Labour leader Keir Starmer is under fire on social media for videos showing his two faced approach to politics – specifically, immigration.
Starmer: about turn on immigration
Speaking to Sky News on 4 June, Starmer said:
The Conservatives have let immigration get out of control… This prime minister for all his tough talk is the most liberal prime minister when it comes to immigration
But the Labour Party leader’s approach is a stark change from his comments in 2020, when he was vying to be Labour leader. He said at an event in London in January 2020:
We need to make the wider case on immigration… We welcome migrants, we don’t scapegoat them. Low wages, poor housing, poor public services, are not the fault of people who come here: they’re political failure. So we have to make the case for the benefits of migration; for the benefits of free movement.
Starmer on immigration in 2020
vs.
Starmer on immigration in 2024
How can anyone who values honesty and integrity vote for a mendacious, unprincipled shitbag like this?pic.twitter.com/KMNNp3QSS2pic.twitter.com/q7qqXtlvTL
— Frank Owen’s Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) June 4, 2024
Starmer doubled down on his stance on immigration in 2020:
London is an amazingly diverse and fantastic place for it and the whole of the UK is better because of immigration, and I think if I’m honest the Labour Party’s been a bit scared of making the positive case for immigration for quite a number of years and I think we need to turn that around.
He then did a complete reversal, speaking in November 2023 about net migration figures for 2022 standing at 745,000:
That figure is shockingly high. And it represents a failure not just of immigration but asylum
The Office for National Statistics estimates that net migration to the UK in the year ending December 2023 was 685,000.
Lies?
In his leadership campaign, Starmer committed to restoring EU freedom of movement. But after he won the leadership, he ordered his MPs to back Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in December 2020.
And in November 2022 Starmer confirmed he would not bring back freedom of movement, calling it a “red line”.
More broadly, he went back on every pledge he made to become Labour leader.
Instead of lying his way through politics, Starmer could have engaged with grassroots supporters to build a new settlement. But from foreign to domestic policy, he has little to offer.
Featured image via Sky News
