On the storm to come: Right-wing extremism moving centre-stage in British politics.

‘We Want Our Country Back’ – On Saturday, 6 September, the third Saturday in a row, English nationalists draped in union jack and St George flags protested noisily outside the Best Western Hotel in Long Eaton, where many asylum seekers have been housed. Shouts of ‘Stop the Boats’ were combined with anti-trans, anti-Palestine and anti-left slogans, intermixed with direct personal attacks on migrant supporting counter-protesters, taking up position on the other side of the road in front of the hotel itself. In this blog post, I will discuss why these developments mark a dangerous turn in British politics.

 

When we counter-protesters arrived initially, having followed the call by Stand Up to Racism, there were only a handful of right-wing extremists. In the course of the morning and early afternoon, however, their crowd became larger and larger. As I was told, unlike during the previous two Saturdays, this was the first time that they actually outnumbered counter-protestors. Nevertheless, this change in balance of protesters and counter-protesters does not necessarily indicate a dramatic change in itself. What became apparent in the course of the protest, however, was the widespread support the right-wing extremists received from cars passing by. It was chilling to realise, how widespread anti-migrant, racist positions have become in the UK today, all linked to an increasing display of flags.

 

Small, far-right fringe parties such as the Homeland Party, visibly present with a large banner at the anti-migrant protest and probably the driving force behind organising it, will not play a decisive role in forthcoming electoral contests. However, the fact that they can mobilise increasingly large crowds and draw positive responses from passers-by indicates their significant role in this shift towards making extreme-right positions palatable to a wider electorate. And it is here that Reform comes in as the main winner. The party has been ahead in polls for the last five months with around 30 per cent of the vote (Curtice, 5 September 2025).

 

Brexit looms large over the current political landscape. ‘Politicians do not talk much about Brexit these days. Yet, Brexit is a major fault line that sharply distinguishes those who do and do not support Reform’ (Curtice, 5 September 2025). Brexit was the moment racist and anti-migration positions received a major boost. In many respects, Brexit and its slogan of ‘regaining control over our borders’ was always an anti-foreigner project. Brexit was all about immigration and indicated the starting-point of the right-ward shift. The Conservatives under Boris Johnson and his campaign of ‘Let’s get Brexit done’ benefitted from this shift in the December 2019 general elections. With immigration figures having remained high, however, and inequality increasing across the country, the anti-migration position is adopting an even uglier face.

‘According to the latest British Social Attitudes survey, 81% of those who voted Reform last year believe that migrants have undermined rather than enriched the country's culture. Equally 73% feel that migrants have been bad for the country's economy’ (Curtice, 5 September 2025). Anti-woke and climate change denying positions are all further parts of the extreme right picture and it was exactly these views, which were on display at the anti-migrant protest in Long Eaton on 6 September.

 

How to respond? The current Labour government is leaning over backwards in playing to the agenda of the extreme right. New overseas students to start their study programmes in the UK at the end of September, for example, were recently warned not to overstay their visa, as this will result in deportation (The Guardian, 2 September 2025). One cannot imagine a more hostile welcome by a country, where students are hoping to pursue their studies paying tens of thousands of pounds. Instead of working towards social justice and more equality within the UK, Labour too tries to deflect criticism by creating scapegoats.

 

Hostility to migrants at home is combined with violence abroad. The Labour government’s complicity in genocide against the Palestinian people through its ongoing diplomatic cover for, and arms exports to, Israel is the ugliest overseas expression of racism at home. The Labour Party, rather than providing solutions, has become part of the problem, contributing to this rightward shift.

 

During the debrief after the counter-protest, participants argued that it should be up to trade unions to mobilise their members in support of a more open society. With the YourParty project collapsing, rank-and-file mobilisation from below may be the only way forward.

 

Only one week after the Long Eaton protest, on Saturday 13 September, over 110,000 people marched in London, following the call by the right-wing extremist leader Tommy Robinson. ‘One man waved a sign saying: “Why are white people despised when our tax money pays for everything?” Another had a placard that said: “Call centres: speak English”’ (The Guardian, 14 September 2025). The UK is on the road towards becoming an increasingly hostile country to especially non-white foreigners (and actually also British people from non-white ethnic backgrounds). Blatant, open racism all the way down.

Andreas Bieler

Professor of Political Economy

University of Nottingham/UK

Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk

21 September 2025