Sam Hancock
Live page editor

The final Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) of 2024 has been and gone, and - according to our political reporter Brian Wheeler, who was in the House of Commons watching along - it was noisy but not particularly memorable.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch went after the prime minister about Winter Fuel Payment cuts, describing it as a "cruel" policy that could leave pensioners at risk.

Keir Starmer argued Labour was forced to make difficult decisions when it took power, in order to stabilise the economy, but insisted his government's plan to increase the full state pension by £472 a year from April next year would mean older people are protected.

For a comprehensive look at their back and forth, and what else was mentioned during the Commons session, I'd recommend having a look at our comprehensive round-up from earlier. Meanwhile, our politics team have written a separate news story, delving into Starmer's comments on the row over the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign.

MPs will be on their Christmas recess from tomorrow, so that's a wrap on our weekly coverage of PMQs for 2024. Thanks for joining us, see you in the New Year.

Angela Rayner did previously speak out in support of Waspi womenpublished at 13:39 Greenwich Mean Time

13:39 GMT

By Tamara Kovacevic

Earlier at PMQs, Kemi Badenoch criticised Labour over its previous positions on the Waspi campaigners – women who have been calling for compensation, saying that previous governments failed to tell them - or provide adequate notice - about a change to women’s pension age.

Yesterday, the government said the Waspi women would not get compensation.

Badenoch said: "For years the Prime Minister and his cabinet played politics with the Waspi women. The DPM said Conservatives were stealing their pensions. She promised to compensate them in full. Another broken promise.”

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, like Keir Starmer and other members of his government, have spoken out in the past in support of the campaigners.

In a 2019 BBC interview, ahead of the general election, Rayner said: “They [the government]stole their [Waspi women’s] pensions…we’ve said we’d right that injustice andwithin the five years of the Labour government we’ll compensate them for themoney that they’ve lost.”, external

This pledge was part of Labour’s 2019 manifesto but it was not mentioned in the party’s 2024 manifesto.

Image source, PA Media

The Waspi campaign, which was mentioned several times at PMQs, says it is not against gender equalisation of the state pension age - instead, it's about how these changes have been made.

Specifically, it argues that around 3.6 million women have lost out financially because the government did not adequately communicate the changes over a number of years, meaning people could not properly plan for their retirement.

The government announced its plans to raise the state pension age for women in 1993, with the plan being to increase it gradually between 2010 and 2020. In 2010, the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition then sped up the process.

According to a parliamentary ombudsman, the government met the expected standards on communication on this issue between 1995 and 2004.

But it said "decision-making between 2005 and 2007 led to a 28-month delay in starting to send letters to 1950s-born women".

The ombudsman said research reported in 2004 showed information about the changes was not reaching the people who needed it most.

But the government "failed to take this feedback into account properly", the ombudsman said. The government proposed writing directly to the women affected in November 2006, but did not do so until December 2007.

Follow our ongoing live coverage of the Waspi row here.

Fact-checking Starmer's claim Tories were going to scrap Winter Fuel Paymentpublished at 13:16 Greenwich Mean Time

13:16 GMT

By Gerry Georgieva

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the government for restricting Winter Fuel Payment mainly to those receiving Pension Credit.

But the prime minister responded that the Conservative manifesto in 2017 included a commitment "to getting rid of the universal winter payments for pensioners".

Starmer is correct that, in 2017, Theresa May’s manifesto, external said they “will means-test Winter Fuel Payments, focusing assistance on the least well-off pensioners”.

The argument was that providing the benefit regardless of need gives “money to wealthier pensioners when working people on lower incomes do not get similar support”.

Both Boris Johnson’s 2019, external and Rishi Sunak’s 2024, external manifestos said that the Conservatives would keep Winter Fuel Payments, without specifying if those would continue to be universal.

