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Telegraph
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer suggests he regrets ‘island of strangers' speech
Sir Keir Starmer has suggested he regrets his speech about Britain becoming an ' island of strangers '. In an interview with The New Statesman, the Prime Minister admitted that he could have articulated himself better when asked about the remarks that saw him accused of 'imitating' Enoch Powell. Sir Keir's major speech in May drew backlash from Left-wing critics for warning that Britain risked becoming an 'island of strangers' if immigration did not come down. He was accused of 'reflecting the language' of Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech, in which the former Tory Cabinet minister said the native British population had 'found themselves made strangers in their own country'. At the time, No 10 rejected the comparison to Powell and insisted Sir Keir stood by his argument that 'migration needs to be controlled'. But the Prime Minister has now signalled that he regrets the speech, insisting that the message he was 'trying to get across' was supposed to be about bringing people together. Asked about the remarks in the interview, he told The New Statesman: 'The actual concept was – and I said it in the speech but it didn't come through in the same way, and that's down to me – is I want to lead a nation that can confidently walk forward together as neighbours, as communities, wherever people have come from and whatever their background.' He insisted this was a 'progressive approach', but added: 'I think probably emphasising that bit of it more will get it across better in the future.' The Prime Minister made the initial remarks in May, as he launched the Government's new plan to reduce the number of migrants coming to Britain. He said in his original speech: 'Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules. 'Sometimes they are written down, often they are not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other. 'In a diverse nation like ours ... we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.' He also said very high levels of immigration in recent years had caused 'incalculable' damage to the UK. It prompted outrage from the Left, with Diane Abbott, the UK's first black female MP, later describing the 'island of strangers' comment as ' fundamentally racist '. Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, distanced himself from the remarks, while John McDonnell, the former Labour shadow chancellor, accused Sir Keir of 'reflecting the language of Enoch Powell'. However, a poll published shortly after the speech suggested that his comments would resonate with many British people. Half of adults responding to the survey by More in Common said they felt disconnected from society, while 44 per cent said they sometimes felt like a 'stranger' in their own country. Elsewhere in the interview with The New Statesman, Sir Keir admitted that he struggles to convince the public he has the right answers to Britain's problems. When it was put to him that he had difficulty with that aspect of the job, he said: 'Yes, I suppose I would accept that criticism. 'I probably live in a world where I want that to speak for itself, but I recognise, you know that it doesn't … I've always sort of operated in a world where it's probably better for other people to say you're doing a good job than say it yourself.' It also emerged that he preferred to work from the sofa in his Downing Street 'study', rather than the desk in his office. The article read: 'There is even a detachment from the building of No 10 itself, which bears few marks of his presence. His office has hardly any personal mementos – far fewer than it had under David Cameron or Boris Johnson. 'A sole photograph of his wife and children sits behind his desk, and a miniature World Cup trophy given to him by the former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger. 'He prefers to work in 'the study' on the first floor, a bright but formal room off the state rooms where he can see his family flat above No 11. 'But here too, in the study, there aren't many signs of Starmer the man: no pieces of art chosen by him or even a desk. Instead, he prefers to sit on the sofa.'
The Independent
07-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Jeremy Corbyn criticises Starmer's ‘island of strangers' speech at festival
Jeremy Corbyn has criticised Sir Keir Starmer for using the phrase 'island of strangers' in a major immigration announcement. The former Labour leader, now an independent MP after he lost the party whip, publicly challenged the Prime Minister's language on Friday. Speaking at the Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park, south London, Mr Corbyn said: 'Let's hear no more of this nonsense spoken by some about this being a country of strangers. 'Let's hear no more of the repetition of what the wretched Enoch Powell said when I was a young person in the 1960s. 'Our community, our strength, our joy, our lives, our hope is our diversity, is our different backgrounds.' He added: 'That's what makes London a very special place.' Sir Keir, Mr Corbyn's successor as Labour leader, suggested the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers' if efforts to tackle migration and integration were not stepped up. Critics compared the language with that of the Conservative politician Enoch Powell, who in an inflammatory address in 1968 known as the 'rivers of blood' speech, claimed that white British people would become 'strangers in their own country' in the future. Elsewhere in his speech on the stage, Mr Corbyn called for an end to all British arms sales to Israel, and urged those attending the festival to join anti-war rallies. He said: 'This country, Britain, has supplied weapons and parts for the F-35 jets that are used to bomb Gaza. 'So when we have the demonstrations in support of the Palestine people – please be there, raise your voice. It matters by giving inspiration to those people going through the most ghastly times of their lives.' In what appeared to be a further broadside at his former colleagues in the Labour Government, Mr Corbyn suggested ministers should hike taxes on the very rich. 'You can't achieve equality and justice if you extol the virtues of billionaires and do nothing about taking money off them to pay for the decent services for the many,' he said. Elsewhere at the festival, Irish rap trio Kneecap performed just days after one of their members was charged with a terror offence. Liam O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday. The Wide Awake Festival is one of several taking place in Brockwell Park over the next few weeks. Some local residents are unhappy with the damage the events cause to the park, and the large area of the green open space they take up over the course of a month. They successfully brought legal action against Lambeth Council over the use of parts of the park for the festivals, in a challenge which claimed the authority had bypassed the full planning process. The High Court ruled the council had acted 'irrationally', but the events have continued despite this, after Lambeth received fresh a planning application.
