Rayner brands Philp ‘Johnny Come Lately' as he presses her on immigration

In a back and forth in the Commons, Mr Philp claimed landlords are being offered 'above market deals' to secure properties for 'illegal immigrants'.
As she deputised for Sir Keir Starmer who was attending the G7 summit, Ms Rayner accused the Tories of having 'spiffed' a million pounds 'up the wall because they were so incompetent'.
Speaking at Deputy Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Philp said the Government's 'laughable plan to smash the gangs lies in tatters', adding: 'Will she now, at last, accept we need a removals deterrent, so every single illegal immigrant arriving on these shores is immediately removed?'
In her response, Ms Rayner said: 'They lost control of our borders. We're getting control of our borders. He needs to apologise.'
The shadow minister, who was standing in for Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch, said Ms Rayner had a 'brass neck' to claim she has immigration under control 'when the numbers crossing the Channel this year are the highest in history'.
He added: 'The Home Office's suppliers are now actively offering above market deals to landlords to get hold of their properties to be used for illegal immigrants. In the meantime, hard-pressed young people here are unable to rent or buy. So why is this Government prioritising housing for illegal immigrants above housing for our young people?'
The Deputy Prime Minister replied: 'Under their watch, immigration increased fourfold until it reached almost a million in a single year. They also created the backlog – 400 hotels, which we've reduced to just over 200 hotels in the first 12 months of us being in Government.
'One million pounds a day 'spiffed' up the wall because they were so incompetent. We're building the homes that they failed to deliver over 14 years of consecutive failure by their government. They should apologise while we get on with the job of rebuilding Britain.'
Mr Philp then said: 'Goodness me, she's got a cheek,' before adding: 'We need to scrap the Human Rights Act for immigration matters, so this sovereign Parliament decides on the law our courts apply, but her party voted against that. So I have a simple question: why did the Government side with foreign criminals and not the British public?'
In her response, Ms Rayner said 4,500 foreign national offenders have been deported since Labour came into power, adding: 'I take no lectures from the Johnny Come Lately, who couldn't do anything when he was in office.'
Elsewhere in the session, Mr Philp pressed Ms Rayner on the inquiry into grooming gangs and child sexual abuse urging her to apologise on behalf of the Prime Minister for saying campaigners were 'jumping on a far-right bandwagon'.
He said he had met victims alongside Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on Tuesday, adding: 'They told us how authorities deliberately covered up the systematic rape of young girls and some boys by gangs of predominately Pakistani heritage men.
'They covered it up because they cared more about so-called community relations than about protecting vulnerable girls. That is disgusting.'
Ms Rayner replied: 'It's absolutely right that we look at what's happened over the last couple of decades. The countless reports that we've had, and we look to implement that. He's absolutely right to also talk about the confidence people must have in that independent inquiry and the Home Secretary spoke about that earlier this week in regards to Baroness Casey's report.
'So we will take that forward at speed, it will be independent, it will have statutory powers and we will implement the Jay report.'
Mr Philp then said: 'It's vital that scandals like this are never again covered up because of the racial background of perpetrators, and Baroness Casey's report said people who downplay the ethnic dimension are letting victims down.'
He added: 'I do have to raise the language the Prime Minister used in January when he, I'm afraid to say, smeared campaigners as jumping on a 'far-right bandwagon', simply for calling for the very inquiry he has now been forced to set up. Standing up for rape victims is not far-right.
'So will the Deputy Prime Minister apologise for what the Prime Minister said?'
Ms Rayner replied: 'The Prime Minister did not just raise issues, but acted on them. He brought the first prosecutions against grooming gangs, called for action to address ethnicity issues in 2012, and (Mr Philp) will know that the data that the previous government collected was inaccurate and not complete, and Casey recognised this, and it's one of the recommendations we will be taking forward.
'The Prime Minister made those comments specifically about Tory ministers who sat for years in the government and did absolutely nothing about this scandal.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Leader Live

