Starmer refuses to rule out government changing definition of debt used in its fiscal rules
Sunak asks about reports that the government will change the definition of debt. He says Rachel Reeves used to describe this as fiddling the figures.
Starmer refuses to be drawn on that, and criticises the Tories’ handling of the economy.
Sunak asks the question again. Does Starmer agree with what Reeves said about changing the fiscal rules.
Starmer claims Sunak is back to his old script, claiming the economy is doing well.
UPDATE: Sunak said:
Before the election his chancellor said changing the debt target in the fiscal rules would be tantamount to fiddling the figures.
Does he still agree with the chancellor?
And Sunak replied:
This is literally the man who was in charge of the economy, 14 years they’ve crashed the economy. What did they leave? A £22bn black hole in the economy.
Unlike them we won’t walk past it. We will fix it. And it’s only because we are stabilising the economy that we are getting the investment into this country. But I still notice he has hasn’t talked about that investment.
We are powering ahead with clean British energy, we are changing the rules to build 1.5 million homes and returning railways to public ownership, and they’ve got nothing to say about any of this.
Key events
And I have beefed up the post at 12.10pm with the Sunak/Starmer exchanges about the fiscal rules. Again, you may have to refresh the page for the update to appear.
I have beefed up the post at 12.08pm with the full quotes from the exchange about national insurance. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.
And this is from my colleague Kiran Stacey on the topic.
Interesting question from Sunak to Starmer on whether he wants to levy national insurance on employers’ pension contributions. The PM doesn’t knock down the idea, and this is what the IFS says about it. pic.twitter.com/zc1sQ74wx7
— Kiran Stacey (@kiranstacey) October 9, 2024
Dawn Butler (Lab) asks about Black History Month. She says she is going to a Temptations event organised by the Speaker to mark this. Will the Commons hold a debate on this?
Starmer says he probably should not be going to an event called Temptations at the moment. But he says he is glad Butler is coming to the Black History Month reception at No 10 tonight he is hosting.
And that was the last question.
Caroline Dinenage (Con) asks about flood prevention in her Gosport constituency.
Starmer says the Tories failed to invest enough in this. The government is setting up a flood resistant taskforce, he says.
Starmer says it is important for MPs to debate assisted dying bill – but fails to commit to giving it all time needed to pass
David Davis (Con) asks about the assisted dying bill. The time constraints will make it hard for MPs to get the bill right. If MPs fail to do this, the consequences will be terrible. Will the government commit to giving the Commons time to debate it properly, as happened with the David Steel abortion bill.
Starmer says it is important to get the bill right. There is a need for a discussion on this important issue, he says.
He says, if the bill gets a second reading, it will go to committee.
But he fails to commit to ensuring that the bill is guaranteed all the time it needs to pass.
Robin Swann (UUP), a former health minister in Northern Ireland, says more people have lost their lives to suicide in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday agreement than lost their lives to the Troubles.
Starmer says he knows this is problem. The government is addressing this, he says.
Phil Brickell (Lab) asks what the government is doing to help hospices.
Starmer says the government wants everyone to have access to good end-of-life care. The government has told the NHS to commission services from hospices, he says.
Helen Morgan (Lib Dem) asks about road safety, and the rules used to decide when road improvement schemes should go ahead.
Starmer says a new road investment strategy is being planned. He offers Morgan a meeting with a minister.
Starmer accepts children with special educational needs ‘are being failed’, and says this must change
Julian Smith (Con) asks about special educational needs budgets in Yorkshire.
Starmer says this is an issue of real concern. Children with SEND “are being failed”, he says. The government has to change that, he says. He says he wants to raise standards.
Shivani Raja (Con) asks if the govenrment will do an impact assessment of the decision to put VAT on private school fees.
Starmer says he understands the aspiration of parents sending their children to private schools. But he also understands the aspiration of parents using state schools. The policy is designed to ensure state schools are properly funded, he says.
Starmer says report from government’s child poverty taskforce will be published in spring next year
Meg Hillier (Lab) asks when the child poverty taskforce will report.
Starmer says it is appalling that child poverty went up by 700,000 after 2010. The taskforce report will be published in spring next year, he says.
Jim Allister (TUV) says there are more than 300 areas of law in Northern Ireland where law is set by the EU. He claims his constituents are disenfranchised as a result.
Starmer says that is an important issue. The government supports the Windsor framework, he says.
Sam Coates from Sky News has the Rachel Reeves quote that Sunak used at PMQs,
Rishi Sunak has just referenced Rachel Reeves comments from a year ago that changing debt redefinition would be “fiddle to figures”
That’s what we talked about this on today’s🎙️Politics at Jack and Sam’s🎙️ this morning – listen here: from 8m 10shttps://t.co/YdIQ8chVia pic.twitter.com/wSGTbb2uvv
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) October 9, 2024
