Image source, HoC

"Maybe he should go back to his sun lounger and let me take over," replies Angela Rayner.

"Families are worried about heating their home while he's complaining about having to share his 115 room taxpayer funded mansion with the foreign secretary," she says in a reference to the Chevening House, which can be used by government ministers.

She says working people face a choice between feeding their kids and heating their homes and urges the government to cancel the cut to universal credit.

Dominic Raab replies that Chevening is funded by a charity rather than taxpayers' money.

On energy bills he says Labour's plan of "nationalising energy companies" would have put £2,000 on bills.

"If we had listened to the party opposite we would never have come out of lockdown," he adds.

Image source, HoC

Rayner jokes that Raab is doing his best to shore up supplies of "hot air" this week.

Ministers have axed the green grant and their failures have paved the way for an energy crisis that has hit families and businesses she says.

Can he guarantee that no workers at energy companies will end up unemployed because of the government's failures?

Raab says gas prices are rising all over the world and supplies will be maintained.

He says jobs are rising and wages are rising.

Answering her own question, Angela Rayner says a worker would need to work an extra 50 days to pay for a night at Mr Raab's Crete hotel.

"Probably even more than if the sea was open," she adds.

Labour's deputy leader now turns to rising energy bills.

She asks him to guarantee that no one will lose their gas or energy supply or be pushed into fuel poverty.

Raab says energy supplies will continue, and that the government's number one priority is consumers.

He concludes by accusing Labour of "talking down" to voters.

Image source, HoC

Rayner says the government has chosen to cut the income of workers on £18,000 a year by over £1000.

This is the same amount as an average energy bill she says.

How many days would a worker on the minimum wage have to do to afford a night at a luxury hotel, referencing his recent summer holiday.

Raab ignores that reference.

But he says when Labour has been in government taxes have risen and the economy has nose-dived.

Image source, HoC

Angela Rayner says the Conservatives' "political choices have made it harder for working families to get by".

She asks how much his universal credit cut and National Insurance rise will take from a worker on £18,000 a year.

Dominic Raab replies that the universal credit rise was "always meant to be temporary".

He adds that the country is coming out of the pandemic with "rising jobs and rising wages" and accuses Labour of having "no plans".

PM gets Oval Office meeting but no trade dealpublished at 12:08 British Summer Time 22 September 2021

12:08 BST 22 September 2021

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

The White House meeting is, for any British prime minister, the big ticket.

And because of Covid, Boris Johnson has had to wait for his - the two years since he moved in to Downing Street means a new president here too. Imagine how different today could have been if Donald Trump was still in charge.

The two leaders are intensely different, but when the big moment came, both appeared to be content.

Mr Johnson and President Joe Biden met for 90 minutes after smiles for the cameras in the Oval Office.

Their talks ranged from security, to climate change, Russia and China, and the possibility of closer trade ties.

But on the trade deal issue, the president said they needed to "work through" it and "talk a little" - confirming Downing Street's assumption that the prospect of a major pact is a long way off.

No 10 didn't deny the UK could join an existing agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada - which the BBC understands has been considered - but said the priority was still pursuing a deal with America alone.

It's really clear from both sides that there is no rapid path to a trade deal - the opportunity that used to be lauded by Brexiteers and by President Trump.

Read Laura's blog in full here.

Image source, HoC

Labour's Angela Rayner is on her feet for her first question standing in for Keir Starmer.

She says the PM has made "absolutely zero progress" in the US "on the trade deal he promised us".

Does the Deputy PM still think British workers are among the world's biggest "idlers" she asks?

Dominic Raab says the PM is making progress.

And he says youth employment is rising and we have the fastest growth this year.

Image source, HoC

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab gets up to some cheers and one heckle of "how was the holiday?"

The first question comes from Conservative Robert Largan who raises concerns of his constituents who are struggling to see a GP in person rather than speaking over the phone.

Raab says the public rightly expect to see their GP face-to face and points to the government's "£36bn package to deal with the NHS backlog".

Settle in for Raab and Rayner at PMQspublished at 12:03 British Summer Time 22 September 2021

12:03 BST 22 September 2021

Pete Saull
Political Correspondent, BBC Westminster

With Boris Johnson on the other side of the pond, there’s a chance for his deputy, Dominic Raab, to impress at the main set-piece event of the week in Parliament.

This time last Wednesday, the two men were having what one imagines was quite a difficult conversation in the Prime Minister’s office.

The upshot was Dominic Raab accepting a demotion from foreign secretary to justice secretary - but also seeing his other title, of first secretary of state, upgraded to deputy prime minister.

Opposite him at the despatch box today is Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner.