20 minutes ago

• Leader Live

Middle East situation ‘perilous', says Lammy amid calls for more talks

David Lammy flew from Washington to Geneva on Friday to meet Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi alongside his French and German counterparts as the UK continued to press for a diplomatic solution to the Middle East crisis. The talks followed US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would delay a decision on joining Israeli strikes against Iran for up to two weeks. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Lammy told reporters: 'It is still clear to me, as President Trump indicated yesterday, that there is a window of within two weeks where we can see a diplomatic solution.' Urging Iran to 'take that off ramp' and talk to the Americans, he said: 'We have a window of time. This is perilous and deadly serious.' He added that the US and Europe were pushing for Iran to agree to zero enrichment of uranium as a 'starting point' for negotiations. But Mr Araghchi said Iran would not negotiate with the US as long as Israel continued to carry out airstrikes against the country, and insisted his country's nuclear programme was entirely peaceful. Both sides continued to exchange fire on Friday, with Iranian missiles targeting the city of Haifa while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tel Aviv's military operation would continue 'for as long as it takes'. Meanwhile, the UK Government has announced it will use charter flights to evacuate Britons stranded in Israel once the country's airspace reopens. Mr Lammy said work is under way to provide the flights 'based on levels of demand' from UK citizens who want to leave the region. The move follows criticism of the Foreign Office's initial response, which saw family members of embassy staff evacuated while UK citizens were not advised to leave and told to follow local guidance. The Government said the move to withdraw temporarily family members had been a 'precautionary measure'. On Friday, the Foreign Office announced that UK staff had also been evacuated from Iran, with the embassy continuing to operate remotely. But the Government continues to advise British nationals in the region to follow local advice, rather than urging them to leave.

North Wales Chronicle

an hour ago

• North Wales Chronicle

Opponents of assisted dying vow to fight on as MPs back Bill

Ms Leadbeater's Bill passed what could be its final Commons hurdle by 23 votes, down from the majority of 55 it secured when MPs first voted on it in November. The Spen Valley MP declared 'thank goodness' after the result while Rebecca Wilcox, daughter of campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, said it was 'wonderful' the result had come ahead of her mother's birthday. But opponents vowed to fight on against what they called a 'deeply flawed Bill'. A group of 27 Labour MPs who voted against the legislation said: 'We were elected to represent both of those groups and are still deeply concerned about the risks in this Bill of coercion of the old and discrimination against the disabled, people with anorexia and black, Asian and minority ethnic people, who we know do not receive equitable health care. 'As the Bill moves to the House of Lords it must receive the scrutiny that it needs. Not about the principles of assisted dying but its application in this deeply flawed Bill.' But Ms Leadbeater told the PA news agency she hoped there would be no 'funny games' in the Lords, as her Bill faces further tough hurdles in the upper chamber. She added: 'I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue.' Meanwhile, one of the leading opponents of the Bill, Conservative Danny Kruger, described its supporters as 'enemies', saying he felt 'like Evelyn Waugh at the time of the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939'. In a series of tweets on Friday night, the East Wiltshire MP accused assisted dying campaigners of being 'militant anti-Christians' who had failed to 'engage with the detail of the Bill'. He added: 'It's the revenge of the middle-aged against their dependents.' Ms Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End Of Life) Bill will now proceed to the House of Lords, where it will undergo further scrutiny before becoming law, should peers decide to back the legislation. But some peers have already spoken out against the legislation, with the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, saying they 'must oppose' the Bill as 'unworkable and unsafe'.

North Wales Chronicle

an hour ago

• North Wales Chronicle

Middle East situation ‘perilous', says Lammy amid calls for more talks

David Lammy flew from Washington to Geneva on Friday to meet Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi alongside his French and German counterparts as the UK continued to press for a diplomatic solution to the Middle East crisis. The talks followed US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would delay a decision on joining Israeli strikes against Iran for up to two weeks. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Lammy told reporters: 'It is still clear to me, as President Trump indicated yesterday, that there is a window of within two weeks where we can see a diplomatic solution.' Urging Iran to 'take that off ramp' and talk to the Americans, he said: 'We have a window of time. This is perilous and deadly serious.' He added that the US and Europe were pushing for Iran to agree to zero enrichment of uranium as a 'starting point' for negotiations. But Mr Araghchi said Iran would not negotiate with the US as long as Israel continued to carry out airstrikes against the country, and insisted his country's nuclear programme was entirely peaceful. Both sides continued to exchange fire on Friday, with Iranian missiles targeting the city of Haifa while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tel Aviv's military operation would continue 'for as long as it takes'. Meanwhile, the UK Government has announced it will use charter flights to evacuate Britons stranded in Israel once the country's airspace reopens. Mr Lammy said work is under way to provide the flights 'based on levels of demand' from UK citizens who want to leave the region. The move follows criticism of the Foreign Office's initial response, which saw family members of embassy staff evacuated while UK citizens were not advised to leave and told to follow local guidance. The Government said the move to withdraw temporarily family members had been a 'precautionary measure'. On Friday, the Foreign Office announced that UK staff had also been evacuated from Iran, with the embassy continuing to operate remotely. But the Government continues to advise British nationals in the region to follow local advice, rather than urging them to leave.