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Decades-old racial prejudice has come back within UK politics, which makes people feel fearful, Keir Starmer has stated, alerting how polarizing hard-right political tactics are “tearing our country apart”.

Addressing Discriminatory Language and Harmful Politics

Speaking to doctor and media figure a well-known TV doctor, Starmer accused the Reform UK party for enabling the revival of racist and divisive politics which many believed was resolved long ago”.

In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program this week, the PM also gave a clear indication that the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget in the coming weeks.

Promise to Combat Poverty Among Children

When questioned if he planned to eliminate the limit, as noted by advocacy groups is the biggest driver of child poverty in the UK, the Prime Minister 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 free school meals, morning meal programs, and child care support but added: “We need to do more than that, and I pledge and tell you I am personally committed to driving down childhood poverty.”

When pressed on whether his comments meant he intended to remove the two-child cap, he said “It would be misleading to claim we plan to reduce poverty among children if I wasn’t clear that we will implement several steps for that purpose”.

Clear Indications from the Chancellor

Rachel Reeves, provided a similarly clear signal earlier this week when she told BBC Radio 5 Live how ultimately, a child should not be penalised due to their family’s financial situation”.

Ministers are getting ready to lift the limit entirely, having originally looked at ways to taper it either for very large families or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation projects this would cost about £3.5bn in the coming years.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

In the interview, Starmer explained the political divide currently in Britain existed between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” and Reform’s harmful divisiveness and other right-wing groups that are “tearing our country apart”.

“Some of the rhetoric being used – racist rhetoric, polarizing language – that many assumed we had dealt with decades ago has reemerged in political debate leaving people deeply afraid,” he said.

“It is essential to oppose such discrimination, that divisiveness, and we have to proudly say that British identity is to have concern for others, is about being fair, entails tolerance and kindness, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Warnings from Wes Streeting

The prime minister echoed language used by the Health Secretary, who cautioned recently how a disturbing form of discrimination similar to the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace again and that healthcare workers were facing the worst of it.

Streeting said incidents of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race now happened so often making it “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“It is time to put a stop on racism in this country and we need to place such harmful attitudes that has emerged nationally back in its box and once again create a climate across Britain that rejects racism to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary stated.

Critical Decision for the Public

Starmer used his speech during a major political gathering in September to draw clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that voters confronted a “defining choice”.

The prime minister explained he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting although voters had “reasonable” concerns regarding unauthorized immigration, existed an ethical boundary that Farage and others had overstepped.

The PM vowed to confront anyone claiming that people who were not white were not truly British and that households who had lived in the UK for generations must be removed, stating people promoting such views constituted “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“Encouraging racist violence and hostility, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. Our political movement values national symbols, but if they are displayed alongside graffiti, targeting a business owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he told activists.