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Long-standing racial prejudice is returning to UK politics, which makes people feel very scared, Keir Starmer emphasized, alerting how divisive far-right political tactics was “splitting the UK”.

Confronting Discriminatory Language and Divisive Strategies

In conversation to doctor and media figure Amir Khan, the prime minister accused the Reform UK party of overseeing a return to discriminatory and divisive political discourse that seemed a thing of the past decades ago”.

During the discussion, which aired on ITV’s Lorraine show on Tuesday, the PM provided a clear indication suggesting the limit on child benefits could be removed during the upcoming fiscal announcement later this month.

Promise to Combat Poverty Among Children

When questioned if he would scrap this restriction, which charities have said is a major cause of poverty for children across Britain, the Prime Minister responded: “I want to state unequivocally I am committed to drive child poverty down.”

He outlined steps ministers have already introduced such as no-cost school lunches, morning meal programs, and child care support and emphasized: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I can look you in the eye and tell you I am dedicated to cutting child poverty.”

Pressed about if his comments indicated he intended to remove the two-child limit, Starmer said “It would be misleading to claim we are going to drive down poverty among children if I wasn’t clear that we will implement several steps to achieve this”.

Strong Signals from the Chancellor

The Chancellor, provided a similarly clear signal on Monday when she told BBC Radio 5 Live how finally, no child should suffer if their parents are struggling financially”.

Ministers are getting ready to lift the limit entirely, having originally looked at gradual removal either for very large families or richer ones. The Resolution Foundation has estimated this would cost about £3.5bn by the end of the decade.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

In the interview, Starmer explained the ideological split in the UK now was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and others on the right that are “splitting the UK”.

“Certain language we’re hearing – discriminatory talk, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed decades ago is returning to politics and it makes people feel deeply afraid,” he stated.

“We must confront to that racism, that divisiveness, and affirm with pride that to be British involves caring for others, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and kindness, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Warnings from the Health Secretary

Starmer echoed sentiments used by Wes Streeting, who cautioned earlier this month how an “ugly” racism reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s was now worryingly commonplace again with healthcare workers were bearing the brunt of this trend.

Streeting noted incidents of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race had become so frequent making it “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We’ve got to call time on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that’s found expression in our country where it belongs and once again create a climate in this country where racism is unacceptable to be racist,” Streeting said.

Defining Choice for Voters

The Prime Minister spoke at the Labour party conference in September to draw clear divisions with his political opponents, saying that voters confronted a crucial decision.

He explained he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, and argued although the public expressed valid worries regarding unauthorized immigration, existed “a moral line” which some politicians had crossed.

The PM vowed to confront anyone who argued that people who were not white did not belong and that households who had lived in the UK for generations should be deported, saying people promoting such views were “against national unity”.

“If you incite racist violence and hatred, that goes beyond concern: it’s criminal. Our political movement values national symbols, but if they are displayed with hateful messages, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that is pure discrimination,” he told activists.