Rishi Sunak will declare war on Keir Starmer’s record on crime after Tories’ double by-election defeat
PM RISHI Sunak will declare war on Sir Keir Starmer’s record on crime — as the battle for No10 heats up.
Downing Street insiders say “the gloves will come off” in the wake of the Tories’ double by-election defeat and ministers will attack the Labour leader for being too soft.
The PM’s most trusted lieutenants are expected to savage Sir Keir for failing to boot foreign criminals out of Britain when he was the chief prosecutor.
They will also slam Sir Keir — dubbed “Sir Softie” — for campaigning against the deportation of convicted foreign criminals while in ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
A source said: “The gloves are coming off.
“There will be a focus on his record as Director of Public Prosecutions and his campaigning against the deportation of foreign offenders.”
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Determined to draw a line under a bruising few months, No10 has also drawn up a packed policy blitz over the summer months to show they still have fuel in the tank and can still innovate.
A source said: “We have held back policy to drip out over the summer months. It is a busy grid to show we are still the party of ideas.”
Crime, anti-social behaviour and illegal migration will be focused on as key dividing line issues between the Tories and Labour.
Earlier this year, The Sun on Sunday revealed how a violent thug battered an emergency worker after Sir Keir had campaigned against his deportation.
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Damian Morgan, 41, attacked a 999 staffer after being hauled off a deportation flight to Jamaica in February 2020.
At the time, Labour said it was rubbish to suggest MPs questioning deportation flights “led to dangerous criminals going on to commit crime”.
Mr Sunak is gearing up to go on the attack after a bruising week which saw him lose two former safe seats — Selby and Ainsty in North Yorks, and Somerton and Frome in Somerset — in by-elections.
However, he did defy the odds to hang on to ex-PM Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge, West London.
Much of that victory was aided by drivers furious at Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s £12.50-a-day ULEZ car emissions charge.
The results have engulfed Westminster in a row over the crippling costs of Net Zero carbon-cutting schemes.
Privately, spooked Cabinet ministers said Rishi should “ditch the green crap” before the next election, which is expected next year.
One told The Sun on Sunday: “Uxbridge shows the public are getting fed up with green taxes. We need to think long and hard about how we proceed from here.
“Ramping up the cost of people’s heating by banning gas boilers, or banning new petrol and diesel cars — they need to be thought about.
“We’re moving too quickly and we need to take people with us.”
The PM is expected to dump the £120 hydrogen levy — planned to help develop cleaner forms of electricity — when the Energy Bill comes back to Parliament in September.
But he is being urged by senior Tories to go further.
They want him to delay the ban on new gas boilers — coming into force in 2035 — and the ban on new petrol and diesel cars, which begins in 2030.
Other Cabinet ministers think the result in Uxbridge shows there is a “good opportunity” to make eco policies a key dividing line at the next election.
They want the PM to go hard on Labour’s links with Just Stop Oil. Labour as the eco-protest group are both partly bankrolled by the same donor, Dale Vince.
Labour’s plan to splurge £28billion a year on green policies should also be hammered as irresponsible, ministers believe.
Meanwhile, experts said disgruntled drivers could end up swinging the general election.
Polling guru Lord Robert Hayward said ULEZ, combined with high petrol costs, could be a major factor when the nation next goes to the polls.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “There is no doubt that car ownership and the financial burden of running a car — whether it be the price of petrol or ULEZ — will have an impact on people in terms of how they vote.”
He said ULEZ was felt beyond London and “is why the Labour Party did less well — and the Tories did less badly — in places like Dartford and Thurrock at the local elections in May”.
Lord Hayward said ULEZ will have an effect in a string of target areas for Labour at the next election.
They include Thurrock and Harlow in Essex, Stevenage in Herts, and Dartford, Gravesend and Rochester in Kent.
Dillon Smith, a researcher at the centre-right CPS think-tank, also warned a mutiny of motorists could be a decisive factor in some seats at the next election.
He said: “People really care about driving and often form a strong bond with their cars.
“That means when motorists feel like they’re getting a raw deal from the Government, or politicians are seen to be ‘anti-car’, that can have a real impact on how they vote.
“If drivers feel ripped off or hard done-by, that will feed through to the ballot box.
“We are a nation of drivers. You may find that policies around cars — ULEZ, road charging etc — are one of the factors that determines how people vote at the next election.”
Sir Keir hit a soggy campaign trail in Mid-Bedfordshire yesterday to try to capitalise on his party’s by-election victory.
The seat is held by Tory Nadine Dorries, who is expected to quit later this year, triggering another by-election.
Meanwhile, the PM has delayed his predicted ministerial reshuffle.
After a week of feverish speculation, he is expected to wait until September before changing his top team.
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Sir Keir was widely expected to carry out his own reshuffle as soon as tomorrow.
But some Shadow Cabinet ministers think he has cooled on the idea and could wait until later in the summer.
