PMQs live blog
Peter Hoskin 11:47amAnd so it returns. The first PMQs of 2009 will be covered live by Coffee House here. Stay tuned from 1200...
1204: Here we go. First question from Liz Blackman [LAB], on small businesses - "Can the PM assure me that the help announced today will be focussed at those businesses who need it most". Brown replies in the affirmative. Naturally.
1207: Punchy start from Cameron: "Planted question; stolen policy!" First question is one Cameron asked a few times last year: "Will the PM now admit that he was wrong to abolish boom and bust". He says "boom" as "bost", which slightly diminishes the impact, and Brown replies with "This is a global problem ... no one in the world is copying the Tory approach ... cuts ... investment." etc.
1210: Cameron: "You say that no-one's copying us, when you've just copied out policy on unemployment". Cameron's on good form. Asks why people should have confidence in Brown given his past prognoses. Brown straight-bats the question with his usual "do nothing" claims.
1212: A taste of things to come? Brown refers to Ken Clarke's "support" for cutting VAT as a repsonse to the downturn. Straight out of the Mandelson copy-book - who's been stirring up mischief over Clarke's views on Europe.
1213: Cameron tries to reverse the international attack: "There is no other country cutting 2.5 percent off VAT". Goes through testimonies of company heads saying that the cut hasn't done anything for the economy. Effective stuff from Cameron - the aim is to portray Brown as an "achieve nothing" PM.
1216: Cameron develops the attack; listing Brown's responses to the downturn and claiming that they're not working. Calls Brown a "headless chicken", as he did yesterday. Brown: "They are a do nothing party". Yawn.
1219: And here's Clegg. "Why is the PM playing copycat with the leader of the Conservatives, when he should be playing hardball with the banks?"
1220: Clegg: "Here's what he should do. He should stop telling the banks to horde cash and lend it out at the same time...". Brown says he's monitoring - "every week" - the banks that the state effectively controls. Things have gone a bit subdued.
1223: Brown repeats call for ceasefire in Gaza.
1225: Brown: "I'm sorry the Tories couldn't support our opportunities White Paper - they'll just cut funding to services...". The "Tory cuts" attack really is cropping up a lot today.
1227: Nigel Griffiths gives Brown an opportunity to "welcome" Barack Obama as President. Predictably, Brown says how he's looking forward to working with Obama.
1229: Questions on Heathrow, food standards and hospitals.
1231: Brown goes investment-crazy: "We're investing £10 billion more next year in public investment...". The "Tory cuts" attack raises its head again.
1232: Brown: "I'll say again; there are no plans [for an early election]"
1233: Remember how David Cameron exploited Ed Balls's "So what?!" moment? Brown tries to repeat the trick by motioning over at Tories, and saying "They laugh when we talk about the car industry". Doubt it will stick.
1235: And that's it. Verdict coming up shortly.
PMQs VERDICT: Cameron came out on top today. His central charge that the Government's policies just aren't easing the economic crisis was well made, and will be supported as things continue to go downhill throughout 2009. By contrast, Brown floundered and could only push out the "Tory cuts" line, time after time after time. Sometimes the technique shields him from the Tory leader's attacks, but today it all seemed a little too stale. Clegg was alright - but lacking the fire of recent weeks, when he's stuck up for low-income earners.
Previous
Oscar
January 14th, 2009 12:21pm Report this commentCameron on very good form. Gordon Brown can't even manage to say his rehearsed lines. The 'do nothing' soundbite is now doing absolutely nothing for Labour. It simply has no credibility. While everyone knows that the VAT cut was plain stupid. Clear win for Cameron
BrianSJ
January 14th, 2009 12:25pm Report this commentCameron has to tackle the 'tory cuts' line head-on. Somehow.
PW
January 14th, 2009 12:33pm Report this commentIsn't Cameron's line of VAT cut is not working because M&S and Sainsburys says its not (and because its expensive) incorrect? The VAT cut is not aimed at big business but at their consumers! That's not to say that I support it, but tories need to show they are on side of average consumer, not M&S and Sainsburys.
golfwidow
January 14th, 2009 12:51pm Report this commentIsn't it time someone questioned the arithmetic behind the latest mantra - worthy of joining the "brownie" list - that the VAT reduction is worth £270 (or £275 according to Brown) per year? Quite apart from the fact that Brown can't multiply 5 by 52, that figure can be reached only if we all spend £900 per month on non-VATable items. Given that most disposable income goes on food, council tax, fuel (5%VAT)and transport, how exactly did they come up with this figure?
