UK braces for more heavy rain as over 80 flood warnings issued

More than 80 flood warnings are currently in effect across the UK as persistent rainfall continues to drench the nation.

The Environment Agency (EA) has issued 91 flood warnings, predominantly concentrated across southern and south-western England, alongside the East and West Midlands.

Additionally, 261 flood alerts, indicating that flooding is possible, are in place across much of England. Natural Resources Wales has also issued 11 flood alerts.

The severe conditions have prompted specific warnings, with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service stating: “Due to heavy prolonged rainfall today the local levels at River Dene have risen to a state where flooding is imminent.”

The Met Office confirmed on Thursday that south-west England and South Wales have experienced rain every day this year.

Both regions have endured a significantly wetter January than average, recording 50 per cent more rainfall than usual.

Forecasters predict blustery showers for southern coastlines in the south-west on Saturday, with heavy showers also expected in South Wales.

Sunday will bring a mix of showers and some sunshine, but more wet and windy weather is anticipated to move in from the west at the start of next week.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin commented on the recent conditions, noting: “Friday’s been a very soggy day across a good chunk of the country, cold wind continuing to feed in the cloud and the moisture across north-east England and eastern Scotland.”

The fresh threat of torrential rain comes after the recent Storm Chandra that affected multiple regions in the UK.

Storm Chandra brought record-breaking rainfall across a number of UK sites, especially on 26 January, with Katesbridge in County Down seeing a staggering 100.8mm of rain, far surpassing the previous site record of 38.2mm from 2005.

Dunkeswell Aerodrome in Devon reached 52.8mm, while Hurn in Dorset, Cardinham in Cornwall, and Plymouth Mountbatten in Devon all exceeded their previous daily records.

Experts warn against rise in dangerous weight-loss ‘jab hacks’

Experts have warned those on weight-loss injections against trying “jab hacks” like taking tiny doses or buying the medication from illegitimate sources.

Almost half of the 1.6 million people on weight-loss medication in the UK say they have either dabbled with dangerous techniques such as “microdosing” (32 per cent) or turned to unlicensed drugs and sellers (28 per cent) as the price of the medication rises, according to a survey by Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor.

One woman named Amy, whose name has been changed to keep her identity anonymous, explained she takes small doses of Wegovy to make the pen last longer and save money, meaning she uses each needle twice.

The 55-year-old woman from West Sussex told The Independent: “I pay £150 for a 1 milligram pen, which if you’re on the full dose lasts four weeks and if you halve it, it lasts eight weeks. I have been eking it out so that a full pen can last me eight to 10, maybe even 12 weeks.”

She has been buying Wegovy from her beauty therapist since March 2025. But weight-loss medication can’t be bought over the counter and must be prescribed by a qualified healthcare professional, such as a GP or pharmacist, following a consultation.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned against sourcing weight-loss medicines from unregulated suppliers, with the maker of Wegovy calling this a “direct danger to health”.

Dr Kieran Seyan, chief medical officer at Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor, told The Independent: “I am increasingly worried by reports that some individuals may be accessing prescription-only weight-loss medication through unregulated sources like beauty therapists or salons.

“Medication from a source that is not appropriately regulated increases the risk of incorrect dosing, expired or improperly stored medication, and in some cases, counterfeit products.”

But Amy said she trusts her beauty therapist and believes she would struggle to access weight-loss drugs on the NHS.

“From the age of 10 I was taken by my mother to Weight Watchers, and eventually, 15 years ago, I had gastric bypass surgery privately that didn’t work,” she said.

“I started Wegovy in March through my beauty therapist who does aesthetics and Botox. She goes to a doctor to get it prescribed, and then I collect it from her.”

Amy explained she did have a phone consultation and had to have a BMI over 30 to access the weight-loss drug, which she was, but she admitted the process should be “stricter”.

Weight-loss injections, such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, also known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by mimicking the natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion.

They are a prescribed drug and to access them on the NHS a patient needs to have a BMI of 40 or more, but private providers offer them to those with a BMI over 30.

Amy started on a low dose of 0.5mg and gradually increased to 1mg. After losing two-and-a-half stone and reaching a BMI of 25, she was told to reduce her dosage to half the amount with the intent to stop.

