The UK already is an “island of strangers” in some places, Robert Jenrick has claimed after the prime minister warned of the prospect.
Keir Starmer has faced a backlash after he said the UK risked becoming an island of strangers if migration remained unchecked, as he announced plans to curb the number of legal migrants coming into the country.
Speaking at a Monday morning press conference, the PM said his government would “take back control of our borders” and close the book on a “squalid chapter” of rising inward migration as he unveiled a major crackdown.
He added: “Nations depend on rules, fair rules. Sometimes they are written down, often they are not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.
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“In a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important. Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.
Asked what he made of Starmer’s characterisation, Jenrick said: “I think it’s true. In fact, I think in some places we already are. Aggressive levels of mass migration have made us more divided.
“If you look at communities in our country, for example central Bradford, 50 per cent of people were born outside of the United Kingdom; in central Luton, 46 per cent of residents arrived in the past decade.”
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Speaking to Times Radio, the shadow justice secretary added: “There are places like Dagenham where the white British population has fallen by almost 60 per cent in the last 25 years.
“People in many parts of our country are experiencing profound change as a result of the levels of migration that we’ve seen, and we’ve got to bring that back to the historic levels that we enjoyed as a country which enabled us to be a well-integrated and united country, rather than the one that we’re seeing today.”
Jenrick also warned that communities in the UK could become “increasingly ghettoised”.
He said: “What we have to do is build a more united country. That means not just celebrating diversity, or extreme diversity, but celebrating commonality – the things that actually unite us.”
The senior Conservative added: “People have to integrate into British society. That means rooting out the extremes, where you see those in some communities, whether that’s FGM [Female genital mutilation] or creeping Sharia courts – attitudes that are frankly incompatible with our country and our own system of values.
“You’ve also got to go beyond that – because it’s not just about rooting out the worst ills in society. We have to set a bar that is much higher than that, so it’s also about ensuring that everyone who grows up in our country has a strong understanding of our history, our heritage, our customs, our norms, and that is about what we teach our children in schools, and its the way that we instil a greater sense of civil society in all of those communities.
“But we also want to be encouraging people to live side by side. I don’t want to see communities which are increasingly ghettoised, and there are places in our country where you do see them.”
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has defended the prime minister’s use of language, signalling that she does not agree with critics.
Asked by BBC Breakfast if she thought the language was “toxic, shameful or dangerous”, Cooper said: “I don’t agree, no”.
The comment came after Labour backbenchers criticised the PM’s language, particularly his claim that Britain could become an “island of strangers” without reform of the immigration system.
Labour’s Olivia Blake suggested the phrase could “risk legitimising the same far-right violence we saw in last year’s summer riots”.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who sits as an independent MP after losing the Labour whip last year, accused Starmer of “reflecting the language” of Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in the 1960s.
Kim Johnson said the prime minister’s language was “deeply concerning”.
She said: “For our prime minister to say today that unfettered immigration risks the UK becoming ‘an island of strangers’ is deeply concerning.
“We cannot concede to the anti-migrant agenda promoted by those who thrive on division.”
Nadia Whittome, meanwhile, labelled Starmer’s rhetoric “shameful and dangerous.”
She added: “Migrants are our neighbours, friends and family. To suggest that Britain risks becoming ‘an island of strangers’ because of immigration mimics the scaremongering of the far right.”
Responding, Yvette Cooper said: “I think part of the point that he is making is that we have to recognise people have come to the UK through generations to do really important jobs in our NHS, founding our biggest businesses, doing some of the most difficult jobs.
“But it’s because that’s important, the system has to be controlled and managed, and it just hasn’t been.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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