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Decades-old racism is resurfacing to British politics, which leaves citizens deeply uneasy, the Prime Minister emphasized, alerting how polarizing far-right political tactics are “tearing our country apart”.

Tackling Discriminatory Language and Divisive Strategies

In conversation to doctor and media figure a well-known TV doctor, Starmer pointed to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of overseeing a return of racist and divisive politics which many believed was resolved decades ago”.

During the discussion, broadcast on a popular morning program this week, the PM provided his strongest signal suggesting the two-child benefit cap could be removed during the upcoming fiscal announcement later this month.

Promise to Reduce Poverty Among Children

When questioned whether he planned to eliminate the limit, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children across Britain, the Prime Minister said: “Let me be perfectly clear I am determined to drive child poverty down.”

He listed measures the government has already launched including no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and child care support and emphasized: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I assure you and tell you I am personally committed to driving down childhood poverty.”

When pressed on whether his comments meant he would lift the two-child limit, Starmer said “I would not say we aim to lower child poverty if I wasn’t clear that we will be taking various actions to achieve this”.

Strong Indications from the Chancellor

The Chancellor, provided a similarly clear signal on Monday stating to BBC Radio 5 Live that “in the end, children must not be punished if their parents are struggling financially”.

Ministers are understood to be preparing to remove the cap completely, having originally looked at gradual removal for bigger households or richer ones. The Resolution Foundation has estimated this would cost roughly £3.5 billion by 2029-30.

Political Divide and Country’s Revival

In the interview, Starmer explained the political divide currently in Britain was between Labour’s “patriotic national renewal” versus Reform’s harmful divisiveness and other right-wing groups that are “dividing the nation”.

“Some of the rhetoric we’re hearing – racist rhetoric, divisive rhetoric – which I believed was resolved in the past is returning to politics and citizens are deeply afraid,” he said.

“We have to stand up such discrimination, that divisiveness, and affirm with pride that to be British means showing empathy, is to be reasonable, entails tolerance and compassionate, and this is our pride.”

Echoing Warnings from the Health Secretary

Starmer mirrored sentiments expressed by Wes Streeting, who warned earlier this month that a disturbing form of discrimination reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s was now alarmingly frequent again and that healthcare workers were facing the worst of this trend.

The health secretary noted incidents of both verbal and physical attacks targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We’ve got to call time on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that has emerged in our country where it belongs and reestablish an environment in this country where racism is unacceptable to be racist,” Streeting said.

Critical Decision for the Public

The Prime Minister used his speech at the Labour party conference in September to outline clear divisions with his political opponents, saying that voters faced a “defining choice”.

The prime minister explained he was engaged in a struggle for the nation’s identity, noting although the public expressed valid worries about illegal migration, there was “a moral line” which some politicians had crossed.

The PM vowed to “fight” those who argued that non-white individuals did not belong and that families residing in the UK for generations must be removed, saying people promoting such views were “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“Encouraging racist violence and hatred, that goes beyond concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, but if they are displayed with hateful messages, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that is not patriotism; that’s racism,” he informed activists.