The Dark Side of Patriotism: Flags, Fear and the Reform Divide

Over the past few years, we’ve all seen the divide in the UK grow wider, fuelled by parties like Reform. Their hunger for power seems to come before any sense of humanity, and time after time, they’ve used the media to turn people against minority groups in the UK. Instead of facing up to the real reasons why our economy is in crisis, they point the finger at immigrants. It’s lazy, it’s dangerous, and it’s dragging us back in time. The question is: how long are we going to let this messaging shape the way we see each other?

The rise of reform

Let’s not kid ourselves, racism isn’t new. It’s been around for generations. And while some people roll their eyes at so-called ‘woke culture,’ the reality is that calling out racism, microaggressions, and everyday discrimination in workplaces, schools, and society is something that should be celebrated. One of the biggest drivers of racist and divisive rhetoric in the UK today is the Reform Party, originally launched by Nigel Farage back in 2018 (as the Brexit Party). Farage has made a career out of scapegoating immigrants, pushing anti-EU sentiment, and painting multiculturalism as a threat rather than a strength. It’s a politics of fear, and it’s keeping us divided instead of pushing us forward.

Nigel Farage rose to political relevance in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a founding member of UKIP (UK Independence Party). At first, his focus was on pulling Britain out of the European Union, but he quickly realised that hammering on immigration would get him headlines and votes. By the mid-2000s, and especially around the 2010 general election, Farage was openly pushing the idea that immigrants were to blame for pressure on jobs, housing, and public services. This message hit harder during the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath, when frustration and anger were already running high. His ability to package people’s economic worries into a simple anti-immigrant narrative is what gave him a surge in popularity, eventually peaking with the Brexit referendum campaign in 2016, where ‘taking back control’ became the catchphrase for shutting out migrants. It was simple; people had someone to point the finger at! In short, Farage climbed the ladder by scapegoating minorities, and it’s a tactic he’s never let go of.

The REAL reform agenda

Unfortunately, many people in the UK don’t see the bigger picture, and Nigel Farage has been able to manipulate this. A lot of his core beliefs and the changes he proposes for the UK are far more detrimental to our healthcare system, jobs, and everyday lives than people realise. His policies often target working-class communities and take advantage of those with limited access to education, which is a common pattern among movements pushing the racist rhetoric that underpins his campaigns.

Farage has openly supported maintaining exploitative zero-hour contracts, argued for a scaled-back role of the NHS with more room for private healthcare, and promised to cut taxes in ways that primarily benefit the wealthy while squeezing public services. His approach to immigration and multiculturalism also stokes division rather than building solutions, and his so-called “common sense” reforms risk weakening workers’ rights, underfunding social care, and undermining equality protections. This is in no way beneficial to everyday people.

The blame on immigration

In 2025, we’ve seen a major surge in protests, riots and crime supposedly in the name of ‘illegal immigration’. But where has all this come from? A lot of it isn’t based on fact at all, it’s been whipped up by fake Facebook posts, viral TikToks and rage-bait memes designed to spread anger and division. Even the Home Affairs Committee has highlighted how social media misinformation fuelled much of last summer’s unrest (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 2025). People create fake news about migrants to push a racist narrative. Unfortunately, Reform’s messaging has acted as a green light for millions who already held racist views to come out into the open.

Hull saw this first-hand in August 2024. An asylum hotel in the city was attacked; shops were smashed, looted and burned; police officers were injured; and dozens of arrests were made (Sky News, 2024a; Sky News, 2024b). Many of those involved weren’t there to ‘protest immigration’ at all; they were opportunists with existing criminal records who used the riots as cover to break into shops and commit violence (Sky News, 2024c).

And let’s be clear: seeking asylum is legal. Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, people fleeing persecution are entitled to claim asylum in the UK, even if their journey was irregular (UNHCR, n.d.; Refugee Council, n.d.). Yet the rhetoric on the streets doesn’t distinguish between asylum seekers and anyone who looks Black or brown. It’s not about legality, it’s about race.

