Badenoch says the prime minister has backed criminals instead of law-abiding British people and argued that all immigration law had a racist undercurrent. She charges that Starmer has voted against more than 100 migration control measures and said it was wrong when Tories took away Shamima Begum's citizenship.

For a party that bangs on about housing, Labour doesn't seem to have the guts to be honest about what is driving our shortages.

Keir Starmer has accused the last Tory government of running a “one nation experiment in open borders” that sent immigration numbers soaring. The prime minister made his comments after official figures revealed net migration – the difference between those leaving and entering the UK – soared above 900,000 in the year to June 2023.

Yet, despite castigating the Tories, Labour shows little sign of wanting to end this. Indeed, cabinet minister and Starmer ally Pat McFadden recently said there would be no commitment to a target, saying these "haven’t worked very well" and any figure would “depend on the needs of the economy ”.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Kemi Badenoch criticized Keir Starmer over immigration policies, highlighting Labour’s past positions on deportation, asylum, and migration caps. Starmer countered by blaming Conservatives for record-high migration and ineffective border control.