Expect her to go on the offensive on the gas price crisis, which, combined with other factors, has led to growing concerns about the cost of living.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle gets to his feet to announced the start of question time - stick with us for updates.

Image source, HoC

We're getting ready to turn our attention to today's session of Prime Minister's Questions.

It will look and sound very different as the deputies are taking centre stage, with Boris Johnson away in the US.

Newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, will face Keir Starmer's deputy, Angela Rayner.

It's the first time the two MPs have gone head to head in these roles.

Image source, HoC

Kwarteng says he has met the EU Energy Commissioner to discuss gas supply and there will be a summit today, although the UK is obviously no longer part of that.

But this is a global issue and not something just of concern to the UK, he says.

"We have very good relations with the EU on energy", he says, and members think similarly to the UK on decarbonisation.

He adds: "We are not exposed in the same way as many of our EU counterparts to gas supplies from Russia".

"The way to be resilient - regardless of what Russia does - is to have a diversity of supply", he adds and a strategy that focuses on renewables.

SNP's Alan Brown asks if it was "short-sighted" not to have a greater amount of gas in storage.

Kwarteng replies that the issue of storage is "a red herring" and not "relevant" arguing that it doesn't affect the global prices of gas.

His official Joanna Whittington - director general for energy and security at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - says the UK relies on having a diverse range of supply rather than storage.

"Our need for storage isn't the same as those who don't have a diverse range of supply," she adds.

Image source, House of Commons

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is now answering questions from MPs.

He says he and his department are very keen to sustain the warm homes grant because the discount is needed to protect the most vulnerable customers.

But he says we need to wait for the Budget to see what other measures the chancellor may have planned.

The energy market in the last few years has seen very low barriers to entry for new suppliers and about five to eight exit the market each year.

We could see the spike in prices coming in the summer, he adds, which is why the price cap went up.

Rishi Sunak has confirmed the autumn budget will take place on 27 October.

SNP MP Alan Brown asks Adam Scorer how many people could fall into fuel poverty as a result of higher energy prices.

Scorer replies that it could be around 500,000 but adds that no proper modelling has yet been done.

He also says that given the current circumstances, government plans to cut universal credit by £20 are “unconscionable”.

“I can’t see any real rationale for it to happen,” he says pointing to a correlation between people receiving UC and those vulnerable to energy prices.

He urges the government to also consider how it can extend the warm home discount mechanism “in order to take some of the sting” out of higher prices.

Adam Scorer is now talking about customers in debt.

The fuel poverty charity boss says people should talk to their suppliers straight away if they are struggling to pay their bills.

Ofgem, the regulator, has put a requirement on companies to arrange debt repayment plans with householders in need, and he says people should pick up the phone.

Consumers should also check they are getting all the benefits they are entitled to he adds.

He is no longer telling people to switch supplier, he says, because of the volatility in the market.

Rather, people should "sit tight" and then have "really strong conversations" with their new supplier if their current company goes under.

Image source, HoC

Adam Scorer from National Energy Action - a fuel poverty charity - says failing companies have a severe impact on low income customers who need to switch to a new supplier.

He says he is concerned about householders who will be trying to carry a debt repayment package with them, or things like discount eligibility entitlements and pre-payment meter exposure.

The more companies that fail, the more consumers will be caught up in the problems he says with a direct impact on the number of vulnerable customers affected.

Image source, House of Commons

Japan and Spain are other countries having problems with their energy markets, says Jonathan Brearley from Ofgem.

The regulator's chief executive said there was “more demand than anyone expected”.

He tells the committee that leaving the Internal Energy Market was not a factor in the current problems.

He said: “This is not a British problem, this is a global problem. We are not the only country who are facing issues.”

Continuing with her questions, Emma Pinchbeck from Energy UK says her organisation has been making the case to the government for some time that the energy market is fragile.

"We are facing a short term crisis" which she says has been caused by the gas price, but it has been exacerbated by how the market itself is designed with many companies making very little profit.

This adds up to "terrible news for customers" she adds.

She says that when we are through this, "we desperately, desperately need to stop dismissing retailers when they say the market design is not fit for purpose, the market design is harming customers" she adds.

Image source, House of Commons

Emma Pinchbeck from Energy UK, the trade association which represents energy companies, says firms are worried.

She says she represents suppliers who are very well run but who are concerned about the future.

The retail sector overall makes a negative margin she says so at a time of price shock, "they have nowhere to go".

The level of failure is alarming she adds and players that may be expected to pick up customers from companies that go under are worried about doing so because the whole sector is so fragile.

There is "no cash down the back of the sofa" she says.