Emma Owen
Live reporter

That's it for our coverage of Prime Minister's Questions this week.

As ever, you can find plenty more politics stories on our website, and we have a section dedicated to local election coverage too - you can find that here.

We'll have a full results service, with a live page beginning on Thursday evening - it will be clearly signposted on the site.

And if you're voting tomorrow, and even if you're not, here's a chance to read Chris Mason's thoughts on what's at stake.

Today's writers were Adam Durbin, Thomas Mackintosh, Chas Geiger, Paul Seddon and Jasmine Andersson.

We'll be bringing our weekly PMQs coverage to a close shortly - Rishi Sunak was asked about a number of issues including the government's housebuilding record and rising housing costs, crime rates and police officer recruitment as well as new voter ID laws and access to NHS dental services.

All this ahead of tomorrow's local elections in much of England - Northern Ireland goes to the polls in two weeks' time.

If you need more information on the elections, here are some articles you might find useful:

• Do I get a vote? When and where are they?
• The practicalities: What photo ID do you need?
• Analysis: BBC election guru Prof John Curtice's thoughts
• Interactive map: Is there an election in my area?
• The lowdown: A guide to polling station rules

Reality Check

Rishi Sunak told MPs: "There are now a record number of police officers across the country thanks to the actions of this government and crime is 50% lower than it was when we took office."

The latest figures show that there is indeed a record number of police officers in England and Wales, with the figure of just under 150,000 (including part-time officers) being 3,500 higher than the number in 2010.

But for the police force to have grown in line with the population over that period, there would need to be thousands more officers.

You can read more about it here.

The preferred source of figures on trends in crime is the Crime Survey for England and Wales, external (CSEW), which gave a figure of 9.5 million incidents in March 2010 and 4.7 million in September 2022 - that’s a fall of about 50%.

But those figures exclude fraud and computer misuse, which only started being included in the CSEW in 2017.

That makes this comparison difficult. It’s a significant category - in September 2022 there were almost as many incidents of fraud and computer misuse as incidents of all other crimes put together.

Chris Mason
Political editor

It is striking now how often the SNP seek to turn questions to the prime minister into political attacks on Labour.There is a good reason for this: the SNP’s current difficulties open the door, potentially, to a substantial Labour revival in Scotland at the next general election.So we can expect plenty more questions from SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn that are pretty much directed at Keir Starmer, even though it is Rishi Sunak answering them.

Rishi Sunak claimed during PMQs that students from disadvantaged backgrounds in England are “far more likely” to go university than students from the same background in Scotland.

It is true that a greater proportion of students from the most deprived areas of England enrolled in a full-time undergraduate degree in the last academic year (2021-22).

According to a Higher Education Student Statistics report, external, 22% of students from the most deprived areas in England started higher education for the first time last year. This compared with 17% in Scotland.

This is an official source of data for this comparison, although the measurements of deprivation levels in England and Scotland are similar but not identical.

Reality Check

Asked about NHS dental services, Rishi Sunak said: "There are over 500 more dentists working in the NHS this year than last year."

We do not have figures for the current year.

According to NHS digital, external, there were 539 more dentists taking NHS work in England in 2021-22 than there were in 2020-21.

But the number of dentists in 2020-21 was down 950 compared with 2019-20.

So despite the rise last year, we are still below the number from two years ago, and it is still below the level from 2017-18.

Chris Mason
Political editor

You know there is an election that is imminent when a Christmas market in Lincoln gets mentioned by the Prime Minister in the Commons… in May.

On all sides backbenchers are electioneering - pointing to their apparently brilliant local authority if their side run it, highlighting its apparent abject failures if opponents do.

Even more than usual, plenty of questions weren’t really questions at all - but MPs hoping to help out their local candidates back home before their appointment with the electorate tomorrow.

Emma Owen
Live reporter

That's the last of the questions, we're now turning our attention to checking some of the claims made in the Commons.

Stay with us and we'll bring that to you shortly.

Lib Dem MP Munira Wilson told the story of a man called Nick, whom she says fell ill after swimming in the River Thames, and whose doctors believe it was caused by polluted water.

She says the pollution was caused by Thames Water dumping "filthy sewage" nearby "just days earlier" - and asks the PM "why does he think it's OK for water companies to keep polluting our rivers for another 25 years?" - a reference to the length of the government's latest pollution strategy.

