Keir Starmer needs to realise he will never win the argument on immigration
Not a single positive remark about the benefits of migration featured in the Prime Minister’s fifteen-minute address
Earlier this week Keir Starmer ramped up the anti-immigration rhetoric in a way nobody could have ever predicted a Labour Prime Minister would. We risked, he said, becoming “an island of strangers”: a dog-whistle to the hard-right with echoes of Enoch Powell’s infamous 1968 “rivers of blood” speech - one of the most overtly racist addresses ever made.
He went on to adopt the language of Brexiteers, whose votes he hopes to win at the next election. We needed, he said, to “take back control of our borders” and halt the “one-nation experiment in open borders” carried out under the Tories, which caused “incalculable” damage to our nation.
Britain had become “almost addicted to importing cheap labour”, he continued, mimicking Boris Johnson’s remarks about “mainlining” migrant workers - and in spite of the fact overseas care workers kept our loved ones alive during the pandemic.
Then, in yet another repeat of Tory-era rhetoric, he said the country needed migrants “committed to integration”, before going on to increase the route to settlement from five to ten years, leaving more people in precarious work, fuelling exploitation and utterly undermining any chance for integration.
Rather than rushing to make policy on-the-hoof, Labour should stop, take a breath and reset.
Not a single positive remark about the benefits of migration featured in the Prime Minister’s fifteen-minute address. What’s more, it was a complete 180-degree shift from his view during the Labour leadership race in 2020.
“We welcome migrants, we don't scapegoat them,” he said in a speech at that time, adding: “We have to make the case for the benefits of migration, the benefits of free movement.” Exactly where does the Prime Minister stand on this issue now?
Starmer’s rhetorical lurch to the right is short-termist and foolish. It clearly hasn’t won over the right-wing press: “We've heard it all before”, was the withering assessment from the Daily Express, with the Sun writing that Starmer “sounded like a tribute act to the last five Tory leaders”. Meanwhile, progressive Labour MPs are up in arms. And voters, too, are leaning more towards Reform, which continues to ride high in the polls. The more the Prime Minister sings to Nigel Farage’s tune, the more likely he is to lose his base of supporters.
There are currently 131,000 vacancies across social care. When researching my book, Anywhere But Here: How Britain’s Broken Asylum System Fails Us All, providers have told me that, without overseas workers, they will be forced to close their doors. The alternative is increasing wages to attract local care workers, a cost which would have a knock-on effect for families. Local authorities, many of which are facing bankruptcy, simply don't have the funding to keep them operating.
When voters find that they can’t get a place for their parent or grandparent in a care home because they’ve become too expensive, or understaffed, or have had to close down due to labour shortages, then - maybe then - Labour will realise they’ve made a mistake.
What Keir Starmer needs to realise is that he will never win the argument on immigration. Farage and his footmen have been out doing the media rounds and promising net-zero migration. It makes a great headline. As we saw with Boris Johnson and his £350 million NHS lie, simple messages get through. It doesn't seem to matter if it's illogical, or unworkable, or patently false.
Instead of demonising migrants, the government should be fixing the economy, prioritising public services and the parts of the state that their voters interact with everyday: healthcare, schools, and - dare I say it - social care. Immigration is not their strong suit. Far better to focus on improving people’s lives than denigrating some of the most vulnerable in society. That is, after all, what the Prime Minister said earlier this week that he would never do.
Rather than rushing to make policy on-the-hoof, Labour should stop, take a breath and reset. They won the general election by a significant margin; there’s no need to run scared of Nigel Farage. There's certainly no need to adopt his rhetoric. Starmer should remind himself of the values he professed about the benefits of immigration less than five years ago. Better that than cause moral and political injury, the likes of which may yet come to define this Labour government. ■
About the author: Nicola Kelly is an award-winning home affairs reporter and writer. Before moving into journalism, she worked for the Home Office during the rollout of the hostile environment policy. Her book, ‘Anywhere But Here: How Britain's Broken Asylum System Fails Us All’, is available here.
This piece is part of The Lead Says, bringing you insightful writing on people, place and policy. Immigration and how it is tackled is a topic we’ve returned to regularly on The Lead, from Zoë Grünewald outlining how immigration is often seen as the number one topic for voters (when in fact, it isn’t) and her view on Starmer’s migration announcement, Nicola Kelly previously on Labour’s ‘Go Home Van’ moment earlier this year and migration researcher and campaigner Zoe Gardner on how ‘smashing the gangs’ narrative won’t work. Help support our writing on immigration and more by becoming a subscriber to The Lead.