The work of the Prime Minister

Status / emerging findings

• Growth targets: PM claims aim to deliver 'highest sustained growth in G7 by end of Parliament', but this exceeds OBR and IMF forecasts; steel and infrastructure investment commitments made (£2.5bn Scunthorpe, grid connection acceleration) but timescales vague.
• Poverty and housing: Government invested £1bn in homelessness but declined to reverse local housing allowance freeze despite evidence it pushes families into poverty; 6,000 households with children in B&Bs as of June 2024; 50,000 newly disabled people estimated to enter poverty April 2025.
• Defence and Iran conflict (March 2026): PM revealed significant pre-deployment to Iran region (F-35 jets, 400+ personnel) but delayed publication of defence investment plan despite acknowledged 'hollowed out' armed forces; no integrated air defence systems for UK mainland.
• Standards and accountability (December 2025): PM offered only to 'review' written ministerial statements issued on last parliamentary days; acknowledged Football Regulator appointment process was suboptimal; resisted naming special advisers over leaked budget briefings.
• Trade and sectoral support: Government rejected immediate tariff retaliation on US measures, favouring negotiation; identified critical infrastructure bottlenecks (grid connection delays) as barrier to growth acceleration; acknowledged EV adoption barriers (charging inequality, VAT differential, flat-block access).

Why it matters

These sessions reveal whether a government's public commitments—growth targets, poverty reduction, defence readiness—are backed by credible policy and funding, or whether they're rhetorical mismatches with inherited constraints and political choices that pull in opposite directions.

Tone arc

Started mixed in December 2024 (ambitious rhetoric vs forecaster scepticism), turned adversarial by July 2025 on poverty and housing (gap between rhetoric and policy choice), remained adversarial in December 2025 on standards (committee pressing on ministerial accountability), then shifted to operational/security focus in March 2026 (Iran conflict forcing defence questions to the fore).

Key witnesses

Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister, Alberto Costa, Committee Chair (standards questioning), Multiple Select Committee Chairs (Liaison Committee membership)