Keir Starmer questions Rishi Sunak over the UK’s ‘broken’ asylum system

The weekly Prime Minister’s Questions are always a heated affair but the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, sought to land a blow against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday as the topic of asylum seekers remains a big talking point.

The session saw the politicians debate the UK’s asylum system which has recently come under criticism due to large backlogs in unprocessed claims.

There have also been record numbers of people crossing the channel to Dover, with data from the Home Office showing almost 40,000 migrants have made the trip in 2022. This figure has risen from 28,526 in 2021 and 8,404 in 2020.

Sir Keir opened PMQs with this question: “His home secretary says the asylum system is broken. Who broke it?”

The Prime Minister did not admit any guilt in the matter and claimed that “Brexit had given the UK control of its borders”.

Sir Keir disagreed and said that the Conservative Party has “lost control of the borders.” He went on to joke about the current chaos of politics and the numerous new prime ministers that No10 has seen.

“Four prime ministers in five years,” he said. “It’s the same old, same old, he stands there and tries to pass the blame. If the asylum system is broken, and his lot has been in power for 12 years, how can it be anyone’s fault but theirs?”

Sir Keir did not stop there and went on to attack Home Secretary Suella Braverman. He revealed that only four per cent of people who arrived over the channel last year have had their asylum claims processed.

The Leader of the Opposition said that the home secretary had more chance of “becoming the next Tory leader than processing an asylum claim in a year”. He also referred to the 4,000 people who have been held at the Manston air base which is only meant for 1,600.

The Prime Minister fought back, saying that the Conservatives have found 4,500 hotel beds for asylum seekers and increased staff at the air base. He also admitted that the current situation is a “serious and escalating problem”. In his final remarks, Mr Sunak said: “We will make sure that we control our borders and we will always do it fairly and compassionately because that is the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, Sir Keir closed his own speech by saying: “Start governing for once and get a grip.”

Those words caused a large reaction from the backbenchers in attendance on both sides of the political spectrum – and we asked Yorkshire Evening Post what they thought of the comments made. Some readers were not impressed by Sir Keir’s remarks.

Michael Winterbottom said: “What would he do? We need a new leader of the Labour Party.”

Jos Roberts agreed, writing: “Maybe if he focused more on what Labour would do instead of how bad the Tories are doing, people would have more faith in him.”

Ian Locker commented: “It would be worse if [Labour] were in power. Blair started all of this.”

Others felt the Conservative party must shoulder the responsibility for the current situation.

Fiona Maclean wrote: “[Starmer] is correct but unlikely to see any significant change. The country is in a mess and it’s squarely on their shoulders.”

Sandra Hanna said: “Agree with him. This country is not being governed – they are just reacting to one crisis after another of their own making. By the way I am not a fan of Starmer either but we people need to be treated much better by any government in power.”

Dave Carter said: “I’m not a fan on Labour's immigration policies, but the Tories over the last twelve years have been absolutely horrendous and useless as a government. They've failed to tackle immigration and saddled the country with massive debts.”