DW
January 14th, 2009 12:53pm Report this commentBrian SJ - Cameron could even push that line - as long as he says it's to do with scrapping ID cards, NHS computer, allowances for MPs etc, - and it would be a vote winner.
Tory cuts can be good housekeeping rather than blow out at the sales.
Oscar
January 14th, 2009 12:53pm Report this commentWhat was the logic of Brown saying Clarke and Lamont supported a VAT cut? (apart from the obvious attempt to embarrass Dave). It came across as a back-handed admission that Labour had got it wrong but that this was excusable because some Tories had also had the idea.
Chuck Unsworth
January 14th, 2009 12:56pm Report this commentThese mantras like 'Tory cuts' have now reached the point of meaning absolutely nothing.
Whenever Brown and his flunkeys launch into the same tired old refrains people simply switch off. It's no longer 'do nothing', it's now 'mean nothing'.
If the economy continues this nose-dive there'll be nothing left to cut, anyway. The public sector is already gearing up for massive redundancies. By the time they have all gone through we won't have a public sector to cut.
Sally Chatterjee
January 14th, 2009 1:09pm Report this commentBrown is the do nothing man, nothing he does works and does nothing but define himself against the Tories.
He had the nerve to claim that no countries in the world would follow Conservative policy on the morning he copycats the loan guarantee proposals.
Dr Blue
January 14th, 2009 1:36pm Report this commentagree with DW
The amount of government waste is huge. It could, and should, be cut.
Indeed cutting it would actually improve services whilst saving money. Only a problem for change management diversity facilitator cordinator assistants and other such public sector non-jobs.
Hysteria
January 14th, 2009 1:54pm Report this commentDW is on to something - basis for a quick rebuttal to a "Tory cuts" attack
The Huntsman
January 14th, 2009 2:18pm Report this commentYou would have to spend £11000 excluding VAT on VAT-rated items (at the standard rate) in order to make a saving of £275:
£11000 plus VAT @ 17.5% = £12925; £11000 plus VAT @ 15% = £12650. How many families with an income before tax of, say, £30,000 are spending £12k on VAT rated items in a year just at the moment? Very few as the bulk will be going on such as food (zero-rated) or housing costs (eg mortgage). Fuel will be the principle item attracting VAT.
This was a particularly cynical whopper of a 'brownie'.
Bert Viola
January 14th, 2009 3:16pm Report this comment@PW: When M&S and Sainsburys say the VAT cut didn't work, don't they mean it didn't encourage people - consumers - to spend more than they would have spent anyway?
And I'm sure quite a few people must have thought "Tory cuts, eh? Maybe that's not such a bad idea, as Labour tax, spend and waste has done f*** all for me." I know I did.
TrevorsDen
January 14th, 2009 3:41pm Report this commentIs Brown saying individuals or households and how big is the household and does anybody care?
"The VAT cut is not aimed at big business but at their consumers! " -- huh?
The spending BY consumers is untended to add to the profits of business and stop them laying off workers. Massive sales mean this policy is meaningless.
Brown saying this policy is helping individuals in meaningless - it shows how Brown is looking through the wrong end of the telescope, if indeed he is not looking through it via his blind eye.
In a recession those IN work are better off. The problem is keeping people in work.
Brown talks like he has worked out how to stop a tidal wave, a tsunami, in its tracks. In fact the only way to save your self from a tsunami is to take forewarning and take shelter in higher ground - whereas in fact Brown has dug a pit for us to hide in.
Oscar
January 14th, 2009 3:59pm Report this commentWhen is the VAT cut going to be reinstated? After all it was only a temporary measure. Suspect people who didn't notice the benefits are sure going to notice the price increase. And of course TrevorsDen is right - the VAT cut was aimed at consumers to encourage them to spend more - i.e. to support businesses - especially the supermarkets who brazenly advertised it as an incentive to consumers, despite also denouncing the measure.
HFC
January 14th, 2009 6:50pm Report this comment# Huntsman. Fuel duty was increased by Darling to nullify the VAT reduction. No savings there.
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