Thank you for joining our coverage of this afternoon's session of PMQs, which will be the last until MPs come back in September after the summer recess.

Today's session turned out to be a fairly low key affair, with Rishi Sunak opting not to try and score political points weeks after leading his party to a historic defeat.

We're wrapping up this live page this afternoon but we've got plenty more interesting political news and analysis for you to read:

• Chris Mason: Starmer’s ruthless streak on show again
• Starmer vows Ukraine support in low-key first PMQs
• Coverage of Eluned Morgan becoming Wales' first female leader
• James Cleverly urges Tory 'discipline' in leadership bid
• David Lammy arrives in India for trade talks

Thank you for reading along and enjoy the rest of your day.

Dominic Casciani
Home and legal correspondent

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has laid new rules in Parliament that lift the previous government's ban on processing asylum claims from people who have arrived without permission from a safe country – in essence almost everyone seeking refugee protection after travelling across Europe.

This is a major change in policy and means that case workers will now be able to decide whether someone who crosses the English Channel needs protection – for instance, if they are coming from war-torn Syria to join family in the UK – or if they should be rejected as having come from somewhere safe.

The new law, external basically returns the UK to the same legal position as comparable nations. Labour hopes that in starting to process claims it will bring down the enormous backlog of people sitting in limbo – predicted to top 100,000 by the year end if nothing is done.

Dr Wanda Wyporska, from the refugee charity Safe Passage International, said "common sense" has prevailed – but she says the new government must go further and create routes for refugees that will stop people turning to people smugglers.

What the change does not address is the wider challenge of removing from the UK people who have no right to protection. The government says its priorities including improving agreements to return people to their home countries – but that may take a lot longer to become a reality.

Image source, PA Media

Another major milestone for Keir Starmer today - his first PMQs on this side of the Commons, and the first PMQs with a Labour prime minister in more than a decade.

Here are some takeaways:

• The tone of today's exchange was widely seen as more good-natured and friendlier than PMQs has been in the past, with new leader of the opposition Rishi Sunak making a joke at his own expense (he said Team GB wouldn't want his advice on "how to win")
• Sunak focused his questions on national security issues where the Conservatives and Labour largely align, including on support for Ukraine
• When Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked Starmer to provide more support for carers, Starmer thanked Davey for being a "tireless campaigner" for carers' rights

• The SNP's Stephen Flynn was more combative, attacking the prime minister over the two-child benefit cap
• Several new faces were seen in the Commons, with questions coming from Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay and Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, while Reform leader Nigel Farage looked on

Rishi Sunak has just finished his first PMQs as leader of the opposition, but he'll only be in that post for a few more months.

Today, nominations for the Conservative Party's leadership contest officially open.

Head here for a reminder of how the contest works - but in short, leadership hopefuls need the backing of 10 other MPs by Monday to stay in the race.

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly became the first to officially announce his candidacy last night, but more MPs are expected to enter the race soon.

Former cabinet ministers Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick are among those expected to throw their hats into the ring.

You'll find all the updates on the BBC website as new candidates announce they're running.

Image source, PA Media

John Healey, the defence secretary, has signed a new defence pact with Germany during a diplomatic tour across Europe, which includes closer cooperation on arms manufacturing, joint operations and supporting Ukraine.

Healey said the declaration signed today will "kick-start" a wider defence agreement the government is seeking with Germany and which Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed at the Nato summit earlier this month.

Labour has made closer cooperation on defence with European allies a central part of its foreign policy approach.

Healey's visit to Europe included talks in Paris yesterday and the defence secretary will also go to Poland and Estonia, where he will meet British troops taking part in Nato operations on the border with Russia.

Image source, BAE Systems

During Sunak's questions at PMQs we heard him urging the prime minister to continue talks with Saudi Arabia over the Tempest jet programme.

In case you're not familiar with that topic, the programme is a major defence development project being undertaken by the UK, Japan and Italy. It was first announced in 2022.

Manufacturers in all three countries, backed by their governments, are aiming to build a next generation fighter aircraft by the mid-2030s, equipped with AI technology and modern weapons.

Sunak confirmed his government held "positive" talks with the Saudis over them joining the Tempest programme and urged Starmer to pursue the partnership.

That would potentially open up new funding for the ambitious programme - but any move to deepen defence ties with the Saudis could prove controversial given international concern over human rights in the kingdom.

Starmer did not respond directly on whether he supported Saudi involvement in Tempest but expressed his wider backing for the programme.

