Claim 1cd5ef2eChecked 21 Jul 2026
TrueOn the truth scale
“The Prime Minister complains about the shadow Chancellor.”
—Mrs Kemi BadenochConservativeCon / North West Essex·Engagements·03 Jun 2026Factual · historical current chronological
Reasoning & Evidence21 Jul 2026
The claim "The Prime Minister complains about the shadow Chancellor" is made by Badenoch during a PMQs exchange on 3 June 2026. The "shadow Chancellor" at this time is Sir Mel Stride (Conservative, MP for Central Devon).
According to the official Hansard record, Prime Minister Keir Starmer made multiple critical references to the shadow Chancellor during this exchange:
1. "the number on welfare went up hugely on the Conservatives' watch, as did the cost under the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride)."
2. "And who signed off those contracts? The shadow Chancellor."
Starmer was blaming the shadow Chancellor for welfare cost increases and for signing off contracts related to face-to-face assessments during the Conservative government. Badenoch's characterisation that the PM "complains about the shadow Chancellor" is a fair description of what happened in this exchange — Starmer was pointing fingers at the shadow Chancellor rather than directly addressing his own government's welfare record. The word "complains" is a political framing, but it accurately captures that Starmer was making repeated critical remarks about the shadow Chancellor's record.
The claim is factually accurate: the Prime Minister did make complaints/criticisms about the shadow Chancellor in this very exchange, as confirmed by the official parliamentary record.
Sources:
- Hansard (UK Parliament), "Engagements" debate, 3 June 2026 — https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-06-03/debates/051DBB77-8D86-47FD-91B3-95DD68A17CC0/Engagements
- BBC News, "Badenoch accuses Starmer of 'giving up' on welfare reform" — https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgep3r9yg34o
- TheyWorkForYou, House of Commons debates, 3 Jun 2026 — https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2026-06-03b.1157.3
From speech
We need to bring down the benefits bill. The Prime Minister complains about the shadow Chancellor. The bill went up because of the pandemic and even then Labour Members were asking us to spend more. It is not the shadow Chancellor who is the problem; it is the actual Chancellor. She is not even in her place. The reason there is no welfare Bill is the Prime Minister has given up, and he has given up because Labour Members have given up on him. On Sunday, the Welfare Secretary was asked 12 times on national radio if he would make cuts to the benefits bill and 12 times he could not answer. So I will ask the Prime Minister: is he going to cut the benefits bill?
Sources opened