Summary

  • Rishi Sunak clashes with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over strike action and NHS pressures during the first PMQs of 2023

  • The PM starts his weekly questioning by saying he is registered with an NHS GP - but has also used private healthcare in the past

  • Sunak faced criticism after declining to reveal whether he used private healthcare in an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday

  • He also used this week's PMQs to condemn "utterly unacceptable" comments by Andrew Bridgen, who has been suspended as a Conservative MP for spreading Covid vaccine misinformation

  • It comes as 20,000 ambulance workers walk out in England and Wales over pay and staffing

  • Business Secretary Grant Shapps announced yesterday plans to enforce minimum service levels during strike action, including for ambulance staff and railway workers

  • Unions say the proposed bill is "unworkable", while Labour says it will repeal the legislation if it wins the next general election

  1. Will Sunak be questioned over whether he uses private GP?published at 11:53 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    Media caption,

    PM refuses to say if he is registered with a private GP

    One line of attack for Labour could be Rishi Sunak’s repeated refusal to say whether he uses private healthcare.

    Sunak told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that it is "not really relevant” and is a “personal choice".

    When asked the same question, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said he did not use private healthcare.

    In the interview, Kuenssberg suggested there was huge public interest in Sunak's decisions and that former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was open about her choice to use a private GP.

    Sunak said he "grew up in an NHS family", with a dad who was a GP, and a mum who was a pharmacist.

    But when pressed again, Sunak did not answer the question and instead said, in general, "we should be making use of the independent sector" so patients could choose where they have treatment.

    A newspaper report in November , externalsuggested Sunak was registered with a private GP practice that offers on-the-day appointments and charges £250 for a half-hour consultation.

  2. Rail union leaders take aim at governmentpublished at 11:49 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    Mick LynchImage source, PA Media

    More now on the Transport Select Committee meeting that has been taking place this morning.

    RMT leader Mick Lynch accused the government of driving the bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions and blocking deals to resolve the row.

    Former transport secretary Grant Shapps was singled out for criticism.

    "This is Shapps's project - the dispute has been bequested to the rest of us to sort out," he told MPs.

    Frank Ward, interim general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), said he had written to Shapps when he was transport secretary asking for a meeting but had no response.

    "He was non-existent," he told the committee.

  3. We are further away than when we started - union leaderpublished at 11:45 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    Mick Whelan from AslefImage source, PA

    More on strikes now - which are highly likely to be a focus in the Commons today.

    Train drivers' union leaders have appeared at a Transport Select Committee this morning.

    Mick Whelan, general secretary of the Aslef union, was asked how close, on a scale of one to 10, the situation was to a resolution.

    “I think you can include zero. We're further away than when we started,” he replied.

    RMT leader Mick Lynch said: "We haven't got an agreement. Until we get an agreement we're not close to it."

    He said nine clauses were added to an offer made last month, describing it as "sabotage".

  4. Labour likely to raise new strike billpublished at 11:40 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    Business Secretary Grant Shapps making a statement to MPs in the House of CommonsImage source, PA Media

    Strikes are likely to be a hot topic at PMQs today.

    Yesterday, Business Secretary Grant Shapps set out plans to enforce minimum service levels during strike action, including for ambulance staff, firefighters and railway workers.

    Under the bill, some employees would be required to work during a strike and could be sacked if they refuse.

    Shapps said the aim was to protect lives and livelihoods.

    But unions said the proposed bill was "undemocratic, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal".

    Labour has said it would repeal the legislation if it wins the next general election.

    Read in full: Grant Shapps unveils new powers in strike laws

  5. Sunak on his way to PMQspublished at 11:34 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    Rishi SunakImage source, PA Media

    PM Rishi Sunak has left Downing Street and is en route to the House of Commons.

    He’ll take questions from MPs at the usual time of 12:00 GMT.

    We'll be bringing you the latest updates, but you can also watch the debate live by clicking the play button at the top of this page from midday.

  6. Tory MP suspended after vaccine remarkspublished at 11:31 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023
    Breaking

    Andrew BridgenImage source, PA

    Andrew Bridgen has had the whip removed, suspending him as a Conservative MP.

    It comes after he described, in a tweet, Covid-19 vaccines as the "biggest crime against humanity since Holocaust".

    The government's chief whip, Simon Hart, said in a statement:

    Quote Message

    Andrew Bridgen has crossed a line, causing great offence in the process. As a nation we should be very proud of what has been achieved through the vaccine programme.

    Quote Message

    The vaccine is the best defence against Covid that we have. Misinformation about the vaccine causes harm and costs lives. I am therefore removing the Whip from Andrew Bridgen with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation."

    When an MP loses the whip they are effectively expelled from their party but remain as an MP, meaning they sit as an independent member until the banishing party restores the whip.

  7. What could come up today?published at 11:14 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    PM Rishi Sunak responds to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during PMQs on 14 December 2022Image source, PA Media

    In Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s first head-to-head of 2023, it seems likely that strikes will come up in one way or another.

    New legislation… The Conservatives announced plans yesterday to enforce minimum service levels during walkouts, including for ambulance staff and railway workers. Under the bill, some employees would be required to work during a strike and could be sacked if they refuse.

    Ministers claim this will protect lives and livelihoods, but some Labour MPs have already condemned the move as an attack on workers’ right to strike.

    Ambulance strikes… Not to mention, today’s PMQs session comes against the backdrop of a second strike by ambulance workers in less than a month. And this time call handlers have joined the picket line, too.

    Sticky for Starmer… A key problem for Labour is that senior members of the party, including shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, have already admitted they wouldn’t pay some workers what they’re demanding either. The difference, they claim, is that unlike the government they’d be around the negotiating table, trying to reach an agreement.

    Politico's Playbook predicts that Sunak will want to pit Starmer against the suffering public after Labour opposed the government's new strike law, which the Conservatives have framed as life-saving.

    Other areas… Being that it’s the first PMQs of the year, Sir Keir may decide to bring up one of the other issues currently affecting the UK, be that the cost of living or continued migrant crisis.

    We’ll find out what line of questioning he goes down when the session kicks off at 12:00 GMT.

    Stay with us for live updates and analysis.

  8. Welcomepublished at 10:55 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2023

    Good morning and thanks for joining our live coverage of the first Prime Minister's Questions of 2023.

    Rishi Sunak will be grilled by MPs in the House of Commons from midday - including Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and the Scottish National Party's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.

    We'll be bringing you all the latest updates, so stay tuned.