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Long-standing racism has come back to British politics, which creates fearful, Keir Starmer warned, alerting how polarizing hard-right politics was “tearing our country apart”.

Addressing Racist Language and Harmful Politics

Speaking with GP and TV personality Amir Khan, the prime minister accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of overseeing the revival of discriminatory and divisive political discourse “that frankly I thought we had dealt with years back”.

During the discussion, which aired on a popular morning program this week, the PM also gave a clear indication suggesting the two-child benefit cap could be removed during the upcoming fiscal announcement later this month.

Commitment to Combat Poverty Among Children

Asked whether he would scrap this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children in the UK, the Prime Minister said: “Let me be perfectly clear I will strive to reduce child poverty.”

He outlined measures the government has already launched such as no-cost school lunches, morning meal programs, and childcare but added: “We need to do more than that, and I assure you that I will personally focus to cutting childhood poverty.”

When pressed on whether his remarks meant he intended to remove the two-child limit, he stated “I would not say we aim to lower poverty among children unless I was certain that measures will be introduced several steps in order to do so”.

Clear Indications from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, gave a similarly clear signal earlier this week when she told BBC Radio 5 Live how ultimately, a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money”.

Government officials are getting ready to remove the cap completely, after initially considering ways to taper it either for very large families or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation projects this would cost about £3.5bn by the end of the decade.

Ideological Split and Country’s Revival

In the interview, the Prime Minister explained the political divide currently in Britain existed between the government’s vision for renewal and “the toxic division of Reform” and other right-wing groups who were “dividing the nation”.

“Parts of the discourse currently circulating – racist rhetoric, polarizing language – that many assumed was resolved decades ago is returning to politics and citizens are fearful,” he said.

“We have to stand up such discrimination, that divisiveness, and affirm with pride that British identity means showing empathy, is about being fair, entails tolerance and kindness, and this is our pride.”

Echoing Concerns from the Health Secretary

Starmer echoed sentiments used by Wes Streeting, who cautioned earlier this month how a disturbing form of discrimination reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace once more and that NHS staff were facing the worst of it.

Streeting said occurrences of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race had become so frequent making it “acceptable to express racism”.

“We must end on racism in this country and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that’s found expression nationally back in its box and reestablish an environment in this country where it is not socially acceptable to be racist,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for the Public

Starmer used his speech during a major political gathering this autumn to outline clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that the public faced a “defining choice”.

He explained he was involved in a “fight for the soul of our country”, noting that while the public had “reasonable” concerns regarding unauthorized immigration, existed “a moral line” which some politicians had crossed.

Starmer pledged to “fight” those who argued that non-white individuals could not be English or British and that households residing in the UK for generations must be removed, stating people promoting such views were “an enemy of national renewal”.

“Encouraging racist violence and hostility, that is not expressing concern: it’s criminal. This party – this great party – values national symbols, but if they are displayed alongside graffiti, targeting a business owner to ‘go home’, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he informed activists.