Starmer Condemns Reform UK’s Deportation Plan as ‘Racist’ and ‘Immoral’

September 28, 2025 9:32 PM

Starmer Condemns Reform UK’s Deportation Plan as ‘Racist’ and ‘Immoral’

Labour leader Keir Starmer has launched a forceful attack on Reform UK’s proposal to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), labeling the plan “racist” and “immoral” for targeting people already settled legally in the UK.

Speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool, the Prime Minister acknowledged the frustration of voters considering Reform UK, but warned that the policy—which would force tens of thousands of people to lose their permanent residency—could “tear this country apart.”

The Radical Proposal

Reform UK has pledged to entirely abolish ILR, the primary pathway for non-citizens who have lived and worked legally in the UK for five continuous years to gain permanent residency and eventually, citizenship.

The policy threatens to:

Deport legally settled residents unless they successfully re-apply for temporary visas under new, stricter conditions.
Remove the long-term security of tens of thousands of people, including many who are essential workers and neighbors in the community.
Ban non-citizens from accessing welfare benefits, a right currently held by ILR status holders.

Starmer drew a sharp distinction between removing illegal migrants—a policy he supports—and “reaching in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them,” calling the latter a threat to the country’s social fabric.

Government and Political Response

Separately, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood suggested the government might introduce tougher restrictions on ILR, focusing on an applicant’s “wider contribution” to their communities, beyond just salary and taxes. Mahmood, inspired by her own parents who came from Kashmir in the 1970s, argued that settlement criteria should reflect community involvement, volunteering, and local engagement, not just financial contributions.

The strong focus on attacking Reform UK comes as a poll by More in Common suggested Labour’s strategy might not be resonating, indicating that a significant majority of voters (62%) want Labour to focus on its own policy plans rather than attacking the rival party’s leader, Nigel Farage.

The Prime Minister also defended his government’s push for a new digital ID system, arguing it is necessary to prevent illegal working by providing an “automatic collection of the information by the government so we know exactly who is working in our economy.”