PM's rhetoric on migration will not regain support

POLITICAL parties may base their manifestos on principles or on detailed analyses of how to resolve problems. Sometimes, though, they adopt policies just on the basis of what might help them to win votes.

- Giuseppe Bignardi

However, if politicians in government do not resolve the real problems, they will not do well in the end.

I would, therefore, argue that Keir Starmer was wrong with his recent rhetoric about migration.

When Starmer claimed that this country could become "an island of strangers", he made the sort of statement that could have been expected from Enoch Powell or, in our times, from Nigel Farage, but not from a progressive leader.

Back in 1968 Enoch Powell was critical of immigration, especially non-white immigration, but his prediction of this resulting in "rivers of blood" has been proven wrong.

Immigration into the UK, and most others Western countries, is the consequence of decreased natality and aging populations: we need migration to fill vacancies and maintain the right balance between those working and those in retirement.

It is a well-known paradox that we may not like doing what is best for us or our country. In our private life we may not like going to the dentist or having blood tests, but most of us know they are necessary and beneficial.