Image source, PA Media

The Office for National Statistics has published data for crime in England and Wales, in the year to March.

According to the report, the number of shoplifting offences has risen to a 20-year high - a total of 443,995 offences were logged, up 30% on the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, the number of offences involving theft from the person stood at 131,453 - up 17% from on the previous 12 months.

Knife crime offences were up 4% - compared to the year before.

The home secretary says the ONS figures reflect "a devastating legacy" of the Conservative government on law and order.

Yvette Cooper says Labour is committed to get neighbourhood police "back on the beat", after describing their presence as "plummeting".

How much do carers save the government?published at 14:11 British Summer Time 24 July

14:11 BST 24 July

By Anthony Reuben

Earlier at PMQs, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey raised an interesting figure when talking about people who provide care for family members.

"Family carers save the taxpayer £162bn a year," he said.

That figure covering England and Wales was calculated by Carers UK and researchers at University of Sheffield., external

They looked at responses from the Census in 2021, external, which asked whether people help or support anyone with long-term physical or mental health conditions or problems relating to old age outside their jobs.

It also asked carers to put themselves in bands based on how many hours a week they did that – 19 hours or less, 20 to 49 hours or more than 50 hours.

The researchers multiplied the approximate number of hours by £25 an hour and came up with the £162bn a year figure.

Clearly, that is an estimate and the people being cared for would not necessarily qualify for the same amount of care if it was paid for, but it is a good indication of the scale of the issue.

Labour MP Steve Reed is asked on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme why the party can't "tolerate" some dissent, following the suspension of seven Labour MPs for voting against the government.

Reed says you have to look "at the inheritance this government has had" from the Tories - saying the party has been clear the money they need to do what they want to do is "not there now".

He says Labour wants to grow the economy.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Andrew Griffith is asked about the PM saying they found "crisis" and "failure" everywhere when they took office.

Griffith contents this - saying the war in Ukraine and the pandemic have impacted the economy. He also says inflation has fallen back to its 2% target level and the UK is the fasting growing G7 economy.

He says Starmer's government has inherited a situation that is "infinitely better" than the one the Conservative's got in 2010, when "we got that note saying there is not money left, and that was indeed true".

We reported last night that seven Labour MPs had the whip suspended for six months after voting against the government on an SNP amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, abstained on the vote.

Now, she tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that "ideally" she would have "voted in favour of stopping the two-child benefit".

Ribeiro-Addy says the Labour whips explained that, as far as they were concerned, voting for an opposition amendment in this circumstance was about "a matter of confidence in the government".

In terms of the seven MPs, she says she stands in "solidarity" with them and will be calling for them to have the whip restored.

What is the two-child benefit cap?published at 13:15 British Summer Time 24 July

13:15 BST 24 July

By Gerry Georgieva

The two-child benefit cap was introduced in 2015 and restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

Currently, 440,000 UK households are affected by the cap, external and don’t receive child tax credit or universal credit for at least one of their children.

There are 1.6 million children living in such households.

There are certain exceptions to the rule, including for children born as a result of multiple births (e.g. triplets) or of rape, which affects 24,000 households.

The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that removing the benefit cap would cost the government £3.4bn a year, but would remove approximately half a million children, external from relative poverty.

Image source, PA Media

Here are the key moments from Starmer's first PMQs

• Rishi Sunak used his questions to offer the new government his party's support on Ukraine and national security issues, refraining from attacking Labour on political matters
• He urged Starmer to consider Kyiv's requests for more aid and to continue talks with Saudi Arabia over the Tempest jet, a new fighter aircraft under development in the UK
• Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used his questions to push the prime minister on support for carers, after which Starmer thanked him for being a "tireless campaigner" on the subject
• Davey said there is now a "once in a century" opportunity to fix the system following the election result
• The SNP were more combative and used their questions to attack Starmer over the government's position on the two-child benefit cap, which led to seven Labour MPs rebelling last night

• Starmer also faced questions from backbenchers about illegal immigration, regional funding and plans to remove the VAT exemption for private schools
• In a relatively good natured return to PMQs, there was even room for some jokes, including Sunak saying Team GB wouldn't welcome his advice on "how to win" and Starmer poking fun at Davey's penchant for wetsuits

Stay tuned for analysis from our politics team.

What’s happened to child poverty?published at 12:51 British Summer Time 24 July

12:51 BST 24 July

By Gerry Georgieva

If housing costs are taken into account, 3.6 million children - about one in four in the UK - live in households in absolute poverty.

