British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took center stage at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool on September 28, 2025, delivering a keynote speech that underscored the mounting political pressures and divisions within his party and across the United Kingdom. With local and regional elections looming in May, Starmer’s address was as much a rallying cry for unity as it was a pointed attack on the surging populist force of Reform UK, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.
Starmer’s speech came against the backdrop of growing dissatisfaction with his government. According to Ipsos polling cited by BBC News, only 13 percent of voters currently express satisfaction with his administration—an all-time low for any prime minister since the firm began tracking such data in 1977. Labour, which ended 14 years of Conservative rule with a landslide victory in July 2024, has seen its support erode rapidly, with internal rumblings about Starmer’s leadership adding fuel to the fire.
"We have got the fight of our lives ahead of us, because we’ve got to take on Reform. We’ve got to beat them, and so now is not the time for introspection or navel gazing," Starmer told BBC News. He urged Labour members to put aside internal disputes and focus on the external threat posed by Reform UK. "We need to be in that fight united," he insisted, a plea that seemed directed as much at his own restive MPs as at the wider party faithful.
The immediate spark for Starmer’s combative tone was Reform UK’s recent proposal to scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR) for migrants—a policy that, if enacted, could see hundreds of thousands of people who are lawfully in the country facing deportation. Farage’s party, which has built its brand on restricting immigration, announced the plan last week, drawing sharp criticism from across the political spectrum.
Starmer did not mince words. "I do think it's a racist policy, I do think it's immoral—it needs to be called out for what it is," he said in an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. He elaborated, "It's one thing to say we're going to remove illegal migrants, people who have no right to be here, I'm up for that. It's a completely different thing to say we're going to reach in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them. They are our neighbours, they're people who work in our economy, they're part of who we are. It will rip this country apart."
Despite the harsh criticism, Starmer was careful to separate the policy from its supporters. "No. I think there are plenty of people who either vote Reform or are thinking of voting Reform who are frustrated. They had 14 years of failure under the Conservatives, they want us to change things—they may have voted Labour a year ago—but they want things to change more quickly. I actually totally do understand that," he said, reflecting on the widespread public dissatisfaction with the slow pace of change.
Labour itself has proposed changes to the immigration system, announcing in May that it plans to double the period required to gain indefinite leave to remain from five years to ten as part of broader efforts to cut immigration. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood echoed this sentiment, telling The Sun on Sunday that while legal migration is a "good thing" and the UK has "always welcomed people who want to come and work here," migrants should also "make a contribution to their wider community."
The debate over immigration policy is deeply divisive among the British public. A YouGov poll published on September 27 revealed that while 58 percent of Britons oppose removing ILR from those who already hold it, more than 44 percent support ending ILR as a future policy, with 43 percent opposed to the idea. Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf responded to Starmer’s accusations by saying, "Labour's message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or Labour will call you racist. Reform's plan will ensure only British people can access welfare and that migrants contribute to society."
Starmer’s call for unity was also a response to mounting internal challenges. Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, a popular figure within Labour ranks, has openly discussed the possibility of a leadership challenge, though as Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands noted, Burnham would first need to become an MP to be eligible. The party has also been rocked by the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over a tax error and the dismissal of UK ambassador Peter Mandelson following revelations about his past friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"I'm not sticking my fingers in my ears," Starmer said when asked if he was ignoring criticism. "We’ve got the fight of our lives ahead of us because we've got to take on Reform and we've got to beat them. So now is not the time for introspection or navel-gazing. There is a fight that we're all in together, and every single member of our party and our movement, actually everyone who cares about what this country is, whether they vote Labour or otherwise. It's the fight of our lives for who we are as a country, and we need to be in that fight, united not navel-gazing."
Outside the conference, the mood was no less charged. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Liverpool over the weekend, demanding that the British government "end Israel’s genocide, stop starving Gaza, stop arming Israel." The protests, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, saw demonstrators chanting, "Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli apartheid has to fall." On Sunday, dozens of protesters were arrested after staging a sit-in with banners declaring, "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action." Al Jazeera’s Challands reported that the demonstrators were seeking to "make a mockery" of the government's recent decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, following direct actions at a Royal Air Force base.
The protests also drew support from celebrities, with comedian and actor Steve Coogan appearing in a video urging Starmer to recognize Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. "Keir Starmer says it’s not genocide; it is genocide," Coogan declared in the widely circulated clip.
Amid the political turbulence, Starmer has tried to keep the focus on his core pledges: improving living standards, enhancing public services, and ensuring people feel safe in their homes. Yet, as he acknowledged, "I can't sit here and say this can all be turned around on a flick of a switch, it's going to take time... I just need the space to get on and do what we need to do."
As Labour’s annual conference continues, the stakes could hardly be higher. With support slipping and both internal and external opponents circling, Starmer faces perhaps the greatest test of his leadership yet. Whether he can unite his party and persuade a skeptical public remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the fight for the soul of the Labour Party—and indeed the country—is far from over.