Daily Mirror
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Key move stopped social media liars from endangering peoples' safety last week
When I watched tv as a kid and a crime was reported on the news I'd tense - praying the suspect was not Black. Why? Because the negative stereotyping of Black people back then was the done thing. Anything reinforcing those labels crystallised the false fears that the xenophobes were hell-bent to pushing. We are back there now because of Reform and the Far Right who are determined to do the very same thing. We are there because a Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer's repurposing of Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech has helped to fuel it. We are back there now because of the systematic attempts of the extremists in plain sight, determined to frame everyone non-white as a danger to you and this country. The racists and xenophobes want to dress us all up as threats to be feared and fought against. So the speed with which the police revealed the details of a 53-year-old white man, charged after a car was driven through crowds at last week's Liverpool parade, is significant. They did it to get ahead of the liars and troublemakers on social media who would have poured the poison into the breach if, as in the past, the particulars of the suspect had been withheld. The police did it because they knew that without those important facts, the misinformation specialists would have sparked the kind of violence which saw Black and Brown people indiscriminately beaten in the streets after Southport last summer. It was falsely claimed last July that the three young girls killed had been attacked by an illegal immigrant. The lie was amplified millions of times on social media before it could be proven untrue. By then the damage had been done. It is a damning indictment on our society that releasing a person's ethnicity immediately will now have to remain a strategy for UK law enforcement going forward. But when high profile commentators and politicians remain determined to lie and misrepresent the truth as so many are doing on a day to day basis, police have no choice. Starmer revealed in January that the government would look to plug the information vacuum that allowed the blitz-stirrers to wind people up last summer. But it beggars belief too that there is only calm on our streets because the person held after last week's Liverpool horror - the facts of which have traumatised us all - is not Black. We've gone back to the future. We are back to the days when extremists in the seventies put out leaflets warning: 'if you desire a coloured for your neighbour vote Labour'. You wouldn't now suddenly think negatively of every 53-year-old white man but the racist agitators on social media want you to judge every Black or Brown person on the basis of what any single person is suspected of.
Scotsman
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
As German far-right praises Starmer, Scotland needs its own immigration system
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Prime Minister's speech on immigration this week was as disgraceful as it was misleading. Summoning the spirit of Enoch Powell – not because they share a political philosophy, but rather because the Prime Minister mistakenly thinks it's what people want – Labour's Keir Starmer warned of Britain becoming 'an island of strangers', inviting suspicion and division at a time when, after 14 years of Conservative drift, the UK clearly needs leadership, transformation and purpose. It was a predictably tone-deaf speech that took all the wrong lessons from the English local government elections. There will be only one winner here: Nigel Farage. No wonder the member for Clacton stood up in the Commons chamber this week and said he 'very much enjoyed' the Prime Minister's speech and that Starmer had 'learnt a great deal' from Reform UK. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Immigration is not a problem to be solved, but a solution to be embraced. That is not to say we cannot hear, listen to and understand differing views on immigration – a democratic society demands that we must, as differing views are a fact of political life. But for a Labour Prime Minister to pick up where the most migrant hostile Conservative government finished, and continue to present migrants as burdens or threats, is as politically bankrupt as it economically illiterate. Keir Starmer announced new measures to reduce immigration earlier this week (Picture: Ian Vogler/WPA pool) | Getty Images Critical issue for Scotland It was the strongest sign yet that the government has given up on its mission of achieving economic growth – something that no administration can hope to achieve with an immigration system designed to keep foreigners at bay, or outside the EU for that matter. For Scotland in particular, this is a critical issue for our economic prosperity and the resilience of our public services – particularly our NHS, social care, agriculture and hospitality industries. Our population is ageing faster than the UK average. In rural areas in particular, our problem isn't one of immigration but of emigration; communities are shrinking, with local services and local businesses under strain because of depopulation. Key industries are in a constant battle to find the workers they need. This is not a theoretical future risk; it is a current and urgent crisis across Scotland, and one that was only made worse by the loss of freedom of movement within the EU. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Yet despite these obvious challenges in Scotland, UK immigration policy, whether set by a red or blue administration, has nothing positive on offer. In fact, it is evidently about to get worse, as the system becomes more hostile and remains rigidly centralised and wholly unresponsive to Scotland's needs. Devolving immigration Any Scottish MP worth their salt understands that it is their job to stand up for Scotland's interests at Westminster. That is why I have brought forward legislation to devolve power over immigration from Westminster to Edinburgh – a rational, practical proposal that would give Scotland's parliament the powers to tailor immigration rules in line with our national needs and circumstances. This is not a radical departure from international norms: Canada and Australia already grant significant immigration powers at the state and provincial level, to best respond to local economic and labour needs. With the devolution of immigration law, Scotland could introduce targeted schemes to support rural repopulation and address labour shortages. We could reopen Scotland to the European talent we have lost and build a system rooted in dignity, cementing our reputation as a country that welcomes people, not simply content to be the northern province of Fortress Britannia. