Scottish inquisitor: SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn put it plainly: “Speculation is rife, so I think the public deserve a clear answer to a simple question. Does the prime minister intend to call a summer general election or is he feart?” (That’s a Scottish word for afraid, fact fans.)
Sunak’s reply: He didn’t exactly pour cold water on the idea. Grinning broadly, the PM said: “spoiler alert — there is going to be a general election in the second half of this year.” July is, of course, the second half of this year.
Battle lines: Sunak said any election would pit him against Labour’s Keir Starmer and reveal the opposition as “a party that is not able to say to the country what they would do, a party that would put at risk our hard-earned economic stability.” Watch this space.
What else they sparred about: The infected blood inquiry’s final report published Monday, revealing damning failings of the British state. In largely measured exchanges, Starmer built an argument around ensuring victims from all scandals — including the Hillsborough football disaster and the Post Office Horizon scandal — are heard and such injustices are not repeated.
In the detail: “Does the prime minister agree that the time has now come for the duty of candor to be clearly enshrined in law across the board?” Starmer asked of a plan to make public servants more directly accountable for failures. Sunak said “there is an enormous amount of sympathy” for that idea.
Welcome back: In another astonishing PMQs moment, backbench Tory MP Craig Mackinlay was given an rapturous reception by all sides on his first day back in Westminster after sepsis treatment saw him lose both his arms and legs.
