That's all from Prime Minister's Questions today. We heard jibes about Liz Truss's new book, questions about unfunded tax cuts and more on Angela Rayner's council house sale.

You can read a roundup here.

This page was edited by Nadia Ragozhina and Fiona Nimoni. The writers were Gabriela Pomeroy, Andre Rhoden-Paul, Chas Geiger, George Wright and Ido Vock.

The tax affairs of Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner came up at PMQs today.

PM Rishi Sunak said the Labour leader "ought to spend a bit less time reading" Liz Truss's new book "and a bit more time reading the deputy leader's tax advice".

Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigation into Rayner after she was accused of breaking electoral law.

The Conservative Party's deputy chair claims she may have given false information about her main residence.

Rayner denies any wrongdoing and Sir Keir Starmer said he was "fully confident" she complied with the rules.

Did mini-budget push mortgage rates higher for millions?published at 13:42 British Summer Time 17 April

13:42 BST 17 April

Sir Keir Starmer blamed former Prime Minster Liz Truss for the extra costs some people are facing, saying her “kamikaze budget” crashed the economy “and left millions paying more on their mortgages".

But is he right?

It’s true that the mini-budget sent mortgage rates rocketing as the chart below shows.

And the hundreds of thousands of families who remortgaged in those months were badly affected by the fall-out from the mini-budget. But that’s not millions.

Interest rates had been rising in the UK, and around the world, before the mini-budget.

And most of the obvious mini-budget spike eventually faded early in 2023.

With about 100,000 families remortgaging most months, that leaves the number hit in those months well below a million.

Interest rates are still high, and some of that may be due to the long term consequences of the mini-budget, but they’re running high around the world.

Image source, .

The exchanges between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer centred on the economy.

• Starmer kicked off by pressing the PM about predecessor Liz Truss's new book, Ten Years to Save the West, quoting Truss as saying her mini-budget was "the happiest moment of her premiership". Had the PM met anyone with a mortgage who agreed? he asked
• Sunak said the Labour leader "ought to spend a bit less time reading that book and a bit more time reading the deputy leader's (Angela Rayner) tax advice"
• Starmer accused the "billionaire prime minister" of "smearing a working-class woman" while his family had "used schemes to avoid millions of pounds of tax"

• The Labour leader said the PM was now making an unfunded £46bn promise to scrap National Insurance. Would he pay for it by cutting the state pension, NHS, or by putting up income tax?
• Sunak said his government had just cut taxes by £900 for a typical worker and delivered the biggest tax cut for businesses since the 1980s - while Labour was putting them up in Wales, Birmingham and London
• SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn pressed the PM on why his party and Labour were denying the Scottish people a referendum on their future
• Sunak said the SNP should stop "obsessing" over independence and "trying to lock up JK Rowling" and instead focus on what mattered to people in Scotland
• Rochdale MP George Galloway asked how Sunak's phone call urging restraint on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday had gone, given that Israeli forces had "killed and maimed well over 100,000 people" in six months
• The PM said the UK needed to see Israel delivering on commitments made to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. "Significant escalation is not in anyone's interest and it's a time for calm heads to prevail," he added

Sir Keir Starmer questions how the PM will fund the planned end of National Insurance.

Daniel Wainwright
BBC England Data Unit

Image source, .

Labour retains a lead of about 20 percentage points on average over the Conservatives, according to opinion polls.

About 23% of people say they’d vote for the Conservatives if the General Election was held tomorrow, compared with 44% for Labour.

Reform UK are on around 12% compared to the Liberal Democrats' 9%.

The latest averages come from polls by 11 different companies, conducted in the two weeks before 15 April.

You can read more and explore how the positions of the different parties have changed in the past 12 months and since 2020 in our interactive poll tracker.

No timeframe for abolishing National Insurancepublished at 12:55 British Summer Time 17 April

12:55 BST 17 April

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer referred repeatedly to the prime minister's "completely unfunded £46bn promise to scrap National Insurance".

