Labour MP for Wakefield Simon Lightfoot says convicted criminals are being held in police cells across West Yorkshire because the government has failed to deliver enough prison places

With two-thirds of prisons overcrowded, criminals let out early, only 2% of rapists reaching court, and knife and other serious violence up, he says, when will his constituents be safe on their streets?

Sunak says the government has a clear plan to protect victims, punish criminals and cut crime, while investing an extra £400m on creating new prison places on top of £4bn previously spent.

The PM says ministers are also making sure rapists serve their full sentences, and that "life means life" for the worst offenders.

Conservative MP Flick Drummond asks what support Britain will offer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct investigations into all parties in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank before and since 7 October.

"We are a strong, long-standing supporter of ICC," Sunak responds.

"When it comes to the situation in Gaza, we have been consistent in saying international humanitarian law has to be respected," he adds.

He said he stressed this point to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just yesterday.

We also heard Stephen Flynn say his party thought migration was a “good thing" that enriched the economy, schools and heath and care services.

The SNP Westminster leader asked the PM asked why it was acceptable for people to come to the UK to “care for our family members” but a “complete disregard” was shown to them.

Rishi Sunak said the UK had a “proud track record” of welcoming the most vulnerable. But he added immigration levels were “far too high” and those who came here had to contribute to public services.

A short time ago, we also heard SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn press the government on migration, saying "those of us on these benches, we aren't afraid to say that we think migration is positive".

He asked how the new migration policy, which increases the minimum, income that would allow dependent visas to be granted, was acceptable.

"We have a proud track record of welcoming vulnerable," Sunak said.

But when it comes to economic migration, "we have to curb the levels that we have seen because they are far too high," he said.

"It is important that those who come here contribute to our public services," Sunak concluded.

Judith Cummins, Labour MP for Bradford South, asks why the government has failed to publish the report on spiking and asks when and if it will be published and whether Sunak agrees that the "only sound approach" is to create a specific criminal offence for spiking.

Sunak responds by saying he believes existing laws cover spiking and that she will get a letter explaining this.

You can read more about BBC coverage on the issue of spiking here.

Next to put a question to the prime minister is Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey.

She speaks on the prevalence of fuel poverty and the impact of that through winter. She calls for an introduction of a social tariff.

Sunak says the government has provided considerable support to households, that they have provided a record increase in benefits, including winter fuel payments of up to £300 for pensioners.

"We will continue to look at all support," he concludes.

Next up is the Scottish National Party - whose Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also makes a joke following Starmer's comments at the weekend crediting Margaret Thatcher

He asks, is the PM worried that he is projected to be the first Conservative party leader to lose a general election to a fellow Thatcherite?

The House laughs and roars - and deputy speaker Eleanor Laing has to step in.

Sunak says Margaret Thatcher's view was "cut inflation, then cut taxes and then win an election - and that's very much my plan".

The Labour leader joked that more UK home secretaries have gone to the African nation than the immigrants the scheme was set up for.

Rishi Sunak claimed Sir Keir Starmer would scrap the scheme as he was "on the side" of the people smugglers.

Starmer suggests the PM is living on a "private planet". Unlike his football team, Southampton, who have gone on an 11-game unbeaten run, he adds, Sunak is getting "battered everywhere he goes".

How, the Labour leader asks, has the Home Office managed to lose 17,000 asylum seekers (which it admitted last week)?

Sunak retorts that Starmer's football team, Arsenal, sport a Visit Rwanda badge on their shirts.

And he says while Starmer is planning to borrow £28bn a year while cutting taxes - sums he says that don't add up - the government is getting on with the job on Rwanda and actually lowering taxes.

They're "marching on" like the Saints (his own team Southampton FC), he adds.

Next, Starmer puts it to Sunak that the Conservatives has gone from "Up yours, Delors"' to "take our money, Kagame".

(He's referencing both the former European Commission President Jacques Delors - targeted in an infamous Sun newspaper headline in 1991 - and Rwandan president Paul Kagame.)

Sunak responds by noting that this is the week the shadow foreign secretary did not rule out re-joining the European Union - "his answer to Europe is the same: Yes, yes, yes".

Image source, PA Media

The sparring over the government's Rwanda treaty continues.

Starmer says Sunak hasn't read the deal agreed yesterday - arguing that "on top of the £140m he's already showered on Rwanda, when we send people there under this treaty, we have to pay for their accommodation and their upkeep for five years".

Anyone who we send to Rwanda who commits a crime can also be returned to the UK under the treaty, Starmer says. He suggests the UK is sending "hundreds of millions of pounds for nothing in return", and asks sarcastically what might have attracted Rwanda to the deal.

