Starmer calling Reform ‘racist’ risks backlash while staking Labour’s moral claim

Starmer told the BBC he thought Reform’s immigration policy was ‘immoral and it’s to be called out for what it is’. Photograph: James McCauley/Shutterstock

Politicians tend to prefer different awkward euphemisms when they talk about the extreme right. “Divisive” has so far been the descriptor of choice for Keir Starmer.

But on Sunday the prime minister went further. It was racist, he said, unequivocally, for Reform UK to pledge to end indefinite leave to remain, a policy that threatens the lives of people long settled in Britain.