The Liaison Committee is the one parliamentary session the Prime Minister cannot hide from. No backbench softballs. No planted questions from loyalists. Just the chairs of every select committee in the House of Commons, each with their own brief and their own agenda, asking whatever they want for as long as they want. Today, Keir Starmer faces the lot of them.
The timing is brutal. Parliament breaks for Easter recess on Thursday, and the list of unresolved crises that MPs will leave behind is staggering. The Iran war is in its fourth week with Trump’s ultimatum expiring tonight. Energy bills are set to jump 20% in July. The economy is barely growing. Defence spending is being ramped up with money the government does not have. And the cost-of-living czar that Starmer appointed is publicly contradicting government policy on energy profits.
Defence and Iran
The Defence Select Committee chair will want answers on the UK’s role in the Iran conflict. Britain has provided intelligence support, opened its bases for US operations and deployed naval assets to the Gulf — all without a parliamentary vote. The legal basis for UK involvement rests on the same stretched interpretation of collective self-defence that has been used to justify British participation in every American war since Iraq. Select committee chairs have been privately furious at the lack of parliamentary scrutiny.
Starmer’s position is delicate. He backed the initial US strikes as proportionate and necessary to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. But the war has expanded far beyond that initial justification. The Hormuz blockade, the Lebanon front, the settler violence, the humanitarian crisis — none of this was part of the original case. Starmer will be asked whether he still considers UK involvement proportionate. His answer will matter.
The Cost of Living
The Treasury Select Committee chair will press on energy bills. The 20% price cap increase forecast for July is a political problem that will not wait for Easter recess to end. Richard Walker’s call for a temporary energy profit cap has put the government in an awkward position: its own adviser is publicly advocating a policy that Downing Street has refused to endorse. Starmer will be asked directly whether he supports Walker’s proposal. Anything other than a clear yes or no will be treated as evasion.
The broader economic picture is no more comforting. The Spring Statement revealed growth downgrades, rising defence costs and shrinking fiscal headroom. The OBR’s forecasts were compiled before the full impact of the Iran war was clear, which means they are already out of date. The real numbers will be worse. Everyone in the room will know it.
The Easter Problem
Parliament breaks on Thursday and does not return until late April. Five weeks of recess while a war rages, energy bills climb and the global economy convulses. The Liaison Committee is Starmer’s last chance to set the narrative before MPs scatter to their constituencies and the government loses the ability to control the agenda.
The smart play would be to announce something — an emergency energy package, a parliamentary recall mechanism, a concrete commitment on war powers. The likely play is to say as little as possible, commit to nothing and hope that the news cycle moves on. It is the strategy Starmer has used throughout his premiership: survive the session, avoid the headline, defer the decision. Whether that approach is sustainable when the price cap is rising, the bombs are falling and the ultimatum clock is ticking is another question entirely.