In the lead up to the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, Stand Up to Racism have been out every weekend warning people that Reform is a racist party.
Activists say that the election is between Reform and Starmer’s Labour – whom they are implicitly supporting as a ‘lesser evil’.
A paragraph from their leaflet states:
“[Reform] wants you to blame migrants and refugees for the problems in Britain while it protects the super-rich who are grabbing more and more.”
But this statement could apply equally – if not more – to Labour, who have gone into overdrive when it comes to scapegoating migrants and refugees.
The only substantial difference between Labour and Reform on this question is that Labour is the party that is in power – so the damage to the lives of the refugees is not a danger for the future, but a brutal reality now.
For example, back in January Labour bragged about deporting a “record number” of “refused asylum seekers and overseas criminals” since coming to power.
In January alone, the government raided and arrested 600 immigrants, which they were keen to point out was 73 percent higher than the number of arrests under the Tories one year previous.
During the Runcorn and Helsby campaign, Labour’s candidate Karen Shore made shutting down the local asylum centre part of her election programme before Reform did. Previously, Labour tried to outflank Reform on the right – now it seems to be the other way around!
At the start of April, 136 refugee and human rights organisations criticised Starmer for his rhetoric focussing on “people smugglers”, and his ignoring calls for safe routes for asylum seekers.
In their press release they correctly linked this rhetoric – which is common currency for all of the establishment parties – with the anti-migrant pogroms last summer.
Asylum clampdown
The brutality of the Starmer regime becomes clear when you examine the position of asylum, seekers from Afghanistan, and Afghan women in particular.
On 5 April the Guardian reported on the case of an Afghan woman whose asylum had been refused, even though she was not only a womens’ rights activist, but had worked with western governments.
Incredibly, the letter she received from the Home Office, led by Labour Home Secretary and ‘law and order’ fanatic Yvette Cooper, effectively told her she had nothing to worry about!
Far from her political activity marking her a target for oppression, or even murder, this woman was told “you likely have a great support network due to your occupation”!
The woman expected the case to be a formality, as such cases used to be generally accepted – the Taliban regularly targets advocates for womens’ rights.
However, in the last quarter of 2024, Labour rejected 2,000 Afghan asylum claims, bringing the acceptance rate down to 36 percent. To put that into perspective, the Tories accepted 98.5 percent of claims one year before!
So there you have it: Under Starmer, Labour is even more racist and anti-migrant than Reform and the Tories!
The only way to defend our class against attacks and division is to build a radical working-class alternative to Labour.
Labour publish racist migrant ‘league tables’
Mac Morales, Southampton
The home secretary Yvette Cooper has recently announced that the government will be releasing ‘league tables’ of which nation’s immigrants commit the most crimes.
This is sickeningly racist, not least at a time when racist hate crimes are going through the roof.
This is an attempt to divide the working class along national lines, throwing the most marginalised layers of our class under the bus.
This is to distract from the fact that the Starmer government has been a disaster since day one.
Frankly, the criminals that should be topping league tables are the crooked jackals like Starmer or Streeting. It is nauseating that these dogs have the gall to act as if they are the ‘lesser evil’ compared to Reform UK come election time.
And finally, it is worth mentioning that if one of British imperialism’s enemies was to do this, it would be all over the news!
We would not stop hearing of how this or that country is indescribably intolerant, the implication being that our own Britain is a bastion of freedom that really ought to intervene.
The reality is that foreign nationals in the UK are subject to a campaign of racist persecution from the state.
Starmer is just as bad as those he claims to be opposing. This billionaire-owned government is a cowardly, short-sighted standard bearer for racism.
Starmer keeps Tory anti-migrant visa policy in place
Rees Ross, Sheffield
A very good friend of mine from Brazil has recently lost his visa status.
He came to the UK seven years ago to study for a PhD. That didn’t work out so he worked tirelessly in many kitchens in Sheffield to make ends meet.
The Tories’ 2024 changes to the skilled worker visa meant that he would’ve had to earn £38,700 annually – a whopping increase of £12,500.
The fact that Starmer did not reverse this shocking act of class warfare just shows how spineless the reformists truly are. Revolution is the only way we can cut through the anti-immigration agenda and provide for every worker.
