We’ll be pausing our live coverage of UK politics shortly, but if you’re just catching, up here’s a summary of the key developments from a busy several hours in Westminster:

• Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the government would do "whatever it takes" to stop small boats crossing the English Channel - following the deaths of four people whose vessel ran into difficulties this morning. She said the tragedy was another “sobering reminder” of why the government had to tackle the issue
• Prime Minister’s Questions was dominated by tomorrow’s nurse’s strike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the walkout was a “badge of shame” for the government, and accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of “playing games with people’s health" by not meeting nurses’ unions to discuss pay
• Sunak said the government had spoken to all the unions about pay disputes. He paid tribute to nurses' hard work and emphasised what the government had done for them - such as last year's 3% pay increase
• The SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also criticised the government’s response to the nurses issue, urging Sunak to follow Scotland’s lead of negotiating a deal
• Amid a raft of strikes across the country – including on most of the railway network today – RMT union leader Mick Lynch told the BBC the government needed to compromise and offer additional assurances on job security for his members, adding that the current pay offer was “ridiculously low”. He said that the government has created a “myth” that pay rises fuel inflation, and was also critical of Labour "prevarication" on workers' rights
• Meanwhile, Downing Street has confirmed that five further complaints about the behaviour of Dominic Raab as a minister are being investigated – bringing the total number to eight. The prime minister’s official spokesman said the claims related to Raab’s previous tenure as justice secretary; Raab has previously denied any wrongdoing

Today's updates were brought to you by Adam Durbin, Oliver Slow, Alys Davies, Chas Geiger, Richard Morris, Sam Horti, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman and James FitzGerald.

Image source, Reuters

Back to the topic of rail strikes.

RMT union leader Mick Lynch says he's due to meet a government minister tomorrow - without specifying which one - alongside "the heads of the industry, from Network Rail and from the train operating companies".

Lych tells BBC Radio 4's World At One programme that there's a chance the long-running dispute can be resolved - if the government allows the industry to make "revised offers we can cope with".

At the moment, Lynch says, the government is "torpedoing" solutions by giving instructions it knows the RMT can never accept - including changes to workers' contracts which he says would mean thousands of job losses.

Network Rail denies planning any compulsory redundancies - and for the government's part, it says it's not involved in the negotiations.

Lynch also disputes suggestions from the government that higher pay offer would fuel inflation - saying the railways are a profitable, regulated monopoly, so there is no need to increase prices.

Nick Johnson
Reporting from Dungeness

The rolling pebble dunes make for a beautiful setting in the summer, but Dungeness in the winter is extremely bleak and very exposed to the elements.

It’s near here - 30 miles along the coast from Dover - where a boat carrying dozens of migrants got into difficulty overnight.

Twelve hours later the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, operating from a small station on the shingle here at Dungeness, say the operation is very much ongoing. I’m told their lifeboat made a second journey out to sea at around 10:30 this morning, and has still not returned.

The coastguard rescue helicopter has flown over us on its way out to sea on several occasions, making the most of the last few hours of daylight.

Another update from the English Channel now - where at least four people have died after they got into trouble while crossing the water in their small boat this morning.

BBC reporter Simon Jones says several other vessels have made the crossing today - possibly six, in addition to the boat that started sinking.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said it is "pretty shocking" that no action has been taken against Raab, and has called for him to be suspended following the latest complaints about his behaviour.

It is “a consequence of having a weak prime minister” that Raab continues to serve in government while complaints about his behaviour are investigated, Starmer says.

Raab denies any wrongdoing.

Image source, PA Media

Five further complaints about Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab’s behaviour are being investigated, Downing Street has disclosed.

The PM’s official spokesman said the claims related to Raab’s previous tenure at the ministry of justice.

The total number of complaints being investigated by Adam Tolley KC, appointed by Sunak, now stands at eight.

The three complaints already under investigation related to Raab's time as foreign secretary and Brexit secretary as well as justice secretary.

The Deputy PM has previously denied allegations of bullying, insisting he "behaved professionally at all times".

RMT leader Mick Lynch says that the government needs to "compromise" and offer additional assurances on job security for his members. The current pay offer is "ridiculously low", he says.

He says he has only been around the negotiating table with senior people from the railways, who are not allowed to negotiate on the government's behalf.

He says the Conservatives have created a "myth" that pay rises fuel inflation, adding that inflation has risen anyway without pay rises in the past few years.

The government has given a negotiating mandate to Network Rail and the train operators that says pay and conditions must be cut for rail workers, he says, adding that the government has "torpedoed" negotiations.

