Prime minister’s questions: a shouty, jeery, very occasionally useful advert for British politics. Here’s what you need to know from the latest session in POLITICO’s weekly run-through.
What they sparred about: Surprisingly, Labour’s plans to reform education. While the murder of three schoolgirls in Southport last July has dominated headlines this week following the killer’s guilty plea, Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch avoided the hot-button topic entirely. She said she would raise important questions “after the case is concluded.” Axel Rudakubana will be sentenced Thursday. It was a rare move by the newbie Tory leader not to leap on the latest headlines.
Starmer’s surprise: The PM may have been slightly wrong-footed by all that. Even before the Tory leader’s probing began, Starmer said institutions must not deflect from their failures in the Southport case, calling for “fundamental change in how Britain protects its citizens and its children.”
Marking their own homework: Badenoch instead decided to go in on improvements to the education system under the last Tory administration. She talked up rising performance in maths, reading and science global league tables — and said Labour’s own educations plans marked an “act of vandalism” against that record.
Also homework marking: Starmer countered by pointing out that academy schools — a big Tory talking point — were actually introduced by his party and are “here to stay.” He avoided getting into the detail of his own government’s plans, and instead asked why the Tories had voted against an education bill containing child safeguarding measures.
The kids aren’t all right: The Tory leader, as all Tories seem happy to do, raised Labour-run Wales as a test case where education outcomes had worsened. Starmer’s education shake-up will now see children “denied” the right to turn a failing school into an academy, she warned, with the poorest kids hit hardest by this “attack on aspiration.”
Adding up: Starmer tried to turn the tables by attacking the Conservative government’s record, a time when “we didn’t have enough maths teacher in our secondary schools” — but Badenoch pulled out a classic card of Tory leaders, arguing that Labour was on the side of teachers’ unions rather than kids in a shake-up that will see “standards slipping.”
No love lost: Starmer seeemed particularly angered by the Tory leader’s blast at his plan to slap VAT on private schools, a move Badenoch warned would hit people with special needs. “She’s got a nerve,” the PM shot back. “We are going to fix that mess like we are fixing every other mess.”
Helpful backbench intervention of the week: One of the perks of being PM is everyone wants you to pay them a visit. Starmer was invited by no fewer than three of his loyal backbenchers to see their area. Labour’s Will Stone (Swindon North) said the PM should look at a brownfield site (what a treat!) … Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield) requested Starmer’s presence in her town … while Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) recommended a trip to Tamworth Castle. Sounds like a grand day out!
Totally unscientific scores on the doors: Badenoch 8/10. Starmer 6/10. The PM was pretty well prepared despite Badenoch’s curveball of topic. But unlike previous sessions, the Conservative leader focused on just one topic, allowing her to develop a sustained argument A reference to some proposals not featuring in Labour’s manifesto “because he knew parents and teachers would reject them” was pretty wounding — and just about gave her the win.
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