Sir Keir Starmer was accused of talking “trash” and leading a “job-killing” government by Kemi Badenoch at a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions session.
The Conservative Party leader hit out at the Prime Minister amid clashes over the state of the UK’s economy, councils and Labour’s Budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Badenoch responded to Sir Keir’s criticism of Conservative-led councils asking to hike the council tax paid by residents with an attack on Labour-run authorities over waste collection.
She countered: “The point is he promised to freeze and (council taxes) are going up. And if he wants to talk about councils, let’s look at Liverpool or maybe Birmingham where the rubbish is piling up so high.
“People vote Labour – all they get is trash, just like what he’s saying at the despatch box.”
But Starmer insisted he did not need any lectures on the economy from the Tories following their record in power, as he defended his government’s spending plans.
The opposition leader opened the weekly Q&A session with a warning about businesses making redundancies or shutting up shop, before asking: “Has the Prime Minister been given an estimate of how many people will lose their jobs because of his budget?”
Starmer replied: “I am really pleased to say we have got thousands of new jobs into the economy.
“We have got more investment in the last 20 years, an absolute record. Wages are up higher than prices, three interest rate cuts, the best boost for the cost of living for a very long time.”
Starmer ‘jobs tax’
But Badenoch argued the Prime Minister “needs to get out more”, saying: “Inflation is up, and estimates of job losses are between 130,000 and 300,000.
“His tax rises are hurting every sector of the economy… even councils must pay his jobs tax.”
The Conservative leader also criticised Starmer for having “no answers” and argued the government would aim to pin the state of the economy on “global events”.
But she said: “The truth is they trashed the economy with their bad choices… they said they’d be pro-business, but they hiked taxes on jobs.
“This is a high-tax, low-growth, job-killing government. Will he use the emergency budget to fix the mess he’s made?”
In reference to ill-fated former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss, Starmer said: “Inflation was 11 per cent, a £22bn black hole, a mini budget that made us the laughing stock of the world, and they want to give lectures on the economy to us? No, thank you very much.”