“I haven’t actually stopped, I kept going and I’m almost scared to come off it, I feel that I probably might be on it for good,” she added. “I’ve got to have a pen in the fridge all the time and I just think it’s something that I’ll be on for the foreseeable future.”

The hack known as “microdosing” involves taking smaller doses than the weight-loss jab is designed for.

Dr Seyan warned using smaller doses to make the medication last “isn’t an exact science” and hasn’t been tested. He explained there is a risk of administering “unequal doses”, which can make the jab less effective.

The dose is decided on by a pharmacist or doctor depending on the individual, and “chopping and changing” the dose doesn’t give the body a chance to adapt and can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, tummy pain, and constipation, he explained.

He also warned that the pen itself is only supposed to last four weeks, so using it past this point could mean the medication itself has expired, making it less effective.

Because Amy uses a Wegovy injection that comes with only four needles, she sometimes uses the needle twice to reach eight or more doses – which poses a risk of infection.

Leyla Hanbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, warned: “Patients should always use a clean and sterile needle for each injection.

“There is a significant risk for bacterial contamination as a used needle is no longer sterile and can infect the body with bacteria.

“There is also a risk of an inaccurate dose being administered if residue remained in the old needle, which will prevent the full dose of medication from being delivered. In addition, old needles can break and be damaged and can cause damage to the skin.”

An MHRA spokesperson said: “Wegovy (semaglutide) is a prescription-only medication, meaning it should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional.

“Sourcing weight loss medicines from unregulated suppliers significantly increases the risk of getting a product which is either falsified or not approved for use. Products bought in this way will not meet the MHRA’s strict  safety and quality standards and could expose patients to incorrect dosages or dangerous ingredients.”

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, also warns against obtaining the medication from unregulated suppliers, adding it does not condone practices such as “microdosing” and medication should be taken at the recommended doses.

A spokesperson said: “At Novo Nordisk, patient safety is our top priority. Obtaining GLP-1 medicines without a prescription through non-legitimate routes poses a direct danger to health. The contents of the medicines obtained from sources other than a registered healthcare professional can be entirely different from the genuine medicine and should not be used.

“We urge patients to only obtain appropriate medicine on prescription through legitimate sources and after consultation with a healthcare professional. If a patient suspects they have administered a counterfeit product, they should seek medical advice straight away.”

Man Utd host Spurs in Premier League clash

Manchester United host Tottenham in the Premier League’s early kick off this afternoon knowing that a victory will keep them in the top four and take them one step closer to securing Champions League qualification.

The feeling of hope has returned to Old Trafford since Michael Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim as head coach with the former United midfielder orchestrating three wins from his first three matches in charge. Carrick’s United have seen off both Manchester City and Arsenal before the restoration of ‘Fergie-time’ saw Benjamin Sesko steal all three points against Fulham late in stoppage time in their previous outing.

Carrick’s goal is to guide United to a top four (possibly top five) finish and guarantee them Champions League football next season and he has made the perfect start.

Today, United take on a struggled Tottenham side but Thomas Frank’s side will have gained confidence in the way they salvaged a 2-2 draw against Manchester City last weekend. The spotlight is still shining brightly on whether the Dane can turnaround the club’s league form and a win away at Old Trafford would ease the pressure.

Follow all the updates from the Premier League with our live blog below:

Coronation Street’s Beverley Callard reveals breast cancer diagnosis

Coronation Street star Beverley Callard has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 68-year-old, who played Rovers Return barmaid Liz McDonald for three decades on the North West soap, told RTE’s Late Late Show on Friday (6 February) that the illness is in its “very early stages”.

She told the show’s host Patrick Kielty that she is set to undergo further testing before having “an operation and some radiotherapy”.

Callard, who has recently joined the cast of Irish soap Fair City, said she received the news from her doctor in a phone call just minutes before she was set to start filming.

“I’ve had some tests just before I left the UK, and literally 15, 20 minutes before I was in my dressing room at Fair City, getting ready to go on,” she said.

“And I was quite nervous and thinking, ‘I hope everybody thinks I’m all right’, whatever.

“And my consultant rang me and said, ‘you’ve got to come back to the UK.’”

“I said, ‘Well, I can’t possibly, I’ve just taken a new job’. I said ‘I’m away for a month’, and I was diagnosed with breast cancer.”

