Vodafone accused of 'facilitating invasion of Britain' after supplying free sim cards to illegal migrants

Care4Calais released its annual report, which revealed the sim cards were distributed to migrants being housed at the Wethersfield migrant camp in Essex.

In a letter addressed to Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone’s chief executive, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, criticised the British company and suggested that UK customers "will be shocked to hear that their phone or broadband provider is actively endangering British women and girls".

He vowed that a Reform Government would hold directors personally liable for "aiding and abetting the invasion of Britain", referring to the move as Polanski’s Law.

Mr Yusuf wrote: "A Reform UK Government will hold each and every officer and director of Vodafone Group Plc and all relevant subsidiaries personally and criminally liable for distributing sim cards to illegal migrants.

"If found guilty, you would be liable to go to prison. Furthermore, a Reform UK Government will review all public contracts and future contracting with Vodafone and consider further sanctions such as regulatory penalties."

The letter continued: "In particular, if Vodafone is complicit in the invasion of Britain, you should be excluded from all defence, national security and emergency services procurement (and your equipment removed from sensitive networks as soon as possible)."

Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, criticised the British company

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The Vodafone sim cards were supplied through an initiative called Charities Connected, which was designed to help people suffering from "digital exclusion", meaning the charities are free to distribute them to anyone in the UK who would benefit from six months of free data, calls and texts, according to the Telegraph.

Mr Yusuf told GB News: "British people are rightly outraged that a company of the size and scale of Vodafone is handing out SIM cards to military-aged men who they know are breaking into Britain. That is precisely what Vodafone have been doing."

He added: "If Vodafone did this under a reformed government, the whole board of directors would go to jail."

Care4Calais's annual report boasts of 162,000 items handed out in the UK and France to nearly 30,000 illegal migrants.

Vodafone UK is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the UK

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As well as the sim cards, the charity handed out 3,765 hoodies, 3,532 pairs of joggers and 1,174 T-shirts to ensure the migrants are clothed.

Care4Calais also recorded 25,807 unique instances of individuals accessing its services, providing 3,367 free haircuts, 13,554 phone charging services, 7,124 English lessons, 467 sewing repairs, and 1,295 bike repairs.

At British military bases housing illegal migrants, Care4Calais ran 80 "drop-in sessions", 17 large-scale handouts and gave out over 23,000 freebies.

Those housed at the Wethersfield Asylum Centre in Essex also have access to photography, art and rambling, paid for through a combination of public funds and charitable donations.

A Vodafone spokesman said: "VodafoneThree’s programme provides mobile sims to registered UK charities – against strict programme criteria – for distribution to vulnerable people in the UK.

"Participating charities, regulated by the Charity Commission, distribute the six months connectivity to those they identify as being in need. All calls, texts and data are for UK use only."

A Care4Calais spokesman said: "Care4Calais does not hand out sim cards in France, as his recent spate of social media posts have suggested.

"We access sim cards through a charitable scheme, and distribute them to people claiming asylum in the UK who need phones to keep in contact with family and friends, and access support."

GB News has reached out to both Vodafone and Care4Calais for further comment.