'Millions of Indians, Pakistanis taking our jobs': UK MP makes 'racist' remarks

UK MP Rupert Lowe has sparked controversy after making anti-migration remarks targeting people of Indian and Pakistani origin in Britain, despite the apparent risk of being labelled racist.

Independent MP Lowe claimed that “millions of Pakistanis and Indians” are being brought to the UK to take up jobs that, according to him, should instead go to unemployed Britons.

He wrote on X: "I don't believe we should import millions of Pakistanis and Indians to do jobs that unemployed Brits should be doing."


“If that makes me racist, then so be it,” he added.





According to the Office for National Statistics, 2021 Census, Lowe's constituency of Great Yarmouth has just 907 residents of Indian and Pakistani origin — 786 Indian and 121 Pakistani. That is less than 1% of the town's 99,750 population.

The unemployment rate in Great Yarmouth stands at 9.8%, nearly double the national average of 5.4%.

According to data cited from Migration Observatory, University of Oxford, "Migrants in the UK Labour Market: An Overview", nationally, 20% of employee jobs in December 2025 were held by non-UK nationals — 6.5 million jobs. This share has increased steadily from 12% in 2014.


Between January 2021 and December 2025, Indian and Nigerian nationals saw the sharpest increases in UK employment. But these workers are not taking jobs from Britons. They are concentrated in sectors with chronic staffing shortages.


A quarter of jobs held by non-EU nationals in December 2025 were in the health and care sector — 161,000 Skilled Worker visas were granted to non-EU care workers alone during this period. The Home Office added care workers to the visa eligibility list precisely because the sector could not fill vacancies domestically.


Lowe has previously claimed that "1.3 million foreign nationals" are claiming Universal Credit. The actual figure: 13% of Universal Credit recipients are non-UK nationals — 1.1 million people. This is lower than their 16% share of the working-age population.


Migrants on work, study or family visas are generally barred from claiming benefits under the "No Recourse to Public Funds" rule.


Lowe, the Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, was elected as a Reform UK candidate in July 2024 before having the party whip suspended in March 2025. He now leads the Restore Britain party and has a history of anti-immigrant rhetoric, including a December 2025 tweet stating: "I am sick of hearing that Britain was built by immigrants. No. No it was not. It was built by British men and women."


His party has refused to condemn supporters who called for "total remigration" — the deportation of all non-white citizens.
Catch all LIVE updates on the US-Iran conflict here.