Hibapress
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is “concerned” about the rise of the far right in Europe and in his country, which has recently been rocked by a wave of violent riots blamed on groups hostile to migrants.
Mr Starmer, speaking on Wednesday evening from Berlin where he was on a working visit, said he was “concerned” by the challenge posed by far-right populism, stressing that the issue “occupies” his time.
Several cities in England and Northern Ireland have been rocked by anti-immigration riots recently, instigated by far-right groups. The riots followed a knife attack that killed three young girls on July 29 in Southport, northwest England.
Rumours about the suspect, incorrectly described as a Muslim asylum seeker, were spread by influential far-right accounts on social media, leading to an outbreak of xenophobic and racist violence across England.
The Labour Prime Minister blamed the riots on the Conservative Party, which led the previous British government.
“These riots did not happen in a vacuum. They exposed the state of our country and revealed a deeply unhealthy society, weakened by a decade of division and decline and infected by a spiral of populism,” Starmer said in a speech at the British Prime Minister’s office on Tuesday.
Mr Starmer, who was speaking to reporters in the German capital as he departed for France, warned of the rise of the far right in other European countries, including France and Germany.
“I think the challenge has to be taken up by democracy and by progressives, and we have to have a common discussion about what that means across Europe and beyond,” he said.
