Starmer to face grilling from senior MPs

Sir Keir Starmer will face an end-of-term grilling from senior MPs on Thursday after an opening few months in office which have seen Labour’s poll ratings plummet.

The Prime Minister will take questions from the Liaison Committee for the first time since being elected in July.

The panel is made up of the chairs of Commons select committees, and Sir Keir will face questions across a range of Government departments.

Among the members of the committee are former Conservative cabinet minister Steve Barclay, and chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Tories Bob Blackman.

Among the Labour seats are former shadow minister Sarah Owen and chairwoman of the Treasury committee Dame Meg Hillier.

Less than six months after winning a large parliamentary majority, the PA news agency’s analysis of opinion polls in the week ending December 15 put Labour on 26 points, just one point ahead of the Conservatives and four clear of Reform UK.

Changes to inheritance tax for farmers and winter fuel payments for pensioners are among the decisions that the Prime Minister has faced criticism for since he arrived in Downing Street in the summer.

The session comes in the same week that Sir Keir has come under fire for the decision not to award compensation to Waspi women, while there have also been concerns over China amid allegations of spying.

The Prime Minister acknowledged at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting that some of the decisions the Government are taking “might not be popular”.

Addressing his ministers in Downing Street, Sir Keir pointed to policy announcements on the NHS and planning as points of “progress”.

He added: “Some of the decisions the Government was taking might not be popular in the short term, but we are delivering the change the country voted for, and it is change worth fighting for.”

Earlier, he had defended his actions in office and the time he has spent out of the country, insisting that his Government would make people “feel better off”.

He told LBC Radio he would do “tough stuff” on planning and regulation to boost economic growth.

Asked about his personal unpopularity, Sir Keir said: “What worries me is, and what gets me out of bed every day, is how we deliver for those people who voted us in in July to change the country for the better.

“How can we make them better off? How can I get those waiting lists down? How can we make sure that every young person has the chance to go as far as their talent will take them?

“So they’re the things that keep me awake. They’re the things I get up for in the morning.

“And look, I will be judged at the next general election on whether I’ve delivered. I’m very clear about that.”