🔗 Share this article Xenophobia Resurfacing in British Political Landscape, Making People Very Scared, Starmer Says Long-standing racial prejudice has come back to UK politics, and it makes people feel very scared, the Prime Minister emphasized, alerting how divisive hard-right political tactics are “splitting the UK”. Confronting Discriminatory Rhetoric and Divisive Politics In conversation with doctor and media figure Amir Khan, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party of overseeing a return of discriminatory and divisive political discourse “that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago”. During the discussion, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show this week, the PM also gave his strongest signal that the limit on child benefits could be removed in the budget later this month. Promise to Reduce Child Poverty Asked whether he would scrap this restriction, as noted by advocacy groups is a major cause of poverty for children in the UK, the Prime Minister said: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I will strive to drive child poverty down.” He outlined steps ministers have already introduced such as free school meals, morning meal programs, and child care support but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I assure you that I will personally focus to cutting childhood poverty.” Pressed on whether his comments indicated he intended to remove the two-child limit, he said he “wouldn’t be telling you we are going to drive down poverty among children unless I was certain that we will be taking various actions for that purpose”. Clear Indications from Rachel Reeves Rachel Reeves, provided an equally strong hint earlier this week when she told a national radio station how “in the end, no child should suffer due to their family’s financial situation”. Government officials are understood to be preparing to remove the cap completely, having originally looked at ways to taper it either for very large families or richer ones. The Resolution Foundation projects the expense would be about £3.5bn by 2029-30. Political Divide and National Renewal During the discussion, the Prime Minister said the ideological split currently in Britain existed between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus “the toxic division of Reform” and other right-wing groups who were “splitting the UK”. “Parts of the discourse currently circulating – discriminatory talk, polarizing language – that many assumed we had dealt with long ago has reemerged in political debate leaving people very scared,” he said. “We have to stand up to that racism, that division, and declare confidently that British identity involves caring for others, requires rationality, entails tolerance and kindness, and this is our pride.” Reflecting Concerns from the Health Secretary The prime minister echoed language expressed by Wes Streeting, who cautioned earlier this month that a disturbing form of discrimination similar to the 1970s and 1980s was now alarmingly frequent again and that NHS staff were primary targets of this trend. The health secretary noted incidents of both verbal and physical attacks based on people’s skin colour now happened so often that it had become “tolerated to hold racist views”. “We must end on racism in this country and we need to place such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country where it belongs and reestablish an environment in this country where racism is unacceptable to be racist,” the Health Secretary stated. Defining Choice for the Public Starmer used his speech at the Labour party conference this autumn to outline political battle lines with his political opponents, saying that voters confronted a crucial decision. He said he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting that while voters had “reasonable” concerns about illegal migration, existed “a moral line” that Farage and others had overstepped. Starmer vowed to “fight” those claiming that non-white individuals could not be English or British and that households who had lived in the UK for generations must be removed, stating those advocating these ideas constituted “against national unity”. “If you incite racist violence and hostility, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. Our political movement is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that is pure discrimination,” he informed supporters.