Making Plans For Nigel - Farage Condemns Polanski's Post

The row over Zack Polanski’s controversial guillotine post intensifies as Nigel Farage gives his reaction from Clacton, while Polanski refuses to apologise when challenged on Newsnight. We go behind the scenes as the fallout continues and the police investigation reaches its conclusion.

Meanwhile, we travel to Salisbury and Southampton to hear directly from voters about Andy Burnham’s first days as Prime Minister, his refusal to call a General Election and his plans for social care. Plus, Rob Jenrick warns that Burnham could be planning a death tax on your home.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:04

26 please, two in the house on both PVs. It's Tuesday, the 28th of July, and Nigel Farage is campaigning in Holland on Sea. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_13 0:13

All right. Yeah, I'm okay. You're good very much. Strong supporter? Yes, definitely. Good lad.

SPEAKER_08 0:20

A quieter, more residential corner of the Clacton constituency. Holland on Sea has a distinctly traditional seaside atmosphere.

SPEAKER_16 0:28

Can we put a board up here? Of course you can. That'd be ideal with the road there. Certainly. You're in a great position. Bloody marvellous.

SPEAKER_13 0:35

All our family, we all support you.

SPEAKER_08 0:37

That was a common theme on the doors. Not just one person, but entire families across the generations supporting Nigel and Reform UK.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

We've got every bit of support from our family. Lovely.

SPEAKER_16 0:48

All the family. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Doing very, very well. Great stuff. How many did you say it wasn't the house?

SPEAKER_07 0:55

There's four of us.

SPEAKER_16 0:56

Four of you.

SPEAKER_08 0:57

Hello, mate. I'm with Nigel's team.

SPEAKER_09 0:59

Why did you want to meet him?

SPEAKER_14 1:00

Why did you want to say hello to him today? Uh because if that's the future PM, what a man to have. Do you think he'd do a good job? Definitely. Why? Because he's all for uh British people. He's he's for this country. What do you think about Burnham at the moment? And do you think he should call a general election? Starmer number two. Do you think he's got the right to be our Prime Minister then? No, not at all. They didn't vote for him.

SPEAKER_08 1:22

Helping to campaign was Mark Webster, an army veteran and reform UK councillor for Essex County Council. What do you think the perception of him is?

SPEAKER_03 1:31

The perception's really good. He's very visible in the community. Everyone sees him all the time. How do you feel he's doing in this campaign at the moment? This campaign's very strong. It's a very different election this one. It's a very binary choice, so it's you're either for him or against him. The feeling on the doors that we're knocking is a good, uh strong 60-70, touching 80% in some areas, which is really, really good.

SPEAKER_08 1:59

Nigel was his usual approachable self, stopping for photos, listening to residents, taking time with people. But it wasn't hard to see, there was a cloud hanging over the day.

SPEAKER_21 2:10

I cannot believe I'm saying this in a video.

SPEAKER_08 2:13

The evening before, Reform's Shadow Home Secretary Zia Youssef had posted a video on X.

SPEAKER_21 2:18

Zach Polansky, the leader of the Green Party, has just posted to his 700,000 followers on Instagram a photo of a man wearing a t-shirt calling for the beheading of Nigel Farov.

SPEAKER_08 2:33

He was reacting to a photograph taken at a Green Party event in Bristol. It shows a large bearded man giving a peace sign. He's wearing a rainbow-striped hat and a black t-shirt. Printed on the front is a large graphic of a guillotine. Above it, the words, We're only making plans for Nigel.

SPEAKER_21 2:52

This comes just over two weeks after our dear friend Anne Whitakum was brutally murdered in her home in what the police say they believe to be a targeted attack.

SPEAKER_08 3:05

Polanski's timing was as disturbing as the image was serious.

SPEAKER_21 3:09

Reform UK has reported this matter to the police. We have also reported Zach Polanski to the monitoring officer of the London Assembly.

SPEAKER_08 3:19

Then Zia said what we were all thinking.

SPEAKER_21 3:21

I want you to consider what would happen if Nigel Farage did such a thing. It would obviously never happen, because that's not who Nigel is. But I want you to consider what the consequences would be if he did. Well, given reform have reported Zach Polanski for incitement to the police. We're extremely interested to see how the authorities respond.

SPEAKER_08 3:44

As we walked along the peaceful residential streets, I asked for Nigel's reaction to Polanski's post.

