PMQs: Starmer wins by taking migration fight to Badenoch

Prime minister’s questions: a shouty, jeery, very occasionally useful advert for British politics. Here’s what you need to know from the latest session in POLITICO’s weekly run-through.

What they sparred about: Migration. After Tory leader Kemi Badenoch swerved the topic last week, the hot-button issue took center stage this week. In the wake of continued high migration figures, Badenoch interrogated the PM on why reducing the number of people coming to the U.K. wasn’t one of the six milestones in his don’t-call-it-a-reset speech last week. But Starmer wasn’t having it.

Open arms: The PM, keen to neutralize any argument Labour are soft on migration, pointed out that the last government presided over “record-high levels” — and repeated his Nigel Farage-esque line that the Tories turned Britain into a “one-nation experiment in open borders.”

Stamping her mark: Badenoch was also happy to look to the past, highlighting that Starmer signed a letter four years ago “demanding that foreign criminals be allowed to stay” in the U.K. We suspect that’s not a direct quote… and the PM has changed his mind on quite a few policies since becoming Labour leader in 2020. The Tory leader probed Starmer on whether he’d apologize after a man whose deportation was blocked went on to kill someone.

You’ve guessed it: The PM put the blame back on the Tories, saying the case in question was in fact “an example of failure” by them. Politics at its best. Badenoch pushed him on whether, like the Tories, he would commit to a migration cap. Starmer swerved the question to bang on again about his time as director of public prosecutions chasing down crooks.

Reminder: The Conservatives repeatedly pledged to get migration down to the tens of thousands, something they didn’t manage either in or out of the EU.

Law under fire: Badenoch pressed on nonetheless, quipping that Starmer “says he wants to smash the gangs — the only thing he has smashed is his own reputation.” She criticized the government’s new border security pact with Iraq to tackle people smuggling, while managing to claim that any positive agreements were, here’s a surprise, negotiated under the Tories.

Feel the burn: The Tories complaining about migration was, Starmer said, “like the arsonist complaining about the people trying to put the fire out.”

Helpful backbench intervention of the week: Backbench Labour MP Andy McDonald, who resigned from Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet in 2021, highlighted the positive work of a Labour council and slammed the Tories’ time in office. Starmer then had the opportunity to highlight all the money he’s put into local government. Maybe McDonald can get back on the ministerial ladder?

Totally unscientific scores on the doors: Starmer 8/10 … Badenoch 6/10. The Tory leader’s decision to go in on migration was understandable given the threat she faces from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. But her questions calling for a hardline approach fell flat when Starmer — just five months into office — laid out the record levels of movement under the Conservatives.