A SCOTTISH Labour MP has used her opportunity to ask the Prime Minister a question on UK Government policy to focus on the SNP and John Swinney.
Joani Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, raised reports that Swinney is facing unrest within the party with Keir Starmer on Wednesday.
A group of some 25 senior SNP figures is reported to have met on Monday night to discuss Swinney’s leadership, with a source predicting a “bloodbath” at party conference if the party doesn’t change tack.
It came after a by-election loss to Scottish Labour in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse last week.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Reid said: “The Prime Minister and members across this House will have witnessed the spectacular victory for Davy Russell in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
“My constituents are sick of SNP failure and they voted for change for their NHS, their schools, and for Scotland.
“So can I ask the Prime Minister, has he seen the calls from within the SNP for John Swinney to resign?
“And does he agree with me that a leader who's only ever lost elections to the Labour Party should stay put?”
Reid’s question appears to have referenced the 2024 General Election and the recent Holyrood by-election, but ignored the slew of council by-elections in which the SNP defeated Scottish Labour, including a double victory in March.
Responding, Starmer said: “Can I pay tribute to her for the role that she and others played in seeing Davy Russell elected?
“He will be a champion for his and her constituents, and after nearly two decades in power, the SNP got their verdict last Thursday.
“Scotland wants change, and they know the SNP are completely out of ideas. That's why they want a Labour government to deliver real change.”
The exchange came ahead of the Spending Review, at which Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out day-to-day spending plans for the next three years and capital spending plans for the next four.
Elsewhere at PMQs, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had to rebuke Labour MPs who laughed when Kemi Badenoch said her despatch box performances “get better every week”. The Tory leader had been facing unrest within her own Conservative ranks for her poor showings.
On Thursday, Badenoch told the Commons: “I get better every week, he [Starmer] gets worse. Yes, he gets worse.”
Hoyles gestured towards laughing Labour MPs as he said: “If you think that is a good look – it is a very bad look. I’d think twice before you try to shout somebody down in that way.”
Badenoch further called into question Starmer’s claims that the books have been balanced since Labour came into power last year, which is what has allowed a U-turn on cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment.
She said: “He must be talking about a different economy. All of us in this House heard about unemployment increasing. Unemployment has increased every month since Labour took office. Last year he said he was taking the Winter Fuel Payment away to balance the books. But the books are not balanced, in fact they are worse.
“This year the deficit is forecast to be £10 billion higher since the budget. Not since last year’s election, since the budget. In what way are the books now balanced?”
The Prime Minister replied: “She’s obviously missed the interest rate cuts, the growth figures for earlier this year, the strategic defence review, local transport £15 billion going in, free school meals, Sizewell, social housing.
“She stands there to lecture us, and I see Liz Truss is obviously back in vogue. Advising Reform officially now, haunting the Tories, and I remind her that the shadow home secretary, I think he was then chief secretary to the Treasury, he gave a Liz Truss budget 9.5 out of 10.
“The leader of the opposition said what was wrong with Liz Truss’s budget was not necessarily the package, that was alright, it was the way it was sold. They’ve learnt absolutely nothing.”
