Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has attacked Sir Keir Starmer for his “canine whistle” stance on immigration after the prime minister stated the UK risked turning into an “island of strangers”.
In a piece penned by Mr Yousaf for LBC, the previous chief of the Scottish Nationwide Occasion (SNP) repeated claims the prime minister’s current remarks on immigration had been a “trendy echo” of Enoch Powell’s notorious 1968 Rivers Of Blood speech.
The prime minister stirred controversy earlier this week when he argued Britain “risked turning into an island of strangers” if immigration ranges weren’t lower.
After many MPs criticised his language, Sir Keir rejected the comparison to Powell, along with his official spokesperson saying migrants have made a “huge contribution” to society however his level was that the Tories “misplaced management of the system”.
File pic: PA
Within the LBC piece revealed on Saturday, Mr Yousaf stated: “Powell’s 1968 speech warned of immigration as an existential menace to ‘our blood and our tradition’, stoking racial panic that led on to many years of hostile migration insurance policies.
“Starmer’s invocation of ‘strangers’ is a contemporary echo – a dog-whistle to voters who blame migrants for each social sick, from stretched public providers to the cost-of-living disaster.
“It betrays a failure to grasp, or intentionally masks the truth that Britain’s prosperity will depend on migration, on openness not constructing partitions.”
Starmer’s speech divides opinion
Learn extra:
Labour’s immigration approach builds on Tory rollbacks
Farage on how Reform UK would deal with migration
Sir Keir made the feedback at a information convention during which measures were announced to curb net migration, together with banning care properties from recruiting abroad, new English language necessities for visa holders and stricter guidelines on gaining British citizenship.
The bundle is aimed toward lowering the variety of individuals coming to the UK by as much as 100,000 per yr, although the federal government has not formally set a goal.
The federal government is underneath stress to sort out authorized migration, in addition to unlawful immigration, amid Reform UK’s surge in the polls.
Mr Yousaf concluded his article saying the UK was “on the point of presumably handing the keys of No 10 to Nigel Farage”.
