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Decades-old racial prejudice has come back to UK the political arena, which leaves citizens very scared, Keir Starmer warned, alerting how divisive hard-right political tactics are “tearing our country apart”.

Addressing Discriminatory Rhetoric and Harmful Politics

In conversation to GP and TV personality Amir Khan, the prime minister accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK for enabling the revival of discriminatory and divisive political discourse “that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago”.

During the discussion, broadcast on ITV’s Lorraine show this week, the PM provided a clear indication suggesting the two-child benefit cap would be lifted during the upcoming fiscal announcement later this month.

Commitment to Reduce Poverty Among Children

Asked whether he planned to eliminate the limit, which charities have said is a major cause of child poverty in the UK, Starmer said: “I want to state unequivocally I am determined 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 and emphasized: “Further action is necessary, and I can look you in the eye that I will personally focus on reducing childhood poverty.”

When pressed about if his comments meant he would lift the two-child cap, he said “It would be misleading to claim we plan to reduce child poverty if I wasn’t clear that we will be taking various actions to achieve this”.

Clear Signals from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, provided an equally strong hint on Monday stating to BBC Radio 5 Live that “in the end, a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money”.

Ministers are getting ready to scrap the restriction fully, after initially considering phasing it out for bigger households or richer ones. The Resolution Foundation projects this would cost about £3.5bn in the coming years.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

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

“Parts of the discourse being used – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought we had dealt with long ago is coming back into politics and it makes people feel deeply afraid,” he said.

“We have to stand up such discrimination, that division, and we have to proudly say that to be British means showing empathy, is about being fair, is to be tolerant and kindness, and this is our pride.”

Reflecting Warnings from Wes Streeting

Starmer echoed language expressed by the Health Secretary, who cautioned earlier this month how a disturbing form of discrimination similar to the 1970s and 1980s was now alarmingly frequent again and that healthcare workers were bearing the brunt of it.

Streeting noted occurrences of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race now happened so often making it “acceptable to express racism”.

“We’ve got to call time to discrimination across the UK and we need to place such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country where it belongs and once again create a climate in this country where racism is unacceptable to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary stated.

Critical Decision for Voters

The Prime Minister used his speech at the Labour party conference in September to draw clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that the public confronted a “defining choice”.

The prime minister said he was involved in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting that while voters expressed valid worries about illegal migration, existed an ethical boundary that Farage and others had crossed.

The PM vowed to “fight” anyone claiming that people who were not white did not belong and that families residing in the UK for generations should be deported, stating those advocating these ideas were “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“If you incite racist violence and hatred, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – values national symbols, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he told supporters.