Keir Starmer was on Sunday accused of insulting millions of voters worried about Britain’s borders – as he branded Reform’s immigration plans ‘racist’.
Amid growing Labour panic at Reform’s surge in the polls, the Prime Minister ramped up his rhetoric against Nigel Farage‘s plan to tear up residency rules, saying it ‘needs to be called out for what it is’.
Mr Farage said the claim was an ‘insult’ to millions who want the Government to finally get a grip on immigration.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘The Prime Minister has insulted those who believe mass migration should come to an end. Starmer thinks anybody here on a time-limited visa is entitled to stay in Britain for ever. Labour do not believe in border controls – and think anyone who does is racist.’
Highlighting a series of polls suggesting his party is on course to win the next election, Mr Farage said: ‘Keir Starmer has spent his entire weekend attacking Reform. This is the reason why.’
Ministers were taken aback by the PM’s dramatic decision to play the race card. While senior figures backed him in public, some were privately concerned the move could backfire.
One Labour source said: ‘I know he’s talking about Farage and this horrible, divisive policy. But there is a danger that people with legitimate concerns hear it and just think he is calling them racist. I’m not sure that is really the best way to win people back from Reform.’
And despite the PM’s angry attack, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will today trumpet plans to crack down on the system for granting migrants ‘indefinite leave to remain’.
Keir Starmer was on Sunday accused of insulting millions of voters worried about Britain’s borders – as he branded Reform’s immigration plans ‘racist’. Pictured: The PM at Labour’s conference in Liverpool
Nigel Farage clapped back by pointing to polls showing Labour facing meltdown and him on track for No10
Mr Farage said the claim was an ‘insult’ to millions who want the Government to finally get a grip on immigration
It came as:
- Sir Keir admitted the Left had ‘got it wrong’ on immigration for years;
- Andy Burnham renewed his attack on the PM’s leadership, accusing him of presiding over a ‘climate of fear’ in the party that was stifling ‘open debate’;
- The PM refused to rule out raising VAT in the Budget;
- Exclusive polling for the Daily Mail revealed voters see Labour as the least patriotic party, despite Sir Keir’s pledge to lead a ‘patriotic renewal’ of Britain;
- Rachel Reeves is preparing to warn youngsters they will have to take a state-sponsored job after 18 months on the dole, or lose benefits;
- The PM told Labour critics of his leadership to stop ‘navel-gazing’ and asked rivals to ‘give me space’ to get a grip on the Government;
- A poll predicted Reform would win an election today with a majority of 94 seats.
Sir Keir’s intervention came after Reform published plans last week designed to prevent migrants claiming benefits in this country.
Under existing rules, people can claim ‘indefinite leave to remain’ after five years, giving them access to the benefits system.
Mr Farage has proposed tearing up the system and requiring those previously granted indefinite leave to apply for new visas with more stringent conditions.
They would no longer be able to claim benefits and those who fail to get a new visa would face deportation, even if they have lived in the country for years.
Sir Keir told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the plan would ‘rip this country apart’, adding: ‘It is one thing to say we’re going to remove illegal migrants, people who have no right to be here. I’m up for that.
‘It is a completely different thing to say we are going to reach in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them. They are our neighbours.’
Asked if he thought it was racist, he added: ‘I do think that it is a racist policy. I do think it is immoral.’
Mr Farage said the claim was an ‘insult’ to millions who want the Government to finally get a grip on immigration. Pictured: Migrants preparing to attempt a Channel crossing from France yesterday
Sir Keir denied he was painting Reform’s supporters as racists, saying many were just ‘frustrated’ with the slow pace of change.
But critics accused the PM of making a direct link between concern about immigration and racism.
Reform policy chief Zia Yusuf said: ‘Labour’s message to the country is clear – pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state for ever, or Labour will call you racist.’
Conservative MP Nick Timothy said the PM’s jibe revealed his true feelings about those who complained about the impact of immigration.
Sir Keir said he wanted to accelerate the closure of asylum hotels, which are due to remain in use until 2029.
But other senior figures warned against responding to Reform by taking a tougher line on immigration.
Lucy Powell, who is favourite to be Labour’s next deputy leader, said the party should ‘absolutely reject the idea that all the ills of this country… are caused by migration, because they’re not…We’ve got to absolutely reject that. They’re caused by lots of other factors.’
Labour figures lined up to attack Mr Farage at yesterday’s conference in Liverpool.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was ‘relishing taking the fight to Nigel Farage and calling out his small-minded, narrow, peculiar, weird set of policies and holding them up to the light’.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused Mr Farage of ‘gutter politics and bile’, and Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens suggested Reform could not be trusted because they ‘can’t even spell Caerphilly right’.
It came as Attorney General Lord Hermer suggested that criticism of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for frustrating deportations was being fuelled by the ‘far Right’.
Lord Hermer, one of Sir Keir’s closest political friends, said Labour would never leave the ECHR and suggested the public were not valuing it properly because ‘the populist far Right are very good at comms’.
