Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer clash over immigration and Parthenon marbles at PMQs – UK politics live
Midas #Midas
PMQs – snap verdict
It is widely assumed that it was Tony Blair who annihilated the Tories in the 1990s, but it was his predecessor, the late John Smith, who first cemented in the public mind the idea that John Major was a hapless incompetent leading an administration of utter uselessness, and he did it in a speech in the Commons in June 1993. You can watch an excerpt here.
Smith described Major as the “man with the non-Midas touch” and went on to say: “It is no wonder that we live in a country where the Grand National does not start and hotels fall into the sea.” Today Keir Starmer referenced that speech when he told Rishi Sunak:
It is ironic that he has suddenly taken such a keen interest in Greek culture when he has clearly become the man with the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to … maybe the home secretary can help me out here.
It is always quite risky resurrecting a joke that someone else has used brilliantly in the past. But by the time Starmer used this line, in his sixth question, he had already performed a fairly effective demolition job on Sunak, and so it worked fine.
The exchanges covered immigration policy and Sunak’s row with the Greek PM, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, about the Parthenon marbles. In the long term, migration is probably the most serious problem for Sunak, but today he was at his most inept trying to justify the Mitsotakis snub. Starmer asked:
Never mind the British Museum, it’s the prime minister who has obviously lost his marbles.
The Greek prime minister came to London to meet him, a fellow Nato member, an economic ally, one of our most important partners in tackling illegal immigration.
But instead of using that meeting to discuss those serious issues, he tried to humiliate him and cancelled at the last minute. Why such small politics, prime minister?
Sunak could have tried to play down the whole affair. But instead he escalated, by denouncing the Greek PM as someone who cannot be trusted to keep his word. This is what No 10 was in effect briefing yesterday, but for the prime minister to say this in parliament, about leader of a friendly country, is highly provocative. Sunak said.
Of course, we’re always happy to discuss important topics of substance with our allies, like tackling illegal migration or indeed strengthening our security.
But when it was clear that the purpose of a meeting was not to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of the past, it was inappropriate.
Furthermore … when specific commitments and specific assurances on that topic were made to this country and then were broken, it may seem alien to him, but my view is when people make commitments they should keep them.
Starmer replied:
I discussed with the Greek prime minister the economy, security, immigration, I also told him we wouldn’t change the law regarding the marbles. It’s not that difficult, prime minister.
And then, when Sunak in his reply said that Starmer was “backing an EU country over Britain”, Starmer hit back:
The prime minister is now saying that meeting the prime minister of Greece is somehow supporting the EU instead of discussing serious issues. He’s just dug further into that hole that he’s made for himself. Rather than deal with the facts, he’s prosecuting his one-man war on reality.
That clinched it. Wit and eloquence can count for a lot in debate, but being right is normally even better, and Starmer’s attack was powerful today because it crystallised what many Tories, as well as Labour MPs, will be thinking.
After his “hotels fall into the sea” speech (which followed Black Wednesday), Smith had the authority of a prime minister in waiting, while Major could never quite shake off the perception that he was a bit of a joke. The relationship is broadly similar today. That is not a result of today’s PMQs, but the exchanges this afternoon do confirm the picture.
Updated at 08.45 EST
Key events
European commission president Ursula von der Leyen says she would like to see UK rejoin EU
The UK should rejoin the EU, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said, admitting that European leaders had “goofed up” on the departure of Britain from the bloc.
She made the remarks at an event in Brussels on last night.
Asked if the UK could ever rejoin the EU she replied:
I must say, I keep telling my children: ‘You have to fix it. We goofed it up, you have to fix it.’ So I think here too, the direction of travel – my personal opinion – is clear.
Her remarks at an awards ceremony staged by Politico come as relations between the EU and the UK continue to improve after a near collapse of relations under Boris Johnson and Lord Frost, who negotiated the Brexit trade deal.
