PMQs live: Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer clash over housing and the cost of living | Politics
Starmer says Sunak has ‘crumbled to landlords’ by ditching no-fault evictions policy
Keir Starmer says the prime minister has “crumbled to landlords on his own backbenches” and ditched the policy of banning no-fault evictions “despite his government’s pledge”.
Referring to a a constituent called Annalisa, who along with her two children was evicted through a section 21 order, he says: “What message does that send her?”
Avoiding discussing the matter of no-fault evictions, Rishi Sunak says he has taken “significant action” for renters including capping holding deposits, ending rip off tenancy fees and delivering affordable homes.
He says:
This government is delivering for renters and is trying to ensure a new generations can buy their own home.
He asks Starmer to explain why Labour opposed moves to scrap EU-era rules on “nutrient neutrality” to allow 100,000 new homes to be built but is reminded by Lindsay Hoyle that it is prime minister’s question time, “it’s not opposition questions”.
Starmer replied:
I am sure Annalisa will take great comfort in that non-answer.
Key events
Downing Street has argued that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas as Rishi Sunak advocated for limited pauses to allow in aid.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said:
A wholesale ceasefire would only serve to benefit Hamas.
Humanitarian pauses, which are temporary, which are limited in scope, can be an operational tool.
Helena Horton
The National Farmers’ Union has taken aim at Labour for pledging to end the controversial badger cull.
In an interview with the Guardian, published last week, shadow farming minister Daniel Zeichner said he would eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) without culling badgers.
NFU deputy president Tom Bradshaw said of the cull:
This is a strategy that is working which is why we were so concerned to hear reports that Shadow Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner says a Labour government will not include culling within its strategy to make England bTB free.
Bovine TB should not be a political issue; it is a disease that affects the lives of farming families and their cattle herds on a day-to-day basis. We have a joint ambition with government to be bTB free in England by 2038, and we must keep the policies in place to combat this disease, following the current science-led and successful strategy that shows wildlife control is working to significantly reduce bTB in cattle.
The Labour Party is being heavily lobbied by farming and landowner groups over it rural policy, and the Guardian revealed today that it has U Turned on a promise to grant a right to roam across the countryside in England after pressure from rural bodies.
Rishi Sunak has rejected comments by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on the Hamas attack on Israel, amid a diplomatic storm about the remarks.
The prime minister is not however calling on the UN chief to resign, as called for by Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said:
Obviously we don’t agree with that characterisation put forward. We are clear that there is and can be no justification for Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack which was driven by hatred and ideology.
Guterres told a United Nations security council meeting in New York that it was important to recognise that “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”.
The spokesperson said that the UN a “as a body will continue to play an important role…. and that is supported by the UK government”.
Conservative MP Peter Aldous asked about the “ongoing national crisis” in NHS dentistry.
He asked when a plan on the issue will be published which will ensure that funds are ringfenced to deal with emergencies and to help clear the backlog.
Rishi Sunak replied saying that the government is investing £3bn into NHS dentistry, and says the dental recovery plan will be released soon, which will include action “to incentivise dentists to deliver even more NHS care”.
Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi says she has received an email from a constituent with family in Gaza. As she reads it out, the Commons falls silent.
The email reads:
My heart can’t handle this anymore. We are being massacred. Relentlessly bombed. Homes are being destroyed. No water. No food. No electricity.
Qureshi puts it to Rishi Sunak:
This is collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza for crimes they did not commit. How many more innocent Palestinians must die before this PM calls for a humanitarian ceasefire?
Qureshi says the lives of 130 babies in incubators in Gaza are in danger if fuel doesn’t reach their hospital in time.
Sunak replies, saying he welcomes unity across the dispatch boxes “on Israel’s right to defend itself”, but “it’s also clear we must support the Palestinian people, they are victims of Hamas too” and “we mourn the loss of every innocent life”.
He adds that his government is “working as hard as we can to get aid into Gaza”.
Nottingham South Labour MP Lilian Greenwood asked about Rishi Sunak not giving his WhatsApp messages to the Covid Inquiry.
She made a dig at the prime minister, saying that “despite being a self-described tech bro”, he has “been unable to locate and provide his WhatsApp messages to the inquiry”.
Does he agree that devices should be handed over to experts to retrieve this information?
Ignoring the direct question, Sunak replied saying he was looking forward to giving evidence at the inquiry later this year and said he and the government have “fully cooperated” with the inquiry.
Here’s more detailed quotes from an exchange between Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak.
Referring to Andrew Cooper, the Conservative candidate for Tamworth, who said that people should “fuck off” if they are struggling with rising costs, Starmer said the British people wanted a chance to return the compliment to a government.
In his final question to the prime minister, the Labour leader said:
Across our country, the British people are rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it, doing their best in the face of a punishing cost-of-living crisis and a government that has abandoned them.
