BBC Politics

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PMQs has now come to an end, but what did we learn from the exchanges?

• Boris Johnson set a new target of 200,000 tests a day for coronavirus by the end of May after the government said it met its initial target of 100,000 daily by the end of April
• The PM confirmed he would make more announcements on the easing of lockdown on Sunday, with some changes coming into play on Monday
• Mr Johnson told Labour's Sir Keir Starmer people will not be asked to go back to work until a "robust plan" is in place for personal protective equipment (PPE), promising one is already underway
• The PM said it was too early for comparisons of the UK death toll to other countries, despite it passing Italy's total on Tuesday.

House of Commons
Parliament

Prime Minister's Questions has come to an end.

The Commons has now moved onto an urgent question from Labour's shadow secretary for employment rights, Andy McDonald, on guidelines for workplace equality after lockdown measures are lifted in the UK

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Lillian Greenwood says her local council faces a funding gap of up to £55m "as a result of lost income" from coronavirus.

"Our communities bore the brunt of austerity - they cannot bear the burden of coronavirus," she says and asks for "a cast-iron guarantee they will not be asked to do so".

The PM says that "Nottingham, her own city, has had an extra £19m to help deal with the pressure of coronavirus."

"That is by no means the last of the support," he adds.

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Conservative MP Rob Butler says the UK is going through "very dark and difficult days", but wants to praise the "amazing work of volunteers across the country" who are helping others.

He says there are many in his own constituency of Aylesbury, but wants to highlight one in particular that he thinks the PM may like.

Mr Butler says "Bernie the Bus" travels through the area collecting and delivering for the local food bank, but plays music out the back to bring the residents a dose of entertainment.

Boris Johnson says: "As a great believer in buses and a part-time manufacturer, can I agree with his [praise] for all who support Bernie the Bus and travel therein."

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Labour's Justin Madders says the furlough scheme "prevented mass unemployment" but expresses concern over reports that the scheme will be wound down.

Before the PM replies Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle tells MPs that they should not have political slogans visible when appearing by video link. Mr Madders had a Labour poster behind him.

Replying to the question, the PM says: "The furlough scheme has been one of the outstanding provisions the government has been able to put in."

"Obviously what we want is that people continue to feel secure.

"But at the same time what we also want is to enable people to go safely and securely back to work."

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Labour's Mike Amesbury says the local councils in his constituency are providing essential services to vulnerable people.

He says the government promised to compensate these councils fully "yet both are millions of pounds short".

"How will the government fulfil that promise and not return to austerity," he asks.

The government has no intention to return to the A word," replies Boris Johnson.

He adds that the government has "put an additional £3.2 bn into supporting local authorities".

Reality Check

On the subject of testing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We are running at about 100,000 a day, but the ambition clearly is to get up to 200,000 a day by the end of this month and then to go even higher."

But the government is currently struggling to hit even 100,000 a day.

At the beginning of April, Health Secretary Matt Hancock set an ambitious target - for the UK to be doing 100,000 tests per day by the end of the month.

On 1 May the government said it had managed over 122,000 tests on the final day of April. But there was criticism over home testing kits and those for some test centres being included on the day they were posted out rather than when a swab was returned and processed. Not all home kits will be returned.

On 2 May the government also said more than 100,000 tests had been achieved. But on the three subsequent days the totals were well below 100,000.

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Parliament

Image source, HoC

The SNP's leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, also welcomes Mr Johnson back to the Commons.

Highlighting the death toll, which now stands close to 30,000 across the UK, he says he agrees with the prime minister that "the worst thing we could do is ease up lockdown too soon and allow a second peak".

He asks the PM to join with him in reminding people that non-essential travel is not permitted.

Mr Blackford adds that now is "not the time for politics of posturing".

Mr Johnson says the governments of all four nations have "come together" during the crisis and it was "absolute common sense" to reiterate his point.

The SNP MP says some of Mr Johnson's own team weren't following his advice, and accuses the secretary of state for Scotland of "politicking" over the issue of independence - something the SNP supports for Scotland.

He moves on to say that any changes to lockdown measures - expected to be announced by the PM on Sunday - should be agreed by all devolved governments.