She added that she will “travel back to the UK tomorrow, just for a couple of weeks”, where her doctors are “going to test lymph nodes and lymph glands”.

“But then I need an operation and some radiotherapy, and then I’m coming back to Fair City, so I will be back in just a few weeks,” she said.

Callard told fans that she is feeling “absolutely fine” but admitted that her “head was a bit mashed for the first few days” after receiving the diagnosis.

The actor joined Coronation Street in 1989 and eventually left the soap in 2020.

She has also appeared in the Noughties comedy Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and has served as a panellist on Loose Women.

She took part in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2020.

It is estimated that one in seven women in the UK will develop breast cancer during their lifetime.

‘My son went out on a run. I found him dead using a phone tracker app’

The father of a man killed when he ran into a low-hanging electricity line has described the moment he found his son’s body.

Harry Oates, 29, an aerospace engineer who worked in Bristol, was visiting his parents’ home in Lonsdale, Cumbria, for the weekend, where the family had planned fun activities such as golf and cycling that they never got to do together.

What began as just a “nice, regular kind of day” filled with admin tasks like car servicing turned into a traumatic and grave loss.

Harry decided to go out for a two-hour jog as part of training for a charity half-marathon to mark his upcoming 30th birthday.

When Harry didn’t come home on time, the family began to worry that something had gone wrong. His father, Malcolm Oates, said at first: “One thing that we thought was on his route that he was going on, he would pass two or three houses where old school friends lived.

“So we thought maybe he’s bumped into somebody and stopped for a chat, or, you know, he’s been waylaid. But after two and a half hours, we started to get concerned, so phoned him.”

He added: “After a while of him not answering, we thought he possibly dropped his phone, and he was backtracking on his run, looking for it, because it was still ringing. It was still active, but not being answered anyway.

“When it got to about 4.15pm his brother Charlie got home from work, and I used ‘Find My iPhone’ on his phone. So we tracked Harry’s phone to be in a field fairly close to the house here, only a 10-minute walk away, so Charlie and I set off in Charlie’s car to go and see if we could locate his phone.”

That’s when Mr Oates saw his son. He said: “As I got closer and closer, it started to dawn on me that it was Harry lying prone on the floor, face down. And as I got closer and closer, I could see there was an 11,000-volt cable across him.”

He discovered his son’s body just a three-minute drive from their home, in Lupton, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

“That image of him there, is the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning when I wake up,” Mr Oates said.

The father immediately phoned his wife, Ros, in horror and said: “You’ve got to get down here right away. It’s the worst possible outcome.”

Harry had been electrocuted to death by a low-hanging wire.

He will forever be remembered by his family as a “kind”, “popular”, “caring” and “compassionate” son who was taken from them far too soon. His mother Ros shared that he had the “ambition to visit 30 countries by the time he was 30, and he exceeded the 30 countries, but unfortunately, he didn’t reach his 30th birthday”.

Harry’s former colleagues in Cambridge decided to commemorate him with a Harry arts boardroom and hung a plaque in his honour.

An inquest ruled that Harry had died from “rare and complex” circumstances and that the line manager, Electricity North West (ENWL), was not responsible for his death. However, the coroner did ask the Energy Networks Association (ENA) to take action to improve safety practices and prevent future deaths.

In her prevention of future deaths report, coroner Kirsty Gomersal said Harry had come into contact with a line that had come away from its usual position two days previously, but had not touched the ground and remained unreported.

She wrote: “There was no automatic means of detection of the low-hanging line.”

Harry’s family has called for greater accountability, accusing ENWL of “hiding behind their maintenance record, saying that they’ve carried out all maintenance they should have done, and that the sequence of events was unforeseen”.

Ms Gomersal wrote that the line fell out of position due to a failure of two insulators that suspended the wire. After its investigation, ENWL has stopped using that type of insulator and was planning a programme to replace them at around 8,000 locations.

In the meantime, when maintenance work is required at those locations, the insulators are replaced. The coroner raised concern over a risk of future deaths due to the fact there are still locations across the UK which use the older type of insulators.

Mr Oates called for a mandatory replacement of the older insulators.

He said: “There should be a programme in place now where every single porcelain disc insulator should be removed and replaced. It could happen tomorrow. It could be happening right now. They haven’t done anything about it.”