SPEAKER_16 3:50

Well, it's shocking. It's absolutely shocking. And you'd have thought, wouldn't you? In the wake of Anne Wittakom's murder, Polansky actually said himself, Well, what about me? I'm a well-known public figure. And I actually said on social media, I might disagree with Zach Polansky, but I absolutely think he needs to have protection of some kind, being a recognizable public figure. He then puts out, you know, only making plans for Nigel, obviously a takeoff from the XTC song of some years ago, with a guillotine beneath it. I mean, if that's not incitement to violence, I don't know what it is, we called it out immediately. And I I actually said, you know, if I'd put out anything like that, I would have been arrested. I would have deserved to, and I hope the Metropolitan Police act accordingly. We'll see what they do. But here's the odd thing. The Green Party have disowned the comment, but he hasn't personally apologised. There's no personal apology, and I find that absolutely astonishing. Good to see you. Make England strong. Yeah, need to do something. We want men like you. Need to do something, don't we? My goodness, mate.

SPEAKER_08 4:59

Outside two neighbouring houses, a group of men were chatting. One, a wiry man with specks of plaster on his hands and dust on his work clothes, told Nigel he was renovating a property.

SPEAKER_23 5:10

I've bought that one to sell up and do on.

SPEAKER_08 5:12

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_23 5:13

Yeah. Do you know what annoys me? The additional stamp duty. Of course. Because I'm selling that within a year, and I'm paying such a massive upfront tax. Yeah. I don't mind paying the tax on the profit. That has to happen. But the stamp duty, the additional, it's like I'm getting penalised before I even started work. Yeah. And as soon as Labour came in, they upped that.

SPEAKER_16 5:35

And I'm only a working man. You've done this before a few times, have you?

SPEAKER_23 5:38

I've flipped houses all my life. Right. I'm not a millionaire by any means. But you've done it. It's hard. It's hard. When I started, I would have, on every flip, probably between 20 and 30 people employed. Since Labour put the taxes up front, it's not worth me doing that anymore. So everyone's lost like a piece of the pie. You do more yourself. So it doesn't make sense to me. No, I I don't understand why they punish anybody just trying to do better for themselves. No, I think I don't think you're alone in thinking that. Far from it. What I've experienced in my trade and what we do. No.

SPEAKER_08 6:15

The man said his name was Steve and that he voted reform. I asked what policies he wanted to hear from the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham.

SPEAKER_23 6:22

Uh well I don't know enough about him, but I think the welfare bill has to come down because I've had guys working for me and I've offered them work and they're like, oh, I can't come and work for you because I'm on 900 pounds a week on benefits, so there's no point in me coming to work for you. So easy to play the anxiety card now, all of that, have another couple of kids, you just set up for life. I've got first hand experience with people who have worked for me, gone on to benefits, perfectly able to work, but because they got four kids, it's cheaper to stay at home, get the Uber delivered, watch the sky all day. It's cheaper.

SPEAKER_08 6:53

As I left to catch up with Nigel, I thought about Steve's experience. A hard-working man forced to cut back on staff thanks to Labour's tax rises. And men and women, more than capable of working, choosing to stay at home and live off the social because of Labour's benefits bonanza. And yet for some reason, the Uniparty still says that Britain isn't broken. That morning, the headline of the Daily Mail had read, Burnham's £18 billion death tax nightmare. The article said there were fears that the Prime Minister would try to impose a 10% levy on all inheritances to fund social care. It was something reform's Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrich had spoken about on GB News.

SPEAKER_18 7:39

We all want to do things to improve social care. Anyone who's got elderly relatives I have at the moment going through that system knows its many flaws. But I don't think you do that by raiding the savings of hardworking people.

SPEAKER_08 7:55

Posting on X, Rob wrote that Andy Burnham's death tax was terrifying thousands of people.

SPEAKER_18 8:01

Hello.

SPEAKER_17 8:02

How are you? Long time Narcy. Very nice to see you.

SPEAKER_08 8:06

He also posted a video with a concerned pensioner called Jill.

SPEAKER_18 8:10

So Andy Burnham in the past has proposed this big tax on everyone when they want to hand their house on to their kids or their grandkids when they pass away. He's saying that there's a 10 or 15% tax. It applies to absolutely everyone, not just the super rich or the people who currently pay inheritance taxes. It's a universal death tax.

SPEAKER_17 8:38

It's just so wrong, isn't it? I mean, we've worked hard all our lives to build a nice home, and we're still refurbishing it now, all adding value to it. And now we're being told that it's um that's some of it is going to the tax man, which seems so unfair. Yeah when you've worked hard and you've tried to make your home as lovely as you can for your grandchildren to pass it on to them.

