PMQs Recap: You simply cannot trust Labour with our country’s security

Today, the Prime Minister confirmed that we are taking action to keep our country safe by increasing defence spending and cutting crime, taking decisions to deliver a brighter future for all. Every week, Sir Keir Starmer just snipes from the sidelines because he cannot say what he would do because he has not got a plan which means nothing will get better.

• We are maintaining our leading position in NATO by growing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, securing Britain’s place as the biggest defence power in Europe and keeping the country safe. As we respond to a more dangerous world, we will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 – a plan that delivers an additional £75 billion for defence by the end of the decade (PMO, Press Release, 24 April 2024, link).

• We have cut crime by 55 per cent since March 2010, excluding fraud, making our streets and communities safer. In the year ending March 2010 there were 9,544,000 offences in England and Wales excluding fraud and by the year ending March 2023 this number had fallen to 4,333,000, showing successive Conservative governments cutting crime (ONS, Crime Survey for England and Wales, 25 January 2024, link).

Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party campaigned to stop the deportation of foreign national criminals, they voted against more money for our police and against tough laws. Labour have no plan to keep this country safe: 

• Labour voted against our Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, showing they have no plan to keep the worst criminals off our streets. The PCSC Act ensures the most serious sexual and violent offenders spend longer in prison (Hansard, 5 July 2021, Division 44, link). 

• Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party helped to stop the deportation of foreign national criminals who went on re-offend after staying in the UK. Starmer and the Labour Party helped block the deportation of offenders including someone who led police on a high speed chase for selling drugs, later jailed again for carrying a knife, and another man who was jailed for two vile attacks on girls aged 15 and 17 (The Daily Mail, 19 April 2023, link; The Sun, 4 March 2023, link; GB News, 23 March 2023, link; Sutton and Croydon Guardian, 6 July 2019, link).  

• Sir Keir Starmer helped to free some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners, including a rapist, child sex offender, and an arsonist who terrorised his former girlfriend’s family. Sir Keir Starmer helped to free some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners on a legal technicality, including an arsonist who had terrorised a family after the Home Office had tried to keep him in jail. Paul Stellato, who had racked up 36 convictions for 171 offences, was also entitled to compensation – thought to be £30,000 – for being unlawfully held in prison. Sir Keir acted for Stellato in a Court of Appeal test case heard in 2006, successfully arguing that having served three quarters of a 10-year sentence for a revenge firebomb attack on the family of his ex-girlfriend, he was entitled to unconditional release. Stellato was finally jailed for life in 2018 after trying to purchase hand grenades (The Daily Telegraph, 19 December 2023, link). 

• Labour have refused to commit to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030, causing more uncertainty and putting our national security at risk. Labour have refused to commit to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 and want to spend years holding a review on defence spending while the world gets more dangerous, taking us back to square one (Times Radio, 24 April 2024, archived).

Ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s speech tomorrow, let’s look at his record on relaunches:

• Sir Keir Starmer has had countless relaunches as Labour leader – his 2024 New Year speech was his fifteenth relaunch since April 2020. Keir Starmer has used fourteen speeches and slogans to reset his leadership of the Labour Party since his election in April 2020 (Conservative Research Department Analysis, 12 January 2024).