The government attack changes: "Reform's racist!"

Racism. It's a momentous word that carries, quite rightly, a lot of poignant baggage. It's a word that, over time, has adapted to contemporary social struggles. In 2020, racism was the death of George Floyd. It was the screams of agony, pleading for help, and the conscious, targeted aggression towards a man for no other reason but the colour of his skin. Just after World War II, racism was the denial of opportunities and dignity offered to immigrants arriving in the UK to rebuild our nation and rid it of its rubble. Racism then was "No Irish. No blacks. No dogs" (to speak of a rather common phrase at the time). It was colour bars, segregation, Jim Crow Laws, the rise of the KKK, and Japanese internment camps.

However, Keir Starmer argues that, today, racism is ReformUK. Racism is ReformUK's "immoral" policy on immigration. A policy Starmer's called unrealistic a plethora of times; yet, if we are to interpret the words of the PM, this is a policy that he believes prejudices against the hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people who live in the UK, work in the UK, study in the UK, and yes, one of the seemingly most blasphemous acts you can do in the eyes of some on the right, receive benefits in the UK... An "immoral" policy that seeks to deport everyone on the leave to remain scheme, and a policy that seeks to make permanent residence the only way to apply for British citizenship.

Nevertheless, this accusation is part of a significant and fast-moving shift in the government's line in recent days. A shift towards more escalating and divisive rhetoric - in the sense that it seeks to brand ReformUK as extreme, but also in the sense that it hasn't really held up amongst other senior Labour officials. Alas, whilst Keir Starmer has branded ReformUK as just another extreme party, with extreme views, and an extreme vision for the country, other, arguably more left-wing figures, like Sadiq Khan, who recently called the conflict in Palestine a "genocide", couldn't hold up the party's latest attack line. Rather, it seems that Starmer's most polemic line of attack to date, as seen by his well-taken speech today at conference, is still struggling to hold up within the party. Perhaps even, showcasing the worries that, by calling the largest party in the polls racist, you are indeed branding its voters (of whom many are former Labour voters) racist.

Though clearly, you can argue that this is Starmer's way of turning the tide against a seemingly imminent ReformUK sweep at the local elections next year, and the general election further on from that - fighting back against the hundreds of polls that predict a Labour party destined to lose hundreds of seats, and destined for the lower echelons of the electoral slums, like YouGov's most recent MRP poll has been suggesting.

Perhaps then, this new line will work. Maybe it'll successfully link the summer riots, which Starmer has branded an act of "thuggery", to ReformUK's rhetoric and, thus, an unappealing and overly radical legislative agenda. Or maybe it won't matter whatsoever. Perhaps people will see the £234 billion Reform claims this policy will save (a figure which has been disputed by many) and approve. Or, ever still, perhaps this will worsen Labour's prospects, alienating the party from a voter base already drifting to Reform, and causing permanent damage by, in the words of Nigel Farage, branding anyone who believes in border controls "racist".

Yet only time will tell whether Starmer's accusations outweigh Reform’s idealistic cost saving figures, and the record high levels of net migration overall (2022 to 2023, and 2023 to 2024 periods, according to the Office for National Statistics).