Cooper backs PM over ‘island of strangers’ comment
House Secretary Yvette Cooper has defended the language utilized by Sir Keir Starmer in a speech to unveil plans to chop immigration.
The prime minister stated on Monday the UK risked changing into an “an island of strangers” with out stricter controls.
The phrase has led some Labour MPs to accuse him of divisive language – a declare rejected by Cooper.
She added the PM had been searching for to spotlight the impression of rising migration lately and “assist for integration,” together with English language assessments.
She rejected a comparability made by a small variety of Labour MPs, notably former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, to the language of Enoch Powell.
Cooper stated she did not know whether or not the PM or his speech writers have been conscious of any similarity to a line in Enoch Powell’s infamous Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, through which the Conservative MP described a future through which Britons “discovered themselves made strangers in their very own nation” because of immigration.
Talking on BBC Radio 4’s Right this moment programme, she added that Starmer’s speech was “utterly totally different”, including: “I do not suppose it is proper to make these comparisons”.
“The prime minster stated yesterday, I feel nearly in the identical breath, talked in regards to the various nation that we’re and that being a part of our power…
“I do know that everyone all the time will get caught up in specializing in totally different phrases and so forth, however we do must be speaking in regards to the insurance policies.”
Requested on BBC Breakfast whether or not she thought Starmer’s language was poisonous, she replied: “I do not agree, no”, including the PM was “proper to say we have to change”.
Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick echoed the prime minister’s feedback, including Sir Keir’s warning the UK might grow to be an island of strangers was “already” true in components of the nation.
The comparability to Powell was made by McDonnell, who misplaced the Labour whip final yr after rebelling on a welfare vote, when questioning Cooper within the Commons on Monday.
The Hayes and Harlington MP stated: “When laws of this nature is being launched that’s critical and could possibly be contentious, it is critically vital that ministers use cautious language.
“When the prime minister referred to… an island of strangers, reflecting the language of Enoch Powell, does she realise how shockingly divisive that could possibly be?”
In the identical debate, Labour MP Nadia Whittome stated immigrants have been being “scapegoated for issues that they did not trigger” and that “the rhetoric surrounding this” risked stirring racial abuse.
The Nottingham East MP requested: “Why are we making an attempt to ape Reform [UK], when that may do nothing to enhance our constituents’ lives and simply stoke extra division?”
The launch of the federal government’s immigration measures on Monday follows native elections in England earlier this month that noticed Labour lose the Runcorn and Helsby seat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in an traditionally shut by-election.
Reform, which has campaigned closely on the difficulty of immigration lately, additionally picked up its first two metro mayors and now controls 10 county councils, difficult the dominance of each Labour and the Conservatives.
Additionally talking on the Right this moment programme, Jenrick, who was immigration minister from 2022-2023, stated the general public was “sick of rhetoric, they need motion”.
Jenrick claimed the Conservatives’ failure to scale back internet migration over 14 years in energy was due to “catastrophic errors” and claimed Labour’s plans have been a “con by Keir Starmer to trick the British public into believing that he will take motion”.
He added Sir Keir’s phrases “repudiated the whole lot” he had beforehand stood for, claiming the prime minister had stood for the Labour management in 2020 on a coverage of “supporting mass migration”.
