What happened at PMQs today? Verdict as Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer clash over local lockdowns and economic support

Labour leader Keir Starmer looked to pin down the PM on “mixed messaging” and a lack of economic support in relation to local lockdowns. Johnson mainly responded by accusing the Labour leader of “sniping from the sidelines” and reaffirming the government’s commitment to “put its arms around the nation.”

‘Sniping from the sidelines’

Starmer used his first question to point out that, of the 48 areas to have had local restrictions imposed on them in recent months, only one - Luton - has had the restrictions lifted again.

When asked why he thought this was the case, the Prime Minister’s answer that Luton managed to do so because residents had “pulled together to depress the virus” could be taken to suggest that he believes this has not been the case elsewhere.

Starmer continued along a line of questioning around local lockdowns, criticising Boris Johnson’s gaffe yesterday (29 Sept) where he mistakenly said people in the North East of England could meet other households outside their homes. Starmer quoted the Conservative leader of Bolton council, who said people feel “very let down, very frustrated and very forgotten.”

It was at this point that the Prime Minister, who had answered the previous questions in a fairly subdued manner, offered a more lively response, saying, “I think people do understand and do follow rules, that is in spite of the efforts of the leader of opposition continually to try and snipe from sidelines and undermine what we’re trying to do.”

In a likely rehearsed response to this well-worn line of attack, Starmer said, “The idea that anybody who asks the Prime Minister a question at Prime Minister’s Questions is undermining government efforts is wearing thin.”

‘Not opposition’s questions’

The Speaker was prompted to intervene later in the exchange, after Johnson once again focused on Starmer’s support for the measures, saying, “It is Prime Minister’s Questions, not opposition’s questions.”

Moving the focus to the economic impact on those areas under increased local restrictions, Starmer shifted his fire to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, criticising his “political decision” to reduce economic support as new health restrictions came into place.

Johnson’s response culminated with the claim that any economic support is only available as a result of a decade of Conservative government, and that a Labour government would have “bankrupted the country.”

While rumours have swirled all week of mutinous talk on the Tory backbenches, the MPs behind Johnson did their best to cheer him on, as he continued with his familiar line of attack on Starmer.

The SNP’s leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, accused the government of forcing through the Internal Market Bill despite opposition from MSPs, in the “biggest attack on our Scottish Parliament in the history of devolution.”

He also cited a survey which found that just 15 per cent of Scots trust the UK government to work in Scotalnd’s interest, and asked the Prime Minister why that might be the case. The Prime Minister rejected Mr Blackford’s framing, saying the Internal Market Bill “devolves power back to Scotland.”

PMQs verdict

While Boris Johnson was unable to provide a showstopping answer to any of Starmer’s questions, his reliance on the “sniping from the sidelines” defence did enable him to escape this week’s exchange relatively unharmed. It does seem, though, that this stock response may be running out of mileage, judging by not just the leader of the opposition’s responses, but also the Speaker’s.

Despite posing some awkward questions and forcing the PM onto the ropes on a couple of occasions, with so many potential areas of attack to choose from, Starmer’s team will likely be wondering how they let another PMQs go by without landing a knockout blow on the Prime Minister.