Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Angela Rayner has been criticised after saying she is in favour of “shooting terrorists first” and “asking questions second”.
Labour’s deputy leader outlined her “hardline” views admitting she wanted police to “beat down the doors” of criminals and “sort them out”.
“On things like law and order I am quite hardline. I am like, shoot your terrorists and ask questions second,” Ms Rayner told Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast.
Apparently taken aback by the audience reaction at the live event, the Labour deputy added: “Sorry – is that the most controversial thing I’ve ever said?”
“On law and order, I think if you are being terrorised by the local thug, I want a copper to come and sort them out,” she said.
“You should be hardline on things like that. It’s not just, ‘Oh you’ve been burgled here is a crime number’.”
She added: “I want you to beat down the door of the criminals and sort them out and antagonise them. That’s what I say to my local police … three o’clock in the morning and antagonise them.”
Ms Rayner said she was “plagued by anti-social behaviour” when she was growing up.
“It’s the usual suspects … I want the police to annoy the hell out of them until they realise disrupting lives is not OK. I am quite hardline on that,” she said.
Her comments exposed a rift within the Labour Party with former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott posting on Twitter: “Is Angela suggesting a mandatory death sentence for suspected (but not convicted) ‘terrorists’ ?”
Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: “I suspect that Rayner may not have meant this entirely literally - but a good reminder why there is a clear difference between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. We agree where we can, but this is why a strong, independent liberal voice is vital.”
Last month, an IpsosMori poll for the Standard showed that Sir Keir Starmer’s party was now trusted more on law and order after weeks of sleaze allegations hitting the Government over Partygate.
Sir Keir has confirmed that he has received death threats following Boris Johnson’s false claim that he failed to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile.
The Labour leader said the Prime Minister’s slur had “fed into” a “right-wing conspiracy theory”, and this had caused “difficulty”.
But he said he would rather not talk about the matter because he did not want his young children to hear “too much” of what may be said about him.
Police have launched an investigation into online death threats against the Labour leader in the wake of the PM’s jibe in the House of Commons.
He told BBC Radio Newcastle: “It’s very important for me to say that what the Prime Minister said was wrong, it was very wrong. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“There has been a right-wing conspiracy theory for some time that’s a complete fabrication.”
