Backbench Labour MP Diane Abbott has criticised Sir Keir Starmer’s comments on immigration as “fundamentally racist” at a protest rally, suggesting the Government was copying the rhetoric of Reform UK.
Thousands of trade unionists, campaigners and activists gathered to “send a message” to the Government at a demonstration over spending cuts and welfare reform in central London on Saturday.
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Ms Abbott were among those who gave speeches at the rally outside Downing Street following a march.
Organisers The People’s Assembly accused the Government of making spending cuts that target the poorest in society.
The Prime Minister said the UK risked becoming “an island of strangers” when he unveiled plans for tighter controls on immigration in a major speech last month, leading to a mixed reaction from different parties.
Addressing the protest crowd in Whitehall, Ms Abbott – who was previously suspended by Labour in 2023 before being allowed to run in last year’s general election – said there was an international struggle to “fight the rich and the powerful (and) to fight the racists”, including in her own party.
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said: “I was very disturbed to hear Keir Starmer on the subject of immigration.
“He talked about closing the book on a squalid chapter for our politics – immigrants represent a squalid chapter.
“He talked about how he thought immigration has done incalculable damage to this green and pleasant land, which, of course, is nonsense – immigrants built this land.
“And, finally, he said we risk becoming an island of strangers.
“I thought that was a fundamentally racist thing to say. It is contrary to Britain’s history.
“My parents came to this country in the 50s. They were not strangers. They helped to build this country.
“I think Keir Starmer is quite wrong to say that the way that you beat Reform is to copy Reform.”
Reform’s leader Nigel Farage previously said his party “very much enjoyed” Sir Keir’s speech, as it showed he was “learning a great deal” from them.
Representatives from the National Education Union, Revolutionary Communist Party, Green Party and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union could be seen at the demonstration’s start point in Portland Place.
The large crowd then set off towards Whitehall shortly before 1pm.
Many of the protesters were holding placards that read “Tax the rich, stop the cuts – welfare not warfare”.
Other signs being held aloft said “Nurses not nukes” and “Cut war, not welfare”.
Mr Corbyn, who also criticised Sir Keir’s “island of strangers” comments, told protesters at the rally: “As the wars rage around the world – the killing fields in Ukraine and Russia, the abominable, deliberate starvation of children in Gaza and the genocide that’s inflicted against the Palestinian people continues – surely to goodness we need a world of peace.
“We need a world of peace that will come through the vision of peace, the vision of disarmament and the vision of actually challenging the causes of war, which leads to the desperation and the refugee flows of today.”
The Independent MP for Islington North urged protesters to “go forward as a movement of hope, of what we can achieve together (and) the society we can build together”.
The People’s Assembly said trade unionists, health, disability, housing and welfare campaigners with community organisations came together for the protest under the slogan “No to Austerity2.0”.
A spokesperson said: “The adherence to ‘fiscal rules’ traps us in a public service funding crisis, increasing poverty, worsening mental health and freezing public sector pay.
“Scrapping winter fuel payments, keeping the Tory two-child benefit cap, abandoning Waspi women, cutting £5 billion of welfare by limiting Pip and universal credit eligibility, and slashing UK foreign aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP, while increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, are presented as ‘tough choices’.
“Real tough choices would be for a Labour government to tax the rich and their hidden wealth, to fund public services, fair pay, investment in communities and the NHS.”
