Conservative Julian Knight says it is time to confront Vladimir Putin's "lying machine" by giving the Russian people more information on the "crimes being committed in their names".

Boris Johnson responds that the UK's whole approach has been to "be as frank as we can about what we know and demystify things", having, along with the US, alerted the world to the pending invasion earlier this year.

Knight asks if UK news organisations should coordinate a response to Putin. The PM says the BBC is getting more funding and there are "some signs" that information contrary to the Kremlin's is "getting through".

Conflict in Ukraine leads to less combative than usual debatepublished at 15:40 British Summer Time 30 March 2022

15:40 BST 30 March 2022

Ione Wells
Westminster Correspondent, BBC News

Liaison Committee grillings of the prime minister can often feel very antagonistic.

This one feels quite different - and is a reminder of how parties have come together to try and show unity in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"You're so right" is a phrase the prime minister has used several times in response to MPs raising their concerns about the war in Ukraine.

Labour's Sarah Champion and Boris Johnson had a particular sombre exchange about "horrifying tales" of sexual violence being used as a 'weapon of war' by Russian troops.

The prime minister agreed these reports were appalling, and that the UK had a team in the region who were being actively funded to try and support survivors.

Champion's final question is on unaccompanied children fleeing Ukraine - and reports of 500 from orphanages crossing to Moldova.

She asks what plans the government has to strengthen safeguarding in countries surrounding Ukraine to keep the children safe, or to allow them to come to the UK.

Johnson says it is "one of the horrifying aspects of the conflict".

He says the priority "wherever possible" is for children to be reunited with their families, "as it is clearly in best interest of the child before bringing them to this country".

But he admits it is a "very difficult problem", adding: "We need to think the needs of those kids are probably going to be best met if we keep them in the area."

Image source, UK parliament

Now it's the turn of Labour's Sarah Champion to question the prime minister.

She says she is grateful for the £400m of humanitarian aid the UK has pledged.

But she doesn't know how much of that has reached Ukraine and has yet to have a reply from a letter she sent the PM.

Johnson says he doesn't have the answer still, but will be "very happy to share" after the committee.

Moving onto humanitarian corridors, allowing Ukrainians to escape from heavily attacked cities, the PM says the difficulty is the Russians are "very adept at manipulating" the routes and keep doing it over and over again.

He says it will be "very, very tough" to come up with alternatives, especially in cities like Mariupol.

But he says the city has "fallen before to Russia and been retaken by Ukraine".

Tom Tugendhat asks the PM about possible support for opposition politicians in Russia and whether a way could be found to bypass economic sanctions so that they benefit.

Boris Johnson says the whole House of Commons and many countries are united against Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"I've never seen such a clear case of right and wrong," he adds.

Tugendhat then asks if there are any plans to increase the size of the UK's military. The PM praises the effectiveness of high-tech hardware used by the forces, adding that many of the items purchased are "game-changers".

Image source, UK parliament

Conservative Tom Tugendhat asks the PM about US President Joe Biden's comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power".

Boris Johnson says regime change is not an objective of the UK government. but it is focusing on protecting the people of the Ukraine against "barbaric violence".

He adds that Putin is "ruthless" in constantly "dangling" the prospect of humanitarian corridors for refugees while committing acts of violence. Johnson says he wants to increase assistance for those displaced by the conflict and that the government is looking at using armoured Land Rovers to help people leave areas of conflict.

Tugendhat asks when sanctions against Russia could be lifted. Johnson replies that the G7 group of leading economies couldn't do this simply when a ceasefire occurs, but there would have to be a "rolling programme" towards Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.

No jokes on partygate this timepublished at 15:21 British Summer Time 30 March 2022

15:21 BST 30 March 2022

Ione Wells
Westminster Correspondent, BBC News

The prime minister has struck a much more grave tone about partygate today in front of these MPs than he has done in recent weeks.

Last night, it was reported he joked at a dinner for Tory MPs about some of them previously calling for him to go.

And he was reminded by the SNP's Pete Wishart today about reportedly singing "I will survive" when his new director of communications, Guto Harri, was appointed.

This afternoon, there were no attempts to laugh this off. When grilled about 20 fines being issued yesterday relating to Covid lockdown breaking at the heart of government, Boris Johnson simply repeated that he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

He would not even be drawn on whether these fines confirm laws were broken - something the deputy prime minister Dominic Raab asserted this morning, but was not accepted by the prime minister's official spokesman today.

Mr Johnson was pushed on why he'd previously said no rule breaking occurred and that he wasn't aware of any parties.

As past statements begin to come back to haunt him, he is now clearly being very careful about what he says.

Image source, UK parliament

One last question from Catherine McKinnell.

She asks if throwing a party for Conservative MPs - more specifically a dinner at a hotel in Westminster - last night on the anniversary of the Covid memorial being set up "might give the impression to the public that you don't care".

The PM says his government has done "everything it can" to support the public through the pandemic, and he was proud of their work.

Johnson adds: "Yes, I care deeply."

Next up to ask questions is Labour's Catherine McKinnell, who asks how the PM would respond to a petition calling for lying to be banned in the Commons.

Johnson says it is "important to be clear" with the House of Commons on the events that took place.

But he says he has been back to explain and to apologise, and has "no doubt I will be back again".

But McKinnell wants a clear answer on whether laws had been broken, especially after the 20 fines were announced by the Metropolitan Police yesterday.

