Keir Starmer said it was a “disgrace” of the Tories to vote against a Bill with vital safeguards for children.
The PM hit back at an attack by Kemi Badenoch over the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which she branded “the worst of socialism”. In a tense face-off in the Commons, Mr Starmer also had a savage dig at Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp after he heckled him.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle intervened after Mr Philp loudly shouted as the PM was taling about the NHS. Sir Lindsay told him: “Mr Philp I expect better from the front bench and I’m sure you’re going to show better.”
The PM responded: “He was Liz Truss’s right hand man so I’m sure we wouldn’t expect anything else.”
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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has questioned whether Baroness Casey will have enough time to chair both the social care commission and the inquiry into grooming gangs.
Sir Ed said: “Last week, I urged the Prime Minister to speed up the social care commission so we can get the changes people need implemented this year. The very next day it was announced that the chair of the social care commission was also going to chair another important inquiry into grooming gangs.
“So ,the Prime Minister says that the job of chairing the social care commission is so enormous that it’s not possible to complete it within three years. Yet, he also says that the chair of that commission, Baroness Casey, has got enough free time over the next few months to chair another inquiry. Can the Prime Minister explain how both these things can be true?”
Mr Starmer replied: “Baroness Casey is well-placed to conduct the audit into grooming gangs, given her hard-hitting report on exploitation in Rotherham.
“It does not affect her work on the independent commission on adult social care, which begins in April.” He said recommendations from the social care commission’s report will be delivered “as we receive them”.
Kemi Badenoch has claimed the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will cut teachers’ pay.
She told the Commons the proposed legislation “is not about breakfast clubs and school uniforms”, to shouts of “it is” from Labour MPs. Ms Badenoch continued: “Teachers and parents will be horrified at just how bad this Bill is. Even his own MPs may not realise it, but the Bill will cut teachers’ pay. It cuts pay for 20,000 teachers.”
She went on: “Did the Prime Minister know the Bill as it stands will cut teachers’ pay?”
Mr Starmer replied: “We do need flexibility in our schools, but if she hopped off social media for a while, she would have seen the amendment that we put down this morning to achieve that aim.
“But she says this Bill is not about child protection, we had a young child killed who was taken out of a school by an abuser. This Bill closes that gap. That is urgently needed.
“We have children who have not gone back to school since Covid. This Bill closes that gap. She can make her points on academies, we can debate academies, but to vote against the Bill is a disgrace on all of them.”
The Government must act to help the country avoid the “disaster” of a foot-and-mouth outbreak, a Labour MP has said.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) said: “(Sir Keir Starmer) will understand the importance of farming to the economy, and my constituency in Penrith and Solway, and Cumbria, as a whole.
“With recent reports of foot-and-mouth outbreaks in Germany and concerns being expressed over transmission to the United Kingdom, would the Prime Minister assure this house that all Government departments are on high alert and vigilant in monitoring the situation, particularly at places of entry at airports where meat import controls can be lax. We must avoid the disaster this would bring to UK farming.”
Sir Keir Starmer said: “We will do whatever it takes to protect farmers from the risk posed by foot-and-mouth. That’s why we acted swiftly to ban imports of cattle, pigs and sheep, and their products, from Germany to protect farmers. We will not hesitate to restrict imports from additional companies if the disease spreads. We will keep the situation under close and careful review.”
Keir Starmer has delivered a savage jab at Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle intervened after Mr Philp loudly heckled the PM. He told him: “Mr Philp I expect better from the front bench and I’m sure you’re going to show better.” The PM responded: “He was Liz Truss’s right hand man so I’m sure we wouldn’t expect anything else.”
Mr Speaker: Mr Philp, I expect better from the front bench.
Keir Starmer: he was Liz Truss’ right hand man, so we wouldn’t expect anything else. #PMQspic.twitter.com/pKBv90QFRM
Punchy from Keir Starmer as he’s confronted by Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay over Heathrow Airport.
“I’m not going to comment on speculation,” the PM responds. He goes on: “We’re committed to the aviation sector and to our climate obligations.
“But I’m not going to take lectures from those who talk about climate change but oppose vital renewable infrastructure in our own constituency.”
Kemi Badenoch goes on the attack over the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which the Tories attempted to torpedo.
She describes it as “the worst of socialism” and says it will drive down standards. Keir Starmer hits back that it will create badly-needed protections for youngsters.
The PM says it is a “disgrace” that the Conservatives voted against it.
Keir Starmer opens with a powerful statement on the Southport murders.
