
Keir Starmer called out for 'disgusting' jibe at Welsh MP during PMQs
She questioned whether there is any belief he holds "which survives a week".
In response, Starmer said that he consistently believes Saville-Roberts "talks rubbish".
READ MORE: Nigel Farage praises Keir Starmer for immigration speech
Saville-Roberts said: "This Prime Minister once spoke of compassion and dignity for migrants and for defending free movement.
"Now he talks of islands of strangers and taking back control. Somebody here has to call this out, Mr Speaker.
"It seems the only principle he consistently defends is whichever he last heard in a focus group.
"I ask him, is there any belief he holds which survives a week in Downing Street?"
Starmer replied: "Yes the belief that she talks rubbish."
"Mr Speaker, I want to lead a country where we pull together and walk into the future as neighbours and as communities, not as strangers. The loss of control of migration by the last government put all that at risk – that's why we're fixing the system based on principles of control, selection and fairness.'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to erupt into laughter next to him.
No intervention was made by the Speaker.
People on social media have called Starmer's comment "disgusting" and "classless".
The Plaid Cymru MP said the Prime Minister's response showed she had 'struck a nerve', and that the faces of Labour MPs in the chamber suggested that 'plenty of them know [she] was right'.
READ MORE: Yvette Cooper squirms in GMB grilling on Keir Starmer speech
Speaking out after PMQs, she said: "The Prime Minister's outburst showed that my question struck a nerve. The expressions on the faces of many Labour MPs told their own story – plenty of them know I was right.
"If his convictions change with the political weather, it's no surprise that support for Labour in Wales, as across Britain, is falling through the floor."
Starmer was also called out on Monday after saying people living in the country 'should speak English' as his Government outlined plans to tighten immigration controls – including an end to all visas for care workers.
Starmer posted on Twitter/X: "If you want to live in the UK, you should speak English. That's common sense. So we're raising English language requirements across every main immigration route."
The First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, said Starmer's speech contained 'divisive language', while Scottish Care chief executive Donald Macaskill said Starmer had been echoing the racist 20th-century Tory politician Powell.
In 1968, Powell criticised the rapid influx of immigrants from the Commonwealth to the UK in his 'Rivers of Blood' speech.
In it, he said: "For reasons which they could not comprehend, they found themselves made strangers in their own country."
Labour are battling against a surge in support for Reform UK, who won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election and council seats across England earlier this month.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Asylum seeker 'living in fear' as he begs hotel protesters to stop abusing him
Khadar Mohamed revealed that the residents living inside the Epping asylum hotel were 'living in pain and fear' every time protests were held outside the Bell Hotel A resident of the asylum hotel at the centre of angry anti- migrant protests has pleaded for the demonstrations to end after the Home Office was ordered to curb their stay. Khadar Mohamed, 24, revealed those ensconced inside the Bell Hotel in Epping were 'living in pain and fear' each time locals held protests outside the hotel and that many now were more uncertain about their futures. Mr Mohamed, who said he had won his claim for political asylum against the Home Office, added: "I want everybody to know that there are no paedophiles and rapists living inside this hotel. "We don't sympathise with that behaviour and if we had had the chance we would have stopped it. It is only one claim against an individual, not against everybody inside the hotel. "So now we've got 50 to 60 days to leave and none of us know what it's going to happen. But there is no need for these people to be shouting at us from outside. "I speak very good English but I've never heard the word "scumbag" until these people came along. It is very painful to be called these names and when people pass you in their cars and you walk along the streets they make noises at you and bad faces. "When I walk past them the ladies hold their purses tighter. But I'm not a thief and I'm not a threat to anyone." Mr Mohamed fled his village of Elbur in Somalia in 2022 after terrorists took command and ordered him to join their ranks. He said his sister Farxiya was killed by members of Al-Shabaab after she was forced into marriage with a member at the age of 21, but refused to comply with their ideology. He said he was pulled into their ranks and ordered to teach the Quran to school children even though he did not agree with their violent struggle and was attacked with a knife which left a scar on his right arm. He added: "They also cut off a fingernail to show me that they could control me." After refusing to 'be weaponised' and join the terrorists in actions against Somalian authorities, he was held in a jail for two years before a friendly associate of the government paid for his release and managed to obtain a Turkish Visa for him. He travelled to Turkey and onto, Greece and Austria where he worked washing dishes and finally got to the UK three months ago. He travelled on a boat which left Dunkirk at 3 am on May 11 carrying 70 migrants and paid people smugglers £800 for their help. He added: "I'm happy that my application for asylum has been accepted. But I don't know what is going to happen next to me or all the people inside there. "I have to get a job and find somewhere to live, but everybody is uncertain about what happens next to them. The people who don't want us here have achieved the result they were looking for, now let us hope that there are no more protests or anger against us. Life is already very difficult." Epping Forest District Council argued that the hotel had