The new foreign secretary Lord Cameron made his first official return to Brussels this week after losing the keys to number 10 in the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Officially he was in the EU capital to attend a meeting of Nato foreign ministers but he squeezed in an hour-long meeting with Maroš Šefčovič, vice-president of the European Commission and chief Brexit negotiator following the UK’s exit from the bloc in 2020.
Although Cameron had campaigned for remain, nervousness about being back in the embrace of the EU given was evident.
He declined to speak to the media on his first day in the Belgian capital and refusing any questions on the second.
PMQs – snap verdict
It is widely assumed that it was Tony Blair who annihilated the Tories in the 1990s, but it was his predecessor, the late John Smith, who first cemented in the public mind the idea that John Major was a hapless incompetent leading an administration of utter uselessness, and he did it in a speech in the Commons in June 1993. You can watch an excerpt here.
Smith described Major as the “man with the non-Midas touch” and went on to say: “It is no wonder that we live in a country where the Grand National does not start and hotels fall into the sea.” Today Keir Starmer referenced that speech when he told Rishi Sunak:
It is ironic that he has suddenly taken such a keen interest in Greek culture when he has clearly become the man with the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to … maybe the home secretary can help me out here.
It is always quite risky resurrecting a joke that someone else has used brilliantly in the past. But by the time Starmer used this line, in his sixth question, he had already performed a fairly effective demolition job on Sunak, and so it worked fine.
The exchanges covered immigration policy and Sunak’s row with the Greek PM, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, about the Parthenon marbles. In the long term, migration is probably the most serious problem for Sunak, but today he was at his most inept trying to justify the Mitsotakis snub. Starmer asked:
Never mind the British Museum, it’s the prime minister who has obviously lost his marbles.
The Greek prime minister came to London to meet him, a fellow Nato member, an economic ally, one of our most important partners in tackling illegal immigration.
But instead of using that meeting to discuss those serious issues, he tried to humiliate him and cancelled at the last minute. Why such small politics, prime minister?
Sunak could have tried to play down the whole affair. But instead he escalated, by denouncing the Greek PM as someone who cannot be trusted to keep his word. This is what No 10 was in effect briefing yesterday, but for the prime minister to say this in parliament, about leader of a friendly country, is highly provocative. Sunak said.
Of course, we’re always happy to discuss important topics of substance with our allies, like tackling illegal migration or indeed strengthening our security.
But when it was clear that the purpose of a meeting was not to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of the past, it was inappropriate.
Furthermore … when specific commitments and specific assurances on that topic were made to this country and then were broken, it may seem alien to him, but my view is when people make commitments they should keep them.
Starmer replied:
I discussed with the Greek prime minister the economy, security, immigration, I also told him we wouldn’t change the law regarding the marbles. It’s not that difficult, prime minister.
And then, when Sunak in his reply said that Starmer was “backing an EU country over Britain”, Starmer hit back:
The prime minister is now saying that meeting the prime minister of Greece is somehow supporting the EU instead of discussing serious issues. He’s just dug further into that hole that he’s made for himself. Rather than deal with the facts, he’s prosecuting his one-man war on reality.
That clinched it. Wit and eloquence can count for a lot in debate, but being right is normally even better, and Starmer’s attack was powerful today because it crystallised what many Tories, as well as Labour MPs, will be thinking.
After his “hotels fall into the sea” speech (which followed Black Wednesday), Smith had the authority of a prime minister in waiting, while Major could never quite shake off the perception that he was a bit of a joke. The relationship is broadly similar today. That is not a result of today’s PMQs, but the exchanges this afternoon do confirm the picture.
Updated at 08.45 EST
Deidre Brock (SNP) asks for an assurance that health data about Scottish patients won’t be released under the Palantir deal.
Sunak says health policy is devolved. But he defends the policy.
Updated at 07.57 EST
Jonathan Gullis (Con) says the Labour-run council in his constituency won’t let people with free bus passes use them until after 9.30am.
Sunak say he backs Gullis’s campaign to get the council to change its mind.
Beth Winter (Lab) says the government is not funding efforts to make coal tips safe in south Wales. Is it right that the UK took the economic benefit from Welsh coal, but will not spend money to make it safe?
