Image source, HoC

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford - who was re-elected by his party's MPs earlier - wishes all colleagues and everyone else in the UK a happy Christmas.

He moves on to post-Brexit trade talks, saying it is a "disgrace" that businesses are operating without "certainty".

The PM says he has "every hope" of a post-Brexit trade deal being done, when EU leaders "see sense". He adds that the UK will "prosper mightily", whatever happens.

Blackford responds that the UK will be "worse off" and that Scotland, which voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, has been "completely ignored".

Johnson says the UK has lower unemployment than many of its main rival economies and the "threat" to Scotland's economy comes from SNP "mismanagement".

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Henry Smith now asks about Brexit.

"Regardless of current talks with the EU does he agree that this great outward looking nation has a world of global opportunities ahead of it," he asks.

Boris Johnson says the government "will use the economic advantages of Brexit to make this country the most attractive place for investment".

He adds that he will "above all resist the socialists opposite who want to destroy these opportunities and do everything to take us back into the EU - which is their true ambition."

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Sir Keir Starmer was very critical of the plans to relax rules over Christmas but he doesn’t quite call for them to be reversed.

It leaves him open to attack from PM that he doesn’t have a view.

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the PM is "ignoring the medical advice" and "we know where that leads" because of what's happened this past year.

He says he often wonders where the PM "gets his advice from".

He says the official newsletter of the Wellingborough Conservative Party advises people to "say the first thing that comes into your head, it may be nonsense... but if you make enough dubious claims fast enough you can get away with it".

He asks if the PM is the author, or the inspiration for the newsletter.

Mr Johnson says the UK wants "any kind of point of view at all" from Sir Keir Starmer, who he says cannot decide if he wants schools open.

He says Sir Keir has also not decided yet if he will support the Brexit deal.

"All I want for Christmas is a view," says Mr Johnson.

He adds that the government is "getting on with the people's priorities" such as new hospitals.

Image source, HoC

Sir Keir Starmer says Mr Cummings salary "clearly wasn't performance related pay".

"The British people will find it hard to understand why it is one rule for them and one rule for his advisers."

Turning to the subject of Covid rules over Christmas, he asks the PM what impact the relaxation of rules will have on infection rates and pressure on the NHS.

"I wish he had the guts to say what he really wants to do which is to cancel Christmas," replies Boris Johnson.

"We don't want to criminalise people's long made plans," he says but urges the public to exercise "a high degree of responsibility".

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says in some areas infections have risen by 70% and "everybody knows this is a problem" but the prime minister is "pretending there isn't".

He says the "tipping point" for the government losing trust over Covid was Dominic Cummings travelling to Durham in a lockdown breach. He says Mr Cummings has received a £40,000 pay rise while British frontline public sector workers receive a pay freeze.

Mr Johnson says it is "absolutely untrue" that Covid lockdown restrictions are not working. He says the government "will continue with that tiering system" and it is "the best way" forward. He says that Sir Keir only wants to do national lockdowns.

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Labour leader does his own review of the year.

Following pattern of previous exchanges, Sir Keir wants to make this about government incompetence and Boris Johnson wants to focus on positives.

Image source, HoC

"If the PM think the highest deaths numbers and the deepest recession is somehow delivering for the British people he is a long way removed from the truth," says Sir Keir Starmer

He says he raised concerns that tier 2 would not contain the virus two weeks ago.

He says the PM's tiering plan has "once again failed to control the virus, protect the NHS and our economy".

Boris Johnson accuses Sir Keir of failing to come up with "any of plans of his own".

The PM says the UK is seeing "significant reductions" of the virus in some areas of the country and that the government will continue to roll out the vaccine and community testing.

He suggests that the Labour leader's time "would be better spent supporting those wonderful initiatives".

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the UK's spending watchdog has warned the UK locked down later and longer than other European neighbours, causing deeper economic problems.

He asks why Britain is, "the 6th richest country in the world" with "one of the highest numbers of Covid deaths in Europe" and the "deepest recession" in Europe.

