Keir Starmer has warned that Britain faces an era-defining choice between Labour and the populist right, as he launched a scathing attack on Nigel Farage, saying the Reform leader neither “liked or believed in Britain”. In a speech at the Labour conference in Liverpool, the prime minister said the UK stood at a fork in the road where “we can choose decency, we can choose division, renewal or decline”.
Describing Farage as a “snake oil merchant”, Starmer told delegates the country faced a “fight for the soul” against Reform UK, and urged those who had not voted for Labour to join the cause. He contrasted Labour’s path of renewal with the populist right’s route, which he said would lead “to ruin, to chaos, to Britain being poorer in every sense”.
The speech marked a notable change in tone for Starmer, who is languishing in the polls and had been urged to set out a clearer vision. He warned that the road ahead would be difficult, with tough decisions to come in the autumn budget. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, faces the prospect of finding up to £30bn in tax rises or spending cuts next month.
However, the Guardian has learned that ministers are planning to lift the two-child benefit limit, a key demand of Labour MPs and child poverty campaigners, with officials exploring a new tapered system. Starmer also dismissed calls for a wealth tax, saying “the tough decisions, they will keep on coming”.
In a patriotic pitch, Starmer said Labour was the “patriotic party” and sought to reclaim the UK’s flags after a summer of culture war. He condemned those who crossed a “moral line” on migration, including Farage, and said that believing people could be British based on skin colour was “racism”.
