Keir Starmer: 'I don't spend my time worrying about Nigel Farage'

Speaking on the eve of Labour Party conference, Prime Minister Keir Starmer dismissed Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for relying on 'the politics of the easy answer'

Keir Starmer says he doesn't spend time worrying about Nigel Farage - but said Labour must stand up to the threat of the "politics of the easy answer".

Asked if he'd seen anything in the Reform UK leader that worried him since he became an MP , Mr Starmer said: “I don’t spend my time worrying about Nigel Farage.”

“I think the way to deal with what I call ‘the politics of the easy answer’ is to deliver,” he added.

“We’ve got to meet that politics, which is a threat, with real delivery in government. That’s why we work every day towards those five goals I’ve set out.”

Within weeks of taking office, Mr Starmer was plunged into a national crisis, as the horrific killings in Southport spiralled - with the help of the far-right and online provocateurs - into widespread violence on Britain’s streets.

Mr Starmer’s hardline response - rounding up perpetrators and fast-tracking them into significant prison sentences - was sniffed at by some Tories, as well as Reform leader Nigel Farage, who argued the government should calm the tension by addressing “concerns” about immigration.

But the PM’s approach ultimately proven to be the right one, taking the heat out of the situation and stopping the violence in its tracks.

Mr Starmer said he had “no truck” with people making excuses for thugs, and swift justice had been required to end the disorder.

And he said there were lessons to learn from the riots that could be applied in fighting other kinds of crime.

“I knew that the response had to be a strong law and order response,” he said, highlighting the importance of gathering the police and prosecutors round a table to make sure they had a clear message: “If you engage in disorder, you can expect to go through the criminal justice system quickly.”

“I said to everyone round the table, we’re not going to go out there blaming people, finger pointing,” he said. “That’s what the last government did. I’m going to support you to take the difficult decisions that you need to. And I asked them to step up a huge task of law enforcement, and they did.”

“I do think there are lessons that we can take out to other areas,” he added. “I think collaboration, bringing people together areound the table and delivering justice more swiftly is a lesson that we can take out of it.”