PMQs: Starmer ‘too arrogant’ to admit he’s got things wrong, Badenoch tells Commons

Evening Standard

Sir Keir Starmer is “too arrogant to admit he got things wrong”, Kemi Badenoch has claimed, as she pressed the Prime Minister on borrowing costs, unemployment and future tax rises.In the first Prime Minister’s Questions since MPs returned from the summer recess, the Conservative leader also took aim at Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves.

Transcript

00:00Isn't the truth that he is too weak to change course and too arrogant to admit he got things

00:05wrong? Mr. Speaker, he is dragging down the country. He is dragging it down. How can he

00:12stand there and say that he is creating jobs? Unemployment has gone up every single month

00:17under this Labour government. And if he doesn't know why borrowing costs are going up, another

00:22reason is that the markets can see that he is too weak to control spending. Now, we are

00:27reading that he wants to have another go at welfare costing. What makes him think that

00:32they will vote for it this time?

00:34Prime Minister.

00:36Mr Speaker, I think I saw that the Leader of the Opposition said, I think at the weekend

00:44to the Sunday Times, I think she said this, I have inherited a gigantic mess and I am cleaning

00:50it up. She said it is very difficult, it is going to take a while. I know exactly how

00:54she feels.

00:55Governor conferred and the USSR.

01:02Mr Speaker, we're not the ones referring ourselves to ethics advisers, the fact is he

01:07is floundering...

01:11Mr. Speaker, he is floundering. Perhaps he should have a read of the covers of the...

01:19Shh!

01:20Can I have not that?

01:22Mr. Speaker, perhaps he should have a read of the covers...

01:25Order, order, order.

01:27We don't want to start the session with somebody leaving, do we?

01:31If somebody wants to volunteer, please do so. If not, I will choose one.

01:35Can I have not that?

01:36They can do the fake chairs as much as they like.

01:38The whole country knows what a mess of the economy they are making.

01:43Mr. Speaker, it is clear that taxes are going up for everyone, except perhaps the Deputy Prime Minister.

01:49I warned before the summer that we would face weeks of speculation about which taxes would be going up.

01:56The former head of the IFS says this sort of uncertainty is actively damaging to the economy.

02:02And now we find that we have to wait until the 26th of November for a budget.

02:08Does he really think the country or the markets can wait that long?

02:12Prime Minister.

02:13Mr. Speaker, she said they are not referring themselves to the ethics advisors.

02:16That is amongst the reasons they got booted out of office last year.

02:21And she complains that we are going through the due process for a budget and going through the necessary steps.

02:26We tried a budget under their watch without going through those steps.

02:30What happened?

02:31They blew up the economy.

02:32We will take no lessons from them.

02:33This is desperate stuff from the Prime Minister.

02:40This week, this week, he had another reset.

02:45This morning, the Prime Minister scrapped his five missions.

02:48And after scrapping his three foundations, scrapping his six first steps to change and his seven pillars for growth,

02:54the truth is this man has got no clue, zero clue.

02:58But this is serious, Mr Speaker.

03:00The Prime Minister's incompetence is hurting real people.

03:03They are losing their jobs.

03:04The cost of everything is going up, from energy bills to the weekly shop.

03:08This is a crisis made in Downing Street.

03:11Isn't the truth that he is too weak to change course and too arrogant to admit he got things wrong?

03:16The Prime Minister, I don't know what social media site she's been on this morning, Mr Speaker.

03:24But I think the Chair of the Tory party said that we were the firefighters this government.

03:29Well, in a sense, we are because we're putting out the fires that they created.

03:33They were the arsenic, the biggest fall in living standards on record, and blowing up the finances.

03:38We spent the first year putting out their fires quite right too.

03:41But now, Mr Speaker, we're delivering on the cost of living.

03:45Funded childcare, £7,500 for working families.

03:49Free breakfast clubs, opening new schools-based nurseries.

03:53That's what we're fighting for.

03:54The best start for every child in this country.

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