Keir Starmer “risks lives” by branding Reform’s policies “racist”, a senior Reform UK official has warned. Gawain Towler, a member of the party’s board and former head of press for Nigel Farage’s party, highlighted the killing of US commentator Charlie Kirk and the murders of British MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess.
He said: “Words have consequences, Sir Keir, and in a climate where politicians face unprecedented threats, your reprehensible slur isn’t just political theatre; it’s playing with fire.” In a message to the Prime Minister, he added: “Your words endanger lives.” Sir Keir sparked outrage when he claimed Reform’s plan to end indefinite leave to remain was racist.
Mr Farage has announced that a Reform government would scrap the status, which allows some people who are not British citizens to live and work in the UK indefinitely, and instead would require people to apply for a new visa every five years.
Sir Keir said in a BBC interview: “I do think that it is a racist policy. I do think it is immoral. It needs to be called out for what it is.”
And he was backed last night by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, who said: “I think it is a racist policy. People support the Reform party for all sorts of reasons, but this policy is a racist policy.”
Mr Towler said research by the US Secret Service into political assassinations shows “why Starmer’s words are so perilous”, because killers often see themselves “saviours of the nation” eliminating a threat to the public.
And he pointed out that Mr Farage had already received death threats. Mr Towler said: “After Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10, 2025, shot at a Utah university event, with suspect Tyler James Robinson arrested, Farage revealed explicit death threats against him on social media, including TikTok calls for his killing. Yet, Metropolitan Police told him such threats aren’t actionable, despite the post-Kirk context.
“This smacks of selective enforcement, quick to probe social media ‘hate’ but lax on threats to those perceived to be on the right. Words like Starmer’s fuel this fire, yet police inaction exemplifies the two-tier system Farage decries.”
Labour Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has set out her own plans to make it harder to claim indefinite leave to remain, telling Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool that applicants will need to pay National Insurance, claim no benefits, have a clean criminal record, and volunteer in their community, for example by doing charity work.