Image source, PA Media

Thanks for joining our live coverage of another lively few hours in politics. Before we leave you, let's look back over some of the key moments:

• PM Rishi Sunak went head-to-head with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions. The PM addressed winter strike action, insisting pay offers made to public-sector workers were "reasonable", and promising new laws to "protect the lives and livelihoods of the British public" against strike action
• Sunak was asked about Tory peer Michelle Mone. He said he was "shocked" following allegations that she benefitted from a company that she recommended for a Covid contract, and confirmed she had lost the party whip as an automatic consequence of her requesting a leave of absence from the House of Lords. A Mone spokesperson says her legal team is "dealing with this with-hunt situation"
• The PM was also questioned over government U-turns on onshore wind developments and housing targets, and faced barbs from Stephen Flynn, the SNP's new leader in Westminster
• Cheers of support from the backbenches suggested that Sunak has brought stability to his party and government - something absent in the final days of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss premierships, says BBC political editor Chris Mason
• Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, said he would not stand again for the Tories at the 2024 election. Hancock, who held the health brief during the pandemic, said he wanted to "do things differently". He'd lost the Tory whip after appearing on ITV show I'm a Celebrity

Today's coverage was brought to you by Rob Corp, Heather Sharp, Adam Durbin, Thomas Mackintosh, Sarah Fowler, James Harness, Chas Geiger, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman and James FitzGerald.

You can read our stories on anti-strike laws here, Baroness Mone here, and Matt Hancock here.

Image source, Getty Images

The government will confirm later today whether the current cold snap of weather have triggered cold weather support payments, BBC News understands.

Vulnerable households in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are eligible to receive £25 a week in support when an average temperature of 0C (32F) is reached over a seven day period between 1 November and 31 March each year.

Cold Weather Payments are a government benefit top-up to help with fuel bills during times of exceptionally cold weather.

To qualify, you must already be eligible for one of five benefits and fulfil additional criteria outlined on the government website, external.

These payments are not age-related, unlike the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners.

The system is different in Scotland, where those on low incomes and benefits may receive the Winter Heating Payment, external- but this does not depend on how low the temperature gets.

• Read more here

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told MPs at PMQ's earlier he had been "working for new tough laws to protect people" from the disruption caused by strikes.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Sunak's official spokesman said the government's work on new measures was "ongoing", but did not provide any timeline for any laws or what the powers might be.

The comments came ahead of planned strikes by ambulance and healthcare workers later this month, who are joining rail and other public sector workers in taking industrial action.

The spokesman added the government was "certainly not planning to stop the minimum service legislation" currently being considered to ensure a base operating level for critical industries.

The spokesman said: "We keep the powers under review and obviously in light of what we are seeing with effectively rolling strikes, the prime minister thinks it is right to push ahead with new powers."

Image source, Getty Images

In his letter, external to Sunak, Hancock said he was "very grateful" for his conversation with the chief whip last week "in which he made clear he would restore the whip in due course, but that is now not necessary".

"It has been a huge honour to serve as Member of Parliament for West Suffolk over the past 12 years," he said adding that he was "very proud of what we achieved".

He goes on to list some of his highlights from his nine years in government, including "restoring the nation's finances" and "support for the NHS with record numbers of doctors and nurses" and the response to the pandemic.

He closes his letter saying he wants "to do things differently", and that he's "discovered a whole world of possibilities which I am excited to explore - new ways for me to communicate with people of all ages and from all backgrounds".

He says he wants to champion issues "dear to my heart", including better support for dyslexic children "who get a raw deal from the education system".

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he won't stand as a Conservative MP in the next general election. He has tweeted a letter to Rishi Sunak., external

He was suspended as a Conservative MP after appearing on I'm a Celebrity while Parliament is sitting.

Thanks for joining our live coverage - here's a quick look back at this afternoon's session of Prime Minister's Questions.

• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressed winter strike action across numerous sectors, insisting the government had been "reasonable" in its public-sector pay offers. He challenged Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to support "tough laws" clamping down on "unreasonable" union walkouts

• Sunak was repeatedly quizzed about Baroness Mone, and said he was "shocked" following allegations that the Tory peer benefitted from a company that she recommended for a Covid contract. A spokesperson for the peer said her legal team "are dealing with this witch-hunt situation"
• The PM confirmed that Mone no longer had the party whip as an automatic consequence of her requesting a leave of absence from the House of Lords - a move Sunak says was "absolutely right"
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also asked about recent government U-turns over onshore wind and housebuilding targets; Sunak said he was improving planning processes and giving local communities a greater role in decision-making
• Sunak was also asked about strep A, saying there was a higher number of cases this year but there was no new strain, and no shortage of antibiotics
• The SNP's new Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, made his PMQs debut and quickly took aim at the Conservatives' track record in government since 2019

Reality Check

During PMQs, the prime minister explained why he did not want to work with Labour on housing, saying: “In London, the former Conservative mayor in five years built 60,000 affordable homes. The current Labour mayor half of that amount.”

The Greater London Authority publishes figures, external for affordable housing in the capital running from April to March each year.

In Boris Johnson’s last five years as mayor (2011-2016), there were 56,326 homes classified as affordable completed.

In the last five years, under Labour's Sadiq Khan, 37,999 were completed, so that is about two thirds as many.

During PMQs, Rishi Sunak said he was "shocked" to read allegations about Baroness Mone and it was "absolutely right" that she was no longer attending the House of Lords.

The peer is taking a leave of absence amid claims she benefited from a firm she recommended for a Covid contract.

Sunak said she "no longer has the Conservative whip".

Watch the full exchange between Sunak and Starmer above.

A spokesperson for the peer said: "Baroness Mone's legal team are dealing with this witch-hunt situation."

The SDLP's Claire Hanna had the last question to the PM, asserting the government's plans for an electronic permit to travel from the Republic of Ireland would likely end up with Northern Ireland "struck off the itinerary" for tourism operators and independent travellers.

She says that 70% of Northern Ireland's tourists travel to Dublin first and then across the land border, arguing the "last thing we need is a barrier to one of our biggest economic drivers" - asking the PM if he will commit to scrapping this "unworkable proposal".

Sunak says the government is "very committed to the common travel area" (which allows free movement on the island of Ireland) and the government "do not want to see any checks".

He adds that's why the government is "working very hard" to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol negotiated as part of the UK's exit deal from the EU, to ensure Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom".

In the closing stages of PMQs, Labour's Chris Elmore asks Sunak: "What first attracted him to awarding billion pounds of Covid contracts to Tory donors and supporters, and what is he doing to claw taxpayers' money back?"

Sunak said the government delivered 32 billion pieces of PPE to the front line "at a time when there was a global shortage", adding there was an independent process and ministers were not involved in the decisions.

Welsh Labour MP Kevin Brennan accuses “Tory spivs" of "using their connections... to help themselves to millions of pounds of public money” during the Covid pandemic. “Why is the prime minister on the side of the spivs, and not on the side of the nurses?” he asks.

Sunak says everyone was working as hard and as quickly as they could to get the PPE needed for front-line workers, including nurses. There was an independent procurement process and ministers were not involved in the decision making, he adds.

The PM says it was right that people gave their ideas about where to get PPE from, saying that the shadow chancellor had suggested the government should get it from a law firm and get ventilators from a football agent.

“Everyone was trying as hard as they can - we should remember the context and stop playing politics,” he concludes.

Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness Matt Warman highlights the economic impact and pressure on public services in coastal communities caused by housing asylum seekers in local hotels, and calls on the government to move beyond this urgently.

Sunak says he completely agrees - saying it's “incredibly expensive” to house asylum seekers in hotels and is costing £6m a day. He promises the government will urgently bring forward plans to reduce the pressures, but adds that the best way to solve the problem sustainably is to "reduce the number of illegal migrants" coming to the UK and that's what this government will deliver.

