Starmer Faces Intense Scrutiny Over Tax Plans, PMQs Tone, and Telegraph Sale

 Key exchanges from this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions:

Prime Minister Keir Starmer began this morning’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions by congratulating Scotland on qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in twenty eight years, before offering thoughts for those affected by recent flooding

The carefully upbeat opening contrasted with the unease lingering inside Labour over possible Budget decisions, including renewed pressure on the party’s stance on the two child benefit cap.

The first substantial policy question came from Conservative MP Kit Malthouse, who asked whether procedural moves could delay or block the Assisted Dying Bill. Sir Keir offered a restrained answer, insisting that the legislation was a matter of conscience and ultimately for Parliament to decide, although the Government had a responsibility to ensure any eventual bill was workable.

Kemi Badenoch then delivered the first of several pointed challenges over Labour’s confused signalling on tax. She asked why the Government had appeared to float changes to income tax rates before retreating from them, claiming the Budget was “unravelling before it is even delivered”. Starmer insisted the Budget would arrive next week and attempted to refocus on reducing NHS waiting lists, cutting debt, and easing living costs, but he did not address the inconsistency she highlighted.

Mrs Badenoch returned to the same issue repeatedly, asking four times whether Labour intended to freeze income tax thresholds, a move that would contradict previous commitments and break the manifesto. She reminded the House that the Chancellor had explicitly promised to unfreeze the thresholds in her Budget speech. Each time she pressed, she received no firm answer.

“The Prime Minister needs to come clean,” she said. “Can he confirm that he won’t break another promise by freezing income tax thresholds?”

Starmer again avoided giving a clear reply, saying only that the Government’s plans would be set out next week and repeating that Labour would avoid austerity. He said: “The Budget is one week today, and we will lay out our plans. But what we won’t do, Mr Speaker, I have said what we will do in terms of protecting the NHS and public services, what we won’t do is inflict austerity on the country as they did.”

In a separate exchange, the Prime Minister attempted to turn the criticism back on the Conservatives, accusing them of mirroring Reform UK on several areas of policy, including energy and the European Convention on Human Rights. He suggested that Mrs Badenoch had ignored remarks made by one of her own shadow ministers on deportation and cultural coherence.

Referring to her directly, Sir Keir said: “She talks about policy and approach, on energy policy she follows Reform. On the European Convention, she follows the man who wants her job.” He added that she had “pretended it did not happen” when her own colleague made controversial comments.

Mrs Badenoch responded by intensifying her criticism, accusing the PM of running “government by guesswork”, and pointing to the Government’s repeated shifts on tax. “Two weeks ago, the Chancellor called a ridiculous press conference to blame everyone else for her having to raise income tax. Then last week, she U turned on her own U turn. Instead we can see they are trying to freeze income tax thresholds, something she said last year would be a breach in their manifesto. They are making it up as they go along. Doesn’t the country deserve better than government by guesswork?”

She said the public deserved clarity, not continual uncertainty.

Labour MP Luke Charters then used his question to speak openly about mental health struggles following complications during the birth of his first child. Sir Keir praised the contribution and said such openness was important across the political divide, highlighting his launch of a men’s health strategy.

The Prime Minister was next asked why he would not support a statutory ban on smartphones in schools. He responded that most schools already had their own restrictions in place and that the Government would keep the issue under review, stressing that any action needed to be effective in practice.

Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson then accused Labour of engaging in “dog whistle politics”, prompting laughter across the chamber and an intervention from Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. Jeremy Corbyn, seated behind Mr Anderson, appeared to start shouting during the exchange.

The PM also faced criticism from a Conservative backbencher who challenged the noticeably confrontational tone he had adopted throughout the session.

Mrs Badenoch then continued her attack, accusing Labour of secretly preparing a “stealth tax bombshell” ahead of next week’s Budget. She said the Prime Minister’s refusal to rule out a threshold freeze confirmed that Labour was preparing to raise taxes despite its manifesto commitments, and accused the party of hoping the public would not notice.

The final major exchange concerned the sale of The Telegraph. Mike Wood, the Conservative MP for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire, urged the Prime Minister to intervene to stop the paper being burdened with potentially unsustainable debt. He warned that the collapse of RedBird Capital Partners’ two year pursuit of the titles had left the newspaper at risk of substantial liabilities if sold for less than five hundred million pounds.

Sir Keir acknowledged that uncertainty surrounding the ownership of The Telegraph was a “serious issue”, but he insisted the Government would not step in. When pressed on preventing the imposition of “toxic debt”, he dismissed the idea that the state should play any direct role, saying nationalisation was not appropriate.