SPEAKER_18 9:03

So Andy Bonner's gonna do this announcement on Wednesday.

SPEAKER_17 9:06

What would you say to I think I'd say I'd love to see him face to face. Uh I think I'd say, do you know what? We've not voted for this. You know, why why is he gonna be allowed to take money away from my grandchildren that we've worked hard for? Um and I'm sure there are other ways that he can get money apart from stealing it from us. Why is he coming after what we've worked hard for?

SPEAKER_18 9:30

So think again.

SPEAKER_17 9:31

Yeah, think again and don't come and try and steal it off us.

SPEAKER_08 9:44

While Burnham was plotting a uni party meeting to discuss the death tax and deliberately excluding Reform UK, I was in nearby Jaywick, a coastal village just southwest of Clacton-on-Sea. Burnham, same as Starmer really. Outside Kelly's coffee shop, customers were cooling off with iced drinks and resting their legs after hitting the promenade. I asked how they felt about our new Prime Minister.

SPEAKER_06 10:10

He shouldn't be there. We should have a general election. I think so because he's unvoted in. So he's got no mandate, as Nigel says.

SPEAKER_08 10:18

He was chatting to Laura Kunzberg the other day, and he said that he won't call a general election.

SPEAKER_15 10:23

There's no early general election, and the thing I would say to you is 20 uh plus uh how many million people you just mentioned voted for a manifesto. We're in a parliamentary democracy.

SPEAKER_06 10:35

Speaks for itself, don't it? It's just running scared. That's why he don't want an election.

SPEAKER_20 10:40

Well, he's not legitimate. Because he does not deserve to be there. He is not duly elected. Let's have a general election. If he gets elected, fair enough. But I don't think he's going to, and I think he's running scared.

SPEAKER_10 10:53

Uh I think he should have a general election because yet again, I I don't trust Andy Burnham. They say one thing and they come back with something completely opposite to what they are. All of them in the Labor Party. You've got people that don't pay tax, you've got people laughing about letting prisoners free. So they're not genuine, are they? They're two-faced.

SPEAKER_08 11:12

Even those who said they did support Andy Burnham agreed he had no legitimacy to lead the country without a national vote. Do you think that it's right that somebody can just sort of stroll in and run the country?

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Um, not really in a democratic uh situation. No. I mean it should have been, well there wasn't even a leadership uh contest for Labour, was it? He just sort of, oh, here's uh here's Mr. Burnham, he's going to save us all, basically. And he may do, but yeah, he doesn't have a mandate from the British uh people.

SPEAKER_08 11:40

I also asked if they liked what they'd seen from the new PM in his first week or so in office.

SPEAKER_20 11:45

He has not once mentioned immigration. He's given people £45 a year and they're making such a big thing over it on the VAT is pennies. We don't need pennies, we need real pounds. And the only way we're going to get real pounds is to stop the scroungers on the state, get people back to work.

SPEAKER_08 12:06

For some, Nigel and reform were the clear answer.

SPEAKER_20 12:09

The only candidate that I can see that is fit for purpose is Nigel Faraud.

SPEAKER_10 12:15

I think he deserves to be our Prime Minister because it will change things for the better for all the people in this country. And maybe the lefty lunatics that actually realise what they're doing to the country. Because at the end of the day, where we're going, if you're not careful, it'd be irredeemable over the next 30-40 years.

SPEAKER_16 12:37

Hello, it's Nigel Farraj here. I hope you're enjoying these podcasts. Now take a moment to subscribe, hit the notification bell, and you'll never miss another episode. And if you like it, well, you could always leave us a five-star review.

SPEAKER_08 12:52

Whilst people in Clacton were making their voting intentions clear, a new poll had been released by Servation. It showed Labour two points ahead of Reform UK, the first time they led reform in a Servation poll for 15 months. Back at the Clacton campaign HQ, I asked Nigel if Burnham had changed Labour's popularity.

SPEAKER_16 13:13

It's a relief rise, isn't it? It's a relief rise. Lots of little giveaways, this, that, the other. It all sounds very sensible. Relief that Starmer's gone. Um people giving him a chance, you know, younger looking, more optimistic. But I don't think he's gonna I he's not capable of dealing with the really massive issues, uh, whether it's the boats, whether it's the economy, whether it's borrowing. I don't see any of those things changing any way at all. And I think there are also huge contradictions. We must deal with social care, it'll ruin the NHS. No, no, social care is paid for by local councils. So I'm seeing some contradictions already. Um look, he's thrown everything he's got at it. Everything he's got at it. Um fine, he's gone up a bit, but uh I'm not too worried.

