Starmer ‘completely rejects’ claims he echoed Enoch Powell in migration speech
The Prime Minister warned the UK risked becoming an ‘island of strangers’ if migration controls were not tightened.
Sir Keir Starmer “completely rejects” suggestions he echoed Enoch Powell in a major speech on immigration, and stands by his words, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister has faced backlash for the language he used in the speech setting out plans to crack down on legal migration into the UK on Monday.
Sir Keir warned the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” if migration controls were not tightened.
Critics, including backbench Labour MPs, have raised concerns about the language, with some comparing it to a similar passage from Mr Powell’s infamous 1968 “rivers of blood” speech.
Sir Keir’s official spokesman robustly defended the Prime Minister’s words and brushed aside the similarity.
“We completely reject that comparison,” he told reporters.
Asked if the Prime Minister was not worried about his language, the spokesman said: “Absolutely, the Prime Minister rejects those comparisons and absolutely stands behind the argument he was making that migrants make a massive contribution to our country, but migration needs to be controlled.”
Asked to confirm the Prime Minister stood by his comments that the UK did risk becoming an island of strangers without action on immigration, the spokesman replied: “Yes.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had earlier insisted Sir Keir’s speech was “completely different” from that of Mr Powell.
In his 1968 speech, the then-senior Tory said white British people could find themselves “strangers in their own country” as a result of migration.
Mr Powell was sacked from the Conservative frontbench as a result of making the speech and it outraged his senior colleagues at the time.
Asked about the comparison, Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think it’s right to make those comparisons. It’s completely different.
“And the Prime Minister said yesterday, I think almost in the same breath… talked about the diverse country that we are, and that being part of our strength.”
Asked if Sir Keir’s speech-writers had been aware of the similarity in language, the Home Secretary replied: “I don’t know.”
Ms Cooper had earlier suggested to BBC Breakfast that the Prime Minister values the contribution of migrants to the UK.
She said: “I think part of the point that he (Sir Keir) is making is that we have to recognise people have come to the UK through generations to do really important jobs in our NHS, founding our biggest businesses, doing some of the most difficult jobs, but it’s because that’s important the system has to be controlled and managed, and it just hasn’t been.”
Elsewhere, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the UK “already” is an island of strangers in some places.
“Aggressive levels of mass migration have made us more divided,” he told Times Radio.
Sir Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, said he would not have used the phrase “island of strangers”, but declined to criticise the Prime Minister’s announcement on immigration.
He told LBC he thought the Prime Minister was referring to “promises made by Brexiteers” and recent high levels of migration, and not “that contribution we make to this multicultural capital city and country”.
Asked how he felt when he heard Sir Keir’s language, he said: “I read the White Paper and I understand the context of the White Paper, and those aren’t words that I would use.”
Eluned Morgan, the Labour First Minister of Wales, also refused to echo Sir Keir’s comments.
At First Minister’s Questions, she told the Senedd: “I’m not going to use divisive language when it comes to immigration, that’s not the value we have in Welsh Labour. We are committed to ensuring that we do our best to provide a care service in Wales.
“That will be more difficult if it is not possible to hire people from abroad.”
In the Commons, the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday drew criticism from across the political spectrum.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who lost the Labour whip last year, was chief among those who accused Sir Keir of “reflecting the language” of Mr Powell’s infamous speech.
Labour backbencher Olivia Blake (Sheffield Hallam) suggested the phrase could “risk legitimising the same far-right violence we saw in last year’s summer riots”.
Nigel Farage, whose Reform UK party has focused heavily on immigration in its campaigns, said the Government “will not do what it takes to control our borders”.
The proposals also sparked concern from employers, particularly in the care sector, following the announcement that care worker visas will be scrapped.