Mr Johnson says the UK was the first to produce a treatment for Covid and was the first to roll out a vaccine. The UK government has been willing to make "tough decisions" to meet the problems caused by the pandemic, he adds.

He says Sir Keir has been unclear on his support for Covid restrictions.

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer joins the PM in his Christmas wishes.

He then goes on to ask if the PM "accept that his slowness to respond led to more deaths a longer lockdown and deep economic damage".

No, replies Boris Johnson adding that the government followed the scientific advice.

He argues that it is thanks to the tiering system "and the heroic efforts of people in North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber that we are seeing rates coming down".

He says the country will defeat the virus through vaccine, community test and tough tiering.

He suggests the Labour leader should support the government's efforts and offer "a little less carping".

Image source, HoC

Conservative Michael Fabricant says it would not "be helpful" for a "smarmy lawyer" to argue now for a change to the Christmas relaxation in Covid rules.

Boris Johnson reminds MPs that one in three coronavirus transmissions is asymptomatic and urges households to be "extremely cautious" over the holidays.

Image source, HoC

Kicking things off, Boris Johnson wishes all MPs and House of Commons staff a merry Christmas and happy new year, and extends these wishes to the armed forces and emergency services.

Tory Michael Fabricant wishes the PM and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle a "peaceful and safe" festive season.

Questions to the Welsh secretary have ended and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle announces the beginning of Prime Minister's Questions.

Stick with us for all the updates.

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Boris Johnson always sounds uncomfortable when he’s talking about curbing freedoms so striking the right tone on Christmas guidelines could be tricky.

With the public split over whether the rules are too lax or too strict, leaders of all four nations are going to be criticised whatever they do.

Ministers believe people were always going to do what they wanted over Christmas anyway, so now the aim is to influence those actions by emphasising the risks.

All eyes on the Labour leader too - will he be more explicit about rules being tightened?

Even in a pandemic, political leaders seem reluctant to be the one to call for Christmas to be cancelled.

Image source, PA Media

Some Conservative MPs could ask the PM about new proposals to revise controversial planning reforms in England.

When new targets for house building were first announced it prompted a backlash from Tories, and now a computer-based formula used to decide where houses should be located has been "updated" to focus more on cities and urban areas in the North and Midlands.

Ministers said cash for brownfield sites would be distributed more fairly outside London and the South East.

Some MPs in southern England said their areas risked being "concreted over".

Read more here

Image source, Reuters

Another subject that might come up at PMQs is the pay packet of Boris Johnson's senior aide Dominic Cummings.

Figures released by the Cabinet Office , externalshow his salary rose during 2020 from between £95,000-£99,999 to £140,000-£144,999, making him among the highest-earning special advisers in government.

Mr Cummings is still on the government payroll but is working his notice at home, having left Downing Street in November following a bitter row over the running of Mr Johnson's office.

You can read more here.

Talks continue in Brussels today to try to trash out a Brexit deal.

Despite weeks of intensive talks, the UK and EU have remained stuck over fishing rights and how far the UK should be able to depart from EU rules in the future.

Updating the European Parliament this morning on last week's EU leaders' summit meeting, president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: "As things stand, I cannot tell you whether there will be a deal or not.

A UK official said on Wednesday: "We've made some progress, but we are still very far apart in key areas."

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

Here's a quick reminder of what you can and can't do over Christmas

• Between 23 and 27 December, you can form a"Christmas bubble", external comprised of people from three households
• You can travel between tiers and between UK nations to meet your bubble
• You can only meet in homes, places of worship or public outdoor spaces - not pubs or restaurants
• You can meet people outside your bubble according to your local rules

Here are the details in full.

Image source, PA Media

The plans to allow us all to see our families have been dominating the discussions in Westminster this morning.

Leaders from the four UK nations have now agreed to stick with the relaxation of Covid rules around Christmas, despite calls for them to be toughened.

However we are expecting the government to issue much stronger advice later today with people being urged to be cautious during the festive period.