Sunak and Starmer clash over ‘broken’ asylum system

Short questions are always best at PMQs – and Keir Starmer’s first one was very short indeed. He asked Rishi Sunak if the asylum system is broken as the Home Secretary had said – and if so, who broke it? (I wonder if Starmer got the idea from Nick Robinson’s interview with Sunak over the summer, in which he used a very similar device.) Sunak responded by arguing that Labour had voted against measures that would help deal with the problem and accused the party of having no plan to tackle immigration. But the Tories need to show that they are gripping this problem. The situation is now such that changes to the facts on the ground are needed, rather than empty rhetoric.

After PMQs came news that No. 10 is reviewing every pledge that Sunak made during the summer leadership campaign to see if they are compatible with the new economic circumstances. This added to the feeling that politics is waiting for the Autumn Statement to see what the shape of the rest of this parliament will look like.