Starmer mocked for embarrassing 'own goal' as Labour accused of being shown up by their own statistics
The Labour Party has been mocked for an embrassing "own goal" after Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed they were shown up by their own statistics
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The Labour Party has been mocked for an embarrassing "own goal" after Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed Keir Starmer's party was shown up by its own statistics.
Analysis by the Labour Party of official Commons data showed MPs clocked out early on almost half of all working days in the past 18 months.
Hitting back at the data, Rees-Mogg said the analysis suggests Labour is "failing to hold the Government to account".
Writing on X, he said: "This article actually highlights an own goal by the Opposition, which is failing to hold the Government to account.
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"Labour simply doesn’t know how to use Parliamentary time effectively."
Responding to his comments, a Labour source said: "Despite having previously been the Government minister responsible for this area, Sir Jacob has clearly forgotten how parliamentary time works.
"The Tories have clearly given up."
Labour's analysis suggests that the Conservatives sent MPs home early 5 in every 10 days Parliament sat in the last year.
The party accused Sunak of leading a "zombie government", claiming the Conservatives are "paralysing Parliament, with Ministers unable to fill Parliamentary time with substantive legislation to tackle the problems the country faces because they have already failed after 13 years in office".
A spokesperson for Labour added: "Rishi Sunak’s weakness means he’s failing to deliver a governing agenda, flailing around, unable to tackle the problems the country faces as a result of 13 years of Conservative Government.
"Despite the Tories promising action to protect renters from eviction, ban conversion therapy, introduce a football regulator, and protect British broadcasters in the streaming age, he has not introduced key legislation the Tories’ promised despite the abundance of Parliamentary time available to him."
In total, around 134 hours of legislative time was wasted as a result of there being no work for MPs to do.
The analysis shows that the drop in work came despite a spike in the amount of backbench business, debates put forward by MPs rather than based on Government work.
The Commons rose more than a minute early on 138 out of the 213 sitting days in the last session, which came to an end last week.
On June 6, the Commons rose at 2.20pm, almost five hours early.
Lucy Powell, shadow leader of the Commons, claimed the Tories have "given up on governing".
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Labour accused Sunak of leading a "zombie government"
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She said: "With families struggling with the cost of living and Tory mortgage mayhem, the Conservatives have given up on governing, making MPs clock off early half the time.
"Whilst the Government flails around, Labour MPs are desperate to use this time the Tories are wasting."