In reply, Sunak says the government has given more enforcement powers to the Environment Agency to enforce rules, and is introducing unlimited fines for companies.

Circling back to some of the other questions that we didn't get out earlier, and Labour MP for Halifax Holly Lynch highlighted the case of a local mother featured in a TV documentary.

She says she has seen her prepayment energy bills triple and has to rely on her children's primary school for free breakfasts, budget cooking classes and a hardship fund to feed her family.

Why does the PM think things are so bad that schools are having to be the fourth emergency service, Lynch asks?

Sunak says the typical family is seeing half its energy bills paid - worth £1,500; the most vulnerable ones are getting an extra £900; and the government is providing more support for school holiday food costs and households in debt.

Chris Mason
Political editor

The battle over housing at PMQs: a key local election issue in lots of parts of England - and a key long-term challenge for local authorities and national governments over the next generation.

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer traded insults and statistics, but both know whoever is in power locally or nationally faces a massive challenge: building more homes everywhere and even more homes where there is real demand for them.

But doing so when there can be oodles of political opposition - as the Conservatives discovered in Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire in a by-election almost two years ago.

The Conservatives have struggled to oversee the building of anywhere near enough homes.

And Labour would almost certainly find it a struggle too, if they were to win the next election.

As promised, video. Here's the full exchange:

Emma Owen
Live reporter

Prime Minister's Questions has come to an end - stay with us while we catch up on a few more of the questions asked by MPs.

We have analysis from our correspondents and video clips to follow too.

Anne Marie Morris, the Conservative MP for Newton Abbot, talks about hosepipe bans in her Devon area and water catchments.

Sunak says water companies publish water resource and management plans.

He adds: "The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are closely working with South West Water to make sure appropriate action is taking place."

Image source, House of Commons

Labour's Rebecca Long-Bailey puts a question to the PM about WASPI women.

She says that over 3.6 million women born in the 1950s had their pension age increased without their knowledge.

Many unknowingly gave up work at 60 "only to realise they had no income, couldn't pay their bills, and some have even lost their homes", she says.

She asks, will the PM commit to the fair and fast payment of any compensation recommended by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for "the injustice they have suffered by maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions"?

Sunak says the issue is part of an ongoing process that he can't comment on, but the government will "respond appropriately to any recommendations that come our way".

Labour's Catherine McKinnell asks Sunak about what she says is an 8% fall in police numbers in north-east England since 2010.

Noting the PM's keenness for maths, she asks: "If Northumbria Police has lost 1,000 police officers since 2010 but gained the funding to put back 615, by how much have the Conservatives short-changed the north east?"

Sunak replies by saying there are now a record number of police officers in the UK and crime is 50% lower than when the Conservatives entered government.

Tory veteran John Whittingdale mentions today is World Press Freedom Day and says there is a need for professional fact checking now more than ever.

He asks whether the government will redouble efforts to ensure the release of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich in Russia and media mogul Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong.

Sunak says the government is committed to defending media worldwide.

"We absolute condemn the politically motivated sentencing of journalists," he says.

Image source, House of Commons

Mary Kelly Foy, Labour MP for Durham, asks the PM to ensure that no-one loses their life because they cannot get a dental appointment.

One of her constituents faced 16 hours of surgery to remove an aggressive tumour from his face and jaw as he couldn't get an appointment, she says.

Sunak replies that dental contracts have been reformed to improve access, and there are 500 more dentists working for the NHS this year than last year.

He adds that discussions are ongoing for further reform measures.

Image source, House of Commons

Next up, South West Hertfordshire Tory MP Gagan Mohindra asks the PM if voters should back Conservatives in tomorrow's local elections - for England - in order "to protect green belt."

Sunak replies and goes on the attack of the Lib Dems telling the Commons they "say one thing and do another".

Labour's Vicky Foxcroft picks up on the new requirement for voters to show ID at polling stations at England's local elections - the first time this has been in place in Great Britain.

Citing official figures showing about 4% of those without ID applied for the free certificate the government has provided to enable them to vote, she says the change has disenfranchised voters.

The prime minister replies that pilots of the scheme have not shown it reduces turnout, and points out that voter ID in Northern Ireland - which was introduced in 2007 - was brought in under Labour.