Accusations come as Gorton and Denton by-election battle becomes increasingly toxic
Reform UK’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election has been criticised for saying it was “insane” a man was jailed for 18 months for posting social media posts calling for people to “start the slaughter” of migrants.
Matthew Goodwin made the remark after Luke Yarwood, of Christchurch, Dorset, was jailed for inciting racial hatred.
Goodwin, who has risen in prominence online for his increasingly controversial stance on immigration, described the sentence as “insane” at the time of the conviction in December.
Caption: Matt Goodwin tweet – from December 2025
Responding to a terror attack at a Christmas market in Mardeburg, Germany in 2024, Yarwood called for hotels housing migrants to be set on fire, stating on X that British people should “head for the hotels housing them and burn them to the ground”.
He later added: “I think it’s time for the British to gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter. Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MPs’ houses and Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE.”
Yarwood, who has admitted two offences of two counts of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
But the sentence was criticised by Goodwin, who wrote on X in December: “Welcome to the UK. Where you go to prison for 18 months for anti-immigration tweets. This is insane.”
Nick Tucker, defending Yarwood, had argued hardly anyone had seen the tweets and that his client, who acknowledged the comments were “odious”, had been stressed and no longer held the “extremist views”.
Labour is facing a serious battle to keep hold of the Gorton seat, which it won by 15,000 votes at the 2024 general election, as it faces competition from both Reform and the Greens.
The party was quick to highlight Goodwin’s support from far-right agitator and activist Tommy Robinson (nee Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), but there are fears that a split among voters on the Left, between Labour and the Greens could allow Reform to secure its ninth parliamentary seat.
A Reform spokesman dismissed the latest accusations against Goodwin, stating: “This is desperate stuff from a Labour Party that has also just been revealed to have been smearing journalists.
“Criticising the fact that people are being jailed for what they write on social media is clearly not the same as defending those views. The fact that our political opponents are conflating these two things is outrageous and a sign of how desperate they have become. Vote Reform, vote for common sense.”
And in a sign of the increasingly toxic political battle emerging in the by-election, Labour and Reform traded barbs over members of Goodwin’s campaign team and Labour’s Mandelson and Lord Doyle scandals.
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Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell has written to Goodwin calling on him to distance himself from members of his campaign team after it was revealed that a number of them have shared extreme and racist content online, and have associated with the far right.
Goodwin responded by insisting “I reject all extremism”, before asking “why has your Labour Party promoted so many people with links to paedophiles and turned a blind eye to the abuse of children?”
Goodwin has previously reported the Labour Party to the police for social media posts that misleadingly claimed he had criticised Manchester in 2023. The complaint was dismissed by Greater Manchester Police, which said there was “no offence identified”.
Gorton and Denton constituents go to the polls on 26 February.