Andrew Neil ripped into Sir Keir Starmer for blaming the small boats crisis on Brexit.

In a post on X, the veteran broadcaster said: “Keir Starmer claims Nigel Farage is to blame for the boat people because Brexit took us out of the Dublin Convention (in 2020), which allowed us to return asylum seekers to the EU countries from whence they came.

“The PM is either ignorant of the facts — or knowingly lying. Neither is a good look.

“The Dublin Convention was a two-way street for asylum seekers. Yes, we could try to return them. But others could also be returned to us.

“As a result the Dublin Agreement actually made us a net recipient of asylum seekers.

“Take 2018. We made 5,500 requests for asylum seekers to be returned. Only 209 transfers were agreed. In the same year, under the same convention we accepted 1,215 asylum seekers.

“So we were net recipients by over 1,000. The Dublin Convention did nothing to make it easier to return asylum seekers.

“Nearly all politicians are cavalier with the truth when it suits them. But Starmer is taking this to a new level.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has defended Labour’s attacks on Reform UK.

He said: “Politics is a fight, and we’re in a fight. We’re in a big fight for the future direction of the country.

“And if we hadn’t addressed what that fight is, I think people would have wondered what planet we were on when we came in here.

“So we make no apologies for examining our opponent. Being ahead in the polls brings with it scrutiny of your policies, and that goes with the territory.

“If your policy is to say to people – who’ve been in the country legally, worked here legally, paid tax here legally, made a huge contribution to the country – that ‘we’re going to tear up your settled status and we may deport you’, that’s one of the most un-British things I can think of to do.

“The British way is not to break your word and break your promise. And scrutiny of Reform policies like that will go with the territory of having a prominent position in the polls, and they’d better get used to it.”

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice criticised Sir Keir Starmer for his attacks on Nigel Farage.

In a post on X, Mr Tice said: “Starmer is all out of ideas so is lashing out in a vicious coordinated way with his cabinet colleagues.

“He’s unleashed a deliberate incitement of violence against Nigel Farage and Reform activists.

“We thought long and hard about sharing this, but believe it is in the public interest that they know:

“This disgusting attack comes just 2 weeks after the Government slashed Nigel’s security by 75%. Is this a coincidence?

“Thankfully we have donors who have stepped in to shore up the security so that Nigel is still well protected.

“For the Govt to behave like this just a fortnight after the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk is shocking.

“The PM knows exactly what he is doing with this campaign of incitement to violence against Nigel. He has given licence to Antifa and the far left.

“Regardless of your politics, we urge all right thinking people in this country to stand with Nigel against this incitement.”

Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf has claimed Nigel Farage had his security cut by three-quarters in the last fortnight by the Parliamentary Security Department.

Mr Yusuf told Times Radio: “Two weeks ago, the authorities cut Nigel’s security detail by 75%, and then we have seen the most extraordinary 48 hours of demonisation, and I’m going to say it again, incitement to violence against the man who is the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next prime minister.”

He said donors had stepped up to cover the drop in protection.

He said: “The claim I’m making is exactly what has happened, which is that it is the Parliamentary Security Department that is responsible for security in both houses that frankly for what I can tell, for inexplicable reasons, has decided to materially downgrade Nigel Farage’s security. Those are the facts of the matter.”

Sir Keir Starmer said the Government will revisit how international law is interpreted as it attempts to tackle the small boats crisis.

The Prime Minister said the way UK courts interpret international laws such as the European Convention on Human Rights needs to be re-examined.

He told the BBC: “We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down.”

Sir Keir Starmer branded small boats crossing the Channel as “Farage Boats” as he took a swipe at Brexit.

The Prime Minister said the Government was having to recover lost ground over returns caused by leaving the European Union.

He insisted that Nigel Farage had been “wrong” during the Brexit referendum in 2016 that it would make no difference to migration policy if the UK voted leave.

Under the Dublin Convention which applies in the EU, there is a provision to return asylum seekers to the first member state they arrived in.

Sir Keir acknowledged the returns agreement with France had only seen small numbers deported, but said it had been important to prove the policy worked.

He told GB News: “We’ve now done that, but now we need to ramp that up. I would gently point out to Nigel Farage and others that before we left the EU, we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU and he told the country it would make no difference if we left. He was wrong about that.

“These are Farage boats, in many senses, that are coming across the channel.”

Sir Keir Starmer refused to answer three times whether US President Donald Trump’s Sharia Law comments had been racist.

He told the BBC: “I’m not going to start down the road of discussing whether things said by others are racist or not.”

He added: “I have been really clear that the idea that in London we’re introducing Sharia law is rubbish.”

Nigel Farage and his supporters are not “racist”, the Prime Minister has said, despite insisting that Reform UK’s immigration policy is.

He told Sky’s Beth Rigby: “No, nor do I think Reform voters are racist.

“They’re concerned about things like our borders, they’re frustrated about the pace of change.

“I’m not for a moment suggesting that they are racist.”

He insisted he had been talking about a “particular policy”, claiming Reform’s plans would see migrants who live in the UK lawfully deported, saying “that to me would tear our country apart”.

It is the last day of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

There will be speeches from Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

There will then be deputy leadership hustings with former House of Commons leader Lucy Powell facing off against Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.