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.

You might be right about political suicide, doesn't mean Stamer isn't right though.

yeah champagne socialists sipping on their soy latte while eating avocado on sour dough.

how dare they talk to us about stereotypical racists!

Starmer would be very silly to call reform voters racist (as many are ex Labour voters he needs to win back) it sounds like he didn't and he only called a particular policy racist. The risk with that though is Labour are currently adopting stronger anti immigration policies than ever before- largely because of Reform - and he needs to avoid a situation where his messaging appears to label any of his own policies racist.

Explain why so people will understand.

It's easy to give away other people's communities

Which is exactly what Farage is doing.

This is MY community. And it contains not just immigrants, but bloody marvellous ones.

I'm disabled and have spent this very afternoon having a maintenance job done by some very lovely (immigrant) neighbours, who fall over themselves to help me.

When I sometimes get them cake or something to say thank you, they say, "No need! We're neighbours!"

Nice change from the "indigenous" local tradies who mostly don't turn up, and on occasion actually rob me.

What you plan to do? Oh I know , remove all benefits from anyone who won’t take the jobs you wikk
give them and then moan when there are thousands in the streets and crime shoots up as you get mugged because mugging is an easier way to make a living than working with old people when you are not cut out for that work

So true! And if you have actually had much experience of carers who are only doing the job for a visa then you will realise just how awful they are!

It is and he’s struggling already, going by ratings.

Making it even harder to stay as a permanent resident is only going to make immigrants who have sunk the time and money to achieve it more reluctant to leave.

PreBrexit, net immigration was a fraction of what you see today. This was not because of “pull factors” but because freedom of movement made it easy to come and go within the EU. This made it more likely that any need for additional workers would be filled by an EU immigrant who could just pick up and leave, then come back or not without any loss of rights to residency or social security benefits.

I agree. I have more respect for him now.

You gave us two options neither of which represents what Keir said.

"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."

I was looking for the option that said -
Starmer said Reform's policies are racist but he didn't say its supporters are racists.

Which country? Most don’t have an ID

The words he used will probably get more attention if the paper is sued for defamation.

Not every reform voter is a racist but every racist votes reform. Happy to help.

"We want Politicians to be honest and stop mincing their words/talking around issues"
"NO not like that"

SYL is a Racist. Farage and Reforms recent rhetoric around migrants (and swans) is racist. Farage's recent pledge to remove the rights ofmigrants already here is not just extreme, it's extreme by the standards of Farage 6 months ago.

That doesn't mean everyone who voted for /would vote for Reform is a racist. It doesn't mean everyone worried about immigration levels is a racist. That's not what Keir Starmer said.

But Farage/some of the people on here are trying to play the same personality cult game they play in America where everything directed at "the leader" is directed to everyone else. So "Farage is a twat" leads to cries of "aaargh persephonia thinks ordinary British people are Twats." Nope. Farage.is(singular).a.twat.

Can you imagine if everyone someone posted something about Keir Starmer half of Mumsnet threw conniptions because they decided it was deliberately directed at them? It's normal to criticise politicians. It's important to call out politicians especially when they spout racist rhetoric.

Well A and B are the same thing surely?

and C is intolerant at the very least, and problematic in the long run as explored in thousands of these threads we need legal migration to grow economically. Should we not sustain economic growth, the pure bred Brits will have even less benefits.

Yes, I thought you might be.

Quite important to make sure people DO hear that message, isn't it?

Always best to get the falsehoods into the thread title. Got to nab the folk who don't click.

I worked in care I don't know what you are talking about. They are working just like the rest of us. I worked with a couple of English women and they were rude. The area I live in voted overwhelmingly to leave. They are racist where I live.

🙄 But Reform isn’t….

Not quite true:

The Home Office has also posted a video on X, showing people being escorted onto planes by immigration enforcement officials, with the words: "we have removed more than 24,000 people".
But the claim is misleading. The government's latest figures show that only 6,339 of these were "enforced returns"., external The majority were "voluntary returns" - and a significant number of these happen without the government's direct involvement or even knowledge.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyw8jw11jwo?app-referrer=deep-link

Exactly

Not only that but I knew tradies who went and worked in Germany (Frankfurt) installing offices. It was really good money, and it coincided with a slump in jobs in their part of the UK. Freedom of movement didn't only benefit foreign workers and the latte drinking British professional class. Now, when there's an economic downturn in the UK and construction work suffers it's much harder to find work elsewhere. Yay!

It doesn’t matter if Starmer is right. It matters if he loses votes. The man is a hopeless politician. He’s alienating people left right and centre. He needs to be hammering home the point that Brexit, and Tory policy is the direct cause of the massive spike in immigration in the last couple of years, and pledging to get it under control. Virtue signalling is NOT the way to win votes.

The vacancies pp mentioned were unskilled.

People tho are fit and able should be working and not claiming benefits.

Has Starmer lost you as a voter because of this?