PMQs LIVE: Kemi Badenoch skewers Keir Starmer in angry triple lock row

Kemi Badenoch has clashed with Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs today.

The Tory leader grilled the Prime Minister during the weekly session in the Commons after the Chancellor made her

Ms Badenoch accused Labour of damaging growth with new employment laws that will put firms off hiring new staff.

The Labour leader attempted to hit back by claiming the Conservative leader wants to means-test the , a claim she rejects.

It follows the speech by Rachel Reeves setting out plans to grow the economy including with a third runway at Heathrow.

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Rachel Reeves

“The Chancellor is desperately trying to save her reputation” says Kemi Badenoch.

Employment bill ‘only helps lawyers’

Kemi Badenoch says the Government’s employment bill makes it easier for people to take their employer to an industrial tribunal even if they have only been employed for a short period.

This will help lawyers but make firms reluctant to take on staff.

She says businesses create jobs and “they know that you can’t tax your way to growth, you can’t borrow your way to growth”

‘All his ideas are the ones that we thought up’

Kemi Badenoch says ‘all his ideas are the ones that we thought up’ as Starmer tries to focus attention on today’s growth speech by the Chancellor.

But she returns to Labour’s employment bill which she says will encourage more people to remain stuck on benefits.

And Kemi says the Chancellor blocked an airport in her own constituency, saying “they are hypocrites.”

Businesses say ‘the Government is making it harder to employ people’

Kemi Badenoch says small businesses have warned the Government’s employment bill will make it harder for them to recruit young people.

Kemi Badenoch says Labour is ‘destroyng growth’

The Tory leader says Labour has embraced a number of Conservative polices to grow the economy.

But she points out the Government’s employment bill will cut growth and jobs – as the Government’s own assessment has admitted.

So will the PM scrap it, she says?

Starmer backs ‘triple lock’

The Prime Minister says he backs the pensions and accuses Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch of supporting means-testing of pensions, a claim she has denied.

We know some Labour MPs oppose a Heathrow third runway

It will be interesting to see if any Labour MPs raise questions about a third runway at Heathrow.

We know that some oppose the scheme. However they may be very reluctant to rock the boat and spoil the Chancellor’s big day.

Please see below a statement from the Mayor of London in response to today’s announcement on a new runway at .

Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I remain opposed to a new runway at because of the severe impact it will have on noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets.”

The big projects announced by Rachel Reeves

Labour whips will have told friendly Labour MPs to ask about the Chancellor’s big speech this morning.

Projects she announced include:

A third runway for in west London East West Rail links between Oxford and Cambridge with new and upgraded lines.

A new railway station at Tempsford, Bedfordshire

New rail links across the region between Oxford and Cambridge are part of wider plans for a UK “Silicon Valley”

New reservoirs will be built near Abingdon in Oxfordshire and in the Fens near Cambridge to quash fears of a water shortage

will create a new venue by either redeveloping its current stadium to increase capacity to 87,000, or build a new ground which could hold 100,000 fans.

Lower Thames Crossing, a new £9 billion road crossing between Kent and Essex.

A new Cambridge cancer research hospital.

The Heathrow expansion is the most controversial.

Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield to ask question

Those on the list to question the Prime Minister include former Labour MP Rosie Duffield, now an independent, who quit Labour last year over “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice”.

PMQs is about to begin

The big story the Government wants to focus on is Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s growth speech but Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch could attempt to surprise Prime Minister Sir by choosing a different topic.

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