Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has blasted Starmer (Image: Getty)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is “pretending” to be tough on immigration but really “believes in open borders”, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch claimed. Sir Keir has led a summit of world leaders to discuss fighting illegal immigration, which met for the second day in London. But the Conservative leader slammed the Prime Minister, saying: “Don’t believe what he is saying now. All of the tough talk is because he believes it is good for politics.”
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, she also called for cuts to legal migration “that is putting pressure on public services” as well as a crackdown on illegal boat crossings. And she admitted the last Conservative Government had made mistakes. Mrs Badenoch said: “I am not here to pretend that we got everything right on immigration. Mistakes were made. What I will not have is Keir Starmer pretending he is tough in immigration.
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“That man opposed pretty much everything we tried to do to control our borders.”
She said Sir Keir opposed efforts to deport foreign criminals.
“He showed his true colours when in opposition. No amount of tough talk now is going to convince me that he really cares about this issue. This is someone who has always criticised immigration policy in his past. I believe he said immigration policy was racist. He is somebody who does believe in open borders.” She defended the “stop the boats” slogan used by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, saying: “I don’t think there was anything wrong with saying we should stop the boats. That’s what the British public wanted.”
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And she said Labour was wrong to scrap plans to send asylum seekers to an overseas country such as Rwanda.
“I believe the third country deterrent is something that needs to be done ... without it there is no serious deterrent. Anyone who knows anything about this issue has said so.”
But she said the Labour Government’s approach was doomed to failure.
“Simply pretending that if we just get an agreement with France and other European countries then things will be fine is for the birds.”
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People smugglers were given an “open invitation” to send migrants to the UK because the police and intelligence agencies were not working together, Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday.
The Prime Minister said he was “angry” about the scale of illegal migration as he convened a summit involving 40 countries to address the problem.
The start of 2025 has seen the highest number of people making small-boat crossings for the first three months of a year on record, but the Prime Minister insisted his approach to tackling the problem with international allies was starting to bear fruit.
Opening the summit at Lancaster House, he said: “Illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity. It undermines our ability to control who comes here, and that makes people angry.
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“It makes me angry, frankly, because it’s unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price – from the cost of hotels, to our public services struggling under the strain.
“And it’s unfair on the illegal migrants themselves, because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.”
Almost 30,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Sir Keir became Prime Minister, including 6,642 so far in 2025.