While we've been covering action in the Commons, the RMT Union's Mick Lynch has been speaking to the BBC about rail strikes.

Lynch says there has been "prevarication" from Labour leadership over this past week or so on protecting workers' rights, adding that Labour is similar to the Tories on the pay offer for train drivers.

He adds that "the rich don't create wealth in this country" and says the government should be redistributing wealth from those at the top.

Labour MP Liz Kendall says workers' rights "are absolutely critical". The party wants to scrap tax-free status for private schools and redistribute wealth more evenly, she says.

Lynch says the public "has been largely on our side" and his union "gets an awful lot of support" from those who use trains. He adds that "everybody's at the end of their tether, GPs, community nurses... this health service is being crushed so they can get it ready for privatisation".

Health minister Maria Caulfield rebuffs Lynch by saying the government is "putting record funding" into the health service.

Image source, .

Reality Check

At PMQs, the prime minister and the Labour leader clashed over the nurses' strike and the NHS.

Labour's Keir Starmer said: "Ask anyone in the NHS, they’ll tell you they don’t have enough staff - 133,000 vacancies."

According to the latest data, external, there were 133,446 full-time equivalent vacancies in NHS England in September - a vacancy rate of 9.7%.

Nursing vacancies accounted for 47,496 of that overall number - with a vacancy rate of 11.9% in this sector.

In December 2019, before the pandemic, the total NHS vacancy rate was 8.1%.

Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to strike tomorrow over pay.

The walkout will involve Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members in more than half of hospitals and community teams.

You can search here to check what NHS organisations in your area are affected.

Under trade union laws, life-preserving care has to be provided - so all nursing staff would be expected to work in services such as intensive and emergency care.

Read more: What is the dispute about and how will it affect patients?

PM faced tricky questions from own sidepublished at 13:24 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2022

13:24 GMT 14 December 2022

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

Beyond the main event of the Labour leader’s questions to the prime minister, PMQs can can sometimes seem a bit parochial.

MPs often use it as a chance to raise awareness of issues in their constituencies and be seen to speak up for their area.

Congestion and pollution on the A3 near Guildford, gridlock in Leicestershire, problems on the West Coast Mainline and access to high street banks might all sound a bit mundane.

But they were all questions asked by Conservative MPs and taken together they could add to the uncomfortable sense for the government of things not quite working as they should, in various sectors of the economy.

That plus one Tory backbencher calling again for the UK to leave the European Court of Human Rights proved the trickiest questions for the PM sometimes come from his own side.

If you're just joining, or need a catch-up, here's what's been happening in the last 90 minutes:

• Tomorrow's nurses' strike dominated the exchanges between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions. The Labour leader said the strike was a "badge of shame for this government" and accused the PM of "playing games with people's health" by not meeting nurses' unions to discuss pay
• Sunak said the government had consistently spoken to all the unions involved in pay disputes, and had given nurses a 3% pay rise last year, when other public sector workers had their pay frozen. He accused Starmer of not being strong enough to stand up to the unions
• SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn contrasted the nurses' strike with the Scottish government's settlement with nurses, and urged Sunak to follow Scotland's lead. He also highlighted the higher energy bills being faced by people in Scotland, who he said were terrified
• All three leaders and the Liberal Democrats' Sir Ed Davey paid tribute to the people known to have died when their boat got into difficulties in the Channel early this morning. Davey also pressed Sunak to guarantee that the backlog in cancer treatment would not get worse
• Conservative Saqib Bhatti highlighted the death of three children in his constituency, who were pulled from an icy lake in Solihull on Sunday. Sunak said the whole event had shocked the local community
• Immediately following PMQs, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told MPs that the search and rescue operation in the Channel was ongoing, and so far four deaths had been confirmed. She expressed her "profound sadness" at the news, saying: "These are the days that we dread." She said the tragedy was another "sobering reminder" of why the government had to end these small boat crossings

PMQs finished a little while ago and we've been bringing you the statement from Suella Braverman after four people died trying to cross the Channel in a small boat this morning.

But here's another relevant question from the PM's grilling earlier to bring you...

Towards the end of the session, Conservative MP Danny Kruger said that "in an age of mass migration" the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was "limiting our ability to control our borders".

He asked whether, in light of the tragedy in the Channel this morning, the prime minister agreed that a new framework for refugees and human rights should be drafted, including legal routes.

"One way or another, and if necessary alone, we must be prepared to leave the ECHR," he said.

