🔗 Share this article Racism Making a Comeback in British Political Landscape, Making Citizens Fearful, the Prime Minister Says Decades-old racism is returning to UK the political arena, which makes people feel deeply uneasy, Keir Starmer warned, alerting how polarizing far-right politics are “tearing our country apart”. Addressing Discriminatory Language and Harmful Politics Speaking with GP and TV personality Amir Khan, Starmer pointed to the Reform UK party of overseeing a return of racist and divisive political discourse which many believed was resolved years back”. In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program on Tuesday, the PM provided a clear indication that the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget later this month. Commitment to Reduce Poverty Among Children When questioned if he planned to eliminate the limit, as noted by advocacy groups is the biggest driver of child poverty across Britain, Starmer said: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I will strive to reduce child poverty.” He listed measures ministers have already introduced such as no-cost school lunches, morning meal programs, and child care support and emphasized: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I pledge that I will personally focus on reducing childhood poverty.” Pressed about if his comments meant he would lift the two-child limit, he stated “It would be misleading to claim we are going to drive down child poverty without being sure that measures will be introduced several steps for that purpose”. Strong Signals from Rachel Reeves Rachel Reeves, provided an equally strong hint earlier this week stating to a national radio station that finally, children must not be punished because their parents don’t have very much money”. Ministers are reportedly planning to remove the cap completely, having originally looked at ways to taper it either for very large families or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation has estimated this would cost roughly £3.5 billion in the coming years. Ideological Split and Country’s Revival In the interview, Starmer said the ideological split currently in Britain was between the government’s vision for renewal and “the toxic division of Reform” and other right-wing groups who were “dividing the nation”. “Some of the rhetoric currently circulating – discriminatory talk, polarizing language – that many assumed was resolved long ago is coming back into politics and citizens are deeply afraid,” he said. “It is essential to oppose to that racism, that divisiveness, and declare confidently that to be British means showing empathy, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and kindness, and this is our pride.” Reflecting Warnings from Wes Streeting The prime minister mirrored language expressed by Wes Streeting, who warned recently how an “ugly” racism reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s had become worryingly commonplace again and that NHS staff were facing the worst of this trend. The health secretary said occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks based on people’s skin colour now happened so often that it had become “acceptable to express racism”. “We must end on racism in this country and we need to place such harmful attitudes that has emerged nationally where it belongs and once again create a climate across Britain that rejects racism to be racist,” Streeting said. Defining Choice for Voters The Prime Minister spoke during a major political gathering this autumn to draw clear divisions with his political opponents, saying that voters faced a crucial decision. He explained he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, noting that while the public expressed valid worries about illegal migration, existed an ethical boundary that Farage and others had crossed. Starmer vowed to “fight” those who argued that people who were not white could not be English or British and that families residing in the UK for generations must be removed, stating people promoting such views constituted “opposed to the country’s progress”. “If you incite racist violence and hatred, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. Our political movement values national symbols, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to ‘go home’, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he told activists.