A spokesperson for ENWL said: “Our heartfelt sympathies remain with Harry Oates’ family at this time. This was a tragic incident which both the coroner and Health and Safety Executive noted involved a rare and complex sequence of events that were unforeseeable.

“Safety is our number one value, and we will continue to work with other distribution network operators and the industry trade body, ENA, on learnings from this immensely sad accident.”

A Health and Safety Executive spokesperson said: “We extend our sincere condolences to the Oates family. This was looked at by a coroner who concluded it was a tragic incident caused by a rare and complex sequence of events. No material breach of law was identified by our investigation.”

Nordic flavours: Discover culture and cuisine on an enriching cruise

Norway’s food is more than just something to eat; it tells the story of a coastline shaped by freezing seas and centuries of being resourceful. It’s rooted in preservation, seasonality and local pride, and is a cuisine best understood not by crossing the country, but by tracing its edges, sailing from port to port.

With more than 130 years of experience along Norway’s rugged coast, Nordic cruise operator Hurtigruten knows these waters better than anyone, as well as the culture, community and cuisine you’ll find en route. On board, food is not an added extra, but an integral part of the journey itself, and as the ship sails north, so do the menus, reflecting the regions, communities and producers met along the way.

On a Hurtigruten voyage, ingredients are sourced directly from the coastline, picked up as ships travel between ports, with around 70 local farms, fisheries, bakeries, and producers in its network, and a focus on small-scale, homegrown suppliers.

Menus are chock-full of melt-in-your-mouth cod from Vesterålen, award-winning goat’s cheese from family-run Aalan Farm in Lofoten, and craft beer brewed in Bergen. Dining rooms are designed with floor-to-ceiling windows, so as fjords glide past outside, you’re eating dishes made from the very waters and landscapes you’re sailing through.

Each Hurtigruten ship has a main restaurant, a bistro-style eatery and a fine dining option, all guided by the line’s food philosophy, Norway’s Coastal Kitchen, with super seasonal menus grounded in local traditions.

On The Coastal Express, Torget is the heart of onboard dining, with mornings beginning with freshly baked bread, saxlmon and porridge, and evenings with three-course dinners with just-caught fish, Norwegian meats and plant-based dishes, best finished with traditional desserts and local berries.

For something more casual, Brygga reflects the bustle of Norway’s working wharves, serving hearty favourites such as soups, salads and the much-loved Norwegian shrimp sandwich, piled high with prawns, eggs, dill mayonnaise and lemon.

The ship’s à la carte restaurant, Kysten, offers a more refined take on Norwegian cuisine, with fresh seafood, wild herbs and carefully sourced meats, paired with thoughtfully selected wines, including Hurtigruten’s own sparkling wine, Havets Bobler.

Aged deep beneath the Norwegian Sea rather than in a cellar, Havets Bobler matures more than 30 metres below the surface, gently rocked by ocean currents in cold, dark waters. The result is a wine with fine bubbles, a subtle mineral finish, and a process rooted in the Norwegian sea.

On premium Signature Voyages such as the North Cape Line and The Svalbard Line, dining becomes an even deeper exploration of Norway’s culinary scene. These all-inclusive journeys feature three unique restaurants, each reflecting Norway’s past, present and future.

In the main restaurant, Flora, menus are inspired by Norway’s edible landscape, packed with herbs, berries, mushrooms and vegetables, and shaped by the seasons and the ports visited each day. Breakfast and lunch are served buffet-style, while evenings bring a changing à la carte menu, meaning no two dinners are ever the same.

Brasserie Árran celebrates tradition with hearty Norwegian classics such as Sámi reindeer stew, smoked reindeer with lingonberry, and pickled herring on rye. At the top end, fine-dining restaurant Røst draws inspiration from the ancient fish banks of the Lofoten Islands with tasting menus that might feature stockfish, salmon or reindeer, alongside more unexpected ingredients such as seaweed, kelp, sea urchin and Arctic pearls.

Across all venues, traditional preservation methods are at the forefront, with drying, fermenting and salting taking centre stage, honoured by chefs, sommeliers and mixologists who reinterpret age-old techniques especially for Hurtigruten voyages.

