Asya Robins
Live reporter

That wraps up another week of Prime Minister's Questions. This iteration mainly revolved around the economy and the government's reforms to the welfare system.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described next week's Spring Statement as an "emergency budget", and said Labour's decision to raise employers' National Insurance (NI) contributions had damaged the economy.

Starmer's responses focused on the argument that the previous government had "crashed the economy", and that Labour was having to fill a financial black hole.

Labour MP Diane Abbott brought up the government's announcements on welfare, making the case - which other Labour MPs have also put forward - that the main motivation for the reforms were Starmer's and Chancellor Rachel Reeves's need for about £10bn of savings for next week's Spring Statement.

We've summarised all key moments in our live coverage and for more detail you can read the full story from the BBC's political reporter Becky Morton.

Thanks for joining us and see you again next week.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

It was left to Diane Abbott, who had the last question at PMQs, to ask about welfare, the highly contentious issue which has dominated this week and will be back atop the political agenda before long.

She made the case - also made privately by Labour MPs across party factions - that the main motivation for these reforms being announced now is that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves need about £10bn of savings for the Spring Statement next week.

Why? Because the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is thought to have told the Treasury that their "headroom", or leeway against meeting their own borrowing rules, has been wiped out by the rising cost of government borrowing.

Kemi Badenoch made an argument today that the fact next Wednesday will be more significant than originally planned - essentially, the fact that the headroom has gone - is a sign that October’s Budget was a failure.

Those in government argue that the rise in the cost of government borrowing has been driven mainly by global factors, which the government here could not have affected.

The sensitivity of the welfare reforms shows why those economic questions which might at first blush seem dry and technical really matter, politically in Westminster and for millions of people across Britain.

Are Labour's migrant returns a 'record'?published at 13:53 Greenwich Mean Time 19 March

13:53 GMT 19 March

By Lucy Gilder, BBC Verify

During PMQs Keir Starmer said, on tackling illegal migration, "this government has already delivered … record returns of people who shouldn’t be here".

Although returns under his government are higher than comparable periods in recent years, they are not the highest on record.

Between July and December 2024 - the latest quarterly data and Labour’s first six months in office - 17,358 forced and voluntary returns were recorded, external.

But there were several years where numbers were higher – for example, 2011 (under the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition government) when 23,854 returns were recorded between July and December.

Will welfare reforms impact a million people?published at 13:21 Greenwich Mean Time 19 March

13:21 GMT 19 March

By Gerry Georgieva, BBC Verify

At PMQs, Labour MP Diane Abbott commented on her party’s welfare reform plan and said it means "cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people".

Her claim appears to be based on analysis from the Resolution Foundation think tank yesterday, external. It estimates that between 800,000 and 1.2 million people would lose between £4,200 and £6,300 per year by 2029-30, due to changes to the Personal Independence Payment (Pip) ‘daily living’ component.

So far, there has been no official impact assessment from the government of the number of people likely to be affected by the changes, that will be published at the time of the Spring Statement next week.

Ben Hatton
Live reporter

Image source, UK Parliament

PMQs has just wrapped. Here's what we heard:

• Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch focused her questions on the economy, referring to next week's Spring Statement as an "emergency budget" and claiming Labour's decision to raise employers' National Insurance (NI) contributions has damaged the economy
• Starmer said his government has delivered record investment, claiming the previous government under the Conservatives "crashed the economy, we're rebuilding Britain"
• The Tory leader challenged Starmer to say whether hospices would be exempt from what she called the "jobs tax", and if the government would recommit to extending the freeze on income tax thresholds
• Starmer did not directly address either question, saying the government had "made provision" for hospices and that the Conservatives have not committed to scrapping the NI rise - despite their criticism
• Lib Dem leader Ed Davey also focused on the NI increase, askingStarmer if he would support an amendment to exempt some care providers - Starmer did not directly answer, but said you can't have more money for the NHS and oppose ways to raise the cash

• Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott said the welfare system does need reform, but there is "nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people". She accused the Treasury of wanting to balance the books on the back of the most vulnerable
• Starmer said the current system is "broken", and that having one in eight young people not in employment, education or training is a "moral issue"

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Earlier, Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson was attempting to catch the Speaker's eye. No sign of leader Nigel Farage this week. Rupert Lowe, who has been expelled from the party, was here at the start of the session in a different section of the opposition benches. No sign of him now though.

Lee Anderson did get his question - which starts with a swipe at "glazed expressions" and "waffle". What effect on the climate would there be if net zero was achieved now?

Starmer batted it away and then accused Reform of "fawning over Putin" - one of Labour’s regular attack lines.

He can’t resist a jibe at Reform’s internal troubles either, saying they could all fit in the back of a taxi.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

The house falls silent as Diane Abbott rises to take the PM - and her party leader - to take over his claim that cutting benefits is the "moral" thing to do.

It’s a powerful intervention from the Mother of the House and Starmer answers respectfully, while defending his position.

Diane Abbott, Mother of the House and Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, gets the final question, and brings up welfare.

"There is nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people," she says, arguing the Treasury is trying to balance the books "off the back of the most vulnerable".

