LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will urge centre-left leaders to embrace patriotism as a tool to counter the “grievance” politics of the hard right.
He will address a London conference attended by world leaders including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Canadian premier Mark Carney, and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen.
Starmer will also assert that left-wing lawmakers must address the issue of uncontrolled immigration.
“This is the defining political choice of our times: a politics of predatory grievance, preying on the problems of working people,“ or “the politics of patriotic renewal,“ Starmer will say according to speech extracts.
His Labour party has recently fallen behind the anti-immigrant Reform UK party in national polls despite a landslide election victory last July.
The speech aims to present a more optimistic vision for Britain’s future than that offered by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
This address follows US President Donald Trump’s UN speech claiming irregular migration is turning European countries into “hell”.
Farage, a Trump supporter, frequently describes Britain as “broken,“ prompting Starmer to label such rhetoric as unpatriotic.
Starmer will define “patriotic renewal” as being “rooted in communities, building a better country. Brick by brick, from the bottom-up -– including everyone in the national story”.
He will add “Difference under the same flag,“ referencing the display of national flags which has concerned some ethnic communities.
The Prime Minister will also reference a recent far-right protest where Elon Musk told a 150,000-strong crowd that “violence is coming”.
“Now, you don’t need to be a historian to know where that kind of poison can lead. You can just feel it. A language that is naked in its attempt to intimidate,“ Starmer will tell the Global Progressive Action Conference.
His government plans to introduce digital ID cards as a measure to tackle undocumented migration.
“It is not compassionate left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages,“ he will state, emphasising that “every nation needs to have control over its borders”.
The government also announced a £5 billion investment to regenerate town centres and counter Reform’s appeal in deprived English areas. – AFP