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Long-standing racism is resurfacing within UK politics, which creates very scared, the Prime Minister has stated, alerting that divisive far-right politics was “dividing the nation”.

Addressing Discriminatory Rhetoric and Harmful Politics

In conversation to doctor and media figure Amir Khan, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party of overseeing the revival of racist and divisive politics “that frankly I thought we had dealt with years back”.

In the interview, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show this week, Starmer provided his strongest signal that the limit on child benefits could be removed in the budget later this month.

Commitment to Reduce Child Poverty

When questioned if he planned to eliminate this restriction, as noted by advocacy groups is the biggest driver of child poverty in the UK, the Prime Minister responded: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I am committed to lower poverty rates for kids.”

He outlined measures ministers have already introduced such as free school meals, breakfast clubs, and child care support but added: “We need to do more than that, and I pledge and tell you I will personally focus on reducing child poverty.”

When pressed on whether his comments meant he intended to remove the two-child cap, he stated “I would not say we aim to lower poverty among children without being sure that we will be taking various actions in order to do so”.

Strong Signals from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, gave an equally strong hint earlier this week when she told BBC Radio 5 Live that finally, children must not be punished if their parents are struggling financially”.

Ministers are getting ready to scrap the restriction fully, after initially considering ways to taper it for bigger households or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation has estimated the expense would be roughly £3.5 billion by the end of the decade.

Political Divide and National Renewal

In the interview, the Prime Minister said the political divide currently in Britain was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” and Reform’s harmful divisiveness and others on the right that are “dividing the nation”.

“Parts of the discourse we’re hearing – racist rhetoric, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed decades ago is coming back into politics leaving people deeply afraid,” he said.

“We have to stand up to that racism, that divisiveness, and affirm with pride that to be British means showing empathy, is to be reasonable, is to be tolerant and compassionate, and we’re proud of that.”

Echoing Warnings from Wes Streeting

Starmer echoed language used by the Health Secretary, who cautioned recently that an “ugly” racism reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace once more and that healthcare workers were primary targets of it.

The health secretary said occurrences of verbal and physical abuse based on people’s skin colour had become so frequent that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We must end on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that’s found expression in our country where it belongs and reestablish a climate across Britain that rejects racism to be racist,” Streeting stated.

Defining Choice for the Public

The Prime Minister used his speech during a major political gathering in September to outline political battle lines between himself and Farage, saying that the public confronted a pivotal moment.

The prime minister said he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, and argued that while the public had “reasonable” concerns regarding unauthorized immigration, existed “a moral line” that Farage and others had overstepped.

Starmer vowed to “fight” anyone who argued that non-white individuals could not be English or British and that households residing in Britain for years should be deported, stating those advocating these ideas constituted “an enemy of national renewal”.

“If you incite racist violence and hatred, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. Our political movement is proud of our flags, but if they are displayed with hateful messages, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he informed activists.