UK politics live: Jenrick and Badenoch face off to join Cleverly in final two of Tory leadership contest
Conservative MPs to vote this afternoon after Starmer quizzed on Sue Gray and tax rises at PMQs
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Tory MPs have begun voting in their last ballot of the Conservative leadership race as Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch brace for a close contest to make it into the final two.
Ex-home secretary James Cleverly is in pole position to make it through the latest stage after leapfrogging former frontrunner Mr Jenrick to first place on Tuesday.
The former immigration minister warned this morning about a potential “horse-trading” as the final voting round in the Conservative leadership race looms.
Tom Tugendhat’s elimination saw the Tory leadership contest narrow to a final three contenders, with James Cleverly receiving a significant boost in support in Tuesday’s vote.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer faced a grilling from Rishi Sunak in his first PMQs since reshuffling his Downing Street leadership team, after Sue Gray’s shock exit as his chief of staff.
The Conservative leader took aim at Sir Keir’s weekend reshuffle, which saw Sue Gray ousted as chief of staff and reappointed as envoy for the nations and regions.
Mr Sunak also pushed the prime minister to give a commitment that Labour will not change the government’s fiscal rules relating to public debt and borrowing and about his pledge not to put up National Insurance. But Sir Keir refused to clarify the situation twice.
ANALYSIS | Ed Davey finally dares mention the B-word
The Lib Dems have been avoiding much mention of Brexit after being so ardent in their support of a second referendum and reversing the 2016 vote until Britain finally left in 2020.
But with the questions over Keir Starmer’s EU reset and growing anger at the way he refuses to agree a Youth Mobility Scheme for under-30s, Ed Davey has finally gone for it and put some pressure on the prime minister.
It also marked a break in style where he had been using his two questions more to attack the Tory opposition than the Labour government.
However, many will be more interested in the fact that he pinned Starmer down on the future of the Falklands and Gibraltar after the Chagos Islands debacle.
A good day for the Lib Dem leader.
Report into child poverty taskforce to be published next year
Sir Keir Starmer has announced a report from the government’s child poverty taskforce will be published in spring next year.
Labour MP Meg Hillier asked when the child poverty taskforce will report.
In response, Sir Keir said that it is appalling that “child poverty went up by 700,000 after 2010”.
“The taskforce report will be published in spring next year,” he said.
Starmer says Falklands are British and will remain British after Chagos Islands row
Sir Keir Starmer has declared the Falkland Islands are British and will remain British after a row about his decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The prime minister last week refused to rule out ending British control of Gibraltar and the Falklands as he faced a backlash over a deal with Mauritius to cede control of the remote archipelago.
Asked on Friday to guarantee no other British overseas territory would be signed away by the government, the PM dodged the question, pointing to a deal to secure the long-term future of a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
But, asked during PMQs about measures to make it easier for British citizens fishing off the Falklands to sell fish into Europe, Sir Keir said: “My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands.
“They are British, and they will remain British. The sovereignty of Gibraltar is equally not going to be negotiated.”
Will you reconsider youth mobility scheme with the EU?
During prime minister’s questions, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey challenged Sir Keir Starmer on the youth mobility with the EU.
The party leader asked why the prime minister has ruled out a youth mobility scheme with the EU, which could offer young Britons and Europeans more opportunities post-Brexit.
He responded by reiterating the UK is in need of a “better deal” with the union, citing his recent discussions with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Starmer not ruling out changing fiscal rules to increase spending
Sir Keir Starmer has said the government was stabilising the economy, as he did not say whether he still agreed with Rachel Reeves over whether changing debt rules would be “fiddling the books” ahead of the Budget on 30 October.
Leader of the opposition Rishi Sunak said: “Before the election his chancellor said changing the debt target in the fiscal rules would be tantamount to fiddling the figures.
“Does he still agree with the chancellor?”
The prime minister said: “This is literally the man who was in charge of the economy, 14 years they’ve crashed the economy. What did they leave? A £22 billion black hole in the economy.
“Unlike them we won’t walk past it. We will fix it. And it’s only because we are stabilising the economy that we are getting the investment into this country. But I still notice he has hasn’t talked about that investment.
“We are powering ahead with clean British energy, we are changing the rules to build 1.5 million homes and returning railways to public ownership, and they’ve got nothing to say about any of this.”
Starmer vows to toughen law after MI5 warnings
Rishi Sunak has now moved on from future taxes by asking about national security.
He cited the speech from the head of MI5 yesterday about the threats facing the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer said the government will “of course toughen the law if it has to”.
ANALYSIS | Rishi Sunak back to his rapier best in PMQs
It was a regular feature of PMQs before the election that Rishi Sunak would emerge as the winner against Keir Starmer despite his travails elsewhere.
Since the catastrophic defeat at the ballot box he has been muted a bit.
However, he was back to his old self today with some sharp jibes.
“When did the prime minister become a fan of fire and rehire?” he asked, referring to the sacking of Sue Gray as chief of staff and bringing in Morgan McSweeney (a former chief of staff) over the weekend.
“I don’t think even Lord Alli would buy that,” he said when Starmer ducked a question on raising employer national insurance contributions.
Sunak will be gone in a few weeks but at least we know he is going out swinging.
PM not ruling out employer National Insurance increase
Rishi Sunak has asked about Labour’s commitment not to raise tax for working people.
The leader of the opposition asked whether the promise also applies to employers’ national insurance and employees’ national insurance.
Refusing to answer, Sir Keir Starmer said he will not comment on the budget, but insisted the government will stabilise the economy.
Mr Sunak then claimed that he was not asking about the budget and repeats the question again.
The prime minister replied: “We made an absolute commitment in relation to not raising tax on working people.
“He, of course, was the expert’s expert on raising taxes. What did we get in return for it? We got a broken economy, broken public services, and a £22 billion black hole in the economy. We’re here to stabilise the economy, and we will do so.”
Rishi Sunak opens with Sue Gray ‘fire and rehire’ jibe
Rishi Sunak has taken aim at Sir Keir Starmer’s weekend reshuffle, which saw Sue Gray ousted as chief of staff and reappointed as envoy for the nations and regions.
After Ms Gray was replaced by elections guru Morgan McSweeny, the leader of the opposition said: “Given the weekend’s events, when did the prime minister first become a convert to fire and rehire?“
Sir Keir replied: “I am very pleased and proud that tomorrow we will publish the Bill which will be the biggest upgrade of worker’s rights in a generation.”
Starmer hails workers’ rights bill
Sir Keir Starmer continued his statement by praising the government’s new workers’ reforms bill, which will be debated in parliament this week.
The prime minister described the changes as the “biggest upgrade to worker’s rights in a generation”.
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