Page 3 | To think Starmer is utterly reprehensible

Keirawr · 12/05/2025 21:47

If Starmer can get immigration down drastically and get the millions on out of work benefits to work rather than importing cheap labour while people to sit at home for free, he’s got the next election in the bag.

Unfortunately, they’re just words, he won’t actually deliver.

Gnomegarden32 · 12/05/2025 21:47

Yep, it's the same old pandering to the Daily Fail as under the Tories. It won't work because it doesn't address the real problems in society, so people will turn to Reform anyway.

Lillith111 · 12/05/2025 21:48

HeatonGrov · 12/05/2025 21:02

Visit Bradford.

As someone from Bradford and Leeds. Please do come visit we're a wonderful city of culture, kindness and all different peoples. We do badly need investment but immigrants didn't fuck the North they contributed to our growth and culture. Thatcher, and austerity fucked the North and its only by investment we're going to get better. If you think like @HeatonGrov please don't come visit.

footpath · 12/05/2025 21:49

we need money to be reinvested in this country rather than wealth flooding out to funds and wealthy individuals who don't give us as much back.

The money needs to come from
us though. People don't want to acknowledge that so blame immigrants

user1471453601 · 12/05/2025 21:49

As a Labour Party member, I'm disappointed to say the least with his rhetoric.

But, I have a take on immigration that is not often heard.

We, as a country rely on immigrants to run out health care. Do you think that people in their own countries need those people also? But we "take" them, because we can pay them more.

So our people are being helped at the expense of people in poorer countries not having the help they may need. That doesn't sit well with me.

I don't want to live in a country that leaches health care workers from others even less well off than us.

An answer is fairly simple. If we, as a society, really care for our old and infirm, pay the health care workers a decent wage that attracts people who already live here to that work and away from packing things for the likes of Amazon and such. Just a thought.

Katypp · 12/05/2025 21:49

So what's your solution then, OP?
Ignore what the electorate clearly want and hope they will see the light?

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 21:51

DonkeyDumpling · 12/05/2025 20:36

This country does indeed feel like an island of strangers these days but the strangers are not the immigrants :(

I take it you don’t live in an area with a lots of immigrants who don’t speak English and make no attempt to integrate?

Starmer’s a prick but not for the reasons you’ve stated.

It is clear that the OP does not live in an area with a lot of immigrants, who neither integrate nor speak English and the issues that brings.

She will be back in a sec I’m sure tho to say she does and how wonderfully diverse / enriching and vibrant it all is.

The scourge of the ‘Luxury belief’

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 21:51

UseNailOil · 12/05/2025 20:57

The capital-centric liberal elite are working out what most people think.

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About time

80smonster · 12/05/2025 21:53

Starmer is a wibble wobble jelly. Who knows which way he will wobble next.

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 21:53

TempestTost · 12/05/2025 21:28

I imagine he also has his eye on some of the Scadinavian countries where the left managed to turn their fortunes around after becoming more hard nosed about immigration.

yes he’s just being pragmatic

Lostmyusernametoday · 12/05/2025 21:54

Wowwee1234 · 12/05/2025 21:43

Except 'most' people don't think like racists. Fewer people actually voted for Reform than all the more liberal parties combined.

Whar most people know is that the issues in this country are due to under-funded public services because we wasted billions of tax payers money on bailing out banks and corrupt covid-contracts. Not a handful of immigrants.

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RETWEET

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 21:54

HeatonGrov · 12/05/2025 21:02

Visit Bradford.

Or Luton

Original poster

Thegreyhound · 12/05/2025 21:54

cardibach · 12/05/2025 21:41

I didn’t see the speech but I’ve read it. He doesn’t call immigrants strangers, you’ve taken that out of context. I don’t know where the ‘incalculable damage’ bit comes from because it’s not in the speech. I haven’t liked some of the rhetoric lately but I think this is (just for a change 🙄 ) being misrepresented.
I’m a Welsh speaker (learner, but my dad was first language and my daughter is totally bilingual) and it doesn’t alienate me on those grounds. It’s about the majority.

It’s not in the transcript on gov uk but IS reported in quote marks in all the papers so maybe he said it in follow up questions?

The ‘island of strangers’ soundbite is the worst part for me. Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ was misquoted forever but was true to the essence of what he was saying. Island of strangers will go the same way- and have the same impact. And Starmer is clever enough to know that, which is why it was reprehensible

OP posts:

BIossomtoes · 12/05/2025 21:55

MidnightMeltdown · 12/05/2025 21:46

It’s not racist to have concerns over immigration. It’s been the number one public concern for over a decade now. Any party who thinks that they can arrogantly ignore the concerns of the public will soon find themselves unelectable. The fact that so many people are willing to vote reform says it all. Labours traditional voters, the working class, are the ones that have been most impacted by immigration.

It wasn’t the number one concern this time last year; it was third after the NHS and cost of living.

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 21:55

Screamingabdabz · 12/05/2025 21:34

I wonder if the people who immediately shout ‘racist’ any time anyone mentions immigration actually live in areas where there are large numbers of low skilled non-English speaking newly arrived people?