Image source, House of Commons

The final session of PMQs for the year has just wrapped up, here's a look at the key moments:

• Winter fuel payments were high on the agenda today (an issue that has long plagued the government) - Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the prime minister of harming pensioners with the reduction in eligibility for winter fuel payments
• Keir Starmer responded that applications for Pension Credit were being driven up and that the triple-lock would protect pensioners
• After this morning's decision against compensating women hit by changes to the state pension age, multiple MPs put the Waspi issue to Starmer
• Mother of the House and Labour backbencher Dianne Abbott asked whether the PM understands why the women will feel let down today.Starmer said he understood the concerns, but the money simply isn't there
• Homelessness was another issue raised - Starmer pointed to building new houses and nearly £1bn for local councils to try to help get people into secure accommodation
• Starmer opened the session with thanks to those in the military and emergency services working over the festive season and extended warm wishes of Merry Christmas to everyone in the House, a sentiment echoed throughout the session

Keir Starmer has once again been challenged on his government's decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment.

The payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over 80s, paid in November or December.

From this winter, it will be restricted to those who qualify for pension credit and other means-tested help - so an estimated 10 million pensioners will no longer be eligible to receive it.

Several charities, unions and MPs have criticised the government’s decision to mean-test the payment.

The change only applies to England and Wales but Northern Ireland has expressed concerns that financial constraints could force Stormont to follow suit.

Has government driven up applications for Winter Fuel Payment?published at 12:49 Greenwich Mean Time

12:49 GMT

By Anthony Reuben

Asked about the government’s decision to restrict Winter Fuel Payment, mainly to those receiving Pension Credit, the prime minister said “we’ve been driving up” applications for the benefit with a campaign.

The number of claims for Pension Credit has increased sharply since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement at the end of July.

But there has been a backlog in processing those applications at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Tens of thousands of pensioners are unlikely to receive their money before the end of the year, analysis by BBC Verify suggests.

The DWP says it has brought in 500 extra staff but earlier today, Age UK told a committee of MPs: “It's overwhelmed DWP” although she added “they've tried really hard”.

• Read our full analysis of the implications of this Winter Fuel Payment backlog

Mother of the House Diane Abbott returns to the Waspi campaign, and says "we did promise them that we would give them justice".

The Labour MP says she understands "the issue about the cost", but asks Starmer if he really understands how let down those women feel today.

Starmer says he does understand the concern, but says the research is clear that "90% of those impacted did know" about the change to their state pension age.

"In those circumstances the taxpayer simply can't afford the burden of tens of billions of pounds of compensation," he says.

We're going to leave the back and forth from the Commons there - stay tuned for a round-up and some analysis.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Diane Abbott got her question. The House of Commons fell silent as she asked about whether the PM understood how let down the Waspi women feel.

Like many Labour MPs, this is an issue Abbott has campaigned on for many years.

She looked less than impressed with Starmer’s reply.

On his feet next is Lib Dem MP for Honiton and Sidmouth Richard Foord, who moves the discussion to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Foord argues any Donald Trump-brokered peace deal could be exploited by Vladimir Putin as a chance to re-arm and strengthen his forces, asking Starmer what he would do to "deter Russia from re-starting its imperial war of aggression".

The prime minister says the international community needs to keep supporting Ukraine and be clear that the conflict could end "straight away" if Russia "backed off".

Conservative MP John Lamont brings up the rise inheritance tax affecting farmers. He accuses the government of failing farmers, and says Labour promised not to raise taxes.

Starmer points to £5bn pounds towards farming in the Budget and two weeks ago, £350m was put into supporting farmers.

The prime minister says this contrasts with the £300m of underspend under the previous Tory government on farming.

We’re now hearing from Plaid Cymru’s Ben Lake, who questions Starmer about the decision by the government not to pay compensation in the Waspi pension case – mentioned by Badenoch at the start of PMQs.

Lake says: “In 2022, the prime minister supported calls for fair and fast compensation for 1950s women impacted by changes to the state pension. And yet, just yesterday, his government rejected those same calls out of hand."

Starmer describes the issue as “serious” and “unacceptable, but says the research shows 99% of those impacted knew about the changes taking place to the state pension.

He adds that the taxpayer "simply can't afford" to pay the compensation because of the "state of the economy".

