Why are you still here, Keir Starmer asks Liz Trusson October 19, 2022 at 12:41 pm

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Liz Truss to resign for “crashing” the economy, asking the PM: “Why is she still here?”

Ms Truss apologised for the “mistakes” she had made, as she faced MPs for the first time since almost all her tax cut plans were ditched.

But Sir Keir said the Conservatives’ economic credibility was “gone” after her plans had ended in “disaster”.

Ms Truss hit back, telling MPs: “I am a fighter, not a quitter.”

This was a line first used by Labour’s Lord Mandelson, when he was fighting for his political life in 2001.

Ms Truss was under pressure to deliver a convincing performance at Prime Minister’s Questions, as she battles to keep her job.

She repeated an apology, telling MPs: “I have been very clear that I am sorry and that I have made mistakes.”

To shouts of “resign” from the opposition benches, she added: “The right thing to do in those circumstances is to make changes, which I have made, and to get on with the job and deliver for the British people.”

But the Labour leader poured scorn on her words, arguing that the government had “crashed the economy” and claiming spending cuts and mortgage rate rises were her fault.

“Working people are going to have £500 more a month on their mortgages and what’s the prime minister’s response? To say she’s sorry.

“What does she think, people will think and say ‘that’s alright, I don’t mind financial ruin, at least she apologised’.”

Ms Truss replied: “I do think there has to be some reflection of economic reality from the party opposite.

“The fact is that interest rates are rising across the world and the economic conditions have worsened.”

This was always going to be a horrendous forum for the prime minister to step into. After the last week, it was always going to be humiliating.

The Conservative benches were quiet, but less so than last week. Truss was absolutely defiant, repeating the apology she first made publicly to me in my interview earlier this week.

And after a morning of front pages screaming about the prospect of the state pension shrinking – and sending the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly out this morning to defend that – she has now about-turned again, back to where she was originally.

There were several moments at this session where the PM managed to generate some cheers, and jeers on her own side directed at their opponents.

On the stickiest of sticky wickets, in the most desperate of situations, this PMQs probably went as well as Liz Truss could have hoped.

To cheers from his own MPs, Sir Keir said Labour was a “government in waiting”, while the Conservatives were “an Opposition in waiting”.

And he read out a list of dropped economic policies, with Labour MPs shouting “gone” after each one.

“They’re all gone. So why is she still here?”

Ms Truss replied: “I am a fighter and not a quitter. I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.”

She added: “(Sir Keir) has no idea, he has no plan and he has no alternative.”

She also used the session to say say she was “completely committed” to raising pensions in line with inflation, after senior ministers, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, had said the policy was no longer guaranteed.