‘Stopping small boats top priority for public’

RISHI Sunak has claimed Sir Keir Starmer is “another leftie lawyer” seeking to disrupt the UK Government’s immigration plans.

Labour leader Sir Keir was on the receiving end of the Prime Minister’s jibe after he accused the government of delivering “utter failure” and warning the “problem just gets worse with every new gimmick”.

Sir Keir went on to criticise the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which paved the way for the government to try and send migrants to Rwanda – although this policy has stalled – and the latest legislation aimed at curbing Channel crossings.

But Mr Sunak told Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions: “He asked about arrests, he asked about our laws. Actually when I was in Dover yesterday talking to our law enforcement officials, what did they tell me?

“Precisely because of the law that the Conservative government passed last year they have now been able to arrest more than double the number of people they did before – 397 in the last six months.

“But stopping the boats is not just my priority, it is the people’s priority.

“But his (Sir Keir’s) position on this is clear: he wanted to, in his words, scrap the Rwanda deal; he voted against measures to deport foreign criminals; and he even argued against deportation flights.

“We know why – on this matter he talks about his legal background, he’s just another leftie lawyer standing in our way.”

Sir Keir, a former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, went on to highlight the number of people returned last year after they were deemed ineligible for asylum.

He said: “All that nonsense because he doesn’t want to answer the questions, because he knows what the answer is – the number is 21 people out of the 18,000.

“And what happens to the rest? They sit in hotels and digs for months on end at taxpayers’ expense.”

A Labour spokesman confirmed to reporters in Westminster on Wednesday that the party’s MPs would be instructed to vote against the Illegal Migration Bill.

Sir Keir had earlier opened the exchanges in the Commons by warning the government’s Bill would drive a “coach and horses” through the country’s modern slavery framework that protects women from exploitation.

Mr Sunak replied by claiming Labour is in favour of “open door immigration and unlimited asylum”, adding: “Whilst he may be on the side of the people-smugglers, we are on the side of the British people.”

MPs on both sides were told off by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle for heckling during the hostile exchanges.

After the men exchanged further jibes, Sir Keir later claimed Mr Sunak was “absolutely deluded” to think his new plans would work.

Sir Keir accused Mr Sunak of avoiding answering questions, adding: “On his watch, processing of those boat cases has gone from unacceptable, in his words, to almost non-existent.”

He went on: “After 13 years small boat crossings higher than ever, claims unprocessed, the taxpayer paying for hotel rooms, criminal gangs running all the way laughing to the bank and an asylum system utterly broken on his watch.”