Senior Conservative Jesse Norman: ‘We know who this government is against. But what is it for?’

Lucy Powell and Jesse Norman clashed for the first time in the House of Commons on Thursday, after the latter was appointed to the post of shadow commons leader.

Jesse Norman, in his inaugural showing at House business questions, challenged Powell over the government’s priorities, telling MPs that Labour has “almost no real plans.”

He added: “We know what and who this government is against. But what is this government for?”

The leader of the House of Commons responded: “I’m afraid the cat really was out of the bag this week, wasn’t it, Madam Deputy Speaker, because we finally learnt that the Conservative Party supports all the benefits that the budget brings, but they don’t support any of the measures that will pay for them.”

Powell added: “We are actually now seeing a return to the magic money tree economics pursued by [former prime minister] Liz Truss.”

Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.