The Home Secretary made a misjudgment but acknowledged that she had raised the issue and accepted her mistake. Braverman will focus on “suppressing criminals, defending our borders,” he adds. Updated at 12.12 BST Important events BETA filters Key Facts (11)Rishi Sunak (34)Suela Braverman (14)Jeremy Hunt (8)Liz Truss (8)Keir Starmer (8) Stephen Kinnock (Lab) accuses Sunak of being prepared to “shamelessly trade red boxes for political support”. He says there are “serious consequences to all this horse-trading” and asks if Sunak has sought advice on security concerns about Gavin Williamson “given that he was fired in 2019 for leaking sensitive information about our national security?” Sunak says this happened four years ago, when Labor was busy supporting Jeremy Corbyn – who wanted to “remove the nuclear deterrent, leave NATO and dismantle our armed forces” – and that he would not receive lectures on national security. Richard Burgon (Lab) said Sunak is well aware that the super-rich can easily afford to pay more tax. He says that a nurse would have to work “over 20,000 years” to match Sunak’s vast wealth. He adds: Instead of announcing a new wave of cuts and austerity, wouldn’t it be fairer for the Prime Minister to introduce wealth taxes on the wealthiest in our society? Sunak said the government will always support hard-working nurses, which is why it is introducing bursaries and providing more training and “very strong pay rises”. It adds that future “difficult decisions” will be approached in a “fair and compassionate” way. Suella Braverman has walked out of the Commons as shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper asks an urgent question about Braverman’s reappointment. Suella Braverman failed to appear to answer Labour’s urgent public question. — Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) October 26, 2022 Updated at 12.55 BST Janet Daby (Lab), who describes the Tory government as “topsy turby”, says her inbox has been full of emails from constituents writing about their wages just not going far enough, as well as emails about rent, energy prices and rising mortgages. She says her constituents have been writing to her to demand a general election and asks the prime minister when an election will be held. Sunak replies that he has already addressed the issue, but that “inflation is the enemy.” He adds: It makes everyone poorer, erodes savings. That is why it will be our government’s priority to catch and reduce inflation and provide support to those who need it like us. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas asks if Sunak will overturn Liz Truss’ green light on fracking. The prime minister says he is proud that his government has passed the landmark environmental law for the natural environment and that he is committed to fulfilling all these ambitions. Sunak says: We will stand by what we said at Cop because we care deeply about leaving our children and our environment in better shape than we found ourselves. Updated at 12.39 BST Blackford says Sunak appointed Suella Braverman to the Home Office because of a “shameless backroom deal” to support his own position. He describes the move as “a return to squalor and scandal and office ghosts”. He asks the Prime Minister if he will admit his mistakes and fire Braverman for her data breach. In response, Sunak says he was pleased to speak to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last night and is keen to work constructively with the Scottish Government. Updated at 12.40pm BST
Sunak refuses to commit to increasing benefits in line with inflation
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford congratulated Sunak on becoming Britain’s first Asian prime minister. The symbolism of this achievement is to be “warmly welcomed” by all, he says. He asks Sunak if he will reassure people and guarantee that benefits will increase in line with inflation in his upcoming budget. Sunak doesn’t directly answer the question, but says he has “always acted in a way to protect the most vulnerable.” He adds that he will “continue to act like this in the coming weeks”, but does not commit to a promotion. Sunak says: I have always acted in a way to protect the most vulnerable because it is the right thing to do and these are the values of our compassionate party. I can absolutely reassure him and give him the commitment that we will continue to act like this in the coming weeks. Updated at 12.29 BST Sunak says he is the first to admit mistakes were made. He says the difference between him and the Labor leader is that he was honest over the summer about the difficulties facing the country, but Starmer was not. He says: He promised his party that he would borrow billions and billions of pounds, he told his party what they wanted to hear. The leadership does not sell fairy tales, it faces challenges and that is what the public will get from this government. Starmer uses his last question to call for a general election. He points out that Sunak was beaten in the summer leadership contest by Liz Truss – who herself “knocked a lettuce”. He says: He claims he wants to raise the standard of the north, but then posts about trying to channel vital investment away from deprived areas. Starmer adds: He is not on the side of the workers. That is why the only time she contested competitive elections she was crushed by the former prime minister who herself was hit by a lettuce. Updated at 12.28 BST Starmer says Sunak is “pretending to be on the side of the workers”. In private, he says something “very different”, says the Labor leader. He goes on to talk about the video that emerged in the summer of Sunak in Tunbridge Wells saying it was diverting public money from “deprived urban areas”. Starmer asks: Instead of apologizing or pretending he meant something else, why doesn’t he do the right thing and reverse the changes he made to these types of funding? Sunak responds by saying that Starmer “rarely leaves north London”. He adds: If he does, he will know that there are underserved areas in our rural communities, in our coastal communities and across the South. Starmer continues to attack Sunak for not being private, saying the government is “allowing very rich people to live here but register abroad for tax purposes”. He says: I don’t need to explain to the prime minister how the non-dom regime works – he already knows all about it. He calls on the prime minister to get rid of such situations, adding: Why doesn’t he put his money where his mouth is? In response, Sunak says he “will have to take tough decisions to restore economic stability” – and says more will be revealed in the autumn statement. He says the government will always protect the most vulnerable, as it did with Covid. Updated at 12.24 BST Starmer says Sunak has “made an awful deal” by trading on national security because he was afraid of losing another leadership election. There may be a new Tory at the top, but with the Tories, it’s always “party first, country second”, says Starmer. Sunak responds to Starmer’s claim and suggests that perhaps the Labor leader should explain why he supported the member for Islington North a few years ago, a reference to Jeremy Corbyn. Sunak replies that he has already dealt with the issue of the re-appointment of the interior minister. Sunak says he hopes Starmer will welcome news today that there are “over 15,000 new police officers” on our streets and that the Home Secretary will back them to tackle burglaries. Meanwhile, he says, Labor will “support the mad fringe of protesters who are preventing working people from getting on with their lives”. Starmer points out that Sunak pledged integrity, professionalism and accountability in his statement outside Downing Street yesterday. He says: But then, in his first act, he appointed a home secretary who was sacked by his predecessor a week ago for deliberately pinging around sensitive Home Office documents from her personal account. Starmer goes on to say that his experience running the Crown Prosecution Service means he knows first-hand how important it is to have a home secretary “whose integrity and professionalism is unquestionable”. He asks if officials have raised concerns about his decision to appoint Braverman.
Braverman “made an error of judgment,” says Sunak
Starmer asks Sunak if Suella Braverman was right to resign last week over a security breach. Sunak replies: The Home Secretary made a misjudgment but acknowledged that she had raised the issue and accepted her mistake. Braverman will focus on “suppressing criminals, defending our borders,” he adds. Updated at 12.12 BST
