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Decades-old racial prejudice is resurfacing to UK the political arena, and it makes people feel fearful, Keir Starmer has stated, alerting how divisive hard-right politics was “dividing the nation”.

Confronting Discriminatory Rhetoric and Divisive Strategies

In conversation with doctor and media figure Amir Khan, the prime minister pointed to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of overseeing a return of discriminatory and divisive politics “that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago”.

In the interview, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show this week, the PM provided his strongest signal suggesting the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget later this month.

Commitment to Combat Poverty Among Children

Asked whether he planned to eliminate the limit, which charities have said is a major cause of poverty for children in the UK, the Prime Minister responded: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I am committed to reduce child poverty.”

He outlined steps ministers have already introduced including no-cost school lunches, morning meal programs, and childcare but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I can look you in the eye that I am personally committed on reducing childhood poverty.”

Pressed on whether his remarks indicated he would lift the two-child cap, Starmer stated “It would be misleading to claim we plan to reduce poverty among children without being sure that measures will be introduced a number of measures in order to do so”.

Clear Indications from Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves, gave a similarly clear signal earlier this week when she told a national radio station how “in the end, no child should suffer because their parents don’t have very much money”.

Government officials are understood to be preparing to scrap the restriction fully, having originally looked at gradual removal either for very large families or wealthier families. An economic thinktank projects this would cost about £3.5bn in the coming years.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

During the discussion, the Prime Minister explained the ideological split in the UK now existed between the government’s vision for renewal and “the toxic division of Reform” and others on the right who were “splitting the UK”.

“Parts of the discourse we’re hearing – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought we had dealt with decades ago is returning to politics and it makes people feel deeply afraid,” he said.

“We have to stand up such discrimination, that divisiveness, and declare confidently that British identity means showing empathy, is about being fair, entails tolerance and kindness, and we’re proud of that.”

Reflecting Concerns from Wes Streeting

The prime minister mirrored language used by Wes Streeting, who cautioned earlier this month how an “ugly” racism similar to the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace again and that NHS staff were facing the worst of this trend.

Streeting noted occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks based on people’s skin colour had become so frequent that it was now “acceptable to express racism”.

“We’ve got to call time to discrimination across the UK and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that’s found expression in our country back in its box and reestablish an environment across Britain that rejects racism to be racist,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for the Public

Starmer used his speech at the Labour party conference in September to outline clear divisions with his political opponents, saying that voters confronted a “defining choice”.

The prime minister said he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, and argued that while the public expressed valid worries regarding unauthorized immigration, existed an ethical boundary which some politicians had overstepped.

Starmer vowed to challenge those who argued that non-white individuals did not belong and that households residing in Britain for years should be deported, saying those advocating these ideas were “against national unity”.

“Encouraging racial attacks and hatred, that is not expressing concern: it’s criminal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, but if they are displayed alongside graffiti, targeting a business owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he informed supporters.