Key points
The first PMQs since the election began on a civil note, with both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn welcoming the criminal charges brought as a result of the Hillsborough inquiry, before moving on to some fairly procedural questions from Corbyn about the fallout from the Grenfell Tower fire, during which May revealed that 120 tower blocks had now failed cladding safety tests.
The Labour leader asked whether the cladding on Grenfell Tower was legal and May made the first of repeated points that although it was not compliant with building regulations, the wider investigation needed to focus on how it had come to be used on so many buildings across the country.
Corbyn’s later questions took a sharper political turn. He overtly blamed austerity and deregulation imposed by successive Conservative and coalition administrations for the failings that led to the Grenfell disaster, highlighting cuts to local authority expenditure of 40% which had reduced both fire service capabilities and numbers of building inspectors. May replied by making a case that a number of deregulatory decisions at fault had been taken under Tony Blair’s Labour government, including that which transferred the responsibility for routine fire safety checks from the fire brigade to local councils.
Snap verdict
That was one of the most solid and impressive PMQs we’ve seen for quite some time. Corbyn hit exactly the right note, and May inadvertently gave him an opening for a very powerful final answer (when he said he could help May as to why building regulations were not being complied with). He had the edge over May quite easily, but she looked more robust than you might have expected in the light of the last three weeks. She made the case that political responsibility for Grenfell Tower was long-term, and complicated, quite effectively. But these were not arguments that damaged Corbyn. She was criticising decisions taken by Tony Blair and the last Labour government. Corbyn, of course, is about the last person who can be held responsible for anything that happened under the Blair regime.
Memorable lines
When you cut local authority budgets by 40% you end up with fewer building control inspectors. We all pay a price in public safety.
Jeremy Corbyn explicitly links the government’s cuts to Grenfell Tower
The cladding of tower blocks did not start under the Conservative government, nor under the previous coalition. It began under the Blair government.
Theresa May argues for wider responsibility
