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Long-standing racial prejudice is resurfacing within UK politics, which makes people feel very scared, Keir Starmer warned, cautioning that polarizing hard-right politics was “dividing the nation”.

Confronting Discriminatory Language and Divisive Strategies

Speaking with doctor and media figure Amir Khan, Starmer accused the Reform UK party for enabling a return to discriminatory and divisive politics “that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago”.

In the interview, broadcast on a popular morning program on Tuesday, Starmer provided his strongest signal suggesting the limit on child benefits would be lifted in the budget later this month.

Commitment to Reduce Child Poverty

Asked whether he would scrap the limit, as noted by advocacy groups is the biggest driver of child poverty in the UK, Starmer said: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I will strive to lower poverty rates for kids.”

He listed steps the government has already launched including no-cost school lunches, morning meal programs, and childcare and emphasized: “Further action is necessary, and I pledge and tell you I am personally committed to cutting childhood poverty.”

Pressed about if his remarks indicated he intended to remove the two-child limit, he said he “wouldn’t be telling you we are going to drive down poverty among children if I wasn’t clear that we will be taking various actions for that purpose”.

Clear Signals from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, gave a similarly clear signal on Monday stating to BBC Radio 5 Live how finally, no child should suffer due to their family’s financial situation”.

Government officials are reportedly planning to lift the limit entirely, having originally looked at phasing it out either for very large families or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation has estimated the expense would be roughly £3.5 billion by 2029-30.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

During the discussion, Starmer said the ideological split currently in Britain was between the government’s vision for renewal versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and other right-wing groups who were “splitting the UK”.

“Some of the rhetoric being used – racist rhetoric, polarizing language – that many assumed had been addressed long ago is coming back into politics and it makes people feel deeply afraid,” he said.

“We must confront such discrimination, that division, and we have to proudly say that British identity involves caring for others, is to be reasonable, is to be tolerant and compassionate, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Warnings from Wes Streeting

Starmer echoed language used by the Health Secretary, who cautioned earlier this month that a disturbing form of discrimination reminiscent of past decades was now alarmingly frequent again and that NHS staff were bearing the brunt of it.

Streeting noted occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks based on people’s skin colour had become so frequent making it “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We’ve got to call time on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country back in its box and once again create an environment across Britain where racism is unacceptable to be racist,” the Health Secretary said.

Critical Decision for the Public

Starmer used his speech at the Labour party conference this autumn to outline clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that the public faced a “defining choice”.

The prime minister said he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, and argued that while the public expressed valid worries about illegal migration, there was an ethical boundary that Farage and others had overstepped.

The PM pledged to “fight” anyone claiming that non-white individuals were not truly British and that families residing in Britain for years must be removed, saying people promoting such views constituted “an enemy of national renewal”.

“Encouraging racist violence and hostility, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – values national symbols, yet if they are painted alongside graffiti, targeting a business owner to leave the country, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he informed activists.