Louise Haigh, the first secretary of state, participated in Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) for the first time, replacing Andy Burnham. She stated at the outset that she was speaking on his behalf, facing opposition from Alex Burghart, the deputy leader of the Conservatives. Burghart, recently appointed as deputy leader, is now the permanent substitute, whereas Kemi Badenoch previously rotated shadow ministers to stand in when the prime minister was absent.
Haigh reminded the House that the entire country would observe a moment of silence this weekend for Remembrance Sunday. Munira Wilson of the Liberal Democrats noted that Haigh had recently stated the government would give local leaders more powers to invest in what matters. Wilson warned that the government was cutting Richmond council's funding by more than £100 million over the next four years, amounting to 60 per cent of its budget, and asked if Haigh would meet with her to find a solution. Haigh replied that the government had inherited an unfair council funding system and offered Wilson a meeting with the minister.
Liberal Democrat Bobby Dean asked if the government would support a law requiring American tech companies to pay fair compensation to victims of online fraud. Citing the results of the US elections, Dean suggested the government should be tougher towards the US administration. Haigh responded that the Online Safety Act requires tech companies to take strong action against online fraud.
Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, asserted that American voters had rejected Donald Trump's policies and that Trump was threatening new strikes on Iran. She asked if the government would tell Trump "no more strikes". Haigh said the government's policy was de-escalation and expressed hope that the Conservatives and Reform UK would reconsider their decision to support the war. Cooper added that American voters were also tired of Trump's scandals, including a rape allegation, and asked if Haigh would join in condemning the tolerance of powerful men who abuse women. She also asked if the UK would support investigations launched by Congress. Haigh responded that it was an extremely important topic and that Cooper was entirely right to emphasise the importance of always challenging power and standing with vulnerable victims. Cooper referred to claims in the Epstein documents, recently detailed in a report by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, marking likely the first time rape allegations against Trump had been raised in the House of Commons.
Burghart claimed the Labour path was one of more welfare, more taxes and more debt, and that Labour was too weak to do the right thing, with everyone else paying the price. He asked why Labour did not step aside if they did not want to do the right thing. The Speaker rebuked a Conservative MP for "attempting to shout down a woman". Haigh retorted that Burghart, a historian, had once written a paper titled "Profile of a Doomed Elite" and suggested he might have been referring to the shadow cabinet. She highlighted government achievements in the first 100 days: reducing business rates for 70,000 businesses, cutting taxes for entrepreneurs, abolishing VAT on electricity bills, helping 20 million households with energy bills, scrapping fixed fees, capping bus fares, investing in high streets, extending parental leave and tackling rough sleeping.
Burghart said the government would not fix welfare, that the Milburn review had been delayed until after the Budget, and that Pat McFadden had once said Labour MPs only wanted more welfare spending. He asked if the government would commit to not raising taxes to pay for more benefits. Haigh answered that the government would reduce welfare spending, but in a way that it no longer pays for failure. She added that Burghart had been recorded saying the Conservatives should apologise for what happened while they were in power, when Kemi Badenoch was in the cabinet. Burghart countered that Haigh had skipped parts of her Budget comments where the Resolution Foundation assessed the Budget would be catastrophic for living standards and where the OBR said tax rises could cost jobs. He asked about the ten-year plan, joking that he was old enough to remember Starmer's ten-year plan because it was six months ago, and that this was the only political party in history with two ten-year plans in ten months. He added that last week John Healey said in an interview that he would reduce welfare spending in this Parliament, which caused panic in Downing Street, prompting the prime minister to clarify that the welfare bill must be reduced but not cut. Then, he claimed, at tea time the chancellor admitted defeat and said it was not true that he would reduce the welfare bill. He asked if the first secretary of state would clearly state why Labour would not reduce welfare. Haigh responded that Burghart had not listened to her previous answer and criticised the Conservatives for voting against the Budget last night, i.e. against the reduction in property taxes for 20 million people.
