Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Starmer's race to the bottom
The Guardian reports that Keir Starmer is facing severe opposition from Labour MPs and employers over his immigration shift, while social media feeds are burning with the indignation of many Labour members and supporters who are incredulous and despairing at the fact that the Labour Party is now positioning itself on the Farage wing of UK politics:
Announcing his new immigration policies on Monday, Starmer warned that the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” without a tougher approach, and said the government would “take back control of our borders” and close the book on a “squalid chapter” of rising inward migration.
For those who believe that he has already pitched too far to the right in response to the rise in support for Reform UK, his rhetoric on immigration will bite.
Sarah Owen, the Labour MP for Luton North who is on the soft left of the party, said the best way to avoid the UK becoming an “island of strangers” was to invest in communities so that they thrived.
“I’ve said it before and will say it again: chasing the tail of the right risks taking our country down a very dark path,” she warned, urging the government not to risk pitting people against each other.
Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, said: “The step-up in anti-migrant rhetoric from the government is shameful and dangerous.
“Migrants are our neighbours, friends and family. To suggest that Britain risks becoming ‘an island of strangers’ because of immigration mimics the scaremongering of the far right.”
Others went further. Zarah Sultana, an independent MP since she was suspended from Labour for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, accused Starmer of imitating Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech.
Labour are even prepared to question the orthodox view of sensible economists that immigration is good for the economy as it helps us to fill important jobs and keeps things moving. The paper says that Starmer explicitly made the case that higher levels of immigration – particularly by low-skilled workers – were not in fact contributing to economic growth.
No 10 officials are expected to ask the Office for Budget Responsibility, which now regards migration as a net positive to the economy over a five-year period, to look again at how it reaches its conclusions.
At least there is one sensible view being expessed by a senior politician. My thanks to Liberal England for highlighting this post by Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, He says:
I fear that Labour is falling into the same trap that the Tories did - leaning on hostile rhetoric around immigration and damaging our public services and our economy in the process.
We should not pander to the far right but instead fix the problems that enable them. If you feed that wolf eventually it will eat you.
We need a flexible, dynamic legal migration system that works for our country and our economy, while treating everyone with dignity and respect.
We should have no truck with the demonisation of desperate people fleeing persecution, war or starvation, nor indeed of those who are on the frontline of our health and social care sectors. The last thing we need is to do more harm to our fragile public services.
There will always be a need for integration and fair play in our immigration system, but we should not ignore the enormous benefits that immigration has brought to our country. These are our friends and neighbours, people who enrich our cultural fabric and help drive our economy across the UK.
I agree.
