PMQs: Starmer reacts to Badenoch's petition remarks
Kemi Badenoch suggested Sir Keir Starmer should resign at Prime Minister's Questions today amid growing fury at the Government, after a petition demanding a fresh general election saw 2.7 million voters back it.
During the astonishing PMQs battle, the Tory leader blasted that Labour are “making everything worse” with their tax and spend plans.
After Sir Keir began asking whether the Tories would reverse his National Insurance hike, Ms Badenoch shot back: “If he wants to know what Conservatives would do he should resign and find out."
Referencing the viral petition, she added: “There’s a petition out there, two million people asking for him to go. He’s the one who doesn’t know how things work.
“It’s not governments who create growth, Mr Speaker, it’s business.”
The PM retorted that the Tories “haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.”
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8 hours ago12:36 Katie Harris
Flynn skewers Starmer
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: "We're currently in the middle of BBC anti-scam awareness week and of course the advice in that context is always simple: if you see a scam you should report it.
"So with that in mind can the Prime Minister advise the House, is he aware of anyone whose promised ot reduce energy bills only for them to increase?
"Is he aware of anyone who promised to back business only to tax business?
"And is he aware of anyone who promised to protect pensioners only to pick their pockets for their winter fuel allowance?"
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told off The Who's Roger Daltrey for clapping in response to the question from the public gallery.
8 hours ago12:34 Katie Harris
Lib Dem leader demands winter fuel U-turn
Sir Ed Davey called on the PM to reverse its decision to strip winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners.
The Liberal Democrat leader referred to Ofgem's announcement last week that the energy price cap would go up from January after a 10% hike last month.
He said: "Millions of people are really worried about how they are going to make ends meet this winter.
"Not least hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are in poverty but above the pension credit limit who will now lose winter fuel payments.
"So with energy bills going up again will the Prime Minister reconsider and restore winter fuel payments?"
Sir Keir said: "The long-term way to deal with this is clean power by 2030 to make sure we drive those energy bills down on a permanent basis.
"On the winter fuel allowance he knows very well what the Government's position is and I've rehearsed it with him many times."
9 hours ago12:33 Katie Harris
Badenoch takes swipe at Reeves
The Tory leader took aim at Chancellor Rachel Reeves amid allegations she embellished her CV and was running a customer relations department dealing with complaints at Halifax Bank of Scotland when she said she was an economist.
Kemi Badenoch said that “everyone is unhappy” with the Government.
She asked: “Isn’t it a good thing that the Chancellor is an expert at customer complaints?”
The Prime Minister replied: “They come here every week with absolutely nothing to offer except complaints.”
9 hours ago12:26 Katie Harris
Badenoch mocks Rayner
Kemi Badenoch took aim at Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner as she branded her a "ginger nut".
The Tory leader said: "What a load of nonsense. We had a Budget in March this year, and tractors were not blockading the streets of Whitehall afterwards. So let me give him another example of a real business.
"Following his Budget, the head of McVitie's has said that it has been harder to understand what the case for investment in the UK is.
"So while the Prime Minister has been hobnobbing in Brazil, businesses have been struggling to digest his Budget. Isn't it the case that the Employment Rights Bill shows that it is not only the ginger nut that is causing him problems?"
Sir Keir Starmer replied: "I was attending the G20. I suspect on their current trajectory, they do not know whether they'd attend the G20 or not, maybe the policy commission will come up with an answer on that one. But we have had record investment from overseas."
He added: "She keeps carping from the sidelines, she says at this despatch she wants all the benefits of the Budget, all the investment, but she doesn't want to pay for any of it. She's racked up ￡6.7 billion of unfunded commitments in just three weeks as leader of the Opposition."
9 hours ago12:24 Katie Harris
Badenoch tells Starmer to resign
The Tory leader referred to a petition signed by more than two million people calling for another general election.
She told Sir Keir Starmer: "To know what Conservatives would do, he should resign and find out. Until then, I'm the one asking the questions. There's a petition out there, two million people asking him to go.
"He's the one who doesn't know how things work, it is not governments that creates growth, it is business. His Employment Secretary - I don't see her here - she wants more young people in work, but businesses say they are cutting jobs because of the Chancellor's Budget.
"His Deputy Prime Minister - she's not here - her Employment Rights Bill will stop businesses hiring, that's what they say. The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) said on Monday that the dots of the Government's policy don't join up. They're right, aren't they?"
The PM replied: "On Monday, she said that she wouldn't reverse the increase in national insurance. Yesterday, on their legacy legislation, their predecessor, they couldn't decide what their position was.
