SNP leader slammed for ‘childish politics’ over anti-Chinese Keir Starmer mug
The SNP was accused of “blatant political taunts” yesterday after comparing Labor’s stance on the two-child benefit ceiling to China’s one-child policy.
Ahead of the PMQs, mugs featuring the Labor leader were handed out to journalists by the Nats in Westminster.
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The slogans “Family Size Control” and “What is the Purpose of Work?” were written on the cups.
They included a note which read: “The Labor Party have a new range of mugs in production. They are made in China – just like Sir Keir Starmer’s latest policy.”
Labor MP Sarah Owen criticized the Nats for the stunt as she suggested they had broken parliamentary rules by using official headed stationery in the political attack.
Asking a point of order in the House of Commons, she said: “Is it really appropriate for the SNP leader in Westminster to use parliamentary stationery to peddle blatant political taunts steeped in Sinophobia and misogyny?”
“Shouldn’t we, especially the East and Southeast Asian community, expect better on this issue?”
SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes hit back when he suggested Labor was “more shaken by a minor breach of the rules than by child poverty”.
A Labor source said the Scottish Government has the power to stop the two-child cap but has not done so because of cost concerns.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Dame Eleanor Laing said: “I want to urge responsible language in this House and among Members outside of this House.”
The action was also criticized by NUS Scotland President Ellie Gomersall, who said it was “a kind of childish politics that just makes you lose all hope”.
She added: “While families suffer from poverty, our MPs make Orientalist jokes about it. Damn it, grow up.”