Barnsley audience grills panel including Alastair Campbell and Dehenna Davison on levelling-up, Boris Johnson and the cost of living crisis on BBC Question Time

The panel included Dehenna Davison, elected in 2019 as the first Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland; Alastair Campbell, one of the architects of New Labour and chief spin doctor for Tony Blair; Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson MP;musician Winston Marshall, former member of Mumford & Sons; and Tim Stanley, journalist and Daily Telegraph columnist.

They faced tough questions from the audience at The Civic about the leadership of the government following PM Boris Johnson’s announcement he intends to step down, partygate and levelling up.

One audience member, Adam, asked: “With no real functioning government currently what is going to happen next?”

Dehenna Davison, elected in 2019 as the first Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, and an early critic to declare no confidence in Boris Johnson, said “focus on government has been lost”.

She added: “What happens next, and I’m hoping it happens speedily is that the Conservative Party elects a new leader who will become prime minister and they will get on with the job.”

Alastair Campbell, one of the architects of New Labour, branded Mr Johnson “the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had”.

Tim Stanley, journalist and Daily Telegraph columnist, said Mr Johnson “ate some cake”, adding: “I don’t think Boris Johnson was particularly more corrupt than any politician who’s come before.

“I think the problem was the way he handled it- the complete chaotic nature of his character.

“What that climaxed in – what eventually brought him down – was lying about the Chris Pincher affair, and then crucially sending ministers out to repeat that falsehood.”

However, an audience member asked Mr Stanley: “How can you trivialise what he did wrong by saying he just ate a piece of cake? That’s not what he did.

“People couldn’t bury their family, people couldn’t be there when their families were dying, because he was eating cake and drinking wine.

“Do you not think this now needs to trigger a general election?”

Another audience member, who identified as a Conservative voter, asked if the situation was “any different to having a takeaway, which is what Starmer did?

“Sat there and had drinks but denied it?”

Bridget Phillipson mp said she was “confident that Keir Starmer broke no rules,” adding “We do know, beyond doubt that Boris Johnson broke the law, repeatedly lied to the British people.”

“It falls to the Conservative party first and foremost to get Boris Johnson out of Downing Street now.

“If he doesn’t go, we’ll force a vote of no confidence and he’ll be out.”

One audience member asked how things could get better under a Conservative government, adding: “The cost of living crisis – you’ve got children going to school who are hungry, asking teachers for food.

“You’ve got homelessness, people can’t afford to heat their homes.

“The whole political system needs to change. We need to put people before profit, and that is all the Tories think about, is looking after their rich friends and they don’t do anything for working people.”

LEVELLING UP

Barnsley was the only place in South Yorkshire not to receive any cash in the first round of levelling-up funding last year.

Barnsley Council is set to submit a bid this month for the next round of cash.

Alison Cooper asked from the audience why Barnsley is not considered priority one for levelling-up funding.

Alastair Campbell said he believed it was down to the fact that Barnsley is a “Labour area.”

“You’ve had 40 per cent cuts in your local authority budgets as well,” he added.

“We focus so much on Boris Johnson, but what’s happening to areas like this – it’s not just the fact that levelling up is a slogan without strategy…places like this have bore the brunt of 10 years of austerity.”

Dehenna Davison told the audience that she didn’t know why Barnsley did not receive the funding, adding that she was “shocked by it”.

“Doncaster Rotherham and Sheffield have all received levelling-up funding, and I wouldn’t say they are necessarily….Conservative areas.

“There are great funds coming to Barnsley. There’s the towns fund which is going to see some new developments in Goldthorpe, which should be really beneficial.

“I think there’s been a little bit too much emphasis on money. I think we talk about funding a lot – there has to be more than funding, it has to go much more structural than that.

“[levelling up] is also about healthcare, it’s about education outcomes – it’s a much bigger package of work.”

Bridget Phillipson branded levelling-up a “vacuous slogan, where they take with one hand, pull vast sums of money out of communities like Barnsley…and then expect gratitude when they give them a couple of million quid here and there for a particular project.

“I want to see a big change in business taxation when it comes to business areas, so that high streets can be properley competitive.”