Who won today's PMQs? Starmer accuses Sunak of being in 'total denial about the damage he is presiding over'

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means – time for another Prime Minister’s Questions.

MPs gathered inside the Commons once again, with the Northern Ireland Protocol trading arrangement dominating the headlines in the lead-up to the session.

Recent weeks have been pretty cosy (and uneventful, truth be told) inside the Commons, with Rishi Sunak and Starmer discussing the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Northern Ireland Protocol trading arrangement which has long been a stumbling block during Brexit talks.

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Sunak recently travelled to Northern Ireland after securing a deal with the EU which has been labelled the so-called Windsor Framework - but the debate inside the Commons turned out to be more about the cost of living crisis than the fallout from Brexit.

But who came out on top this week? Here’s what happened.

Starmer: “Auf wiedersehen pet in Polish” - 4/10

The leader of the opposition begins rather oddly by referencing 80s sitcom, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, which no one could have seen coming.

“After 13 years of Tory failure the average family will be poorer in Britain than in Poland,” he said.

“If the Tories limp on in Government, we’ll be teaching a generation of young people to say ‘auf wiedersehen pet’ in Polish, aren’t we?”

Bit of a strange start, and there are some bemused faces in the seats around him.

Sunak: “He should stop making inflationary, unfunded spending commitments” 7/10

Sunak went on to blame the cost of living crisis on Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. He then spoke about the Government’s energy price guarantee, “saving households £1,000”.

He hit back by referencing Labour’s recent pledges, saying: “If he’s bothered about the cost of living, he should stop making inflationary, unfunded spending commitments and back our plan to halve inflation.”

Sunak started the stronger of the two - although we knew what was to come next from Starmer.

Starmer: “Total denial over the decline he is presiding over” 6/10

The Labour leader wasted no time in making the obvious comeback and pointing out last year’s “kamikaze budget” under Liz Truss, perking up the Labour seats. He then stated that Sunak was in “total denial over the decline he is presiding over”, amid record profits for energy firms.

Sunak: “Starmer took a rare trip out of north London” - 3/10

We’re not sure Sunak, the husband of a billionaire heiress, is the right guy to call Starmer out of touch, but he tried it anyway. He said Starmer “made a rare trip out of north London to visit Davos”.

He then responded to a retort from Starmer about “vested interests” by stating that Starmer should do more to stand up to the unions.

Starmer: “Business is saying Labour is the party of growth” 6/10

“There’s only one party that broke the economy and they’re sitting there,” he stated.

He went down the line once more of record profits for energy firms and higher bills for struggling people. “Companies like Shell didn’t pay a penny in windfall tax last year”.

He then called on Sunak to “finally choose family finances over oil profits.”

Sunak: “I introduced a tax on energy companies” 4/10

Sunak began reasonably strongly, but he ended up faltering a bit here. He reminded Starmer that he ‘introduced a new tax on energy companies’. Ends by saying “they claim to support levelling up, but they really do need to keep up”. This has the air of a university debating society rather than PMQs at the moment.

Starmer: “He introduced a tax on shell and they haven’t paid a penny, fantastic work” 8/10

The strongest moment so far from Starmer. He puts the PM in his place, before tackling the government on the low rate of homes being built across the country.

Sunak: “Highest rate of first time buyers in 20 years” 4/10

Sunak claimed exactly the opposite of what Starmer was saying, before going off on a tangent about energy harvested from the north sea - the Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle stepped in and said “because of the noise I don’t think the Prime Minister heard the question, because it was on house building” - cue laughter from the Labour benches.

Starmer: “Scrap non-dom status” - 7/10

Starmer criticised childcare fees, and urged Sunak to scrap non-dom status in the UK - urging him to side with “hard working parents” over “wealthy tax avoiders”.

Verdict

A slightly feistier affair inside the Commons, after the uneventful sessions over the last few weeks. After a shaky start and a strange reference to Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Starmer looked in control and kept the Tory benches pretty quiet.

Sunak looked to deflect rather than answer directly even more than usual, and he was put in his place by the speaker of the house in a humbling moment – Starmer will put this one down as a win, but he needs to update his pop culture references next time.

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