PMQs live: Starmer and Badenoch clash on winter fuel cuts and India trade deal

Sir Ed Davey has urged the Prime Minister to “bring back the winter fuel payment for millions of struggling pensioners”.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, the Liberal Democrats leader said: “Among the messages voters sent ministers last week, one stood out: bring back the winter fuel payment for millions of struggling pensioners.

“So people will be disappointed the prime minister failed to do that today. He says he wants to go further and faster to clean up the mess left by the Conservatives, but on social care, so crucial for our NHS, he is going slower and slower.”

Sir Ed urged the prime minister to “rip up” its current timetable for Baroness Casey’s independent commission into adult social care, which he said is not expected to be implemented until 2036.

Sir Keir Starmer replied: “As he knows, we’re taking this in two stages. We are already taking measures to increase the support for social care, quite right, too, and doing the long work to reform and make sure we put a system in place.

“But can I just say to him once again, he comes here every week saying we should spend more money, and he comes here at the same time saying he doesn’t want to pay for any of the measures to raise that money. That is nonsense.”

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is “increasingly intolerable”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, expressing concern about the lack of humanitarian aid that is getting in.

The prime minister said the government’s focus is on “delivering peace for Palestinians and Israelis, returning to the ceasefire, getting the hostages out and humanitarian aid in that is desperately needed in greater number and more quickly.”

He told the Commons: “The situation in Gaza and the West Bank.. is increasingly intolerable and I am deeply concerned particularly with the lack of aid that is getting in and the impact it is having on hundreds of thousands of individuals.

“That concern is something I recently reaffirmed of the prime minister of the Palestinian authority, where I asserted again that a two state solution is the only viable approach for peace.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said the government’s actions have made the UK “a country that countries like India want to do deals with”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch asked at Prime Minister’s Questions: “Does the Prime Minister now admit that he was wrong to remove the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners?”

The prime minister replied: “The number one job of this Government was to put our finances back in order after the last government lost control. That is to deal with the £22 billion black hole that they left. Because of our action, we’ve stabilised the economy.”

He added: “We’re committed to the triple lock, which improved pensions by £470 last year.

“Because of the work that we have done, we are a country that countries like India want to do deals with, because of the messages and the work that we have done.”

The prime minster said he is encouraging “dialogue, de-escalation and the protection of civilians”, following an exchange of fire over Kashmir.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Rising tensions between India and Pakistan will be of serious concern for many across Britain. We are engaging urgently with both countries, as well as other international partners, encouraging dialogue, de-escalation and the protection of civilians.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey hits out at the approach to dealing with Trump noting that “now he is coming after our world leading film industry!”

Sir Ed asks if Sir Keir Starmer agrees that if you “pick a fight with James Bond, Bridget Jones and Paddington Bear you will lose?”

But the prime minister strangely does not seem to agree with the Lib Dem leader.

He repeated that it is a “false choice” to try to choose between the US and EU and argued that “the sectors the right honourable gentlemen are trying to champion want us to negotiate that trade deal” with the US.

The Lib Dem leader though is hitting a chord with people over the growing anxiety over Trump’s tariffs and foreign policy.

The Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

Keir Starmer was visibly angry as he hit out at what he said was the Tories “incoherent nonsense” in the row over the UK-India trade deal.

He challenged Kemi Badenoch if she was planning to “tear up” deals with 50 other countries in the argument over ‘double taxation’.

A row erupted after opposition politicians, including Tories and those from Nigel Farage’s Reform, criticised part of the deal that exempts some temporary Indian workers from national insurance payments.

The move is under what is known as the “double contribution convention”, which is designed to stop workers and employers paying the tax twice, once in each country.

Kemi Badenoch has branded Labour’s winter fuel policy a “disaster”.

She told the Commons that “everyone knows it, adding: “Why should we all suffer because he won’t admit he’s got this wrong?’

Keir Starmer has accused the Tories of taking “eight years fiddling around” and ending with “absolutely nothing” in attempts to get a UK-India trade deal.

The PM told the Commons Kemi Badenoch “should be welcoming” his government’s newly-struck agreement.