Badenoch to challenge Starmer in first PMQs for new-look Opposition

Kemi Badenoch will face off against Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time as Tory leader.

The former minister is preparing for her debut battle at the despatch box on Wednesday in a closely watched exchange that will mark the beginning of a new style of Opposition.

Sir Keir will be braced for a grilling on policies announced in last month’s Budget, which included fresh inheritance tax measures that have since prompted a fallout among farmers.

Ms Badenoch’s blunt and confrontational style is likely to contrast at times with the Prime Minister’s cautious and measured approach to politics.

She will be seeking to make a strong first impression after succeeding Rishi Sunak as Tory leader on Saturday and making a series of shadow cabinet appointments aimed at uniting warring factions within the party following a long internal contest.

Former leadership rivals Robert Jenrick, Dame Priti Patel and Mel Stride have been given senior roles as shadow justice secretary, shadow foreign secretary and shadow chancellor respectively.

It comes amid a row over the Government’s announcement that agricultural assets worth more than £1 million would no longer be exempt from inheritance tax, which Opposition MPs have been calling on ministers to reverse.

From April 2026, a tax of 20% would be raised on the value of inherited farming assets above £1 million under the plans.

While this still represents a tax relief of 50% compared to the standard rate, the move has been attacked by farming unions and Opposition critics who have argued it would make the UK more reliant on imports.

Meanwhile, the Tories have also accused Labour of failing to be transparent at the election about the scale of tax rises on the horizon after the Budget confirmed a rise in employers’ national insurance.

The Government has insisted it has stuck by its promise not to increase the burden on “working people” and argued that the measures are necessary to save public services and put the economy on a firmer footing.

Ministers have pointed to a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances they say was left behind by their Tory predecessors and only became apparent after they entered Government.