PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer "completely rejects" suggestions that his remarks on immigration echoed an inflammatory speech from the 1960s, his spokesman said following a backlash.
Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, was criticised for claiming on Monday (12) that Britain risks becoming an "island of strangers" if his centre-left Labour government fails to cut net migration.
Asked about similar language used in the late Conservative MP Enoch Powell's notorious "rivers of blood" speech from 1968, Starmer's official spokesman said: "We completely reject that comparison."
The spokesman added that Starmer "absolutely stands behind the argument he was making that migrants make a massive contribution to our country, but migration needs to be controlled".
Starmer unveiled tough new immigration policies that included cutting overseas care workers, doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement and new powers to deport foreign criminals.
The speech was widely seen as an attempt to fend off rising support for anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party, which made gains in local elections this month.
But some of the language Starmer used angered several of his own Labour MPs, including Nadia Whittome, who accused him of mimicking "the scaremongering of the far right".
John McDonnell, Labour's former finance spokesman who was suspended from the party last year for voting to scrap a cap on child benefits, said Starmer's word "shockingly echoes the divisive language" of Powell.
Powell sparked national controversy and was dropped from then Tory leader Edward Heath's top team when he said that British people could find themselves "strangers in their own country" as a result of migration. Powell died in 1998.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC the speeches were "completely different" since Starmer had "almost in the same breath... talked about the diverse country that we are, and that being part of our strength".
(AFP)
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)