Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The PM is now facing questions from the group of select committee chairs.

Follow us for all the updates here.

BBC Politics

So, who's going to be asking Boris Johnson the questions at this afternoon's Liaison Committee session?

The committee itself is made up of all the chairs of the various Select Committees in the Commons.

This means they take it in turns to question the prime minister, rather than all piling in at once - so we will see 14 different faces at today's session compared to the one in May.

We don't have a confirmed cast list and the competition for places can be really quite intense.

However, last week, the committee's chair, Sir Bernard Jenkin, posted a list of the 14 MPs who were "expected" to be present.

The list includes Sir Bob Neill, Tobias Ellwood and Mel Stride, who have all been critical of the UK Internal Markets Bill and its overriding of the withdrawal agreement with the EU.

Sir Bob has been at the heart of attempts to negotiate a compromise with Downing Street on the issue in recent days.

But other MPs on the list have been supportive of the PM's actions, including veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash and Sir Bernard himself.

Image source, HoC

The last time Boris Johnson gave evidence to the Liaison Committee, it was the middle of the coronavirus lockdown, meaning he spoke to MPs via a video link from No 10.

We understand this time round (at 15:30 BST) he will face the committee in person - but no doubt they will all be fully socially distanced.

Back when he spoke with them in May, the PM faced questions about the conduct of his special adviser Dominic Cummings, who was accused of breaking lockdown rules when he travelled from London to County Durham.

The story hasn't been forgotten, with jokes made at Mr Cummings expense today at PMQs., external

But this appearance is likely to bring up wider coronavirus issues, especially that of testing.

One of the issues the PM will be grilled about later is his support for workers and businesses during the pandemic.

The government has insisted it will not extend the furlough scheme, in which the state is subsidising the wages of millions of employees, despite calls to do so by Labour and the unions.

But ministers have just announced an extension of support for business owners to ensure those struggling to meet rental payments on commercial premises are not evicted and are secure until the end of the year.

In a Twitter message, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said it would protect vital jobs in the months ahead.

BBC Politics

From our political editor, some white smoke from those tea room chats we mentioned earlier...

BBC Politics

We know the PM will face questions this afternoon about the UK's negotiations with the EU over a post-Brexit free trade deal.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is in Washington today, where his is expected to try to reassure US politicians about the UK's plans to override parts of its Brexit divorce deal.

Some politicians on the other side of the Atlantic have voiced concern over the plans, contained in the Internal Market Bill currently making its way through Parliament.

Read more.

BBC Politics

According to some of our colleagues in the Westminster press lobby, external, the PM has been spotted in the Commons tea room, speaking to Tory MPs.

Downing Street has said that the PM and his team have been having conversations with MPs about the Internal Market Bill.

No 10 say that the PM is keen to ensure we "always deliver on our obligations to Northern Ireland".

We wonder how those conversations went....

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political reporter

Image source, PA Media

The new Internal Market Bill has immediately run into controversy over its impact on talks with the EU and on the UK's Brexit withdrawal agreement.

However the core function of the bill is also contentious for what it might mean for the future of devolution.

Parts of this row might seem somewhat familiar, because it's actually been going on more or less ever since the Brexit vote in June 2016.

The question of how powers currently exercised from Brussels are divided up after the transition period ends on 31 December has been already seen the two governments clash at the Supreme Court.

At its most basic level, this is a row about who gets what.

The Scottish government says a Westminster "power grab" is under way, because anything which is not specifically reserved should automatically come to Holyrood.

But the UK government says what is happening represents "the biggest transfer of powers in the history of devolution".

Read more about the devolution issues here.

We have been talking a lot on here today about the UK Internal Market Bill, so here's a quick reminder of why it is such a controversial piece of legislation.

The bill is designed to enable goods and services to flow freely across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland when the UK leaves the EU's single market and customs union on 1 January.

So far, so straightforward.

But a few of its clauses give the government the power to change aspects of the EU withdrawal agreement - a legally-binding deal governing the terms of the UK's exit from the EU earlier this year.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted last week that using the powers would "break international law" and it has caused uproar.

