A Critical Discourse Analysis of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Immigration Speech

This qualitative study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine Keir Starmer’s speech on migration, exploring how language is used to shape public perceptions, reinforce ideologies, and legitimize policy directions. By integrating Teun A. van Dijk’s ideological square (2006, 2011, 2012) and Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model (1989, 1992, 1995, 2015), it considers both the micro-level textual features of the speech and the broader discursive (meso) and social (macro) practices that influence its meaning. The analysis reveals rhetorical and linguistic strategies that frame migration as both an economic necessity and a potential threat to national cohesion, subtly constructing a conditional ‘Us vs. Them’ narrative in which migrants are welcomed only if they integrate and contribute economically. Fairclough’s meso- and macro-level analysis shows how this discourse naturalizes tighter immigration policies as pragmatic and morally justified, aligning with wider post-Brexit anxieties and centrist political trends. This study highlights the value of integrated CDA frameworks for uncovering how seemingly moderate political discourse can still reinforce dominant ideologies and shape public debates on migration.