Keir Starmer faces Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) for the first time since the King's Speech, after a chaotic fortnight marked by a Labour rebellion, a by-election in Makerfield, and growing calls for him to step down. The Prime Minister takes on Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch at the dispatch box, pledging to remain focused on governing despite internal party turmoil.
PM Insists He Is 'Focused on the Job'
At a Downing Street reception for homelessness charities on Tuesday, Starmer emphasised his government's record on renters' rights reforms, describing them as an example of 'ripping up the failed status quo'. Defence Secretary John Healey warned that Labour's 'credibility in Government is at stake', in an apparent rebuke of leadership jockeying among rivals. 'I don't care about photo ops or PR firms. Politics - to me - is not about the individual. People will not forgive us if they think we're more concerned about ourselves than we are about them,' Healey said.
New Polling Suggests Burnham Could Beat Reform
A poll by More in Common, shared with the Press Association, suggests that an Andy Burnham-led Labour Party could secure 30% of the vote, ahead of Reform UK on 27%, with the Conservatives trailing on 20%. Burnham, who is seeking to return to Westminster via the Makerfield by-election, would win back a third of voters who have left Labour since the 2024 general election, according to the survey of 2,599 Britons. Nearly half of defectors to the Greens or Lib Dems would return to Labour, as well as a fifth of those who moved to Reform or the Tories.
Minister Rubbishes Reports of Supermarket Price Caps
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson has denied that the government is considering supermarket price caps on essentials like eggs, bread, and milk. Reports in the Financial Times claimed the Treasury had approached chains urging them to limit prices in return for easing regulations. Tomlinson told Sky News: 'No, that isn't something that we're looking at.' He added that the government is instead focusing on broader measures to help households, as food and soft drink prices rose by 3% in the year to April, down from 3.7% in March. The government is not considering strict price controls like those seen in the 1970s, but discussions with retailers on a voluntary basis have not been ruled out.
