Labour accuses Reform candidate of ‘toxic politics’ after Tommy Robinson endorsement

Matthew Goodwin, left, claimed recently that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds were not necessarily British. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

Labour have accused the Reform UK candidate for the Gorton and Denton byelection, Matthew Goodwin, of representing “toxic politics” after he was endorsed by the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson.

The move will be uncomfortable for Nigel Farage, who has consistently kept the parties he leads separate from Robinson, an anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK’s leading far-right figures.