To those who say that the only way to love your country is to hate your neighbour because they look different, I say not only do we reject you, we know that you will never win.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is being praised for delivering a powerful message to the ‘racist thugs’ who engaged in violent far-right riots over the summer, telling them they will ‘never win’.
Rejecting claims that the summer’s rioters were “one and the same” as people with legitimate concerns about migration, the Labour leader told the party’s conference in Liverpool that ‘those who say that the only way to love your country is to hate your neighbour because they look different, I say not only do we reject you, we know that you will never win’.
He was praised for his strong condemnation of the racist rioters during the conference speech, with Times Radio host Ayesha Hazarika calling it one of the best sections of the conference speech.
Starmer told conference: “Whatever anyone thinks about immigration, I will never accept the argument made not just by the usual suspects, but by people who should have known better, who said that millions of people concerned about immigration are one and the same thing as the people who smashed up businesses.
“Who targeted mosques, attempted to burn refugees, scrawled racist graffiti over walls. Nazi salutes at the cenotaph. Attacked NHS nurses. And told people, with different coloured skin, people who contribute here, people who grew up here, that they should ‘go home’.
“People concerned about immigration were not doing that because they understand that this country, this democratic country, is built on the rule of law. The ballot box. The common understanding that we debate our differences. We do not settle them with violent thuggery. And racism is vile.
“So to those who equivocate about this, I simply say – the country sees you and it rejects you.
“And to those who say that the only way to love your country is to hate your neighbour because they look different, I say not only do we reject you, we know that you will never win.
“Because the British values we stand for, not just the rule of law, but a love for this country and our neighbours, the respect for difference under the same flag, that is stronger than bricks and you know it.
“It’s what you cannot stand about our country – our reasonable, tolerant country – but it is absolutely who we are.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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