Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has doubled down on his 2015 pledge to ban asylum seekers with HIV from receiving NHS treatment.
Mr Farage, who led Ukip when he first made the controversial pledge, sparked fury from left-wing politicians during a televised debate held before the 2015 General Election after warning migrants were costing taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds a year by receiving treatment for the retrovirus infection.
Reiterating his position at a rally in Aberdeen, Mr Farage said: “The idea that somebody can newly arrive in Britain and get expensive NHS treatment, whether it’s for HIV or hepatitis or whatever it is [...].
“Truth of it is: this is a national health service. It is not an international health service.”
NHS guidelines currently allow asylum seekers to receive NHS treatment for HIV even if the Home Office has refused their claims.
Mr Farage suggested in 2015 that British taxpayers were coughing up around £25,000 a year to pay for migrants to receive HIV treatment on the NHS.
He said at the time: “You can come into Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get the retro-viral drugs that cost up to £25,000 per year per patient.
“What we need to do is to put the NHS there for British people and families, who in many cases have paid into the system for decades.”
Ed Miliband, who was leader of the Labour Party at the time, described the comments as "disgusting".
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'We won't take anymore!' Zia Yusuf issues update on Tory defections
Zia Yusuf has delivered an update on Tory MPs defecting to Reform UK.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Yusuf said: "May 7 is the deadline. We're not going to accept any more Tories after that."
Reform UK's home affairs spokesman has been known to be critical of ex-Tories before making the switch, including Robert Jenrick.
However, defending his colleagues, Mr Yusuf pointed out how Mr Jenrick resigned on a matter of principle.
Zia Yusuf demands Boris Johnson gives evidence in migration probe
Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf has suggested Boris Johnson will need to appear in public to address Britain's migration explosion.
Following yesterday's announcement for a Boriswave probe, Mr Yusuf told GB News: "We need to make sure the people involved are required to give evidence to the inquiry."
He suggested the "uniparty" does not want to face up to its handling of migration, labelling the crisis a "Ponzi scheme".
Mr Yusuf went on to dismiss the long-standing economic consensus about migration bringing economic benefits, instead warning it will cost £20,000 per household.
Minister confirms MPs will receive update on single-sex spaces guidance
Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson will today update MPs on guidance surrounding single-sex spaces, a Labour MP has confirmed.
Karin Smyth, who serves as Secondary Care Minister, told GB News: "This particular guidance, or part of the EHRC guidance, does need to come out.
"We all want to see that. The Supreme Court judgment was clear. The law is the law. We absolutely accepted that and the clarity that it brought.
"Later today in Parliament, there will be an updated statement on what needs to happen next, I understand, from the Secretary of State."
The expected update comes as pressure mounts on Ms Phillipson to release guidance following last year's Supreme Court ruling.
'We aren't betraying Brexit,' declares Labour minister
Labour minister Karin Smyth has rejected the suggestion Sir Keir Starmer is betraying Brexit after it emerged the Prime Minister is seeking closer ties with Brussels.
When asked if the plan would make the UK a "rule-taker" or eventually lead to the reversal of the 2016 vote, Ms Smyth said: "No. This is work that we are doing to reset our relationship with our EU partners.
"That is work that Keir Starmer has led. We know, for example, that exports have declined massively since Brexit. And things around our food and drink standards, making them more dynamically aligned with our European colleagues, help with our exports. But, of course, these things will come through and be subject to Parliament."
On wider concerns about rejoining the EU, the Labour minister added: "We have ruled out a return to the customs union and single market."
'You're talking rubbish!' Tory MP takes aim at 'nice guy' GB News star in Shabana Mahmood migration row
Tory MP Matt Vickers also took aim at GB News star Alex Armstrong in a fiery exchange about Labour's record on migration.
After the GB News host suggested Shabana Mahmood had dealt with the crisis better than her Tory predecessors, Mr Vickers said: "Alex, I think you're a nice guy, but you're talking rubbish.
"The number of people arriving in this country illegally hasn't gone up by just a bit – it's gone up by 30 per cent."
Mr Vickers, who pointed out the Tories will leave the ECHR, suggested Labour will not solve the crisis after "untaping" Rishi Sunak's Rwanda scheme.
'We'll bring back two-child benefit cap to recruit more soldiers,' Tory MP tells GB News
Kemi Badenoch will restore the two-child benefit cap to recruit more soldiers, a Tory MP has suggested.
Matt Vickers, who serves as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, told GB News: "In this country, the benefits bill is ballooning, and we're failing to invest in defence.
"We need to reach three per cent by the end of the Parliament. Kemi has said, in the first and foremost instance, that we will bring back the two-child benefit cap.
"We've got millions of pounds being spent on that. And, actually, that could be spent putting more troops into our Armed Forces."
Tory MP lashes out at Nigel Farage over 'Boriswave' probe – 'We've heard this all before!'
Shadow Illegal Immigration Minister Matt Vickers has lashed out at Nigel Farage after the Reform UK leader called for an inquiry into the so-called "Boriswave".
Speaking to GB News this morning, Mr Vickers pointed out how Mr Farage failed to hold an inquiry into the rape gangs scandal, despite previously vowing to do so.
He said: "This is a Reform pledge of an inquiry into the numbers that came in a particular set of years.
"Of course, we've had pledges from Nigel Farage about inquiries before. He promised to deliver a rape gangs inquiry, a grooming gangs inquiry.
"He promised that to the most vulnerable people in the country who have been through some of the most horrific things.
"He said if the Government wouldn't do it, he'd do it. That was more than a year ago. He didn't deliver on that pledge. This is political theatre."
Keir Starmer’s ‘failed’ one-in, one-out deal sees taxpayer cost hit £50k per migrant sent back to France
Lawyers are refusing to defend migrants who are being removed to France | GETTY Sending a small boat migrant back to France now costs just under £50,000 per person under Sir Keir Starmer’s one-in, one-out deal, it has been revealed.
Analysis by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford suggests a single flight from Stansted to Paris - carrying 32 male migrants alongside 73 escorts and two paramedics - could cost taxpayers up to £1.52million.
The research found the cost of removing a migrant has risen sharply from around £15,000 per person a decade ago.
The total includes casework, charter flights and financial support provided to migrants after they leave the UK.
Immigration lawyers REFUSE to represent migrants due for deportation to France
Immigration lawyers are refusing to represent migrants set for deportation under the "one-in, one-out" scheme with France.
Of the 38 migrants set for deportation flights from Stansted airport to Paris, only six were removed due to "legal intervention."
An official inspection of the removal flight by Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, found that solicitors were refusing to take on the cases or not responding to requests for legal assistance.
The report from Mr Taylor stated that migrants due for deportation were having difficulty securing legal representation or that the timeframe was too short to build evidence for a legal dispute.
Zack Polanski's Greens would add millions of migrants to UK population, report warns
Zack Polanski could add millions to Britain's burgeoning population
| GETTYZack Polanski's Green Party would likely add millions of migrants to the UK's ever-growing population, a damning new report has revealed.
City investment bank Panmure Liberum estimated that Mr Polanski's open borders policy would drive net migration to around 900,000 a year — pushing the UK population from 71.5 million in 2029 to 75.9 million by 2034.
Meanwhile, Reform UK's plan would keep net migration at around 40,000 a year, while the Tories would add approximately 160,000.