Labour’s start in Government has been “a supermarket sweep fill-your-boots all-you-can-eat blunderfest of delay and incompetence”, the Conservatives have claimed.
Shadow Commons leader Jesse Norman told MPs he was “delighted” the Government had unveiled a “plan for change”, as he said Commons Leader Lucy Powell had been “so persistently unwilling” to answer him during the House’s Business Questions each Thursday.
In her reply, Ms Powell warned Mr Norman that his party must “work out” its strategy for opposition.
The Conservative frontbencher told the House: “I’m delighted to hear, as I’m sure we all are, that the Government is at last adopting a plan and that it is trying to change, because as we have so often noted at Business Questions, the Government’s first five months have been a festival, no, a carnival, a supermarket sweep fill-your-boots all-you-can-eat blunderfest, of delay and incompetence.
“Mr Speaker, you, more than any member of this House, will be aware that the effective functioning of Parliament rests on its ability to hold ministers to account. That has been true since its origins in the 13th century and arguably even before that.
“And as you will know, this practice of seeking reasons and explanations for official actions, whether they be the passage of Bills or the raising of taxation, is not some useful add-on or afterthought, it is absolutely foundational to the whole idea of Parliament as a deliberative assembly.
“So I’m sure you will understand my disappointment that the Leader of the House has been so persistently unwilling to answer or even to address the very simple questions which I have been putting to her.”
Mr Norman said Ms Powell was trying to “blame the last Government and change the subject” in their exchanges, and added: “If the Government have made a decent start, of course, she might want to talk about that. But the truth is, the Government has made a dreadful start.
“It’s been beset by petty scandals from the beginning.”
Ms Powell said from the despatch box: “Two-thirds of the Bills that we announced in our King’s Speech are now making their way through Parliament.”
Referring to the Conservatives’ defeat at the general election in July, she continued: “He really does need to work out what their strategy for opposition is here. You know, tell the country they’ve never had it so good when they were in? Or learn from defeat and accept that they got things wrong?
“And I might gently advise that they should listen to the voters, because acting as if they did nothing wrong and accepting no responsibility won’t do them any good at all.”
The Liberal Democrats’ shadow Commons leader later called for a free vote on the Climate and Nature Bill, which aims to promote nature recovery and a reduction in carbon emissions, and is due for debate on January 24, after MPs were allowed to vote how they wished last week on proposals for assisted dying across England and Wales.
Marie Goldman said the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill debate on Friday was “measured, respectful and considered”, and that MPs had “shown British democracy at its best”.
Ms Powell agreed that MPs “really did, I think, show ourselves at our very best” during Friday’s debate, when MPs agreed to give the Bill a second reading by 330 votes to 275, majority 55.
