Starmer vows fightback against far-right-fuelled 'decline and division'

Keir Starmer will make a major intervention this week, pledging a progressive fightback and promising the UK will reject division and hate fuelled by the far right.

- Jessica Elgot Pippa Crerar

The move comes before the Labour conference amid increasing pressure on the prime minister from within his own party, where even senior loyalists have voiced fears he is not leading enough of a passionate attack against Reform UK and rising racism.

Later this week, the PM is expected to say the UK is “at a crossroads” and that the government will lead the fight against “decline and division”.

His speech, which is expected to take place alongside other progressive world leaders, is intended to relieve fears among MPs and party members that the strategy so far to rebut Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has only been based on the workability of the proposals rather than a moral objection.

But Starmer is also said to be deeply concerned with building an international coalition of centre-left leaders who can find ways to tackle common challenges of rising right-wing populism, as well as present a united front on key global issues such as Ukraine and Gaza.

“We have to have an answer to those questions. We need to be able to step up,” a Downing Street source said, adding that included a response to rising concerns about immigration.