Image source, Reuters

Ten animal rights and climate change protesters have been arrested for criminal damage after white paint was thrown over the Houses of Parliament this morning.

Members of Animal Rebellion were detained, including some who glued themselves to the pavement outside, shortly before Liz Truss's first Prime Minister's Questions, the Met Police said.

The group staged similar protests throughout London earlier this month.

Members chanted about dairy distribution sites in the UK at this morning's demonstration.

But a spokesman for Animal Rebellion said the protest was about the farming and fishing industries as a whole, rather than specifically dairy farming.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

There was a lot of talk at Prime Minister's Questions earlier about whether or not the government could partly fund the support it is planning for spiralling energy bills by deploying further windfall taxes.

A windfall tax is a one-off levy that targets firms which have benefitted from something they weren't responsible for (a windfall).

In the current political context, that means a tax on the record profits that have recently been enjoyed by oil and gas giants such as BP and Shell.

Truss consistently opposed windfall taxes during her leadership campaign - a stance she repeated today - arguing they would deter big businesses from investing in the UK.

However, the move is supported by opposition parties and ultimately won the backing of the former government, which imposed a windfall tax in May. BP's boss said earlier this year he would not halt any UK investment if a windfall tax was imposed.

Downing Street has today clarified that there will be no change to an existing windfall tax, but says no further measures of the same ilk will be brought in.

Read more about windfall taxes here.

Labour leader Keir Starmer asked the new prime minister if she was going to make working people "foot the bill for decades to come" in order to freeze energy prices, despite the "excessive" profits of oil and gas firms.

At her first PMQs since her appointment, Liz Truss said her speech in the Commons on Thursday would give people "certainty" over the help from the government.

Downing Street says the current windfall tax - introduced by then Chancellor Rishi Sunak - on the soaring profits of large oil and gas firms will not be scrapped. But it is ruling out further such measures.

Liz Truss's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is clear that we will not be introducing any further taxes in this space, given that we want to see broader investment in domestic oil and gas production as a transition fuel during this current global crisis we face."

During PMQs, she rejected Labour pressure for another "excess profits" levy on oil and gas producers.

She told MPs: "I believe it is the wrong thing to be putting companies off investing in the United Kingdom just when we need to be growing the economy."

Earlier at PMQs, Liz Truss was quizzed about a leaked tape, which captured her saying British workers are "lacking in skill" and "need to put in more graft".

Labour's Paulette Hamilton, asking a question for the first time at PMQs, was the first to quiz Truss in her new role.

Labour's Emily Thornberry says ordinary working people will end up footing the bill for the government's borrowing to freeze energy prices.

With prices rising, why should oil companies should make an excess profit, she asks.

"At a time like this, every single pound should count. Is it fair? I mean, that's what people will ask," she says.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has defended Liz Truss's opposition to a windfall tax on energy companies.

Duncan Smith tells the BBC's Politics Live that the debate over imposing windfall taxes centres around whether such a move would ultimately deter firms from investing in the UK.

He says it's important to the public that the government intervenes to help those struggling with energy bills, but "they don't get involved in how you're going to do that - that's a government matter".

Smith adds: "This is a balance about the future in terms of growth, versus whether or not you take a knee-jerk reaction and try and say this is a good political gesture."

He says the government is unlikely to receive the £5bn that was to be raised by the windfall tax on gas and oil companies imposed in May.

"The problem is they won't get that £5bn. They'll be lucky if they get about a billion of it," he says.

Chris Mason
Political editor

As Prime Minister’s Questions finished, there appeared to be a warm, one-on-one brief chat between Liz Truss and Keir Starmer.

I think Starmer said "well done" to his opponent: all party leaders regularly acknowledge that PMQs is a tough gig.

So - how did it feel, how did the main players perform?

It felt less personal, much less theatrical and more ideological.

Gone were the linguistic gymnastics of Boris Johnson.

Gone was the personal venom between the Conservative and Labour leaders.

Judging either by this first outing is clearly ridiculous; it’ll take a while for both to adjust to this new normal on a Wednesday lunchtime.

What is clear is how different it will feel — and the extent to which that will demand a very different approach from Starmer than the one adopted with Boris Johnson.

He now faces a very different opponent.

It was her first full day in No 10, and it was straight off to the Commons despatch box for Liz Truss. So how did it go?

