Keir Starmer started up a cutting chant in PMQs on Wednesday which summed up Liz Truss’s short premiership so far – and he was quickly joined by fellow Labour MPs.
The particularly tense session in Parliament comes as Tory calls for Truss to resign grow, days after her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt ripped up her main policies in the mini-budget.
As the Labour leader took aim at the prime minister’s chaotic time in No.10, during which the pound has tanked, she tried to rebuff him.
“I notice Mr Speaker that he’s not actually objecting to a single economic policy that the chancellor announced on Monday,” Truss replied, before then trying to defer to speak about rail strikers.
But, Starmer hit back: “The country’s got nothing to show for [Truss’s leadership] except the destruction of the economy and the implosion of the Tory party.”
He then whittled through all of the prime minister’s policies which the government has U-turned on since Truss came to office on September 6.
Starmer began: “I’ve got the list here – 45p tax cut – GONE.
“Corporation tax cut – GONE.”
At this point, Labour MPs seemed to catch on and started chiming in with Starmer as he said “GONE”.
“20p tax cut – GONE.
“Two-year energy freeze – GONE.
“Tax free shopping – GONE.
“Economic credibility – GONE.
“And her supposed best friend, the former chancellor – he’s gone as well.
“They’re all gone – so why’s she still here?”
She claimed she was a “fighter and not a quitter”, and that she has acted in “national interest” for economic stability by enacting all of these U-turns.
Truss’s time in No.10 does appear to be hanging by a thread right now, with even international allies such as US President Joe Biden taking aim at her original economic policies.
But, under the current rules, the Conservative MPs cannot vote on whether to oust her as the party’s leader until at least a year into her premiership.