Nigel Farage Sparks Outrage With Response To Southport Knife Attack

Nigel Farage has sparked backlash by weighing in on the Southport knife attack and suggesting “the truth is being withheld from us” by the police.

Three girls, all aged under 10, were killed after a knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga on Monday night.

Eight others are in a critical condition, too.

A 17-year-old suspect, whose motive is unclear and whose name is not in the media due to his young age, has been arrested.

Then on Tuesday night, a Southport vigil for the deceased was hijacked by far-right protesters.

Prompted by the misinformation about the suspect on social media, rioters violently attacked a local mosque in Southport – 39 police officers had to be medically treated at the scene.

Hours before that riot began in the Merseyside town, Farage posted a video on X saying there were “one or two questions” about the attack.

The Reform UK leader, and MP for Clacton, said: “Was this guy being monitored by the security services? Some reports say he was, others less sure.”

Farage does not say where he saw these reports.

According to The Telegraph, the Russian-state controlled TV channel, Russia Today, claimed the suspect was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat last year and was on the MI6 watch list.

The TV channel later said this claim had been retracted.

Farage also said, “the police say it is a non-terror incident,” but added: “I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us.

“I don’t know the answer to that, but I think it is a fair and legitimate question. What I do know is something is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country.”

The video secured 3.2 million views in less than 24 hours.

Brendan Cox, widower of murdered MP Jo Cox, wrote on X:  “Imagine your response to the death of three children being to peddle conspiracy theories that incite a riot.

“This is why Farage deserves the label far-right. Everyone who is associated with him, has normalised him or promoted him should be ashamed. This is vile.”

Cox also told Radio 4′s Today programme: “It is right out of the Trump playbook, and in my view, it makes Nigel Farage nothing better than a Tommy Robinson in a suit.”

Nicholas Soames, former Tory MP and current member of the House of Lords also replied to Farage’s video by saying: “Absolutely disgraceful implication deeply unhelpful at a very difficult time. The very opposite of what was required.”

Labour MP Jess Phillips also wrote on X: “Nigel Farage could yesterday have had the questions, he claims are unanswered, answered if he had bothered to turn up to parliament and ask them during the statement on the incidents in Southport. He didn’t turn up, he grifted instead.”