Sir Keir Starmer has doubled down on his inflammatory comments on immigration as Labour backlash over the language he used grows.
The prime minister’s warning that Britain is becoming a “island of strangers” as a result of migration has sparked alarm with claims that it was almost word for word as a line from Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968 that whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK.
Downing Street has denied that any comparisons should be made with the rightwing Tory, who is a political hero of Nigel Farage, and the prime minister has already denied that his hardline approach on immigration is a reaction to Reform UK’s surge in popularity and crushing Labour in the recent local elections.
A spokesman for the prime minister insisted that Sir Keir “absolutely stands by” his language including claims that mass immigration has done “incalculable damage” to the British economy.”
He added: “We have set out a number of priorities, getting net migration down is one of those. The PM made his argument in his own language.”
But veteran Labour MP and anti-racism campaigner Diane Abbott, a former shadow home secretary, has led the latest wave of criticism from Labour’s backbenches against Sir Keir’s stance.
Ms Abbott, a long term critic of the prime minister and ally of former leader Jeremy Corbyn, said: “This was a shameful day in British politics and a shameful day for the Labour party. It will not end well for either.”
The prime minister was also not helped by his home secretary Yvette Cooper repeatedly refusing to use the same language as him on the morning broadcast round.
London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has also distanced himself from Sir Keir but in a shock show of support for the PM, rightwing Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick – a former immigration minister – has supported him.
And to add to the concerns Sir Keir was praised by the EU’s most rightwing government Hungary for his language.
Speaking to The Independent, Viktor Orban’s state secretary State Secretary Zoltán Kovács said: “We see Sir Keir Starmer saying the exact sentences and words actually we’ve been talking about for the past 10 years.”
He added: “This realignment is going to come because in democracy you have to talk for the people and represent the people of your country.”
Pressed on the comparisons with Powell, a Downing Street spokesman vehemently denied the claims.
He said: “We completely reject that comparison. You’ve heard the PM say in his speech yesterday that migrants make a massive contribution to the country as just reflected on from cabinet is both right and fair to say that migrants have made a massive contribution to our society for generations.
However, he added: “We are not going to shy away from this issue. The British public rightly expect the government to get control of immigration in a way that the previous government lost control of immigration and to put working people at the heart of our plans and ensure that we’ve got a system based on fairness and control and get down the sky high levels of immigration that we saw under the previous government.
“But the PM has been very clear, Britain is an inclusive country. We have welcomed immigrants for generations, but the level of immigration, and the last few years has been too high, that migration, must come down.”
But Labour MPs have both publicly and privately made their anger clear.
A number have privately pointed on that they have already had to swallow tough decisions on slashing winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, cutting disability welfare, tax rises on jobs, cosying up to Trump and halving international aid.
Labour MP Olivia Blake told Times Radio: “I think the use of ‘strangers’ was very problematic and I think, or at least I hope, that the people who wrote the speech or were involved in developing the speech had never heard that speech before because if they were trying to rhyme with the rhetoric of that speech I would be exceedingly disappointed.
“But I think this language of ‘strangers’ has been used by the far right for generations to make divisions within our communities but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Like I said yesterday, you know, migrants aren’t just my neighbours, they’re my family, they are our community, you know, they’re our teachers, our nurses.”
Sir Sadiq Khan said he would not have used the phrase “island of strangers”, but declined to criticise the Prime Minister’s announcement on immigration.
Speaking to LBC, the Mayor of London said: “The sort of language I use is different to the language used by others. That’s not the sort of words I would use.”
He added that he thought Sir Keir 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.”
