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Historical racism has come back within UK politics, and it makes people feel very scared, Keir Starmer has stated, cautioning how divisive hard-right political tactics are “splitting the UK”.

Addressing Discriminatory Language and Divisive Politics

Speaking with GP and TV personality a well-known TV doctor, Starmer pointed to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK for enabling a return of racist and divisive politics which many believed was resolved decades ago”.

In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program this week, Starmer also gave his strongest signal suggesting the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget later this month.

Promise to Combat Poverty Among Children

When questioned if he would scrap this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of child poverty across Britain, Starmer responded: “Let me be perfectly clear I am committed to reduce child poverty.”

He outlined measures the government has already launched including no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and child care support but added: “We need to do more than that, and I assure you that I am personally committed to cutting childhood poverty.”

When pressed on whether his comments meant he intended to remove the two-child cap, he said “It would be misleading to claim we plan to reduce child poverty if I wasn’t clear that we will be taking several steps in order to do so”.

Clear Indications from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, provided a similarly clear signal earlier this week when she told BBC Radio 5 Live that “in the end, children must not be punished due to their family’s financial situation”.

Government officials are reportedly planning to scrap the restriction fully, having originally looked at ways to taper it for bigger households or wealthier families. An economic thinktank projects this would cost about £3.5bn by 2029-30.

Political Divide and National Renewal

In the interview, Starmer said the ideological split in the UK now was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and other right-wing groups who were “dividing the nation”.

“Certain language we’re hearing – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that many assumed had been addressed decades ago has reemerged in political debate and citizens are very scared,” he stated.

“It is essential to oppose such discrimination, that division, and we have to proudly say that to be British is to have concern for others, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and compassionate, and this is our pride.”

Reflecting Warnings from Wes Streeting

Starmer mirrored sentiments expressed by Wes Streeting, who cautioned earlier this month that a disturbing form of discrimination similar to past decades was now worryingly commonplace once more with NHS staff were bearing the brunt of this trend.

The health secretary noted occurrences of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race now happened so often making it “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“It is time to put a stop on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country where it belongs and once again create a climate across Britain where it is not socially acceptable to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary stated.

Critical Decision for Voters

Starmer used his speech during a major political gathering in September to draw political battle lines with his political opponents, saying that the public faced a “defining choice”.

The prime minister explained he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, noting that while the public had “reasonable” concerns about illegal migration, existed “a moral line” that Farage and others had crossed.

The PM vowed to confront anyone claiming that non-white individuals could not be English or British and that households who had lived in Britain for years should be deported, stating those advocating these ideas constituted “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“If you incite racial attacks and hostility, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he informed supporters.