He describes the killing of three young girls as “devastating” and said: “We must see a fundamental change in how state protects its citizens.”
Speaking at the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “The senseless, barbaric murder of three young girls in Southport was devastating.
“A measure of justice has been done, but for the victims, the injured and the affected we must see a fundamental change in how Britain protects its citizens and its children. As part of the public inquiry, we will not let any institution deflect from their failings.”
Banning benefit cheats from driving would be a “backstop” used in “extreme” cases to target those who repeatedly fail to pay back cash to the taxpayer, a minister has said.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is seeking to gain new powers to disqualify drivers and recover money directly from fraudsters’ bank accounts in a drive to curb welfare fraud.
The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which would put the measures into law, is due to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.
Employment minister Alison McGovern said she was confident that being able to go to court and apply to disqualify drivers who refuse to pay back fraudulently obtained benefits will work.
The DWP will also work with banks to see where claimants have more than the £16,000 limit in their accounts and seek to get its own search powers to get evidence rather than relying on the police.
The daughter of an MP who was murdered at a constituency surgery has demanded a government inquiry into his death.
Katie Amess, whose father Sir David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021, says she is “very confused” why there has there has been no inquiry into the killing. Tory MP Sir David was killed by British-born terrorist Ali Harbi Ali, who was known to the counter-radicalisation Prevent scheme.
On Tuesday Keir Starmer announced there would be an inquiry into the Southport murders to find out if opportunities were missed to stop killer Axel Rudakubana. Ms Amess told Times Radio her call for a similar probe into her father’s murder had been blocked.
She said there should be an inquiry into “every single” case where someone known to Prevent goes on to kill. Ms Amess said: “Terrorism is terrorism. It doesn’t matter if you’re following Islamic terrorist ideologies or if you’re somebody on the far right that’s doing terrorist crimes… I am just very confused as to why I am not allowed an inquiry because they said it could compromise security if we released to the public everything that was known about the man and where they failed following up with him.
Some consumer news out from the government this morning which could get some praise from the Labour benches during PMQs.
A new Government-backed online train ticket retailer will be created as part of the renationalisation of British railways, the Department for Transport announced.
Labour has vowed to simplify the complicated ticketing system and take the stress out of the “labyrinth of fares”. Tickets will now be sold on a government-backed platform that will bring together individual train operators’ ticket websites.
It is part of the government’s plan to put passengers “back at the heart” of Britain’s railways with the state-owned Great British Railways. Detailed plans for “Great British Railways online retail” will now be developed with businesses in the railway industry.
Read more here
Rumours of a new third runway at Heathrow Airport have sparked a flurry in Westminster – and Rachel Reeves has fuelled further speculation.
The Chancellor this morning dropped a major hint that she could back the expansion of Heathrow despite Labour allies’ reservations about the scheme. She would not comment directly on speculation about a decision at the airport but she hit out at the last government for not backing pro-growth plans – including that they would say things like “we don’t like that airport”. And she added that the “answer can’t always be ‘no'” when it comes to approving plans in Britain.
Read the full story here
State failings that failed to stop vile killer Axel Rudakubana from murdering three young girls in Southport could be raised during PMQs. Keir Starmer has vowed to hold a full inquiry into how the state failed to prevent Rudakubana from going on a murderous rampage.
Rudakubana was referred three times to Prevent, the Government’s counter terrorism programme, between December 2019 and April 2021 when he only 13 and 14-years-old. This followed evidence he was “expressing interest in school shootings, in the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East”, she said. But his case was not referred upwards.
Between October 2019 and May 2022 Lancashire Police responded to five calls from his home address about his behaviour. He was referred repeatedly to the multi-agency safeguarding hub, had contact with children’s social care and mental health services, MPs heard. He was convicted of a violent assault of a child at school and referred to youth offending team. He was also excluded from school.
Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.
Kemi Badenoch could choose to grill the PM on the state of Britain’s finances – including soaring levels of government borrowing.
On Wednesday morning official figures showed a bigger-than-expected surge in government borrowing last month to nearly £18billion. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing stood at £17.8billion in December – the highest level for four years. Borrowing was £10. billion higher than the same month last year and more than the £14.2billion expected by most economists.
But the PM will likely blame the Tories for wrecking the economy duriong their 14 years in power. At a Bloomberg event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor Rachel Reeeves defended her approach to the public finances with her two fiscal rules of paying for day-to-day spending through tax receipts and bringing debt down as a share of gross domestic product.
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