Sunak responded by stating that the government's new legislation "will deliver a system whereby a person who comes here illegally will have no right to stay, will be removed to their own country or a safe third country alternative".

He said: "That is the system the British people want to see, that is the system that we will deliver, and I look forward to hearing whether the party opposite will support it."

Labour's Diana Johnson, the chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, asks Braverman what more the government can do to "pursue these evil individuals who facilitate and organise these trips"?

Braverman says this is part of the plan announced yesterday, focusing more on establishing an "operational command" and working better with France.

She says the government wants to investigate and arrest all of the people piloting the boats that they can identity.

Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet - on the Kent coast - asks the home secretary how many people have been arrested and brought to trial for human trafficking.

Braverman says “there has been considerable effort and focus” by the police as well as the National Crime Agency in tackling criminal gangs.

She says this year has seen more than 500 arrests targeting 55 organised crime groups.

“This work is extensive, it is coherent, and is set to increase following the prime minister’s announcement yesterday," she says.

Braverman begins her response to Cooper by saying the small boats operation command will be a "new operational command".

This means setting up a new headquarters within the UK Border Force and bringing the operation under Home Office control, with support from the armed forces.

Braverman says it will bring in new operational technology, such as drones and radar systems, as well as more than doubling the permanent staffing levels - with more than 100 at the new headquarters and 600 operational staff based at Dover.

She says it is a sign of the government "strengthening our will" to do "whatever it takes... to stop the boats crossing the Channel".

On "safe and legal routes", Braverman adds the UK has enabled more than 450,000 people to come to the UK from countries including Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan.

She says "we will extend safe and legal routes once we have dealt with the appalling people-smuggling gangs".

The home secretary defends the government's track record, adding that it will not stop until people recognise crossing the Channel via a small boat is not safe, lawful, or a route to a "better life in the UK".

Cooper continues by saying she is pleased to hear the prime minister say there will be more resources given to the National Crime Agency, but asks the home secretary to clarify the specifics of the migration policy announcement yesterday.

“What does it mean in practice? How much additional funding will there be in practice for the National Crime Agency - specifically for the action on criminal gangs?"

Cooper also seeks more clarity on the PM’s announcement of a new small boat operational command, asking how different it is from what happens now. She also asks for updates on French patrol surveillance.

She criticises of the lack of safe legal routes for children, and asks when the home secretary will take action on that issue.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calls this morning’s tragedy “deeply distressing news”, and gives her thanks to all of those who responded to this “awful, awful tragedy”.

She says “it was just a matter of time” before more lives were lost. Both the UK and France need to act, she says, adding that criminal gangs have made money from those lives.

“They have profited as people have drowned.”

She says the other brutal truth is that criminal gangs have grown and grown, and that authorities have failed to stop these gangs from proliferating around the Channel.

Action against these gangs has been too weak, she says.

With pressure building on the Home Office to tackle the issue, Rishi Sunak has labelled the small boats crisis a priority for his premiership.

Appearing in the House of Commons yesterday, he promised more staff to help clear the UK's backlog of asylum claims by the end of next year. Under the plan, a dedicated unit of 400 specialists will be set up to handle claims from Albanians, who represent 35% of the people arriving by small boats.

Downing Street later said the pledge was not to abolish the total backlog - only initial claims made up to the end of June.

Sunak also announced:

• UK border officials will be posted at Albania's main airport, under a new deal with the country
• 700 staff for a new unit to monitor small boats crossing the English Channel
• A pledge to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers
• Plans to house 10,000 individuals waiting on claims in disused holiday parks, former student halls, and surplus military sites
• A commitment to double the number of asylum caseworkers, who assess claims
• More staff and funding for the National Crime Agency to tackle organised immigration crime in Europe
• Plans for Parliament to set an annual quota for refugees coming to the UK
• New laws, to be introduced next year, to "make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here"

Braverman says the government "recently agreed the largest ever small boats deal with France".

She says this will mean "more boots on the ground patrolling their beaches" as well as British and French officers working together in both nations.

[Read more about that deal here]

"It was evident that we had to go much further," Braverman adds, arguing this was why Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outlined his plans to tackle the issue yesterday.

She says this will mean if somebody comes here illegally "they can expect to be swiftly detained".

Braverman says the UK "will create more safe and legal routes" and work with the UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, to "identify those most in need".

"It isn't true that our capacity is limitless. We are already spending millions on hotels every day. People do not need to seek asylum if they are already in a safe country," she concludes.