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'We will discriminate': Elon Musk-backed Restore Britain party launches with hard-right vision

Rupert Lowe MP vowed that 'millions must go' and called for a ban on halal and kosher slaughter
Rupert Lowe delivers a speech on the opening day of the Reform UK 2024 annual party conference in Birmingham on 20 September 2024 (AFP)
Rupert Lowe delivers a speech on the opening day of the Reform UK 2024 annual party conference in Birmingham on 20 September 2024 (AFP)

A new party has entered Britain's political scene to the right of Nigel Farage's Reform UK, declaring that "millions must go" and pledging a ban on halal and kosher slaughter.

The far-right Restore Britain party was launched on Friday night in Great Yarmouth by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe and has been endorsed by Elon Musk. 

Lowe, a millionaire businessman and farmer who used to be chairman of Southampton FC, released an "immigration policy", which he called "deportation poetry", over the weekend.

He pledged to close off visa routes for "Albania, Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and plenty more". 

"We will discriminate," Lowe proclaimed. "We will look at the facts, and then discriminate."

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"Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain, because he is the only one who will actually do it!" tech billionaire Musk urged on X, his social media platform.

On Monday, Lowe said the party would "abolish the entire asylum systems", adding: "No more asylum seekers."

The party has said it has more than 50,000 members already. Over the weekend, Lowe promised that a Restore Britain government would ban non-stun halal and kosher slaughter.

"In Britain, we treat our animals with care - we do not brutally butcher them alive," he said.

Last year, the MP was widely criticised after revealing he asked his gamekeeper to shoot his 17-year-old dog in the back of the head at his estate in Gloucestershire.

He said the dog, Cromwell, could no longer use his back legs and described his decision as "humane".

'Cousin marriages will be outlawed'

Lowe was suspended from Reform in March last year after calling it a "protest party led by the Messiah" and criticising Farage.

On Monday, the MP said on X: "Cousin marriages will be outlawed, so don’t even try and bring your wifecousin in from Pakistan. Not happening.

'Restore Britain will not be putting forward any Bangladeshi candidates, I promise you that'

 - Rupert Lowe MP

"But if a British man wants to bring his American wife to Britain in order to build a life together, then we will encourage and enable that," he added.

The MP promised a selective easing of "fees and rules around spouse visas" that would not apply to people from "Pakistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Somalia, Afghanistan and many, many more".

He also called for a "total ban on all foreigners voting, or standing in elections".

"Restore Britain will not be putting forward any Bangladeshi candidates, I promise you that," he added. 

On Monday, the party's campaigns director and spokesman, Charlie Downes, became embroiled in a social media argument with Matt Goodwin, Reform's parliamentary candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.

Downes accused Reform of deploying "Regime attack lines when their electoral prospects are threatened by an authentically anti-establishment offering," after Goodwin criticised a far-right X account for mocking Sikh supporters of Reform.

In response to Downes, Goodwin said: "You and many Restore people around you appear to be advocating blatant racism, calling to not just deport illegal migrants and foreign criminals (which is Reform policy) but throw out settled Brits who work hard, pay taxes, and play by the rules."

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He added: "Your ecosystem is riddled with white supremacists, antisemites, racists and conspiracy theorists."

Goodwin himself has a long record of making controversial comments about ethnicity and Muslims.

Most contentiously, he has repeatedly insisted that British-born people with immigrant parents are not necessarily British.

Advance UK, led by former Reform deputy leader Ben Habib and backed by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, has said it will consider a merger with Lowe's Restore Britain.

Restore Britain has said it will act as an umbrella political party that partners with locally based political parties.

The party could cause a headache for Farage and his Reform party by splitting the anti-immigration vote in many constituencies.

"What is necessary for Britain will be incredibly painful," Lowe declared on Sunday. "This is going to be the fight of our lives."

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