Keir Starmer Blasts Reform’s ‘Racist’ Immigration Plan: ‘They’re Our Neighbours

Keir Starmer has blasted Reform UK’s ‘racist’ proposal to scrap the main pathway to citizenship for people who came to Britain legally.

The Prime Minister warned that Nigel Farage’s plan to scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR) would ‘rip this country apart,’ declaring: ‘They are our neighbours.’ Speaking to the BBC at the start of Labour’s conference, Mr Starmer said the policy must be called out as he launched a fierce attack on Reform.

He stated, “Well, I do think that it is a racist policy. I do think it is immoral. It needs to be called out for what it is.”

Asked directly if Reform is courting racists, he answered: “No, I think there are plenty of people who either vote Reform or are thinking of voting Reform who are frustrated.

“They had 14 years of failure under the Conservatives; they want us to change things. They may have voted Labour a year ago, and they want the change to come more quickly. I actually do understand that.”

At an earlier point, he stated: “It is one thing to say we’re going to remove illegal migrants, people who have no right to be here. I’m up for that.

“It is a completely different thing to say we are going to reach in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them. They are our neighbours.

“They’re people who work in our economy. They are part of who we are. It will rip this country apart.”

Reform announced last week that, if elected, the party would scrap ILR—threatening the status of hundreds of thousands of people legally settled in the UK. Nigel Farage stated that he was targeting approximately 800,000 individuals who would become eligible in the next few years, having arrived between 2020 and 2024.

Legal migration surged under Boris Johnson’s Government, fuelled in part by an influx of non-EU citizens. But the numbers plummeted last year once more rigid migration rules were introduced.

Health unions have cautioned that the policy risks driving the NHS and care sector to breaking point. Data released earlier this year revealed that one in five NHS workers were recruited from abroad — with 311,000 of the service’s 1.5 million staff holding a non-British nationality.

According to Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s head of policy: “Labour’s message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or Labour will call you racist.

“Reform’s plan will ensure only British people can access welfare and that migrants contribute to society.”