13/05/2025 09:04
The Guardian
Home secretary says PM’s words on immigration were ‘completely different’ when asked about comparisons with notorious Rivers of Blood speechRobert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, was also doing an interview round this morning. Asked about Keir Starmer’s warning in his speech yesterday that Britain was at risk of becoming an “island of strangers” because of the impact of mass immigration, Jenrick claimed Britain was already like this. He told Times Radio: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% of people were born outside of the United Kingdom; in central Luton, 46% of residents arrived in the past decade.Nations depend on rules – fair rules. Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values. They guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to one another. Now, 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.While, to the immigrant, entry to this country was admission to privileges and opportunities eagerly sought, the impact upon the existing population was very different. For reasons which they could not comprehend, and in pursuance of a decision by default, on which they were never consulted, they found themselves made strangers in their own country.They found their wives unable to obtain hospital beds in childbirth, their children unable to obtain school places, their homes and neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition, their plans and prospects for the future defeated; at work they found that employers hesitated to apply to the immigrant worker the standards of discipline and competence required of the native-born worker; they began to hear, as time went by, more and more voices which told them that they were now the unwanted.Labour and Labour governments have always listened to people in terms of their concerns about their security and the opportunities that they want to have for themselves and their children. And when we see something that we understand that people believe is unfair, then we are going to take action on that. That’s what the British people expect us to do, that’s what Labour governments do.I don’t think it’s right to make those comparisons [between Starmer’s speech and Powell’s]. It’s completely different. And the prime minister said yesterday, I think almost in the same breath, talked about the diverse country that we are and that being part of our strength. Continue reading...
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