Starmer says the current system is broken and disagrees, saying it is a moral issue that one in eight young people are not in employment or training.

All the evidence suggests that young people will struggle to get out of the level of dependency they have on benefits, Starmer says.

He says he is "genuinely shocked that a million young people are in that position" and won't shrug his shoulders at that.

That completes PMQs for today.

Image source, UK Parliament

Liberal Democrats MP Lee Dillon pivots to Ukraine, praising President Volodymyr Zelensky for his wartime leadership.

He says it’s clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing for time in negotiations, and asks the Starmer whether now is the time to seize frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine.

Starmer says he spoke to Zelensky last night, after the Putin-Trump phone call, to discuss the way forward.

Regarding frozen assets, he says the issue is "complicated” but the government is working to see what is possible.

Reform UK MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, asks the prime minister "on behalf of all the net zero sceptics", by how much the Earth's temperature would reduce if the UK "became net zero tomorrow".

Net zero means no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Starmer responds by saying net zero is not easy but is a "huge opportunity" to boost growth, jobs and the economy.

Image source, UK Parliament

Liberal Democrat MP for Epsom and Ewell, Helen Maguire, asks if the prime minister will commit to a youth mobility scheme between the UK and the European Union (EU).

In response, Starmer says they are working closely with European colleagues to "reset" the relationship.

"We won't be returning to freedom of movement, I've made that repeatedly clear, but we are making good progress," he says.

Image source, UK Parliament

Moving on to the backbenchers, Tory MP Danny Kruger asks Starmer about his government's reforms to benefits, announced in the House of Commons yesterday.

Kruger says Labour had no plan to reform welfare, despite having 14 years out of government, accusing the government of cutting benefits for disabled people without consulting them.

In response, Starmer says the Tories had 14 years in government and a majority of 80 for the last five of them but they "simply broke the system" and are in "no place to lecture other people".

Image source, UK Parliament

Davey now turns to hare coursing, saying farmers are warning that it's "only a matter of time" before someone is killed.

He asks Starmer if he agrees on the importance of acting urgently against this issue, and if he would back the Liberal Democrats' calls for a comprehensive rural crime strategy.

Starmer says this issue is "a matter of deep concern".

He says the government is already developing a rural crime strategy, but will be happy to work with Davey to develop it further.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

That was a tricky question from Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey. Labour MPs will later be ordered to vote down a Lib Dem amendment that would exempt NHS care providers from the National Insurance rise.

Starmer tells him you can’t have more money for the NHS and oppose measures to raise it.

The Lib Dems will no doubt be taking down names of Labour MPs who vote against the amendment for use on election leaflets.

Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, brings up the impact of a National Insurance rise again.

Today, an amendment will be voted on that would make some care providers exempt from the rise. Davey says there are reports that Starmer will instruct his party to vote against this amendment.

Given this, he asks if the prime minister will reassure affected businesses that these reports are untrue.

Starmer does not answer the question, and instead speaks about the NHS.

He says they cannot build up funding on the NHS if they "don't raise the money".

Image source, UK Parliament

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Not a massively illuminating PMQs exchange between Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch.

But there was one striking moment, when it comes to looking ahead to the Spring Statement next week.

At the Budget in October, Rachel Reeves said that at the end of the parliamentary term the income tax thresholds would begin to rise again in line with inflation, ending a multiyear “stealth tax”.

Badenoch invited the prime minister to repeat that pledge, but he did not do so.

That may well be a clue as to one way the government is planning to fill the approximately £10 billion gap in its headroom against meeting its borrowing rules.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch returns to the economy, telling the PM and other MPs at the House of Commons that the chancellor had promised a once-in-a-Parliament Budget.

She then asks Starmer to commit to not extending freeze on income tax thresholds ahead of the Spring Statement, or as Badenoch keeps calling it "the emergency budget".

Starmer accuses Badenoch of not adapting to his answers due to scripted questions.

He takes the opportunity to further criticise the Conservative party's record on the economy and tout Labour's achievements in government since taking office after last summer's elections.

Badenoch tells Starmer that if the prime minister wants her to answer questions they can swap sides - which is met with roars in the room.

She goes on to ask the PM why he is "not listening to hospices".

Starmer says he has already set out his position in relation to hospices, and adds "heaven forbid" they swap sides after 14 years of the Conservatives "breaking everything".

He goes on to claim Badenoch has no policies of her own.

Badenoch says Starmer did not respond to her question on whether or not hospices, including children's hospices, would be exempt from the "jobs tax". She then asks the question again.

Starmer responds by saying the government has invested £100m for adults' and children's hospices.

He says the government's Budget focused on fixing the economy, which he says the Tories left badly damaged.

Continuing on the theme of the Budget, Badenoch says today the Conservatives will vote to make hospices, pharmacies and care providers exempt from a National Insurance rise. She asks if Starmer will support this exemption.

Starmer says Badenoch cannot make her mind up on National Insurance rises.

Loud jeering filling the room at the House of Commons means he has to briefly stop his response.

The PM continues, saying that his government has made provisions for hospices and charities, but they had to fill the black hole the Conservatives "disgracefully left".

Image source, UK Parliament