Truss Finds Johnson a Hard Act to Follow at First PMQs Joust With Starmer

Opposition Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer sought to score points from newly-minted PM Liz Truss on Wednesday, after over two years of coming off worse in weekly verbal sparring with her bombastic predecessor Boris Johnson.

Liz Truss has given a lacklustre performance at her first Parliamentary grilling as British prime minister.

Tory MPs cheered Truss as she rose to make her opening statement at Wednesday's noontime Prime Minister's Questions session.

But her delivery was muted compared to her bombastic predecessor Boris Johnson, who she formally replaced as PM on Tuesday.

Her first question came from newly-elected Birmingham Erdington Labour MP Paulette Hamilton accused Truss of wanting to take away British workers' rights, recalling her criticism of their lack of "graft".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked the new PM if she was sincere during her leadership campaign when she said she was against windfall taxes on energy firms — to be paid back to them for gas and electricity bills as his party's panacea for the price crisis caused by Western sanctions.

"I believe it is the wring thing to be putting companies off investing in the United Kingdom just when we need to be growing the economy," Truss responded.

She insisted that "we can't just put a sticking-plaster on it," arguing that "what we need to do is increase our energy supplies long-term." She pledged to open up North Sea oil and gas exploration — which she accused Labour of blocking — and build the first nuclear power stations since before the last Labour government.

Starmer asked if Truss planned to make Britons pay for the crisis out of future taxes, as she reportedly plans to borrow £150 billion to spend on aid to households to pay their bills.

"The right honourable gentleman is looking at this in the wrong way," Truss countered, pointing out that cutting corporation tax in the past had attracted more investment and ultimately increased revenues.

"More borrowing than is needed, that's the true cost of her choice to protect oil and gas profits, isn't it?" - Sir Keir Starmer MP.

"This country will not be able to tax its way to growth" responds PM Liz Truss. #PMQs: https://t.co/ZTbv6x8cal

📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/lM31z2tLbW

— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 7, 2022

Starmer also drew loud jeers from the government benches when he accused the Conservative MPs of voting to allow sewage to be dumped in British waterways.

"I'm on the side of people who work hard and do the right thing," Truss insisted. "That is why we will reverse the National Insurance increase. And that is why we will keep corporation tax low, because ultimately we want investment right across our country."

She said the Tories wanted "new jobs and new opportunities," which she would deliver.

Starmer, whose party opposed former Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak's six per cent rise in corporation tax to cover furlough payments during the COVID-19 lockdowns, accused the PM of "protecting oil and gas profits and forcing working people to pay the bill."

"There's nothing new about a Labour Leader who is calling for more tax rises," Truss shot back, raising a deafening cheer from her benches. "It's the same old, same old tax and spend."

Sir Keir Starmer says "the face at the top may change, but the policies remain the same."

In response the new prime minister says "there's nothing new about a Labour leader who is calling for more tax rises."#PMQs: https://t.co/ZTbv6x8cal

📺 Sky 501, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/BCyOhjpe0O

— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 7, 2022

"What I am about is reducing taxes, getting our economy growing, getting investment, getting new jobs for people right across the country," Truss said, charging that Starmer "doesn't understand that people want to keep more of their own money."

Former PM Theresa May threw her party-mate a softball question on why all three Women prime ministers to date had been Conservatives. Truss joked that the main opposition party couldn't even find a leader from outside its middle-class north London heartland.

Theresa May asks why it is that all three female PMs have been Conservative.

Liz Truss says it is "extraordinary" Labour 'doesn't seem to have the ability to find a female leader or a leader that doesn't come from north London'.#PMQs: https://t.co/ZTbv6x8cal

📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/HHEEwdRMpD

— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 7, 2022

The tame performance from Truss prompted some netizens to tweet: "Bring back Boris!"