Keir Starmer quoted Margaret Thatcher and people were not happy

Keir Starmer has divided people after praising Margaret Thatcher.

In a speech launching Labour's law and order plan, the Labour leader praised the former Tory prime minister as "right" on crime.

Speaking at Port Vale Football Club in Stoke-on-Trent, he said: "Nothing is more important - more fundamental - to a democracy like ours. The rule of law is the foundation for everything.

"Margaret Thatcher called it the 'first duty of government' - she was right. An expression of individual liberty - our rights and responsibilities, but also of justice, of fairness, of equality - one rule for all.

"That’s the principle I’ve been proud to serve all my adult life. As a human rights lawyer, fighting for families with young children, trying to escape mould-infested accommodation, or for freedom of speech in the McLibel case."

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People were annoyed to see a Labour leader praise a Conservative former prime minister.

Elsewhere in the speech, Starmer pledged to halve incidents of knife crime, reduce the number of victims who drop out of the justice system and reverse "the collapse" in the proportion of crimes solved.

He also said Labour would restore trust in the police following the damning Casey review.

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