Lee Anderson has slammed Keir Starmer’s “half-baked” handling of the freebies row, and insisted Britain “deserves better” than this Labour government.
In an article for The Sun, Mr Anderson hammered Sir Keir for his handling of the controversy, which has persisted for weeks.
“From accepting free tickets to watch top-flight football to receiving donations for his wife’s outfits, Free Gear Keir has quickly shown his true colours,” he wrote.
“Starmer’s response has been as half-baked as his policies, paying back £6,000 of the freebies but keeping the rest,” the Reform UK MP for Ashfield added.
Mr Anderson called on the Prime Minister to “give it all back. Britain deserves better”.
He also noted that Starmer’s approval ratings are now worse than that of Conservative leader Rishi Sunak, whom Anderson served under as chairman of the Tory Party, before defecting to Nigel Farage’s party in March.
The More In Common poll, which surveyed 2080 adults, showed 31 percent preferred Mr Sunak’s government, compared to 29 percent who preferred Sir Keir’s administration.
In a wide-ranging attack on Labour’s record since winning power in July, Mr Anderson claimed the PM “has chosen to take the worst elements of the previous administration, including the failed generational smoking ban, and harden them — to the detriment of the hospitality industry”.
He pointed to the high number of pubs closing for good across England and Wales already this year, smoking rates – which have been declining since 2011 – being “at their lowest levels on record”, adding, “So why is our PM planning to ban smoking in pub gardens?”
Last month, Sir Keir confirmed he is considering plans to outlaw smoking in outdoor areas, as his government continues Mr Sunak’s push to make Britain smoke-free.
When asked about the reported plans previously, the Labour leader said: “My starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking. That is a preventable death, it’s a huge burden on the NHS and, of course, it is a burden on the taxpayer.
“So, yes, we are going to take decisions in this space, more details will be revealed, but this is a preventable series of deaths and we’ve got to take action to reduce the burden on the NHS and the taxpayer,” he added.
The Tabaco and Vapes Bill, which originated in the House of Commons, Session 2023-24, also looks to make “provision about the supply of tobacco, vapes and other products, including provision prohibiting the sale of tobacco to people born on or after 1 January 2009; and to enable product requirements to be imposed in connection with tobacco, vapes and other products,” according to the UK Parliament website.
It’s still making its way through Parliament and has now reached the report stage, giving MPs an opportunity to consider further amendments
Mr Anderson said the policy “will be the final nail in the coffin for many pubs, which have been desperately struggling to recover since the Covid lockdowns”, and said his party would vote against it.
“At a time when Labour continuously warns us about a £22billion black hole in the public finances, that is a whopping £4billion in missed revenue and government spending which we cannot afford to lose,” he argued, though it wasn’t clear what the figure was referring to.
The UK’s pub and tabacco products industries are worth £28.2billion and £22.6billion respectively, according to the latest estimates.
Anderson continued that if Sir Keir “really does care about the economy more than ideology, he should stop wasting taxpayers’ money on nanny state vanity projects that offer no proven route to success.
“They may have been in power for only three months, but the British public has had enough of the current government,” he claimed.
This week Sir Keir paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he has received in recent months, after he and members of his Cabinet faced weeks of criticism for accepting freebies from wealthy Labour donors.
The Prime Minister said he would be tightening hospitality rules for ministers following the row.
