Labour will continue its controversial attack ads personally blaming Rishi Sunak for the Tories’ record in office, Wes Streeting has declared.
The shadow health secretary said there was “more to come” despite widespread criticism of the tone of the campaign.
A tweet published on Good Friday accused the prime minister of not supporting the jailing of child sex offenders.
It was based on Ministry of Justice figures showing that 4,500 such offenders had avoided jail since 2010 - five years before the prime minister even became an MP.
That sparked a furious backlash, with even senior Labour figures such as David Blunkett and John McDonnell joining in the criticism.
But on Sky News this morning, Streeting said Labour was “absolutely right to take the gloves off”.
He said: “It’s perfectly reasonable to challenge a Conservative prime minister on the abysmal failure on Conservative government.
“Labour is absolutely right to take the gloves off and hold the government to account for 13 years of appalling failure on law and order, in the economy, in our public services.
“Nothing is working properly in this country after 13 years of Conservative government and we’re right to haul them over the coals for their record and to set out an alternative.”
Streeting added: “I absolutely stand by Labour’s ads and there’s more to come.
“We’re robustly holding the government to account for 13 years of failure.”
HuffPost UK revealed how the catalyst for the ad campaign was a letter from Dominic Raab suggesting courts jail fewer criminals because of prison overcrowding.
“Raab’s letter to judges telling them to go soft on criminals because the justice system is broken was a gift,” a Labour source said. “As soon as it happened, a plan started coming together.”