"There's nothing like that here'

OLDHAM RESIDENTS SLAM FARAGE CLAIM THERE ARE AREAS OF TOWN WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH

- RAMAZANI MWAMBA

NIGEL Farage made headlines this week when he claimed there were streets in Oldham where nobody speaks English.

The comment was made during an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The newly announced Reform UK leader was defending his previous claim made on Sky that there is a 'growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, referring to Muslims, and pointed to the borough as an example.

Speaking to the BBC on Monday, he said: "I could take you to streets in Oldham where no one speaks English... I have been there and even The Guardian agrees." Labour council leader Arooj Shah hit back at Mr Farage's comments describing them as 'stupid and inaccurate as they are offensive.

The M.E.N. headed to the town centre and the streets of nearby Glodwick to see how the people felt.

Local business owner Sarosh Rehman agreed with Ms Shah's sentiments, dismissing Farage's comments as 'rubbish' Indeed, Sarosh, who has lived in the Glodwick community for more than 20 years, feels it's the native languages of the large South Asian community in Oldham that are endangered.

"I'm a grandmother, my grandkids don't know my language, they only speak English," she said.

"My kids speak English, I have no education from this country and even I speak English! Everybody can speak English.

"What he said is simply not true.

We are the ones worried about our kids losing heritages." The youth of Oldham is something