Sir Keir Starmer has been questioned by MPs on parliament’s Liaison Committee about his work as prime minister so far, including Labour’s plans to grow the economy and foreign affairs.
Thursday 19 December 2024 18:09, UK
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Parliament’s off on its Christmas break and bowed out with the best present the Politics Hub could have asked for: Keir Starmer facing the Liaison Committee for the first time.
It’s a “super committee” of MPs who chair each of the individual committees across parliament, from the Treasury to foreign affairs, and grill the prime minister of the day a few times a year.
Here are the main things you need to know-ho-ho before we head off for the festive break too:
For a full round-up, tap through the key points above or scroll through our posts from between 2.30pm and 4.08pm.
Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge is live from 7pm.
On our panel tonight are former Downing Street communications director Guto Harri and ex-Labour minister Caroline Flint.
Joining us to discuss the big foreign story of the day – the Gisele Pelicot trial that has shocked France – are campaigner and rape survivor Ellie Wilson and Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls.
With Labour’s general election victory in the rearview mirror, eyes are turning to the next battle: who will be the party’s next candidate for London mayor.
Sadiq Khan has not said whether he will seek a historic fourth term as London mayor, but already within Labour names are beginning to emerge as potential successors should he decide not to stand again.
Those who have been tipped as potential runners in the race include Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, Florence Eshalomi, Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, and Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent East and former shadow minister.
Tap the link below to read all about the possible contenders from our political reporter Alexandra Rogers:
Labour’s anti-corruption minister has been named in court documents detailing claims her family embezzled billions of pounds from a nuclear power project in Bangladesh.
Economic secretary Tulip Siddiq – who holds responsibility for financial crime and illicit finance – is alleged to have helped co-ordinate meetings with the Russian government regarding the Rooppur power plant project.
In a court writ seen by Sky News, submitted to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, Ms Siddiq is named alongside her aunt, the former prime minister of Bangladesh Shaikh Hasina.
The documents cite an online news report from August and suggest Ms Siddiq received embezzled funds that came from the artificial inflation of construction costs of the power plant – which was mainly funded by the Russian government.
It’s alleged that $5bn (£3.9bn) was siphoned off from the project’s budget “in collusion with Russian officials”.
Ms Siddiq has been approached for a response.
The Labour Party and the government declined to comment.
It’s understood that the minister has not been approached by Bangladeshi authorities in relation to the allegations.
A party source suggested the accusations originated from a “spurious American aerospace website”.
Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer had confidence in Ms Siddiq.
Following the conclusion of the Liaison Committee’s grilling of the PM, we’ve had some reaction from one of the MPs who questioned him.
Lib Dem Alistair Carmichael, who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA), asked about the controversial changes to inheritance tax for farmers.
Despite the chancellor and other ministers saying the aim was to ensure wealthy people were not buying agricultural land as an investment, Sir Keir Starmer repeatedly said no group in particular was the target.
‘He could not have been clearer’
Reacting to the exchange, Mr Carmichael said in a statement: “The prime minister has undermined the case made by Treasury and DEFRA ministers who have sought to pretend that this was about tackling the Jeremy Clarksons and James Dysons of this world.
“It was clear from his answers that it is just about raising money.
“He could not have been clearer that if farmers are caught and farms have to be sold, then that is fine by him.”
Defiant and across the detail, but uninspiring and a little spiky at times, is how the PM navigated his first Liaison Committee appearance.
The 90 minutes of intense questioning by committee chairs wasn’t a source of much festive cheer as Keir Starmer joylessly ploughed through the session – taking on topics from temporary housing to global stability.
From Number 10’s perspective it will be considered a success, with hours of preparation meaning he avoided any nightmare moments before Christmas.
From the MPs perspective, some appeared frustrated at Sir Keir’s refusal to admit mistakes and his defence of unpopular policies.
No regrets
Another theme was his government’s ambitious targets and the lack of obvious roadmap to achieving them – primarily on growth, defence spending and immigration.
His answer was always to blame what he inherited from the Conservatives and to insist that he would meet his goals given time.
A particularly illuminating moment came at the end, when he was asked three times by committee chair Meg Hillier if he had any regrets looking back on his time in office so far.
The reply, after some pressing, was “no” – displaying a level of stubbornness and inflexibly that will either drive or ultimately destroy his premiership.
While the PM was being questioned by parliament’s Liaison Committee, Kemi Badenoch was spending time with possibly the UK’s most famous farmer.
The Tory leader went to Jeremy Clarkson’s pub in Oxfordshire to meet local farmers and hear about how the changes to inheritance tax announced in the budget will affect them.
“Family farms across the country are now at risk because of Labour’s budget,” she wrote in a post on X.
“Conservatives support farmers and will reverse the cruel family farms tax at the first opportunity.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s first appearance before parliament’s Liaison Committee has now concluded.
The PM was asked about all areas of his brief, with a particular focus on the economy, public services, and global affairs.
Scroll down to read and watch all the key moments, as well as analysis from our political correspondent Liz Bates.
Stay with us as we bring you reaction to and analysis of the session.
Liaison Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier asks the PM what he would have done differently, looking back over his first five months as PM.
Sir Keir Starmer replies that after nine years in politics in opposition, it is “far better to be in a position of power to change lives for the better than it ever is in opposition”.
He goes on: “I knew it would be tough. I knew the inheritance was going to be pretty awful. It’s worse than I thought in every respect.”
Pushed by Dame Meg if he would have done anything differently, Sir Keir said: “No. We had to do tough stuff. We’re getting on with it.”
Sir Keir is now being asked about his plan to cut net migration and whether this will impact his target to build 1.5 million homes – given we may need overseas construction workers to help.
He says his government is talking to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) “so it’s consistent with our industrial strategy and Skills England”.
“Those three have been operating as separate silos for far too long.”
Asked if it will give the MAC the “greenlight” to put more jobs on its shortage occupation list to help achieve his government’s missions, he says “no”.
But he says “we will always need overseas skills” and “I’m not going to chop legs off our businesses”.
One of the few Tory MPs on the Liaison Committee, Dame Karen Bradley, is the next select committee chair to be called to question the PM.
She asks him what the government is doing to bring back the estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children that have been stolen by Russia.
Sir Keir Starmer says the UK is “working with all of our allies on this, but particularly the US, France, Germany, and of course Ukraine”.
Syrian claims are ‘case-by-case’
Dame Karen then turns to Syria and the former UK nationals who are now stateless there, and asks what the government’s position on those people given what has happened.
Each case will be different, he says, and will “have to be” assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Dame Karen then asks about the pause on asylum claims from Syrian nationals which, according to international law, cannot continue indefinitely.
The PM agrees, but “an assessment of the safety of the situation in Syria is very difficult to do at the moment”.
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