While the government has said it would like to scrap National Insurance, it has not given any timeframe for that.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt described it as his "long-term ambition" but acknowledged that it would not happen in the next Parliament.

The prime minister said he made "absolutely no apology about wanting to end the unfairness of the double taxation on workers".

Catherine McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, speaks about how crime rates in nearby Tory-run Teesside are among the highest in the country.

She says the PM has not only lost control of his party of "but crime in this country".

"What a joke," Sunak responds.

He says crime has been cut by 50% under this government.

Sunak adds people with a Labour police and crime commissioner are more likely to be victims of burglary and other crimes.

"Vote Conservative for safer streets," he says.

Rochdale MP George Galloway asks about Sunak's phone call on Monday, during which the PM reportedly urged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint.

Galloway asks what Sunak will he do if an "unrestrained war" begins, given that Netanyahu's government has "killed and maimed" more than 100,000 people in six months, 72% of them women and children.

Sunak says Netanyahu thanked the UK for its help in protecting Israel against Iran's drone attacks.

They discussed Iran's isolation on the world stage, he adds.

The PM says escalation is not in anyone's interests and it is "time for calm heads".

Average worker only £340 better off - not £900published at 12:43 British Summer Time 17 April

12:43 BST 17 April

The prime minister told MPs: "We have just cut taxes by £900 for a typical worker".

He is talking about the impact of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's two cuts in National Insurance (NI) of 2p in the pound each - totalling a 4% decrease.

The average wage for a full-time employee is about £35,000, and that person will indeed pay about £900 less in NI this year as a result of the changes.

But that worker will also be paying tax on more of their salary because of previous government decisions. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that they will actually only be £340 better off.

Conservative MP Nickie Aiken asks about the rise in violent crime and robberies in London.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has failed Londoners, and they should send him a message on 2 May that he has let them down, she says.

Sunak says he agrees with her.

The SNP's Alison Thewliss welcomes a Ukrainian MP inside the chamber, and says "Slava Ukraini" - meaning "Glory to Ukraine".

She asks Sunak about President Volodymyr Zelensky's calls for more defence equipment for Ukraine.

Sunak responds that he was the first foreign leader to visit Ukraine this year in a show of support.

He says the UK has increased its aid since then, including in air defence, and will continue to do so.

The UK wants to see Ukraine free from Russian tyranny, he adds.

And that wraps up the first PMQs after Easter recess.

Stay with us as we catch you up on a few more exchanges between Rishi Sunak and MPs in the Commons.

Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney, representing Richmond Park, says her constituent in the gallery charged £7,000 to read a transcript of the trial in which her ex-boyfriend was convicted of raping her.

"Justice should not have a price tag," she says. She asks if Sunak supports her party's amendment to the Victims' Bill that would give victims the right to read summing up and sentencing remarks free of charge.

Sunak says the government is committed to improving victims' access to court transcripts and that a one-year trial will look at the demand for it.

Liberal Democrat Helen Morgan asks about long waiting times in hospital accident and emergency departments.

When, she asks, will Sunak get on with fixing these problems?

The PM says, with record funding and an emergency care plan, his government is delivering more ambulances and beds, and faster hospital discharges.

He adds that his plan is working, with both ambulance and A&E waiting times down this winter for the first time in years.

Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns asks about the controversy surrounding Angela Rayner's sale of her council house. Does the PM agree that complete transparency is of the utmost importance?

Sunak replies that the same rules apply to everyone. The Labour leaders should publish the legal advice and "get a grip of the situation," he says.

Flynn now asks Sunak why he is not allowing the people of Scotland to democratically express their wishes about Scottish independence.

Sunak says "we had a democratic vote on that topic".

He adds that rather than "obsessing" over independence and "cracking down on free speech" and trying to "lock up JK Rowling", they should focus on what people of Scotland care about: schools, hospitals, jobs and Tory tax cuts.

SNP Commons leader Stephen Flynn asks if Sunak agrees with Gordon Brown that the forces pulling the UK apart are stronger than forces holding it together.

Sunak says he agrees with Brown that Scotland would be stronger in the UK.