Former immigration minister and Tory frontbencher Robert Jenrick has issued a defence of Sir Keir Starmer’s claim that the UK risks becoming “island of strangers” as a result of migration.
Sir Keir faced backlash for the remark, which he made while laying out some of the toughest rules in recent history to crack down on immigration.
The PM also said that the number of people entering the country is causing “incalculable damage” – comments that have provoked a furious backlash, with his own MPs joining trade unions and charities in comparing the language with that of the far right and Enoch Powell.
But asked what he made of the prime minister’s characterisation, the shadow justice secretary – who has typically been at loggerheads with the Labour leader on migration – said: “I think it’s true. In fact, I think in some places we already are. Aggressive levels of mass migration have made us more divided.”
He suggested that the UK was not a “united country”, adding: “If you look at communities in our country, for example central Bradford, 50 per cent of people were born outside of the United Kingdom; in central Luton, 46 per cent of residents arrived in the past decade.
“There are places like Dagenham where the white British population has fallen by almost 60 per cent in the last 25 years.”
Speaking to Sky News, he added: “People in many parts of our country are experiencing profound change as a result of the levels of migration that we’ve seen, and we’ve got to bring that back to the historic levels that we enjoyed as a country which enabled us to be a well-integrated and united country, rather than the one that we’re seeing today.”
Mr Jenrick oversaw a significant rise in net migration – the difference between the number of people moving into the country minus those leaving – during his time in office.
He held the role between October 2022 and December 2023, which was the same year net migration hit a record high peak of 906,000.
Meanwhile, home secretary Yvette Cooper defended the PM’s language and said it was not right to “make those comparisons” with Mr Powell’s rivers of blood speech.
But, asked repeatedly whether she would use the “island of strangers” comment herself, Ms Cooper refused four times to endorse the remarks. She also said she was not aware of the PM’s plans to use the controversial phrase.
She told BBC Breakfast: “Part of the point that he is making is that we have to recognise people have come to the UK through generations to do really important jobs in our NHS, founding our biggest businesses, doing some of the most difficult jobs.
“But it’s because that’s important, the system has to be controlled and managed, and it just hasn’t been.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today’s programme, she said it was not right to make comparisons with Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech.
The 1968 speech whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK after it imagined a future where the white population in Britain “found themselves made strangers in their own country”.
“I don’t think it’s right to make those comparisons. It’s completely different”, Ms Cooper said.
“The prime minister said yesterday, I think almost in the same breath… talked about the diverse country that we are, and that being part of our strength.”
Asked if Sir Keir’s speech-writers had been aware of the similarity in language, the home secretary replied: “I don’t know.”
She also insisted that critics should focus of the substance of the migration plans, saying: “I think we do actually have to be able to have a serious conversation about the policies.
“You’re right. Everybody always gets caught up in focusing on different phrases, but we do have to be talking about the policies.”
The home secretary had earlier refused to put a number on the amount she wanted to see net migration reduced by because, she said, targets used by the Tories in government had been “meaningless”.
In a dramatic early morning press conference on Monday aimed at seizing the political agenda after a series of disastrous local election results, Sir Keir insisted his new immigration plans were being unveiled “because they are the right thing to do”.
Among the measures announced were a ban on the recruitment of care workers from overseas, increased English language requirements for immigrants and the tightening of access to skilled worker visas.
But while Sir Keir denied his government’s white paper was a “reaction to a political party” following the success of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK at the local elections, critics condemned his attempts to “pander” to Mr Farage.
Sir Keir’s language marked an extraordinary turnaround in the last five years from when he was Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow immigration minister promoting open borders and from three years ago when he claimed that those raising immigration as an issue were “racist”.
One senior Labour backbencher compared his language to Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968 which whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK.
Norwich South MP Clive Lewis told The Independent: “This kind of language doesn’t just alienate communities, it drives people away from our country altogether. And if those at the top think this is a clever tactic to win another five years by rolling out the red carpet for Nigel Farage, they’re mistaken. We are losing far more progressive voters than we are gaining from Reform UK.”
Meanwhile, MP Nadia Whittome said the rhetoric was “shameful and dangerous”, and accused the PM of “mimicking the scaremongering of the far right."
Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake suggested the phrase could “risk legitimising the same far-right violence we saw in last year’s summer riots”.
But asked to respond to accusations he had adopted Powell’s rhetoric, Sir Keir told the Guardian: “Migrants make a massive contribution to the UK, and I would never denigrate that.”
“Britain is an inclusive and tolerant country, but the public expect that people who come here should be expected to learn the language and integrate”, he added.
Macron beats Trump to UK state visit as King prepares to welcome French president
Will Zelensky empty-chair Putin in front of Trump after calling Russia’s bluff?
Accurate information ‘under greater threat than ever’ from misinformation
Unemployment rate rises to near four-year high as wage growth falters
UK government in High Court challenge over selling fighter jet parts to Israel
Groans as Lee Anderson suggests Corbyn should be deported with Channel migrants
