To think Starmer calling Refom and its supporters ‘racist’ is politically suicidal?

[SpottyAardvark]

Starmer has called Reform’s policy of ending indefinite right to remain for non-EU immigrants ‘immoral’ & ‘racist’. Reform supporters, and people who are considering voting for Reform because of their concerns about immigration, will inevitably think the Prime Minister is calling them immoral racists, too. And that will infuriate millions of voters.

I understand that it’s Labour’s conference this week and because he is under a lot of political pressure from his own side, Starmer believes he has to throw some red meat to his party. That’s politics. But Starmer has obviously forgotten what happened to Hillary Clinton when she described Trump voters as ‘deplorable’. That didn’t work out well for her, did it?

YABU = Starmer is right. Reform and its supporters are racists and he should call it out.

YANBU = Starmer has just committed political suicide by falling into Farage’s trap and he has alienated working class voters.

Someone needs to.

Well - I believe that Reform is a racist party, and Reform supporters may well be racist or intolerant individuals, so Keir Starmer is speaking the truth, imo.

But Reform is rampantly racist.

Not really because a lot of them are. They just like to pretend they're not but like to spew hatred whilst hiding behind their flags with an abject lack of humanity and empathy.

Honestly its refreshing someone is actually talking straight about them instead of pretending they aren't.

He is just stating the obvious.

Farage and Reform have had an easy ride so far because of client journalists failing to grill them on their flimsy policies, the dodgy backgrounds of some of their candidates and Farage's Clacton home purchase not to mention the fact that foreign powers seem to be financing/propping up the party.

This all needs some serious scrutiny and plain speaking.

Every time Sarmer opens his mouth he loses votes.

He’s right. And I’m glad he’s taking a moral stand; placating them would be worse. Most people in the country are better than this.

Starmer's party is drowning in scandals and corruption. He's also crapping himself over Reform's popularity and lashing out. I'm no fan of Reform, but Starmer's toast.

Also, 'racist' as a word has lost it's power. People aren't afraid of being called racist anymore. It just seems to mean English people who have had enough.

As a public sector worker, I fear reform winning and assume it will ruin my life (I'll very likely lose my job in my fifties). I agree Keir Starmer is making their victory a certainty.

I actually like him more as a result. I like politicians who show a bit of backbone.

Seriously- can any Reform supporters make a convincing case that they aren't racist? What else arevyou voting for?

Agree. Wolf has been cried too many times for people to even care about the accusation now.

It's about time he said something I agree with.

Why? A lot of them are, you just need to read the Facebook posts to see it, it's all over and rampant! He's just speaking the truth.

Good to see someone say it. Loathsome party, with an unflushable turd of a leader.

He’s 100% correct. We’ve been away for a weekend and the number of flags we saw hanging from bridges on the motorway is embarrassing. I have concerns over the scale of immigration as do most people I know but I would never vote reform.

No he didn’t, he said the policies were racist, listen to the interview rather than take soundbites.

Less immigration. Easing up the housing crisis. Less air pollution. Better food security. A lower flood risk. Less greenfield land lost to concrete jungle housing estates. Better community cohesion. Less pressure on infrastructure, schools and hospitals. Fewer men arriving unvetted from deeply misogynistic countries which are terror risks to the UK.

I don’t understand why so many Reform supporters get their knickers in a twist when someone calls them racist. Reform is a racist party with racist policies, and anyone who votes for them is also a racist. Just own it.

I think he's right, but I also agree with you it will just entrench the Reform supporters further.

Fwiw I think all the opposition parties are making a mistake to be talking about Reform so much. They all need to say what they're doing/going to oldo for "us", not knock the competition all the time, which just draws attention to them being a credible threat.

Reform are a racist party though. So anyone who supports them is a racist.

Up until now he was just trying to gain support by coming across like a watered-down Reform party leader and that was a big mistake as that is not going to win back votes lost to reform and is only going to succeed in alienating most of the people that voted for Labour last time and driving a lot of voters to alternative left-wing parties. I’ve had lots of conversations with people who felt they could never vote for Labour again with him as leader after some of the anti-immigration retórica he has been spouting in recent months

I couldn’t agree more.

If their policies are racist. Then they are a racist party.