Starmer Has Punched Down on Pensioners and Disabled People - Now It's Migrants

It Can't Be Long Before We Bring Back the Stocks and the Ducking Stool. We Could All Do With Someone to Blame for the UK Falling Apart

- John Crace

Forgive me for feeling underwhelmed. As a general rule, countries collaborating on crime have not yet managed to do away with crime. But I suppose that doing something - even if it's only being seen to do something - is better than doing nothing. So a big welcome to the 40 countries that have converged on Lancaster House in central London at Keir Starmer's invitation for a summit on tackling "illegal migration".

The government has chosen some curious targets for its attacks since last July's election. Mostly punching down. First it had pensioners in its sights, as it removed the winter fuel allowance. Then it went after farmers. Recently it has had a go at cutting benefits for disabled people. Now it is the turn of irregular migrants. Maybe it's just a wonder that Starmer took this long to get round to people making small boat crossings from France. Every government is trying to out-Farage Farage these days.