Bridget Phillipson: ‘Hard to escape the conclusion that Farage is racist’
Bridget Phillipson tells The News Agents she supports Keir Starmer’s comments on Reform UK’s “racist” proposed changes to Right to Remain laws in the UK, and says Nigel Farage often “drifts into racism”.
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In brief…
- Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has backed Keir Starmer’s condemnation of Reform UK’s proposed changes to Right To Remain laws as “racist”, as citizenship for thousands of people could come under threat under a Nigel Farage-led government.
- Phillipson tells The News Agents that a united Labour Party can counter the rising popularity of Farage and Reform.
- She says she hopes Manchester mayor Andy Burnham will be part of that unity, following recent disparaging comments about Keir Starmer’s time as Prime Minister.
What’s the story?
Bridget Phillipson has sided with Keir Starmer in his criticism of Reform UK’s proposed changes to the Right to Remain laws as “racist”.
In a weekend interview, Starmer claimed the changes planned by Farage – which included removing the rights from people already settled in the UK – needed to be “called out” as a “racist policy” and an attempt to “‘tear this country apart”.
This comment has been twisted by right-wing publications suggesting Starmer was calling any supporters of Reform UK “racist”.
Phillipson says it’s “hard to escape the conclusion” that Farage is racist.
“Because many of the things that he does and says, I think, drift into racism. It's hard to escape that conclusion,” she tells Jon and Lewis at the Labour party conference.
Phillipson adds that she understands the frustration people are feeling and that worrying about border control is “completely reasonable,” and says her comments about Farage do not apply to all Reform supporters.
“I look at the polls as anybody else would, but polls are a snapshot in time. They're not a prediction of the future” she tells Jon and Lewis.
Reform is storming ahead in the polls, with predictions showing that Labour could face a heavy blow in next year’s local elections - but this hasn’t worried the education secretary.
“If we unite, if we take the fight to Reform, we can do it,” she adds.
“I am absolutely confident that if we make that case and we set out our story in a compelling way, we can win the next general election.”
‘Andy Burnham should remember politics is a team sport’
Phillipson also had some strong words for Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor who has been putting pressure on Keir Starmer’s premiership.
Last week Burnham publicly challenged the Prime Minister, telling The Telegraph that Labour MPs are urging him to challenge Starmer’s leadership position.
The education secretary tells Jon and Lewis that she thinks Burnham has had “plenty to say” as of late.
“I think all of us do well to remember that politics is a team sport,” Phillipson said of his recent comments.
“We've got to be an effective team, working together, pulling together, and uniting.
“Just chucking stones doesn't get you anywhere, and members don't like it and the public don't like it.”
Burnham has certainly been throwing stones, adding to the pressure on Starmer’s leadership by kicking off the conference with condemnation of the “climate of fear” within the party, and the way the party is being run.
Should the Greater Manchester Major take the advice of former Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who once told a critic; a ‘period of silence from you would be most welcome’?
“Clement Attlee was a very, very wise man,” Phillipson says.