The figure for 2022-23 was nearly 320,000 more children than in the year before – the largest increase in over 40 years.

Absolute poverty is a measure of households who can afford less than 60% of what the average income would have bought in 2010-11, adjusted for rising prices.

This has historically fallen over time and the current level of absolute poverty is slightly lower than when the Conservatives came to power in 2010, when it was 3.7 million children.

Another measure – relative poverty – talks about households earning less than 60% of the current average income. More children are currently in relative poverty – 4.3 million, or almost one in three children – than 14 years ago. This is projected to increase further, external.

A new look House of Commons - but don't expect exchanges like today to lastpublished at 12:44 British Summer Time 24 July

12:44 BST 24 July

Chris Mason
Political editor

A new look House of Commons has its first outing for its flagship weekly event: Prime Minister’s Question Time.

Rishi Sunak, now the leader of the opposition, swerved partisan bickering with his set of questions about Ukraine — and so maintained his so far magnanimous approach to defeat.

It can’t be easy standing up and asking questions towards a colossal wall of Labour MPs, who personify the scale of what has just happened.

Sir Keir Starmer arrived to the inevitable cheers from his own side - clutching his folder, flicking the papers after each question to a new page: a picture of the MP whose question he is facing, and key lines (indecipherable from here in the Press Gallery) highlighted.

Exchanges like today’s will soon prove atypical and the noise will return.

Around the chamber a new feel and new faces: Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay asking a question, Nigel Farage looking on as Reform UK Rupert Lowe asks a question just two examples.

And Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, now a few rows forward as leader of the third biggest party at Westminster - and so guaranteed questions in this session every week.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay asks how the PM will show leadership on the "existential issue" of nature recovery.

Starmer says nature is a "really important issue".

The PM then hits back at Ramsay, saying: "He talks about leadership, and I'd ask him to show some", accusing him of opposing "vital clean energy infrastructure" in his own constituency.

We're going to wrap up the questions from the Commons there, but stay with us as we bring you analysis and more updates on Starmer's first PMQs as prime minister.

Bill Esterson from Labour is now asking about offshore wind.

The Tories want to block initiatives related to renewable energy, he says, and asks whether the PM will support a "range of technologies" to maximise the benefits of clean energy for the UK.

Starmer says clean energy is at the heart of the government.

He says he'll be changing the planning rules to "get Britain building again", and he'll look at energy proposals carefully.

Rupert Lowe now takes to his feet.

The Reform UK MP says his constituents in Great Yarmouth have "little doubt that uncontrolled legal and illegal immigration since 1997 has damaged and disrupted their community"

He says this has "undermined" their local services - asking the PM if this has "failed" the country.

"I'm not sure I agree with his numbers", Starmer responds.

He goes on to say Channel crossings are a "serious" issue and the previous government "lost control of our borders".

Starmer says he will set up Labour's border security plans to take down the gangs that operate this trade.

A different type of PMQs as Sunak focuses on foreign policypublished at 12:37 British Summer Time 24 July

12:37 BST 24 July

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

This PMQs feels new on many levels. Not just because there are so many new faces. Not just because Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are in new positions on opposite sides of the House of Commons.

But this PMQs also feels new in its content and tone. What was a feisty arena for landing pre-election messages the last time PMQs was held, has been transformed.

“I wholeheartedly agree,” is not how you usually hear a prime minister respond to their opposite number. But that’s how Starmer began one answer to Sunak’s questions, which focused on Ukraine.

Sunak is in an unusual position. He knows he is just an interim leader of the Conservatives. A more permanent leader will be elected in the autumn.

It is more difficult for him to channel the power and impetus of a leader of the opposition to hold the government to account. That is perhaps why he chose to focus his questions on an area of foreign policy where the two largest parties largely agree, rather than an area of policy where they disagree.

SNP MP Pete Wishart attacks the prime minister over the "significant rebellion" on the two-child benefit cap vote last night.

Seven Labour MPs from the left of the party have been suspended after voting against the government on the policy.

Wishart asks if the honeymoon period is already over for the PM.

Starmer says the SNP is in no position to be giving lectures after its performance at the election and again points to the statistics on child poverty north of the border.

Next up is Christine Jardine from the Liberal Democrats, who is asking about school capacity in Scotland.

What will the implications be on the state school system from removing the VAT exemption from private schools, she asks.

Starmer says he understands the aspirations of parents that work hard have for their children.

Every parent has that aspiration, whichever school they go to, he says.

He says he is determined that the right teachers will be in place to ensure every child has the same opportunity.