Sir Keir Starmer tears up key planks of his asylum policy in another U-turn
SIR Keir Starmer is tearing up key planks of his asylum policy in another U-turn.
Labour’s flip flop comes just days after they watered down their flagship £28billion green investment plan — admitting it would spook the markets and push up mortgage rates.
Sir Keir ran for the party leadership on a platform of ten electoral promises to voters.
His promises included a vow to “end indefinite detention and call for the closure of centres such as Yarl’s Wood”.
Yarl’s Wood is an immigration detention centre in Bedford where migrants are held before they are deported.
But The Sun on Sunday understands that Sir Keir is now binning the policy.
Instead, Labour will go into the next election vowing to get the massive asylum backlog down and to improve conditions in centres.
Tory bosses said yesterday the reversal of the policy is yet more evidence that Sir Keir cannot be trusted to stick to his promises.
Tory MP Tom Hunt said: “Sir Flippy Floppy can’t hide the truth. It’s all there for us to see.
“Not just in his pledges before becoming leader but in his voting record in Parliament. He’s soft on illegal immigration and has always voted against any attempt to control our borders.
“The sheer scale and frequency of his U-turns has got to the point where it’s almost pointless taking seriously anything he says or any position he adopts as it’s highly likely to change within weeks. He’s devoid of principle and a backbone.”
It ends a humiliating week for Sir Keir in which he was forced to rip up his green economic plan.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves was sent out on Friday to reveal she was watering down their promise to plough a whopping £28billion a year into eco infrastructure projects.
Admitting the splurge risked sending markets into a tailspin, she said Labour will start lower and “ramp up” spending to hit the annual target in about 2027 if they are elected.
It was a blow for Ed Miliband, Labour’s former leader and current shadow energy secretary, who masterminded the policy.
Ms Reeves said it would be “foolish” to go on the borrowing binge now, which risked interest rates and with it, mortgages.
But she blamed the Tories for crashing the economy.
A Labour source confirmed the asylum pledge has been ditched.
They said Labour will improve detention centres and lift their standards — so they do not have to shut.