Sunak says the UK government is investing in south Wales. It has invested to safeguard thousands of jobs at Tata Steel.
Updated at 07.58 EST
Mohammad Yasin (Lab) asks if the government will take up with the Indian government claims that India has supported attempts to assassinate Sikh activists outside India.
Sunak says the government is concerned about the safety of all communities in the UK.
Rachel Maclean (Con) asks Sunak to back a campaign for maternity services to be returned to the hospital serving her constituency.
Sunak says decisons about services are taken locally.
Sir Jeremy Wright (Con) says a constituent aged 110 is visiting Downing Street today. He says he hopes he can give Sunak advice on surviving against the odds.
Sunak says he looks forward to meeting John, the constituent.
Sir John Hayes (Con) asks if the government will introduce measures to cut immigration as proposed by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister.
Sunak says the government is reviewing its policies on legal immigration. And it will bring forward a bill to allow flights to Rwanda to happen, he says.
Sunak insists he never said during Covid crisis he favoured opposing lockdown and just letting people die
Tulip Siddiq (Lab) asks about the claim in the Covid inquiry that Sunak’s view was that the government should “just let people die”. No 10 did not deny this last week. So how did people at the top of government get this idea?
Sunak says he will give evidence to the inquiry. But if Siddiq had listened to the evidence, she would have seen that Sir Patrick Vallance, whose diary was quoted, said he had not heard Sunak say that. And that is because he didn’t.
Siddiq is referring to a diary entry in which Vallance quoted Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser at the time, as saying: “Rishi [Sunak] thinks just let people die and that’s okay.” Cummings was not quoting Sunak; he was just summarising Sunak’s position as he saw it (with characteristic hyperbole).
Updated at 07.47 EST
Nickie Aiken (Con) says Labour-run Westminster council is increasing parking charges for electric vehicles by up to 1,800%.
Sunak says the council should rethink these plans.
Updated at 07.40 EST
This is from Beth Rigby, Sky News’s political editor, on what Rishi Sunak said to Keir Starmer about the Greek PM.
Former cab minister texts following PM Greece remarks at #PMQs: “Rishi on Greece is mad. He’s creacted a full diplomatic breakdown, the Greek gov are furious” Adds that Greece has done lot of work tackling illegal migration & could benefit from Greek model (which they now haven’t discussed)
Updated at 07.41 EST
Sarah Dines (Con) says an entire town, Bakewell, has been debanked by NatWest. As the government is the main shareholder in the bank, will it do something about that?
Sunak says all customers should have access to banking services.
He says new cash deposit services will be provided for Dines’s community.
Updated at 07.41 EST
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says many of the supposed 40 new hospital projects promised by the government are not progressing. Why do doctors and nurses have to suffer for years in unsafe conditions?
Sunak claims “good progress is being made”. But it is right that hospitals with Raac concrete problems need to be prioritised.
Updated at 07.42 EST
Philip Hollobone (Con) asks Sunak to back the redevelopment of a hospital in Kettering.
Sunak says the government is committed to this project. Work should begin in the first quarter of 2024, he says.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, says it is snowing in Aberdeen. Kids will be pleased, but not their parents, who dread the energy bills. Does the PM regret not offering financial support this winter?
Sunak says it is wrong to say that the government is not offering people financial support.
Flynn says it is hard for Sunak to emphathise when he clearly cannot understand what people are going through. He says the SNP thinks Scotland should benefit from Scotland’s energy.
Sunak says the energy grid in the UK is integrated. There are cold weather payments that kick in, and winter fuel payments, he says.
Starmer says there are few things more depressing for Tories than hearing Sunak has a plan. It is fitting he turned to Greek matters this week, because he is the man with the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to – the home secretary will have the correct word, he says.
Sunak says Labour backs inflationary pay rises. It has no plan for welfare. The government has just delivered the biggest tax cuts since the 1980s, and brought in investment worth £30bn, he says.