Dowden says Labour will have disregarded millions of property owners if it raises employer National Insurance tax.

He then cites IFS findings on raising National Insurance, calling a raise a "jobs tax". He asks Rayner whether she agrees with the IFS.

Rayner responds, saying the Tories said "f to business", and cites the recent international investment summit held by the government, saying Labour are "pro-business and pro-worker".

For his next question, Dowden asks Rayner about whether five million small business owners are considered working people.

Rayner responds by saying that working people have borne the brunt of the Tories' economic crisis.

Image source, UK Parliament / PA

Angela Rayner shoots back at Dowden and says that the definition is the people that the Tories have betrayed the past 14 years.

Oliver Dowden begins by asking Angela Rayner what her definition is of "working people" - a nod, ahead of next week's Budget, to Labour's election promise not to raise taxes on that group.

Image source, UK Parliament

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is in the chamber for today's Prime Minister's Questions, which is due to get under way in the next few minutes.

She will face questions from deputy Tory leader Oliver Dowden, before the floor is opened up to other MPs.

We'll bring you live updates and you can also follow the action by clicking the Watch live button at the top of this page.

Image source, Reuters

While we don't know what topics are coming up in the Commons, that's a question the deputy prime minister could face at PMQs.

With Keir Starmer away, Angela Rayner – also secretary of state for housing, communities and local government – will be out to bat for the government.

But it comes only a week after reports emerged that she had written to the Treasury to voice concerns over the scale of cuts expected in next week’s budget.

PMQs is a time for the opposition parties to express their concern and ask probing questions, so if it’s the case that the deputy prime minister herself is worried about her own government’s plans, it potentially gives them ammunition.

Rayner has not denied the reports, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she has now reached spending settlements with all government departments ahead of the Budget.

Image source, PA Media

While we'll be hearing from deputy Tory leader Oliver Dowden today, the race to succeed his boss Rishi Sunak as party leader is down to the final two.

Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick remain in the contest, which will be decided in 10 days' time.

Six Conservative MPs began in the contest to take over from Sunak and since 4 September, Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly have all lost their spot in the race.

Badenoch and Jenrick will now face party members who will pick the winner.

Party members will be able to cast their vote until 31 October, and the winner will be announced on 2 November - at which point Sunak will formally stand down.

Image source, PA Media

Just after PMQs, we’re expecting a statement from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on a review into how firearms police officers who take fatal shots in the line of duty are held to account.

It comes after firearms officer Martyn Blake was cleared of the murder of unarmed 24-year-old Chris Kaba in south London in September 2022.

After Blake was charged, hundreds of firearms officers handed in their weapons.

Yesterday, former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe called for changes to the law to give firearms officers who take fatal shots "the benefit of the doubt".

Last year, then-home secretary Suella Braverman pledged to review the ways that firearms officers who take fatal shots are held to account.

But since the change in government, no firm plans have been set out to continue the process.

Kaba's family said the acquittal of Blake was a failure "for all those affected by police violence" and that they would "continue fighting for Chris, for justice, and for real change".

Back in Westminster, Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she has now reached spending settlements with all government departments ahead of her much-anticipated Budget next week.

It comes after reports of Treasury rows with multiple departments over the expected scale of spending cuts.

Reeves told BBC Radio 5’s Matt Chorley she had struck deals with all her cabinet colleagues - and in line with tradition, popped all balloons put up in the Treasury to represent each department's funding agreement.

While sympathising with "the mess" her colleagues had inherited, Reeves insisted departments needed to find savings to balance the budget on 30 October.

• You can read more on this story here

Image source, PA/Getty

Let's bring you more on the news of Donald Trump's team accusing the Labour Party of election interference.

The Trump campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington seeking an immediate investigation into alleged "blatant foreign interference".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has played down the significance of alleged interference and said party staff going to the US to campaign for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris were volunteers "doing it in their spare time" and staying with other volunteers.

The PM denied the row risked jeopardising his relationship with Trump.

The row was sparked by a now-deleted social media post from Labour's head of operations, Sofia Patel, that she had about 100 current and former party staff heading to America before polling day.

• We've got a separate live page on the US election which is reporting the latest on this story - and you can follow that here

Marita Moloney
Live editor

It's Wednesday and the Commons is sitting which means one thing: Prime Minister's Questions is back again.

But today's session will be a little different, as deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is standing in for Keir Starmer, who is in Samoa for a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government.

She'll face deputy Tory leader Oliver Dowden, who is filling in for Rishi Sunak.

While on his 28-hour flight to Samoa, Starmer faced a row on a more global scale compared to the usual cut and thrust of the UK Parliament.

Donald Trump's team has accused the Labour Party of election interference after it sent volunteers to campaign for Kamala Harris in the US election. Starmer has tried to play down the row, telling the BBC Labour has long sent volunteers to US elections.

Could Rayner be quizzed on this today? All will be revealed from midday when PMQs kicks off - and we'll be here to bring you build-up, key lines and analysis, so stay tuned.