Keir Starmer has dismissed comparisons between his recent immigration speech and Enoch Powell's infamous rhetoric as "complete nonsense".
The Prime Minister has faced criticism for warning that the UK risked becoming an "island of strangers" if migration controls were not tightened.
Speaking exclusively to GB News, Starmer said: "That's a complete nonsense. My values are about how we bring our country together. I've always believed in the patriotism that Labour's long embodied as a political party.
"We are proud of our country. We take our country forward.
Keir Starmer blasted the claims in an exclusive interview with GB News
GB NEWS
"We do that by bringing our neighbours together, by being neighbours of being a community, not by being strangers. A strong Labour value."
He added: "Migrants have added a huge contribution and changed our country for the better and I celebrate our diversity.
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"We are a country which is diverse. I celebrate that. Where migrants coming to our country have added a huge contribution and changed our country for the better.
"But we do that as friends, as colleagues, as neighbours in a community, and a country has to move forward.
"I want to lead a country that's moving forward, facing up to the challenge of the future and that's why I'm concerned that the last four years are the last government have risked us becoming an island of strangers."
His speech on Monday outlined plans to crack down on legal migration, including scrapping the social care visa, making it harder to gain settled status, and raising English language requirements for visa applicants and their families.
Keir Starmer is currently in Albania
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The Prime Minister has recieved backlash from his own party for the speech, with John McDonnel claimed that it "shockingly echoes the divisive language of Enoch Powell".
Labour MP Zarah Sultana, representing Coventry South, reportedly expressed similar concerns.
This specific wording has drawn scrutiny as critics note Powell's 1968 speech warned that white British people could find themselves "strangers in their own country" due to migration.
Powell was sacked from the Conservative frontbench after delivering his speech, which outraged senior colleagues at the time.
A snap YouGov poll conducted on Tuesday showed that a clear majority of the British public agree with the Prime Minister's sentiments.
Reform UK's Sarah Pochin claimed Labour knows "what the electorate want to hear" after seeing the impact of Reform's policies in recent elections.
However, she dismissed the immigration policies announced as "just a bit of bluster, a bit of waffle".
