Keir Starmer shrugs off Kemi Badenoch’s petition jibe at PMQs

It calls for another general election to take place, accusing the government of having “gone back on the promises” it made during the campaign.

The petition will not lead to another general election but it will be debated by MPs, having has passed the threshold of 100,000 signatures that guarantees a debate.

It also offered Badenoch a way to attack the government, as she faced off with Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions for only the third time since becoming Tory leader earlier this month.

She added that rises to employers’ National Insurance (NI) at last month’s Budget had prompted calls from business that they would have to cut jobs.

The tax increase was not in Labour’s election manifesto, but ministers claim it is needed to fill a “black hole” in the public finances left by the previous government, and raise money for public services.

“There’s a petition out there, two million people asking him to go,” she told MPs.

“He’s the one who doesn’t know how things work. It is not government that creates growth, it is business,” she added.