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Historical racism has come back to British politics, and it makes people feel very scared, the Prime Minister emphasized, cautioning how polarizing hard-right politics was “tearing our country apart”.

Addressing Discriminatory Language and Harmful Politics

Speaking to doctor and media figure Amir Khan, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party for enabling a return of discriminatory and divisive political discourse that seemed a thing of the past long ago”.

In the interview, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show this week, Starmer also gave a clear indication that the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget in the coming weeks.

Promise to Combat Child Poverty

When questioned whether he would scrap this restriction, as noted by advocacy groups is a major cause of child poverty across Britain, the Prime Minister said: “Let me be perfectly clear I am determined to drive child poverty down.”

He listed measures ministers have already introduced such as no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and childcare and emphasized: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I assure you that I will personally focus to cutting child poverty.”

When pressed about if his remarks meant he intended to remove the two-child limit, Starmer stated “I would not say we aim to lower child poverty without being sure that we will be taking several steps for that purpose”.

Strong Signals from the Chancellor

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

Government officials are reportedly planning to lift the limit entirely, after initially considering gradual removal for bigger households or richer ones. An economic thinktank has estimated this would cost roughly £3.5 billion by the end of the decade.

Political Divide and National Renewal

During the discussion, Starmer said the ideological split in the UK now was between the government’s vision for renewal versus “the toxic division of Reform” and others on the right who were “splitting the UK”.

“Certain language currently circulating – racist rhetoric, polarizing language – that frankly I thought was resolved long ago is returning to politics and citizens are fearful,” he stated.

“We must confront to that racism, that division, and declare confidently that British identity is to have concern for others, requires rationality, entails tolerance and compassionate, which we value deeply.”

Echoing Concerns from the Health Secretary

The prime minister mirrored sentiments used by Wes Streeting, who warned earlier this month how an “ugly” racism reminiscent of past decades had become alarmingly frequent again and that healthcare workers were primary targets of it.

Streeting said incidents of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “acceptable to express racism”.

“We must end to discrimination across the UK and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that’s found expression 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.

Defining Choice for the Public

Starmer spoke at the Labour party conference this autumn to outline clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that the public faced a pivotal moment.

The prime minister said he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, and argued that while the public had “reasonable” concerns about illegal migration, existed an ethical boundary that Farage and others had crossed.

Starmer pledged to “fight” those who argued that non-white individuals were not truly British and that families residing in Britain for years must be removed, stating those advocating these ideas constituted “against national unity”.

“Encouraging racist violence and hatred, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – values national symbols, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that is pure discrimination,” he told supporters.