Kemi Badenoch got tough with Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs. Not tough enough, but at least she led on a decent issue: old folks in distress. She mentioned the Waspi women and then she changed tack, to wrong foot Sir Kier, and threw him a short but specific question. How many new applications for pension credit have been received since the winter fuel allowance was cut in the budget?
Kemi was better today but she lacks bite
Sir Keir didn’t know. So he evoked the black hole to get him out of trouble. ‘We had to put the finances back in order,’ he cried. Kemi gave Sir Keir the information he didn’t have. Pension credit is owed to 850,000 citizens who haven’t claimed it.
‘If they sign up that will cost £2.3 billion,’ she said, ‘wiping out the savings [the chancellor] claimed she would make.’
Kemi warned that ‘some may even die as a result of this cruel policy.’ That’s more like it. Dump a corpse on your enemy’s desk. Sir Keir probably hates these tactics, but the body count is likely to rise. Kemi said that Age UK believes the government’s tax-raid ‘will jeopardise the health of millions.’ And Marie Curie faces a rise in costs of £3 million a year to cover National Insurance hikes. ‘This is a cancer charity with no choice but to reduce services,’ she said.
Then she came back to the Waspi women. The issue here is far knottier. When the Tories were in office, Labour accused them of ‘stealing pensions’ when they failed to offer compensation
‘Now they admit we were right all along,’ said Kemi.
The Waspi movement (Women Against State Pension Inequality) appears to support an equal retirement age. But the Waspi women seem to have been taken by surprise when they reached retirement age and discovered that a huge social upheaval had been underway since they were children. It’s not really credible.
On the upside, their case is morally compelling. Many are poor, elderly and in failing health, and they can pose as victims of an arrogant and heartless state. So Sir Keir needs an excuse. And he had one ready-made. He said that Britain’s heroic postmen had solved the problem by delivering zillions of letters alerting women to the changes in their retirement age. (Yes, the Royal Mail under the Tories turns out to have been an excellent service.)
Starmer backed this up with a useful but questionable statistic. ‘Research shows that 90 per cent knew about it.’ He quoted this several times when backbenchers raised the Waspi issue.
Kemi finished by listing Sir Keir’s failures. ‘He raised people’s hopes and then he smashed them.’ And she dared him to start ‘telling the truth’ as a new year’s resolution
‘I’ll do it now,’ he cried. ‘There was a £22 billion pound black hole in the finances.’ There it is. The nation is being ruled by a cosmic suction-cleaner that makes cash disappear.
Kemi was better today but she lacks bite. Creamy delivery, saintly air. Too much of the head-girl listening with a tilted head. Not enough of the political visionary thirsting for power.
Is she too nice for this job?
Isabel Hardman discusses Kemi Badenoch’s performance at PMQs on the latest Coffee House Shots:
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