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Decades-old racism has come back to UK politics, which creates very scared, the Prime Minister warned, alerting how polarizing far-right politics are “splitting the UK”.

Tackling Discriminatory Language and Harmful Strategies

In conversation to GP and TV personality Amir Khan, Starmer accused the Reform UK party for enabling the revival of discriminatory and divisive political discourse “that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago”.

During the discussion, which aired on a popular morning program this week, Starmer provided a clear indication that the limit on child benefits would be lifted during the upcoming fiscal announcement in the coming weeks.

Promise to Reduce Child Poverty

Asked whether he planned to eliminate the limit, which charities have said is the biggest driver of child poverty across Britain, Starmer responded: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I will strive to lower poverty rates for kids.”

He listed steps ministers have already introduced including no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and child care support but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I can look you in the eye and tell you I am personally committed to cutting childhood poverty.”

When pressed on whether his comments indicated he would lift the two-child limit, he stated “I would not say we aim to lower poverty among children unless I was certain that we will be taking a number of measures in order to do so”.

Strong Indications from the Chancellor

The Chancellor, provided a similarly clear signal earlier this week stating to BBC Radio 5 Live that ultimately, a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money”.

Ministers are understood to be preparing to lift the limit entirely, after initially considering gradual removal either for very large families or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation projects this would cost roughly £3.5 billion by 2029-30.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

In the interview, Starmer said the ideological split in the UK now existed between the government’s vision for renewal versus “the toxic division of Reform” and others on the right who were “tearing our country apart”.

“Some of the rhetoric currently circulating – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed long ago is coming back into politics leaving people very scared,” he stated.

“It is essential to oppose to that racism, that division, and declare confidently that to be British means showing empathy, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and compassionate, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Concerns from the Health Secretary

Starmer echoed language expressed by the Health Secretary, who warned recently how an “ugly” racism similar to the 1970s and 1980s was now alarmingly frequent once more with NHS staff were facing the worst of this trend.

The health secretary said occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We’ve got to call time to discrimination in this country and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country 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 the Public

The Prime Minister spoke during a major political gathering in September to draw clear divisions between himself and Farage, saying that the public confronted a crucial decision.

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

The PM vowed to confront those who argued that non-white individuals were not truly British and that families residing in the UK for generations must be removed, saying those advocating these ideas were “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“Encouraging racial attacks and hatred, that is not expressing concern: it’s criminal. This party – this great party – values national symbols, but if they are displayed with hateful messages, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he informed activists.