Sir Keir Starmer clashed angrily with a senior MP who sought to call out his “island of strangers” immigration claim.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts highlighted the change in Sir Keir’s language compared to past years.
"This Prime Minister once spoke of compassion and dignity for migrants, and for defending free movement,” she told the Commons.
"Now he talks of 'islands of strangers' and 'taking back control'. Somebody here has to call this out.
"It seems the only principle he consistently defends is whichever he last heard in a focus group. So I ask him, is there any belief he holds which survives a week in Downing Street?"
Sir Keir responded by taking a swipe at Ms Saville Roberts, saying: "Yes, the belief that she talks rubbish."
He added: "I want to lead a country where we pull together and walk into the future as neighbours and as communities, not as strangers, and the loss of control of migration by the last government put all of that at risk, and that's why we're fixing the system based on principles of control, selection and fairness."
Later, Nigel Farage argued that the Government was learning from his Reform UK party.
Ahead of the weekly clash on Wednesday, the PM’s right-hand man, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden, had sought to shift the debate away from Sir Keir’s deeply controversial remark onto the Government’s immigration plans.
“I think we should focus on the policy,” he told Sky News.
“Immigration has contributed a huge amount to the UK, it will in the future, I think the public want a sense of rules around it, that is what the Prime Minister was speaking about.”
He sought to argue that the row was “overblown,” saying he might use the “island of strangers” phrase “depending on the context”.
However, the focus at Westminster remained on Sir Keir’s language after No10 was forced to state that he “completely rejects” suggestions he echoed Enoch Powell in his speech on immigration, and stands by his words.
Sir Keir was seen by some MPs as resorting to the stark rhetoric, which contrast dramatically to his previous language on immigration, to take on Mr Farage’s Reform UK after its May 1 election success.
The Prime Minister has faced a growing backlash for the language he used in the speech setting out plans to crack down on legal migration into the UK on Monday.
Critics, including London and other MPs, have slammed the language, with some comparing it to a similar passage from Powell’s infamous 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech when he said that immigration would mean “people find themselves made strangers in their own country”.
Asked if Sir Keir was worried about his language and the claims of echoing Powell, his official spokesman said: “Absolutely, the Prime Minister rejects those comparisons and absolutely stands behind the argument he was making that migrants make a massive contribution to our country, but migration needs to be controlled.”
Asked to confirm the Prime Minister stood by his comments, the spokesman replied: “Yes.”
But London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan stressed he would not have used the phrase “island of strangers”.
He also defended immigrants as “not spongers or skivers”
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who lost the Labour whip last year, was chief among those who accused Sir Keir of “reflecting the language” of Powell’s infamous 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech when he said that immigration would mean “people find themselves made strangers in their own country”..
