Starmer questions Kemi Badenoch’s integrity during a fiery PMQs exchange, making reference to the Stanford University controversy

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch locked horns in a heated exchange over the economy, unemployment, and government borrowing during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Badenoch accused Starmer of weakness and reckless spending, declaring: “Unemployment has gone up every single month under this Labour government. And he doesn’t know why borrowing costs are going up. Another reason is that the markets can see that he is too weak to control spending. Now, we’re reading that he wants to have another go at welfare costing. What makes him think that they will vote for him this time?”

Earlier, she had charged: “Conservatives left him the fastest-growing economy in the G7. Under him, the cost of our borrowing is now higher than in Greece. Why does the Prime Minister think this is?”

Starmer, in response, pushed back against what he described as her constant negativity: “She hasn’t welcomed the highest growth in the G7… What about the 380,000 jobs we’ve created? She could welcome that, but no. What about the three train deals we’ve got? Not only does she not welcome them, she opposes them. And of course she hasn’t welcomed the Norway deal, the biggest deal for shipbuilding in a very, very long time. She should stop talking down the country and get behind the renewal this government is delivering.”

But the Prime Minister’s sharpest jab came when he drew on Badenoch’s own credibility gap, referencing her disputed Stanford University claim. By weaving the controversy into his rebuttal, Starmer turned her attacks on borrowing and leadership back onto her integrity signalling that questions over her honesty remain a vulnerability for the opposition.

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