Fixing the foundations - PMQs 4th December 2024

One of the PM’s stock phrases is ‘fixing the foundations.’ Is he the one to do it?

‘Starmer is already in a flat spin from which he will not recover,’ Dominic Cummings said last week (47:46). ‘He has no idea how to do the job… He will just thrash around failing.’

That might not have been obvious from today’s PMQs. The PM appeared to be more animated in his responses; perhaps he had had a little coaching from the increasingly Gollum-resembling Blair who also warned him straight after July’s election that he would have to do something about immigration (what an irony, Tony!)

He was helped by Kemi Badenoch’s repeating her unfortunate habit of asking a two-part question, this time combining the latter issue with another go at his appointment of convicted fraudster Louise Haigh as (now ex-) Transport Secretary. It allowed Sir Keir to focus on his recent remigration achievements: 9,400 repatriated (mostly voluntary, but including 600 Brazilians suddenly rounded up and flown out – the ruthlessness so displayed might backfire.)

Tomorrow, Starmer is to unveil ‘missions and milestones’, reminiscent of Blair’s five-pledge card in 1997. However net migration will merely be ‘mentioned’ in a document, without a ‘numerical target.’ Will the relaunch rescue Sir Keir?

For a while, perhaps, given the Tory Opposition that did so disastrously when in power. Cummings says they too ‘will not recover… The machine is broken.’

Is the Conservative rump left in Parliament the right rump? Not if Dame Andrea Jenkyns’ defection to Reform is anything to go by; when Starmer crossed the floor to speak to Farage last Friday, was he signalling a gloat at the Tories?

But immigration is one of those foundations that need fixing, and not just for fiscal reasons. The implications for our politics and social relations are far-reaching.

Another fundamental weakness is the electoral system that has given Labour such wildly disproportionate representation in Westminster. The notorious petition started a fortnight ago asking for a fresh GE will be debated in Westminster Hall on 6 January, and has already prompted the formation of an all-party Parliamentary group on fair voting; yesterday (Lib Dem) Sarah Olney’s Ten-Minute Rule Bill urging the introduction of Single Transferable Voting was passed, despite Conservative opposition.

But when Ed Davey now asked for a full debate Starmer replied ‘Proportional representation is not our policy and we will not be making time for it. I will just gently say to the right hon. Gentleman that he did not do too badly under the system as it is.’

As indeed did Labour, and Sarah Olney’s Conservative debating opponent Lewis Cocking, who held his Broxbourne seat in the GE with only 36.8% of the vote.

So much for power to the people.

A third foundation is our economy, the draught horse that has to pull so much. A great deal of this PMQs session was taken up with worthy causes that require funding:

The North Devon hospital with only 6 ICU beds serving 165,000 people; ‘our prisons bursting’ (said Sir Keir); 1,500 South Wales homes needing festive food hampers (sung for by MP Carolyn Harris); NHS waiting lists; access to GPs; financial support for GP practices; guarding against unacceptable behaviour in the workplace; tackling violence against women and girls; bringing historic buildings back into use; compensation for victims of the contaminated blood scandal; financial redress for WASPI women who saw their retirement date pushed back with inadequate warning; index-linking frozen pensions for British émigrés; heating for pensioners; infrastructure for Middlewich; money for special educational needs and disabilities; staving off Post Office closures; the renationalisation and revival of railways.

How is all this and more to be paid for?

As Kemi said, ‘Last week, the Prime Minister failed to repeat the Chancellor’s pledge of no more borrowing and no more taxes… He cannot even repeat the pledges he made just a few weeks ago. None of [this Cabinet] has ever run a business. Why will the Prime Minister not listen to businesses who are saying his Budget is catastrophic?’

This invited Starmer’s usual counterattack on the Conservative’s economic record and shilly-shallying on policy; can they ever live it down?

Nevertheless, it is one thing to win points in the Debating Chamber; another to build a thriving economy on closing industries and New Age energy. Technically Labour has until 2029 to sort out how the country will make ends meet; in reality we may not have so long.

Source: http://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2024/12/fixing-foundations-pmqs-4th-december.html