Alex Therrien
Live reporter

We're now bringing our live coverage of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg to a close for this week. Thanks for joining us.

The page was edited by me, and the writers were Tarik Habte and Pippa Allen-Kinross.

See you next time.

Image source, Reuters

One of the things David Lammy was asked about earlier was Labour's position on supporting an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Scottish Labour has said it will back the motion. But until now, UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to back such a move, arguing it could allow Hamas to regroup and launch another attack on Israel.

On the show today, Lammy said he hadn't seen the SNP motion but Labour would "scrutinise" it and "take it from there".

He said he understood the position of Scottish Labour to support the SNP motion, but that he wanted to make sure any pause in fighting was "sustainable".

"I fully understand that Scottish colleagues want the fighting to stop now, we've been saying that for weeks, so we agree with them.

"We want the fighting to stop now. I'm not sure that what's flying around on Twitter says anything about it being sustainable.

"You can have a ceasefire that lasts for a few days. We want the ceasefire to last and to be permanent and to move towards the diplomatic solution. It will only be a political solution that brings an end to this."

Speaking this morning on Sky's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he had a "genuine friendship" with Starmer but they have "our own mandates".

It was another busy episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Here's a recap of the key moments from today's show:

• Illegal Immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson insisted the two by-elections the Conservatives lost this week to Labour had been set against a "very difficult backdrop" for his party
• Tomlinson was Pressed on why Rishi Sunak was not meeting a number of the pledges he made on becoming prime minister - on bringing debt down, stopping small boat crossings and cutting hospital waiting lists. Tomlinson pointed out that another pledge, to have inflation, was being met and that passing the government's Rwanda asylum bill would have a "deterrent effect" on small boat crossings
• Labour's shadow foreign secretary David Lammy apologised for Labour's initial handling of the suspension of parliamentary candidate Azhar Ali in Rochdale after comments he made about Israel, adding: "We cannot have any truck with antisemitism in our party". He also said only a political and diplomatic solution could end the war in Gaza in response to criticism, in some quarters, about Labour's decision not to back calls for an immediate ceasefire

• Robin Simcox, commissioner for countering extremism, said society needed to do more collectively to tackle antisemitism and warned that extremism in the UK has become worse over the last few years

• Actor Matt Smith confirmed that Prince Harry did once call him "grandad" after his performance as Prince Philip in The Crown and that he referred to the latter as "big Phil". Smith also did not rule out one day returning to Dr Who, adding "never say never"
• And Evgenia Kara-Murza, wife of jailed Russian opposition figureVladimir Kara-Murza, spoke of her sadness at the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny

Earlier, Laura asked shadow foreign secretary David Lammy about whether a Labour government would be proposing new sanctions against Russia in response to the death of Alexei Navalny.

Lammy said the main problem was the enforcement of sanctions, and this is something he'd seek to approve if Labour won the next election and he becomes foreign secretary.

You can watch above.

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Following Smith's interview, the programme returns to the panel, who reflect on modern politics.

Tracy-Ann Oberman says politics is like "Game of Thrones without the dragons" - a programme famed for its brutal plotlines and factions jostling for power.

Douglas Alexander says politics has become more "performative" since he was last an MP.

He adds: "If you think about the politicians that I grew up with, that I knew and revered, people like John Smith and Alistair Darling, they were rubbish actors and brilliant politicians."

And with that, the show is finished. Stay with us for a recap of the main developments, analysis and other updates.

Smith, who played the role of Prince Philip in the first two seasons of The Crown, reveals that he referred to the late Duke of Edinburgh as "big Phil" and said he felt he was an "extraordinary, forward thinking, deeply funny, irascible brilliant man".

He also confirms it's true that Prince Harry called him "grandad".

Laura next asks Matt Smith about whether he would ever return to Doctor Who.

"Never say never", he replies.

Next, he talks comments made last week by Ralph Fiennes, who said there shouldn't be trigger warning announcements in the theatre.

Smith says he agrees with Fiennes, adding: "I worry that we are moving towards sanitised version of everything.

"Isn't art meant to be dangerous?"

