REFORM UK and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain are in a race to the far right, out-bidding each other in racist provocation and authoritarian menace.

This week, Lowe may be ahead. He crossed a further line with his pledge, in the wake of the attack in Belfast, to imprison politicians who, he claimed, had facilitated mass immigration.

This is what he wrote on X: “I want people finally held to account for what has been done to our country. Civil servants, judges, politicians. If they have knowingly placed unvetted dangerous third world savages in our communities, near our children, then a Restore Britain government will aim to prosecute them. If that includes Reform’s Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, then so be it. 

“I want to send a very clear message to officials planning to place more of these men in communities across Britain — near schools, nurseries, families. When Restore Britain wins the next election, we will pursue you with the full power of the state. That will apply retrospectively.”

Let us be clear what Lowe is proposing. Officials or politicians who took decisions which were entirely lawful at the time can be prosecuted and imprisoned retrospectively, negating a basic principle of justice.

This is the language of fascism. It is, of course, unlikely that Lowe will be in a position to implement his programme, which includes the widespread use of the death penalty for non-white offenders.

However, the Restore leader has been pushing the boundaries of the politically acceptable, and others on the right have been following, including through violence on the streets. 

It is time for the labour movement to call this out for what it is – the beginnings of a move to far-right dictatorship. All democrats must unite to resist Lowe and his ilk.