Sir Keir Starmer has accused Nigel Farage of “fawning over Putin” after he failed to appear at a Commons debate about extra defence spending.
The Prime Minister made the comment when he was asked whether he was the Reform UK leader “in disguise” because of the similarities in his approach to that of the opposition party’s policy platform.
Labour’s leader said: “ didn’t turn up to the debate in Parliament today. is fawning over Putin. That’s not patriotism.
“That is not what working people need. What I have done is take the duty of Prime Minister seriously, which is to ensure that our citizens are safe and secure, and this decision is made to ensure they are safe and secure.”
Reform UK MPs were described as “Putin’s poodles” after only Lee Anderson turned up for ’s announcement on Tuesday about extra defence spending.
Sir Keir Starmer took aim at Nigel Farage during a press conference (Image: Getty)
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, the leader at Westminster, said: “Aside from a few of Putin’s poodles who are not in their seats in the chamber here today, we are of course united in our support for the people of .”
But Mr Anderson hit out at the “outrageous accusations”.
The Reform MP for Ashfield said: “Today, the bewildered-looking leader of the SNPs stated that none of us Reform UKs were present.
“For the record – I’ve spent nearly four hours in the Chamber already today. I called this nonsense out earlier.”
Sir Keir said the amount of money the Government spends on defence from 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.7% by 2027.
He said the money will be found by cutting the foreign aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP.
Taking questions at a press conference in Downing Street, he said: “On the timing, I do think that this is a decision that’s three years in the making. I do think that we’ve known that this decision had to be taken.”
He said recent discussions over a possible peace deal for has “brought our response into a sharp focus”.
The Prime Minister added: “I have made a commitment for the safety and security of our country that we will play our full part in any security guarantees if we get that far.”