PM asked what she'll do to help struggling businesses by Cornish MP
St Ives' Derek Thomas says businesses big and small are facing "horrific energy prices"
Last updated 7th Sep 2022
One of Cornwall's MPs is among the first to ask a direct question of our new Prime Minister at her first PMQs.
St Ives, West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly's Derek Thomas warned that businesses "big and small" are facing "horrific energy prices, before asking what Liz Truss was going to do to help.
Mr Thomas congratulated the new Prime Minister on her successful campaign, before saying: "Mr Speaker it is right and proper that the government focusses its attention on rising energy costs for households across the country. But as we've heard, businesses big and small are exposed to horrific energy prices".
Addressing Ms Truss, he asked: "For the sake of businesses in west Cornwall and on Scilly, the jobs they provide and the economy as a whole, what can my friend, the right honourable Prime Minister, do to ease the energy costs facing our businesses?"
Ms Truss responded by saying: "We do need to address the issues businesses face, and the package that we will be announcing tomorrow will do just that".
As Liz Truss stepped forward to the despatch box for her Prime Minister's Questions debut, she stepped back from her predecessor's bluster and rambling rants.
Her straight-talking, simple answers to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s pointed questions allowed a gaping ideological chasm to open up between the opponents.
There were fewer fireworks than in Boris Johnson's PMQs, which were peppered with jokes, jibes and tangents and typically light on policy, making way for a more focused political clash.
A new tone was set from the start when cheers from the Tory side of the Commons greeted Ms Truss as she strode into the packed chamber for the first time as leader, with the noise level more muted than for Mr Johnson’s past entrances.
Ms Truss struck a conciliatory tone with her opening remarks, saying she would work "constructively with all members" of the House to tackle "the challenges we face".
But she was immediately challenged over leaked comments in which she accused British workers of needing "more graft".
Liz Truss grilled over opposition to windfall taxes
Then Sir Keir was up. He congratulated Ms Truss on her new role, but the pleasantries did not last long as he launched into his key line of attack.
He grilled Ms Truss over her opposition to windfall taxes to fund energy help for households, accusing her of protecting the profits of Shell and giving Amazon a tax break rather than helping families and public services.
Ms Truss said such a tax would put companies off from investing in the UK, and as she stuck steadfastly to her low-tax guns, the dividing line across the middle of the chamber grew ever wider.
She also stuck to her refusal to give any details of her cost-of-living package, but said she would make things clear to people struggling with eyewatering energy bills on Thursday.
The Labour leader also sought to take the shine off his opponent by tying her to the last 12 years of Tory government, saying there was “nothing new” about her policies.
Ms Truss's retort scored the biggest cheers from her benches, which erupted in shouts of "more" when she said: "There's nothing new about a Labour leader who is calling for more tax rises".
Tory MPs boisterously cheered on their new leader throughout the session, despite the fact that fewer than a third of them backed her.
That side of the Commons also delighted in some shade thrown by ex-PM Theresa May, who asked her successor why all three female prime ministers have been Conservative.
It allowed Ms Truss – who deployed jokes sparingly – to wheel out a well-rehearsed quip, pointing out Labour's difficulty in finding a woman leader or one who does not hail from north London.
The Prime Minister, who is not known as the slickest performer or gifted orator, also unsurprisingly used her favourite buzzword, “deliver”, repeatedly while in the hot seat.
But perhaps after Mr Johnson’s chaotic premiership, some Tory MPs will be pleased if it is Ms Truss’s more reserved, business-like style and resolute focus on policy that will define her future weekly exchanges in the Commons.