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Historical racial prejudice has come back within British politics, and it makes people feel very scared, the Prime Minister warned, cautioning how divisive far-right political tactics was “splitting the UK”.

Confronting Racist Language and Divisive Politics

Speaking to GP and TV personality a well-known TV doctor, Starmer pointed to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK for enabling a return to discriminatory and divisive politics that seemed a thing of the past long ago”.

In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program this week, the PM also gave a clear indication that the limit on child benefits would be lifted during the upcoming fiscal announcement later this month.

Promise to Combat Poverty Among Children

Asked if he planned to eliminate this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children across Britain, the Prime Minister said: “Let me be perfectly clear I will strive to reduce child poverty.”

He listed measures ministers have already introduced including no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and child care support but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I pledge and tell you I am personally committed to driving down child poverty.”

When pressed about if his comments indicated he would lift the two-child limit, Starmer stated “It would be misleading to claim we aim to lower poverty among children without being sure that measures will be introduced a number of measures for that purpose”.

Strong Indications from Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves, provided an equally strong hint on Monday stating to BBC Radio 5 Live that finally, no child should suffer due to their family’s financial situation”.

Ministers are reportedly planning to remove the cap completely, after initially considering gradual removal either for very large families or wealthier families. An economic thinktank has estimated the expense would be roughly £3.5 billion in the coming years.

Ideological Split and Country’s Revival

In the interview, the Prime Minister explained the ideological split currently in Britain was between the government’s vision for renewal and “the toxic division of Reform” and other right-wing groups who were “dividing the nation”.

“Parts of the discourse being used – discriminatory talk, polarizing language – which I believed was resolved in the past is coming back into politics and it makes people feel very scared,” he said.

“We must confront to that racism, that divisiveness, and declare confidently that British identity involves caring for others, is about being fair, is to be tolerant and kindness, and this is our pride.”

Reflecting Concerns from the Health Secretary

The prime minister echoed sentiments used by the Health Secretary, who cautioned earlier this month how a disturbing form of discrimination similar to past decades had become worryingly commonplace once more with NHS staff were facing the worst of this trend.

The health secretary noted occurrences of verbal and physical abuse targeting individuals due to race now happened so often that it had become “socially acceptable to be racist”.

“We’ve got to call time on racism across the UK and we’ve got to put that ugly racist sentiment that has emerged nationally where it belongs and once again create a climate across Britain where it is not socially acceptable to be racist,” the Health Secretary said.

Defining Choice for the Public

The Prime Minister used his speech during a major political gathering in September to draw clear divisions between himself and Farage, saying that the public confronted a “defining choice”.

The prime minister said he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, noting although the public expressed valid worries regarding unauthorized immigration, existed “a moral line” which some politicians had crossed.

The PM pledged to “fight” those claiming that people who were not white could not be English or British and that households who had lived in the UK for generations should be deported, saying people promoting such views were “opposed to the country’s progress”.

“Encouraging racist violence and hostility, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. This party – this great party – values national symbols, but if they are displayed alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to leave the country, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” he informed supporters.