For the ultimate foodie adventure, Hurtigruten’s Culinary Voyage sails from Bergen to Tromsø over seven delicious days, mixing life on board with experiences on land, plus a chance to meet the people bringing Norway’s food scene to life. One day you might be tucking into a seaweed-themed 20-course dinner at a gourmet farm, the next enjoying tastings at the world’s northernmost distillery and brewery.

Hurtigruten’s connection to the coast goes beyond sourcing, with a sustainable approach that minimises waste. Leftover food from ships sailing The Coastal Express is composted in Stamsund in the Lofoten Islands, using a specially designed reactor. Within 24 hours, it becomes fertiliser for the nearby Myklevik farm, where herbs and vegetables are grown, some of which even return to the ships.

This quiet farm-to-fleet-to-farm cycle reflects Hurtigruten’s commitment to reducing food waste through reducing, reusing and recycling, helping care for both the coastline and the communities it serves.

Food is only part of the adventure on a Hurtigruten voyage, and alongside dining, the onboard Expedition Team brings Norwegian culture to life through lectures, talks, and foodie experiences that explore the country’s past, traditions, and way of life.

On land, excursions might include sampling local beers at Macks Ølbryggeri in Tromsø, heading out with fishermen in Kirkenes to haul up king crab from icy waters, or visiting a family-run dairy farm in Lofoten. In Lofoten, the Stockfish Museum explains how cod has been dried in the Arctic air for centuries, and in Bergen, the Hanseatic Museum shows how closely food and trade were woven into life along the historic wharf.

But head even further north, and you can meet indigenous Sámi families to learn about their long-standing tradition of reindeer herding, gaining a deeper insight into the incredible Sámi way of life.

A voyage of discovery

With a Hurtigruten cruise you can experience Norway in its most authentic way, gliding slowly along the coast, and immersing yourself in each fascinating destination – travelling the way it’s always been done. For more travel information and inspiration and to plan your trip, visit Hurtigruten. Save up to 30 per cent on a Hurtigruten cruise for departures until March 2027, when you book by 28th February.

I’m 14 years old – please don’t take my TikTok away

When the use of social media for teenagers is discussed, there is often a big focus on the extreme stories. It’s important that these are heard, but I think it’s important to speak to those of us, who are probably in the majority, that have a normal, well-managed relationship with social media.

My friends and I have a pretty healthy relationship with social media, and we stick to agreements we make with our parents – even if they are sometimes annoying! On Instagram, I pretty much only use it for positive things. It helps me with my English revision, and I read up on things I’m interested in, like recipes (I like to cook), TV and film reviews, and information on places I’m interested in going to. I do share photos, but I run these past my mum and dad, and none of my mates share controversial pictures or content.

We are the generation that use social media to communicate and organise our social lives. Loads of plans get made via WhatsApp and Snapchat – my brother, who’s 17, wouldn’t have a social life without Snapchat! I think bonds would be broken and it would be harder to communicate if it was suddenly taken away, because these are our social norms now and we’ve grown up on them.

I also disagree with the argument that social media can’t be effectively controlled. It hasn’t had a damaging impact on me, because I’ve always worked with my parents and stuck to their limits – they pay for it, so it’s fair enough that I stick to their rules and limits. We have a family app that limits use so I don’t endlessly scroll, which can be tempting, and it monitors content and flags stuff that might be dodgy.

My parents rarely look at my communication, but they would pick up on words, phrases or pictures that are flagged. Of course, this can be annoying, but I know this is to keep me safe, not just in terms of the content I get, but it also makes me think about my own behaviour on social media, which is important. Most of my friends have similar rules and limits, and because of this, we’re not just more careful, but we think about what we say or do online, which is something all people should do.

I also never have my phone in my room at night. This, I think, is a really good limit, because it stops the temptation to scroll at night, and you don’t lose sleep over what is being said or what’s happening in the middle of the night. I will keep this up through the GCSE years and beyond, because having not just limits, but proper time away from your phone is so much better for your overall wellbeing.

Teenagers get a bad reputation, but my phone and social media habits are shared by pretty much all my mates. When I’ve been added to groups I don’t like or see content that makes me uncomfortable, I just leave the chat.

