KEIR Starmer’s now infamous “Island of strangers” speech will be one he will in time reflect upon with shame.
Perhaps he’ll attempt to excuse himself by pointing to his need to respond to the evident rise in the far-right in this country and his feeling that he should echo the lazy bigotry which underpins their success.
He seems to have ignored that the high profile granted by a media addicted to ‘stories’ rather than pursuit of truth has contributed most to the growth in far-right support; the media believing ratings will grow if they give oxygen to outspoken controversy and mendacious populism.
But it’s worrying the prime minister should believe that the most appropriate response to the rise of the far-right is to echo their language rather than to stand up to them.
The wise Burkian refrain “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing” should instead have echoed through the corridors of Downing Street. But their earphones must have been deafened by fear.
The prime minister is ignoring economic common sense. Though people say they want immigration cut back, they also want our NHS and care services to function and not collapse, and our universities want to survive and not crumble.
- Shocked but not surprised the Government has failed to protect our 12 nautical miles territorial waters for our fishermen. The Conservatives failed to do as promised post Brexit.
They sold our fishermen out and now Labour has compounded that harm; fishermen will struggle beyond the 6-mile limit for another 12 years. Unacceptable.
- The shocking continued slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza has been tacitly backed by the Conservative front bench and has been quietly condoned by Labour; still not closing off all arms supplies, permitting trade with illegal settlements and permitting our air base in Cyprus to be used to support the far-right Israeli government.
So I welcome their joint statement with France and Canada demanding a ceasefire and threatening sanctions. I spoke out again in Parliament last week. It’s clear Netanyahu is using Israeli hostages as a pretext to continue the slaughter. He also knows that if he stops, he may face electors sooner than he want, and if turfed out of office will then face the courts and ultimately prison.
- Please back my petition to reinstate the driving test centre in Penzance. It’s simply unacceptable that locals should have to wait many months to get their tests underway.
Once again, being at the end of a long peninsula is ignored when planning the provision of these essential services.
- I look forward to meeting the new Councillors on the Isles of Scilly soon.
A chance to catch up on the many opportunities and challenges of life on the islands; to review progress of the new care home and hospital extension; discuss transport and education issues; to hold a public meeting and surgery.
Andrew George
Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives