Theresa May is missing her first opportunity to engage with Jeremy Corbyn at prime minister’s questions after saying she would welcome more cross-party working, because she will be attending a state visit by the king of Spain.
The prime minister will be in London on Wednesday lunchtime but it is understood she will be busy with events surrounding the arrival of King Felipe VI.
Instead of facing Corbyn across the dispatch box, she has decided to send her deputy, Damian Green, to the House of Commons for the weekly question and answer session.
It will be Green’s first appearance at PMQs since he was elevated to the role of first secretary of state and minister for the Cabinet Office. Labour does not appear to have a shadow first secretary of state yet but Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has previously deputised for Corbyn.
The Queen is the official host of King Felipe’s state visit but the prime minister will be expected to welcome him and his wife, Queen Letizia, to London as well. Top of the agenda with May are likely to be the issues of Gibraltar and Brexit.
May’s absence from the House of Commons will come the day after she gives a speech to relaunch her faltering premiership, while appealing to Labour and the other political parties for ideas to improve the country.
At the event on Tuesday, she will make an unusual plea for cross-party working, challenging MPs across the spectrum to “come forward with your own views and ideas about how we can tackle these challenges as a country”.
“At this critical time in our history, we can either be timid or we can be bold,” she will say. “We can play it safe or we can strike out with renewed courage and vigour, making the case for our ideas and values and challenging our opponents to contribute, not just criticise … In everything we do, we will act with an unshakable sense of purpose to build the better, fairer Britain which we all want to see.”
Despite having taken her party backwards at the election, May will insist her vision for the country is correct, saying she is “convinced that the path that I set out in that first speech outside No 10 and upon which we have set ourselves as a government remains the right one”.
The other political parties have reacted with scepticism to the offer. Andrew Gwynne, Labour campaign coordinator and shadow cabinet minister, said: “Theresa May has finally come clean and accepted the government has completely run out of ideas. As a result they’re having to beg for policy proposals from Labour.
“This is further evidence that this government can no longer run the country.”
But Green defended the move on Monday morning, saying the Conservatives do not have a monopoly on wisdom on the big issues facing the UK, including Brexit, social care and terrorism.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said: “There are big issues facing this country. Not just Brexit … but counter-terrorism, improving the world of work, the issue of social care. I’m sure most of the people watching this programme will say that it’s possible that no political party has the complete monopoly of wisdom. We want to see our politicians working together. That’s the point the prime minister is making.
“That’s one of the lessons you can draw from the general election result … people want politicians to address the big issues and if they can do it across the divide of parties then so be it. There must be things we can agree on in terms of fighting terrorism, of dealing with social care, of getting the best Brexit deal for Britain.”
