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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Lizzy Buchan

Keir Starmer mocks weak Rishi Sunak for failing to sack Suella Braverman for speeding row

Keir Starmer has mocked Rishi Sunak for letting Suella Braverman off the hook after she was accused of seeking special treatment when she was caught speeding.

The Labour leader joked that the Home Secretary had difficulty "coping with points based systems" after being caught breaking the speed limit last year.

Mr Sunak decided not to order an ethics probe into the row as he didn't believe Mrs Braverman had broken the ministerial code by asking officials to arrange a private speed awareness course for her.

The scandal-prone Home Secretary, dubbed "Speedy Sue", has since accepted penalty points on her licence and paid the fine.

In a PMQs clash, Mr Starmer said the Government were "losing control of immigration" and took a swipe at Mrs Braverman over the speeding row, saying: "Why does he think is Home Secretary Secretary has such a problem coping with points based systems?"

The Labour leader derided Mrs Braverman's recent calls for more Brits to become fruit pickers as she warned UK workers are at risk of forgetting “how to do things for ourselves” as so many jobs are done by foreign workers.

"Does the Prime Minister support this 'let them pick fruit' ambition for Britain or does he wish he had the strength to give her a career change of her own," he said.

It comes ahead of official statistics published tomorrow which are expected to confirm that net migration rose to more than 700,000 in the year to December 2022.

Mr Starmer said the Tories have "control of immigration" and said Mr Sunak had broken a Tory manifesto promise to slash net migration.

He said: "The Prime Minister stood on three Tory manifestos, each one promised to reduce immigration. Each promise broken. They (Conservative backbenchers) all stood on those manifestos as well.

"Why does he think his Home Secretary seems to have such a problem coping with points-based systems?"

Mr Sunak replied: "Just this week we announced the biggest every single measure to tackle legal migration, removing the right for international students to bring dependents, toughening the rules on post-study work, and reviewing maintenance requirements.

He accused Labour of having no ideas and claimed Mr Starmer believed in "an open-door migration policy."

But Mr Starmer retorted: "If people want to see what uncontrolled immigration looks like all they have got to do is wake up tomorrow morning and look at the headlines.”

Labour unveiled new plans to scrap rules that allow overseas workers coming to the UK to be paid 20% less than the going rate for that job.

The party argued it offered a built-in incentive for employers to recruit foreign workers for jobs on the shortage list rather than training and hiring workers in Britain.

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