The PM claims he is "not certain" 20 fines were issued, despite the force's statement.

Image source, UK Parliament

The SNP's Pete Wishart continues to question the PM over Downing Street parties, with Boris Johnson saying he will fill the Liaison Committee in when he next appears before it.

Asked whether he will resign if he's found to have broken the ministerial code, which governs behaviour in office, Johnson says it is important to wait for the conclusion of the Metropolitan Police's investigation.

"The thing isn't over and any discussion is, in my view, premature," he adds.

Image source, UK Parliament

Boris Johnson's Liaison Committee hearing gets under way.

In the main, he's answering questions on the situation in Ukraine and the resulting refugee crisis.

But first, the SNP's Pete Wishart asks about the issuing of 20 fixed penalty notices by the Metropolitan Police over parties held in Downing Street during lockdown and whether the PM has received one.

Johnson says he won't offer a "running commentary".

Wishart urges the PM to accept "there has been criminality".

The Liaison Committee - made up of senior MPs - is due to begin its latest hearing with the prime minister at 15:00 BST.

Boris Johnson will face questions on the war in Ukraine and the UK's cost-of-living crisis.

We'll have all the latest here. In the meantime, here's some more information, external on the Liaison Committee.

For Labour, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh says P&O Ferries' sacking of 800 staff was "beneath contempt".

The company has been exploiting employees "in plain sight" for years, she adds, calling the government's moves to prevent a repeat of the company's actions "the bare minimum".

Haigh says P&O's licence to operate should be removed, arguing that workers' rights more generally have been undermined for more than a decade.

Image source, PA Media

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is now making a statement about the sacking by P&O Ferries of around 800 staff without notice. He outlines a series of measures which he says will prevent a repeat of such actions.

Shapps says the government will look at whether all UK ferry operators pay their workers at least the National Minimum Wage, and promises more help with seafarers' mental health.

He also reiterates that P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite is "unfit to run a British company" and should quit.

Here's more about the sackings

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

Environment minister Victoria Prentis stood by the PM's remarks that the Conservatives are a tax cutting party, despite a tax rise coming in within days.

Speaking to BBC 2's Politics Live, she said Chancellor Rishi Sunak "gave a very clear promise" during his Spring Statement that he would "try to cut tax very hard and we would cut tax in 2024".

But she said the Treasury "inherited a really, really difficult situation from the pandemic", spending huge amounts on big support projects, like furlough.

"The government didn't expect to have to do it, didn't want to do it, but needed to do it in order to keep the country working," she said.

"That worked and I think it is really important that we remember the mass unemployment we were fearing as a result of the pandemic has not come to pass."

In his reforms, Raab promises to shift the priorities of parole boards back to "focusing on public protection" rather than "carrying out a balancing exercise between the conflicting interest of prisoner and public".

The plan includes more "prescriptive guidance" from Parliament and changes including:

• Increasing the number of people with law enforcement backgrounds on parole boards
• Ministerial checks on releases for the most serious offenders

Labour's shadow minister Steve Reed says he welcomes much of the statement from Raab, saying too many victims "feel their views are not being taken into account", and that "leads directly to public safety concerns".

But he does not believe the government can be trusted to put public safety "at the heart of the justice system".

Labour's proposals include the right for victims to make new personal statements at the time of parole, to make sure any assessment of a risk to the public includes the risk of re-traumatising the victim, and to prevent the offender living near the victim on release.

Raab continues his statement by saying the role of the parole board in considering the release of offenders is "of paramount importance" when it comes to protecting the public and "sustaining public confidence in our justice system".

But he says some recent cases - including those of John Worboys and Colin Pitchfork - have dented that confidence.

The justice secretary says in these kind of cases, the victims feel their trauma, their raw fear is "neither recognised or understood", and the public "begin at least to feel and question the reliability of the decision making".

He says the numbers of those released and going on to be charged with a serious offence are low - 27 in 2020/21 - so are "only a fraction of all cases".

But he says there is a clear case for a review and overhaul of the parole system.

Image source, ITV

In the Commons, business has moved on to a statement from Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, who is promising changes to the parole system in England and Wales.

But before he gets to that, Raab - who is also deputy prime minister - says he will be applying to the parole board to seek a review of its decision to release the mother of Baby P.

Tracey Connelly was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month-old son Peter at their home in Tottenham, north London, in 2007.

He had suffered more than 50 injuries.

Connelly admitted the offence and was jailed for a minimum of five years.

You can read more about the story here.

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

For some time Labour's main attack on the government, irrespective of other political noise, has been about the issue of people being able to make ends meet.

Last week, Rishi Sunak came forward with his Spring Statement, which many of his critics saw as simply not enough help for people who are struggling at the moment.

But it made a big political claim and a big political promise to cut tax.

What Keir Starmer was trying to go at with Boris Johnson today was the suggestion that the political claim is misleading.

Because it is a fact that actually under this government, taxes have been going up and up and up, and are going to hit a historic high.

But what the government has is an aspiration to cut tax, with Sunak's promise to cut Income Tax before the next election.

What Labour is trying to do is suggest that Johnson and his chancellor are being disingenuous about what they are really up to.

And they hope that will tie into the broader critique of Boris Johnson - you say one thing, you are doing another, and you are not being straight with the public.