Sharp change of tack PM's challenge to Reform UK is a risk

We must never accept the Tory or media narrative that often scapegoats and demonises migrants," Keir Starmer wrote in 2020.

- Pippa Crerar

We must never accept the Tory or media narrative that often scapegoats and demonises migrants," Keir Starmer wrote in 2020. "Problems of low pay, housing and public services are not caused by migrants - they are caused by a failed economic model.

Much has changed since Starmer was running to be leader of the Labour party. Not least, that as prime minister he now has a broader electorate to keep on side. His aides argue he has long made the case for tougher rules on immigration, but the rise of Reform UK and Nigel Farage's success among voters disillusioned with the political mainstream has added a new political imperative.

Announcing his new immigration policies yesterday, Starmer warned that the UK risked becoming an "island of strangers" without a tougher approach, and said the government would "take back control" 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.