BBC Politics

We're going to pause on our coverage of the Commons for now.

We'll be back here again next Wednesday for PMQs - and we'll bring you full coverage and analysis of the chancellor's Budget statement.

Thanks for following along with us today.

Reality Check

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Kier Starmer said: “around three in ten people who should be self-isolating aren’t doing so.”

On Monday, he repeated this claim but said the opposite – that only three in ten people were self-isolating fully.

This latter claim is supported by data released by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises the government on the pandemic.

It said that just 29% of people who had symptoms of coronavirus were full adhering to self-isolation rules., external It described this as “sub optimal”.

It’s difficult to get a precise figure on the amount of people who do self-isolate because they are generally based on surveys.

However, most of these surveys suggest the majority of people do not adhere to the full ten-day isolation period.

The government has said that £500 payments are available to support those who might face financial difficulties whilst self-isolating.

Again, there is no publicly-available data on this, but freedom of information requests to local councils have shown that the majority of people who apply are rejected due to the tough eligibility criteria.

Image source, HoC

Here's what happened at this week's PMQs:

• Sir Keir Starmer called for £500 self-isolation payments to be extended to “everyone who needs it," adding that the poorest were “at the bottom of this government’s priorities"
• Boris Johnson rejected that, adding that more funding has been given to councils to make the discretionary payments
• After being challenged to rule out tax rises at next week's Budget, the prime minister said Labour councils were most likely to put up council tax from April
• But Sir Keir replied councils had been "starved of funding," and the Conservative-run council in the PM's own constituency is also planning a tax hike
• The PM also said the government would "continue to look after people," after being urged to make a temporary £20 weekly universal credit benefits top-up permanent

Reality Check

Speaking about the UK vaccination programme at Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson made this claim about the Labour leader, Keir Starmer: “One week he calls for us to go faster with rolling out vaccines when he would have stayed in the European Medicines Agency [EMA], which would have made that rollout impossible”.

We’ve covered this argument before and it’s a claim the Prime Minister has made repeatedly.

It’s clear that the UK has done a better job than countries in the EU in approving and distributing vaccines quickly. But the head of the UK’s own medicines regulator, the MHRA, has said the UK’s early approval was permitted under EU law.

If the UK had stayed part of the EMA (the EU’s medicines regulator), there would have been political pressure to go with the majority on both the approval and distribution of vaccines. But that was equally true in the past about other big issues, such as joining the euro, or the passport-free Schengen area. And the UK joined neither.

Staying in the EMA might have made it harder for the UK to act alone, but it wouldn’t have made it impossible.

Conservative MP Christian Wakeford has the final question and asks about the government's 'levelling up' agenda.

He welcomes the building of a new high school in his Bury South constituency but asks what more can be done to help town centres struggling as a result of Covid-19.

The PM says the government is investing in his area through the local growth fund, the building fund and support for the transport network.

Everyone will hear more next week he says when the chancellor delivers his Budget about how the government will "build back better".

The SNP's Stuart C MacDonald calls on the prime minister to make permanent a £20 weekly increase to universal credit payments, currently due to end at the end of March.

He says extending the top-up, introduced last year as a temporary response to Covid-19, would bring "basic dignity" and avoid benefits dropping to their "lowest real-terms level in thirty years".

Boris Johnson replies that the government will "continue to look after people throughout this pandemic and beyond".

He says the best way to do this is to "bounce our economy back" as quickly as possible so that people have access to "high-quality jobs".

The Labour MP for West Lancashire Rosie Cooper, says everyone is looking forward to kids returning to school but in her constituency, students have had to "wade through overflowing drains" to get to the classroom.

She asks if the PM will make sure no child in her constituency loses out due to problems with flooding in the area.

Mr Johnson says he sympathises and knows that flooding has caused disruption.

He says the Environment Agency is "actively" working with the council to see what more can be done.

Image source, HoC

Labour's Wes Streeting says the education and wellbeing recovery of children is "one of the biggest challenges" from the pandemic.

He asks if a raise of funding of 43p per student is enough to help with the problems faced by young people.

Mr Johnson says that before the pandemic, funding was being increased to state schools and the government was doing "massive investments" in education.

He says there is a cumulative extra £2bn in spending from the UK government on paying teachers more and money for schools.

The Labour MP, Neil Hudson raises the issue of poor broadband in rural areas.

