Key points
Jeremy Corbyn peppered Theresa May with questions on a raft of uncomfortable but familiar topics: cuts to police, schools and the NHS; universal credit; and the provision of sprinklers in council housing in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
He pointed out that Boris Johnson had tweeted that he was “disappointed and mystified” by the closure of Uxbridge police station – but surely this was closing because of the £2.3bn cut in police budgets, with another £700m cuts to come before 2020? May said police budgets had been protected and more money was being put into counterterrorism; she retorted that the police and crime commissioner for London was the mayor. “The last time I looked, Sadiq Khan was a Labour mayor – [but] maybe not Labour enough” for Corbyn.
Corbyn moved on, saying the fire services had also been cut, and asked whether May would provide £1bn to local councils to retrofit tower blocks with sprinklers. May, who had clearly anticipated this question, said Labour councils in London – Haringey, Lewisham, Lambeth and Corbyn’s local Islington – were still debating whether sprinklers were necessary.
The Labour leader turned to universal credit, citing a letter he had seen from a lettings agency in Lincolnshire serving tenants with pre-emptive notice of evictions. May replied that after four months the number of people on universal credit and in arrears had fallen by one-third.
May and Corbyn then clashed on the NHS, both citing NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens. Corbyn pointed out that Stevens had said the NHS needed more money; May replied saying patients had the highest cancer survival rates ever and the quality of care and outcomes was improving.
After raising a letter from 5,000 headteachers to the chancellor calling for money taken out of the school system to be returned in next week’s budget, Corbyn concluded by bringing up tax evasion and avoidance, as laid bare in the Paradise Papers: “The government sits on its hands as super-rich evade tax, cut taxes for the few and vital services for the many.” May responded that the government had clawed back £160bn thanks to its action on tax evasion.
Verdict
This was one of May’s easiest PMQs for a long time. Corbyn needs to recognise that sometimes less is more. Presumably, like all opposition leaders, he starts every Wednesday morning with a long list of topics he could raise at PMQs. Most successful communication involves an editing process – taking stuff out, and focusing on what is most effective – but today it felt as if Corbyn was determined to run through every topic on his list from 9am.
Sometimes his scattergun approach can work but today it felt rambling and unfocused and he never really got past May’s preliminary defences. His Boris Johnson/Uxbridge question was well phrased, and his revelation about the lettings agency and universal credit was striking, and quite shocking, but even on these issues May comfortably saw him off. She felt particularly comfortable talking about crime stats (as always – she still sounds like a home secretary) and her point about Labour councils and sprinklers sounded like a plausible retort to Corbyn’s sprinkler challenge. It wasn’t a memorable or inspiring exchange, and it did seem to drag on, but, given the last few weeks she has had, May will head off for lunch with a sense of relief.
Memorable lines
“He may have given momentum to his party but he brings stagnation to the country” – May on Corbyn.
“There’s one law for the super-rich, while the rest of us pick up the bill through cuts, austerity, homelessness and slashing of local services” – Corbyn concludes his salvo on cuts.
