Prime Minister's Questions: Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer clash on economy – BBC News

Video content

Catherine McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, speaks about how crime rates in nearby Tory-run Teesside are among the highest in the country.

She says the PM has not only lost control of his party of “but crime in this country”.

“What a joke,” Sunak responds.

He says crime has been cut by 50% under this government.

Sunak adds people with a Labour police and crime commissioner are more likely to be victims of burglary and other crimes.

“Vote Conservative for safer streets,” he says.

Rochdale MP George Galloway asks about Sunak’s phone call on Monday, during which the PM reportedly urged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint.

Galloway asks what Sunak will he do if an “unrestrained war” begins, given that Netanyahu’s government has “killed and maimed” more than 100,000 people in six months, 72% of them women and children.

Sunak says Netanyahu thanked the UK for its help in protecting Israel against Iran’s drone attacks.

They discussed Iran’s isolation on the world stage, he adds.

The PM says escalation is not in anyone’s interests and it is “time for calm heads”.

The prime minister told MPs: “We have just cut taxes by £900 for a typical worker”.

He is talking about the impact of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s two cuts in National Insurance (NI) of 2p in the pound each – totalling a 4% decrease.

The average wage for a full-time employee is about £35,000, and that person will indeed pay about £900 less in NI this year as a result of the changes.

But that worker will also be paying tax on more of their salary because of previous government decisions. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that they will actually only be £340 better off.

Conservative MP Nickie Aiken asks about the rise in violent crime and robberies in London.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has failed Londoners, and they should send him a message on 2 May that he has let them down, she says.

Sunak says he agrees with her.

Video content

The SNP’s Alison Thewliss welcomes a Ukrainian MP inside the chamber, and says “Slava Ukraini” – meaning “Glory to Ukraine”.

She asks Sunak about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s calls for more defence equipment for Ukraine.

Sunak responds that he was the first foreign leader to visit Ukraine this year in a show of support.

He says the UK has increased its aid since then, including in air defence, and will continue to do so.

The UK wants to see Ukraine free from Russian tyranny, he adds.

And that wraps up the first PMQs after Easter recess.

Stay with us as we catch you up on a few more exchanges between Rishi Sunak and MPs in the Commons.

Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney, representing Richmond Park, says her constituent in the gallery charged £7,000 to read a transcript of the trial in which her ex-boyfriend was convicted of raping her.

“Justice should not have a price tag,” she says. She asks if Sunak supports her party’s amendment to the Victims’ Bill that would give victims the right to read summing up and sentencing remarks free of charge.

Sunak says the government is committed to improving victims’ access to court transcripts and that a one-year trial will look at the demand for it.

Liberal Democrat Helen Morgan asks about long waiting times in hospital accident and emergency departments.

When, she asks, will Sunak get on with fixing these problems?

The PM says, with record funding and an emergency care plan, his government is delivering more ambulances and beds, and faster hospital discharges.

He adds that his plan is working, with both ambulance and A&E waiting times down this winter for the first time in years.

Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns asks about the controversy surrounding Angela Rayner’s sale of her council house. Does the PM agree that complete transparency is of the utmost importance?

Sunak replies that the same rules apply to everyone. The Labour leaders should publish the legal advice and “get a grip of the situation,” he says.

Flynn now asks Sunak why he is not allowing the people of Scotland to democratically express their wishes about Scottish independence.

Sunak says “we had a democratic vote on that topic”.

He adds that rather than “obsessing” over independence and “cracking down on free speech” and trying to “lock up JK Rowling”, they should focus on what people of Scotland care about: schools, hospitals, jobs and Tory tax cuts.

SNP Commons leader Stephen Flynn asks if Sunak agrees with Gordon Brown that the forces pulling the UK apart are stronger than forces holding it together.

Sunak says he agrees with Brown that Scotland would be stronger in the UK.

Copyright: BBC

There must be an election coming.

And there is: the local elections in England and Wales in just over a fortnight.

Then the general election to follow within months.

Labour are doubling down on their attacks on the Conservative idea of scrapping National Insurance.

The Tories see it as a double tax on working people alongside income tax.

But Labour are seeking to weaponise the idea – asking how it would be paid for, suggesting it could lead to cuts to the NHS or the state pension.

The Conservatives say it is a long-term ambition and point to their instincts to cut taxes when they can.

The PM says his government has just increased the state pension by £900 and promised to keep the “triple lock” for pensions in the next parliament.

People are better off being treated by the NHS in Conservative-run England than Labour-run Wales, he adds.

Yet again, says Sunak, Starmer is sniping instead of setting out his plans for the country.

Meanwhile the Tories are delivering a brighter future – with taxes and inflation down, wages up and free childcare expanded, the PM says.

Starmer says the PM had two chances to rule out cuts to the state pension.

Starmer says he is giving Sunak one more chance to answer the question. He asks the PM again: Is the £46bn promise to abolish National Insurance being paid for by tax, the NHS or pensions?

The biggest roar from the Conservative benches – by a mile – came with Rishi Sunak’s pop at Keir Starmer that he should spend less time reading Liz Truss’s book and more reading Angela Rayner’s tax advice.

The prime minister is punching at a Labour bruise: the ongoing police investigation into Angela Rayner’s living arrangements before she became an MP.

Sunak says his government has delivered the biggest tax cut for businesses since the 1980s.

He then quotes Starmer recently saying he would put up taxes.

“It’s always the same … higher taxes and working people paying the price,” Sunak says.

Starmer makes the point “no single politician has ever put up tax more” than Sunak has.

He adds the PM was given the chance to rule out cutting the NHS or state pensions to pay for scrapping National Insurance, and accuses him of dodging the question.

Starmer asks if Sunak will now rule out cuts to the NHS, cuts to the state pension or putting up taxes to pay for the “unfunded” £46bn plan.

The PM says he has just cut taxes by £900 for the typical worker – and cut business taxes.

Labour, he adds, is already putting them up in Wales, Birmingham and London.

Sunak says it’s “always the same” with Labour. The party puts taxes up at the expense of working people, he says.