Labour leader Keir Starmer drops in on Bolton café

Sir Keir dropped in at the Bridge Café on Bradford Street, the Haulgh, where he was joined by former Conservative MP for Bolton North East turned Labour supporter Mark Logan.

There he answered questions from reporters and voters, including about the Conservatives’ plan for a cap on visas in an effort to cut migration.

Sir Keir said: “Net migration is far too high, this Government has lost control. It’s more than twice as high as it was when we were in the EU, that’s the irony of it.

“This Prime Minister is actually, for all his tough talk, the most liberal prime minister when it comes to immigration, those numbers have gone through the roof.”

Sir Keir dropped in at the café ahead of a debate with Rishi Sunak (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

But he did not guarantee the numbers would come down under a Labour government.

Sir Keir said: “They need to come down, we’ve got a plan to bring them down.

“But you can’t wish them down, that’s what the Tories are doing.

“They are just plucking numbers and wishing and hoping for the best.”

He claimed that if elected his government would tackle “bad bosses” using migrant labour to undercut standards.

Sir Keir meeting people with Mark Logan and Liz Kendall (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Sir Keir  visited the Bridge Café just days after Mark Logan, who was elected as Conservative MP for Bolton North East in 2019, announced he would not be standing again and would be backing Labour.

Turning to rows over the selection of former shadow cabinet member Diane Abbot, Sir Keir said that he had not spoken to her since the controversy erupted, though his staff had been in touch.

He said: “I have spoken to Diane two or three months ago, my team have obviously been speaking to her, but that decision is taken, that’s clear.”

Bolton North East will be a hard fought contest (Image: PA Wire)

Sir Keir was then pressed on the resignation from Labour of seven councillors in Slough over the handling of Ms Abbott and the controversial deselection of Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen.

He said: “Across the country we’ve got brilliant Labour teams out in every constituency, fighting for votes in this general election.”

Sir Keir was joined by shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall and by his party’s candidates for Bolton North East, Kirith Entwistle, and Bolton West Phil Brickell.

Liz Kendall and Phil Brickell (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

He had stopped over at the Haulgh café ahead of a head-to-head TV debate with Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Asked how was feeling ahead of the debate, the Labour leader said: “Very good.”

He said he was: “Looking forward to the opportunity to speak directly to voters through the debate to put our case, because at the end of the day it is that clear choice, and I think voters will see that tonight.

“More of the same, we’ve had 14 years of this and after 14 years nothing is better than when the Tories started, we can end that, turn the page and start to rebuild our country with the Labour Party.

“I’m looking forward to be able to make that argument in the debate this evening.”

Sir Keir spoke to voters and reporters (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Asked if he had been preparing for the debate, Sir Keir said: “Well, look, I’ve got a team preparing with me, it’s much the same team as for PMQs, and I suppose the best bit for the staff is that they get the opportunity in the debate to put the difficult questions to them, so they’re relishing that.”

Ms Entwistle said that she had spoken to a lifelong Conservative voter at the café who was now thinking about changing her allegiance to Labour.

She said: “I think over time she was really starting to think that the country isn’t working as it should be.”

She added: “It was interesting, a lot of people have seen their weekly bills go up and it shows the cost-of-living crisis is very real.

Liz Kendall and Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

“A lot of people just seemed fed up and they want to see a brighter future for their kids and grandkids.”

Her Bolton West counterpart Mr Brickell said he hoped to show people like the cafés customers what his party policies hoped to offer them.

He said: “It’s been a pleasure to host Keir Starmer and shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall in Bolton to talk with residents about the support a Labour government would offer.

“Tackling the cost-of-living crisis and ensuring every pensioner has dignity in older age.”

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One of several Bolton residents at the café was 77-year-old lifelong Conservative voter Mandy Snelgrove, a lifelong Conservative voter.

She said she would now vote Labour because of her experience with the NHS and the cost of living.

She said she had recently waited 12 hours at hospital before being sent home without being seen, and then went back the next day and waited another six hours without being seen.

Asked what she thought of the current Government, she said: “It’s a bit of a mess, if I can say that. It’s a bit of a big mess.”

Asked what she thought of Sir Keir, she said: “He’s lovely. He’s more handsome today than I thought. I think he’s a very, very nice man.”