Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch Trade Blistering Attacks in Heated PMQs Showdown | AC1G

To Prime Minister's questions, may I extend a warm welcome to the President of the Parliament of Montenegro and his delegation who are in the gallery today. We now come to Prime Minister's questions. Number one goes to Ian Levy. Prime Minister. Thank you Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, our budget took important measures to tackle the cost of living. That's why we've frozen railfares, prescription charges and cut energy bills for every family by £150. Today, Mr Speaker, we're going further. For too long, parents have been pushed into spending more on infant formula than needed, told they're paying for better quality and left hundreds of pounds out of pocket. I can announce today that we're changing that. We will take action to give parents and carers the confidence to access infant formula at more affordable prices, with clearer guidance for retailers and helping new parents use loyalty points and vouchers. Together, Mr Speaker, that will save them up to £500 before their child's first birthday. That builds on our action to lift half a million children out of poverty and breakfast clubs, and our child poverty strategy will be published later this week. This morning, I had meetings with Minister of College and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The North East is still picking up the pieces of the destruction and decimation of 14 years of Tory government. Men in the North East of England still expect to live 10 years less than people in other parts of the country. Women in the North East of England are making, on average, more than £11,000 in wages than people in other parts of the country. Thirty-three per cent of kids in my patch in Blyth and Asherton are living in poverty. The unemployment rates are above the national average and the national wages are below the national average. The people in the North East are a proud breed and we deserve much more than this. Will the Prime Minister assure me and the people in my constituency and in the North East that there is much to look forward to on the horizon? Will he meet me to discuss how we can shape it? The Prime Minister talks about poverty in his constituency and they heckle him. They should be ashamed. It is our moral mission to tackle poverty. We have abolished the two-child cap. That will be over 3,000 children in his constituency lifted out of poverty. I am very proud to be able to do that. We have boosted the national minimum wage by £1,500 and we are adding £150 so that we are taking off everyone's energy bills. We are driving economic growth right across the country, devolving power and investing across all of the country. Come to the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Baird-O'Brien. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I first of all pay tribute to Sir John Stanley, who passed away yesterday? Sir John was a dedicated MP for 41 years and we send our deepest condolences to his family. Does the Prime Minister believe that when an organisation descends into total shambles the person at the top should resign? Mr Speaker, can I first join in her comments in relation to Sir John and I am sure I speak for the whole House in that respect. Mr Speaker, I was very proud to lead this party at the Budget last week where the Chancellor set out that we would protect the NHS, which we have done in the Budget, create the conditions for economic stability, not repeating the mistake of austerity and bearing down on the cost of living by taking £150 off energy bills. We are fixing the mess that they left and I am very proud to be doing so. Mr Speaker, he does not want to answer a question about taking responsibility because he likes to blame everyone else except himself and so does the Chancellor. We now know that the head of the OBR was forced out for telling the truth, that the Chancellor did not need to raise taxes on working people. We also know that the Chancellor was briefing the media, twisting the facts, all so she could break her promises and raise taxes. Mr Speaker, if she was a CEO she would have been fired and she might even have been prosecuted for market abuse. That is why we have written to the Financial Conduct Authority. So will the Prime Minister ensure that the Chancellor fully co-operates with any investigation? Mr Speaker, she is completely losing the plot. I pay tribute to Richard Hughes and his leadership of the OBR. He made very clear why he stepped down and I have made very clear my support of the OBR. But she says take responsibility. Under this Chancellor, Mr Speaker, growth is up this year, defeating and beating the forecast. Wages are up, more since the general election than in 10 years of the Tories. We have had, I think, five interest rate cuts, NHS waiting lists are down, we have had record investment into this country. We are turning the page on their austerity and recklessly sparing on borrowing. I would compare that record to them every day of the week. Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister talks about losing the plot. Let me read to him what his own Cabinet members are saying and I quote, The handling of this budget has been a disaster from start to finish. Who said that? Was it him? Was it her? In fact, I think it was probably her actually. It was probably the Chancellor. In fact, Mr Speaker, one of his Ministers said the Chancellor and Prime Minister look weak and incompetent. The country agrees. We know that there were endless Treasury briefings to justify raising taxes on hard-working people to pay for benefits and those briefings had real-world consequences. Hundreds of thousands of people drew down their pension, an irreversible act. So the Prime Minister pays tribute to the head of the OBR. If the head of the OBR had to resign over market-sensitive leaks, why is the Chancellor still in her job? Mr Speaker, last year they left us with a £22 billion black hole. This year, at the productivity review, on their record in office, and that cost an additional £16 billion that we had to find in the budget. But notwithstanding that, Mr Speaker, we protected the NHS, waiting times are coming down. Notwithstanding that, we got cutting borrowing at the fastest rate in the G7. Notwithstanding that, we got £150 off energy bills. That's added to rail bills and prescription as well. Order. Order. Mr Holden, your voice curries more than mine. The difference is, yours will be currying outside, not from the Chamber. Mr Speaker, what she doesn't understand is that picking up a £16 billion tab for their failure is not a good starting point for any budget. The OBR said yesterday, Mr Speaker, that the Chancellor's speech was not misleading. So if the Leader of the Opposition had any decency, she'd get up now and apologise. You might be enjoying a cup of tea with Mr Holden, if you carry on. Mr Speaker, no one believes a word that the Prime Minister says. We now know the black hole was fake, her book was fake, her CV was fake, even her chest claims are made up. She doesn't belong in the Treasury, she belongs in La La Land. They raised taxes on working people. That £16 billion was to increase benefits to protect them from their backbenchers. He now boasts about removing the two-child benefit cap, but he used to say that it was unaffordable. He even removed the whip from seven of them for wanting the same thing. He is very happy to throw them under a bus when it pleases him. So I ask the Prime Minister, how did it suddenly become affordable at the very time he needed to save his own skin? The vast majority of families we helped in the Budget are in work. Three quarters of children in poverty are in working families. Their policy of nearly 10 years on the two-child benefit cap had one result and one result only. It dragged hundreds of thousands of children into poverty. They should be utterly ashamed of that. And I'm very proud that we're lifting half a million children out of poverty. Because I believe, I profoundly believe that every child should have a chance in life. Every child should be able to go as far as their talent will take them. So that's why we're lifting half a million out of poverty. But they're the same old Tories, the party of child poverty. If all of this is true, why did he take the whip away from the people who are asking for it? Let's remind the Chancellor, exactly a year ago today, on the 3rd of December 2024, the Chancellor said, we will never have to repeat a Budget like this one, if only. He may have taken the whip away, but the rebels have the last laugh, the Prime Minister has lost. He can't run his own party, he can't let alone the country, Mr Speaker. Let me quote what the hard-left former Shadow Chancellor said. He said, we've won. He's right, isn't he? I've said repeatedly that bringing down child poverty is a moral mission, a political mission and a personal mission. They drove hundreds of thousands of children into poverty, who will pay the price for the rest of their lives for their failure. We're taking half a million of them out of poverty, very proud to do so. That is good for children, it's good for the economy, and it's good for the NHS, who will have less of a burden on them. They should be ashamed of what they did on child poverty, and she should stand up and she should apologise. Mr Speaker, let me tell the Prime Minister, let me tell the Prime Minister, making the whole country poorer and destroying jobs is not how you keep children out of poverty. In the past week, in the past week, we've seen broken promises, broken leadership and a broken budget for Benefit Street. A broken budget for Benefit Street. The Education Secretary is chuntering, where is the money for the children on special educational needs? Where is it? Employment is up, employment is up. It's coming out of her budget, it's coming out of her budget. She's shaking her head. She doesn't know where that money is coming from. But let's be clear, Mr Speaker, unemployment is up. There are more children now growing up in workless households because people are losing their jobs. It's not just the head of the OBR who's losing his job. Millions of people have been hung out to dry by their budget. And isn't the truth, Mr Speaker, that behind it all is a Prime Minister who only cares about one person's job, his own? She wants to put half a million children back into poverty. She thinks the Chancellor should resign because the economy is improving. We are turning the page on their failure. We are bringing waiting lists down. We're bringing stability that cuts inflation and interest rates. And we're bringing down bills. We're building a brighter future. Conversations about a new Ireland are deepening, with people from all sorts of backgrounds having serious, hopeful discussions about building something new. Yesterday here in Westminster, along with the Member for South Antrim, who has a different view to me, we hosted two of the island's most respected journalists making the case both for and against Irish unity. While both positions were argued, clear voice was at the time for careful preparation is now. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that while there is much work to do before any referendum, that to avoid a mess like Brexit, it is prudent and completely compatible with the Good Friday Agreement for the Irish and British Governments to jointly prepare for constitutional change? Prime Minister. Can I thank her for her question? One of the greatest achievements of the last Labour Government was the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. And we fully support that agreement, which brought peace and stability for Northern Ireland. It does, as she well knows, set out a process for future decisions, which under the agreement I support. And we are focused in working constructively with the Executive and others on all issues, including the record settlement under the budget for Northern Ireland. Liberal Democrat Sir Ed Davie. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I join the Leader of the Opposition in paying tribute to Sir John Stanley and sending our condolences to his family. I had the huge pleasure of working with him over a number of years on developing the relationship between our country and Korea, and he was always a true gentleman. Mr Speaker, yesterday I was in Royal Tunbridge Wells, where tens of thousands of people have had no water for five days. This is now a public health emergency. And shockingly, it's the second time in just three years when South East Water have let down the people of Tunbridge Wells badly. Parents are queuing up for bottled water for their kids. Pensioners are relying on neighbours to fetch some water for them. Businesses have closed down. Schools and GPs have been forced to shut. South East Water said it would be sorted on Monday, then yesterday, and today it still hasn't been sorted. So will the Prime Minister convene COBRA? Does he agree that it's time for him to get a grip of this crisis so it is sorted? Can I thank him for raising this really important issue? And it is shocking for all the reasons he's set out. I too have heard South East Water say, as he rightly says, actually Sunday into Monday, Monday into Tuesday, and Tuesday into Wednesday, that they were sorting it and they still haven't sorted, and there's really serious consequences. And we are bearing down on that as he would expect because it's such a serious issue. Sir Ed Davies. Prime Minister's reply and the actions of the Water Minister, but I do think the Government will need to do more because South East Water have failed so badly. If I can turn to the Budget now, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister's Chief Economic Advisor has recommended a customs union with the EU as one of the most effective ways of generating growth, and we agree. So instead of hitting people with higher taxes in the middle of a cost of living crisis, will the Prime Minister change course in economic policy and listen to the piece of wise economic advice from his own economics advisor? Well, Mr Speaker, we are getting closer relationships with the EU on a number of fronts, including trade and the economy, because that is good for businesses across our country, has been welcomed by them. We'll continue down that path, but we do have clear red lines in relation to the single market and the customs union. So within those constraints, we will move closer. Dr Becky Cook. Mr Speaker, gambling addiction is a serious public health harm, causing ill health and misery for millions of people in this country. The industry now spends £2 billion a year on advertising, often targeting vulnerable people and exposing our children to harm. Along with many members across this House, I very much welcome the Chancellor's announcement last week to tax harmful online gambling products. Would the Prime Minister agree with me, therefore, that to continue this essential work, we must now act to tackle harmful gambling advertising to protect the health of our children? Well, I thank her for raising this, because she's right that harm from online gambling has surged. NHS referrals are up 91% in the past year. The decisions we made in the Budget mean investment in public services and lifting over half a million children out of poverty. But we are working with industry to ensure that adverts don't exacerbate harm. And through our £26 million investment, we're helping the Gambling Commission crack down on black market sites and illegal adverts to keep players safe. Paul Holmes. Very much, Mr Speaker. In 2020, the Justice Secretary said criminal trials without juries are a bad idea. The Prime Minister himself said there should be a right to trial by jury in all criminal cases. Now they want to scrap them. Mr Speaker, with a Chancellor who can't count and a Justice Secretary who's lost count of the number of people he's let out of prison, is it any wonder that the people of this country can't trust a single word this Prime Minister or Government says ever again? Mr Speaker, they left a broken criminal justice system where victims of rape and serious sexual violence are waiting three or four years for trial. Only this week I've heard further examples of 14-year-old girls and 16-year-old girls having to give evidence four years after the allegation. That is not justice for them and I'm determined that we will deal with it. Now, as he well knows, of all cases going, all criminal cases going to court, 90% have always been in the magistrate's court. 90%. 10% go to the Crown Court. Of that 10%, 7% plead guilty. That means that 3% of all criminal cases go forward for a jury trial. Not all of our cases. We are making changes, sensible changes, to ensure that we can make sure that victims get justice and it's denied under the failure that they left. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm really pleased to hear many constituents tell me how much local NHS services have improved since this Labour Government entered office. But some, like David Wotton from Atherston, have faced long delays. He was told he'd have to wait five months for X-ray results from George Elliott Hospital and he's not the only one. My constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth deserve better. Can the Prime Minister set out how he will go further and faster to get our NHS fighting fit again? Can I start by saying I'm sorry to hear that David, her constituent, is waiting. We did take decisions at the Budget to invest in the NHS and tackle waiting lists. And that is to help people like David. We delivered £29 billion extra investment into the NHS and scrapped NHS England to invest in the front line. We are opening, Mr Speaker, 250 neighbourhood health centres to treat patients closer to home. And we've got over £5 million extra appointments being delivered. And waiting lists are down 230,000. They chunter, they absolutely destroyed our health service and we're picking it up. They should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My constituent, Clare, she runs Clare Howard Jewellery and she's just one of many small business owners who contacted me after the Budget from last week. She was absolutely incensed by the style of the Chancellor where she seemed to give the impression that she was reducing taxes on small businesses when the exact opposite is the case. Clare's tax is going up on her shop, not coming down. So could the Prime Minister do Clare and many other shop owners the common courtesy of just admitting that their taxes are going up and not down? Prime Minister, you raise an important point. Let me address it. Because at the heart of this issue is that temporary business rate relief was put in during the pandemic by the last government. That was the right thing to do and we supported it. But it was temporary relief. That is now coming to an end. And obviously there's a re-evaluation that goes with it. So what we're doing is permanently lowering the rates for leisure, retail and hospitality. But because of what the changes are, we're putting in transitional relief of £4 billion. That means there'll be a cap on increases for small businesses. And we're finding that by adjusting the burden between them and the online giants. But in the end, it's the temporary business rates coming to an end that we have to adjust through this policy. Oliver Ryard. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I declare an interest as the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Multiple Sclerosis and as the proud son of a lifelong multiple sclerosis patient. And she joins us in the gallery today. Neurological conditions like MS or Parkinson's affect one in six. But wait times for first and follow-up neurology appointments have increased by a huge 65% since 2020, risking delayed treatment and diagnosis at critical time. I'm proud this government is bringing NHS waiting lists down, cutting emissions, investing in care and equipment. But will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister formalise these efforts and support an NHS modern service framework for neurology and get these wait times down? Hear, hear. Prime Minister. Can I thank him for his question and for sharing the personal interest that he has in this. We are focused on bringing down waiting lists and making sure every patient receives the best possible care. As he knows, the 10-year health plan announced a new modern service framework to help rapidly improve care. And I'll reassure him we'll do, absolutely consider whatever else we can do. And in the meantime, we're acting to improve neurology care and have cut wait time for care, neurology waiting times by over 15,000. Leila Brash. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Alison in Oxford is threatened with new service charges by her housing association, Greensquare Accord. For shruggery, she happily cut herself for 22 years and a cleaning of a communal area that simply doesn't exist. Meanwhile, Rebecca's charges have more than doubled over the last four years with no explanation why. They are not the only provider doing this. It's a wild west out there. So will this government consider Liberal Democrat plans for a new regulator and a cap on these outrageous rip-off service charges? Prime Minister. Can I thank her for raising that? And we are implementing the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act, which is long overdue, providing homeowners with greater rights, powers and protections. And through this, we will strengthen regulation to protect leaseholders from abuse and poor service, which she's highlighted. Bring the injustice of fleecehold to an end. That'll protect up to 1.75 million households and make sure leaseholders receive standardised service charge documentation, making it easier for them to challenge unreasonable bills, because the points she makes are good points and this bill will help change that. Graham Stringer. Mr Speaker, this country can be proud of its history of religious tolerance and religious freedom. The quid pro quo of that is the right to criticise religion. Can the Prime Minister ensure this House that there will be no introduction or reintroduction of a blasphemy law either by statute, by judicial overreach or by a non-statutory definition of Islamophobia? Yes, I can give him that assurance and it's important that I do so. Lewis Coffin. Mr Speaker, the best form of welfare in this country should be a well-paid job, but with unemployment up and this Labour government has chosen to raise taxes to spend more on an even bloated economy.