Starmer challenges Sunak to call immediate general election after 'losing control' (2024)

Thank you for joining me for today’s politics live blog.

I will be back tomorrow morning.

There is a growing sense in Westminster that we will not have to wait too much longer for the Privileges Committee to release its long-awaited report on whether Boris Johnson misled the Commons over partygate.

Reports suggest the investigation’s findings will be released tomorrow, potentially at 9am.

That would likely pave the way for MPs to vote on the findings and any potential sanction next week because the House of Commons is not scheduled to sit on Friday.

More than a quarter of the lives saved by RNLI lifeboats last year were migrants attempting to cross the Channel in small boats, the charity has said.

The RNLI disclosed that it had saved 108 lives in the Channel in 2022, as it hit back over critics’ claims that it had acted as a “taxi service” for migrants.

You can read the full story here.

Train drivers have voted overwhelmingly to continue strike action for the next six months in their long-running pay dispute, their union has announced.

Aslef said a re-ballot of its members showed they are “in it for the long haul”.

You can read the full story here.

Tory MP Aaron Bell has sought to present his party as “united behind Rishi Sunak,” insisting the row centred on Boris Johnson is “over now”.

He told the BBC’s World At One programme: “Actually this is over now. Boris Johnson is no longer a Member of Parliament.

“The vast, vast majority of the parliamentary party are completely united behind Rishi Sunak.”

Downing Street said it was “unusual” that Nadine Dorries has not formally resigned despite saying she will quit as an MP, adding that Rishi Sunak would welcome “certainty” on the matter.

The Conservative former culture secretary’s delay could mean the Tories have to fight three by-elections on two different days rather than all at the same time.

The Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “We are moving on with the two by-elections of Uxbridge and Selby, I can’t pre-empt what the MP for Mid Bedfordshire is going to do.”

Asked if there was frustration over the delay, she said: “It’s obviously unusual to have an MP say they will resign with immediate effect and for that not to take place.

“The Prime Minister believes the people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve proper representation in this House and he looks forward to campaigning for the Conservative candidate in the by-election.”

Asked if Ms Dorries’ constituents are currently being properly served, the press secretary said: “The Prime Minister believes that it’s important that they have certainty.”

A Tory MP mocked Boris Johnson as he urged Rishi Sunak to permanently ditch proposals to ban buy one, get one free offers.

Philip Davies told Mr Sunak during PMQs: “One of the socialist landmines the Prime Minister has inherited from [Mr Johnson] – I’m sure the Prime Minister remembers him, he’s the one who said that we should be more conservative, if only he had had a majority of 80 and been prime minister he might have been able to do something about it.

“One of the landmines he left behind was the idiotic triumph of the nanny state of banning buy one, get one free and other special offers on products that the Department of Health thought was unhealthy.”

Mr Davies added: “During a cost-of-living crisis it is utterly bonkers. So can I ask the Prime Minister if he will intervene, pursue a more Conservative agenda as [Mr Johnson] would want him to do, and scrap this ridiculous policy?”

The PM replied: “After I took office, given the concerns that he and others had raised about the impact on the cost of living, we already have, as he knows, postponed the introduction of this policy. No final decisions have been made, but I will continue to take what he says very seriously in all our deliberations.”

Rich people should do their “patriotic duty” and pay more tax rather than emigrate, Wes Streeting has said.

The shadow health secretary said high-net worth taxpayers should stop finding “clever wheezes and accounting tricks” and contribute to “real improvements in public services”.

You can read the full story here.

Sir Keir Starmer challenged Rishi Sunak to call an immediate general election as he claimed voters are “paying the price” of having a prime minister who has “lost control”.

The Labour leader told Mr Sunak: “If he spent as much time focused on the economy, the NHS and the asylum system as he does haggling with his predecessors about who gets honours, the country would be in a far better state.

“But once again he has lost control and once again it is working people paying the price. If he disagrees with that, why not put it to the test, end the boasting, the excuses, the Tory chaos, see if he can finally find somebody, anybody, anywhere to vote for him and call a general election now.”

Mr Sunak hit back and said: “He talked about asylum. Just this week it was the Labour Party that voted against plans to tackle illegal migration.”

He added: “We are getting on and delivering for the country. We are delivering record employment and the fastest wage growth in years. It is clear only the Conservatives are going to deliver for the people of Britain.”

Staying on the subject of Tory infighting, Sir Keir Starmer said households are “paying the price of this endless cycle of chaos and distraction”.

He told the Commons: “The truth is the country is paying the price of this endless cycle of chaos and distraction. The Tory economic crash means that millions of mortgage holders will pay thousands of pounds next year and the blame lies squarely at the door of a Government more focused on the internal wars of the Tory Party than the needs of the country.

“Does he not think that those responsible should hang their heads in shame?”

Rishi Sunak replied: “Our number one economic priority is to reduce inflation so that we can restrain the increase in interest rates. But one thing we know that we need to do to do that is to reduce our borrowing and debt. That is how we will bring interest and mortgage rates down.