become a public safety risk because of its alleged planning law breach by ceasing to be a true hotel. Dan Jarvis, Minister of State for Security, told the BBC the government had "never thought that hotels were an appropriate source of accommodation for asylum seekers." He said the government was "looking at options" to rehouse them in "suitably appropriate alternative accommodation." The case brought by Epping Forest was that the alleged planning breach had led to evidenced harms. Critically, these harms related to protests which had led to violence and arrests. Tory-run Broxbourne Council was the first local authority to declare it was seeking legal advice after the ruling "as a matter of urgency about whether it could take a similar action" over a hotel. Epping Forest District Council has said it had set a precedent and the local councils were now standing up against the influx of asylum seekers into hotels. Government ministers say they are braced for other councils to follow Epping's lead. The ruling causes immediate practical difficulties for the Home Office, which has to find alternative accommodation for the asylum seekers currently housed at the Bell Hotel. It is believed that around 32,000 asylum seekers are living in 210 hotels across the UK who also now face uncertainty over whether other councils will pursue similar action to Epping Forest District Council.


Powys County Times
42 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
How many asylum seekers are in UK hotels and why are they being housed there?
The subject of asylum seekers being housed in hotels has come into sharp focus after a High Court ruling. On Tuesday, Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the latest overall data. – How many asylum seekers are in hotels across the UK? The most recent Home Office data showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March. This was down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079. New figures – published among the usual quarterly immigration data release – are expected on Thursday, showing numbers in hotels at the end of June. Figures for hotels published by the Home Office date back to December 2022 and showed numbers hit a peak at the end of September 2023 when there were 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels. – How many hotels are in use for asylum seekers? It is thought there were more than 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023. Labour said this has since been reduced to fewer than 210. – Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels? Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation, known as contingency accommodation, if they are awaiting assessment of their claim or have had a claim approved and there is not enough longer-term accommodation available. The Home Office provides accommodation to asylum seekers who have no other way of supporting themselves on a 'no choice' basis, so they cannot choose where they live. When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to accommodation such as hotels and large sites, like former military bases. In May, the National Audit Office said those temporarily living in hotels accounted for 35% of all people in asylum accommodation. – Is this likely to be a permanent arrangement? Labour has pledged to end the 'costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament' – which would be 2029, if not earlier. Campaigners and charities have long argued that hotels are not suitable environments to house asylum seekers. The Refugee Council said they 'cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo and are flashpoints in communities' and urged the Government to 'partner with local councils to provide safe, cost-effective accommodation within communities'. – What is the Government saying since the legal ruling? Ministers are 'looking at a range of different contingency options' following Tuesday's ruling, according to security minister Dan Jarvis In the immediate aftermath of the judgment, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle repeated criticism of the previous Conservative government, saying Labour had 'inherited a broken asylum system'. She said the Government would 'continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns' around asylum hotels. – What options does the Home Office have now? Last month, amid protests outside the Bell Hotel and more migrants crossing the Channel, an extra 400 spaces were being prepared to house male asylum seekers at RAF Wethersfield in Essex. The former military site, which has a usual capacity of 800 beds, is expected to house more adult men on a short-term basis. The Labour Government scrapped the large site of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, earlier this year, while Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, is also due to end housing asylum seekers and be returned to the Ministry of Defence in September. – Why were there protests outside the Bell Hotel? The hotel in Epping has been at the centre of a series of protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker who was staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl – something he has denied and he is due to stand trial later in August. After the High Court's ruling, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote in the Telegraph calling for Epping protests to inspire further action wherever there are concerns about the 'threat posed by young undocumented males' living in hotels. But on Tuesday more than 100 women's organisations wrote to ministers warning that vital conversations about violence against women and girls are being 'hijacked by an anti-migrant agenda' that fuels divisions and harms survivors. The joint statement, including from Rape Crisis England & Wales and Refuge, said: 'We have been alarmed in recent weeks by an increase in unfounded claims made by people in power, and repeated in the media, that hold particular groups as primarily responsible for sexual violence. 'This not only undermines genuine concerns about women's safety, but also reinforces the damaging myth that the greatest risk of gender-based violence comes from strangers.'


