Starmer and Sunak lead tributes following Mark Drakeford’s resignation as Wales first minister

Britain’s Labour leader Keir Starmer and prime minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to outgoing Wales first minister Mark Drakeford during prime minister’s questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Mr Drakeford, the Welsh Labour leader, announced he is stepping down after five years leading the devolved government in Cardiff. A process to replace him is under way and Mr Drakeford will stay on until it concludes in March.

The Wales leader said “the time is right” to move on.

“Our greatest task is still ahead of us – to return a Labour UK government and start repairing the huge damage which has been inflicted by the Tories over the last 13 years. I will work tirelessly to secure that Labour victory,” he said.

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Mr Starmer told the Commons that his outgoing Labour colleague had been a “true titan of Welsh politics”.

“During his five years as first minister, against a backdrop of austerity, instability in Westminster and navigating the pandemic, he has delivered for Wales with steely determination and quiet authority,” he said.

Mr Sunak also wished Mr Drakeford well and congratulated him for his “years of public service”.

Normal service soon resumed in the Commons, however, when the prime minister returned to his regular refrain of pointing to Labour’s governance of Wales as a warning of what he says would happen if it governed the UK.

The beginning of PMQs was heralded at noon with a noisy welcome from the Tory benches for the arrival of Mr Sunak, who defeated a right-wing rebellion from within his own party last night to win a vote on immigration legislation.

Mr Starmer used the final PMQs of the year as a platform to launch a broad attack on Mr Sunak’s government over its handling of the cost-of-living crisis, energy costs, the health service and homelessness.

He also referenced the apparent suicide this week of an asylum seeker on the Bibby Stockholm barge, which is docked on the Dorset coast, and which Mr Sunak’s government has hired to house refugees as part of its policy of deterring illegal migration to Britain.

“We must never let this happen again,” said Mr Starmer of the asylum seeker’s death.

Mr Starmer said we were now entering Christmas, an important time for families and a season of “goodwill for all”.

“Has anyone told the Tory Party?” he said, to jeers from the Labour benches directed at their opposite numbers.

Mr Sunak replied that his government had brought in tax cuts to help families.

[ Rishi Sunak defeats rebels over Rwanda immigration Bill ]

Mr Starmer jibed Mr Sunak by recalling derogatory descriptions of the prime minister that were made in the press by unnamed Tory MPs during this week’s rebellion. The prime minister admonished Mr Starmer for his “political tittle-tattle”.

On homelessness, Mr Starmer told the story of an 11-year-old boy, Liam Walker, who he said wrote to Santa asking not for new toys, but for his old toys to be taken out of storage and put in a “forever home” that his family had been left waiting for.

Mr Sunak defended his government’s record.

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