Opening his second question, Flynn says Westminster is "consumed by the damage" caused by Brexit while the public faces falling living standards, a high tax burden and rising inflation.

He asks when the Tories and Labour will realise that Brexit doesn't work.

Sunak says that his government is making sure families get energy bills help, cutting NHS waiting times and is delivering on "people's number one priority...by stopping the boats".

Met Police and crime dominate but Partygate gets a mentionpublished at 12:26 Greenwich Mean Time 22 March 2023

12:26 GMT 22 March 2023

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour wants to be seen to be tough on crime – including those committed by serving police officers.

And that Labour has answers to some of the failings identified in Dame Louise Casey’s scathing report, such as calling for the mandatory national vetting of recruits.

By focusing on crime, Keir Starmer is also reminding voters that he had a career before politics, as director of public prosecutions. "I have prosecuted countless rapists," he declared.

But Rishi Sunak pointed out that the Mayor of London – who has responsibility for overseeing the Met – is a Labour politician.

More widely, Labour believes that crime will be a significant issue in seats they are hoping to regain from the Conservatives, and so the party has been seeking to attach blame to the government for crime rates.

But Partygate was not entirely absent from the clashes. Sir Keir reminded us that it wasn’t just Boris Johnson who was fined by police, but Rishi Sunak too.

The PM hit back by highlighting Sir Keir’s (subsequent) conversations with the Partygate report author, Sue Gray, whom he wants to appoint as his chief of staff.

Sir Keir steered clear of the ongoing Conservative divisions over Brexit, but the SNP’s Stephen Flynn was not shy to do so, pointing out three former Conservative leaders were refusing to back the PM's new deal for Northern Ireland.

The SNP Westminster Leader, Stephen Flynn, is up next.

He begins by paying tribute to PC Keith Palmer who lost his life in the London Bridge attack in 2017.

He asks the PM what his biggest concern over Brexit is - the 4% hit to UK productivity (as outlined by the Office for Budget Responsibility), or is it three former Tory leaders planning to vote down his deal?

Sunak in response says the Windsor Framework represents a "good deal" for the people of Northern Ireland.

Rishi Sunak says "there was a full investigation by a very senior civil servant," into Partygate, and he says "he had no prior knowledge" of the gathering that took place that he was fined for.

He says Keir Starmer has probably spoken to Sue Gray, who led the Partygate investigation, about this even more than he has about it. Keir Starmer, who recently offered Gray a job as his chief of staff, shakes his head at this remark.

"We're halving inflation," he states, "we're also cutting NHS waiting lists... we're stopping the boats with a new bill to tackle illegal migration, that's a Conservative government getting on with the people's priorities".

A reminder: Both Boris Johnson and Sunak received a fine relating to a gathering for Johnson's birthday in Downing Street on 19 June 2020.

The Labour leader says the only investigation the PM has ever been involved in ended with him being fined over Partygate.

Starmer adds that he has prosecuted countless rapists and supports tougher sentences, but criminals have to be caught first.

He says the Conservatives have presided over a "massive failure" on crime - nothing on police standards, neighbourhood policing is shattered, and burglars and rapists are left free to walk the streets.

The PM fires back at Starmer. He jokes that north Yorkshire, where his constituency is located, is further away than north London, where Starmer's is.

Rishi Sunak says crime is down 50%, violent crime down 40% and burglary down 56% since the Conservatives came into power.

He says Labour is soft on crime and soft on criminals.

Starmer says the PM "stands there and pretends everything is fine" and says he is "totally out of touch".

"He needs to get out of Westminster, get out of Kensington," Starmer says to jeers and cheers from the benches.

"I don't mean to Malibu - but to the streets of Britain," he says, questioning the government's record on burglaries and theft. He then asks when the PM is going to bring those charges back to where they were "before [the government] wrecked policing"?

In his response, Rishi Sunak says "since 2019, neighbourhood crime is down by 25%".

He says the government is "on track to reaching our target of doubling the number of rape cases reaching our courts," adding that police referrals and charges are doubling.

Starmer says people are fed up with a government that does not take responsibility and blames everyone else.

