King’s Speech: Sir Keir Starmer attacks ‘divisive brand’ of Suella Braverman – warning PM of her ‘ambitions’
Sir Keir Starmer has launched a scathing attack on Suella Braverman over her recent controversial remarks on homelessness – warning Rishi Sunak that “without a serious home secretary… he cannot be a serious prime minister”.
Speaking during a debate on Tuesday’s King’s Speech, the Labour leader slammed her claims that living on the street was a “lifestyle choice”, instead calling it a “political choice” resulting from the scrapping of government housing targets and not enough new homes being built.
Politics live: Tories joke about Johnson and Truss as MPs debate King’s Speech
Sir Keir also appeared to reference other contentious comments by Ms Braverman, including her description of pro-Palestine protests at “hate marches”, saying using security issues as “a platform for her own ambitions” was making the job of the police even harder.
The prime minister failed to defend his home secretary during his response, even after being pressed further by Labour shadow minister Sir Chris Bryant, who asked whether he agreed with Ms Braverman on homelessness or whether she should be sacked.
Instead, Mr Sunak claimed the “actions” of the Conservative government had seen rough sleeping fall by a third and the Homelessness Reduction Act had helped “relieve or prevent” over 640,000 people from being homeless.
During the debate, Sir Keir criticised the King’s Speech as “a missed opportunity”, calling Mr Sunak’s pitch as the change candidate for the next election “ridiculous posturing”.
Suella Braverman has caused controversy with her remarks on both homelessness and Palestinian protests
The Labour leader dubbed the government plans revealed by the King today as “more of the same sticking plaster politics”, adding: “Today we reach something of a new low because they’re not even pretending to govern anymore.
“They’ve given up on any sense of service. They see our country’s problems as something to be exploited, not solved.”
But the Labour leader saved his real ire for Ms Braverman and issued a warning to the prime minister over her recent controversies.
“We needed a King’s Speech that would draw a line under 13 years of Tory decline, a King’s Speech for national renewal and a serious plan for growth,” he said.
“But instead, we have a party so devoid of leadership, it is happy to follow a home secretary who describes homelessness as a lifestyle choice 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.”
Read more: What exactly did Braverman say about homeless people?
Sir Keir added: “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 ambitions.
“And 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.”
Is Starmer preparing for Braverman as Tory leader?
Did we just witness a taste of the fierce Commons battles to come after the next general election?
The most blistering attack of Sir Keir Starmer’s speech in the debate on the King’s Speech was not directed at Rishi Sunak, but at Suella Braverman.
Plenty of MPs believe the home secretary’s controversial attacks on “hate marches” and rough sleepers making a “lifestyle choice” are all about playing to the Tory gallery ahead of a leadership campaign.
Some MPs even claim Ms Braverman is goading Mr Sunak into sacking her so she can launch a leadership bid before the general election.
So it’s highly significant the Labour leader launched such a harsh attack on the home secretary. Does he anticipate facing her across the despatch box if he wins the election?
Throughout Sir Keir’s attacks, Mr Sunak’s body language is highly revealing. He makes no eye contact with her and makes no attempt to shake his head during the onslaught.
And then, when the Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant joins the attack on Ms Braverman and challenges the PM to sack her if he disagrees with her “lifestyle choice” slur, he doesn’t even mention her and praises the veterans’ minister Johnnie Mercer instead.
So is she on borrowed time in the Cabinet ahead of launching a leadership bid? As soon as Mr Sunak finished his speech, she hurried out of the chamber.
Will she have relished Sir Keir’s attack on her? Almost certainly. And what about the lack of support for her from the PM? Good or bad news for her?
Probably bad news in the short-term, but probably not in the long-term, namely after the next election – when she no doubt hopes to be doing battle with Sir Keir across the despatch box.
While Mr Sunak did not have a response on the home secretary, who sat next to him throughout Sir Keir’s speech, he had lots to say about Labour’s plans for if they get into government.
He said the policies would lead to “higher inflation, more strikes, more immigration and higher borrowing”, and he said they would “give into inflation busting demands from their union paymasters”, calling such a move “dangerous”.
The prime minister also claimed Sir Keir “stands for the same old ideas”, while the government was “focused on the long-term decisions that will provide a better and brighter future for everyone”.
Read more: Will the pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day go ahead?
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WATCH: The King’s Speech in 58 seconds
Mr Sunak also trumpeted a number of his government policies announced in today’s speech, including:
• New licenses for gas and oil fields
• A new bill to phase out smoking
• Introducing whole-life orders for the most horrific murders
• A new legal framework to enable self-driving cars to be used on Britain’s roads.
“This King’s Speech builds on the strong foundation of economy well on its way to recovery,” added the prime minister. “It rejects big government and instead backs people and businesses to thrive.