"Today, they've launched a policy commission asking other people to give them some ideas for government. She talks about a petition, we had a massive petition on the 4th of July in this country. We spent years taking our party from a party of protest to a party of government, they are hurtling in the opposite direction."
Sir Keir Starmer speaks at PMQs (Image: PA)
9 hours ago12:13 Katie Harris
Badenoch accuses Starmer of 'making everything worse'
Kemi Badenoch blasted that Sir Keir Starmer is "not fixing any foundations - he's making everything worse".
The leader of the Opposition said: "He's not fixing any foundations - he's making everything worse. The whole House would have heard him refuse to repeat the Chancellor's pledge, a pledge as worthless as the manifesto promises that he's talking about.
"If he is fixing foundations, why is it that the PMI (purchasing managers' index) index shows that business confidence has crashed since the Budget?"
The PM replied: "We're fixing the foundations. We've got record investment. She talks about tax rises but two weeks ago she stood there and said she wanted all the investment, all the benefits of the Budget, but she didn't know how she was going to pay for it.
"I notice that having come here criticising the national insurance rises over and over again, on Monday, she admitted that she wouldn't reverse the position that was set out.
"Meanwhile, her (shadow) science minister was saying he was going energetically to do the opposite. They really haven't got a clue what they're doing."
9 hours ago12:08 Katie Harris
Badenoch urges Starmer to repeat Chancellor's tax pledge
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch used her first question to urge Sir Keir Starmer to repeat the Chancellor's pledge of no more borrowing or more taxes.
She said: "At the CBI conference on Monday, the Chancellor said - and I quote - 'I'm clear, I'm not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes'.
"I know that telling the truth to this House is important to the Prime Minister, so will he repeat his Chancellor's pledge now?"
The PM replied: "We set out our position at the Budget, which was just set out. We're fixing the foundations. We're dealing with the ￡22 billion black hole that they left.
"I'm not going to write the next five years of budgets here at this despatch box but we said we wouldn't hit the payslips of working people. We've passed the Budget. We've invested in the future, and we've kept that promise."
The Tory leader grills Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs (Image: PA)
9 hours ago12:07 Katie Harris
The Who singer watches PMQs
Roger Daltrey from The Who is watching PMQs from the public gallery.
He is a guest of Tory former deputy speaker Nigel Evans.
9 hours ago12:04 Katie Harris
PMQs kicks off
Sir Keir Starmer is on his feet at the despatch box as Prime Minister's Questions gets underway in the House of Commons.
9 hours ago11:55 Katie Harris
Starmer leaves No 10
Sir Keir Starmer was pictured leaving 10 Downing Street ahead of PMQs.
Sir Keir Starmer heads to PMQs (Image: Getty)
10 hours ago11:22 Christian Calgie
What to expect from PMQs
Out Senior Political Correspondent Christian Calgie has gone through some of the main issues Kemi Badenoch might go in on today at 12pm.
Predictions ahead of today's fiery PMQ session at noon \ud83d\udd25 @christiancalgie#dailyexpress #labour #westminster #budget #nigelfarage pic.twitter.com/8ApO7VGPbs
\u2014 Daily Express (@Daily_Express) November 27, 2024
10 hours ago11:05 Christian Calgie
Who's asking questions?
Q1Daisy Cooper (St Albans)
Q2Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan)
Q3Chris Curtis (Milton Keynes North)
Q4Rupert Lowe (Great Yarmouth)
Q5Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon)
Q6Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire)
Q7Brendan O'Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Q8Imran Hussain (Bradford East)
Q9Lewis Atkinson (Sunderland Central)
Q10David Reed (Exmouth and Exeter East)
Q11Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire)
Q12Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Q13Charlie Maynard (Witney)
Q14Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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10 hours ago11:01 Christian Calgie
One hour until PMQs
Kemi Badenoch will take on Keir Starmer in an hour, at noon, after a fortnight's break due to last week's G20 meeting.
She has plenty to go in on.
Domestically, the farming row rumbles on, there's business anger at Rachel Reeves following her CBI speech, Labour's back-to-work plan has been canned from all angles and the Tories are to force a vote on the Budget's tax rises.
Looking at foreign affairs, there's continuing anger at Labour's planned giveaway of the Chagos islands, with Keir Starmer now being forced to beg Donald Trump not to beg the deal.
She may also ask about Keir Starmer's refusal to clarify whether or not Benjamin Netanyahu will be arrested should he visit Britain following the International Criminal Court's warrant.
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