Dear Prime Minister
Re: Your “Island of Strangers” Speech – A Shameful, Xenophobic Betrayal
I have given this considerable thought before deciding to share this publicly. Over the past two weeks, I have had the privilege of engaging with a remarkable group of South Asian women, discussing political issues and the importance of ensuring that their perspectives and voices are recognised and heard. These conversations have underscored the value of speaking out, and I have come to the conclusion that remaining silent on a matter about which I feel deeply would be both inconsistent and unjust.
I am writing not out of disappointment, but out of fury and profound betrayal following your “Island of Strangers” speech. A speech that can only be described as a xenophobic dog-whistle cloaked in political calculation. It was a disgrace to the values the Labour Party claims to represent and a dark moment in its history.
Your language, painting Britain as fractured by the presence of immigrants, refugees, and people who “don’t look or sound like” some imagined norm, is not just irresponsible, it is racist and dangerous. You legitimised the rhetoric of the far-right from the dispatch box of a party that once stood for social justice, solidarity, fairness, compassion and inclusion. You did not just echo reactionary narratives, you amplified them.
And for those of us who have believed in Labour as a vehicle for justice and equality, the damage runs deep. I went through the Labour selection process believing, perhaps naively, that it was a space where the party would embrace and elevate voices like mine—people who reflect the real Britain. But what I encountered was cold, strategic gatekeeping. It became painfully clear that the Labour Party no longer wants people like me in Parliament. My background, my experience, my identity, were seen as liabilities, not assets.
Your speech did not merely confirm that suspicion but it broadcast it to the entire country.
This wasn’t a misstep. It was a calculated statement of intent. You have chosen to treat migrants and minorities as political expendables. People to be distanced from, blamed, erased from the national narrative. Your words feed the narrative that some people do not belong here, and in doing so, you have betrayed the very soul of the party you lead and the party I first joined over 40 years ago.
If this is the Labour Party’s vision of the future, then it is one built on exclusion, fear, and silence, not solidarity, not hope, and certainly not justice. You are dismantling, brick by brick, the foundation that generations before us fought to build.
Your words have caused real harm. Not only to those directly dehumanised, but to every Labour member who believed we were building a more compassionate and inclusive movement. The tone and implications of your speech evoke troubling parallels with Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood”—a speech that once legitimised fear and division in the political mainstream. At a time when Reform UK is gaining traction, as evidenced by their recent success in the local elections, we must be especially vigilant. Normalising this kind of rhetoric not only alienates communities, it risks paving the way for a future in which a Reform-led government is no longer unthinkable.
Yours in bitter disillusionment
Hifsa
Soulful Spaces 