He says he welcomes the various schemes to improve the service that the government has backed but what reassurance can the PM give people who are still struggling with connectivity in rural Cumbria?

Mr Johnson says ministers are doing all they can.

He says there is a £5bn scheme to connect rural areas and it is hoped that all issues will be sorted within the next five years.

Image source, HoC

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey calls for Team GB to boycott next year's Winter Olympics in Beijing over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.

He calls this a "genocide happening in front of our eyes".

The prime minister says the UK is "leading international action" at the UN to hold China to account for its "appalling campaign" against the Uighurs.

But he says it is the "longstanding position" of his government that they are "not normally in favour of sporting boycotts".

Image source, HoC

The SNP's Westminster Leader Ian Blackford says next week's Budget is an opportunity to tackle the financial costs of the pandemic, the UK has suffered its worst recession in 300 years, he warns.

He says the Conservatives "are threatening spending cuts" which will hurt working families. He asks for a ruling out of austerity and for a major stimulus spending package in next week's budget.

Mr Johnson says he is "proud" of the government's spending throughout the pandemic. He says the Scottish government are not focusing on spending this money in the right areas. He says this is because the SNP are spending their time chasing a second referendum.

Mr Blackford says that Covid-19 has "exposed the deep inequalities" in the UK, governed from Westminster. He says President Biden is investing a large package to help the country recover.

Mr Johnson says the UK is investing £640bn alone in infrastructure across the UK. He says all the SNP want to do is "break up Britain" with another referendum.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

The prime minister came up with a new alliterative attack line on the Labour leader: "he vacillates, we vaccinate.'

He will be hoping the vaccination programme will inoculate him from criticism of his earlier handling of the pandemic.

He also seemed to hint that there could be more money to help people self isolate in next week’s Budget.

He was pushed by Sir Keir Starmer to give a £500 payment to all who needed it.

The Labour leader was keen to portray himself as the friend of business and of families, opposing corporate and council tax rises at this stage.

His attempt, though, to get the prime minister to denounce some of his own MPs for their avowed lockdown scepticism didn’t quite come off.

And there is a danger that if Sir Keir sounds more supportive of the PM’s plan than some Conservative MPs, then this could further antagonise those in Labour’s ranks who want to see clearer blue (or red ) water between government and opposition.

Keir Starmer says £15bn has been taken out of council budgets over the last 10 years so will the PM stop blaming others?

He says this is "another PMQS with no answers" but the Budget is an opportunity to choose a different path.

Boris Johnson replies that his government wants to do far more than Labour's "paltry" agenda. He says he is mystified at how the Labour leader "weaves hither and yon" with his opinions.

"He vascillates, we vaccinate" says Mr Johnson.

Sir Keir says councils are being forced to decide now if they should put up council tax to provide local services.

He says councils are all "in the same position" of needing to ask for higher tax rates, no matter what their political makeup is, because of a decade of underfunding local services.

Mr Johnson says the top ten highest taxing councils in the UK are all run by the Labour Party, and all apart from one are putting up their taxes this year. He says the London Mayor wants to increase taxes by a further 10%, but when he was Mayor of London he reduced his taxes by 20%.

Sir Keir Starmer says you can get a £1m contract if you have the health secretary’s WhatsApp but if you need to self-isolate, the government will not help. The Labour leader asks for assurances families taxes will not go up.

Mr Johnson says Labour would put up taxes

Sir Keir Starmer says three out of 10 people who should be self-isolating aren't doing so. He says the chair of NHS test and trace has warned that people can't afford to self-isolate, so therefore people are not taking tests. He says lower-income areas are seeing "stubbornly high" infection rates.

Mr Johnson says there has been a £280bn package of support for people since the start of the pandemic, and people on the lowest incomes have been on the highest levels of support.

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the principles behind a cautious recovery plan are "plainly right".

He warns that there are people falling victim to disinformation and saying Covid-19 is not as dangerous as feared.

Boris Johnson says the roadmap set out by government on the recovery is supported by the data, and available for MPs to read.

Image source, HoC

The first question comes from Labour's Derek Twigg who says councils are running out of funding because the help offered by government is not enough.

He says a properly funded scheme is needed so people can self-isolate if they test positive for Covid-19.

Mr Johnson says it is "very tough" for councils but the government has given an extra £4.3bn.

He says ministers will continue to support councils and the chancellor will say more in his Budget statement next week.