Overview

• Starmer said Britain faces a “defining choice” between “decency” and “division,” calling Farage a “snake oil merchant” who “doesn’t like Britain.”
• He condemned Reform proposals such as scrapping indefinite leave to remain as crossing a “moral line” and vowed to “fight with everything we have.”
• Farage responded that the rhetoric was abusive and warned it could encourage violence against Reform activists, declaring Starmer “unfit to be prime minister.”
• Starmer announced a digital NHS “online hospital” from 2027 that Labour says could add up to 8.5 million appointments in three years, and replaced the 50% university target with a two‑thirds degrees or “gold standard” apprenticeships goal.
• The pivot followed a large anti‑immigration march in London and sustained Reform leads in polls, as Labour grapples with party strains and looming budget trade‑offs.