Watch below to hear what Fiennes said on Laura's show last week:

Next up is actor Matt Smith.

He is starring in the play "An Enemy of the People", and says the story is still relevant today because "the truth is still undermined so consistently".

"There's so much disinformation and misinformation and I think one has to find their own route to the truth nowadays."

Asked about the size of the asylum backlog, Tomlinson says this is why the Rwanda bill must go through as quickly as possible.

And that's the end of the interview.

Laura again challenges Tomlinson on small boat crossings.

She shares data that small boats arrivals were up slightly since last year, and that people were still arriving in large numbers.

Tomlinson insists "the figures are moving in the right direction". He says he has been working with officials in France to tackle the problem.

"The plan is working, we need to stick with the plan," he adds.

Tomlinson says he has a "moral mission" to tackle criminal gangs who pack people on to small boats.

Tomlinson is next asked about the pledges Rishi Sunak made on becoming PM.

Pressed on why debt isn't falling, boats haven't stopped and hospital waiting lists are getting longer, Tomlinson insists there will be growth in the economy.

Laura says Sunak "offered a contract to the public" with his five pledges, but things have been going in the wrong direction.

Tomlinson says stopping the boats is the challenge that he, as illegal immigration minister, been set, and says boat crossings went down by over a third last year, and says that when the Rwanda bill becomes law that will provide the "deterrent effect".

Laura says the clear message from voters in these by-elections and others the Conservatives have lost is that they don't like what the Tories are offering.

Tomlinson points to how inflation is falling, saying stubborn inflation had been the "biggest stumbling block" for the economy.

He says forecasts show UK economy is predicted to grow faster than France, Germany and Japan.

Now up is Illegal Immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson.

He is asked about the Conservatives' two by-election defeats this week.

Tomlison says these losses were set "against a very difficult backdrop".

He says in his view "its very clear that vote for Reform is a vote to let Labour in".

The panel next reflects on Simcox's interview.

Tracy Ann-Oberman tells Laura that the antisemitism she has seen this last week has been "really shocking" and "upsetting".

Oberman says, "the progressive left has a huge problem" in understanding what anti-Jewish hate looks like.

She says that, as a Jewish actor appearing as the Merchant of Venice in London, she needs security pretty much 24/7.

Simcox is asked about comments he has made previously about multiculturalism.

He says that most people in this country relish that we are a multicultural society, but says that when people are living "parallel lives" and are unable to integrate it can create "a more fractured, less cohesive and more divided society" and create a "permissive environment about what extremism is".

He says we are beginning to "lose a united view about what this country is".

Simcox also addresses conspiracies around Jewish communities which he says dates back centuries and says it "needs challenging by all forms of society".

Simcox also says Islamophobia is a "real problem" in the country and one we "need to take action on".

He tells Kuenssberg he believes extremism in the UK has become worse over the past few years.

Simcox is asked about whether the government could do more to tackle antisemitism.

He says the government has done a lot but it could "go further" and "be bolder".

Simcox says existing powers can be used to make sure that public money doesn't go to extremist groups.

He also says rules around broadcasting could be tightened.

Laura is now interviewing Robin Simcox, commissioner for countering extremism.

He says he thinks there is fear in the Jewish community and a rise in antisemitism speaks to a "broader problem in society".

He asks whether society is doing enough to speak out against it.

Lammy is next pressed on the party suspending its parliamentary candidate in Rochdale, Azhar Ali.

"I'm sorry that the initial judgement was that he'd made an apology and we could move forward," he says.

"More came to light and it was right that Keir [Starmer] acted decisively, I'm afraid, to suspend him."

He also says he's "very sorry" that there will be no candidate on the ticket in Rochdale - "but I absolutely stand by that decision not to support a candidate who had come up with a whole series of antisemitic tropes".

Laura says Lammy has apologised that Labour's initial judgement was wrong - so can viewers really have confidence in the people Labour is putting forward to stand as MPs?

Lammy says Labour has made progress on tackling antisemitism in the party, and he says Starmer has "led from the front".

"We can not have any truck with antisemitism in our party," he adds.