Starmer rules out joining customs union with EU, saying it would not be sensible to ‘unravel’ trade deal with US
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says the new US national security strategy is deeply concerning. He asks Starmer to tell Trump that any US interference in European democracy would be totally unacceptable.
Starmer says Europe is strong, based on its values of freedom and democracy.
Davey says he did not hear Starmer says he would stand up to Trump.
Turning to the customs union, he says he if keeps opposing the UK joining a customs union with the EU he will not be standing there in a year’s time.
Starmer says Labour has manifesto commitments on the customs union and the single market (to not join – though he does not say that).
Referring to the customs union plan in particular, he says the UK now has trade deal. It has a better deal with the US than any other country. And it would not be sensible to unravel that by joining an EU customs union, he says.
Key events
Badenoch claims at PMQs government failing because ministers too focused on trying to replace Starmer
Here is the PA Media report from PMQs.
Keir Starmer’s cabinet ministers are vying for his job, Kemi Badenoch has claimed, as the pair clashed over Labour’s record since the election.
The Conservative party leader used one of her last despatch box appearances before Christmas to list Labour’s manifesto pledges and accused the government of “making a mess”.
Badenoch used the famous slogan from her party’s 1970s dole queue poster, produced when Margaret Thatcher held her job, when she asked: “Isn’t it time that the prime minister admits that ‘Labour isn’t working’?”
Starmer defended the government’s record, saying the Conservatives should “hang their heads in shame” after 14 years in power.
At PMQs Badenoch claimed energy secretary Ed Miliband wanted to “recycle himself”, by leading the Labour party for a second time.
She asked: “Can the prime minister tell the House how much energy bills have fallen by since the election?”
The Labour party promised last year to “set up Great British Energy” – a publicly owned company – “to cut bills for good”.
Starmer replied: “I’m very pleased to say we’re taking £150 off energy bills. I can also tell her that that’s on top of the £150 we’ve taken off last year for the three million poorest families, now for six million poorest families.”
In response, Badenoch joked the government could “power the National Grid on all of that hot air”, adding that bills had risen by £187 during his premiership.
She described education secretary Bridget Phillipson as “someone else who is making a mess”, after Labour promised voters it would recruit 6,500 more teachers.
She asked: “So, can the prime minister tell the House how many extra teachers are there since [Phillipson] became education secretary?”
Starmer responded: “More than when they left office.
“And I’m very proud to say so, with an upward trajectory. They left our health service on its knees, they left our schools in a mess, they left our economy absolutely broken, they should be utterly ashamed of their record in service.”
Badenoch said he was “wrong” and told MPs that the Department for Education’s own statistics showed there were 400 fewer full-time equivalent teachers than in 2023 – a total 468,258.
Referring to a pledge to put in place 13,000 additional neighbourhood and community police officers, she asked Starmer: “Does he know anything about what’s going on in the Home Office?”
Starmer replied: “Three thousand more by the end of March, we’re rising on police numbers.”
As she began her penultimate question, Badenoch referred to government figures which showed there was a drop of 1,303 police officers between March 2024 and the same month this year.
And in their final exchange, Badenoch said: “Under Labour, everything is getting worse – jobs, bills, police numbers, teacher numbers – everything is getting worse.
“The cabinet should be doing their own jobs. What are they doing? They’re trying to compete for the caretaker’s job.”
Badenoch criticises Farage over refusal to apologise for alleged racist remarks
Kemi Badenoch has questioned why Nigel Farage has not apologised for alleged racist and antisemitic comments while at school, saying the weight of the evidence of more than 20 former schoolmates is significant. Jessica Elgot has the story.
In an interview with Talk TV, Badenoch said:
A lot of people are coming out saying [Farage] did say those things. He should just apologise. If he just said: ‘You know, I was a kid, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It was wrong. People shouldn’t speak like that,’ this would all have gone away.
And that’s the problem. It’s not that he’s racist, that he doesn’t care. And actually, I think as a serious politician, if you want to run the country, you should care about how the words you say impact people …
Interesting is it’s not one or two people. They’ve got like 20. They’ve got 20 people. So it’s a lot of people.
Whether [Farage] remembers or not, he didn’t deny it. He said, well, actually, he wasn’t trying to hurt people. Nigel’s a big boy. He should just stand up, put on his big boy pants, and just say: ‘Do you know what? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.’ The fact that he doesn’t want to do that is a bit strange to me. That’s what I would have done.
PMQs – snap verdict
Kemi Badenoch revealed earlier this year that, after struggling for a while with how to strategise PMQs, she decided that it was best to treat it as a panto. Today is the best example to date of how that has turned out to be her best decision yet. She opted for the gameshow skit from the panto experience, taunted Keir Starmer with a string of public sector performance questions, then mocked him mercilessly over his answers.
Of course, she was cherrypicking. You can’t measure how an organisation like the NHS, or the Department for Education, is performing with a single statistic. But in this setting, on this occasion, it didn’t matter. She sounded confident and right, and Starmer came across as floundering.
For most of this year Starmer has been able to see off Badenoch’s attacks at PMQs by referring to the Conservative party’s record in government (the worst in post-war history, according to the experts). And he has hit back by attacking Badenoch personally, as he did today, linking her with Liz Truss.
She’s obviously spent the morning rehearsing for The Liz Truss Show, she’s probably going to be the guest star next week, both of them talking about how Liz Truss was 100% right.
But what Liz Truss said was the Conservatives need to take responsibility for their 14 years of failure. That was Liz Truss, their former leader, so perhaps she’ll heed that, get up and say sorry.
