Keir Starmer Says He ‘Deeply Regrets’ His ‘Island of Strangers’ Warning About Risks of Uncontrolled Immigration

Keir Starmer has admitted he ‘deeply regrets’ his warning that uncontrolled immigration risks turning Britain into an ‘island of strangers’.

The PM made the jibe in a speech last month, seen as marking a tough new approach to combat the political threat posed by Reform.

But Sir Keir said he realised the language ‘wasn’t right’ after critics claimed it had echoes of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech.

He pointed to the impact of an alleged arson attack on a property owned by his family, saying he and wife Lady Victoria had been ‘really shaken up’.

The premier gave the speech on May 12, hours after the blaze.

In it, he warned Britain risked becoming ‘an island of strangers’ without tougher immigration controls – rhetoric that sparked an immediate backlash and was denounced by critics, including within Labour ranks, as divisive.

At the time, Downing Street backed the remarks and said Sir Keir ‘completely rejects’ suggestions he had echoed Powell’s infamous ‘rivers of blood’ speech – which was blamed for inflaming racial tensions in the 1960s.

Polling also suggested that most Brits did not have a problem with his use of the phrase.

But in an interview for the Observer, Sir Keir said: ‘I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as an echo of Powell.

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