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Starmer says he won't allow definition of Islamophobia to bring back blasphemy law
Graham Stringer (Lab) asks for an assurance that there will be no reintroduction of a blasphemy law via a definition of Islamophobia.
Starmer says he is happy to give that assurance.
Layla Moran (Lib Dem) asks about two constituents facing unreasonable service charges for leaseholders. Will the PM back Lib Dem plans to end these rip-off charges?
Starmer says the government’s leaseholder and freeholder bill should address this. He says Moran is making good points.
Oliver Ryan (Lab) asks if the PM will support a modern framework for neurology in the NHS.
Starmer says the 10-year plan for the NHS should improve care in this area.
Jerome Mayhew (Con) says Rachel Reeves implied in her budget that she was cutting taxes for small businesses when the opposite is the case. Will the government at least admit that?
Starmer says temporary business rates relief was put in place by the last government. That is coming to an end. And there is a revaluation.
But there will be transitional relief, he says.
Starmer says only 3% of criminal cases will be affected by decision to restrict access to jury trials
Paul Holmes (Con) says Starmer in the past said jury trials should be in place for all criminal trials.
Starmer says the Tories left a system where victims of serious crimes are having to wait three or four years to come to trial. That is not justice, he says.
Starmer says only 10% of criminals cases go to crown court. And 7% plead guilty at crown court. So this decision (the proposals to restrict jury trials) only affects 3% of criminal cases, he says.
Starmer rejects call from Lib Dems for UK to rejoin customs union with EU
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, asks if the PM will convene Cobra to discuss the problem with the water supply being cut off at Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Starmer says he is aware of this problem, and wants it sorted out.
Davey says the PM’s economic adviser is telling him to join the customs union as a means of boosting growth. Will the PM take this advice?
Starmer says he wants closer relations with the EU. But the government has “clear red lines” on the customs union and the single market, he says. (He is referring to the government saying it won’t join them.)
Claire Hanna (SDLP) asks if Starmer agrees that it would be sensible for the government to prepare for possible Irish reunification, to prevent what happened with Brexit, when the country voted for leaving the EU without a plan being in place.
Starmer says the government supports the Good Friday agreement (which proposes a referendum on reunification, but only when there is evidence of clear support for the idea).
Badenoch says we saw “a broken budget for Benefits Street”. (She has to say it twice, as she mangles the alliteration first time.) She says Starmer only cares about one person’s job – his own.
Starmer says Badenoch wants to put 500,000 children back into poverty. And she wants the chancellor to resign because the economy is improving.
Badenoch says Starmer removed the whip from MPs who voted to remove the cap last years.
John McDonnell, who she calls a “hard-left” Labour MP, said he and his allies had won. He was right, she says.
Starmer says Badenoch should be ashamed of what the Tories did on child poverty. He says she should apologise.
Badenoch says Reeves faked things like her CV. She lives in la-la land.
She says Starmer used to say getting rid of the two-child benefit cap was unaffordable. How did it become affordable when it was needed to save the PM’s skin?
Starmer says getting rid of the cap will lift 500,000 children out of poverty.
Badenoch asks why the head of the OBR had to resign over market sensitive leaks when Reeves didn’t.
Starmer defends the government’s record.
He says the OBR said yesterday that Reeves’s 4 November speech was not misleading. So Badenoch should apologise.
Starmer says Badenoch is 'losing the plot' after she claims Reeves faces inquiry into market manipulation over budget
Badenoch says the head of the OBR was forced out for telling the truth, that the chancellor did not need to raise taxes.
And Rachel Reeves was briefing the media.
If she was a CEO, she would be fired. And she might even be prosecuted.
So will the government cooperate with any FCA investigation?
Starmer says Badenoch is “losing the plot”.
Kemi Badenoch starts by paying tribute to the former Tory MP John Stanley, who has died.
Does the PM agree that when an organisation “descends into total shambles” the person at the top should resign.
Starmer says he is very proud of what was in the budget.
Ian Lavery (Lab) asks about poverty in the north-east of England. He says they are a proud breed, and deserve “much more than this”. Is there much for them to look forward to?
Starmer says the Tory MPs should be ashamed of heckling Lavery for talking about poverty. He says the government is acting to cut poverty.
Starmer says government action to cut price of formula milk could save some parents £500
Keir Starmer starts by saying the budged helped to tackle the cost of living.
Today the government is going further. It is cutting the price of infant formula milk by issuing new guidance to retailers. This could save some parents up to £500 a year, he claims.