The crime statistics don’t back up the ‘migrant crime wave’ myth either. At the height of the unrest in 2024, around 177 people had been jailed across the UK for violent disorder, with average sentences of almost two years. Meanwhile, as of March 2025, foreign nationals made up 12% of the prison population in England and Wales (Ministry of Justice, 2025), hardly evidence of the tidal wave of migrant crime Reform claims. In fact, the Office for National Statistics has noted that there’s no clear dataset directly linking immigration status to crime rates (Office for National Statistics, 2024).

So what we’ve really seen is this: racism, misinformation and opportunistic violence dressed up as patriotism. Hull deserves better than riots that turn neighbours into enemies; we need education.

Are they really taking our jobs?

Something a lot of lower-class and working-class people hold onto is the idea that immigrants are ‘taking our jobs’ and that they are being housed before ‘our own people’. But the facts tell a different story. In England alone, as of December 2024, at least 354,000 people are homeless, including 326,000 in temporary accommodation, about 3,900 people sleeping rough, and roughly 16,600 single adults in hostels or other homeless accommodation (Shelter, 2024). In March 2025, a record 131,140 households lived in temporary accommodation, up 12% year on year (Big Issue, 2025). Among veterans, around 0.3% reported being homeless, rough sleeping or living in refuges for domestic abuse (UK Veterans’ Survey 2022) (Gov.uk, 2025). And it’s not just housing: substance misuse is widespread amongst homeless individuals, around 62.5% report drug misuse, while 42.6% report both mental health issues and substance misuse (Mental Health UK, n.d.).

So, if we’re blaming a small number of immigrants in a country of 69.2 million, it makes little economic or moral sense, especially compared to the scale of housing insecurity being experienced by UK nationals and veterans alike, with a lot of them being offered and kept in some form of accommodation. Therefore, immigrants are not taking your housing.

There’s also something deeply harmful about blaming immigrants for ‘taking our jobs’ or insisting they’re being housed ahead of ‘our own people’. The truth is, most asylum seekers in the UK are not allowed to work while their claims are being decided (Migration Observatory, 2025; Refugee Action, n.d.). They are also not eligible for mainstream welfare benefits such as Income Support or Housing Benefit (Commons Library, 2024; Refugee Action, n.d.). What they do receive is minimal, asylum support of about £49.18 per person per week or less, just enough to cover essentials while waiting on decisions (Migration Observatory, 2025; Refugee Action, n.d.).

It’s basic humanity to offer shelter or support to someone seeking safety. Yet somehow, Reform and similar voices have twisted this into something shameful, painting people with darker skin as if they don’t deserve even basic decency. Ironically, many who amplify this rhetoric are on Universal Credit themselves or left school early; in interviews online, it’s clear there’s often a lack of understanding, or worse, an unwillingness to understand.

Yes, people who commit crimes should be held accountable, no question. But when the narrative spins, suggesting that immigrants are disproportionately responsible for crime, it becomes dangerous. It spreads hate, fosters division, and distracts from real problems. Statistics show there is no robust evidence that immigrants commit more crime than the native-born population once you account for socio-economic factors (Migration Observatory, 2013; ONS, 2024).

The flags

Lately, we’ve seen a surge of St George’s flags hanging across England. On the surface, they’re supposed to symbolise unity. But are they really uniting us, or are they being used as a performative tool of intimidation against anyone who doesn’t fit the narrow stereotype of being ‘English’? The difference between genuine cultural pride and what we’re seeing now is stark: this isn’t about love for heritage. Most of these people have never been this patriotic, except maybe during football season. Instead, it’s a recent development being weaponised to scare those who don’t look or live the way they define as ‘British’.