Mr Johnson says: "We will do our level best to make sure... this attracts the widest possible consensus."

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Sir Keir Starmer says parents need "reassurance" if the schools are going to reopen and says they need to know what the government's plan is for the next stage.

He also asks if the PM will make a statement to the House of Commons to present his plan.

Boris Johnson says that he will make an announcement on Sunday, about the next phase in tackling the virus.

Mr Johnson explains he will do it then because "we have to be sure the data is going to support our ability to do this".

"Hopefully in the future it will be to the House first," adds Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Reality Check

Labour leader Keir Starmer referred to the UK having the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, after overtaking Italy yesterday.

The figures announced yesterday by both countries at their daily briefings showed the UK on a total of 29,427 deaths and Italy on 29,315 deaths.

But there are challenges around making a straightforward comparison between the two countries.

Both countries’ figures are for deaths by people who had tested positive for the virus - so they are underestimates of the numbers who have died either directly or indirectly from Covid-19.

The UK's stats included more than 4,600 care home deaths but it's not clear how many Italy has counted in its figures.

Also, these figures are dependent on the number of tests carried out. Italy has carried out more than 2.2 million tests, while the UK has done over 1.3 million.

It will be a long time before we have reliable figures for how many deaths are actually linked to coronavirus in either the UK or Italy.

You can read more about it here.

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Turning to personal protective equipment, Sir Keir quotes a BMA report, saying 48% of doctors had to buy their own kit or rely on donations.

He says this is "clearly unacceptable" and will become "more acute" if and when gov ask people to come to work.

He asks if the PM can reassure the public they won't be asked to go back to work until a "robust national plan" is in place.

The PM says: "Yes I certainly can."

Mr Johnson says he "shares his frustration about PPE" and says it has been "enraging to see the difficulties".

But he says there is a "massive plan", with more details to be announced on Sunday, and the government is "able in the long term to satisfy the domestic needs of the country".

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Sir Keir Starmer notes that contact tracing was abandoned in mid-March.

"We were told at the time this was because it was not an appropriate mechanism."

"But yesterday the chief medical officer said it was due to capacity," he adds.

"Why was it abandoned in mid-March and why was it not restarted sooner," he asks."

Boris Johnson says "the difficulty in mid-March" was that contact tracing was no longer useful since "the transmissions exceeded our capacity".

He says tracking and tracing is "easier to do now that we have built up the team".

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Sir Keir Starmer moves onto testing, and the government's "claimed success" on meeting its target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.

He says that since 30 April, the numbers have "fallen back", with only 84,000 taking place and 24,000 not used according to the last figures.

"What does the prime minister think was so special about 30 April that meant testing that day was so high," he asks.

Mr Johnson says his opposite number was right that capacity currently exceeds demand, adding: "We are working on that."

But he announces a new "ambition" to get to 200,000 tests a day by end of this month and to "go even higher".

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Image source, HoC

Keir Starmer points out that the government has been producing slides showing international comparisons.

He says "the answer is the UK was slow into lockdown, slow into testing, slow on tracing and slow on the supply of PPE."

He adds that "deaths in care homes continue to go up" and asks: "Why hasn't the government got to grips with this?"

Boris Johnson replies that "the epidemic in care homes is something I bitterly regret."

He adds that a "huge amount of effort" has gone into providing PPE to care homes.

He also says "in the last few days there has been a palpable improvement" in care homes figures.

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Image source, HoC

Sir Keir Starmer takes to the despatch box for the third Prime Minister's Questions of his tenure as Labour leader - but first time opposite Boris Johnson.

He welcomes the PM "back to his place" and congratulates him on the birth of his son.

Sir Keir quotes Mr Johnson on his return to work two weeks ago, when he talked of the "apparent success of the government" dealing with coronavirus.

But he says, with the death toll becoming the highest in Europe, "that is not success or apparent success".

He asks the PM: "How on earth did it come to this?"

Mr Johnson says: "Every death is a tragedy and he is right to draw attention to the appalling statistics, not just in this country but around the world."

But he says the data is not yet there to "draw conclusions".

The PM adds: "What I can tell him is at every stage as we took the decisions we did, we were governed by one overriding principle - save lives and protect NHS."