The PM hits back. He asks, if Starmer "really cared about building homes," when there was an opportunity to back Tory reforms to "defective EU laws, what did he do?"

Sunak answers his own question: "He went in front of the cameras and said one thing, and came in here and blocked it.

"Typical shameless opportunism."

Starmer persists with the issue of homelessness - saying there are 140,000 homeless children this Christmas and Sunak is being "tone deaf".

He goes on to lay out the story of one boy, Liam, who'd written a letter to Father Christmas asking for his old toys to be taken out of storage. Is there anything that would shame this government more than the "story of this little boy"?

Image source, Commons

Chris Mason
Political editor

Panto season is on.

And they say this is the best theatre in London’s West End.

You can complete any punchlines.

There is a sense here of the Christmas break being imminent – with Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak exchanging panto-esque jibes, before that tilt towards more serious exchanges on education and homelessness.

Sunak replies that homelessness is down by 35%, and that home-building data shows that almost a record number of homes were delivered in the last year.

He says this is more than in any year of the last Labour government.

Starmer shifts topic - saying there are now more homeless children than ever in the UK, with thousands of families at risk of homelessness.

He calls it a "shocking state of affairs" and says it should shame the government.

Starmer asks when Sunak is going to "get a grip"?

Sunak responds to Starmer's question by saying education is the most important thing.

He adds: "Where are schools performing best? In England."

"And where are they going down? In Labour-run Wales."

Image source, Commons

Starmer says there's a country "not being governed" while the Conservative Party argues amongst itself - a question that follows Tory divisions over the PM's Rwanda bill.

He asks Sunak if the government wouldn't be better off fixing the mess they've made?

Starmer should hear what his party have to say about him, Sunak retorts.

Jeers from the house are again interrupted and quietened by the speaker.

Starmer says that "yet again" the Tory party is in meltdown and "everyone else is paying the price" - saying his rival has faced criticism from his own MPs.

As the Tories boo his comments he asks them to raise their hands, according to the comment they made.

Apparently the PM is holding a Christmas party next week, Starmer says - asking how the invite list is looking.

Sunak hits back, saying Christmas is also a time for families and under the Tories, there are a record number of them.

He adds that the government set out priorities for the British people, which it has delivered on.

Sunak mentions cutting small boat crossings and halving inflation, among others.

Image source, Commons

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer opens by speaking about about the "tragic death" of an asylum seeker on the Bibby Stockholm - read more on that here.

"We must never let this happen again", he says.

Starmer then says Christmas is a time of peace and goodwill, asking "has anyone told the Tory party?"

Chris Mason
Political editor

Hello from the press gallery in the Commons.

The benches aren’t heaving today – quite a few gaps.

Big, hearty cheer from Conservative MPs for the prime minister as he arrives – after last night’s victory in the Rwanda vote.

And a bit of bench-kicking too in appreciation from some Tory MPs.

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

This is his last PMQ address of the year and comes on the heels of the passing on Tuesday of the second reading of the Rwanda bill.

He starts by paying another tribute to Mark Drakeford - who, as we've been reporting, has announced he's stepping down as Wales's first minister.

You can watch 2023's final Sunak-Starmer showdown live - by pressing the play button at the top of this page.

With minutes to go until PMQs, Rishi Sunak has just wished Mark Drakeford "all the best as he moves on from his many years of public service" as first minister of Wales - in a post on X, formerly Twitter, external.

"We will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government to build on our joint work to spread opportunity for people across Wales," he adds.

Shortly before the action kicks off, here's the latest on the Rwanda bill - which, as we said earlier, passed a vote at second reading stage last night despite Tory divisions.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the government would "continue to listen" to colleagues wanting to put their ideas forward "to make the legislation stronger".

He also reiterated that the bill must "have legitimate legal arguments underpinning it.

It has got to be effective in that it's got to get flights to Rwanda, and it has got to be acceptable to our Rwandan partners."

Cleverly also stated that the government would "defend against attempts" from any MPs trying to "undermine" the bill.

Image source, EPA

Why record numbers are being given asylumpublished at 11:48 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2023

11:48 GMT 13 December 2023

There's likely to be a lot at PMQs today about the prime minister's pledge to "stop the boats".

But we're also getting to crunch time for another of his migration pledges - to deal with all asylum claims made before 28 June 2022 by the end of this year - the so-called legacy backlog.

Home Office officials have been very busy trying to make that happen. BBC Verify has been looking into the figures and has found that:

• It is almost certain more people will be given asylum this year than in any other on record
• In the first nine months of this year, more asylum claims were withdrawn than any other year
• A lower proportion of claims were rejected in the first nine months of the year than any other year.

You can read more about it here.

Image source, PA Media

Away from Westminster - in the last half-hour, it's been announced that Mark Drakeford has resigned as Wales' first minister with immediate effect.

The move has triggered a leadership contest and a new party leader will be elected before Easter.

You can follow the story on this link while we observe what's going on at PMQs.

It's also possible today's questioners will refer to the evidence presented to Rishi Sunak to the UK Covid inquiry at the start of this week.

Here's a quick recap of what we heard from him during Monday's session:

• Sunak - who as chancellor was in control of the UK's finances during the pandemic - robustly defended his flagship Eat Out to Help Out scheme
• He said the policy prevented "devastating" job losses by encouraging punters back to pubs and restaurants in summer 2020
• Sunak dismissed criticism that senior advisers were not given a chance to raise concerns
• He said it was not a "fair characterisation" that the Treasury had been nicknamed the "pro-death squad" for its views on keeping hospitality and retail sectors open
• And he defended the decision-making by Boris Johnson, while echoing the then PM's apology to all those who suffered losses of all kinds during the pandemic

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just left 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons.

As the prominent Christmas tree signals - it's the final PMQs session of the year.

Image source, PA Media