Even if you believed Keir Starmer when he said he would finally get tough on migration—and, it is worth noting, most voters do not believe him—the furious response from his own party shows he won’t be allowed to implement any serious change.
Britons tend to believe that that Labour's new immigration plans will make no difference to the number of immigrants coming to the UK
Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan was keen to distance himself from the prime minister’s speech on Monday—in which Starmer said it was time to end the “failed experiment in open borders”—insisting that “those aren’t words that I would use.” Khan also thanked migrants “for what you have done—and continue to do—to make London the greatest city in the world.”
John McDonnell, who served as Labour shadow chancellor under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, also said Starmer’s speech “shockingly echoes the divisive language” of Enoch Powell’s 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ address on the dangers of mass migration. That, for Labour-types, is a bit like accusing the new Pope of appealing to the antichrist.
It’s no wonder, then, that Richard Burgon MP—another Corbynite—dismissed Starmer’s rhetoric as “an act of political desperation in response to the disastrous election results the other week” (true) and called for him to apologise.
Spiked Online’s Brendan O’Neill bashed this backlash as an “insane hissy fit,” adding:
Treating migrants as mere symbols of diversity so that the middle classes feel like they live in an exotic new world is what is really racist here.
The Centre for Migration Control also highlighted on Monday that despite the impressive rhetoric, this new borders plan put forward by Starmer—who, let’s not forget, is a far more radical leftist than many give him credit for—will make very little difference to the actual state of play.
850,000 long-term visas were awarded last year.
The government admits that today's measures *could* bring the number down by just 100,000. This is nowhere near enough. pic.twitter.com/ogTQYJU536
— Centre for Migration Control (@migrationCtrl) May 12, 2025
Upset by the accusations, the prime minister’s team stressed on Tuesday that comparisons to Powell were false and highlighted that Starmer’s speech also touched on the usual theme of ‘diversity is our strength.’
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
