Britain02 September, 20262 min read
Just Stop Oil Blocks Parliament Square as Andy Burnham Faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs
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Just Stop Oil block Parliament Square to disrupt Burnham's PMQs. Burnham's first PMQs clashed with Badenoch over spending, welfare, and 3.5% GDP defence.
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PMQs and protest
Andy Burnham began his first Prime Minister’s Questions by thanking the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, for his assistance with a marathon 125-question Q&A that lasted almost three and a half hours. Just Stop Oil activists returned to Westminster to stage fresh protests and block roads outside Parliament to coincide with Burnham’s PMQs, with police carrying protestors into nearby police vans.
The Asian report says the group’s campaign against oil and gas licenses came as a government decision on plans for the Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field approached after a public review in August. The group said on social media that it was demanding Andy Burnham signs a Fossil Fuel Treaty and stops approving all future oil and gas products, while a Met Police statement said, "Police were called at 12:04hrs on Wednesday, 2 September following reports of disruption on Parliament Square."
Debate over taxes and welfare
At PMQs, Kemi Badenoch challenged Burnham over government spending, welfare reform, taxation and Britain’s defence commitments, after opening by congratulating him on his “stamina” following his marathon Commons appearance.
Burnham responded by focusing on welfare, telling MPs that the benefits bill needed to fall and arguing that it was not acceptable for so many young people to remain dependent on benefits.
Badenoch accused Burnham of wanting to please everyone rather than taking difficult decisions, saying, "I think it’s delightful that he wants to make everyone happy. But a prime minister needs to be a leader, not a people pleaser,".
Burnham refused to rule out tax rises when Badenoch described him as a “spendthrift” and challenged him to rule out tax increases at the Government’s forthcoming Budget, and the exchange framed the political fight around whether he could fund his programme as borrowing costs put pressure on public finances.
Defence target and political stakes
Defence became another dividing line as Badenoch argued that reductions in welfare spending should be used to finance higher defence expenditure, while Burnham reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035. Burnham told MPs that a fully funded route to reaching that target would be presented at the spending review, and he defended appointing former Defence Secretary John Healey as Chancellor by pointing directly to Healey’s defence experience.
The BBC described the debut as showing the challenge of delivering new style of politics, noting that Burnham’s exchanges with Badenoch began “vaguely jocular” before slipping into familiar barbs over tax and borrowing. The BBC also said the backdrop to Burnham’s first few days has been the increased cost of borrowing, adding that it looks likely to limit the chancellor’s room for manoeuvre at the budget come the end of October, while the Independent’s contributors framed the contest as a question of who “won” the first PMQs.