Starmer's right-wing pandering on immigration is a new low. He must go

Starmer turning to racism to prop up his failing leadership is a new low. He must go.

When Keir Starmer first announced the Labour Party would have a 'zero tolerance of antisemitism, of racism, of discrimination of any kind', I wonder if he had any idea how his time as Prime Minister might unfold.

Whether he even thought it possible that he might one day make his "island of strangers" speech, or be forced to apologise for having channelled Enoch Powell?

That he would turn to demonising some of the most vulnerable people in our society to prop up his failing leadership, after consistently tanking in the polls?

On Sunday we woke up to the news that the government would be stripping away rights from people seeking asylum, including making access to housing and social support ‘discretionary’, and all but ending routes to permanent settlement.

I hope that forcing marginalised people into destitution will prove to be a red line for our MPs, like the welfare cuts, a policy that simply cannot and must not progress. But I know that political memories are short, and many in the party genuinely do not realise how bad things have become.

Last week, a council colleague told me that "you can’t just end all immigration detention, nor would you want to", citing the poor optics of such a move. This showed me just how far the Overton window has shifted in recent years: in 2018, the Tory government's position was to consider ending indefinite immigration detention.

At the time, then Home Secretary Sajid Javid had even introduced pilots to let people remain in communities rather than lock them up. Flash forward to 2025, and we have a Labour government looking to massively expand the detention estate in a misguided attempt to outgun Reform for cruelty.

Last year we campaigned against the government of the hostile environment, opposed its anti-refugee laws, and talked with moral clarity about the violence of Rwanda and Windrush. Eighteen months on and Keir Starmer's government is seeking to make it impossible for someone to successfully register as a refugee and sending Ministers out to deny our policies are racist.

We know these policies will make life far harder for people seeking asylum. We know they will create hurdles that are impossible to overcome. We know this because, in opposition, we condemned the government for even suggesting some of the policies we are now legislating.

Under our government, hostile and racist policymaking has become the norm.

I often think back to that zero tolerance speech, when Keir Starmer said that this was a party "that has always prided itself on its anti-racism". He said that the party would "never again lose sight of its purpose or its morals".

It sits uncomfortably with me as a party member that the same leader has now turned on refugees and people seeking asylum, or will look to diminish the rights of our migrant siblings. It sits uncomfortably because it suggests his earlier commitment is untrue.

You cannot pride yourself on your anti-racism and then do this.

I would hope our MPs are as uncomfortable with this as I am. I hope they will oppose this, if for no better reason than that this could become the defining legacy of our government: turning to racism and xenophobia in a misguided attempt to save a failing leadership will be your legacy.

This will outweigh renationalising the railways, advancing devolution, or even fixing our NHS. If we allow this awful, demonising politics to come to fruition, it will come to sum up this Labour government: a huge majority and a historic opportunity to transform this country abandoned to racism and racial hatred. In seeking to counter the far right, we will have done their work for them.

There's a Sivanandan quote I think about often. "What Enoch Powell says today, the Conservative Party says tomorrow, and the Labour Party legislates on the day after.” It's a damning indictment of the Labour Party in years gone by. It is equally damning that when most of us read it, we automatically substitute Powell for Farage and see that it still applies.

Yes, we have collapsed in the polls. But that is not because we were insufficiently racist. It is that this government has not delivered the change it promised to. It is because people don't feel any better off, because they have not been made any better off.

That is something we can fix with a bold budget, one that is laser-focused on tackling poverty and inequality. It can be repaired by making the wealthiest pay their fair share to lift the burden from working-class people. Not by advancing the politics of hate.

It would be the ultimate betrayal for our MPs to allow this racist policy push to pass, simply because the Prime Minister and the people around him have run out of ideas about how to improve this country. They must now put country before party - sack Starmer, and replace him with a progressive Prime Minister - before the promise of a transformative government becomes too far out of reach.

Enough is enough. Keir Starmer must go.

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Minesh Parekh is a Labour & Co-operative Councillor serving on Sheffield City Council.

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