SPEAKER_08 13:58

You've been calling for a general election. If Burnham were to grant one, are we ready? Do we have the candidates that we need to move forward?

SPEAKER_16 14:06

Well, Labour are more ready than anybody, because they've got 400 sitting MPs. That's obvious. Uh for the Conservatives be a real struggle. For us, we've had 10, we've done ten parliamentary assessment centres in the last couple of weeks. So, yeah, we're on it, we're moving as fast as we possibly can. If there is an early election, we'll be there.

SPEAKER_09 14:22

Just over two and a half weeks to go until your by-election. When you look back to 2024, how does this compare thinking things like professionalism, mood on the ground?

SPEAKER_16 14:31

That feels really good. And we're and we're building data progressively, steadily, uh rapidly at times, um, and there's a lot of enthusiasm out there. No, I'm very happy with it. I mean, it would have been better if Labour and Tories have stood, but no, I'm very happy with where we're going. Uh, we're on track to do extremely well. Thank you, Nigel. Cheers. Hello. I'm all right, how are you laugh?

SPEAKER_07 14:56

Thank you.

SPEAKER_16 14:57

Goody good.

SPEAKER_08 14:59

Spending the day with Nigel gave me a chance to see how he's been helping his former constituents.

SPEAKER_07 15:04

Murray, I'd like you to get out there. It's all open. Oh, you can have it easy open. Yeah, it's all open then.

SPEAKER_08 15:09

In Walton, steps leading down to the beach had become a hazard. But one word from Nigel, and they were now being repaired.

SPEAKER_07 15:16

Coming to sort that steps.

SPEAKER_16 15:18

Well, last week you couldn't walk up the steps. You had to walk around the side. A dangerous little thing they built, so at least we're making progress. But it's heading in the right direction.

SPEAKER_14 15:27

It's changing the last week.

SPEAKER_07 15:28

Yeah, it has. Since we come down since April. Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 15:31

That's because I put some stick about, you see. There you go.

SPEAKER_07 15:34

We have a cell phone.

SPEAKER_16 15:35

Of course you can.

SPEAKER_07 15:36

Camera in the line.

SPEAKER_09 15:36

Get in. Sorry to bother you, ladies. I'm with Nigel's team. Just because what were the stairs like before?

SPEAKER_07 15:41

Horrendous. Why? Um, well, they were wonky. Bonky, broken. Especially these bits up here, it was that it was for kids it was dangerous. They were literally like it was like dodging, like dodging the cracks. Safer for the kitties. Yep, definitely. Good. And I've got to be a good one. Have fun.

SPEAKER_09 15:59

It's good because it means that you know this is this is an important part of the community. It means that people come down, they head down to the beach, they go to the businesses.

SPEAKER_16 16:06

Everything else is beautiful. You know, the sea, loads of people in, the sand, the gorgeous beach huts with all their colour, the pier. I mean, this is quintessential. I mean, it would have looked like this in Victorian times.

SPEAKER_09 16:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 16:18

It hasn't changed. Um, but if you can't access the place without it being dangerous, it makes a big difference. So I'm really pleased.

SPEAKER_08 16:24

Elsewhere, a resident had asked Nigel for help after over a decade of being overcharged for council tax.

SPEAKER_16 16:31

I'm just coming to meet a constituent, who was a constituent when I was the an MP, who I helped a little bit. Hello. Good to meet you. Hello, how are you?

SPEAKER_17 16:47

Before anybody says anything else, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_16 16:50

Yeah, no, no. Do you know the one thing that's very interesting, that the authorities are terrified of me.

SPEAKER_22 16:56

I know.

SPEAKER_16 16:57

If they see your mind, they'd say, oh my god, we don't want to fight it with him.

SPEAKER_22 17:00

That's exactly what we thought of.

SPEAKER_16 17:02

And that went through your mind.

SPEAKER_22 17:03

Yeah, well, I looked at him, I said, how's it common snowpaper? Nigel Farrow turned the bottom, they're looking at you and go, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_16 17:11

Right, let's run it. It worked. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We've we've we've managed to help lots of people.

SPEAKER_22 17:16

Yeah, and you, believe it or not, you broke a 30 years in part because it wasn't just us, it was the previous owner as well.

