terms, with equal votes, and equal voices”.
Mr Streeting made the intervention at the Big Iftar in Parliament hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, amid growing speculation that he is preparing a leadership bid to challenge Sir Keir.
It comes after concerns were raised about people forcing family members to vote in a certain way in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election, with Nigel Farage claiming the contest was a victory for “sectarian voting and cheating” after Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer won the seat.
He also claimed that Reform’s candidate Matt Goodwin would have won if only British citizens had voted, saying his party would limit voting in national elections to British passport holders and remove the right from those with Commonwealth citizenship who qualify as UK residents.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the election – which saw Labour slump to third place behind the Greens and Reform in a seat which they previously won with more than half the votes – the prime minister wrote to Labour MPs and accused the Greens of embracing a “divisive, sectarian” form of politics.
Branding the Green Party’s policies “extreme”, the prime minister claimed they had shown they were “not the harmless environmentalists they pretend to be”.
But in his address at the Big Iftar in Parliament, Mr Streeting took a different tone.
“We’ve seen in recent days – as Muslims have upheld British values, gone to the ballot box, cast their votes, taking part in democracy – attempts to delegitimise them, to suggest that their votes and their voices count less than others”, he said.
“When Nigel Farage said Reform won the Gorton and Denton by-election among British-born voters, what he was saying was that he won the by-election amongst people who look like him.
“We know that one of the reasons the Greens won in Gorton and Denton was because lots of people in the Muslim community turned out to vote for them. One of the reasons I almost lost in Ilford North at the last election was because lots of Muslim people in my own constituency turned out to vote, and not to vote for me.”
Mr Streeting, who won in his Ilford North constituency in 2024 with a majority of just 528 votes, continued: “Perhaps it’s even more important that I and other people who look like me, defend the rights, the voice, the space of Muslims in our country to participate in our democracy on equal terms, with equal votes, and equal voices.
“They have just as much right as everyone else to choose who represents people in this country.”
Finishing his address, Mr Streeting joked: “So let me end by winding up all the right people, by saying that this gay bible-bashing Christian wishes all Muslims here and across our country Ramadan Mubarak.”
Sir Keir also addressed the event, telling the crowd that Ramadan strengthens “the bonds of community and decency that unite us all”, as well as characterising the UK as “a community of communities where Muslims are at the forefront of Britain’s story”.
The row over sectarian voting in the election came after election observer group Democracy Volunteers claimed to have witnessed high levels of “family voting” – where two voters either confer, collude or direct each other on voting – at the Gorton and Denton by-election.
They said they saw the illegal practice in 68 per cent of 22 polling stations monitored.
There has been mounting speculation in recent months over a possible leadership bid by the health secretary, in the face of devastating approval ratings and questions over the direction of the government.
While Mr Streeting has dismissed briefings about his supposed leadership ambitions as “incredibly stupid”, there has been growing speculation over plans to challenge Sir Keir Starmer as the prime minister faces increasing doubts over his ability to lead the party.
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
