Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair: Starmer should set out plans to control immigration

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair advised Starmer, who has just become prime minister, urging him to come up with a plan to control immigration.

Tony Blair warned on Sunday that the right-wing, anti-immigration populist Reform UK party was posing a challenge not only to the Conservatives but also to Labour.

Farage, the leader of the Reform Party, was the driving force behind Brexit and was elected to parliament for the first time in this year's general election, and the Reform Party also caused the most damage to the Conservative Party by splitting the right-wing vote in several constituencies.

The Reform Party won five parliamentary seats, with 14% of the vote. Farage said the next step would be to target Labour voters.

Blair served as prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and is the only Labour leader to have led his party to three consecutive general elections. "Across the Western world, traditional political parties are being undermined," he wrote in an article in the Sunday Times entitled "My advice to Starmer", citing France and Italy as examples.

He said: "We need a plan to control immigration. If we don't have rules, there will be bias. "

He mentioned the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and believes that digital ID technology is the best solution to control illegal immigration. "We should move to digital ID as countries around the world have done. If not, the new border controls will have to be very effective."

Labor government Treasurer Stephen Reynolds had earlier said Interior Minister Cooper would look at all proposals on the issue. However, the government ultimately ruled out the introduction of digital ID cards.

"We can rule that out, it's not in our plans," Reynolds said.

Blair also made other proposals, including a tough new approach to law and order, as current criminal methods are modernizing faster than law enforcement.

He also said the government should avoid showing weakness to the awakening culture and adopting policies that many might consider too politically correct.