As the Labour Party heads into its annual conference, United Kingdom Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, expressed confidence that his government can still “pull this round,” despite opinion polls indicating the party trails Reform UK.
With speculation mounting about a potential leadership challenge from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Starmer told the Times it was time to “roll up our sleeves and get on with it.”
The prime minister also renewed his criticism of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, warning that his party would “tear this country apart.”
Starmer described the upcoming Liverpool conference as an opportunity for Labour to offer an alternative to “toxic divide and decline.”
The comments continue a series of sharp exchanges between Starmer and Farage, with the Reform leader hitting back. Farage told the Telegraph that Starmer’s description of Reform as an “enemy” “smacks, frankly, of total desperation.”
He added, “To call somebody in politics an enemy is language that is bordering on the inciteful.”
Starmer intensified his remarks as the conference began, calling Farage “grubby” in an interview with the Sunday Mirror and accusing him of being “unpatriotic” for “pretending” to solve voter concerns.
“Add to that that he spends more time grubbing around in America, trying to make money for himself than he does representing his constituents,” Starmer said. “He goes there not just to make money, but to talk our country down. The leader of a political party going to another country to talk his own country down. Grubby.”
As Labour aims to position itself as a patriotic alternative to Reform, comparisons between the two parties could dominate conference discussions.
Reform recently announced plans to replace Indefinite Leave to Remain with visas, requiring migrants to reapply every five years if they win the next election. Applicants would need to meet higher salary and English-language thresholds.
A YouGov poll published Saturday found that 58% of Britons oppose removing ILR from current holders, though 44% support ending ILR as a policy while 43% are opposed.
During a visit to the Liverpool Echo, Starmer said: “These are people who have been in our country a long time, are contributing to our society, maybe working in, I don’t know, hospitals, schools, running businesses – our neighbours, and Reform says it wants to deport them in certain circumstances. I think it is a real sign of just how divisive they are and that their politics and their policies will tear this country apart.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the Sun on Sunday that legal migration is a “good thing,” and the UK has “always welcomed people who want to come and work here.” However, she added that migrants should contribute to their communities: “So I am looking at how to make sure that settlement in our country – long term settlement, Indefinite Leave to Remain – is linked not just to the job you are doing, the salary you get, the taxes you pay, [but] also the wider contribution you are making to our communities.”
During his Liverpool Echo visit, Starmer also defended plans to lower the voting age to 16 in general elections and confirmed the government would not legalise cannabis. “It already happens in Scotland, already happens in Wales, and the sky didn’t fall in,” he said.
Ahead of the conference, backbench MPs and unions renewed calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Several Liverpool MPs wrote to Starmer arguing the cap “is one of the most significant drivers of child poverty in Britain today.”
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, alongside Apsana Begum, had their whips restored after being banned for voting against the cap. McDonnell said, “If this is a signal the government is going to scrap the two-child limit I’m really pleased.”
Starmer’s recently revealed plans for a new digital ID system, as well as proposals for a fresh tranche of “New Towns,” are also expected to feature prominently at the conference.