Sunak says he slightly lost the thread of the question - but there's a "simple question here - if you believe in stopping the boats you need to have an effective deterrent and returns agreement".

He says Starmer is not interested in stopping the boats which is why he's not interested in the Rwanda plan.

Image source, PA Media

Starmer now asks Sunak how much the Rwanda plan - which Sunak calls a "fantastic deal" - will cost the UK in total.

Sunak says the new treaty doesn't come with extra costs, and was done to address the concerns of the Supreme Court.

He also brings up the government's newly unveiled immigration plans and says legal migration is far too high. He says the government wants to reduce immigration and asks Starmer whether he supports that aim.

You can read the details of that Rwanda deal here and why the UK wants to send asylum seekers there.

Starmer repeats his party's point that no asylum seekers have been sent to Rwanda - asking how many of Rwanda's refugees the UK will have to accept under the new treaty.

Sunak says the treaty satisfies all the concerns of the Supreme Court - and the UK is proud to be a compassionate country.

Because of everything the government is doing, he adds, small boat arrivals are down by a third - while Starmer doesn't have a plan beyond taking 100,000 illegal immigrants from the EU.

Sir Keir Starmer opens by paying tribute to two "giants" of the Labour Party, Alistair Darling and Glenys Kinnock, who have died in recent days.

Turning, then, to Hillborough, Starmer says grieving families have waited a long time for the government's announcement of a charter promising that no-one will suffer the same injustices as those involved in the 1989 disaster. The Labour leader says the families have waited too long.

You can read more about that government pledge here.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Image source, House of Commons

Sir Keir Starmer seemed to enjoy Tory MP Michael Fabricant’s question welcoming the Labour leader as a newly converted Margaret Thatcher “fan boy”.

Sir Keir was chortling along. His deputy Angela Rayner - and the rest of the Labour benches - looked less impressed.

Michael Fabricant asks the first question to Sunak - praising Margaret Thatcher and referring to Sir Keir Starmer's comments at the weekend crediting her.

He asks whether Sunak shares his "boundless joy" that in recognition "of her great heritage and all that she achieved, another fan boy has joined her great belief" - the leader of the opposition.

Sunak replies that Fabricant is "absolutely right" and he is always ready to welcome new Thatcherites in the Commons. "It does say something about the leader of the opposition that the main female strong leader that he could praise is Margaret Thatcher and not his own fantastic deputy," he adds.

Is Braverman going to try to force Sunak's hand on migration?published at 12:08 Greenwich Mean Time 6 December 2023

12:08 GMT 6 December 2023

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

All eyes are on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s appearance at the Covid-19 inquiry. But in Westminster the current occupant of No 10 is beginning Prime Minister’s Questions.

Last week’s outing was a bruising experience for Rishi Sunak with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer mocking his intervention on the Elgin Marbles (or Parthenon Sculptures) and criticising his record on migration.

This week, though, another event is likely to cause even more nerves for Downing Street.

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary turned critic of the prime minister, is expected to give a “personal statement” in the House of Commons this afternoon.

You may remember that when she was sacked by Rishi Sunak she accused him publicly of having “failed to deliver on every single one” of his key policies on migration.

Migration is the context for this intervention as well. Ministers are preparing new legislation that will try to avoid further legal challenges to its plan to send some migrants arriving in the UK to claim asylum in Rwanda.

Braverman is known for her strong views on immigration and her desire to see the government exclude the European Convention of Human Rights for asylum cases.

Her allies will be hoping her speech forces the prime minister’s hand and bolsters her own credentials as flag-bearer for the right of the Conservative Party.

Sunak’s allies will be hoping all eyes remain firmly on Boris Johnson’s evidence at the Covid inquiry.

Image source, House of Commons

The Speaker of the Commons has got Covid so can't chair PMQs today - so it's the deputy Dame Eleanor Laing in for him today.

Sunak opens by welcoming her and wishing the speaker a speedy recovery. He also offers his condolences to the family and friends of Alistair Darling.

He also apologises to the families of Hillsborough families for what they've been through and hopes to meet them in the new year.

Rishi Sunak is at the despatch box and Prime Minister's Questions has begun. Stay with us.

Image source, PA Media

This week's PMQ's comes just days after Rishi Sunak suffered his first defeat in the House of Commons since becoming prime minister - in a vote on how best to compensate victims of the NHS infected blood scandal.

The scandal saw up to 30,000 people given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. More than 3,000 people died from HIV or hepatitis C.

On Monday, MPs voted in favour of speeding up the scheme to compensation for victims. The government has started compensating survivors and bereaved partners - but said it wanted to wait for the inquiry into the scandal to finish before setting up a full scheme.

The MPs who voted for it included 22 of Sunak's own Tory MPs who rebelled. We've got a full write-up of the story here.