Neither Kemi Badenoch nor Keir Starmer performed very well at Prime Minister’s Questions: both fluffed their lines early on. Badenoch managed to suggest the Budget had already happened, while Starmer got lost during an attack on Tory economic policy. But while Badenoch was back to the kind of poor delivery that had previously upset so many of her Conservative colleagues, Starmer still came off worse.

Neither emerged well, but Badenoch’s poor performance matters far less given she is in opposition

Badenoch wanted to ridicule the way Labour is handling the Budget, telling the Chamber: ‘Can the Prime Minister tell us why his government is the first government in history to float increasing income tax rates, only to U-turn on it all after the actual Budget?’

Starmer rose, chuckling: ‘I’ll i

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