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Starmer says PM ‘choosing to let people struggle’ with cost of living
Starmer says Johnson does not get it. He does not understand what people are going through. Every day, energy companies rake in £32m in unexpected profits. Every day he is delaying his “inevitable U-turn”. “He is going to do it.” The delay is making it worse for people. He says:
Whilst he dithers British households are slapped with an extra 53 million on their energy bills every single day. Meanwhile every single day North Sea oil and gas giants rake in 32 million in unexpected profits. Doesn’t he see that every single day he delays his inevitable U-turn, he’s going to do it, he’s choosing to let people struggle when they don’t need to.
Johnson says the govenrment is already spending £22bn on helping people. It can do this because it took the tough decisions to get people out of lockdown. And taxes are being cut in July, he says.
He says he will look at all measures to support people.
Talk for trade war with EU over NI protocol ‘deeply unhelpful’, says environment secretary
George Eustice, the environment secretary, told MSPs this morning that talk of a trade war with Europe over the Northern Ireland protocol was “unhelpful”.
The European Commission hinted that the UK’s plan to legislate to ignore parts of the protocol could trigger a trade war when it said yesterday it would respond “with all measures at its disposal” if the bill went ahead.
Giving evidence to the rural affairs committee in the Scottish parliament, Eustice said:
All this speculation around trade wars, we think is deeply unhelpful. In fact, I think what we’re seeing is a more measured tone from the European Union and indeed from ministers in Ireland as well.
People recognise that there’s a challenge here we need to resolve and there’s nothing that we are proposing that breaches international law, it’s consistent with our obligations.
Eustice also described the use of the term “trade war” as “media hype”.
PMQs – snap verdict
Keir Starmer opened PMQs by asking if Boris Johnson was in favour of a windfall tax on energy companies, against the idea, or just sitting on the fence. By the end of the exchanges, we were no clearer than we were before they started. More than once, Johnson said that he would look at all measures that might help with the cost of living, implying the option is still very much on the table. But then he also stressed his ideological queasiness with the whole idea, telling Starmer:
Nothing could be more transparent from this exchange than their [Labour’s] lust to raise taxes. We don’t relish it, we don’t want to do it, of course we don’t want to do it, we believe in jobs and we believe in investment and we believe in growth. As it happens, the oil companies concerned are on track to invest about £70bn into our economy over the next few years, they’re already taxed at a rate of 40%.
If Johnson was trying to conceal his intentions, it was masterful.
But today wasn’t the day for concealing intentions, and bamboozling the press. (We’re not a week away from a budget.) It sounded much more as if Johnson was appearing hopelessly undecided because he is hopelessly undecided – buffeted between the Daily Telegraph telling him this morning that a windfall tax would be “wildly popular” and Liz Truss on the radio warning him that a windfall tax would be un-Tory. (See 9.11am.)
Starmer set out to show that the government’s response to the cost of living crisis was feeble and ineffective and he did so very effectively. He produced a useful soundbite when he claimed that, because a windfall tax U-turn was now “inevitable”, Johnson’s ongoing dithering meant “he’s choosing to let people struggle when they don’t need to”. (See 12.11am.) But Starmer’s best question was easily his final one, where he personalised the issue, and asked about a patient struggling with the bills to keep his dialysis machine running. The i’s Paul Waugh says it was a humbling moment for the Tories.
Faced with criticism like this, the most effective response for a PM is to be able to say: “I hear you, and we’re going to do X.” That is not yet an option for Johnson because the decisions have not yet been taking, and instead he resorted to cataloguing the measures already adopted by the government, and claiming that these were only possibly because of the Conservative’s sound stewardship of the economy. Johnson sounded bullish, but not at all persuasive; the second point is highly tenuous, and the first amounted to pleading with voters to be grateful for measures already taken (which can be problematic, because the electorate tends to be more interested in the future than the past).
Johnson also resorted to two peculiar red herrings. At one point he said that sanctions on Russia were always going to cause problems, but that “giving in, not sticking the course” would be a bigger economic risk. This would make sense if Starmer were advocating abandoning sanctions – but he isn’t. And in his first response to Starmer, Johnson went studs up on the culture wars, accusing Starmer of not even being able to define a woman. (See 12.06pm.)
It is not the first time Johnson has sought to weaponise the trans issued at PMQs, and there are probably some in Tory HQ who believe that issues like this could sway an election. (Tony Blair seems to thinks so; in a paper published last week, he said Starmer should be “staking out a position on the ‘culture-wars’ issues that plants Labour’s feet clearly near the centre of gravity of the British people”.) But today, when Johnson raised the subject, it just sounded irrelevant. Politicians have to address the issues that matter to the public at any given moment and at the next election it seems certain that the essay question will be, ‘What do you do about the cost of living?’ Without an answer to that, wittering on about how you define a woman won’t be much use.
Hannah Bardell (SNP) asks how the PM is doing in terms of following the principles in the ministerial code.
