As temperatures soared across the UK, this week’s PMQs was also a sizzler, heated in its own right. Surrounded by a wall of noise, Ed used his questions to take the lead on party funding reform. Yet again the PM ducked responsibility and continued his approach of failing to answer anything put to him.
Ed weighed in to raise the issue of the £25m given to the Conservative party from hedge funds and the £145 million tax cut recently given to them in the budget by the Chancellor. Again, no real answer from the PM.
Ed also proposed a limit of £5,000 on donations. Again Cameron avoided the question, throwing in the usual about Labour and the trade unions.
Then, a question on second jobs. Does Cameron support MPs having second jobs and a limit on what MPs earn? No real answer.
At one point the speaker stopped the heckling and said ‘I know the PM will want to answer the question that has been put to him’, only to be greeted with laughter and jeering at the prospect!
While Labour MPs rightly turned the heat up on David Cameron on donations to the Conservative Party, for me the best questions at this week’s PMQs were not on procedure or party funding but on the impact of welfare reform on ordinary people.
Alison Seabeck raised an issue about a couple in her Plymouth constituency, who moved to a two bedroom property which they required due to the husband’s disability. The cumulative impact of welfare changes now mean that they have to find an additional £1000 a year. In addition Carers UK have published evidence that says that the discretionary payment scheme is only benefiting 1 in 10 carers.
Pamela Nash also raised the issue of one of her constituents, who called her constituency office this morning, threatening suicide due to welfare reforms. She also said it was not a unique incident and wanted to know what analysis is being done to assess the impact of reforms on the mental health of the country and how he is going to react to it. Cameron listened to the individual case, but his reply proved that with his government it is reform at any cost, even if that means fairness out of the window.
The early part was not one to watch if you hate Punch and Judy politics. But the wall of noise did give way to the ordinary stories of people struggling under the Tory-led coalition.
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Victoria Groulef is PPC for Reading West