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Such policies can work, and we know they would make a materially positive impact to our country. When we still enjoyed freedom of movement, communities across Scotland – particularly rural Scotland – were strengthened and made more resilient by the arrival of other Europeans from across our continent. They opened businesses, staffed care homes, and brought life to towns and villages facing decline. The farming industry benefited from seasonal workers whose absence is now acutely felt. The NHS, and particularly social care, has long relied on staff from overseas – a reliance that will only grow in the years ahead. German nationalists approve Scotland, like the rest of the UK, has benefited enormously from immigration. That is not something we should mutter about apologetically but embrace as one of our key successes. Migrants are our friends, neighbours, colleagues – and, increasingly, our lifeline. They do not make us a country of strangers. They make our country stronger. That is something I still believe in, even if Keir Starmer no longer does. The PM needs to reflect on the fact that he was called out for his comments by former child refugee Lord Alf Dubs, and praised by the Putin-sympathising German nationalists, Alternative für Deutschland. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That is not the company I would want to keep. The PM's grotesque attempt to weaponise migrants for political gain is destined to fail. Nobody who recalls the Keir Starmer of just a few years ago – pro-EU, pro-freedom of movement and pro-immigration – will be convinced by his attempt to imitate Nigel Farage. Driving voters towards Farage The Prime Minister is free to risk and ruin his own reputation as he so wishes – he has been thoroughly exposed as willing to say whatever he thinks voters want to hear – but he has no mandate to sign Scotland up to a future of economic decline that is hostile to those who do us the honour of building a life here. It is not strangers Scotland should fear, but stagnation in our economy and living standards. That is what's driving hordes of angry voters into the hands of Nigel Farage – a man who offers no solution to the challenges we face. We must make the case for immigration with clarity and with courage – not only as an economic necessity, but as a reflection of the kind of country we aspire to be. If Keir Starmer will not lead on this issue, then I know that John Swinney will.
The National
30-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Labour migration crackdown to shrink UK economy, expert analysis finds
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer drew furious comparisons to the racist 20th-century Tory politician Enoch Powell after he claimed the UK was becoming an 'island of strangers' in a speech in which he also outlined plans to tighten migration rules. The Labour leader outlined measures including ending all visas for care workers, extending the wait to apply for settlement or citizenship from five years to 10, introducing higher English standard tests, and a cut in the amount of time foreign students at UK universities can stay after graduating. READ MORE: Scottish care sector chief compares Keir Starmer to Enoch Powell in damning comments The Home Office said that the changes could reduce the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year – while Starmer dismissed concerns that doing so would negatively impact the UK economy. However, analysis from Bloomberg Economics has now projected that the measures will in fact cut UK GDP by 0.6% by 2029/30. Tax revenues would also drop by around £9 billion per year, the analysis further found. It comes despite Labour having repeatedly made clear that economic growth is their first priority. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is aiming to grow the economy before anything elseBloomberg Economics' Ana Andrade said: 'The Government's new migration policy is one more reason to think the autumn statement will be another challenging event for the Chancellor. 'Labour's turn to the right on migration may be seen as politically savvy. In time, it might also ease the demands on housing and public services. 'In the near term, however, the most obvious consequences of tighter migration controls could well be more difficult decisions on tax and spending.' READ MORE: 'You've been learning': Nigel Farage praises Keir Starmer for immigration speech The news comes after First Minister John Swinney said that Labour's immigration stance poses a 'critical economic threat' to Scotland. 'I made this point to the Prime Minister when I met him on Friday – that the changing dynamics of our labour market and the need for us to encourage migration to support our working age population has to be recognised in the approach that is taken to migration in the United Kingdom," the SNP leader said. Earlier in May, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the biggest fall in net migration since the pandemic. The figure stood at an estimated 431,000 in the year ending December 2024, down 49.9% from 860,000 a year earlier. The biggest drop in terms of numbers was seen in non-EU nationals coming to the UK for work – this fell by 108,000, which was a 49% fall in the year ending December 2024. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said at the time that the 'record-breaking decline' in net migration was possible 'primarily because numbers had previously been so high'. Its director, Dr Madeleine Sumption, said the economic impact of the fall 'is actually likely to be relatively small' because 'the groups that have driven the decline, such as study and work dependants, are neither the highest skilled, highest-paid migrants who make substantial contributions to tax revenues, nor the most disadvantaged groups that require substantial support'.