Johnson says “10 out of 10”. He says the majority of MPs in the Commons are working hard, doing a good job and behaving properly.
Richard Thomson (SNP) says in February a flight was allowed to leave Inverness airport for Russia when sanctions were in force. The government knows it was due to leave, but did not stop it. Why was that?
Johnson says he does now know, but that he will look into it.
Alex Sobel (Lab) asks if Johnson agrees with the minister who said people who are hard up should get a second job. Or does he support an emergency budget?
Johnson says the government is taking steps to help people. It can do so becaause the fundamentals of the economy are strong, he says.
Tom Randall (Con) asks if everything is being done to ensure the rate at which driving licences are issued by the DVLA.
Johnson says processing times are speeding up.
Johnson says the government is committed to delivering the dementia moonshot. But Labour voted against £13bn a year extra for the NHS, he says.
Richard Holden (Con) asks about Durham, which should be more than a good place to come for a beer and curry, he says. (Holden led the drive to get Durham police to reopen its investigation into Beergate.)
Virendra Sharma (Lab) says the Home Office takes six months to reply to correspondence. But Jacob Rees-Mogg claims there are too many civil servants, and he objects to them working from home.
Johnson says he thinks people will be more productive if they get back to work.
Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, had this to say on this subject earlier.
My colleague Jessica Elgot points out that Boris Johnson’s boasting about Crossrail was misplaced.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says farmers are facing extreme problems. Will the PM hold a meeting to discuss this.
Davey is MP for Kingston and Surbiton, where farmers are thin on the ground. But there are plenty of them in Tiveron and Honiton in Devon, where the Lib Dems hope to win a byelection.
Johnson says he would be happy to have a meeting on this.
Luke Evans (Con) asks Johnson to back his campaign to stop companies altering images they use to give a more favourable impression of body image because of the impact this can have on mental health.
Johnson commends Evans for this campaign.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says people did not need to see the figure to know that prices are going up so much. For months people have been crying out for support. Does the PM still support Rishi Sunak’s statement that acting now would be “silly”?
Johnson says he supports the moves the chancellor has taken, such as spending £22bn on helping people with the cost of living.
Blackford says, every day the PM remains out of touch, people are out of pocket. The PM did confirm he thought it would be “silly” to intervene, he claims. He says the Tories are suggesting things such as cooking lessons for people. He says people have been briefing against the chancellor. It is time for the PM to sack him, he says.
Johnson says the spike in energy prices has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. The government has taken many measures to help. But people know they are not through this yet. The government will do more, he says. And it can only do so because the economy is strong, which would not have happened had it listened to the opposition.
Katherine Fletcher (Con) says crime is a big issue for people. Lancashire has got more police officers.
Johnson says they want to drive neighbourhood crime down even further.
Starmer says the government is on the side of excess profits for gas and oil companies. Labour is on the side of working people. He says he spoke to Phoenix this week, who has to do dialysis for long hours at home. He cannot avoid that. They had to turn their central heating off, but their energy bill has still doubled. Phoenix “feels like he is being priced out of existence”. Other disabled people are in the same situation. He says the plans for this are in place. “Do it for people like Phoenix, who simply cannot afford to wait.”
Johnson asks Starmer to send him the details of Phoenix. He says the NHS already pays for dialysis. And he says Labour voted against extra money for the NHS. The government is focusing on skills and the economy.
It was fantastic to see the Queen open Crossrail, he says. It will create thousands of jobs. Who was the mayor of London who started it, and who was the PM who completed it?
Starmer says Johnson cannot make his mind up. The chairs of Tesco, John Lewis, and the education committee are among those in favour. Who is against it? Jacob Rees-Mogg, going round putting notes on people’s desks “like some overgrown prefect”.
Johnson says oil companies are already taxed at 40%. The UK needs investment. People are paying high energy prices because Labour did not invest in nuclear. Unemployment is at its lowest level for 50 years, he says.
Starmer says the government continually does nothing. People cannot afford to wait.
Johnson says the government is getting more people into work. That is how you fix the long-term problems with the economy. Labour wants to borrow another £30bn. That would put more pressure on people with interest rates.
Starmer says PM ‘choosing to let people struggle’ with cost of living
Starmer says Johnson does not get it. He does not understand what people are going through. Every day, energy companies rake in £32m in unexpected profits. Every day he is delaying his “inevitable U-turn”. “He is going to do it.” The delay is making it worse for people. He says:
Whilst he dithers British households are slapped with an extra 53 million on their energy bills every single day. Meanwhile every single day North Sea oil and gas giants rake in 32 million in unexpected profits. Doesn’t he see that every single day he delays his inevitable U-turn, he’s going to do it, he’s choosing to let people struggle when they don’t need to.
Johnson says the govenrment is already spending £22bn on helping people. It can do this because it took the tough decisions to get people out of lockdown. And taxes are being cut in July, he says.
He says he will look at all measures to support people.
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