They do not

Lostmyusernametoday · 12/05/2025 21:57

IMO the best thing the Labour Party could do is sink any money they can find into a fully formed nationwide integration strategy. We didn’t do it 75 years ago and it was such a big mistake. We’re all human, we all (or mostly) want a good life for our families, good access to public services, quality time, food….and if we could just figure out how bloomin similar we are it wouldn’t be possible to divide us with shitty speeches!

floppybit · 12/05/2025 21:59

People of all ethnic backgrounds agree with him. Many migrants agree with him. I bet you will tell me this isn’t true, but I’m pretty confident you don’t have recently arrived immigrants for neighbours and this doesn’t affect you, so you can sit in your ivory tower and call everyone else racist.

Keirawr · 12/05/2025 21:59

Thegreyhound · 12/05/2025 21:54

It’s not in the transcript on gov uk but IS reported in quote marks in all the papers so maybe he said it in follow up questions?

The ‘island of strangers’ soundbite is the worst part for me. Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ was misquoted forever but was true to the essence of what he was saying. Island of strangers will go the same way- and have the same impact. And Starmer is clever enough to know that, which is why it was reprehensible

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What exactly has he said that’s wrong? You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to work out that if you bring in people who don’t speak the language or congregate in segregated inner city ghettos, or don’t adopt some of the values, then you get an island of stranger groups where people don’t have much in common.

I suspect that fact is very inconvenient to acknowledge as it doesn’t quite fit with the ‘#be kind’ persona.

BrokenDollFoot · 12/05/2025 21:59

TempestTost · 12/05/2025 21:25

Generally - I don't think he's vile. I don't think he is an amazing leader, or an idea man, or a visionary. And I think all governments now are in a very difficult position.

As far as immigration - no, I don't think he is throwing immigrants "under the bus". His fundamental duty of care is to citizens and permanent residents of the UK, and the economy and social fabric of the nation. People in other nations have governments with a similar duty of care to do what's best for the people there.

Immigration can have positive elements and there have always been some people who immigrate. But we don't live in a time where people drop a bunch of people off the boat and they need to make it or sink with no state support. You cannot have a social welfare state with unlimited immigration. It's not a viable model.

For the last 30 years or more all we have heard from big business and liberal political types is that immigration is a positive economically socially and economically. That is because easy movement of labour favours big business, the wealthy, and the professional middle classes. Working class people who objected to this and pointed out it certainly wasn't good for them were dismissed as bigots - a massive betrayal of them by the Labour Party.

And yet now we know they were right all along - even central banks and the WEF have acknowledged that immigration is not all equal, that it can cost the economy more than those workers generate, that it affects wages for the working classes, that it affects the housing and rental market and also contributes to housing problems - not to mention the draws on health care and education.

So no - I don't think the leader of the Labour Party, actually having some balls to stand up for left wing labour principles, is vile. Though it took him long enough to get there, that's for sure.

Agree entirely. When Labour swept into power ( and let's be honest they got in, because we wanted the Tories out), we were promised change. Well they've started to deliver on their promises, but it's not what we expected. Making poorer people even poorer isn't what many of us envisaged. Not all change is good seemingly.

Original poster

Thegreyhound · 12/05/2025 22:00

Katypp · 12/05/2025 21:49

So what's your solution then, OP?
Ignore what the electorate clearly want and hope they will see the light?

Well the electorate used to frequently say in polls that they wanted the death penalty so I would disagree that the electorate is always right.

I also don’t disagree with parts of Starmer’s speech regarding employers using immigration to push wages down or the need for training and apprenticeships. Perfectly reasonable.

My point is that these were policy ideas that could easily have been enacted positively and without without the fanfare announcement that employed divisive language and rhetoric.

OP posts:

Keirawr · 12/05/2025 22:01

floppybit · 12/05/2025 21:59

People of all ethnic backgrounds agree with him. Many migrants agree with him. I bet you will tell me this isn’t true, but I’m pretty confident you don’t have recently arrived immigrants for neighbours and this doesn’t affect you, so you can sit in your ivory tower and call everyone else racist.

You’re not allowed to say that. Because if Brown people dare agree with this, the lefties will put them in their place in no time. After all Brown people need to not rise above their station and think freely - they must only follow a prescribed view of the world, decided for them by the left.

AlteredStater · 12/05/2025 22:01

footpath · 12/05/2025 21:37

The care worker rules will likely backfire but some in the population may need to learn this lesson.

Yes I totally agree - our parents and ourselves one day, there won't be enough care workers - there aren't now. How Starmer thinks cutting care worker immigrants is a good idea, I just don't understand.

vipersputpaidtomylastusername · 12/05/2025 22:02

Jollyjoy · 12/05/2025 21:38

Totally agree. He’s the most insipid ‘bend the way the wind is blowing’ type prime minister I can think of. Utterly untrustworthy and un genuine. Who knows what he actually thinks about any of these issues.

I agree that he needs to address these issues because people have strong feelings; to get the national conversation going. But he just says what he thinks he has to. They all do it but with him he’s just a vacuous mouthpiece.

Yep. He has always been insipid. This is nothing new, yet still here was voted in! He has zero charisma, zero presence and zero leadership qualities - all fairly elementary in his role really 💁

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 22:02

BIossomtoes · 12/05/2025 21:55

It wasn’t the number one concern this time last year; it was third after the NHS and cost of living.

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One of the Top Three then , that’s good enough

Lardychops · 12/05/2025 22:03

Keirawr · 12/05/2025 22:01

You’re not allowed to say that. Because if Brown people dare agree with this, the lefties will put them in their place in no time. After all Brown people need to not rise above their station and think freely - they must only follow a prescribed view of the world, decided for them by the left.

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Yes because those that buck the left, are ‘the wrong kind of brown people’ you see