Tory defector Natalie Elphicke slammed over 'extraordinary' Labour immigration U-turn

Ms Elphicke has been slammed for her bare-faced u-turn (Image: Getty / PA)

Natalie Elphicke MP has received scorn for defecting to the Labour just minutes before PMQs in a huge upset for Rishi Sunak.

Ms Elphicke’s defection statement slammed Mr Sunak for “failing to keep our borders safe and secure”, accusing him of failing to keep Britain’s borders secure.

Her Dover constituency was highlighted by a gleeful Keir Starmer, who pointed out it is on the frontline of the battle against illegal immigration.

He delighted at PMQs: “If one week a Tory MP who is also a doctor says the PM can’t be trusted with the NHS and joins Labour, and the next week the Tory MP for Dover - on the front line of the small boats crisis - says the PM cannot be trusted with our borders and joins Labour, what is the point of this failed Government staggering on?”

However her decision to defect was quickly slammed by furious Tories, who pointed out that just one year ago Ms Elphicke accused Sir Keir Starmer of being “soft” on small boats.

Ms Elphicke said the Tories cannot be trusted on immigration (Image: Getty)

In a column for the Daily Express, Ms Elphicke pointed out that “at every opportunity so far, Labour have voted against the Stop the Boats Bill”.

“And this week the Labour front bench have laid a series of amendments that would make it more difficult to detain and remove illegal migrants.

“This shows, yet again, that not only have Labour got no plan of their own to tackle illegal immigration, they simply do not want to.”

She warned Labour has a choice between voting with the Tories to stop the boats, or “defy the British people’s desire to control our borders”.

Ms Elphicke blasted: “Will Keir Starmer be prepared to get tough or will Sir Softie strike again?

“As the number of small boats arriving on Kent’s beaches and ports continue to rise, my constituents, and our whole country, are watching carefully.”

Natalie Elphicke slammed Labour in an Express column last year (Image: Express)

Responding to the shock defection, Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns tweeted: “I thought you had more conviction than to join the lefty labour lot you despised so much!”

Sir Michael Fabricant said that the blatant u-turn is “extraordinary”.

Highlighting a tweet from Ms Elphicke in 2020 accusing Labour of offering a “coalition of chaos” that would “take our country backwards on Brexit”, Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: “I agree with Natalie”.

Tory chairman Richard Holden also shared a tweet from Ms Elphicke accusing Labour of wanting to “grab more in taxes from the pockets of millions of hardworking British people”.

Minister Johnny Mercer fumed: "I have literally no idea why the public think most politicians are so inauthentic and believe in absolutely nothing at all".

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "The people of Dover and Deal will be disappointed having felt the impact of illegal immigration".

"They did have an MP who sat with the Party fighting to tackle this issue head-on, now they have an MP in a Party that has worked to block our plans to tackle illegal immigration 139 times.

“We wish Natalie well as she now has to support Labour's amnesty for illegal immigrants and one that directly opposes her own views – it was only last year that she penned an article titled ‘Don’t trust Labour on immigration they really want open borders.’”