I think because I’ve built up a system of trust with my parents and been encouraged to place limits on myself and my own behaviour, I’ve managed to completely avoid some of the more toxic or damaging situations that get talked about online. I have an open dialogue with my parents, who have always talked to us about potential dangers online, and so I’ve been able to avoid anything upsetting.

I think any teenager who can endlessly scroll all day and night without limits, or can be contacted by anyone, is going to be put into a situation where trouble or harm is more likely. But my friends and I are examples of very normal teenagers who use social media but avoid the bad stuff and make good choices, both by ourselves and with our parents.

I don’t think it’s necessary to ban social media for under-16s, and I think it’s important that the experiences of millions of teenagers who use social media pretty healthily, with limits, are listened to.

With limits on scrolling, open conversations with your parents, not having your phone in your room at night, and learning to avoid toxic people or content, social media can be a useful tool for socialising and communicating. It doesn’t have to cause harm.

Reform by-election candidate suggested childless people be taxed more

Reform UK’s candidate for the forthcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton suggested that people who don’t have children should be taxed extra as punishment, an unearthed blog post has revealed.

In a proposal that has prompted comparisons to dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale – which is set in a society that forces women to bear children in an effort to tackle a fertility crisis – Matt Goodwin suggested imposing a “negative child benefit tax” on “those who don’t have offspring”.

While such a tax would financially impact both men and women, it would disproportionately affect women, putting pressure on them to become pregnant to protect both themselves and their partners from the levy.

Mr Goodwin also suggested that the government “remove personal income tax for women who have two or more children”.

Writing on his Substack blog in 2023, the former university academic and honorary president of the Students4Reform organisation argued that the “British family is imploding”, something he claimed is having “very real and very negative effects on the country around us”.

In a list of proposals designed to reinforce family values in Britain, he suggested: “Creating a pro-family culture by having a national day to celebrate families and parenthood. Symbolising this new culture through things like families receiving a telegram from the King when they have a third child.

“Entrenching the importance of the family in the curriculum. Switching child benefit to incentivise families to have more children. Introducing a ‘negative child benefit’ tax for those who don’t have offspring.

“Sacrificing more land for cheaper family homes. And, in my view, prioritising British families when building new housing developments.”

He added: “These are all things we could be debating and developing right now in Britain, where the collapse of the family has not only become unavoidable but is having very real and very negative effects on the country around us.”

Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell told The Independent that a tax on people without children would be punitive for women.

She said: “Matthew Goodwin’s big idea is so ludicrous, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is something out of The Handmaid’s Tale. It would punish millions of women and strip them of their basic dignity to choose.”

In the dystopian drama, fertile women, known as handmaids, are enslaved to bear children for elite couples during a fertility crisis in the US.

Ms Powell added: “Nigel Farage’s Reform are more interested in dividing people, rather than bringing people together.

“This is the kind of divisive politics we must stop from getting a foothold in Manchester by defeating Reform’s extreme candidate. The only way to do that is by voting for Labour in Gorton and Denton. A vote for any other party risks letting Reform in.”

Mr Goodwin was unveiled as Reform UK’s candidate for the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election last week. Speaking at the opening of the party’s campaign office on Thursday, Mr Farage claimed the campaign had got off to a “very, very good start”, while polls suggest it is fast becoming a two-horse race between Reform and Labour.

Mr Goodwin, who appears as a presenter on GB News three times a week, sparked criticism last year when he was accused of suggesting that people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British, even if they were born in the UK.

Following a mass stabbing on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Mr Goodwin blamed “mass uncontrolled immigration” in a post on X/Twitter.

After it came to light that the suspect was born in the UK, Mr Goodwin wrote: “So were all of the 7/7 bombers. It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”

The comments were described by the Liberal Democrats as “racist rhetoric” and a “disgrace”.

In 2017, Mr Goodwin ate pages from his book, Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union, live on Sky News after he wrongly predicted that Labour would not poll as high as 38 per cent in the general election under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The party won 40 per cent of the vote.

A Reform spokesperson said: “This is Labour being disingenuous once again. This is an idea that was first suggested by the respected demographer Paul Morland as part of a range of measures that should be debated and discussed across developed nations if we are serious about dealing with our looming demographic crisis.

“The Labour government has got its head in the sand when it comes to thinking about the long-term challenges facing Britain. We need a grown-up, mature debate about how we can encourage people to have more children and support British families.”