From now on, Labour has one mission only. It must focus on saving Britain from Farage | Polly Toynbee

"Labour has just one overriding task. Forget all the other missions and milestones: Britain faces a peril that was beyond imagining a short time ago. Saving the country from Nigel Farage is the urgent, patriotic duty of this government; it is vital that it prevents an extremist, racist, authoritarian takeover which would be against the will of the overwhelming majority of the population. Nothing else matters more."

"The Labour government has come adrift. It lacks direction and purpose. Its many welcome policies are missing any thread to make sense of them. Now a new role and function have arrived, uninvited. It's not a political choice but an obligation when the country is under attack from a poisonous enemy. Electoral malfunction risks gifting unrepresentative power to a nativist, xenophobic, divisive, anti-democratic, utterly mendacious party which spouts contempt for knowledge, science and expertise, let alone community and compassion, and calls it common sense."

"Yet the government has vacillated. When ministers mumble in response to repugnant racism, it speaks volumes. Silence is not an option when the right is becoming so toxic. The former Conservative and Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, once a relative Ukip moderate, recently tweeted: From Epping to the sea, let's make England Abdul free. He marks the racist trajectory. Once he attacked Enoch Powell's rivers of blood speech and praised Britain as being more at ease with the multi-ethnic society:"

Labour must prioritise preventing Nigel Farage and his allies from seizing power to avert an extremist, racist, authoritarian takeover. The government currently lacks clear direction and coherent purpose, leaving policies disconnected and ineffective. Electoral malfunction could hand unrepresentative power to a nativist, xenophobic, divisive, anti-democratic party that rejects expertise and compassion. Ministers' muted responses to racist incidents signal dangerous vacillation; silence enables the right's increasing toxicity. Prominent figures and incidents illustrate a hardening of racist rhetoric, including inflammatory tweets and the platforming of individuals convicted of stirring racial hatred. Labour should make racism politically and socially unacceptable while exposing right-wing absurdities.

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