It was racist, he said, unequivocally, for Reform UK to pledge to end indefinite leave to remain, a policy that threatens the lives of people long settled in Britain. “I do think it is a racist policy,” he told the BBC. Starmer and senior strategists think Reform’s policy on indefinite leave to remain has been an overreach. Starmer was careful in his interview to delineate his view of the policy and the party’s voters. But there is no naivety in No 10 about bad-faith actors who will say Starmer has now cast all Reform-curious voters as racist bigots.