Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has attacked Sir Keir Starmer for his “dog whistle” stance on immigration after the prime minister stated the UK risked changing into an “island of strangers”.
In a bit penned by Mr Yousaf for LBC, the previous chief of the Scottish Nationwide Social gathering (SNP) repeated claims the prime minister’s latest remarks on immigration had been a “modern echo” of Enoch Powell’s notorious 1968 Rivers Of Blood speech.
The prime minister stirred controversy earlier this week when he argued Britain “risked becoming an island of strangers” if immigration ranges weren’t reduce.
After many MPs criticised his language, Sir Keir rejected the comparability to Powell, along with his official spokesperson saying migrants have made a “massive contribution” to society however his level was that the Tories “lost control of the system”.
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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 modern echo – a dog-whistle to voters who blame migrants for every social ill, from stretched public services to the cost-of-living crisis.
“It betrays a failure to grasp, or intentionally masks the truth that Britain’s prosperity will depend on migration, on openness not constructing partitions.”
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Starmer’s speech divides opinion
The package deal is aimed toward decreasing the variety of individuals coming to the UK by as much as 100,000 per 12 months, 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 within the polls.
Mr Yousaf concluded his article saying the UK was “on the brink of possibly handing the keys of No 10 to Nigel Farage”.
