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Decades-old racism is resurfacing within UK the political arena, and it creates deeply uneasy, the Prime Minister warned, cautioning that divisive hard-right political tactics are “tearing our country apart”.

Addressing Racist Language and Divisive Politics

Speaking with GP and TV personality a well-known TV doctor, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party for enabling the revival of racist and divisive politics “that frankly I thought we had dealt with decades ago”.

In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program on Tuesday, Starmer also gave his strongest signal suggesting the limit on child benefits might be scrapped in the budget later this month.

Commitment to Reduce Child Poverty

When questioned whether he would scrap this restriction, which charities have said is a major cause of child poverty across Britain, Starmer responded: “Let me be perfectly clear I am committed to drive child poverty down.”

He listed steps the government has already launched including free school meals, morning meal programs, and childcare and emphasized: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I pledge that I am personally committed to cutting child poverty.”

When pressed on whether his comments meant he intended to remove the two-child limit, Starmer said “I would not say we are going to drive down poverty among children unless I was certain that we will implement various actions to achieve this”.

Strong Signals from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, gave an equally strong hint on Monday when she told BBC Radio 5 Live that finally, no child should suffer if their parents are struggling financially”.

Ministers are understood to be preparing to remove the cap completely, having originally looked at phasing it out for bigger households or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation has estimated the expense would be roughly £3.5 billion by 2029-30.

Ideological Split and National Renewal

During the discussion, Starmer explained the ideological split in the UK now was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus “the toxic division of Reform” and others on the right who were “tearing our country apart”.

“Certain language being used – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed decades ago is coming back into politics leaving people deeply afraid,” he said.

“It is essential to oppose to that racism, that divisiveness, and affirm with pride that to be British involves caring for others, requires rationality, is to be tolerant and compassionate, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Concerns from Wes Streeting

Starmer mirrored sentiments used by Wes Streeting, who cautioned earlier this month that an “ugly” racism reminiscent of past decades was now worryingly commonplace again with healthcare workers were facing the worst of it.

Streeting noted incidents of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “tolerated to hold racist views”.

“We must end on racism across the UK and we need to place such harmful attitudes that’s found expression in our country back in its box and reestablish a climate in this country where racism is unacceptable to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for Voters

Starmer used his speech at the Labour party conference this autumn to outline political battle lines with his political opponents, saying that the public confronted a “defining choice”.

He said he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, and argued although the public had “reasonable” concerns regarding unauthorized immigration, there was an ethical boundary that Farage and others had overstepped.

The PM vowed to challenge anyone claiming that non-white individuals could not be English or British and that households who had lived in Britain for years must be removed, saying those advocating these ideas were “an enemy of national renewal”.

“If you incite racial attacks and hostility, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. Our political movement values national symbols, but if they are displayed with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he told supporters.