Starmer told to 'get up to speed' on keeping UK safe

SIR Keir Starmer faced fresh ridicule yesterday as former PM Rishi Sunak urged him to "get up to speed" with protecting Britain from covert foreign influence.

- Martyn Brown

In feisty Commons exchanges, Mr Sunak heaped pressure on his No10 successor about China's actions in the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong and UK universities. The Tory leader asked why the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (Firs) to combat clandestine political activity by agents in the UK had yet to be implemented and why the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act had been put on hold.

The PM abruptly said it "isn't correct" to say Firs had been halted. He added the Government supported the security and intelligence services in "everything that we do, and he knows that".

Firs requires individuals to disclose with whom they are in an arrangement, what activity they have been directed to undertake and when the arrangement was made.