Keir Starmer ‘more worried’ about social cohesion than he has been in years

The prime minister also spoke about the “terrible” terror attack against Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, which happened less than 48 hours after Starmer delivered his address at the Labour Party convention in Liverpool, during which he spoke about divisions within the country.

“It was a really chilling moment,” he said. “I think all of you will have probably had the same feeling I had about the horror and the impact of that.”

He claimed that the country is at a “defining moment in our history”, where interfaith work is “more important now than it has ever been.”

Keir Starmer speaks to a guest at the interfaith reception at Number 10 (Photo: Lauren Hurley/No.10 Downing St)Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing St

Members of the Jewish delegation included Progressive’s Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Mitzvah Day’s Laura Marks CBE and Rabbi Elchonon Feldman, chair of the Rabbinic Council of the United Synagogue and senior rabbi of Bushey United Synagogue, who represented the Chief Rabbi. 

Rabbi Feldman said afterwards: "I was honoured to represent the United Synagogue in a roundtable discussion with the Prime Minister and Faith Minister at 10 Downing Street today. I stressed our community’s deep concern that the Heaton Park terror attack - and other attacks on Jews - did not take place in a vacuum but came from a culmination of Jewish hate over the last two years.”

Rabbi Elchonon Feldman outside Number 10 Downing Street, following an interfaith reception (Photo: United Synagogue/X)[Missing Credit]

He said that in addition to providing the Jewish community with adequate security protection, "the way to respond must be a strategy for societal cohesion led by the government but working closely with aligned faith leaders”.

Also there was Ed Horwich from JSCN (Jewish Small Communities Network), who told the JC: “It was both alarming and strangely reassuring to discover that many leaders from other faith-based organisations shared similar concerns to us in the Jewish community, about the sectarianism, racism, and hatred they are experiencing. One Hindu leader confided that they too are questioning how much longer they can continue to live here.”

Ed Horwich of JSCN and Stuart Diamond of Interfaith Week (Credit: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

Other guests included Communities Secretary Steve Reed, Faiths Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinsky, Lord Katz, Naz Shah MP, Afzal Khan MP and Gurinder Singh Josan MP.

Stuart Diamond, head of communications at Interfaith Week, said the atmosphere in the room was “profoundly reassuring”.

“It went far beyond a symbolic event; it was a clear signal that the UK government genuinely values the crucial role faith communities play in strengthening the national fabric,” he said. “For the Jewish community, our commitment to the core principle of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, is not a solo mission. It is profoundly enhanced when we work side by side with our neighbours of all backgrounds.”