Starmer slams Reform’s ‘politics of grievance’ ahead of Cooper unveiling asylum crackdown to MPs – live – UK Times

Nigel Farage is offering “fanciful arrangements that are just not going to work” on migration, the prime minister has said, accusing Reform UK of representing “the politics of grievance”.

Speaking about the push to close down asylum hotels in Britain, Sir Keir Starmer told BBC 5Live: “The choice here is between an orderly sensible way of fixing a problem we inherited from the Tories, or fanciful arrangements that are just not going to work.

“Nigel Farage and Reform are just the politics of grievance. They feed on grievance. They don’t want the problem solved because they’ve got no reason to exist if the problems are solved. The politics of grievance simply puts forward unworkable fanciful ideas that just aren’t going to work.”

He added: “When it comes to the asylum hotels, I want them emptied, I’ve been really clear about that. I completely understand why people are so concerned about it. The only way to empty them is an orderly, systematic working through of the cases as quickly as possible and then returning those people who should not be here.”

Sir Keir Starmer has described national flags as “patriotic” and a “symbol of our nation”.

His comments come amid councils banning flags for fear of unrest during anti-migrant protests.

“I am very encouraging of flags and I think they are patriotic and a symbol of our nation,” he said.

He added, however, that he does not think the flags should be “devalued”.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to bring forward a deadline to close all asylum hotels.

The current Labour plan is to have all the hotels closed by the end of the current Parliament.

But Sir Keir has said he is keen to bring that deadline forward, though he has not gone into detail about when that might be.

Sir Keir Starmer says today’s changes to positions in his team are about making it “more powerful to drive through the changes we need”.

He told the BBC: “I want to go further and faster and I am frustrated.”

The Prime Minister has confidence in Angela Rayner, No 10 has said, as criticism continues over her purchase of an £800,000 flat in Hove.

Asked if Sir Keir had confidence in his deputy, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Yes, the Prime Minister works closely with the Deputy Prime Minister … on delivering on the public’s priorities.

“There is a court order which restricts her from providing further information, which she’s urgently working on rectifying in the interests of public transparency.”

The spokesman rejected a suggestion that Darren Jones, who has been appointed to the new ministerial role of chief secretary to the Prime Minister, would be a de facto deputy prime minister.

Ministers are not looking at leaving a major human rights agreement or suspending how it applies in UK law to crack down on illegal migration, Downing Street has said.

Asked whether the Government would consider leaving the ECHR as it seeks to grapple with migration, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “As we said last week, this is one of the first governments that’s actually set out plans to take action on the ECHR through the plans that the Home Secretary will reiterate again in her statement to the house on tightening the application of article eight.

“This will set out new reforms so that it is Parliament rather than ad hoc court decisions that determines who can stay in this country.”

Article eight of the agreement, the right to family life, has been used during court cases to justify illegal migrants remaining in the UK.

The spokesman added the Government “will be bringing forward new legislation on tightening the application of article eight”, adding: “The Government has been clear that Britain will remain a member of the ECHR and that shutting ourselves off from the international stage will make it harder, not easier, to return people, and you do not strike international agreements by tearing up international agreements.”

Asked if ministers were considering suspending elements of the treaty as it applies to UK law, the spokesman replied: “That’s not what we’re looking at. We’re looking at, as the Home Secretary will reiterate this afternoon, the action that we’re taking to tighten the application of article eight, bringing forward new legislation.”

A new royal book has made a number of claims about the late Queen Elizabeth, including that she was a Remainer and that Boris Johnson tried to meet her while he had covid.

You can read a breakdown of the book’s claims below.

The prime minister has reiterated his commitment to the ECHR as pressure grows on the UK to quit the convention, with his spokesperson warning that “tearing up international agreements would make it harder not easier to deport people”.

It comes after a number of high profile figures, including former Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett, called for the government to rethink its relationship with the ECHR.

“As we said last week, this is one of the first governments that has actually set out plans to take action on the ECHR, plans which the home secretary will set out in the House on tightening the application of Article 8”.

The government said earlier this year that it would seek to reduce the number of people claiming “exceptional circumstances” over the right to family life in order to remain in the UK under Article 8 of the ECHR, the right to private and family life.

“We’ll be bringing forward new legislation on tightening the application of article 8 but the government has made clear that Britain will remain a member of the ECHR”, the spokesperson added. “Tearing up international agreements would make it harder not easier to deport people.”