The number of far-right and anti-immigration protests have spiked under Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, new data shows.
Research from independent conflict monitor ACLED indicated there have been 328 anti-immigration or far right protests in 22 months of Sir Keir’s administration, compared with 63 across four and a half years of Tory leadership.
The number of protests first began to surge after the 2024 Southport attack and were sparked by online misinformation that fuelled tensions around asylum accommodation and migration policy, ACLED said.
A month after British citizen Axel Rudakubana killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Merseyside, a summer of race riots engulfed the nation, fuelled by the mistaken belief spread on social media that the perpetrator was an asylum seeker.
Protests began to rise into the double figures from May 2025 before peaking at 74 attacks across the country in August last year in response to anger around asylum seekers in hotels.
It came after the arrest, and eventual conviction of an asylum seeker for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman. Hadush Kebatu was staying in the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex at the time.
Joel Crisetig, ACLED’s assistant research manager, said that far right and anti migration activists had found success in turning localised incidents, such as those in Southport or Epping, into national topics.
“They managed to advance their narrative online, on social media, and rely on local activists to organise demonstrations outside of hotels housing migrants,” he said.
Tens of thousands gathered in London for Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom march and a pro-Palestine Nakba Day rally on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police readied 4,000 officers for a public order policing operation across the Capital and arrested at least 43 people across both demonstrations.
The prime minister, after meeting with police chiefs on Friday morning, said: “We’re in a fight for the soul of this country, and the Unite the Kingdom march this weekend is a stark reminder of exactly what we are up against.”
Dr Georgios Samara, a lecturer in public policy at Kings College London, said that “the whole far right movement in the UK has become much more organised.”
The academic, suggested that changes to X, formerly known as Twitter, gave the far right an “online space where there are no checks and balances, there are no limits.”
Elon Musk, who took over X in 2023, has shown support to Tommy Robinson in the past; on Saturday he reposted one of the activist’s videos, saying: “The thousands of British people imprisoned merely for social media posts or speaking their mind need to be released! No more prison island!!”
He added that the Labour government’s policies and rhetoric had also played a part in “normalising” the far right.
“Because they went after asylum seekers, they tried to speak this far right language that made Nigel Farage so popular and has resulted in the rise of the far right in this country,” he said. “They closed asylum hotels, they promised to go after indefinite leave to remain.”
Misbah Malik, the head of communities and policy at HOPE not hate, said that far-right views had been normalised in the UK over the past five years.
She said: “I think for the past five years or so, we've just seen a steady increase in the amount of anti-migrant hostility and activity come from not just the far right, but increasingly by people who have never actually signed up to a far-right group or even necessarily attended an official far-right meeting or protest.”
Ms Malik added: “We had 14 years of Conservative government. Labour haven't been in for anywhere near that long, and so any kind of progress they were going to try and make wouldn't necessarily have happened straight away.”
“But also I think we have to look to the Labour government and the way that they are increasingly chasing… Reform’s talking points and increasingly adopting far-right adjacent rhetoric.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Peaceful protest is a fundamental part of our democratic society, and people in this country will always be able to freely express their views as long as it is done peacefully and lawfully.
“There is no place for anyone who abuses that right. Those who threaten our communities, spread racism and hate on our streets, and commit acts of violence will face the full force of the law.”
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