In Monday’s Downing Street speech, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged that his Labour government would “take back control of our borders” and “tighten up every area of the immigration system”. The speech was met with backlash as some claimed it echoed the racially charged Rivers of Blood speech made by Enoch Powell in 1968.

Keir Starmer stands by his controversial claim that high levels of immigration risk making Britain “an island of strangers”. The prime minister’s official spokesman also rejected claims that his comments made him sound like right-wing former Tory minister Enoch Powell.