JD Vance urges UK immigration protesters 'defend your culture' in latest broadside

JD Vance has encouraged opponents of immigration in the UK to “keep on going” and urged Britain to adopt the United States’ approach to border protection. Rejecting claims of racism, the US Vice President said it was OK to want to defend your culture and reasonable for people to want to control who comes into their country.

US President Donald Trump has also previously been critical of the UK on the issue, branding the country’s immigration policies “insane” and falsely claiming Britain was being “invaded”. Mr Vance made his comments at a White House press briefing where he was asked about last weekend’s Unite the Kingdom march in central London organised by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson.

Held at the same time as a pro-Palestine protest, the two demonstrations sparked a huge £4.5 million police operation and saw dozens of arrests.

The White House press conference heard people in the UK were “protesting (against) mass illegal immigration and the replacement of British culture”.

Mr Vance said: “One of the problems that we have in all of Western societies is that we have a lot of people who’ve decided – Wall Street bankers, corporate lobbyists, and Government officials – that what the United States and what the West need is more and more cheap labour.

“What we believe in this White House is what we need more and more of is high wages for American workers and investing in our own people.

“What you see all over the West – and it’s kind of crazy – is this idea that the way to generate prosperity is to bring in millions and millions of unvetted people and drop them in your neighbourhoods, and we simply reject that idea.

“So, to everybody in the UK who rejects that idea, I’d encourage them to just keep on going.”

The Republican politician added: “It’s okay to want to defend your culture. It’s okay to want to live in a safe neighbourhood. It’s okay to want your job to go to yourself and your neighbours, and not to a stranger who you don’t even know.

“It is reasonable for the people in Western societies to want to control who comes into their country and who doesn’t.”

Mr Vance, 41, claimed a lot of people in the media have tried to persuade all of those people that it’s somehow racist to want to protect their borders.

He said this was despite the very people who are most affected by low-wage immigration are lower-income black and Hispanic Americans in the United States of America, adding: “I guarantee that’s true in the UK.”

The Vice President added: “So, we believe in making America great again. You can’t do that unless you protect your borders. I’d encourage our friends in the UK to follow the same path.”

It is not the first time Mr Vance has been critical of the UK. He claimed at the Munich Security Conference last year that religious Brits’ liberties were in the crosshairs and raised his concerns about free speech in the UK with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during an Oval Office meeting in February 2025.

He also hinted the UK was “some random country” which hadn’t fought a war for decades, despite the lives of British troops being lost in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq led by the US.

The Foreign Office has been approached for comment.