Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of delivering “more of the same” by presenting a King’s Speech containing “party first, country second gimmicks”.
The Labour leader also said Mr Sunak “cannot be a serious Prime Minister” if he continues with Suella Braverman in post, as he claimed the Home Secretary was pursuing “her divisive brand of politics”.
Shouts of “sack her” and “shame” could be heard in the Commons as Sir Keir criticised Mrs Braverman for recent remarks, including her claim that rough sleeping is sometimes a “lifestyle choice”.
Mrs Braverman made the comment after sharing an article from the Financial Times reporting about how she pushed for restrictions on the use of tents in urban environments.
Speaking on day one of the King’s Speech debate, Sir Keir said victories for opposition parties in by-elections showed “without question that Britain is ready for change”.
Sir Keir said: “Victories that have reduced the party opposite, now nearly 14 years in power, to the desperate spectacle of claiming it offers change away from itself.
“Today’s address shows just how ridiculous that posturing is. Because what we have before us is a plan for more of the same, more sticking plasters, more division, more party first, country second gimmicks, and no repudiation of the utterly discredited idea that economic growth is something the few hand down to the many.
“In fact, today we reached something of a new low, because they are not even pretending to govern any more. They have given up on any sense of service.
“They see our country’s problems as something to be exploited, not solved and in doing this they underestimate the British people, because what Britain wants is for them to stop messing around and get on with the job.”
Turning to Mrs Braverman, Sir Keir said: “We have a party so devoid of leadership it is happy to follow a Home Secretary who describes homelessness as a lifestyle choice.”
Shouts of “shame” could be heard from Labour MPs, with Sir Keir adding: “And believes that the job of protecting us all from extremists, the most basic job of Government, is legitimate terrain for her divisive brand of politics.
“As director of public prosecutions, I worked closely with the police and counter-terrorism forces. Their job is hard enough already without the Home Secretary using it as a platform for her own ambition.”
Shouts of “sack her” could be heard as Sir Keir said: “So I say to the Prime Minister, think very carefully about what she is committing your Government to do and think very carefully about the consequences of putting greater demands on public servants at the coalface of keeping us safe, because without a serious Home Secretary, there can be no serious Government and he cannot be a serious Prime Minister.”
Labour former minister Sir Chris Bryant later asked Mr Sunak: “Bearing in mind that a very significant proportion of people who sleep rough are army veterans and people who have acquired brain injuries, does the Prime Minister agree with the Home Secretary when she says that homelessness, sleeping rough, is a lifestyle choice and if he doesn’t, will he sack her?”
The Prime Minister replied: “What I can tell him is that thanks to the efforts of the member for Plymouth, Moor View (Johnny Mercer), veterans homelessness is at a record low level in this country.
“In fact, rough sleeping overall is down by around a third since the peak, thanks to the actions of this Government and in particular, the landmark homelessness Reduction Act passed by this Government, which has helped relieve or prevent over 640,000 people’s homelessness.”
Mr Sunak also hit out at shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, describing her as a “copy-and-paste chancellor” who is “very happy to borrow other people’s work too”.
And Mr Sunak also joked about Sir Keir, saying the leader of the Opposition had to abandon writing his own book and return his deposit, adding: “It was supposed to be his vision for Britain, but his publishers discovered what the British people already know, he simply doesn’t have one.”
Mr Sunak also labelled Labour’s spending plans as “dangerous” and “inflationary”, and warned the “British people would pay the price in higher interest rates and higher taxes”.
