Keir Starmer has said he “deeply regrets” warning that Britain risks becoming an “island of strangers” due to mass immigration, admitting he failed to recognise the phrase’s similarity to the rhetoric of right-wing politician Enoch Powell.
The prime minister claimed he was unaware that his words, delivered last month during an immigration policy launch, might evoke Powell’s infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech. “It wasn’t right,” Starmer told The Observer. “I had no idea—nor did my speechwriters—that it would be taken that way. I deeply regret using it.”
His walk-back comes just 24 hours after a humiliating climbdown on welfare reforms, when he was forced to retreat from plans to cut disability benefits after more than 120 Labour MPs threatened open revolt.
The “island of strangers” line—initially defended by No. 10—reflected public concern about record migration levels under successive governments. But under pressure from Labour’s Left, Starmer has now disowned both the phrase and language in a related policy paper describing the damage caused by mass immigration as “incalculable.”
Critics accused Starmer of lacking conviction. Reform UK’s Nigel Farage called it “proof he has no beliefs,” while Conservative MP Robert Jenrick said Starmer “doesn’t believe in borders or the nation state.”
With welfare rebels sharpening their knives and backbenchers complaining they “never see him,” Starmer’s political isolation is deepening. For a Prime Minister who once claimed to speak for working people, this latest capitulation only raises further questions about who he really represents.
