LONDON – A former Labour voter who Sir Keir Starmer said made him realise the party had it ‘wrong on immigration’ has said she ‘doesn’t believe a word the prime minister says’.
Earlier this week, Sir Keir told his party’s conference he twigged ‘the Left had got it wrong on illegal immigration’ when he visited the town of Oldham 10 years ago and spoke to a pensioner.
The woman, Joyce Todd (79) who has owned her £130 000 terraced home in Oldham since 1979, was introduced to the then newly-elected MP when he visited the town during the 2015 by-election and she was working with the local council.
In his speech to delegates in Liverpool earlier this week, the PM said: ‘‘Soon after I became an MP, I went to Oldham for a by-election up there.
“I was taken to a street to meet a woman, who I was told had strong views on immigration.
“I knocked on the door, she invited me in, we had a cup of tea and a Rich Tea biscuit and then as we sat there, she got her photo album out and showed me pictures.
“They were of her at the wedding at her Asian neighbour, she was proud that she was her friend.
“Now, I’m not the most patient of people as anyone in my family will tell you but I started thinking: What is going on here?”
“Then we finally got to it and she told me how some men from Eastern Europe had recently moved into her street.
“They sat on her wall, didn’t put their rubbish out at the right time and spat on the ground.
“To her, that broke the little but important rules of her street. She didn’t like it.
“Then I realised what was really happening and conference, what was really happening, was that she an ordinary working-class woman from Oldham.
“A Labour voter felt that she had to prove to a Labour politician that she wasn’t racist before she could even bring up the issues in her community.’
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