Russell Quirk, a property expert who regularly appears on GB News as a commentator, has backed Nigel Farage’s plan to deport legal migrants despite fears it could impact his own family.
Speaking to Martin Daubney on the People’s Channel, he explained his predicament as his wife hails from Slovakia.
Mr Quirk said he has a personal reason to be concerned about Reform's new policy
|GB NEWS / PA
Mr Quirk accused leftists of stoking up “hysteria” in relation to the Reform leader’s plan to force migrants to reapply for visas with a stricter criteria in place.
“My wife is from Slovakia. She has been in the country for 20 years. She has always worked and paid tax”, he explained.
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“She’s a director at one of my companies. She got indefinite leave to remain a number of years ago. We have considered the path to citizenship and today we are more focused on this.
“We joked about it this morning. We must understand and wholly rebut the hysteria from the left on the basis this is in someway persecuting people that have a right to be here that also work and contribute.”
Mr Quirk said Reform’s policy is not aimed at people like his wife and will instead clamp down on migrants not contributing to society.
He added: “Some have never worked, some never will. How on earth can we possibly justify this?
Mr Quirk joined Martin Daubney on GB News
|GB NEWS
“This is aimed at protecting the right people. If they are working, contributing and paying their taxes, they have nothing to fear.
“This is aimed at the 1.3 million people in this country taking benefits. How on earth is is justifiable morally or economically to allow people to come here and sponge off the taxpayer?”
Under Mr Farage’s plans, migrants would need to reapply for new visas and Reform would abolish Indefinite leave to remain (ILR), which gives people access to benefits.
British citizens will be only recipients of welfare, the party has also said, while it claims their plans would save £234bn over several decades.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was quick to take aim at the party, saying they “have no basis in reality”.
She also said the Government is already looking at restricting migrants’ access to welfare.
Mr Farage said the UK should not be “the world’s food bank”.
Launching the new policies, he said: “It is not for us to provide welfare for people coming in from all over the world.”
The new criteria for migrants includes a higher salary threshold and standard of English.