Sir Keir Starmer spent most of this week in Mallorca. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

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The opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer this week enjoyed a break away from Westminster in Mallorca with his wife Victoria and their two children as the economic slump in the UK deepened.

Starmer spent a few days at a luxury hotel in Puerto Soller while coming under fire for having gone “missing in action”.

He insisted the party had been “leading” on the crisis and that the Tories had stolen his idea of a windfall tax.

On his return to London on Friday, Labour's leader has robustly defended his response to rising energy bills, arguing his party has been "leading" on the worsening cost-of-living crisis.
Sir Keir Starmer said Labour had already made proposals to lower costs, including taking VAT off energy bills.

He called Boris Johnson a "lame duck" prime minister who was "not prepared to do anything" on soaring living costs.
He said Labour would end energy prepayment meters premiums and more policies would follow next week.

Some backbench Labour MPs have criticised Sir Keir for being on holiday as the crisis over skyrocketing energy bills - driven by global economic turmoil - deepened this week.

When asked about discontent within his party over his response, Sir Keir said Labour had proposed policies such as a windfall tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies and cutting VAT on energy bills months ago, long before they were on the government's radar.

"For the best part of 12 months, Labour has been absolutely leading on this issue," Sir Keir said. "And I'm very proud of the work we've done."