Keir Starmer faced MPs today in the final Prime Minister’s Questions before voters head to the polls tomorrow in a historic by-election in Gorton and Denton. Here are five things we learned:
1. Student loans are growing in salience
On Sunday, Kemi Badenoch said the Conservative Party would cut interest rates on loans taken out in the decade up to 2023. At PMQs, Badenoch pressed Starmer on whether the government would follow suit. The Prime Minister said ministers would “look at ways to make it fairer”, but stopped short of any firm commitment. Starmer countered that it was the Conservatives who introduced Plan 2 loans in the first place.
As previously reported by the New Statesman, Labour backbenchers have warned that without reform of Plan 2, the party risks being outflanked. With younger graduates becoming an increasingly vocal constituency, the pressure on ministers to act is unlikely to dissipate. “Increasingly influential young graduates” are unlikely to stop talking.
2. Labour MPs were furious over being called the “paedo-defenders party”
The Labour backbenches erupted after Badenoch said Starmer should ask “why his backbenchers are saying his party is being called the paedo-defenders party?” Speaker Lindsay Hoyle was forced to step in several times to calm disquiet among disgruntled MPs, who were visibly outraged by Badenoch’s statement. It was precisely the sort of line designed to be clipped and shared by Labour’s opponents.
3. Labour is increasing its attacks on the Green Party’s drugs policy
A key talking point on the doorstep, Starmer took the opportunity at PMQs to attack the Greens. The Prime Minister amplified his party’s attack on Zack Polanksi’s policy to legalise and regulate all drugs, saying that it is a “disgusting” proposition that the Greens would make it legal to sell Starmer’s son heroin or crack cocaine when he turns 18.
4. Pain and anger at Islamophobia is increasingly evident on the backbenches
The chamber fell silent as an impassioned Imran Hussain, the Labour MP for Bradford East, decried the attack at Manchester Central Mosque overnight and called on all MPs and journalists to stop “fanning the flames of Islamophobia”.
5. Nigel Farage refused to condemn attacks on Natalie Fleet
Starmer also challenged Nigel Farage to sack a Reform UK councillor who shared a Facebook post suggesting that Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover, “should be shot”. The post was later deleted and an apology issued, but it has circulated widely on X.
Recalling that he had condemned death threats against the member for Clacton from the despatch box, Starmer urged Farage to show “decency or backbone” by apologising and dismissing the individual. Instead, Farage used his allotted question to pivot to the future of the Chagos Archipelago, leaving the Prime Minister’s challenge unanswered.
[Further reading: The life and afterlife of Gordon Brown]
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