In case you didn’t know there was an election this week, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer used Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to underline what is at stake, with thousands of local council seats at stake ahead of a major electoral review.
Thursday’s local elections, which include the post of London mayor and a by-election in Blackpool South, are a key test of how far the Labour Party has come under Sir Keir and how far the Conservatives have fallen since the chaos of Liz Truss’s tenure.
In astonishing timing, the Home Office prepared a gift for Mr Sunak ahead of the prime ministerial qualifications on Wednesday morning by releasing a video showing the first refugees deported to Rwanda being arrested in a series of raids following the passing of a hard-fought law designed to “stop the boats”.
This comes after the first rejected asylum claimant travelled to the east African country under a separate voluntary scheme in return for £3,000 and five years of free food and accommodation. Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch said it showed Rwanda was a safe destination – safe enough, in fact, to spend a gap year there.
Tory backbencher Sir Bill Wiggin congratulated the Prime Minister on, among other things, passing the Rwanda Bill, tackling inflation and his promise to increase defence spending.
“If he carries on like this, he will win the next (general) election!” said the MP for North Herefordshire.
Mr Sunak smiled, perhaps a little ruefully given the opinion polls that still give Labour a lead of 20 percentage points or more. But he was happy to accept the consequences, declaring on the eve of the local elections: “It is crystal clear that there is one party that will deliver tax cuts for the working people of Britain and that is the Conservative Party.”
Sir Keir thus renewed Labour’s recent attempts to accuse the Tories of creating a £46 billion black hole with their drive to abolish workers’ national insurance contributions after the tax had already been cut twice, each time by 2p.
He was able to flaunt his own election gift when he brought Dan Poulter onto the Labour benches. The doctor and MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich quit the Tories on Saturday, switching sides to protest at the Government’s handling of the NHS.
“After nearly two decades as a Tory politician and NHS doctor, he has come to the conclusion that if you care about the future of our country and our NHS, it is time for change. It is time for this changed Labour Party,” Sir Keir said.
Which party is of most interest? Who has changed the most? Voters will be able to give their opinion on Thursday.
In London, the decision will be made whether to support Labour’s Sadiq Khan for a third term as mayor.
The Prime Minister was taken to task over the Tories’ alleged involvement in anti-Ulez online groups disguised as grassroots activism, which included “Islamophobia and death threats” against Khan.
Mr Sunak said he was “unaware” of the Facebook pages, some of which listed Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall as a member.