What makes this even more concerning is that it’s not just symbolic. It’s spilling over into real life: in the year ending March 2024, there were 98,799 police-recorded race hate crimes in England and Wales, making up 70% of all recorded hate crimes (Home Office, 2024). Assaults, verbal abuse and violence directed at Black, mixed-heritage and other minority individuals are a big part of that. And here’s the hypocrisy: the actual number of crimes committed by migrants is small compared to those committed by UK-born citizens. Yet no one bats an eye when it’s a white Brit committing a crime, because it doesn’t feed into the fear-mongering narrative about immigrants. This shows it’s not about celebrating identity at all, it’s about enforcing exclusion, fear and division under the guise of nationalism.

So how do we push back against this intimidation tactic? First, by calling it out for what it is, not patriotism, but fear dressed in red and white. Communities need to reclaim the flag from those who weaponise it, showing that English identity isn’t about exclusion, but about diversity and shared humanity. Education is key too: tackling misinformation, teaching the real history of migration in this country, and building critical thinking so people stop falling for cheap scapegoating. Local councils, schools and media platforms all have a role to play here. And finally, solidarity matters. Standing up for neighbours, reporting hate crimes, supporting migrant and minority groups, and refusing to be silent in the face of intimidation is how we build a culture that rejects hate. The answer to division isn’t more flags on lamp posts; it’s building communities that see strength in difference rather than fear.

Reclaiming Identity, Rejecting Hate

At the heart of it, this isn’t just about politics, flags or slogans; it’s about the kind of country we want to live in. Do we give in to fear, scapegoating and cheap divides? Or do we stand for fairness, community and basic decency? Hull, and the UK as a whole, has always been stronger when it embraces its diversity, from migrants shaping our food, music and culture, to the everyday workers who keep this country running. Reform and others can try to sell us the lie that difference is a threat, but the truth is the opposite: difference is our strength. Combating this intimidation means choosing solidarity over suspicion, facts over fear, and humanity over hate. That’s how we make England, and Hull, a place worth being proud of.

References

House of Commons Home Affairs Committee (2025) Police response to the 2024 summer disorder. London: UK Parliament.

Ministry of Justice (2025) Offender management statistics quarterly: October–December 2024. London: Ministry of Justice. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024 (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Office for National Statistics (2024) Crimes in the UK by race and immigration status: FOI response. London: Office for National Statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Queen Mary University of London (2025) ‘UK far right protests (2024): A dangerous blend of misinformation, technology and extremism’, QMUL Legal Blog, 15 April. Available at: https://qmul.ac.uk/blog (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Refugee Council (n.d.) The truth about asylum. Available at: https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Sky News (2024a) ‘Footage shows shops looted and burned after day of protests and riots in Hull’, Sky News, 3 August. Available at: https://news.sky.com (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Sky News (2024b) ‘UK protests: Violent disorder breaks out across the country’, Sky News, 3 August. Available at: https://news.sky.com (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Sky News (2024c) ‘Hull protest organiser apologises to mosque worshipper after demo led to far-right riot’, Sky News, 17 August. Available at: https://news.sky.com (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

UNHCR (n.d.) The 1951 Refugee Convention. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html(Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Shelter (2024) At least 354,000 people homeless in England today. London: Shelter. Available at:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/media/press_release/at_least_354000_people_homeless_in_england_today (Accessed: 11 September 2025). Shelter England

Big Issue (2025) ‘Number of homeless households owed support to prevent or relieve homelessness rises’, Big Issue, (households in temporary accommodation), March. Available at: https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/britains-homelessness-shame-cold-hard-facts/ (Accessed: 11 September 2025). Big Issue

UK Government (2025) Finance and housing analysis of UK armed forces veterans: veterans survey 2022, UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/finance-and-housing-analysis-of-uk-armed-forces-veterans/finance-and-housing-uk-armed-forces-veterans-veterans-survey-2022-uk (Accessed: 11 September 2025). GOV.UK

Mental Health UK (n.d.) Homelessness: statistics on substance misuse and mental health among homeless people. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/statistics/homelessness-statistics (Accessed: 11 September 2025).

Home Office (2024) Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024. London: Home Office. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024 (Accessed: 11 September 2025).