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Long-standing racial prejudice is resurfacing to UK the political arena, which makes people feel very scared, the Prime Minister has stated, cautioning that divisive far-right politics was “splitting the UK”.

Confronting Discriminatory Rhetoric and Harmful Politics

Speaking with GP and TV personality Amir Khan, the prime minister accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK for enabling the revival to racist and divisive political discourse which many believed was resolved years back”.

During the discussion, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show on Tuesday, the PM also gave his strongest signal suggesting the two-child benefit cap might be scrapped in the budget later this month.

Promise to Combat Child Poverty

Asked whether he would scrap the limit, which charities have said 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 measures the government has already launched including no-cost school lunches, morning meal programs, and child care support and emphasized: “We need to do more than that, and I pledge and tell you I will personally focus on reducing child poverty.”

Pressed about if his remarks indicated he would lift the two-child limit, he stated “It would be misleading to claim we plan to reduce child poverty without being sure that we will implement several steps to achieve this”.

Strong Indications from the Chancellor

The Chancellor, gave a similarly clear signal on Monday when she told a national radio station that ultimately, a child should not be penalised due to their family’s financial situation”.

Ministers are reportedly planning to remove the cap completely, having originally looked at phasing it out either for very large families or wealthier families. An economic thinktank has estimated this would cost about £3.5bn by the end of the decade.

Ideological Split and Country’s Revival

In the interview, Starmer explained the ideological split in the UK now existed between the government’s vision for renewal and “the toxic division of Reform” and other right-wing groups that are “tearing our country apart”.

“Some of the rhetoric currently circulating – discriminatory talk, polarizing language – that frankly I thought had been addressed in the past has reemerged in political debate and it makes people feel deeply afraid,” he stated.

“We must confront such discrimination, that division, and declare confidently that British identity means showing empathy, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and compassionate, and this is our pride.”

Reflecting Warnings from Wes Streeting

Starmer echoed sentiments expressed by the Health Secretary, who warned earlier this month how an “ugly” racism reminiscent of past decades had become alarmingly frequent once more and that NHS staff were facing the worst of this trend.

The health secretary said occurrences of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race had become so frequent making it “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“It is time to put a stop on racism in this country and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that has emerged nationally where it belongs and once again create an environment across Britain that rejects racism to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary said.

Critical Decision for the Public

The Prime Minister spoke during a major political gathering in September to draw political battle lines between himself and Farage, saying that voters faced 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 expressed valid worries regarding unauthorized immigration, there was an ethical boundary that Farage and others had crossed.

Starmer vowed to “fight” those who argued that people who were not white could not be English or British and that families who had lived in the UK for generations should be deported, stating people promoting such views were “an enemy of national renewal”.

“If you incite racist violence and hatred, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted alongside graffiti, targeting a business owner to ‘go home’, that is not patriotism; that is pure discrimination,” he told activists.