by Steven Richards
Right-wing parties are hammering Sir Keir over rise in illegal immigration while his own leadership of the Labour Party is being challenged from within over his choice of Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S. It was disclosed this month that Mandelson had significant financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Once riding high on early diplomatic successes with the new Trump administration, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is facing a dual-barreled crisis of his own making, facing growing criticism of his failures to address illegal immigration and uncomfortable questions about an ally’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Last year, Starmer promised sweeping reforms to the United Kingdom’s immigration system, to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants across the English Channel and reduce net legal migration to the country, citing its ill effects on the British population like competition for jobs, wage pressures and cultural clashes.
“Without immigration rules, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together,” Starmer said last year as he unveiled a new strategy to shake up Britain's immigration system.
“So when you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some businesses to bring in lower-paid workers rather than invest in our young people, or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise, then you’re not championing growth, you’re not championing justice, or however else people defend the status quo,” he continued. “You’re actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.”
The Labour crackdown reduces legal but not illegal immigration
Starmer’s proposal included plans to prohibit the recruitment of care workers from overseas, restrict skilled worker visas, and increase costs for businesses to sponsor foreign workers, the BBC reported at the time. The plans also included a proposal to impose an English-language requirement for visas and increase the amount of time to apply for permanent status from five to 10 years.
The British Home Office estimated that these policies would cause a 100,000 per year drop in total immigration by 2029.
The Labour policy changes have been remarkably successful at returning net legal migration to historic levels after a massive spike in 2023. In 2025, net migration to Britain fell to an estimated 204,000–lower by 78% than its 2023 peak of 944,000.
There is also evidence that the Labour government succeeded in cutting the number of skilled foreign workers by about half, according to data reviewed by the Oxford University’s The Migration Observatory.
At the same time that his government has succeeded in curbing legal immigration pathways, Starmer has presided over a record increase in illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel by boat and landing on Britain’s shores. As part of his immigration reform proposals, Starmer promised that he would “smash the gangs” and prevent such crossings.
In 2025, the number of illegal crossings increased by 13% over the prior year, and became the second-highest year for such illegal migration on record. The British government said that 41,472 people crossed the channel last year.
Starmer faces withering criticism from conservative opposition
His handling of the crisis has naturally elicited criticism from his political opponents, especially those who have long held that immigration, especially legal immigration, is one of the chief problems facing the United Kingdom.
"Smash the gangs is a complete disaster, the one in one out deal is a farce and the numbers coming over are huge,” said Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, an upstart right-wing party that is currently polling nearly 10 points over Labour.
"Many of the young men that have arrived last year will do us great harm,” Farage added.
Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of the U.K.’s most well-known football club, Manchester United, also sharply criticized Starmer’s government, saying that Britain is being “colonized” by immigrants. “I don’t think the (British) economy is in a good place,” Ratcliffe told Sky News last week.
“You can’t have an economy with 9 million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in. I mean, the U.K. has been colonized. It’s costing too much money. The U.K. has been colonized by immigrants, really, hasn’t it?”
Starmer called the comments “offensive and wrong” and called on Ratcliffe to apologize. “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country,” he added.
Farage has warned about the “growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, [who] in fact loathe much of what we stand for.” He clarified that he was specifically speaking about the Muslim population. “And I’m afraid I found some of the recent surveys saying that 46% of British Muslims support Hamas – support a terrorist organization that is proscribed in this country.”
The "Raise the Colours" movement: Patriotism or prejudice?
Immigration from Muslim-majority countries has particularly become a hot-button issue in British politics, especially among the opponents to the Labour government.
Last August, a grassroots movement called "Raise the Colours" spread from South Birmingham to all across the U.K., starting with a handful of people tying England's St. George's Cross and Union Jack flags to lamp posts. Supporters call the resurgence patriotic while critics warn it shows extremism, echoing MAGA-like culture wars across the pond. The Washington Post reported that participants have tied thousands of flags on streetlights, and in Birmingham, the nation’s second-largest city, versions of the cross were painted onto traffic roundabouts.
The Guardian reported that anti-racism campaigners have concerns about the motivation and timing of the movement. “We are concerned that the discussion around the English flag and patriotism is giving cover for racism driven by the far right, and – shamefully – by politicians of all shades,” said Lewis Nielsen, who claimed the title of "anti-fascist officer" at Stand Up to Racism.
