Fury over PM's 'dangerous' language on immigration

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that the UK risks becoming an island of strangers” as he laid out some of the toughest rules in recent history to crack down on immigration.

- DAVID MADDOX , MILLIE COOKE , ARCHIE MITCHELL

Sir Keir also said that the number of people entering the country is causing “incalculable damage” – remarks that have provoked a furious backlash, with his own MPs joining trade unions and charities in comparing the language with that of the far right and Enoch Powell.

In a dramatic early morning press conference yesterday aimed at seizing the political agenda, Sir Keir insisted his new immigration plans were being unveiled “because they are the right thing to do”.

Among the measures announced were a ban on the recruitment of care workers from overseas, increased English language requirements for immigrants and the tightening of access to skilled worker visas.

But while Sir Keir denied his government’s white paper was a “reaction to a political party” following the success of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK at the local elections, critics condemned his attempts to “pander” to Mr Farage.

Sir Keir’s language marked an extraordinary turnaround in the last five years from when he was Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow immigration minister promoting open borders and from three years ago when he claimed that those raising immigration as an issue were “racist”.

One senior Labour backbencher compared his language to Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968 which whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK.

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said: “It’s simply not sustainable for the prime minister to echo the language of Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech – invoking the idea of ‘living in a land of strangers.’