Labour Party – latest: Starmer defends Sunak ad attack as leader faces backlash from own MPs

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A Labour shadow minister was left floundering after being challenged over Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial attack on Rishi Sunak over child sex abusers.

In tense exchanges on BBC Radio 4 Today shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry was told Mr Starmer had been a member of the body that set the existing rules that say not all such offenders should be locked up.

Pressed three times to say if Mr Starmer had objected when the decision was made she said she didn’t know.

Interviewer Justin Webb pointed out that former director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Starmer, was a member of the “sentencing council” that set the guidelines in 2012 that he is now attacking Mr Sunak for.

Thomas Kingsley reports:

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is facing a furious backlash from his own MPs about the “ugly and degrading” attack ads that claim Rishi Sunak does not think child sex abusers should go to prison.

Labour MPs told The Independent they had personally complained to their leader about the Twitter ads – warning him that it will damage the party’s standing in “blue wall” seats in the south of England.

It comes as shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper distanced herself from the Twitter graphic on child sex abusers – with her team making clear she was not consulted about the ad devised by Labour strategists.

Starmer’s team remains unrepentant, however – and is preparing to go further by accusing Mr Sunak of effectively “decriminalising” rape in a new online ad in the coming days.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper was not told about the release of controversial advert attack claiming Rishi Sunak does not think child sex abusers should go to prison.

The strategy has sparked a backlash from party figures in despair about the move into “gutter politics” after a series of Twitter ads which accuse the PM of being soft on crime.

The Independent understands that Ms Cooper was not told or consulted about the wording of the ad devised by the Labour’s strategy team, despite being related her home affairs brief.

However, Labour sources played down the idea of a row between Sir Keir’s camp and Ms Cooper, saying all shadow cabinet members were aware attacks were coming as part of law and order week.

This week’s junior doctors‘ strikes will pose immediate “risks to patient safety”, the head of the NHS Confederation has warned.

Matthew Taylor said the stoppage would also have a longer-term “catastrophic impact” on NHS waiting lists with the knock-on effect of “up to 350,000” cancelled operations and appointments.

Mr Taylor, whose organisation represents NHS managers, said the Acas conciliation service should be brought in to resolve the dispute between the government and junior doctors.

“It’s going to be an incredibly tough week. We’ve got four days of industrial action which of course come after the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, followed by another weekend, so you’re talking about 10 or 11 days when the NHS is not able to operate at full strength,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports:

The government’s prediction that its Brexit trade deal with Asia-Pacific countries will grow the economy by 0.08 per cent may be an overestimate, it has emerged.

Officials working on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) deal changed their usual approach to calculating the GDP figure and instead used a new model that “generates larger estimated GDP impacts”, according to the government’s own documentation.

Trade secretary Kemi Badenoch last week responded to mockery of the low figure, which amounts to a £1.8bn economic boost, by saying her department’s estimate was probably too low and ignored some benefits.

But her department’s own small print suggests the number might have been even smaller had its usual approach been taken.

The former prime minister’s reckless suggestion that the Irish border would not be a problem as he sought to ‘get Brexit done’ came close to causing irreparable damage, writes Sean O’Grady.

Read it here:

Sir Keir Starmer has defied critics of Labour’s attack advert accusing Rishi Sunak of not wanting child sex abusers to go to jail by saying he stands by “every word”.

The Labour leader said he makes “absolutely zero apologies” for the campaign that has provoked anger within his own party regardless of how “squeamish” it makes people. The next adverts are set to blame Mr Sunak for crashing the economy, a report claims.

Amid frontbench unease, senior figures including former home secretary Lord David Blunkett called for the initial ad to be withdrawn, arguing that Labour is better than the “gutter” politics.

A country that has the worst performing economy in the developed world, that is reeling from industrial unrest, and is suffering social strife and poor public services, needs far better than this, writes John Kampfner:

Labour has accused the Tories of handing “ shockingly short” prison sentences to 4,000 rapists, as the party continued to attack Rishi Sunak’s handling of sentencing.

Sir Keir Starmers’ party has vowed to crack down on rapists by giving criminals convicted of the offence a minimum sentence of seven years behind bars.

Labour published analysis showing 3,876 adult rapists have received a prison sentence of less than seven years since 2010.

The figures come as Labour ramps up its attacks on the Conservative government’s record on crime ahead of the local elections in May and a national poll next year.