Keir Starmer issued a few reminders to Lee Anderson about Labour’s record on immigration and the controversies surrounding his leader, Nigel Farage.
In one of his last prime minister’s questions before he steps down as Labour leader, Starmer was faced with plenty of scrutiny over the defence investment plan he announced this week.
However, Reform’s Lee Anderson decided to go for one his favourite lines, using a case of a horrific crime from a Pakistani national to demand that all illegal immigrants be deported from the UK.
In response, Starmer started by reminding the Ashfield MP about the progress the Labour government has made on controlling immigration and the asylum system.
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He said: “Asylum decisions are made at record levels, the backlog is down, removals are up 41% and we’re closing asylum hotels.”
After hitting out at the Tory benches for ‘losing control of our borders’ and pointing out that small boat crossings are down and deportations up since Labour came to power, Starmer then suggested that Anderson start asking some questions of his leader, Nigel Farage.
“He likes to ask questions, he should be asking some questions of the leader of his party,” Starmer said.
Addressing Farage’s secret £5m gift from Christopher Harborne, Starmer said: “He received £5 million from a crypto billionaire and then privately lobbied the Bank of England on digital currencies.
“So did their leader carry out paid lobbying? Why did he keep he keep his £5m gift secret?”
He then moved on to the revelation in the latest register of MP’s financial interests that Farage was paid £270,000 by a gold bullion dealer for 12 hours work.
Starmer added: “Are they happy with their leader earning £20,000 an hour flogging gold bullion?
“They need to ask these questions across their benches, but they never do!”