“It strengthens society with historic measures to support the nation, health and education. It secures our streets and borders with tougher sentences for criminals and powers for police.
“And above all this, King’s Speech delivers change. Change in our economy. Change in our society. Change in our communities. It takes long-term decisions for a brighter future.”
Politics
‘Shy’ Reform voters in Labour areas led to Farage’s party winning by-election, Harriet Harman says
“Shy” Reform voters in Labour areas led to Nigel Farage’s party winning the Runcorn by-election by just six votes, Labour peer Harriet Harman said.
The Runcorn and Helsby seat, created in 2024, went to Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin who defeated Labour candidate Karen Shore by six votes.
Reform overturned a 34.8% majority gained by former Labour MP Mike Amesbury last year before he stood down earlier this year after he punched a constituent on a night out.
It is the closest by-election result since records began in 1945.
Read more: Badenoch apologises to Tory councillors
Labour peer and former minister Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “If we’d have known it was so close, I, myself, would have gone on extra time there and got those six votes.
“So, there’s a real level of frustration and I’m sure there’ll be a post-mortem, but I think there’s a lot of talk about shy Reform voters in Labour areas.”
In the local elections, running at the same time, the Conservatives lost control of all 18 councils it was contesting, with Reform taking eight of those.
The party also won two of the six mayoral contests – Reform’s first two mayors.
Harriet Harman on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast
Baroness Harman said Labour now has “got to get on with delivering on the health service” and pointed out the minimum wage increase and breakfast clubs are only just being rolled out.
But she said the government also needs “more of a story” instead of just telling people to “bear with us” while it fixes what the Conservatives did.
“It seems to be that Farage has got no delivery, as yet, and all the story, whereas the government is really getting on with delivery, but it hasn’t got a big enough story about what that fits,” she said.
Read more: Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
An installation represents a bus stop during Reform UK’s local elections campaign launch in Birmingham. Pic: Reuters
She added that “Blue Labour” MPs – a socially Conservative wing of the Labour Party – “will be emboldened to press for further action” on issues like immigration, which they want to see a tougher stance on.
“There’s been grumbling about the big salience of the concerns of the winter fuel payment, but I don’t see there being any change on that,” she said.
Baroness Harman said she does not think the by-election and local election results were “utterly predictable” and will not lead to any splits or instability within the party.
Kemi Badenoch has apologised to Tory councillors who lost their seats after Reform made massive gains at the Conservatives’ expense in Thursday’s local elections.
The Conservative leader said she knew it was “disappointing” and that she was “sincerely sorry”, but added: “We are going to win those seats back – that is my job now.”
The Tories lost overall control of all 18 councils they had been in charge of that were up for election. There were 23 councils in the race in total.
Politics latest: Sky News analysis shows Reform surge in estimated national vote
A particularly bad loss was Buckinghamshire, which has been under Tory control since 1973 when local government was reorganised. The Conservatives lost overall control by just one seat after losing 29 seats.
Reform, which has never run in local elections before, gained eight councils from the Tories, one that had no overall control previously and one from Labour – the only Labour council up for grabs in this election.
Nigel Farage with the new Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin. Pic: Reuters
The Lib Dems won Shropshire from the Tories, as well as Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire – both of which had no overall control before.
The Conservatives had one win, with Paul Bristow being voted in as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor, previously held by Labour.
Reform’s first major win of the election was the Runcorn and Helsby by-election where Labour lost to Reform by six votes. It was triggered by ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigning after his conviction for punching a constituent.
Sir Keir Starmer said he “gets” why his party suffered defeat there and the results show “we must deliver that change ever more quickly, we must go even further”.
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Tories suffer heavy defeats
Addressing the Conservatives’ abysmal results, Ms Badenoch said: “Other parties may be winning now, but we are going to show that we can deliver and that we are on course and recovering.
“But they [the public] are still not yet ready to trust us,” she added.
“We have a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public.
“That’s the job that the Conservative Party has given me, and I’m going to make sure that we get ourselves back to the place where we are seen as being a credible alternative to Labour.”
Read more:
Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
Reform wins two new mayoral contests
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Farage: ‘This is Reform-quake’
Ms Badenoch said Labour’s election results showed Sir Keir Starmer “is on course to be a one-term prime minister”.
However, when asked if she would still be leader at the next general election, Ms Badenoch dodged the question and said: “I’m not playing all these questions that the media loves to ask about my future.
“This is not about me.”
She insisted she was the right person to lead the Conservatives, as she was chosen by the party’s members.
“I told them it wouldn’t be easy, I told them it would require a renewal and rebuilding of our party,” she said.
“That doesn’t happen in six months. I’m trying to do something that no one has ever done before, which is take their party from such a historic defeat back into government in one term.”
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