He says crime is out of control, with over 98% of rapists never brought to justice.

The Labour leader asks the PM what the theft and burglary charge rates are.

The PM says Casey pointed out that primary, public accountability of the Met sits with the Mayor of London.

This gets a round of applause.

He adds that the way rape victims were treated wasn't good enough and that is why the government published a rape review action plan.

Starmer points out that Baroness Casey's report criticises "what she calls the government's hands-off attitude to policing over the last 13 years".

"Let's call it what it really is: sheer negligence," Starmer says.

He also mentions the report's finding that police failed to deal with rape cases and asks why the government hasn't backed Labour's plan to have a "proper, high-quality rape and serial sexual offenders unit in every police force".

Rishi Sunak says "there's no need to back that plan, cause we're already tackling the issues" raised in the Metropolitan Police report.

He says the College of Policing is currently updating the vetting guidelines, and police forces are checking police officers against criminal records checks.

He says the government "owes this action and more" to those who have been affected by problem police officers.

Starmer says there can be no doubt how serious this is - or that it's not restricted to the Met.

Will the PM back Labour's plan for national mandatory vetting of officers, so different forces do not have different standards?

In response, the PM says he was appalled to read the report.

Rishi Sunak said the report's findings are unacceptable.

He says the government will work with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Met Police commissioner to ensure culture and standards improve.

Labour's Keir Starmer kicks off questions to the PM.

He starts off by remembering the victims of the London Bridge attack of March 2017.

He then asks Rishi Sunak whether he accepts the findings of the Casey report which concluded that racism, misogyny, and homophobia are at the heart of the Met police force.

PM Rishi Sunak is now on his feet and addressing the House of Commons.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Keir Starmer has a choice of topics which could make the PM feel uncomfortable.

Inflation has gone up, not down.

Halving inflation is Rishi Sunak’s top priority so wherever there is a gap between promise and delivery the opposition will try to exploit this – though the PM has given himself until the end of the year to meet his inflation target.

But today’s rise opens up the opportunity for Labour to talk more widely about the cost of living crisis.

Sir Keir is also keen to portray his opposite number as weak, so he may be tempted to highlight continuing Conservative divisions over Brexit, with three former Conservative leaders (including the last two PMs) giving the thumbs down to the Windsor Framework.

In his answers, I’d expect Rishi Sunak to weave in Sir Keir’s bespoke and generous pension arrangements when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, given the fuss Labour has made about the Conservatives’ pension reforms.

Back to the Windsor Framework now, and there are signs of a growing rebellion amongst the Eurosceptive Conservative MPs.

The European Research Group, which is comprised of hard line Brexiteer Tory MPs, rubbished the PM’s deal on Tuesday.

Its chairman Mark Francois released a highly critical statement following analysis by its team of lawyers, which it refers to as the “Star Chamber”.

He says the Stormont Brake is “practically useless” and made sweeping criticisms of other elements of the framework.

The ERG leadership has issued a "strong recommendation" to its 30 members to vote against the government.

Downing Street has said there are no plans for substantial changes to the deal.

Another subject likely to come up at PMQs today is yesterday's damning report that found racism, misogyny, and homophobia to be at the heart of the Metropolitan Police force.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned it could take years to address some challenges, but said she’s confident Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and his team would deliver the change the public expects in the wake of Baroness Casey’s blistering review.

She said the report makes "very concerning reading" and shows the force "faces a long road to recovery".

Responding to the report, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Rowley should "go further and faster" to uncover the systemic problems within the Met.

Setting out his view on how Labour would raise confidence in police forces across the UK, he said the party will be" relentless in demanding progress and change".

Boris Johnson has confirmed he will vote against the government in the Commons today.

The ex-PM said the Windsor Framework proposal was “not acceptable”.

He argued the arrangements negotiated by Rishi Sunak will either mean Northern Ireland remains “captured by the EU legal order” or that the whole of the UK is “unable properly to diverge” from the EU.

Johnson urged Sunak to go ahead with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, the legislation he introduced as PM that would have overhauled trade relations without agreement with the EU.

Sunak shelved the controversial plan as part of his amicable talks with Brussels last month.