Sunak goes easy on Starmer during his first PMQs as leader

Keir Starmer’s first PMQs as Prime Minister was a somewhat mellow affair, in contrast to the slightly crazed atmosphere in the Commons prior to the election. While wishing Team GB good luck in the Paris Olympic Games, Rishi Sunak jokingly remarked that it is unlikely that British Olympians will take his advice on “how to win.” 

There were still some significant takeaways going into the new Parliament, however. 

Much of the dialogue between Starmer and Sunak was rooted in agreement on foreign policy and a desire to maintain “unity” on Britain’s prevailing commitment to Ukraine. “I wholeheartedly agree,” were the words of the Prime Minister in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s assertions about “Ukraine’s irreversible path to NATO membership” and “fatuous Russian claims on Ukrainian territory must not act as a block to Ukraine joining.” Starmer stated that it is for “NATO allies to decide who is member” and that it is perhaps “the most successful alliance that’s ever been formed.”  

The Prime Minister clearly did try to make a thing of the mess he has inherited from the Conservatives, a rhetoric that will likely feature heavily from the new government as it tries to shift blame back onto Sunak for the dire state of Britain’s public finances. In response to Ed Davey, on the carer’s allowance repayments scandal, Starmer said the new government faces a “more severe crisis than we thought as we go through the books of the last fourteen years,” a comment which was met with displeasure by Tory MPs opposite him.  

When answering the question from Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe on the issue of “uncontrolled legal and illegal immigration,” Starmer directed much of the blame towards the previous government stating that it had “lost control of our borders.” The Prime Minister did remark that he wasn’t sure he “agreed with his numbers,” suggesting a small albeit important divide in Westminster that could have future implications regarding future immigration policy.  

Nonetheless, Starmer spoke of the “record numbers” crossing the channel when Sunak was Prime Minister. He condemned the ditched Rwanda policy as a “gimmick that cost a fortune” and reasserted that the government would implement a border security command as a “serious answer” to a “serious issue.” 

A question over Labour’s proposed removal of private school VAT exemption, and how it could be reinvested into state schools specifically in Scotland, was asked by Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine. Starmer responded by claiming he does understand the aspiration that parents who work hard and save hard have for their children to send them to private schools, he said. But every parent has that aspiration whichever school their child goes to, he added. The PM promised that he was determined “that we will have the right teachers in place” in state schools, as though this has never occured to anyone before.  

Perhaps the most fiery moment today came with the remarks by SNP MP Pete Wishart about the two-child benefit cap. He stated that Starmer faced a “significant rebellion” over the issue, with seven MPs suspended after voting against the government whip, and that he already was turning blind eye to the statistics on child poverty.  

Wishart said: “The headlines are awful for the Prime Minister this morning. Poverty campaigners are furious with the Prime Minister, is his honeymoon over before it’s even begun?” Starmer hit back with a jibe about the SNPs drastic reduction in representation in Westminster.  

The slightly more relaxed mood today, bar some exchanges, is unlikely to last long and the typical altercations will surely become more regular again soon.

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