KEIR Starmer has criticised the appointment of Karen Bradley as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland saying she "does not even understand the basics".
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool yesterday the shadow Brexit secretary said that Theresa May "has appointed a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who doesn't understand the basics about Northern Ireland let alone the complexities."
Mr Starmer was referring to interview Ms Bradley gave earlier this year during which she admitted not previously understanding that nationalists did not vote for unionist parties during elections.
Karen Bradley told political magazine The House that it was "a very different world from the world I came from".
Mrs Bradley was appointed in January of this year to replace James Brokenshire who stepped down for medical reasons.
She told the magazine she didn't understand "people who are nationalists don't vote for unionist parties and vice-versa".
Mr Starmer seized on those comments during a scathing attack on Downing Street, saying the appointment of Mrs Bradley showed that, "this prime minister does not deserve our trust".
"Just when we need strong government, strong leadership, what have we got?
"Division, chaos, failure, the government has no credible plan for Brexit weeks out from the deadline," he said.
