Sir Keir Starmer is known to detest leaks – but what about when it is the Prime Minister leaking himself? Watching Starmer’s big speech this morning, Mr S was perplexed to see the Labour premier confirming reports that his Chancellor intends to hike the national bus fare cap on Wednesday from £2 to £3. Shurely shome mistake?
Budget announcements are of course meant to be made in the House of Commons chamber, with Hugh Dalton famously resigning as Chancellor in 1947 after details were published in an evening newspaper before his speech. Indeed, it was just, er, three years ago that the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, tore into Boris Johnson’s government after details of the forthcoming Budget were leaked to the press. Hoyle memorably told the House in 2021: ‘Ministers did the right thing if they briefed before a Budget: they walked. They resigned.’
So Steerpike tuned into the Commons this afternoon eagerly expecting a similar reprimand for Starmer and Rachel Reeves. And Hoyle certainly did not disappoint, telling MPs:
These are major new policy announcements with significant and wide ranging implication for the government’s fiscal policy and for the public finances it is evident to me they should therefore have been made in the first instance in this house and not to the world’s media… I don’t want it to continue, and I want to treat this House with the respect is deserves. This side or that side, it is totally unacceptable to go around the world telling everybody rather than these members. They were elected by the constituents of this country and they deserve to be treated better.
‘ So much for respecting parliament eh?
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