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Historical racism has come back within British politics, and it makes people feel very scared, the Prime Minister has stated, alerting how divisive hard-right politics are “splitting the UK”.

Addressing Discriminatory Language and Divisive Politics

In conversation with GP and TV personality Amir Khan, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party for enabling the revival to discriminatory and divisive politics which many believed was resolved years back”.

During the discussion, broadcast on a popular morning program this week, the PM provided his strongest signal that the two-child benefit cap might be scrapped during the upcoming fiscal announcement later this month.

Promise to Reduce Poverty Among Children

Asked if he planned to eliminate this restriction, which charities have said is a major cause of child poverty across Britain, Starmer said: “I want to state unequivocally I will strive to drive child poverty down.”

He listed measures ministers have already introduced such as no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and childcare but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I assure you that I am personally committed to driving down child poverty.”

When pressed on whether his remarks meant he would lift the two-child limit, he said “It would be misleading to claim we plan to reduce child poverty unless I was certain that measures will be introduced several steps in order to do so”.

Clear Indications from Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves, provided a similarly clear signal on Monday when she told a national radio station how “in the end, no child should suffer if their parents are struggling financially”.

Government officials are reportedly planning to lift the limit entirely, having originally looked at gradual removal for bigger households or richer ones. An economic thinktank projects this would cost roughly £3.5 billion by the end of the decade.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

In the interview, Starmer explained the ideological split in the UK now was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” and “the toxic division of Reform” and others on the right that are “splitting the UK”.

“Some of the rhetoric currently circulating – racist rhetoric, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago is returning to politics leaving people deeply afraid,” he said.

“We have to stand up such discrimination, that division, and declare confidently that to be British means showing empathy, is about being fair, is to be tolerant and kindness, which we value deeply.”

Echoing Concerns from the Health Secretary

Starmer mirrored sentiments expressed by the Health Secretary, who warned earlier this month that an “ugly” racism similar to the 1970s and 1980s had become worryingly commonplace again with healthcare workers were bearing the brunt of this trend.

The health secretary noted incidents of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “tolerated to hold racist views”.

“We must end on racism across the UK and we need to place such harmful attitudes that’s found expression nationally back in its box and reestablish an environment across Britain that rejects racism to hold racist views,” Streeting said.

Critical Decision for Voters

Starmer used his speech during a major political gathering in September to outline political battle lines between himself and Farage, saying that voters confronted a crucial decision.

He explained he was involved in a “fight for the soul of our country”, and argued that while the public had “reasonable” concerns regarding unauthorized immigration, existed an ethical boundary that Farage and others had overstepped.

The PM pledged to confront anyone claiming that people who were not white did not belong and that families residing in the UK for generations should be deported, stating those advocating these ideas were “an enemy of national renewal”.

“Encouraging racial attacks and hatred, that goes beyond concern: it’s criminal. Our political movement is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he told activists.