Rishi Sunak enjoyed his last Commons hurrah

Rishi Sunak’s final act in the Commons as leader of the opposition was one he clearly enjoyed. The outgoing Conservative leader had what is normally the unenviable task of responding to the Budget just minutes after it had been delivered, before the small print reveals the real story. Rachel Reeves had helped him quite a bit with this, though, by announcing or hinting at a lot of what was to come over the past week or so. Sunak could also dodge the demands of Labour ministers to offer an alternative plan, as he’s off in just a few days and will be replaced by a new leader who will at some point have to answer that question.

So the outgoing leader of the opposition focused his criticism of the Budget on what he claimed were Labour’s ‘broken promises’ and a failure to announce policies that would secure the growth Reeves is pinning all her hopes on.