PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to reform immigration rules, including extending the time required for migrants to apply for settlement in the United Kingdom.
👥 Who’s Involved: Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and migrants impacted by the proposed policies.
📍 Where & When: Announcement made in Britain, details discussed during an appearance on GB News on May 12.
💬 Key Quote: Farage: “Keir Starmer has spent his whole career campaigning for free movement of people… he’s just basically playing catch up with Reform.”
⚠️ Impact: Proposed changes aim to address public concerns over immigration but face criticism for perceived insincerity and potential loopholes.
IN FULL:
Nigel Farage has accused Sir Keir Starmer of insincerity following the Prime Minister’s announcement of new immigration reforms aimed at addressing Britain’s “broken” borders. Speaking on GB News, the Reform Party leader, who is leading Starmer’s Labour in the polls, argued that the government’s proposals are an attempt to “play catch up” on an issue that has long been a priority for his own party.
Starmer’s proposed White Paper includes a significant shift in immigration policy, requiring migrants to reside in Britain for ten years instead of five before applying for settlement or citizenship. Exceptions would be made for those demonstrating a “real and lasting contribution” to the nation’s economy and society.
Farage, however, was quick to point out inconsistencies in Starmer’s approach, stating, “Keir Starmer has spent his whole career campaigning for free movement of people… he’s just basically playing catch up with Reform.” He also noted that Starmer’s repeated use of the phrase “taking back control” during the announcement mirrors a Brexit campaign slogan from 2016, which Farage used as early as 2004.
Starmer claims the “One Nation experiment” in “open borders” is “over,” referring to the liberal “One Nation” wing of the Conservative Party to which former Prime Minister Boris Johnson belonged. Since replacing Labour in government in 2010, Conservative prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak all promised to reduce immigration “from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands,” or at least an “overall” reduction—but the party left office having more than quadrupled it.
The Conservatives’ immigration numbers were so enormous that Labour, which instituted the modern era of mass migration under Tony Blair in the late 1990s, now feels able to position itself to the right on the issue. Starmer has gone so far as to say it is turning Britain into “an island of strangers“—angering some in his own party.
“If he was to succeed with all of this, I’d praise him to the heavens, but he’s not,” Farage said of Starmer’s promises, likening them to former Johnson and Sunak’s “stop the boats” promise on illegal immigration, which only increased under their tenure.
Labour is unlikely to be able to steal a march from Farage on immigration regardless, given Labour’s long history of promoting multiculturalism and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) style ideology, with Starmer personally presiding over the draconian crackdown on anti-immigration protestors following the mass murder of a number of young girls in Southport, England, by the son of two African asylum seekers in July 2024.
WATCH:
NEW: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calls for the UK to take back its borders, says the UK is becoming an “island of strangers” and immigrants should learn how to speak English.
Wow.
“Without [strict rules], we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks… pic.twitter.com/qrcyc7iymI
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 12, 2025
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