🔗 Share this article

Long-standing racism has come back to UK the political arena, which creates fearful, Keir Starmer has stated, cautioning how divisive hard-right politics was “splitting the UK”.

Addressing Discriminatory Language and Harmful Strategies

In conversation with GP and TV personality Amir Khan, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party of overseeing the revival to discriminatory and divisive politics that seemed a thing of the past decades ago”.

In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program on Tuesday, the PM provided a clear indication suggesting the limit on child benefits would be lifted during the upcoming fiscal announcement in the coming weeks.

Commitment to Reduce Poverty Among Children

When questioned if he planned to eliminate this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children across Britain, Starmer said: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I am determined to lower poverty rates for kids.”

He outlined measures ministers have already introduced such as no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and child care support and emphasized: “Further action is necessary, and I assure you and tell you I am dedicated to cutting childhood poverty.”

When pressed about if his comments meant he would lift the two-child cap, he stated he “wouldn’t be telling you we plan to reduce child poverty unless I was certain that we will implement several steps for that purpose”.

Clear Signals from the Chancellor

Rachel Reeves, provided an equally strong hint earlier this week when she told a national radio station that “in the end, no child should suffer due to their family’s financial situation”.

Government officials are understood to be preparing to lift the limit entirely, after initially considering ways to taper it either for very large families or wealthier families. An economic thinktank projects this would cost about £3.5bn by the end of the decade.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

In the interview, the Prime Minister explained the ideological split in the UK now existed between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and others on the right that are “splitting the UK”.

“Certain language we’re hearing – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed decades ago has reemerged in political debate and citizens are deeply afraid,” he said.

“We must confront to that racism, that division, and declare confidently that to be British means showing empathy, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and compassionate, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Concerns from Wes Streeting

Starmer echoed language expressed by the Health Secretary, who cautioned earlier this month that an “ugly” racism similar to the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace again and that NHS staff were bearing the brunt of it.

The health secretary noted occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks based on people’s skin colour had become so frequent that it was now “acceptable to express racism”.

“It is time to put a stop to discrimination in this country and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that has emerged in our country back in its box and once again create a climate in this country where racism is unacceptable to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for Voters

Starmer used his speech during a major political gathering this autumn to draw clear divisions with his political opponents, saying that voters faced a “defining choice”.

The prime minister explained he was involved in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting although the public had “reasonable” concerns about illegal migration, there was an ethical boundary which some politicians had crossed.

Starmer pledged to “fight” anyone claiming that people who were not white did not belong and that families who had lived in Britain for years should be deported, stating those advocating these ideas constituted “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“If you incite racial attacks and hatred, that goes beyond concern: it’s criminal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, but if they are displayed alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he told supporters.