Was Keir Starmer’s speech unveiling new measures reduce immigration his ‘Enoch Powell’ moment?
Most people would acknowledge that it’s not intrinsically racist to discuss the scale of migration to the UK and have measures in place to regulate it. But as the Prime Minister laid out his plans in Downing Street this week, the language around it was horrifying to some Labour supporters.
At the same time as saying that he celebrated diversity, Starmer
said that UK risks, “becoming an island of strangers, not a
nation that walks forward together”. As backbench MP Zarah Sultana pointed out, this echoed the infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech made by Enoch Powell in 1968.
Sultana – currently suspended from the Labour whip – said that
Starmer’s words “add to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk.”
Adrian Goldberg is joined in conversation by Byline Times political editor Adam Bienkov.
This is the edited version of a live broadcast on BylineSupplement.com
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