Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Sir Keir Starmer following the launch of his immigration strategy, asking “Can you trust this man?” Taking to social media, Badenoch shared a series of clips of the Prime Minister’s previous comments on the subject where he spoke repeatedly about the benefits of immigration.

In one clip, the then Labour leader said that the possibility of foreign nationals being allowed to vote “should be looked at”. In another, Starmer said: “The Labour Party has been a bit scared of making the positive case for immigration for quite a number of years. I think we need to turn that around.”

Yesterday in a landmark speech, the Prime Minister vowed to “close the book on a squalid chapter for our politics,” as he laid out plans for a stronger stance on immigration as he warned that the UK was at “risk becoming an island of strangers.”

In the proposals, the government is looking to double the length of time foreign nationals must spend in the country before being eligible for residency, increasing requirements for English language competency and introducing more stringent rules on dependents of those coming to the UK.

In a stark change of tone, the Prime Minister lambasted the Conservative government’s attempts to combat a rise in legal migration.

He said: “Between 2019 and 2023, even as they were going around our country telling people, with a straight face, they would get immigration down, net migration quadrupled.

“Until in 2023, it reached nearly 1 million, which is about the population of Birmingham, our second largest city. That’s not control – it’s chaos.”

The announcement comes just a week after a bruising night in the local elections which saw the party lose 187 councillors on a night when Reform UK gained 677.

In a separate post, Badenoch expressed her frustration with Starmer's statement.

She said: "Labour are taking the public for fools. Many of the things he was announcing are things that we are voting against right now. We brought in salary thresholds when we were in government before the election."

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson labelled Labour’s previous attempts to curb immigration as “publicity stunts” as he criticised the Prime Minister for not laying out how he plans to control the UK’s borders.

He wrote in the Daily Express: “The Home Office has admitted net migration will still be running at over half a million by 2028.

“Thier bogus strategy is a response to our growing success in the polls but it is doomed to fail.”