Police told the BBC that they had removed about 200 flags, but not removed any Palestinian flags flown from lamp-posts.
MP Rupert Lowe, a former member of Farage’s party, announced the formation of a new political party last week, highlighting immigration as a major issue in its platform. He called out the perceived dangers of Muslim immigration in starker terms.
He said “millions must go” and pledged to close off visa routes from "Albania, Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and plenty more.” These are majority Muslim countries. The BBC reported that Muhammad was the top choice for parents naming their baby boys in England and Wales in 2023, with more than 4,600 children registered with the name.
"We will discriminate," Lowe said. "We will look at the facts, and then discriminate."
Just days after the announcement, his new party, Restore Britain, announced that it now has more than 50,000 members, nearly half the membership of the establishment Conservative Party as reported last July.
None of Labour’s immigration reforms have been particularly targeted at immigration from Muslim countries. In fact, Starmer’s Labour government has instead maintained a relationship with prominent Muslim charity organization, Islamic Relief, whose U.K. branch helps Muslim refugees secure access to state services in the UK.
The charity says that the United Kingdom “must do more to fulfill their international responsibilities” and commit to “resettling larger numbers of refugees.”
Islamic Relief has been banned by the governments of Israel and the United Arab Emirates since 2014 over alleged ties to the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas. The UAE additionally labeled Islamic Relief a terrorist organization, according to NGO Monitor, a project of the Institute for NGO Research, an independent and nonpartisan research institute dedicated to promoting transparency and accountability primarily in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The charity denies both claims, and points to an audit conducted of its work in the West Bank that showed no evidence that any funding was diverted to Hamas. Islamic Relief has elsewhere stated "it does not promote or support extremism of any kind and that it is purely a humanitarian organization."
According to government records, the Labour government’s Under-Secretary of State for Climate, Kerry McCarthy, met on at least one occasion in 2024 with representatives from Islamic Relief.
The Jeffrey Epstein fallout spreads across the Atlantic
The British political establishment was rocked in recent weeks by the revelations that disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein made $75,000 worth of payments to Lord Peter Mandelson through connected accounts.
Mandelson, who served in the Labour Party government from 2008 to 2010, was described by The New York Times as a “veteran political operative whose ruthless tactics and spin led people to dub him the ‘Prince of Darkness’.”
The scandal has engulfed the current Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who appointed Mandelson as His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the United States of America last year before he resigned.
The Epstein files that have been released by the U.S. Department of Justice show that Mandelson and his now-partner received at least $75,000 from Epstein, though Mandelson denies having any record of receiving this money. There have been allegations — not proven at this time — that Mandelson may have leaked “market sensitive information” to Epstein, The Nation reported.
“He lied repeatedly to my team": Starmer
Starmer told Parliament last week that he knew about Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before he appointed him ambassador to the United States, but that Mandelson “lied repeatedly” about the extent of that relationship.
“He lied repeatedly to my team, when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador,” Starmer said. “I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never been anywhere near government.”
Starmer faced an internal challenge to his leadership from the Labour Party and the resignation of senior staff, including his chief of staff, who took “full responsibility” for advising him to proceed with the Mandelson appointment. Starmer’s communications chief also resigned.
Starmer has vowed to fight any challenge to his leadership, and so far, appears to have been successful in fending off the internal coup.
“I have won every fight I’ve ever been in. I fought to change the Labour Party to allow us to win an election again. People told me I couldn’t do it,” he said at a Labour Party meeting last week.
Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the scandal will damage the prime minister, even if it doesn’t cost him his current leadership of the Labour Party.
“A more popular PM might have been able to ride it out, but he was already facing a good deal of hostility from voters before it blew up,” Bale told Al Jazeera. “He’s managed so far to hold on to his cabinet, but he’s completely lost the trust of the electorate – and that’s hard to get back.”
Indeed, Starmer remains very unpopular with a -47% net approval rating, according to the most recent polling data.
Steven Richards
Source: https://justthenews.com/world/europe/britains-starmer-faces-dual-barreled-immigration-epstein-crisis-leadership
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