Labour has doubled down on its controversial attacks on Rishi Sunak despite accusations it is indulging in “gutter” politics.
Keir Starmer is under increasing pressure to withdraw an advert which claims Rishi Sunak does not think child sex abusers should go to prison.
Labour has been widely condemned over the social media post, which has been criticised by politicians from across the political spectrum as well as high-profile Labour supporters.
One Labour frontbencher, shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell, refused to endorse the advert when asked, although she said she did not think it should be removed.
It shows a photo of Mr Sunak alongside the words: “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”
In the same post, Labour describes itself as “the party of law and order”, an issue seen as a key battleground in May’s local elections.
The second advert suggests Mr Sunak does not believe adults convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to harm should be jailed.
It highlights that 937 adults convicted of the offence had been spared prison since 2010, five years before Mr Sunak became an MP.
Denis MacShane, a minister in Tony Blair’s government, criticised the first advert saying Labour “should not get into (the) gutter”.
Ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell urged his party to remove the advert, saying: “This is not the sort of politics a Labour Party, confident of its own values and preparing to govern, should be engaged in … please withdraw it.”
But a Labour source said: “We stand by the graphic”.