Abandoned renters at risk of being kicked out, abandoned mortgage-payers struggling to make ends meet, abandoned those who dream of owning their own house.
The truth is his candidate in Tamworth summed up perfectly just how his and his Tories are treating the British public. So will he just call a general election and give the British public the chance to respond as they did in Selby, Mid Beds and Tamworth?
They have heard the government telling them to ‘eff off’ and they want the chance to return the compliment.
Rishi Sunak replied:
As we saw with his recent decisions on actually building new houses, politicians like him always take the easy way out. We are getting on making the right long-term decisions to change this country for the better, on net zero, on HS2 on a smoke-free generation, on education and energy security.
Contrast that to his leadership: too cautious to say anything and hope that nobody notices. Let me tell him, come that general election the British people will.
Grahame Morris, the Labour MP for Easington, asked when Rishi Sunak will call a general election, saying he hasn’t united the country.
He says:
It’s a year ago now that the prime minister promised to unite our country, not with words but with actions.
The MP says Sunak has “not delivered” in his constituency in County Durham.
Those in the region are concerned about the lack of police officers, see sewage being dumped without prosecution and have witnessed a lack of levelling up, he claims.
He says:
When will the prime minister call a general election and let Labour rise to the task?
Sunak responds that there have been “significant reductions” in antisocial behaviour.
The leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party, Colum Eastwood, says the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland came about because of a realisation that people could not use violence to achieve revenge or political aims.
He says:
The heart of that agreement was a realisation that we could not use violence as a tool for revenge or to achieve our political aims.
He points out that 1,400 Israelis and nearly 6,000 Palestinians are dead.
When will the prime minister say enough is enough?
Sunak repeats his previous statement that Israel has the right to defend itself under international law and that they are working hard on getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
As I made clear on Monday, we doubled down on our efforts to find a better future for the Palestinian people.
It’s been a feature of all our diplomacy in the region. And we will continue to give it all our efforts.
The SNP’s Mhairi Black follows up her question.
She says:
The growing calls for a ceasefire are also about calming the situation in the broader region …
If we ignore this, we risk putting petrol on a fire in a place that only requires a spark to ignite.
Sunak responds by saying that Israel suffered “a shockingly brutal attack” and has the right to protect itself.
He adds that UK is sending aid to the region.
The SNP’s deputy leader Mhairi Black asked Rishi Sunak if he will back a ceasefire in Gaza.
Hospitals in Gaza will run out of fuel to keep their electricity going tonight, she says, adding that the UK has a “human responsibility to Gaza”.
She says:
We have a particular responsibility for UK citizens, some of whom are in those hospitals.
There’s no food, no water, no medicine, and no way out.
So I want to ask the prime minister how much worse does the situation have to get before he will join us in calls for humanitarian ceasefire?
Sunak says the “most important principle” is Israel’s right to defend itself, although he also wants British nationals to be able to leave Gaza.
He acknowledges that for this to happen, there has to be a safer environment – which “necessitates specific pauses, as distinct from a ceasefire”.
This was discussed last night at the UN, Sunak says.
Starmer raises the case of a family whose mortgage went up by a quarter after “16 years of dutifully playing their mortgage”.
He says they are now having to choose between buying new shoes for her son or putting heating on “all because his party crashed the economy, pushing mortgage rates to their highest levels in decades”.
He accuses Sunak of telling people “exactly where to go”.
The prime minister says Starmer keeps talking about the mini budget:
I will just point out he did actually support 95% of the things in that mini budget.
He’s still ignoring the fact that rising interest rates are a global challenge.
Starmer says Sunak has ‘crumbled to landlords’ by ditching no-fault evictions policy
Keir Starmer says the prime minister has “crumbled to landlords on his own backbenches” and ditched the policy of banning no-fault evictions “despite his government’s pledge”.
Referring to a a constituent called Annalisa, who along with her two children was evicted through a section 21 order, he says: “What message does that send her?”
Avoiding discussing the matter of no-fault evictions, Rishi Sunak says he has taken “significant action” for renters including capping holding deposits, ending rip off tenancy fees and delivering affordable homes.
He says:
This government is delivering for renters and is trying to ensure a new generations can buy their own home.
He asks Starmer to explain why Labour opposed moves to scrap EU-era rules on “nutrient neutrality” to allow 100,000 new homes to be built but is reminded by Lindsay Hoyle that it is prime minister’s question time, “it’s not opposition questions”.
Starmer replied:
I am sure Annalisa will take great comfort in that non-answer.
Referring to a comment by the Conservative candidate for Tamworth, who said that people should “fuck off” if they are struggling with rising costs, Keir Starmer says Rishi Sunak can’t distance himself from these “appalling comments”.
He asks:
Where did he get the idea that throwing expletives at struggling families was his government’s official position?
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