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Good morning. In 2023, Nigel Farage went on a podcast to decry what he described as a culture of “welfarism” in the UK, insisting it was making millions of people in the country lazy. “‘I’m too fat, I’m too stupid, I’m too lazy, I don’t get out of bed in the morning. I smoke drugs, give me money’,” he said. “‘I don’t need to work, the state will provide for me’ … We cannot afford it.”
Less than two years later, the self-styled free-market crusader seems to be singing a different tune. Last week, he publicly backed the removal of the two-child benefit cap – a move that would lift 350,000 children out of poverty overnight and ease hardship for 700,000 more.
So, what changed? At a press conference, he explained that removing the cap would help lower-paid workers have children. But then came the caveat: “I want to emphasise that this is aimed at British families. It’s not aimed at those that come into the country and suddenly decide to have a lot of children.”
He didn’t stop there. Farage also floated more generous tax breaks for married couples, if elected, and tougher restrictions on abortion. He called the current 24-week limit “ludicrous”.
This isn’t a new strategy in Europe. Farage appears to be mirroring Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, a pioneer in blending anti-immigration rhetoric with anti-abortion measures, while promoting nativist policies to boost birthrates.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Sian Norris, author of Bodies Under Siege: How the Far-Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global, about how these tactics are gaining ground in the UK, and what they could mean for the future of reproductive rights. That’s after the headlines.
Five big stories
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Ukraine | Ukraine has launched a “large-scale” drone attack against Russian military bombers in Siberia, striking more than 40 warplanes thousands of miles from its own territory. On the eve of peace talks, the drone attack on four separate airfields was part of a sharp ramping up of the three-year war.
Israel-Gaza war | More than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they went to an aid distribution point in Gaza, according to witnesses. Israeli forces were said to have opened fire as Palestinians headed for the aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
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p class=”dcr-16w5gq9″>Poland | The populist-right opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki has <a href=”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/01/exit-poll-in-polish-presidential-run-off
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/02/monday-briefing-what-farages-new-obsession-with-nativism-could-mean
