Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on current Prime Minister Keir Starmer to develop a comprehensive plan to manage immigration, emphasizing the potential threat from right-wing parties in the UK.
Starmer, marking his third day as Prime Minister, embarked on a tour of Scotland following Labour’s decisive election victory. Despite the party’s overwhelming majority, Blair cautioned that challenges from the anti-immigration Reform UK Party, led by Nigel Farage, remain significant.
Farage’s Reform UK Party played a pivotal role in the recent election by dividing the right-wing vote, ultimately securing five seats in Parliament and 14% of the vote. Farage has since indicated his party’s intention to target Labour voters.
In an article for The Sunday Times, Blair highlighted the importance of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to manage irregular immigration, noting widespread political disruption in Western countries. He drew parallels to political landscapes in France and Italy, stressing the necessity for immigration control to prevent prejudice.
Blair, who led Labour to three consecutive election victories starting in 1997, advocated for digital ID technology as the most effective solution for immigration control—a key issue in the latest election campaign. “We should move as the world is moving to digital ID. If not, new border controls will have to be highly effective,” he wrote.
Additionally, Blair recommended adopting a stringent approach to law and order, expressing concern that criminal elements are evolving more rapidly than law enforcement. He also advised the government to steer clear of policies perceived as excessively politically correct, warning against vulnerabilities related to ‘wokeism’.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick echoed Blair’s sentiments, attributing the Conservative Party’s recent electoral defeat to their failure to deliver on immigration promises. Jenrick, who retained his seat in Newark, criticized the Tory government’s Rwanda plan, which aimed to deport asylum seekers to East Africa but was hindered by legal challenges.
Starmer, who has been critical of the Rwanda plan since its inception, declared it “dead and buried” on his first day as Prime Minister, signaling a shift in the government’s approach to immigration.