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) says women born in the 1950s weren't properly told that their state pension age would rise from 60 to 65 (now 66) - with some now "furious" at the government's response.

Image source, UK Parliament

Labour backbencher Kirith Entwistle says that for many it won't be a happy Christmas, saying that under the last Conservative government "temporary homelessness more than doubled".

She asks what the government is doing to support people in temporary accommodation.

Starmer says she is right about the "appalling inheritance" from the Tories, which he says includes "record numbers" sleeping rough and almost 160,000 children living in temporary accommodation.

He says Labour is delivering nearly £1bn to councils to tackle homelessness, and will deal with the root of the issue by building 1.5 million new homes and abolishing so-called no-fault evictions - adding that the Tories promised to do the latter but "failed".

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

In answer to my earlier question, Nigel Farage is not attempting to catch the Speaker’s eye to ask a question.

Unlike Ed Davey and Kemi Badenoch the Reform UK leader does not automatically get the right to quiz the PM at these sessions because his party does not have enough MPs.

By contrast, Labour veteran Dianne Abbott is keen to ask a question.

The mother of the house - as the longest serving female MP is known - is clutching a tablet and bobbing up and down from her regular seat next to the Labour front bench.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Ed Davey roars with laughter at Starmer’s joke about his charity record, which the Lib Dems are trying to make Christmas number one.

Image source, UK Parliament

We’re now moving to Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey who moves the discussion to a topic close to his heart – carers and the support available to them.

He asks Starmer whether he will commit to ensuring young carers receive the support they need.

The prime minister agrees and points out to the House that his government has boosted carers’ allowance in the Budget.

He also teases Davey for "shamelessly plugging his song" whilst carolling outside Number 10 earlier this week.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent, reporting from the House of Commons

It’s not always been easy for Keir Starmer since becoming prime minister. The jubilation of victory in July has given way to the difficult dilemmas of government.

That’s sometimes been visible - audible, in fact - at PMQs, where the sound on the green benches behind Starmer has not always matched the extraordinary number of Labour MPs.

He’ll feel pleased with the way he closed the final joust of the year with Kemi Badenoch though.

The Conservative leader used all of her questions to press the prime minister on perhaps the two most controversial decisions of his brief tenure so far — the cut in winter fuel payments and the increase in the employer rate of national insurance.

“These are his choices,” she said. “Bad choices.”

But Starmer had a salvo prepared with which to hit back. He accused the Conservatives of leaving Labour with a £22 billion economic black hole, but broadened his attack to say the Conservatives were “talking the country down”.

That’s something the prime minister has been accused of too, especially early in his term, but the raucous cheers from Labour MPs shows that they enjoyed it.

The prime minister will be hoping he can secure lots more of that in 2025.

The prime minister has failed to make any assurances on funding hospices, Badenoch says, and accuses him making bad choices.

She invites him to set a new year resolution of "telling the truth".

Starmer is fiery in his response - "I'll do it right now - a £22bn black hole, record numbers on the NHS waiting list, immigration out of control".

MPs are shouting across the chamber as he speaks, and after an intervention by the Speaker, Starmer says that is why the Tories lost the election.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Badenoch moves from an attack on Labour’s “broken promises” on Waspi women and winter fuel to an accusation that Starmer is plotting to “give away our hard won Brexit freedoms”.

Starmer gets the final word as usual and uses it to mount a wide ranging attack on the Conservatives’ record with pride of place to the £22bn “black hole”.

A noisy encounter to end the year but not particularly memorable.

Image source, UK Parliament

Badenoch says she doesn't know what world Starmer is living in, describing the economy as "shrinking".

She says the hospice sector was also impacted by changes to employers' National Insurance contributions – which she calls a "jobs tax" – and asks Starmer to fund the sector.

Starmer says his government put a "record amount" into the NHS in the budget to "deal with the problem" the Tories left, saying they will set out the funding arrangements for hospices in the new year.

He accuses the Tories of wanting "all of the benefits" of the budget without paying for them.