Nigel Farage shouted down by MPs in House of Commons for repeating right-wing conspiracy theory

Nigel Farage was shouted down by angry MPs in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) on September 11 for repeating a right-wing conspiracy theory .

The leader of Reform UK claimed there is "two-tier" policing in the country, which is a conspiracy theory that those who are right-wing are treated more harshly than those who are left-wing.

It came as he hit out at around 1,700 inmates being released early on September 10 to free up space in prisons due to problems with overcrowding.

"Yesterday we witnessed some extraordinary celebratory scenes outside Britain's prisons where, in some cases, serious career criminals were released," Farage said.

"And this to make way for, yes, rioters, but equally those who have said unpleasant things on Facebook and elsewhere on social media.

"Does the Prime Minister understand there is a growing feeling of anger in this country that we are living through two-tier policing and a two-tier justice system?"

This was met with loud discontent from MPs including a number of shouts of "shame".

Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded: "I'm angry to be put in a position of having to release people who should be in prison because the last Government broke the prison system.

"And the [former] Prime Minister [Rishi Sunak] was repeatedly warned, he had his own release scheme, he was repeatedly warned that he had to adopt the scheme that we put in place.

"The former Justice Minister said 'if we don't do it, we'll have to get down on our knees and pray'.

"Police chiefs made it absolutely clear in a letter to him before the election that he needed to take action, saying that they wouldn't be able to discharge their duties and saying the risk was loss of an ability to detain suspects.

"That means an inability to arrest people committing offences. That's how bad it was.

"They warned the Leader of the Opposition that further delays until after the General Election would increase the risk significantly.

"What did he do? He delayed and increased the risks."

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.