UK: Labour MP warns Starmers immigration rhetoric could incite race riots
A former shadow immigration minister and Black Labour MP has strongly criticised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's immigration rhetoric, warning it could incite civil unrest and repeat the injustices of the Windrush scandal.
Earlier this week, Starmer caused consternation among several MPs when he said the UK risked becoming "an island of strangers" during a speech unveiling major immigration reforms in a newly published White Paper.
The rhetoric was likened by some to the language used by Enoch Powell in his controversial 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech, in which he warned of a future where white people "found themselves made strangers in their own country".
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, told Middle East Eye's live show MEE Live that Starmer's rhetoric risked fuelling racism and emboldening the far right.
"We have to remember that a lot of the time when people say there are too many migrants in this country, they’re talking about people like me," said Ribeiro-Addy, who represents one of London’s largest Afro-Caribbean communities.
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"You are counting them by colours."
Her comments come as Labour attempts to shore up support among socially conservative voters following losses to Reform UK in the recent local elections.
Reform, which has campaigned on hardline immigration policies, made gains in several areas, prompting Starmer to double down on controlling migration as part of his strategy to win over disaffected Tory voters.
But Ribeiro-Addy warned that Labour risked alienating core communities and repeating the mistakes of the past.
"It wasn't so long ago that immigration legislation retrospectively applied ruined people's lives," she said.
"We said we learned lessons from Windrush. And that's exactly the type of thing that’s happening again."
She also warned that the government's tone could lead to a repeat of last year's riots, which erupted in several towns after the murders of two children in Stockport in August.
In the aftermath of the killings, misinformation blaming migrant communities spread online, leading to targeted attacks, clashes with police, and protests organised by far-right groups.
"I am extremely concerned that we would go about this in a way that stokes division and incites the far right," Ribeiro-Addy said.
'Shame on you, Keir Starmer'
A number of other MPs also criticised Starmer's remarks, with Clive Lewis, a Labour MP for Norwich South, being among the first to compare it with Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech.
"It's simply not sustainable for the prime minister to echo the language of Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech - invoking the idea of ‘living in a land of strangers'," Lewis told The Independent.
Suspended Labour MP Zarah Sultana also accused Starmer of echoing Powell's speech.
"That speech fuelled decades of racism and division. Echoing it today is a disgrace. It adds to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk. Shame on you, Keir Starmer," Sultana posted on X.
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, said he would not have used the phrase "island of strangers", telling LBC: "The sort of language I use is different to the language used by others.
"That's not the sort of words I would use."
Meanwhile, Labour MP Richard Burgon took aim at the scapegoating of immigrants, saying: "Migrants didn't cause the housing crisis. Migrants didn’t cause the NHS crisis. Migrants didn’t drive up poverty levels. Years of austerity did all that.
"If you want to improve people's lives, stop the cuts, introduce a Wealth Tax, and properly invest in our communities," Burgon wrote on X.
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