PMQs: Sunak wins by exploiting Labour’s winter fuel divisions

Prime minister’s questions: a shouty, jeery, very occasionally useful advert for British politics. Here’s what you need to know from the latest session in POLITICO’s weekly run-through.

What they sparred about: Winter fuel payments — again. The final PMQs before MPs pack their bags for party conferences saw the leaders go head-to-head on their big current dividing line.

Brief reminder: The Commons voted Tuesday to approve means testing winter fuel payments — so only pension credit recipients get the payments. The Tories opposed the measure (perhaps with one eye on their elderly voter base) while dozens of Labour MPs abstained.

Heavy impact: Sunak capitalized on his party’s rare bit of unity. While accepting the vote had passed, the Tory leader argued “it is now important that the House understands the full consequences” of the decision — and pressed for the government’s impact assessment oft he changes to be revealed.

Here we go again: Starmer continued Labour’s familiar strategy of blaming the last government, which Sunak led, for a tough economic situation. Slamming the “£22 billion black hole” left in the public finances, the PM said the upcoming state pension increase “will outstrip any loss of payments.”

Asking the questions: Starmer by and large remembered not to call Sunak prime minister this time round, unlike last week, but old habits die hard. “Before he complains about us clearing up his mess, perhaps he would like to apologize for the £22 billion black hole?” It’s easier than answering a question anyway.

Money talks: Sunak wasn’t giving up there. “This has got nothing to do with the public finances,” he argued, and pointed Labour’s own previous analysis which “claimed that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths.”

For turning: Sunak got an awkward gag in. He talked up Back British Farming Day (stay with us here) and said the fact that farmers help preserve Britain’s beautiful landscape should be appreciated by Starmer “given his newfound preference for landscapes over political portraiture.” That’s a tortured reference to a row over Starmer moving a Downing Street picture of Tory titan Margaret Thatcher. Someone fire the writers.

Farage’s frustrations: Reform UK Nigel Farage got a jab in too, complaining about the 1,750 people released under the government’s early release scheme to manage prison overcrowding. Comparing freed prisoners to those imprisoned for riot-related social media posts, Farage asked if Starmer understood the “growing feeling of anger in this country that we are living through two-tier policing and a two-tier justice system.” Starmer batted him away, focusing on, you guessed it, the previous government’s law and order record.

Helpful intervention of the week: Former think tank chief turned up-and-coming Labour MP Torsten Bell asked about the benefits of New Labour’s minimum wage and slammed the previous government’s record on workers. Spoken like a true Starmtrooper.

Totally unscientific scores on the doors: Sunak pressed Starmer on areas where the PM was vulnerable and, perhaps more importantly, actually had unity among his greatly diminished Tory party. On the answers, the PM offered little new — though his overwhelming parliamentary majority means, for now, that causes him few problems.

Starmer 5/10 … Sunak 7/10 … Blaming the other party for Britain’s problems 100/10.