Prime minister said to have welcomed ‘more civilised than usual’ question time, but some reports suggest No 10 also found new approach easier to deal with

Jeremy Corbyn has stabilised his position following a faltering start to his leadership of the Labour party after he moved to end the “theatrical” nature of prime minister’s questions by tabling some of the questions submitted by 40,000 people.



As the prime minister described the exchanges as different and more civilised, senior shadow cabinet ministers suggested that Corbyn had given himself vital breathing space after resetting the terms of the weekly Commons clash.

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The Labour leader, who experienced a bumpy start in his new job after he failed to appoint any women to shadow the great offices of state, was praised by colleagues after he calmly questioned the prime minister in a non-confrontational way about the housing crisis in the rental sector, the government’s cuts to tax credits, and mental health.

Cameron, who has been thinking hard about how to respond to his rival’s more consensual style, told the Labour MP Karl Turner that the exchanges had been “different … more civilised than usual”.

But the Spectator reported that the prime minister had told George Osborne afterwards that the exchanges had been “a lot less stressful” after Corbyn bowled him what No 10 regarded as softballs that allowed Cameron to explain government policy. Some Labour MPs voiced fears that Corbyn had given the prime minister an easy ride.

Corbyn opened by saying he had received 40,000 questions after sending out an email asking for ideas, leading to the first crowdsourced session of prime minister’s questions. He began by reading out questions from someone called Marie on the lack of affordable housing; a housing association worker, Stephen, who warned about a reduction in staffing levels; and one from Paul on the cuts in tax credits.

Corbyn laid the ground for his crowdsourced question session by thanking people who took part in the “enormous democratic exercise” which led to his election as Labour leader.

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He said: “I have taken part in many events around the country and had conversations with many people about what they thought about this place, our parliament, our democracy and our conduct within this place. Many told me they thought prime minister’s question time was too theatrical, that parliament was out of touch and too theatrical and they wanted things done differently, but above all they wanted their voice heard in parliament.”

In a reference to Cameron’s pledge during the Tory leadership contest in 2005 to end the “Punch and Judy” approach to politics, he added: “So I thought my first prime minister’s question time I would do it in a slightly different way and I am sure the prime minister is going to absolutely welcome this as he welcomed this idea in 2005. But something seems to have happened to his memory during that period.”

The prime minister congratulated Corbyn on his “resounding victory” as he he said he would welcome turning PMQs into “a more genuine exercise in asking questions and answering questions”. Corbyn replied: “I thank the prime minister for that answer and I thank him for his commitment that we are going to try and do PMQs in a more adult way than we have in the past.”

The questions Corbyn asked were on:

• Affordable housing, after 2,500 people asked him about housing. The question from Marie asked: “What does the government intend to do about the chronic lack of affordable housing and the extortionate rents charged by some private sector landlords in this country?”

The prime minister said Britain did need more affordable housing, before saying that the government delivered 260,000 affordable housing units in the last parliament and built more council houses than the last Labour government.

He said more needed to be done but gently sought to draw a distinction with Corbyn by saying: “Above all, it means continuing to support the aspirations of people to be able to afford their home which is where Help to Buy and schemes like that come in. But I say to the honourable gentleman we won’t get Britain building unless we keep our economy going.”



Later, Marie called in to radio station LBC radio to say that the new Labour leader needed to “change the way he does things, mix things up each week and really not let the Conservatives know which side it’s coming from – firing on all corners but doing it in a calm and collected way”.

• Funding of housing associations after Stephen, who works for one, said that the cut in rents would lead to cuts in their funding. Corbyn paraphrased Stephen’s question as he asked: “The cut in rents will mean the company he works for will lose 150 jobs by next March because of the loss of funding of that housing association to carry on with repairs. Down the line it will mean worse conditions and worse maintenance and fewer people working in it, and a greater problem for those living in those properties.”

Corbyn asked the prime minister whether he agreed it was right to reconsider the funding of the administration of housing associations. Cameron said it was right in the budget to cut the rents that social tenants paid to end “the merry-go-round where rents went up, housing benefit went up and so taxes had to go up to pay for that”.

• The government’s “shameful” cut in tax credits, after receiving more than 1,000 questions in this area including a “heartfelt question” from Paul. The question was: “Why is the government taking tax credits away from families? We need this money to survive so our children don’t suffer. Paying rent and council tax on a low income doesn’t leave you much. Tax credits play a vital role and more is needed to prevent us having to become reliant on food banks to survive.”

Cameron defended the cuts by saying: “What we need is a country where work genuinely pays. That is why what our proposals do is reform welfare but at the same time bring in a national living wage, which will mean anyone on the lowest rate of pay will get a £20 pay rise next year.”

The prime minister moved up a gear to strike a more partisan note when Corbyn cited Claire who said that changing thresholds for tax credits would see her family’s income plummet. Cameron said: “Let us not go back to the days of unlimited welfare. Labour’s position again today is to abolish the welfare cap. I say that a family that chooses not to work should not be better off than one that chooses to work.”

• Mental health, after receiving 1,000 questions on the issue. Gail asked: “Do you think it is acceptable that the mental services in this country are on their knees at the present time?” Cameron said that mental health was one of the areas where he hoped to work with Corbyn.

Toby Perkins, who chaired Liz Kendall’s leadership campaign, said he thought Corbyn did “fine” but that the approach could be refined to involve followup questions to pin down more answers from Cameron. “He’s had a pretty tough week and lurid headlines, and having an opportunity to say he’s speaking for a lot of people here is perfectly sensible. But in the longer term, that approach doesn’t actually put the PM under a great deal of pressure. And oppositions do actually need to expose problems with government policy.

“I suspect the approach will evolve. But putting down a marker for the first time, given that people were going to learn more about Jeremy Corbyn than David Cameron today, it’s a perfectly sensible approach.”

Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, said she thought Corbyn’s new approach was “rather clever”. “It meant Cameron couldn’t sneer at Marie and Paul and Claire.” But she said there was always room for improvement: “It takes practice. It’s a very difficult thing to do. But that was even the case for [David Cameron] himself.”







