Keir Starmer has used prime minister’s questions to double down on Labour’s attacks on the government’s record over crime, saying that Rishi Sunak has “lost control of the court service” and allowed offenders to go free.
In a potential sign of a brutal general election campaign to come next year, Sunak responded with direct attacks on Starmer, castigating him for his record as director of public prosecutions (DPP) and accusing him of being “soft on crime, soft on criminals”.
The Labour leader in turn said the backlog in the courts was a symbol of a wider collapse in public services, asking Sunak: “Why, everywhere you look, does nothing seem to work at all?”
Starmer began the session by referring to a comment by Greg Hands, the Conservative party chair, who argued at the weekend that public services were “in great shape”. Starmer asked Sunak: “Has the prime minister met a single member of the public who agrees with him?”
After Sunak defended the government’s record, Starmer went on: “Either he doesn’t use the same public services as the rest of us, or he simply can’t see the damage they’ve done to our country.”
The Labour leader highlighted what he said was the case of a convicted people smuggler who violently attacked a prison officer but was not jailed for any longer after the court case, because the case had taken so long to get to court, and because of prison overcrowding.
“Can’t the prime minister see that because they’ve lost control of the court service, because they’ve created the largest court backlog on record, he’s letting violent criminals go free?” Starmer said, a direct echo of controversial online attack adverts in which Labour said Sunak did not want child abusers and others to be jailed.
In an equally personal response, Sunak accused Starmer of being “uncomfortable” in tackling grooming gangs, saying: “That’s why they call him Sir Softy – soft on crime, soft on criminals.”
The prime minister also attacked Starmer over his time as DPP before entering parliament, saying he had been criticised by Labour at the time. Starmer replied: “I prosecuted thousands upon thousands of sex offenders. He has just shown he doesn’t understand how the criminal justice system works. No wonder he can’t fix it.
“Perhaps the prime minister needs to send less time rewriting history, and more time sorting out the mess he has made of criminal justice. Because the crisis in criminal justice is just a snapshot of public services collapsing under his watch.
“Our roads, our trains, the NHS, the asylum system, policing, mental health provisions: the Tories have broken them all, and all they’ve got left is excuses and blame.”
