🔗 Share this article Xenophobia Making a Comeback in UK Politics, Making People Deeply Concerned, Starmer Says Long-standing racism is returning within UK the political arena, which makes people feel deeply uneasy, the Prime Minister emphasized, cautioning how divisive hard-right political tactics was “dividing the nation”. Tackling Racist Rhetoric and Harmful Strategies Speaking to GP and TV personality Amir Khan, Starmer pointed to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of overseeing the revival of racist and divisive politics which many believed was resolved years back”. During the discussion, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show this week, Starmer also gave a clear indication suggesting the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget in the coming weeks. Commitment to Combat Poverty Among Children When questioned whether he would scrap this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children in the UK, the Prime Minister responded: “I want to state unequivocally I am committed to drive child poverty down.” He outlined steps the government has already launched including free school meals, morning meal programs, and childcare but added: “We need to do more than that, and I can look you in the eye and tell you I am personally committed on reducing child poverty.” Pressed about if his remarks indicated he would lift the two-child cap, Starmer said he “wouldn’t be telling you we aim to lower poverty among children without being sure that we will implement a number of measures to achieve this”. Strong Indications from Rachel Reeves Rachel Reeves, provided an equally strong hint on Monday stating to BBC Radio 5 Live how “in the end, a child should not be penalised due to their family’s financial situation”. Ministers are getting ready to scrap the restriction fully, having originally looked at ways to taper it either for very large families or wealthier families. An economic thinktank projects the expense would be roughly £3.5 billion in the coming years. Ideological Split and Country’s Revival In the interview, the Prime Minister explained the ideological split in the UK now was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and others on the right who were “tearing our country apart”. “Certain language being used – racist rhetoric, divisive rhetoric – which I believed had been addressed decades ago is coming back into politics and it makes people feel deeply afraid,” he stated. “It is essential to oppose such discrimination, that divisiveness, and we have to proudly say that British identity is to have concern for others, is about being fair, is to be tolerant and compassionate, which we value deeply.” Reflecting Concerns from Wes Streeting The prime minister mirrored language used by Wes Streeting, who warned recently how a disturbing form of discrimination reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace once more with healthcare workers were facing the worst of this trend. Streeting noted occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”. “We must end to discrimination across the UK and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country where it belongs and reestablish an environment across Britain where it is not socially acceptable to hold racist views,” Streeting stated. Critical Decision for Voters Starmer spoke during a major political gathering this autumn to draw clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that voters confronted a “defining choice”. The prime minister explained he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting although the public expressed valid worries about illegal migration, existed an ethical boundary which some politicians had crossed. The PM vowed to challenge those claiming that non-white individuals were not truly British and that families residing in the UK for generations should be deported, stating people promoting such views constituted “opposed to the country’s progress”. “If you incite racial attacks and hostility, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. Our political movement values national symbols, but if they are displayed alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he informed supporters.