Being worried about immigration does not make you 'far right', Sir Keir Starmer tells GB News
The Prime Minister sat down for an exclusive interview with GB News in New York - his first since coming to power in July
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People who are worried about migration are "absolutely not" linked to the 'far right', Sir Keir Starmer has said, insisting that "people have legitimate concerns about immigration".
The Prime Minister was speaking to GB News' Political Editor Christopher Hope in New York City, where he is meeting world leaders at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
When asked whether people who are worried about immigration were seen by him as "far right", Starmer said: "Absolutely not."
He continued: "Many, many people across the country are concerned about immigration, but they wouldn't for a minute go on to the street and throw a brick at a police officer.
The Prime Minister told The People's Channel: "I do understand people have legitimate concerns about immigration"
GB NEWS
"And I think it is wrong to pretend or it that they are one of the same. They are not."
The Prime Minister told The People's Channel: "I do understand people have legitimate concerns about immigration, and we should debate them.
"And where they say to me [that] we think migration is too high, then I tend to agree with that.
"Among the reasons is because of the skills failure over the last years, and we need to fix that.
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"I think anybody looking at the numbers would say that is too high," the PM said
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"I think this is a healthy discussion. I don't think it should be something that we shy away from."
"But what I won't do is ally that with the thuggery on the streets," he said, because people who are "genuinely concerned about immigration" aren't and should not be lumped in with violent rioters.
Starmer was pressed about what level of net migration he would be comfortable with.
He replied: "I am not going to put a number on it, but it needs to come down.
Starmer said net migration "needs to come down"
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"I think anybody looking at the numbers would say that is too high.
"And what I'm very concerned about is that if you look at apprenticeship starts for certain skills, they've gone down - at the very same time that visas for those same skills have gone up."
His comments came after Starmer's speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool where he made clear that his Government wanted to bring down net migration.
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