• Her first head to head with Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer was dominated by the energy crisis and tax cuts
• In her opening remarks, Truss said she was determined to deliver for everyone in the UK and that she would work with all MPs, not just Tories
• Starmer began by congratulating Truss on her appointment. Then it was down to business and he immediately challenged her on windfall taxes on energy companies
• Truss said she was against a further tax on profits because she believes it puts companies off investing in the UK
• Starmer then pressed her on her plans to grow the economy, saying there was nothing new about "the Tory fantasy of trickle-down economics"
• Truss fired back, saying there's nothing new "about a Labour leader calling for more tax rises"
• When questioned by other MPs during the busy session, on issues from the NHS to trust, Truss's responses saw her pledging to immediately deliver on her promises by announcing her energy plans tomorrow, reiterating her tax cut pledges and promises to grow the economy

Stay with us as we bring you more reaction and updates on a busy day in politics.

Policy-focused performance from Truss - with a few jokespublished at 12:58 British Summer Time 7 September 2022

12:58 BST 7 September 2022

Ione Wells
Reporting from the Commons

Liz Truss’s backbenchers seemed pleased with her performance.

She was notably more serious and policy-focused than her predecessor, which may make it harder for the opposition to critique her character in the way they often did with Boris Johnson.

She did also show she has the capacity to crack a few jokes at her opponent’s expense, which is characteristic of PMQs, and got some laughs in exchange.

That humour came as a surprise to some, given she’s known for striking quite a serious tone in public speeches.

The bigger test may come tomorrow though when, she confirmed, the government will set out its plan to help people with energy bills. She’ll be under pressure to trump what the opposition parties have already outlined.

Prime Minister Liz Truss and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer faced each other in Prime Minister's Questions for the first time today.

Watch their full exchange in the video above.

"Everybody I shadow ends up being prime minister", quips Labour's Emily Thornberry on the BBC's Politics Live programme. She refers to her experience acting as her party's counterpart to both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Recalling occasions when she has filled in at Prime Minister's Questions in the absence of Labour leaders, Thornberry observes that the usual "wall of noise" in the chamber wasn't audible today.

She describes Truss's debut PMQs as "a cautious day out for all sides".

Iain Duncan Smith has been praising Liz Truss's debut performance at Prime Minister's Questions.

Her style is "much more focused and businesslike" than that displayed by her predecessor, Boris Johnson, he tells the BBC's Politics Live programme.

"She actually answered the questions directly," he adds.

The former Tory leader - who supported Truss in her leadership campaign but turned down a job in her cabinet - says Labour leader Starmer may struggle to work out how to handle her.

Prime Minister's Questions is now over.

Liz Truss's first PMQs focused heavily on the energy crisis and whether she can be trusted to deliver on her promises while in No 10.

We'll bring you a summary of everything that happened shortly.

Chris Mason
Political editor

The Bill of Rights - a proposed new law reforming the Human Rights Act championed by the former Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab - is being shelved.

It was due to have its second reading in parliament next week. It won't now.

It was first reported by The Sun's political editor Harry Cole.

I’m told the new government is "reviewing the most effective means to deliver objectives through our legislative agenda" and the Bill of Rights is "unlikely to progress in its current form".

Conservative Dame Caroline Dineage asks for a 10 year cancer strategy for children.

Truss says cancer is a devastating disease and "particularly heartbreaking" when children are involved.

She adds that the government will proceed with the strategy and new Health Secretary Therese Coffey will do all she can to tackle the issue.

Ione Wells
Political Correspondent, BBC News

Some Westminster watchers, and advisers, are getting in touch about Liz Truss’s distinctively different style to Boris Johnson.

One praises her for making clear points in a more structured way, compared to Boris Johnson’s preference for punchy soundbites that sometimes dodged the question at hand.

What will Truss do to cut down "appalling" ambulance wait times, wonders Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan?

She points out that the government has had three health secretaries in a matter of three months while a "grave situation" unfolds.

Truss acknowledges that "people should not have to wait as long as they are".

She adds that the new health secretary is already working on a fix.

Victoria Atkins Tory MP for Louth and Horncastle, highlights the plight of around 1.5m households across the countryside who she says rely on heating oil, but are not covered by the energy price cap.

She says their prices have risen by 130% in recent months - will they be included in the government's new plans?

The PM says we need to make sure we look after everybody in "this very difficult winter that we're facing".

Pontypridd's MP Alex Davies-Jones has told Liz Truss she doesn't have the British public's support.

"She can't even rely on the backing of her own MPs", she says.

She adds Truss played a "key role" in a government that "failed millions" and that people will never forget.

So, asks Davies-Jones, will she call a general election?

But Truss won't be drawn on the idea. She says the crisis is down to Putin's war on Ukraine.

She says people just want a government to "sort it out".