Truss and Starmer prepare to clash in parliament after a dire start for the PM

MPs are back in Westminster; a rare sight, what with the summer recess, death of the Queen and party conference season. Liz Truss will make her first appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions since the ‘mini-Budget’ – and something tells me that Keir Starmer will have plenty of ammunition. The International Monetary Fund criticised the tax cut and energy support package again yesterday, and the pound fell sharply against the dollar (again) this morning as the Bank of England said it will not extend its emergency intervention bond-buying scheme beyond Friday.

Starmer might also use PMQs to highlight what looks like another U-turn from the new Prime Minister. The government has bowed to pressure to clamp down on the rampant profits it seems, and will use its new energy prices bill to cap revenues of renewable energy companies in England and Wales. “The government has finally accepted the principle of Labour’s call for a windfall tax on excess profits of electricity generators,” Ed Miliband said. “After months of telling the country they were utterly opposed to the principle of a windfall tax, they have been dragged kicking and screaming to implement it.” The government has argued this measure differs to a windfall tax in that it applies to excess revenues generators are receiving rather than applying to all profits.

Meanwhile, Zarah Sultana survived her trigger ballot process last night. In fact, ‘survived’ is probably the wrong word – since the Labour MP for Coventry South was unanimously reselected as the party’s candidate for the next election. It should be noted that her ousting was always an unlikely prospect. The threshold that must be met to ‘trigger’ a sitting MP – 50% of an electoral college comprising party and affiliate branches voting in favour – is high, which makes the scenes witnessed in Ilford South rare. But this is a convincing victory from which the left of the party can take heart following Sam Tarry’s defeat.