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Historical racism is returning to UK the political arena, and it creates deeply uneasy, Keir Starmer has stated, alerting that polarizing hard-right politics was “splitting the UK”.

Addressing Discriminatory Language and Harmful Politics

In conversation with doctor and media figure a well-known TV doctor, the prime minister pointed to the Reform UK party for enabling the revival to discriminatory and divisive political discourse that seemed a thing of the past decades ago”.

In the interview, broadcast on ITV’s Lorraine show on Tuesday, the PM provided his strongest signal that the two-child benefit cap would be lifted during the upcoming fiscal announcement in the coming weeks.

Commitment to Reduce Child Poverty

When questioned whether he planned to eliminate this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children across Britain, Starmer responded: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I will strive to lower poverty rates for kids.”

He outlined steps the government has already launched such as no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and childcare and emphasized: “We need to do more than that, and I pledge and tell you I am dedicated to cutting childhood poverty.”

When pressed about if his comments indicated he intended to remove the two-child cap, he said he “wouldn’t be telling you we are going to drive down poverty among children if I wasn’t clear that we will be taking a number of measures in order to do so”.

Clear Signals from Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor, provided an equally strong hint on Monday when she told a national radio station how finally, children must not be punished because their parents don’t have very much money”.

Ministers are getting ready to remove the cap completely, having originally looked at gradual removal either for very large families or wealthier families. An economic thinktank projects the expense would be roughly £3.5 billion by 2029-30.

Political Divide and National Renewal

In the interview, Starmer explained the political divide in the UK now was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus “the toxic division of Reform” and other right-wing groups that are “splitting the UK”.

“Parts of the discourse being used – discriminatory talk, polarizing language – which I believed had been addressed long ago is coming back into politics and it makes people feel very scared,” he stated.

“It is essential to oppose such discrimination, that division, and we have to proudly say that British identity involves caring for others, is about being fair, entails tolerance and kindness, which we value deeply.”

Reflecting Concerns from the Health Secretary

Starmer mirrored sentiments expressed by Wes Streeting, who warned earlier this month how a disturbing form of discrimination reminiscent of past decades was now worryingly commonplace again with NHS staff were bearing the brunt of it.

Streeting noted incidents of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race had become so frequent that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“It is time to put a stop to discrimination across the UK and we’ve got to put such harmful attitudes that has emerged nationally where it belongs and reestablish a climate across Britain where racism is unacceptable to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for Voters

The Prime Minister used his speech during a major political gathering in September to outline clear divisions with his political opponents, stating that the public faced a “defining choice”.

He explained he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting that while voters had “reasonable” concerns regarding unauthorized immigration, existed “a moral line” which some politicians had overstepped.

The PM pledged to “fight” anyone who argued that non-white individuals could not be English or British and that families who had lived in the UK for generations must be removed, stating people promoting such views were “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“If you incite racist violence and hostility, that goes beyond concern: it’s criminal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he told supporters.