Profile avatar
digitallaw.bsky.social
27 posts 607 followers 1,099 following
Prolific Poster
Conversation Starter

Former M&S Chairman Lord Rose, "Here we are, 10 years on now from Brexit" "The issues of immigration are caused by Brexit" "The issues of our poor economic performance ate down to Brexit"

Starmer's language was deplorable. It was grotesquely offensive, accusing people who have brought their gifts to this country of doing "incalculable" "damage"; & politically foolish, in endorsing Farage's claims of an establishment conspiracy. But bad analogies with Powell miss the key problem. 🧵

I know I'm not British, but why Labour UK won't look at rejoining the EU is seriously beyond me. It would be great for their economy, help counter the rise of fascist regimes (Russia, USA...), and be *hugely popular with most British voters.* What am I missing??

Here's the Right's new grift: "Net zero immigration". (Labour shifts rightward, so others move further right. So predictable.) The language comes pre-rolled because of the ubiquitous use of "net zero" for countering climate change. Likely to see a lot more of this sort of thing in the months ahead.

Bravo #libdems and @eddavey.libdems.org.uk

Can the government change the immigration rules on settlement after a migrant enters the UK? Probably yes. See Odelola case. But see also HSMP for an exception. Should the government do this? Absolutely not, it is a grossly unfair breach of the immigration contract.

Time to start looking beyond Keir Starmer

www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/je...

I’m looking forward to joining Iain Dale on LBC tonight. I suspect we will be talking about scapegoating foreigners, Keir Starmer & incendiary language in politics. Tune in at 8pm if you can.

💥 In 2008, the average German 🇩🇪 🏡 household earned £500 more than a UK 🇬🇧🏡 household. 💥By 2020, it was £4,000 more. Brexit didn’t just fail. It dragged You🫵 backwards. Lower pay❌ Higher bills❌ Lost future❌ Reform, Tories & Labour all want more! Vote For Change! 🇬🇧❤️🇪🇺🇬🇧❤️🇪🇺🇬🇧❤️🇪🇺🇬🇧❤️🇪🇺 #RejoinEU #BrexitRebels

🔴Keir Starmer Cast Adrift on His 'Island of Strangers' There is only one person who benefits from the Government's descent into Farage-style anti-migrant rhetoric and it isn't the Prime Minister www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/keir-starm...

Hey stranger @mrjamesob.bsky.social amongst my friends who have heritage from overseas who have commented, they are all disgusted by Starmer's island of strangers remark It's as if being a part of society, in whatever capacity, is worth less than Starmer's desperation to appeal to populist far

Starmer’s “remarks are disgraceful. They are damaging in part because they validate the rhetoric and dishonesty of both Reform and the Conservatives. But, incredibly, they are also seriously damaging for the Labour govt itself” V good, clear-sighted analysis mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/05/star...

Starmer doing an Enoch Powell-adjacent speech and then the next day going "oh my god, I can't BELIEVE so many of you are being so performatively outraged" like me punching the air near my mum's head and going "oh my god, I can't BELIEVE you're having a go when I'm so OBVIOUSLY just punching air".

Anyway, if Starmer is employing speechwriters who either don’t know or don’t care about the language of Powell, he’s a fool.

The worst element of what happened this week isn't even about immigration specifically. It's that Starmer surrendered against populism.

This 'strangers' comparison with Powell is overblown. I thought the 'squalid' line was much worse. Can't get it out of my head. I know it was ostensibly about an era, but it was very clearly designed to be vivid enough to speak to a set of voters. It was a meaningful choice.

"The UK is very good – much better than most European countries – at integrating migrants, because most Britons, and most migrants, want integration... The rhetoric and policy we saw yesterday will take us backward to a much uglier, and more dangerous, place." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

1955: Whites-only water fountains 2025: Whites-only immigration.

Huge thanks to the advisor who suggested I put “island of strangers” in my speech. Now Reform voters still hate me and Labour voters hate me even more.

If you care about the facts of the immigration debate (as opposed to just ‘the debate’) worth reading this @jdportes.bsky.social op-ed in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

As well as the White Paper, the Home Office published a lot of very useful research yesterday. Funnily enough, this chart didn't make it into the White Paper. [NB median PAYE earnings for all employees was £28K] www.gov.uk/government/p...

Starmer’s immigration speech: the fallout continues. Sadiq Khan takes your calls. Macron, cocaine, misinformation & wilful credulity. tinyurl.com/4rrn2mkx

"The government's argument sounds plausible. There's just one problem. It doesn't fit the facts. And the government knows it." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If Starmer wants to slow down permanent migration maybe he should rejoin the EU - allowing an increase in workers from nearby countries, many of whom - as the experience of Poland shows - will later return home

🚨Here's why you should care about the Albanian election 👇 Pro-EU socialist Edi Rama is on course for his fourth term as PM of Albania. In a region blighted by Russian interference and right-wing populism, Rama’s victory is a victory for further European integration. 1/

Indeed, and this culminated in the explicitly and deliberately racist Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1968, accurately described by wikipedia below. This is not an example from history Labour (or any government) should be emulating

In the 1940s my grandad joined the fight against Mussolini. In the 1970s my parents joined the fight against the NF In the 1990s I joined the fight against the BNP. Starmer's rhetoric is all too familiar. Solidarity with everyone under attack from this increasingly far right government.

'Cheap foreign labour' is still stinging. Not a phrase any Labour politician should ever have used.

Lead headline on BBC Politics Live: “Prime Minister accused of echoing far right language.” Was/is this the Downing Street comms goal in framing their immigration reform? If so, how is this helpful? If not, how has this happened?

Ben Jennings hitting the nail on the head in @theguardian.com

Gov't criticised from all sides. From the right, "not enough". From all others for its awful rhetoric. "Why are we trying to ape Reform when that will do nothing to improve constituents' lives and just stoke division?" ~AA @timfarron.bsky.social @carladenyer.bsky.social @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social

A lot has been said about Labour's hardening of immigration rules & dehumanising rhetoric, but nobody is sharing the opinions of migrant workers. That's why we commissioned Nandi Msezane, a care worker in East Sussex, to write this piece for us. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Today’s immigration announcement and rhetoric is profoundly depressing. It’s the closest I’ve come to the feelings I had about the UK the day after the referendum (and the months and years thereafter). And now from a Labour govt and PM.

foreign careworkers have done incalculable damage to this country (subs, pls check)

Spot on. From @mortenmorland.bsky.social in today's @thetimes.com

Labour's twin problems: - Those who care the most about "too much immigration" will NEVER make Labour their first choice. Not when Reform and the Tories are both deliberately going much harder. - Those less concerned by the issue will be sick to their stomachs at yesterday's violent pitch right.

This chart from Immigration White Paper illustrates quality of government's underlying "analysis." 1. Numbers are completely wrong (in fact non-EU employment in health/care rose by over 100K). 2. Doesn't say what time period this is. 3. Footnote to source says data is from OECD (it's from HMRC)