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Historical racial prejudice is resurfacing within UK politics, and it makes people feel very scared, the Prime Minister warned, alerting how polarizing hard-right politics are “tearing our country apart”.

Confronting Discriminatory Language and Divisive Politics

Speaking to doctor and media figure Amir Khan, Starmer pointed to the Reform UK party of overseeing the revival of discriminatory and divisive political discourse “that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago”.

In the interview, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show on Tuesday, Starmer also gave his strongest signal that the two-child benefit cap could be removed during the upcoming fiscal announcement in the coming weeks.

Commitment to Combat Poverty Among Children

Asked if he would scrap this restriction, as noted by advocacy groups is the biggest driver of child poverty in the UK, Starmer responded: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I am determined to reduce child poverty.”

He listed measures the government has already launched such as free school meals, morning meal programs, and childcare but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I pledge and tell you I am dedicated to cutting child poverty.”

When pressed on whether his remarks indicated he would lift the two-child limit, Starmer stated “It would be misleading to claim we are going to drive down child poverty without being sure that measures will be introduced several steps in order to do so”.

Strong Indications from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, gave an equally strong hint earlier this week stating to BBC Radio 5 Live how “in the end, no child should suffer if their parents are struggling financially”.

Government officials are getting ready to lift the limit entirely, after initially considering ways to taper it either for very large families or richer ones. The Resolution Foundation has estimated the expense would be about £3.5bn by the end of the decade.

Political Divide and National Renewal

During the discussion, Starmer said the political divide currently in Britain was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and other right-wing groups who were “tearing our country apart”.

“Parts of the discourse we’re hearing – racist rhetoric, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed decades ago is returning to politics and it makes people feel very scared,” he said.

“We must confront to that racism, that divisiveness, and affirm with pride that to be British is to have concern for others, is about being fair, is to be tolerant and compassionate, and this is our pride.”

Echoing Concerns from the Health Secretary

The prime minister echoed language expressed by Wes Streeting, who warned earlier this month that a disturbing form of discrimination reminiscent of past decades had become worryingly commonplace again and that NHS staff were primary targets of this trend.

Streeting said occurrences of verbal and physical abuse based on people’s skin colour now happened so often that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We’ve got to call time on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that’s found expression nationally where it belongs and once again create a climate in this country where racism is unacceptable to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for Voters

The Prime Minister spoke during a major political gathering in September to outline political battle lines between himself and Farage, stating that the public confronted a “defining choice”.

The prime minister said he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, noting although voters had “reasonable” concerns about illegal migration, existed “a moral line” which some politicians had overstepped.

Starmer vowed to “fight” those claiming that people who were not white were not truly British and that households who had lived in the UK for generations 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 with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he told activists.