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LIVERPOOL, England: Prime Minister Keir Starmer will say Tuesday that Britain faces a stark choice between decency and division, in an attempt to reset his government and stem the rising popularity of the hard-right party Reform UK.
Starmer will tell his center-left Labour Party that Britain faces “a fight for the soul of our country” as he tries to overcome dire approval ratings, a sluggish economy and the challenge posed by divisive Reform leader Nigel Farage.
“Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency or we can choose division. Renewal or decline,” Starmer will say, according to his office.
Since Labour won a landslide election victory in July 2024, its popularity has plummeted. The party promised economic growth, but has struggled to deliver it. Inflation remains stubbornly high and the economic outlook subdued, frustrating efforts to repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living.
Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said Monday that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have caused “harsh global headwinds,” and hard economic choices loom when she sets out her budget in November.
Against that gloomy backdrop, Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool – motto: “Renew Britain” – has been dominated by conversations about how to fight Reform. Farage’s party has topped opinion polls for months, ahead of both Labour and the main opposition Conservatives, despite holding just five of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.
Farage’s anti-establishment, anti-immigration message, with its echoes of Trump’s MAGA movement, has homed in on the issue of thousands of migrants in small boats arriving in Britain across the English Channel. More than 30,000 people have made the dangerous crossing from France so far this year despite efforts by authorities in Britain, France and other countries to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.
Farage has vowed to deport everyone arriving by small boat and go even farther, stripping the right to remain in the UK from many legal residents.
Starmer said on the weekend that such a policy would be “racist” and “immoral,” and he has accused Farage of nurturing a “politics of grievance” that turns people against one another. He has expressed alarm that a march organized by anti-immigration campaigner and convicted fraudster Tommy Robinson attracted more than 100,000 people in London this month.
Starmer will warn in his speech that the path to renewal is “long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy.
“It is a test,” he plans to say. “A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge.”
The government doesn’t have to call an election until 2029, but already some Labour members are talking about replacing Starmer — especially if the party takes a hammering in local and regional elections in May.
A potential rival is Andy Burnham, the popular Labour mayor of Manchester, who has warned that the party is in “peril” and needs to change direction.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a Starmer ally, said the party didn’t need a new leader, but had to “be better at telling the story of what we are trying to do.”
“I hope in Keir’s speech … he will tell a story about the country we are and the country we want to see,” Khan said.
Labour’s problems are not unique. Established parties around the globe are being challenged by anti-establishment populists. John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said voters have become “deeply pessimistic.”
Curtice said Starmer, who has won praise for his sober handling of the Ukraine war and Trump’s White House, is “very good with bad news” but “not very good at optimism.”
“If you are going turn the mood of the country around, you need to do more than change the reality. You also have to influence perception,” Curtice said. “And clearly the question being raised about the current Labour leadership is: Does it have the ability to change the mood?”

BOGOTA, Colombia: Colombia’s foreign minister has “renounced” her US visa to protest a decision by the US State Department to revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the Colombian government said Monday.
The decision by Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio comes as tensions between both nations escalate over issues that include drug policy, the war in Gaza and a US naval build up in neighboring Venezuela.
Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry did not respond to questions about what kind of visa Villavicencio held, but said in a statement that it was not interested in “diplomatic visas that limit opinions” or curtail the nation’s “sovereignty.”
Later on Monday, Colombian Finance Minister Germán Ávila wrote in an X message that he would stop using his visa in “solidarity” with Petro, and because of the “aggression” he was subjected to by the United States. “To work for our people, we do not need visas” Ávila wrote.
The US State Department revoked Petro’s visa Friday after he participated in a protest in New York against the war in Gaza, in which Petro called for the creation of an international army to liberate the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Holding a megaphone and wearing a kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf, Petro called on US soldiers to “disobey” President Donald Trump’s orders, adding that they should “not point their rifles against humanity.”
Hours after the protest, the State Department said on social media that it would cancel Petro’s visa “due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
Petro was back in Colombia when the visa announcement was made, after having spent several days in New York attending the UN General Assembly. He wrote on X that he “didn’t care” about the punishment because he is also an Italian citizen, and could possibly travel to the USwithout a visa.
The revocation of Petro’s visa marks a new low in the leftist leader’s relations with the Trump administration, which earlier this month placed Colombia on a list of countries that it says are not fulfilling their international commitments to curb drug trafficking.
Geoff Ramsey, a Colombia analyst at the Atlantic Council, said the foreign minister’s decision to ban herself from visiting the United States places more obstacles in the relationship. He said it also reflects an effort by the Petro administration to distance itself from the US government, as Colombia heads into congressional and presidential elections next year.
“Petro is not even remotely interested in repairing the relationship with Washington,” Ramsey said. “He’s clearly betting that confrontation with Trump will score points for his coalition in the upcoming election cycle, and is willing to torch the bilateral relationship with the United States in the process.”
David Hart, an immigration attorney based in Miami, said it is very rare for non-immigrant visa holders — such as those with tourist or diplomatic visas — to renounce their travel permit.
He said that people who do not want to travel to the US can simply let their visas expire and then choose to not renew them.
“They are doing this for the media and to show solidarity” with Petro, Hart said of the foreign minister’s efforts to renounce her visa.
Wilfredo Allen, an immigration attorney from Miami, said that there is no formal procedure for quitting on a non-immigrant visa. He added that Colombia’s foreign affairs minister will likely have to send a letter to the US Embassy seeking the cancelation of her travel permit.
“If you don’t want to travel to the US you can simply choose not to come,” Allen said. “I had never seen someone take the time to renounce a non-immigrant visa.”