Matt Goodwin - Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election | Reform Watch
Profile and accountability tracker for Matt Goodwin, Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Reform UK.
Role: Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election
Party: Reform UK
Recorded incidents (showing 1-2 of 2)
Matt Goodwin criticised in police Islamophobia training
Category: inflammatory language
Matt Goodwin was criticised and singled out during a Project Unity Islamophobia training session delivered to North Yorkshire Police. Trainers asked officers to consider comments from senior Reform UK figures, including Nigel Farage, Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, and directed participants to examine how Goodwin's remarks about Muslim integration might be heard. The session was delivered by Abbas Najib, chief executive of Better Communities Bradford, which has received National Lottery Community Fund grants to run Project Unity. The charity defended the training as aimed at reducing anti-Muslim hostility and said it applies the same standards to statements about all minority communities; there is no indication the session led to any disciplinary action against Goodwin.
Matthew Goodwin promoted Islamophobic and 'Great Replacement' claims
Category: xenophobia
In January 2026 and in earlier interviews and online posts, Matthew Goodwin, Reform UK candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, made a series of statements endorsing far-right ideas. On 30 January 2026 the far-right activist Tommy Robinson publicly urged supporters to vote for Goodwin and Goodwin did not immediately reject the endorsement; Goodwin has said that "millions of British Muslims... hold views that are fundamentally opposed to British values", called for a halt to Muslim immigration, and said 2063 is the year white Britons would become a minority. Reform UK said Robinson "isn't welcome in the party" and a party spokesperson defended the party's stance, while Labour chair Anna Turley publicly demanded Goodwin make clear whether he rejected Robinson's backing. HOPE not Hate director Joe Mulhall criticised Goodwin's shift to the right and described his remarks as extreme; Goodwin remains the Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election.