SPEAKER_16 17:23

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_22 17:23

So he'd he'd been at it 15 years, and we'd been at it 15 years, and they just stonewalled.

unknown 17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 17:29

And within five days of your letter, they rethinked it.

SPEAKER_16 17:33

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. For the record, so I write a letter, House of Commons note paper, on this couple's behalf to say it looks like they've been valued wrongly for a long, long time, and forthcoming was a refund of uh six more than six thousand pounds. Well, there you are. That's not bad, is it?

SPEAKER_22 17:53

They've previous owner got a refund.

SPEAKER_08 17:56

No! Stories like this don't often fit the mainstream media narrative, but here were just two examples of Nigel's impact and the reason why he clearly had so much support on the street. Nigel recorded a video to accompany a newspaper article he'd written about the ongoing threats he faces.

SPEAKER_16 18:31

Since 2013, I've been the most attacked public figure in British public life. You've seen some of it, you know, the pictures of milkshakes, etc. But frankly, the British public don't know the half of it. Physical attacks, and of course, verbal threats online. Cars vandalised, cars even written off, attacks, dangerous attacks on the family home. Throughout all those years, I asked for help from the Home Office, none was ever provided of any kind at all. When I did finally become an MP, they actually removed most of it a year into doing that job. But the murder of Anne Whittacombe has put everything into a completely new context. And it's why what Zack Polansky, the leader of the Green Party, did yesterday in posting on Instagram a we're only making plans for Nigel with a guillotine is nothing less than incitement. I have reported this to the Metropolitan Police. Can you imagine if I'd said something as insightful as that? I mean, goodness me, I'd be in handcuffs as we speak. I've had no apology from Polanski. The Met police tell me they're dealing with the case. But frankly, if people want to criticise me for having been given money to make sure I'm safe for the rest of their lives, well, they can criticize all they like. I explain this and more exclusively for the Daily Mail in this article.

SPEAKER_08 19:57

Later that evening, Polanski was interviewed on the BBC's Newsnight programme. Again, he refused to apologise to Nigel, describing the post as a mistake. Do you want to take this opportunity to apologise to Nigel Farrash?

SPEAKER_12 20:10

Well, if I'd done it deliberately, I'd be apologising, but because this was a mistake, I think the important thing is that I point out it's a mistake, that I also make sure that I condemn political violence, and also crucially, I make a commitment to be better on my social media. Okay.

SPEAKER_08 20:23

Do you want to apologise then or not? No. Polansky went on to criticize Nigel for highlighting the post, saying more people had seen it because of him. To me, this felt like classic victim blaming. Effectively, he was saying Nigel shouldn't have complained or told anyone what happened, and because he had, he couldn't have an apology. This was gaslighting at its most toxic. The man who shared the threatening image, punishing the target for having the nerve to speak out. In Polanski's version of events, the real problem wasn't the guillotine and the slogan, it was Nigel having the brass neck to say, enough is enough. The next morning, Burnham invited opposition parties to take part in talks on reforming adult social care. He claimed that he wanted to build a political consensus, but he slammed the door on Reform UK. Despite the fact that reform provides £8 billion of social care through its 30 councils. Nigel accused Burnham of conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment to foist further tax rises on the country. He also posted a video on X warning that this was the Uni Party in action.

SPEAKER_16 21:40

So the Prime Minister invites the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Democrats to sit down and talk about social care, but does not invite Reform UK. This is the political establishment, this is the Uniparty in action. Perhaps this is because of our total outright opposition to anything with regard to death tax. Being on the table. We are completely opposed to that in every regard. My guess is that's the main reason we've been excluded.

SPEAKER_08 22:08

It struck me that Burnham's refusal to hear the proposals of reform was not that different from Polansky's refusal to apologize for his guillotine post. Both showed the same arrogance, one slamming the door on a party representing millions of voters, the other snubbing the genuine concerns of a political rival. What he's bringing out doesn't help the looks of me. That afternoon I visited Salisbury and Southampton, two cities where reform are still building their political presence, to hear what people really thought of both men.

SPEAKER_09 22:39

What do you think about Andy Burnham?

SPEAKER_05 22:40

I'm a fan, yeah, I'm a fan. I think what he's trying to roll out benefits-wise for a lot of the people now and you know they need the money.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

I'm not a big fan of him personally, no. Why? I don't think he addresses any of the real problems. Well no one knows who he is.

SPEAKER_11 22:55

He's coming up with some good sound bites, but we're all asking about how he's going to pay for it all. There's a rumour there might be an inheritance tax or a death tax, if you will.

