Keir Starmer 'deeply' regrets using 'island of strangers' phrase in immigration warning
Sir Keir Starmer “deeply" regrets a speech where he warned Britain risks becoming an “island of strangers” if net migration doesn't fall.
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The Prime Minister said it “wasn’t right” to use that “particular phrase” in last month's speech, which drew comparisons to former Conservative MP Enoch Powell's infamous Rivers of Blood speech.
“I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as an echo of Powell. I had no idea – and my speech-writers didn’t know either.
“But that particular phrase – no, it wasn’t right. I’ll give you the honest truth – I deeply regret using it,” Sir Keir told The Observer.
He said he was not in the "best state" to deliver the press conference on migration as it came after arson attacks on properties he owned left him and his wife Victoria "shaken up".
"It's fair to say I wasn't in the best state to make a big speech… I was really, really worried. I almost said: 'I won't do the bloody press conference.'
"Vic was really shaken up as, in truth, was I. It was just a case of reading the words out and getting through it somehow… so I could get back to them," he said.
This comes after Downing Street previously refused to roll back on the comments, with his official spokesperson saying “we completely reject that comparison [to Enoch Powell's speech]".
Read more: Starmer gives in to Labour rebels on welfare reforms in benefits climbdown
Critics said it was akin to Powell's 1968 warning about immigration, which is commonly regarded as one of the most racist political speeches in British history.
In it, Powell warned immigration made the British public feel as if they had “found themselves made strangers in their own country”.
Shortly after the speech, the Prime Minister's spokesman said that Sir Keir "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 explain the difference between Powell's and Sir Keir's sentiments, the spokesperson said: "The prime minister has made the argument that migrants make a massive contribution to the UK, and have done for generations."
Sir Keir said in his criticised speech that without controls on immigration, “we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together” as he slammed the Tories for running a "experiment" on open borders.
"The chaos of the previous government also changed the nature of immigration in this country," he said.
"Fewer people who make a strong economic contribution, more who work in parts of our economy that put downward pressure on wages."
He said that nations must be built on "fair rules" that "give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other."
Sir Keir has insisted the message he was “trying to get across” was about bringing people together, rather than one of division.
The speech was criticised by a flurry of MPs, including veteran Labour MP Dianne Abbott who branded it “fundamentally racist”.
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.“
Zarah Sultana, the suspended Labour MP, described the speech as “sickening”.
Lord Mayor Sadiq Khan also distanced himself from the comments, telling LBC's James O'Brien he “wouldn’t have used” the same language as the PM.
The row-back marks yet another climbdown from Number 10 amid backlash from MPs.
This week, the Prime Minister made a slew of concessions to the government's welfare bill overnight after attempts to phone around rebel MPs failed, with the PM facing the very real prospect of a rebellion.
It follows attempts by Labour to pass the bill in a bid to help shave around £5bn off the welfare budget by 2030.