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Politics

18th Nov 2020

Keir Starmer: Boris Johnson is ‘the single biggest threat to the UK’

Labour leader Keir Starmer referred to Boris Johnson as 'the single biggest threat to the UK' during today's Prime Minister's Questions

Alex Roberts

The Labour leader said the Prime Minister was ‘seriously undermining the fabric of the United Kingdom’

Labour leader Keir Starmer referred to Boris Johnson as ‘the single biggest threat to the UK’ during today’s Prime Minister’s Questions.

Starmer was speaking in light of controversial comments made by Boris Johnson to Tory MPs, in which he referred to devolution in Scotland as a ‘disaster’.

The Labour leader said: “Mr Speaker, the single biggest threat to the future of the United Kingdom is the Prime Minister every time he opens his mouth on this.”

In a historic first, Johnson was appearing via video link. He is currently undergoing a period of self-isolation after being in close contact with a coronavirus case.

He shook his head in response to Starmer’s opening line.

The Labour leader continued: “When the Prime Minister said he wanted to take back control, nobody thought he meant from the Scottish people. But the Prime Minister’s quote is very clear, he said ‘Devolution has been a disaster north of the border’.”

In a historic first, Boris appeared at Prime Minister’s Questions via a video link. He is currently self-isolating after being in close contact with a case of Covid-19.

According to Starmer, Johnson’s comments on Scotland are one of many recent gaffes and political failures.

“This isn’t an isolated incident,” he said.

“Whether it’s the Internal Market Bill, the way the Prime Minister sidelined the devolved parliaments over the Covid response, the Prime Minister is seriously undermining the fabric of the United Kingdom. So instead of talking down devolution, does he agree that we need far greater devolution of powers and resources across the United Kingdom?”

Earlier today, Keir Starmer confirmed that, while he had readmitted ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour Party, he wouldn’t be allowed to sit as an MP.

Starmer said Corbyn will not have the party whip restored to him. Corbyn’s controversial readmission came just three weeks after he was suspended over comments made in response to the EHRC report.

Corbyn had claimed that the scale of antisemitism in the Labour Party under his leadership had been “dramatically overstated”.