Labour puts out ANOTHER attack on Rishi Sunak over gun crime

Labour puts out ANOTHER attack on Rishi Sunak over gun crime after refusing to drop ‘gutter politics’ ad campaign targeting PM despite furious criticism from its OWN MPs

• Labour was accused of ‘pandering to prejudice’ and engaging in ‘gutter politics’
• Advert put out claiming the PM does not believe sex abusers should be jailed

Labour accused Rishi Sunak of being soft on gun crime today as it stepped up its personal attacks on the Prime Minister amid fury from even its own MPs over the tone of the campaign. 

The opposition put out the second advert personally targeting the PM as they seek to win over voters worried about law and order.

It claimed that ‘dangerous criminals avoid prison’ under his watch, and came just hours after it refused to take down a previous attack over child sex offenders.

Both attacks mimicked the style of Mr Sunak’s own political tweets. Under a claim that ‘Labour is the party of law and order’, the original advert asked: ‘Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.’

But the party was accused of ‘pandering to prejudice’ after sharing it on social media yesterday, with Labour MPs and supporters among the harshest critics.

And the tweet was also subject to an explanatory note from Twitter, explaining Conservative policy was to jail abusers. 

But the party doubled down this afternoon, despite the condemnation, with a party spokeswoman saying: ‘The Conservatives have left dangerous convicted criminals free to roam the streets.’

The second tweet suggested Mr Sunak did not believe adults convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to harm should go to prison, pointing out 937 adults convicted of the offence had been spared jail since 2010. 

Labour was under fire last night over an advert claiming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should be jailed

The first tweet was also subject to an explanatory note from Twitter , explaining Conservative policy was to jail abusers.

Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell declined to say she stood by the tweet suggesting the Prime Minister does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should be jailed.

Labour is currently ahead of the Tories in the polls over ability to handle law and order

Amid criticism that the attacks used figures from the time before Mr Sunak became an MP in 2015, party sources pointed to times when Mr Sunak has claimed credit for policies from the Coalition years onward, adding: ‘He can’t own the record when he suits him then disown it when it doesn’t.’

 

However the Tories hit back, pointing out that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, when he was director of public prosecutions, sat on the Sentencing Council which was responsible for deciding how long people should be jailed for.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell urged his party to climb down, saying: ‘This is not the sort of politics a Labour Party, confident of its own values and preparing to govern, should be engaged in.’

Meanwhile a Labour frontbencher refused to support the attack this morning. Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell declined to say she stood by the tweet but  insisted it was part of the ‘cut and thrust’ of political debate which sought to highlight the Tories’ record on law and order. 

 

‘I say to the people who have taken the decision to publish this ad, please withdraw it. We, the Labour Party, are better than this.’ 

 

‘What I stand by is what that graphic is trying to show, which is that the Prime Minister of our country is responsible for the criminal justice system of our country and currently that criminal justice system is not working,’ she told BBC Breakfast.

 

Asked again whether she stood by the message, she said: ‘I stand by what this tweet and this campaign is trying to highlight.’

 

She added: ‘The graphic itself, obviously, is a skit based on his own graphics that he extensively uses.’ 

 

Labour was accused of a ‘vile and desperate’ campaign strategy by Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson and ‘cheapened and debased’ politics by SNP MP John Nicolson after posting the advert on Twitter.

Ex-frontbencher Diane Abbott, who served under Jeremy Corbyn, added: ‘Sunak is responsible for lots of things. But sentencing is the responsibility of the judiciary. You would think a former DPP would know that. Horrible ad.’

Meanwhile Tory MP George Freeman added:  This really is a new low in British politics. An official Labour Party advertisement accusing the Conservative PM Rishi Sunak *personally* of wanting convicted child abusers to escape justice.

‘Appalling. Gutter politics from a leader, Keir Starmer, who should know better.’

A Tory source said: ‘During Sir Keir’s controversial tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions, less than 30 per cent of child pornographers saw the inside of a prison cell.

‘It’s no wonder only 12 per cent of his staff thought he was any good and criminals want a Labour government.’

Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer. His party defended itself, saying it is the party of ‘law and order’ last night

A Labour spokesman said last night: ‘The Conservatives have left dangerous convicted criminals free to roam the streets. Labour is the party of law and order, and we will implement tougher sentences for dangerous criminals.’

The party said the poster was based on analysis of official figures which suggested more than 4,000 adults convicted of sexual assault or sexual activity on children under 16 have dodged jail sentences since 2010. Some 2,026 were let off with community sentences and 2,474 with suspended sentences, it said.

Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the pro-Labour Daily Mirror newspaper, wrote on Twitter: ‘Take this down Labour. Gutter politics.’

New Statesman journalist George Eaton said: ‘This is one of the worst political adverts in recent UK history and not the first time Labour has pandered to prejudice in the hope of electoral gain.’ He criticised Labour for singling out Mr Sunak.

Conservative commentator Iain Dale said it was ‘a new low in British political attack ads’.

‘Just as I criticised Rishi Sunak for saying Keir Starmer was the ‘friend of people traffickers’, I think this is a disgrace too,’ he wrote on Twitter.

‘I assume these people who didn’t get sent to prison wouldn’t have done under Blair and Brown either.’

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