PMQs dwell – Keir Starmer set to conflict with Tory chief Kemi Badenoch over tax hikes
Keir Starmer is set to go head-to-head with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
The clash comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted she is sticking by massive Budget tax rises for businesses in order to rescue the crisis-hit NHS.
She told The Mirror in an interview her critics had presented “no real alternatives”. She added: “Successful businesses need successful schools, a healthy economy needs a healthy NHS. We have got to be able to pay for these things.”
Later on Wednesday the Tory leader Ms Badenoch will use an Opposition Day Debate to try and force a vote on the tax increases and a shake-up of inheritance rules for farm owners.
While the vote will fail – given Labour’s massive Commons majority – the debate will allow the Conservatives to press on their demand for a U-turn.
Follow live updates from PMQs below
Labour announces first phase of rail nationalisation plans
Labour has vowed to put passengers “back at the heart” of Britain’s railways – as the government revealed a timetable for renationalising train firms.
The first operator – South Western Railways – will transfer to public ownership next May. And all passenger services across Britain operated under contracts with the Department for Transport will complete over the next three years.
Writing in the Mirror, new Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “I am determined to return our railways across the country to the service of passengers.”
She replaced Louise Haigh, credited with driving through rail renationalisation plans, who quit last week after it emerged she pleaded guilty to a fraud offence a decade ago.
Defiant Rachel Reeves ‘standing firm’ on Budget tax hikes
Defiant Rachel Reeves has told businesses she is “standing firm” on tax hikes but vowed people will feel better off under her plans.
The Chancellor said critics had presented “no real alternatives” to her Budget plans for £40billion-a-year in tax rises to fund the NHS and other cash-strapped public services.
The Chancellor said there had been “a lot of feedback but no real alternatives” to her Budget, adding in an interview with The Mirror: “Successful businesses need successful schools, a healthy economy needs a healthy NHS.
“We have got to be able to pay for these things.”
Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch to go head-to-head at noon
Keir Starmer is set to go head-to-head with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
The clash comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted she is sticking by massive Budget tax rises for businesses in order to rescue the crisis-hit NHS.
She told The Mirror in an interview her critics had presented “no real alternatives”. She added: “Successful businesses need successful schools, a healthy economy needs a healthy NHS. We have got to be able to pay for these things.”
Later on Wednesday the Tory leader Ms Badenoch will use an Opposition Day Debate to try and force a vote on the tax increases and a shake-up of inheritance rules for farm owners.
While the vote will fail – given Labour’s massive Commons majority – the debate will allow the Conservatives to press on their demand for a U-turn.