But increasingly, at PMQs at least, these defence mechanisms are no longer working.
Why? Partly because Badenoch is getting sharper (a bit) and more confident (a lot). Partly it is because, as time goes on, attacks on the record of a government led by Rishi Sunak (remember him?) are losing resonance. But largely because of the prevailing political context; Badenoch has her own difficulties, but they are not as severe as Starmer. When someone is on the back foot already, it is easier to push them over.
Of course, you are entitled to ask whether Badenoch deserves credit for treating PMQs as a panto. One of Starmer’s virtues as a human being is that is fairy contemptuous of a lot of the flippant, performative guff that surrounds Westminster politics. (It is a feature of politics everywhere, but it is particularly prevalent here.) Badenoch, on the other hand, is increasingly comfortable operating in this medium. For her, today was a notable success.
Karl Turner (Lab) says, if the plan to reduce access to jury trials is about clearing he courts backlog, there should be a sunset clause added to the plan.
Starmer says the Tories left a huge courts backlog. He says he knows Turner feels strongly about this. He can assure him that juries will continue to be an important part of the system.
Sarah Bool (Con) asks if it is fair to increase the benefits bill, to introduce a costly ID scheme, or to put up taxes when Labour promised it would not. Will Labour reverse the family farm tax?
Starmer says welfare ballooned under the Tories. When Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, was work and pensions secretary, it went up by more than £30bn, he says.
Chris Murray (Lab) asks about workers being fired from Rockstar in his Edinburgh constituency. He asks if the PM agrees every worker has the right to join a union.
Starmer says what is happening at Rockstar is concerning.
Luke Evans (Con) says it must be hard for Starmer, because wherever he goes people compain about higher taxes. Is that why the PM spends so much time out of the country.
“What a load off nonsense,” says Starmer. He says we are at a critical moment for the future of Ukraine.
Jim Dickson (Lab) asks about the record of the Reform UK-led Kent council.
Starmer says people in Kent have been let down by Reform UK. He says Nigel Farage is under pressure to apologise for what he said at school, and he mentions two Reform UK council figures also accused of racism.
Saqib Bhatti (Con) asks the PM to review the decision to put VAT on church repairs. He says this is putting the future of churches at risk.
Starmer says he supports churches, and is hosting a reception for them in Downing Street today.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, also asks Starmer to join a customs union with the EU.
Starmer repeats the point about not wanting to do that because it would mean having to “unravel” the trade agreement with the US. He recalls visiting a car factory to announce that because that deal saved jobs.
Starmer rules out joining customs union with EU, saying it would not be sensible to ‘unravel’ trade deal with US
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says the new US national security strategy is deeply concerning. He asks Starmer to tell Trump that any US interference in European democracy would be totally unacceptable.
Starmer says Europe is strong, based on its values of freedom and democracy.
Davey says he did not hear Starmer says he would stand up to Trump.
Turning to the customs union, he says he if keeps opposing the UK joining a customs union with the EU he will not be standing there in a year’s time.
Starmer says Labour has manifesto commitments on the customs union and the single market (to not join – though he does not say that).
Referring to the customs union plan in particular, he says the UK now has trade deal. It has a better deal with the US than any other country. And it would not be sensible to unravel that by joining an EU customs union, he says.
Badenoch quotes the figure for the number of appointments lost to strikes.
She says ministers are not doing their jobs because they want Starmer’s job. Except Rachel Reeves who is struggling to keep her own job.
Starmer defends his record, and say the Tories are not offering an alternative.
Badenoch says that is wrong too. There are 1,300 fewer police officers.
She asks how many appointments have been lost to strike action in the NHS.
Starmer says there have been five million extra appointments in the NHS.
“Wrong,” says Badenoch. She says the DfE website says there are 400 fewer teachers.
She says Labour promised more police officers. How many more have been hired?
Starmer says there will be more next March. He says Badenoch seems to be rehearsing for Liz Truss’s new show. She praised the mini budget, he says.
Badenoch says energy bills have gone up by £187. She says Bridget Phillipson promised to hire more teachers. How many more has she hired?
More than when the Tories left office, says Starmer.
Badenoch says everyone can see Starmer has lost control of his party. His ministers are so busy trying to replace him that they have taken their eyes off the ball.
She’s says Ed Miliband wants to recycle himself as leader. He said he would cut energy bills by £300. How much have they been cut for?
Starmer says the government has taken £150 off energy bills, in addition to the £150 taken off them last year.
Three ex Tory MPs have gone to Reform recently, and 21 in total. The real question is how is next. Robert Jenrick is “twitching” after his come and get me plea from Nigel Farage.
Kemi Badenoch asks why Labour MPs are calling him a caretake PM.
Starmer says his MPs are proud they have passed a budget that will protect services. There will be no return to austerity. He says Badenoch is trying to save her job.
Rachael Maskell (Lab) says tackling child poverty is a critical mission for the government. So will the government raise pregnant women and children out of poverty?
Starmer says he is particularly concerned by the quality of maternity services. The government wants to improve these services.
He says Badenoch thinks maternity pay is excessive. That would push thousands of children into poverty.
Starmer reveals British soldier killed in accident in Ukraine while observing soldiers testing equipment away from frontline
Keir Starmer starts by saying all MPs will want to send their condolences to the family of a soldier killed in Ukraine. He was injured in an accident away from the frontline while observe ring Ukrainian soldiers testing a new capacity. He was one of a small number of personnel in Ukraine.