All five surviving former PMs have condemned the bill - both Labour and Conservative - as well as a range of MPs of all stripes.

But the government is not moving and continues to standby the bill.

You can read more about it from our Reality Check team here.

Image source, PA Media

Another resignation alert in Westminster - but it is more complex that it first appears...

The UK government's law officer for Scotland, Lord Keen, has offered his resignation to the prime minister.

You may recognise the name from the Supreme Court case over that unlawful prorogation last year, as he was representing the government.

Anyway, BBC Scotland understands the advocate general has been finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile the government's plans to take powers to change the EU withdrawal deal, with the law.

This is despite him standing up in the Lords yesterday defending the UK Internal Market Bill.

But, despite his offer, we understand the government hasn't accepted it and are to persuade Lord Keen to stay.

We will keep you in the loop with any more updates.

Reality Check

The PM was asked repeatedly about problems with coronavirus testing.

He said: “89% of those who have in-person tests get them [results] the next day.”

The latest testing data we have are for the week to 2 September - the figure is actually for the people getting results in 24 hours rather than the next day., external

The figure he’s referring to is the proportion of test results published within 24 hours of them being received by a laboratory, which was 89% in the week to 26 August, and rose to 92% in the week to 2 September.

But that excludes the time it takes to get the test to the lab, and it’s for pillar 1 tests, which are for people with a clinical need, and health and care workers.

For pillar 2 testing, which is for the wider population, the median turnaround time from taking a test at a regional test site to getting the result was 23 hours, which means half of tests took longer than that, and half took less time.

For mobile testing units that figure was 20 hours, but for satellite testing centres it was 83 hours.

You can read more here.

Reality Check

For now, we're still digesting some of the issues that were raised with the PM.

Boris Johnson said that "just in the last week the average distance that people have had to go for a test has come down from 6 or 7 miles to 5 miles".

It is a variation of the same statistic Cabinet members have used in the Commons or in media appearances over the past week.

So, are they right?

Unfortunately, we can’t say for sure, because the government hasn’t released the data to the public, despite repeated requests for it.

The Department of Health and Social Care says it plans to release it "soon".

However, it has given a limited amount of information about how they got to it.

The number refers to "as the crow flies", so it doesn’t take into account that most roads are not a straight line between someone’s house and the testing site. This means the average distance will be higher.

We also don’t have data for the number of people who’ve searched online for a test slot, been told to travel to a different part of the country and decided not to take the slot. And we don’t know how many people tried and failed to get a test either.

You can read more here on claims made by the government on testing.

BBC Politics

Normally, we would be bidding you farewell as Prime Minister's Questions comes to a close, but not today dear readers.

We have another big event coming up this afternoon, with Boris Johnson set to face a grilling from the Liaison Committee - made up of 14 of the select committee chairs from the Commons.

The event starts at 15:30 BST and we will bring you all the updates here.

But with testing troubles, Brexit rows and many more stories circulating around the corridors of Westminster, you will want to stay with us for the build up.

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

There are serious questions being asked at the moment about where we go next with coronavirus – and there’s not much to have a laugh and a joke about.

That said, Angela Rayner did manage a couple of good gags during her first PMQs outing at the dispatch box.

She announced herself with a pretty solid performance, and she didn’t look like she’d never done it before.

I think the gag that will get the sketch writers going was her joke about people driving from London to Durham for Covid tests – at the expense of the PM’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings.

BBC Politics

And another week's Prime Minister's Questions has come to an end.

Here is a quick round-up:

• Boris Johnson faced Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner during her first appearance at PMQs
• She pushed the PM on testing - for the public and frontline workers - as well as support for women giving birth during the pandemic, and the "rule of six"
• Johnson stands by the government's performance, and says they are "massively ramping up testing"
• The SNP's Ian Blackford pushed the PM on the controversial Internal Market Bill, accusing it of being a "power grab" from Westminster from devolved nations
• But Johnson insisted it will see a "surge in powers" for Scotland
• Other topics raised included support for disabled children, a fair limit on wedding sizes and the government's obesity strategy