Labour minister suggests Nigel Farage is racist for voicing concern about Turkish barbershops – despite illegal working raids

Immigration enforcement officers have targeted Turkish barbershops in search of illegal workers

A Labour minister has suggested Nigel Farage is racist for voicing concern about Turkish barbershops appearing across Britain’s depleted high streets.

Peckham MP Miatta Fahnbulleh accused the Reform UK leader of engaging in the “politics of grievance” after the Clacton MP spoke out against the rapid rise in barbershops.

Speaking last year, Mr Farage explained how Turkish barbershops had “sprung up all over the country”.

He suggested they only took cash, did not really cut hair and often had “a Lamborghini out the back”.

Ms Fahnbulleh told the Guardian: “We’re all aligned in thinking the last government failed in the last 15 years, but (Reform) don’t have the answers.

“They turn and do the politics of division. They blame people of difference rather than deal with the fundamentals.”

When asked if Mr Farage’s barbershops comment had racist undertones, the Peckham MP added: “Yes, I do. The fundamentals aren’t to do with the colour of the skin of people running our high streets. It’s to do with long-term decline and neglect.”

However, Ms Fahnbulleh’s attack against Mr Farage came just weeks after the Home Office admitted immigration enforcement officers had targeted barbershops.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage visits a barber’s shop, during Reform UK’s local election campaign launch for Cambridgeshire County Council

The Home Office revealed that a visit to Star Barbers in Porthmadog, North Wales, on September 12 resulted in three illegal working arrests, including two Turkish men and one Swedish man.

The National Crime Agency also launched an investigation into Turkish barbershops last year amid concerns that premises are being used by gangsters for money laundering and other organised crime.

West Mercia Police also seized more than £500,000 from barbershops used as money laundering fronts in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire in March last year.

The action was taken as part of Operation Machinize, which targeted criminal gangs using barbershops as fronts for fraud, money laundering, and the sale of illicit goods.

Raids have taken place at Turkish barbershops across the UK

There has been an exponential growth in Turkish barbershops in recent years, although many are run by Kurds or Albanians.

Green Street, a retail analytics company, found that barbershops of all types across the UK increased by more than 50 per cent between 2018 and 2024 to 18,411.

Hundreds of raids have also been carried out at vape shops and nail bars.

However, Ms Fahnbulleh was responding directly to a video released by Mr Farage ahead of the 2025 Local Elections.

Peckham MP Miatta Fahnbulleh accused the Reform UK leader of engaging in the ‘politics of grievance’

During an exchange with a barbershop owner in Cambridgeshire, the Reform UK leader voiced ironic shock that he “actually pays tax” and took credit card payments as well as cash.

“You’re going to tell me you actually have customers,” Mr Farage joked.

“There’s literally thousands of them aren’t there, sprung up all over the country – Turkish barbers. A racket the whole thing.”

He added: “So there you are we have found a barbers shop that doesn’t have a Turkish sign out the front but actually has customers and doesn’t have a Lamborghini out the back.”

There has been a rapid growth of Turkish barbershops across UK high streets

Responding to Ms Fahnbulleh’s comments, a Reform spokesman said: “This is not a matter of ethnicity.

“The National Crime Agency itself has said many of these establishments are used as fronts for money laundering as well as a whole range of criminality which is why they carried out hundreds of raids on them last year.”

The Home Office included barbershops as part of over 17,400 raids made against “dodgy businesses”.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “There is no place for illegal working in our communities. That is why we have surged enforcement activity to the highest level in British history so illegal migrants in the black economy have nowhere to hide. I will stop at nothing to restore order and control to our borders.”