SPEAKER_08 23:03

How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_19 23:04

Why should you take something away from somebody who's worked for something? I'm angry about it.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

What why you know why should uh someone be paying taxable money that's already been taxed? So I'm due to leave the country of the year to move away. Loads of people doing it. You know, and I wonder why. Do you think he should call a general election? Yep. Until tell me why. Well, because he's unelected, like nobody chose him to be there. Because he hasn't been voted in, I get why people would say that, but I'm a Labour voter, so I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

I don't think he is gonna call a general election until September, providing if his numbers are good.

SPEAKER_10 23:36

He's not gonna because he's know he's gonna get beaten, isn't he?

SPEAKER_11 23:39

I'm in two minds a little bit because um there's been so many different prime ministers and disruption to the UK economy. I think uh it's slightly premature.

SPEAKER_19 23:48

I absolutely think a general election should be called.

SPEAKER_08 23:52

So you've got Zach Polansky shared an image uh which you've been tagged in, you've heard about his story. He's refused to apologise to Nigel Farage. How do you feel about it? I think it's very unwise that he hasn't.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

I think he's he's uh actually making his own life more difficult by doing that. People always go, oh, it's freedom of speech, but there's also things called respect. He seems to open his mouth and then just put his foot right in it.

SPEAKER_05 24:15

We've got freedom of speech within a democracy. If it wasn't a direct threat, then he shouldn't have to apologise. If you stand by what you say, then that's your opinion, you're entitled to it.

SPEAKER_09 24:23

Well he said he said he shouldn't have posted it. So he's not standing with it, but he's not apologising.

SPEAKER_05 24:27

Well then he needs to apologise. If he can't stand on it, then he needs to say sorry.

SPEAKER_11 24:31

Well, I think it's an absolute disgrace. He should apologise and the police should take action against him.

SPEAKER_19 24:36

Yeah, hell yeah, he should apologise. Look at what happened to Anne Whitakum lately. People are extreme at the moment.

SPEAKER_08 24:45

Later, Skye reported on the outcome of the police investigation into Polansky's Instagram post.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Breaking news tonight on Greens leader Zach Polansky from the Met Police. And Mr. Farage will not be happy about the outcome of the police investigation into this because they have concluded that it does not constitute a criminal offence.

SPEAKER_08 25:09

Zia Youssef responded online with a blunt assessment of what the decision really meant. He said the police had effectively just declared that posting a picture of a man wearing a t-shirt, calling for the leader of a major political party to be beheaded, was perfectly fine. And he pointed out the timing, just three weeks after the murder of a reform colleague. Zia's message ended with a stark warning. Understand what time it is in Britain. The next day, Thursday, the 30th of July, Rob Jenrick hosted a press conference in Westminster.

SPEAKER_18 25:45

Hello, good morning, everybody, and thank you very much for joining us. Well, look, imagine the scene. A loved one, maybe your parent or your grandparent has passed away. You're grieving. At the same time, you're trying to sort out all the things that follow from a death. You're going through their belongings, the paperwork, and then there's a knock at the door. It's not from a well-wisher, but it's from HMRC. Hello? We've come to value your relative's estate. That is what Andy Burnham's scheme could mean. The taxman intruding on the private grief of hundreds of thousands of regular families every year, right across the country. It's the tax that Andy Burnham conspicuously refused to rule out yesterday. A universal death tax. A tax that he has been pushing for nigh on 20 years. In a white paper as health secretary in 2010, in his first leadership bid in 2015, in 2021, at a fringe meeting, in the Wamakerfield by-election, everything was on the table. And as the Prime Minister says, difficult decisions are coming. He's ruled out plenty of other taxes, but he won't, he can't, he will not rule out the death tax.

SPEAKER_08 27:18

As Rob warned, a universal death tax would mean the UK had the highest death taxes in the Western world, and he urged Andy Burnham to provide millions of worried families with peace of mind by ruling it out immediately. Meanwhile, another crisis shows no signs of ending. And with every illegal arrival comes another bill for the taxpayer. So if Burnham wants to raise taxes to fund his plans, how much more will Britain have to pay if he fails to stop the boats? The Reform UK podcast was produced and presented by me, Ray Addison. Thanks to Nigel, Zia, Rob, Mark, the people of Clacton, Salisbury, and Southampton, and of course you for listening. If you'd like to chat about the show, you can join the Reform UK podcast community on Facebook. You can also follow me at Ray Addison Live on X. We'll be back on Monday. Goodbye.