Today we will group PMQs by Party.
LABOUR
Rachel Hopkins celebrated the freeze on rail season ticket prices. Cat Eccles urged buying in the High Street rather than online. Leigh Ingham wanted road-building projects to be completed more speedily. Luke Akehurst criticised Reform’s Durham county council for cutting support for working families. Jenny Riddell-Carpenter said the Tory-led Suffolk county council should improve safety measures outside schools. Jen Craft quoted the Covid inquiry’s figure (based on modelling) of 23,000 preventable deaths cause by the Johnson government’s delays. Mrs Sureena Brackenridge congratulated a men’s health organisation. Ben Coleman said we should boost economic growth by closer trade ties with the EU, blaming difficulties on the Tories’ “poorly managed exit” from that organisation. Emily Darlington campaigned for the “White Ribbon promise to never use, excuse or remain silent about men’s violence against women.”
CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION LEADER
Mrs Badenoch paid tribute to the farmers who had come that day to Westminster to protest the family farm tax.
She noted that the OBR’s analysis of the Budget had been leaked prematurely and quoted the former chief economist of the Bank of England as saying that Labour’s “fiscal fandango” is “the single biggest reason growth has flatlined.”
She called on the PM to deny that his advisers had briefed against members of the Cabinet. He did so, at least as regards those at “No. 10.” She replied that his Chief of Staff had investigated himself and found himself innocent.
She noted that the PM had said he wanted Angela Rayner back in the Cabinet despite her recent resignation for tax evasion. Would Rayner be made to pay her tax and return her severance pay? Sir Keir did not say yes or no to that.
Mrs Badenoch summed-up by saying his government is chaotic and has lost the trust of his MPs, the markets and the public.
OTHER CONSERVATIVES
Mark Pritchard spoke of a hypersonic and ballistic missile threat from Russia, to which we have no “current counter”; how would the PM keep us safe? Lewis Cocking talked of the economic cost of roadworks and traffic jams.
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT LEADER
Ed Davey asked why Labour were raising taxes instead of “fixing the £90 billion Brexit black hole in the public finances” with a better trade deal with the EU. Following the jailing of Reform’s leader (Nathan Gill) in Wales, he also wanted the PM to launch an investigation into Russian infiltration into our politics; China was not mentioned.
OTHER LIB DEMS
Alison Bennett highlighted the problem of patients who could not leave hospital because care packages were not in place. Josh Babarinde deplored the lack of a statutory requirement to report incidents of physical restraint on school transport for SEN children, also of national training standards. Sarah Dyke wished the PM to rethink the damaging family farm tax. Adam Dance asked Sir Keir to safeguard defence-related employment in Yeovil by confirming a new medium helicopter contract.
PLAID CYMRU
Liz Saville Roberts echoed Ed Davey’s call for a “full investigation into foreign interference in our democracies”; again, she only mentioned Russia.
For context, it may be worth remembering that Reform came a strong second to Plaid Cymru in October’s by-election in Caerphilly; and that Nathan Gill’s criminal offence was committed when he was a UKIP MEP in 2018 (he resigned from UKIP shortly afterwards and joined the Brexit Party in 2019.)
PRIME MINISTER’S REPLIES
Aside from agreeing with his friends’ praises, much of what Sir Keir says is like the “chaff” that military planes blast out to distract enemy missiles. For example his reply to Luke Akehurst’s question on financial support for families in Durham turned into what Nigel Farage may have said as a schoolchild.
Perhaps his most interesting statement was the response to Mark Pritchard’s query on defence:
“It is the first duty of the Prime Minister to keep this country safe; that duty is paramount and above all else, and I take it extremely seriously and treat it as my No. 1 priority. We review our security and defence arrangements all the time, and we are, particularly, a leading member of NATO, which is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”
Some might say that our involvement with NATO and EU military allies has become potentially counterproductive. There may also be other ways in which Sir Keir is failing to maintain the integrity and security of the nation.
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THE BUDGET
The Chancellor’s Budget is just as woeful as had been feared and again represents a redistribution of wealth from the productive to the unproductive. The BBC gives details of changes but there are many other sources of analysis and lament.
Some commentators see it as a collection of sops to Labour backbenchers to shore up their political support for Starmer and herself.
It is unfortunate for Mrs Reeves that having condemned the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) for their accidental (?) leak she should now be embarrassed by the OBR’s revelation that the new “black hole” the extra taxes were supposedly to fill does not exist. She now denies that she misled the public.
Her embarrassment was even more acute during Kemi Badenoch’s excoriating response to the Budget speech. Her facial expression began to wilt under the onslaught. It is worth watching in full.
https://www.itv.com/watch/news/watch-kemi-badenochs-full-response-to-the-chancellors-speech/jpkl4hf
Still, what use are words? During PMQs watch also Starmer’s blank, merciless face traversing left and right in the Chamber as the Opposition protests; it declares “We are the masters at the moment and shall be for some considerable time.”
The words “chaos” and “chaotic” were used seven times in PMQs and a further seven in the resolutions after the Chancellor’s Budget speech - right every time, whether describing Labour now or the Tories before them. Nevertheless, it seems we have no choice but to endure the chaos.
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