Liz Truss’s well-scripted first PMQs

Liz Truss’s first Prime Minister’s Questions was well-scripted, both for the new Tory leader and Keir Starmer. They had come along planning to talk about the cost of living crisis: Truss so that she could reassure the public (and her own party) that ‘immediate action to help people with their bills’ was on the way, and Starmer to probe her on how she was going to pay for it. The exchanges worked for both of them this time around.

Because Truss is going for an energy price freeze – proposed by Labour – Starmer had to move his attack from ‘what are you going to do’ to ‘how are you going to do it’. He told the Chamber that the ‘real choice, the political choice, is who is going to pay’ and that Truss’s refusal to contemplate a windfall tax would ‘make working people pay’ while leaving the excess profits of the energy companies ‘on the table’. The Prime Minister for her part argued that ‘this country cannot tax its way to growth’ and that ‘the Right Hon. gentleman is looking at this the wrong way’. When Starmer accused her of being the same as her predecessor, she retorted that ‘there is nothing new about a Labour leader who is calling for more tax rises’, saying Starmer didn’t understand aspiration or that people wanted to keep more of their own money. She sat down looking pleased with the lines she had produced – as did Keir Starmer.

Judging by the mood of many Tory MPs I’ve been speaking to over the past 24 hours, Truss is going to have a rocky ride from the very start. But one of her potential critics chose a kind question to start. Theresa May visibly enjoyed her new incarnation as a backbench scrutineer of her successor, but today asked Truss why it was that all three female prime ministers have been Conservative. This allowed the new PM to bask in her success – something she won’t have much of a chance to do given the challenges she faces – and wind up Labour on an issue of intense discomfort to them.

But even though Tory MPs weren’t openly hostile, the number of questions seeking reassurance about energy bills in particular showed how anxious they are. There were also plenty of questions across the House asking about her approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol, to which she gave a very similar answer to the one in the campaign. That line is that her preference is for a negotiated solution but that it would need to address all the issues raised. And there were plenty of questions about the NHS, too, to which she promised Therese Coffey would have a solution. There was also a response to a Spectator concern. In response to one question about the Online Safety Bill, Truss confirmed that she will be pressing ahead with it but that there were ‘issues’ that needed to be addressed, including the impact on free speech.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that when a backbench Labour MP called on Truss to hold an immediate general election, very few of her colleagues on the opposition benches looked at all pleased by this suggestion. It’s almost as though the fear that the poll lead Labour is currently enjoying over the Tories might still prove rather soft when voters are asked to make the big choice.