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Teenagers face missing out on their place in oversubscribed sixth forms amid 'fierce competition' following Labour's VAT raid on private schools
Pupils face 'fiercer than ever' competition for a sixth form place this year partly due to Labour's tax raid on private schools, experts claim. As hundreds of thousands of teenagers collect their GCSE results tomorrow, the scramble to bag an A-level place is expected to be the one of the worst on record. The 20 per cent VAT on private school fees, which came into force in January, could push more pupils into the state sector if they cannot afford it. In addition, the population of 16-year-olds has increased this year and grades are forecast to remain higher than before the pandemic. It all means large numbers are expected to get the grades needed for a sixth form place, with competition especially bad at the most selective institutions. Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, told PA Media: 'Competition for the most selective sixth forms will be fiercer than ever, with fears over VAT on private schools likely driving more families to seek out places in the state sector.' Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) added: 'As the population continues to grow – and the opportunities to increase capacity, to build new classroom blocks, is held back – it is going to go on getting more competitive.' And Catherine Sezen, director of education policy at the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: 'It will be much tighter [this year].' Roughly one in five entries are expected to achieve at least a 7, equivalent to the old A. Last year, 21.7 per cent of grades in England hit this mark, a small rise on 2023 and the highest in 12 years. Grading has never returned to how low it was before the pandemic, when grades were wildly inflated due to teachers deciding grades. Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said: 'It could be that we are seeing the emergence of a new normal, in which case this year's grading will resemble that of last year. 'Of course, there is always the chance that the regulators could make a further push to get back to pre-pandemic levels. 'However, since the top grades were not lowered in 2023 and 2024 when there was pressure to do so, it is more likely that they will stay high this year.' Across the UK, the proportion getting at least 7 last year was 21.8 per cent, but this was a fall from the previous year due to other nations bringing their grading down. This year, pupils in two areas will be receiving their results by app on their phones for the first time as part of a trial ahead of a national roll-out. The Education Record app will deliver results at 11am to 95,000 students in Manchester and the West Midlands. It comes after A-level pupils celebrated a bumper crop of grades last week, with entries graded at A and A* rising to an all-time high outside of the pandemic years, to well over a quarter of the total. As a result, the highest number of applicants ever – 439,180 – were accepted onto degree courses – up by 3.1 per cent on the same time last year. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has previously said the new VAT on private school fees is necessary to fund other public services including state schools. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'We know that capacity is a concern for some sixth form colleges, which is why we have provided £238 million of capital funding to create 24,000 additional places in post-16 education up to 2025. 'In addition, areas with the greatest demographic growth, specifically the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Leeds City Council, both received an allocation of £10 million in April 2025 to increase capacity and relieve pressure. 'Further education is crucial to breaking down barriers to opportunity and delivering the growth that our economy needs through our Plan for Change, which is why we are spending £1.2 billion more on skills by 2028/29.'