John Terry sparks backlash appearing to support Rupert Lowe's benefits ban for immigrants

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has received the backing of former Chelsea captains John Terry and Dennis Wise for his controversial policy to ban foreign nationals from claiming benefits in the United Kingdom . The pair have received some backlash after expressing their support for the ex-Southampton chairman. Lowe, who has twice resigned from his position with the Saints as he oversaw their relegation in 2005 and when Southampton Leisure Holdings went into administration in 2009, has become an outspoken political operator. The 68-year-old departed Nigel Farage's Reform Party to launch Restore, with the ambition to advocate for the deportation of illegal immigrants, protection of British culture and restoration of Christian principles. Posting on social media, Lowe outlined one of his positions. He said: "We should ban foreigners from claiming benefits, and remove migrants who are incapable of financially supporting themselves - use those many saved billions to slash tax for the British men and women keeping the economy running. "Restore Britain would do exactly that, and put our own people first. Finally." Former Blues and England star Terry appeared to emphatically lend his support to the position. In the comments, he said: "100% yes" Ex-Millwall and Leeds United boss Dennis Wise stepped his support up a notch and also commented: "200%" The pair saw some pushback to their positions. "Cool. The odds are that if John Terry and Dennis Wise support something, it's probably best to be on the opposite side to them. Thanks," said one social media user. "Strange that, they seemed like such lovely, caring characters," added another. "Two idiots," said a further X user. JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest news, analysis and much more on Mirror Football's Facebook page "Wonder how the usual 'ex-footballers should shut up and stick to football' crowd will feel about this," another put forward. It is not the first time Terry has lent his support to one of the MP for Great Yarmouth's posts. The Chelsea academy coach appeared to agree with Lowe's hopes to ban the burqa . Lowe was shut down in Parliament recently as he put forward his desire to ban foreigners from claiming benefits. He claimed £10.1billion of Universal Credit payments in 2024 were 'gifted to foreign nationals' and asked if the solution was to: “ban all foreigners from claiming any benefits, remove from our country migrants incapable of financially supporting themselves and hand that money back to taxpaying British men and women.” Andrew Western, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transformation, ridiculed Lowe's use of figures and highlighted the issues with his position. The Labour MP said: “The figure that he uses is a complete conflation, a significant overestimation and shows his ignorance if he does not understand that it is impossible to suggest that that money has all been paid directly to foreign nationals. “The figure that he uses is drawn from the total number of households with a foreign national in and many of the individual claimants could in fact be British or Irish citizens." Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.