“But last week what did we see? Labour confusion with the shadow chancellor attempting to water down their plans to borrow £28billion more a year but she was promptly overruled by the shadow energy secretary [Ed Miliband]... who said that they were 100 per cent not abandoning their pledge.

“It really looks like Labour’s offer never changes. It is uncontrolled borrowing and more chaos with Ed Miliband.”

Rishi Sunak told Sir Keir Starmer that he would expect a “knight like him to understand” the process used for prime minister’s resignation honours lists.

Sir Keir replied: “Honours should be for public service, not Tory cronies.”

Sir Keir Starmer said that “all across the country people are worried about their bills, the price of the weekly shop and the spiralling mortgage rates”.

The Labour leader asked: “So why has the Tory Party spent this last week arguing over which of them gets a peerage?”

Mr Sunak said that he had acted “in line with a long established convention” in the handling of Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list and he had “followed the process to the letter”.

PMQs is now underway in the House of Commons.

Labour MP Lyn Brown told Rishi Sunak that food prices have increased by 19.1 per cent according to the latest statistics, “making a mockery of his pledge to halve inflation”.

The Prime Minister said that “of course I acknowledge that the cost of living is rising for families” but he said that “inflation is now falling” and the Government is “on track” to hit his goal of halving inflation by the end of the year.

The Government has formally triggered the by-elections to replace Boris Johnson and Nigel Adams.

Business in the House of Commons this morning started just after 11.30am with Government chief whip Simon Hart issuing the writs for the vacant seats.

Former prime minister Mr Johnson stood down as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip while former minister Mr Adams previously represented Selby and Ainsty.

Some Labour MPs in the chamber cheered when Mr Hart issued the writ to replace Mr Johnson.

The by-election has to take place between 21 and 27 working days from the issuing of the writ. The precise date for the contests has not yet been set.

Rishi Sunak must hold an emergency mortgages summit in Downing Street with banks and lenders to discuss what can be done to help homeowners struggling to cope with interest rate increases, the Liberal Democrats have said.

Some mortgage products are being pulled by lenders amid speculation the Bank of England is set to increase rates still further.

Sarah Olney, the Lib Dems’ Treasury spokeswoman, said: “This Conservative Government has unleashed mortgage hell for millions of homeowners but isn’t lifting a finger to help.

“Rishi Sunak is totally out of touch with the concerns of people across the country worried sick about how they will afford their monthly mortgage payments.

“The Prime Minister should haul the banks into Downing Street and discuss what extra support can be given to homeowners on the brink. The very least that Conservative ministers should do is take responsibility for the mess they’ve created instead of sitting on the sidelines.”

A recession is “on its way” despite the British economy continuing to surpass the Bank of England’s expectations, economists warned as GDP rose in April.

Monthly UK real gross domestic product climbed by 0.2pc in April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This matched the consensus expectation among economists but exceeded the Bank of England’s forecasts. Threadneedle Street had forecast that GDP will stay flat across the first half of 2023.

You can read the full story here.

Suella Braverman was unable to tell MPs how many asylum case workers are now in post despite a pledge by Rishi Sunak to ramp up the numbers.

Dame Diana Johnson, the Labour chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, asked the Home Secretary during an evidence session this morning if she could provide the latest figure for case worker numbers.

Ms Braverman said: “My latest figure is that we have increased the decision-makers and my most recent figure is 1,281 full time equivalent...”

Dame Diana told the Home Secretary that that was the same figure as in March and said: “You don’t know today how many case workers you have and this is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities to clear the backlog?”

Ms Braverman said the Home Office produced figures “on a regular basis” and she was “confident we are going to meet our target of 2,500 by September”. She said she would write to the committee if the Home Office could identify an up to date figure.

Mr Sunak said in December last year that the Government had “doubled the number of caseworkers to 1,200, and it will be doubling again in the next nine to 12 months”.

A former Treasury chief has suggested a recession next year may be “inevitable”.

Lord Macpherson, former permanent secretary to the Treasury, published a lengthy thread on Twitter about the impact of the cost of government borrowing hitting a new high.

The high cost of government borrowing has prompted warnings that household mortgage rates will increase still further.

Lord Macpherson said he “can’t remember an election when 18 months out interest rates were still rising steeply”.

He said: “It’s still possible the government may get lucky: underlying inflation may come down quicker than expected. But I wouldn’t bet on that.

“Much more likely that the Bank of England will raise rates to a level where a recession next year becomes inevitable. As a Chancellor said 34 years ago (albeit a year further out from an election) “if it isn’t hurting, it isn’t working”.”

Wes Streeting said the row over Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list shows the “clown show” within the Conservative Party is still distracting the Government from the issues of the day.

“I think it does say something about the culture of the Conservative Party and the clown show that continues to roll on,” he told Times Radio.

