Sir Keir Starmer has been mocked by Nigel Farage for “learning a great deal” from Reform UK on immigration, as the PM faces growing backlash from his MPs over the government’s rhetoric.
It came after the prime minister’s claim that the UK risks becoming an “island of strangers” as a result of migration was compared to inflammatory language used by Enoch Powell in his “rivers of blood” speech.
The 1968 speech whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK after it imagined a future where the white population in Britain “found themselves made strangers in their own country”.
The Reform UK leader – who urged Sir Keir to “go further” on his sweeping migration reforms – taunted the prime minister: “We at Reform – a party that is alive and kicking – very much enjoyed your speech on Monday. You seem to be learning a great deal from us.”
But speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts questioned Sir Keir’s change in stance, pointing out that he used to speak of “compassion and dignity” for migrants.
“Is there any belief he holds that survives more than a week in Downing Street?”, the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd asked.
Critics have linked the change to Labour seeking to challenge the rise of Reform.
But Sir Keir denied he was reacting to any political party and said he was introducing the new measures because “it was the right thing to do”.
The Commons clash came as Reform released voter intention calculations based on this month’s local elections, which they claim reveal that a raft of leading Labour and Tory MPs would lose their seats to Farage’s party.
This includes Labour energy secretary Ed Miliband in Doncaster North, Dover MP Mike Tapp, and minister and Lincoln MP Hamish Falconer. For the Tories, shadow environment secretary Victorian Atkins and shadow chancellor Mel Stride would be among those who would lose to Reform. Even Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle could be under threat in Chorley, they said.
However, Labour MPs, trade unions and charities have taken aim at the prime minister, after he said that the number of people entering the country is causing “incalculable damage”.
Senior Labour backbencher, Clive Lewis, told The Independent the PM’s language “doesn’t just alienate communities, it drives people away from our country altogether”.
“If those at the top think this is a clever tactic to win another five years by rolling out the red carpet for Nigel Farage, they’re mistaken. We are losing far more progressive voters than we are gaining from Reform UK”, he said.
MP Nadia Whittome said the language was “shameful and dangerous”, and accused the PM of “mimicking the scaremongering of the far right”.
Meanwhile, Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake suggested the phrase could “risk legitimising the same far-right violence we saw in last year’s summer riots”.
But hitting back, Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said the backlash was “way overblown”.
Pressed on whether he would use the language himself, he told LBC: “It depends on the context. I mean, I might, because what the prime minister was talking about was, we need a society with rules. We need a society with responsibilities and obligations. And that’s absolutely right. We all believe in that.”
Meanwhile, Sir Keir’s official spokesman said on Tuesday that the prime minister stands by his words and rejects comparisons with Enoch Powell.
“The prime minister rejects those comparisons and absolutely stands behind the argument he was making that migrants make a massive contribution to our country, but migration needs to be controlled”, the official said.