PMQs has now ended but we're bringing you more of the questions from MPs and responses from the PM.

Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen raises concerns about the use of mRNA Covid vaccines in children as young as six months.

Sunak responds that Covid vaccines are "safe and effective", and that no jab is approved unless it is shown to be so.

He adds that there is an independent body - the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - that assesses which age groups jabs should be used in, and says that the "ultimate decision" over children getting vaccines lies with parents.

You can read more about how we know Covid vaccines are safe here

Labour's Diana Johnson asks Sunak why the government is unable to process asylum applications within six months, which she says would save £5.6m a day on accommodation costs.

She says dealing with asylum seekers' applications quickly would help stop the "abuse of the system" and clear the backlog of 147,000 claims.

Sunak says the government is significantly increasing the number of caseworkers to process applications, and is on course to double the numbers by next spring.

He says the process does take longer than it should, often because "people are able to exploit some of the rules in our system".

Sunak adds he and Home Secretary Suella Braverman are looking to solve this, adding he looks forward to Labour's support when they do.

Adversarial approach from new SNP Westminster leaderpublished at 12:37 Greenwich Mean Time 7 December 2022

12:37 GMT 7 December 2022

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Stephen Flynn was chosen by the SNP’s MPs to lead them in the Commons in part because they hoped he would be a punchy presence at big events like Prime Minister’s Questions.

He may have been given a warmer welcome than the man he is replacing was used to - Ian Blackford was generally greeted with a chorus of jeers from the government benches.

But the 34-year-old is clearly planning on taking an adversarial approach to the Conservatives and Labour, aiming barbs at both parties.

The bigger job for Flynn may be bringing his party’s fractious group together in the wake of a leadership contest which was not the coronation he had hoped for.

With the SNP planning to use the next general election as a single-issue campaign on the issue of independence, those MPs could find themselves on the very frontline of the debate over Scotland’s future.

Chris Mason
Political editor

The joust between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer followed a pattern we are becoming used to.

The Conservative backbenches audibly and tribally rallying behind the prime minister.

Sir Keir pointing out points of weakness for the prime minister - two policy concessions, on wind farms and house building - made this week.

And the Labour leader also attempting to look like a prime minister in waiting, offering Labour support to get Rishi Sunak’s priorities through, which doubles as a technique to point out his weakness.

And his information-seeking question about strep A.

After a calendar year in which two Conservative prime ministers couldn’t guarantee audible support from those behind them, Sunak is approaching the end of the year where he can.

For now at least he has brought stability to his party and to government, even if there are question marks about how he will be able to deliver or what he wants to deliver.

Now Sunak is asked by Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh about how to ensure people have "free access to hard-earned money". McDonagh says free cash machines are disappearing along with high street banks "hitting the most vulnerable hardest".

Sunak says it's a priority - and that a bill currently going through Parliament represents a "significant intervention".

He agrees that "access to cash is important" and highlights work done by the government to ensure cash machines in deprived communities are subsidised.

Labour's Ian Byrne calls for talks on the introduction of universal free school meals to feed the four million children in the UK he says are currently going hungry.

Sunak says Byrne is right to highlight the issue of access to food, and he is proud of the government's expansion of free school meals - in and out of term time. He adds he is open to ideas about how to go further.

Image source, House of Commons

Next a question from the Alliance MP Stephen Farry who comments on the slow rate of progress on talks over the Northern Ireland assembly deadlock.

He urges the prime minister to visit Stormont before the end of the year.

Sunak replies by assuring Farry he wants to see issues around the Northern Ireland protocol - which regulates post-Brexit trade - resolved and he will take on board the suggestion to visit and discuss the issues in person.

Sunak says the government is delivering £55bn in energy bill support this winter.

This will save the typical household around £900, with more support for the most vulnerable, he says, which Sunak adds is an example of the UK delivering for Scotland.