“It is a total shambles. Rishi Sunak is too weak to lead it. Even if he is trying to focus on the issues of the day, he’s being dragged off with the clown show.”

Labour has taken a 17 point poll lead over the Tories in the wake of Boris Johnson’s resignation as an MP - the party’s biggest advantage in a month.

A Savanta survey conducted between June 9-11 in the immediate aftermath of Mr Johnson’s decision to step down puts Labour on 45 per cent and the Tories on 28 per cent.

Labour were up by one point and the Tories were down by two points when compared to a survey conducted between June 2-4. The 17 point lead is the biggest recorded for Labour by Savanta for four weeks.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “Maybe now, finally, Boris Johnson will go away and let Rishi Sunak get on with governing.

“While a three-point increase in the Labour lead cannot be attributed to Johnson’s resignation as an MP - it’s a change well within the margin of error - the short-term frustration for Sunak that Johnson is once again dominating the headlines, reminding the public of his (and his party’s) failings in office may be offset by a long-term gain.”

Wes Streeting said complaints from politicians about not receiving peerages are likely to prompt voters to get out the “world’s smallest violin”.

Asked about the political fallout after Nadine Dorries and other Boris Johnson allies were left off the approved version of his resignation honours list, the shadow health secretary said he doubted the public would be “losing much sleep”.

He told Times Radio: “As for the complaints about peerages, given what the country is going through, I think people will be getting out the world’s smallest violin. I don’t think the public will be losing much sleep over who gets what gong.”

Jeremy Hunt said the UK still has a “big issue” with inflation as the Chancellor spoke to broadcasters following the publication of the latest GDP data this morning (see the post below at 08.17).

He said: “Today’s figures confirm what the OECD said last week, the IMF said last month, the Bank of England themselves have said, that there is underlying resilience in the British economy and of course that is positive.

“But we still have a big issue with inflation. That is the number one challenge we face. We have to do everything we can as a Government, as a country, to support the Bank of England in their mission to squeeze inflation out of the system and that is our primary focus.”

The latest measure of CPI inflation was an increase of 8.7 per cent in the 12 months to April. Rishi Sunak has promised to halve inflation by the end of this year - it was just over 10 per cent when he made the pledge in January.

The Liberal Democrats said the UK economy is “growing at a snail’s pace” and the Tories are too busy with “infighting” to improve the situation.

Sarah Olney, the party’s Treasury spokeswoman, said: “Month after month we see the economy growing at a snail’s pace - it’s clear this government is just totally out of ideas and out of control.

“The Conservatives seem more obsessed with infighting than putting in the hard work needed to get our economy moving again.

“This Government soap opera needs to end so we can get on with the job and give people a fair deal. We finally need to see a proper plan to grow the economy and tackle the soaring price of food, mortgage bills and energy.”

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, claimed the Tories had put the UK on a “path of managed decline” as she responded to today’s economic fugures showing growth of 0.2 per cent in April.

Ms Reeves said: “Labour wants to match the ambition of the British people – while the Tories would rather continue down a path of managed decline of low growth and high taxes.

“Despite our country’s huge potential and promise, today is another day in the dismal low growth record book of this Conservative government. The facts remain that families are feeling worse off, facing a soaring Tory mortgage penalty and we’re lagging behind on the global stage.

“Labour’s mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 will make families across every part of our country better off.”

Jeremy Hunt said “high growth needs low inflation” as he responded to today’s figures from the Office for National Statistics which revealed the economy grew by 0.2 per cent in April this year (see the post below at 08.17).

The Chancellor said in a statement: “We are growing the economy, with the IMF saying that from 2025 we will grow faster than Germany, France and Italy.

“But high growth needs low inflation, so we must stick relentlessly to our plan to halve the rate this year to protect family budgets.”

Rishi Sunak and the Government were handed a boost this morning as official statistics revealed the UK economy bounced back in April.

UK gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.2 per cent for the month after a 0.3 per cent fall in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The rise for April was partly caused by a recovery in consumer-facing services, which grew one per cent for the month, as Britons spent more on drinking and eating out.

Labour said Rishi Sunak should focus on resolving junior doctor strikes rather than his rumbling row with Boris Johnson over the former premier’s resignation honours list.

Mr Sunak claimed earlier this week that Mr Johnson had asked him to overrule the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) after some of his proposed peerages were blocked.

Mr Johnson then hit back and accused Mr Sunak of “talking rubbish” as the dispute turned into a public slanging match.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, seized on the row this morning as he linked it to a 72-hour walkout over pay by junior doctors which started today.

Mr Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the question at this stage having failed to get to a negotiated settlement is where is the Prime Minister?

“If he has got an hour of his time to sit with Boris Johnson negotiating gongs for cronies and peerages in the House of Lords he should have an hour at least to negotiate an end to these terrible strikes which are causing misery for the doctors involved and even more importantly misery for patients who are seeing their operations delayed and cancelled.”