PRIME Minister Keir Starmer was branded the “incompetent-in-chief” by an SNP MP during a heated exchange over Scottish independence in the Commons.
Dave Doogan, the SNP’s energy spokesperson at Westminster, used his question at the first PMQs since recess ended to tear into the Labour Cabinet.
The MP for Angus and Perthshire Glens criticised Labour minister’s actions on the economy, energy security, and the war in Gaza.
He said: “His Chancellor’s [Rachel Reeves] economic policies started off badly and have headed rapidly downhill from there.
“His Energy Secretary’s [Ed Miliband] policies ensure that energy-rich Scotland lives under the highest domestic and commercial energy prices in the world.
“And his Foreign Secretary [David Lammy] provides diplomatic cover for the atrocities committed in Gaza by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], to the horror of the people of Scotland …
“But he is the incompetent-in-chief who refuses to bring his ministers into line – just one of the reasons that independence enjoys an 11-point lead over remaining in this dysfunctional, broken, Brexit Britain.
“Does he understand why the people of Scotland are so dissatisfied with his, the latest iteration of dysfunctional British rule in Scotland?”
Starmer replied: “Does he understand the electorate in Scotland answered that question in July of last year?
“I remember there used to be quite a few of them [SNP MPs] sitting around here – now it’s a distant cry from up there.”
The line is one which Starmer has frequently deployed in response to SNP MPs’ questions at PMQs.
In February, when Starmer gave the same response, Doogan was admonished by the Speaker for shouting: “That’s the same answer you gave the last time.”
