Chris Bryant slams Rishi Sunak over the Privileges Committee report
Bryant: “Do you think the MPs should apologise?”
Sunak: “I haven’t gone through the report yet”
B: “You haven’t… read the report?”
S: “Not from cover to cover”
B: “It’s 3 pages long…”
Chris Bryant: “The Privileges Committee had accused seven MPs of trying to undermine & impugn it’s work. Do you think they should apologise to the house?”
Rishi Sunak: “I’ve read the findings. I haven’t read it cover to cover”
CB: “It’s about 3 pages long!”
Chris Bryant – Do you think UK businesses should still be trading in Russia at all?
Rishi Sunak – UK businesses should be following all the sanctions legislation..
Chris Bryant – You took £5m from the owner of a company that sold new diggers to Russia,in April, this year..
Catherine McKinnell, “Do you take responsibility that the UK has the highest inflation in the G7 and the lowest growth projections?”
Rishi Sunak, “We’re the fastest growing country in the G7.”
CM, “I asked a very specific question. Do you dispute those facts?”
Rishi Sunak has been accused of “running scared” as it emerged he is set to miss two more sessions of prime minister’s questions.
The PM will not attend tomorrow’s weekly Commons joust as he is attending a service in Westminster Abbey to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS. It means that since entering 10 Downing Street last October, he will have missed six of the 29 PMQs sessions which have taken place.
His absence record of 21% is far worse than any prime minister going back to Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
He has already missed as many PMQs as Boris Johnson did in three years. Setting out his stall to replace Mr Bercow, Mr Bryant pledged to be an authoritative but respectful voice and said he would ensure the restoration and renewal project of parliament would not waste taxpayers’ money. He also called for Speaker’s House to be opened up and made “more welcoming”.
Mr Bryant, who entered parliament in 2001, said he was shaped by seeing a woman MP be told off by former chair Michael Martin for reading from notes in the Chamber.
“It’s just devastating. It’s like the headteacher telling you off in front of the whole class and it’s broadcast to the nation and your family is sitting there as well,” he told The House.
