Chris Mason
Political editor

There must be an election coming.

And there is: the local elections in England and Wales in just over a fortnight.

Then the general election to follow within months.

Labour are doubling down on their attacks on the Conservative idea of scrapping National Insurance.

The Tories see it as a double tax on working people alongside income tax.

But Labour are seeking to weaponise the idea - asking how it would be paid for, suggesting it could lead to cuts to the NHS or the state pension.

The Conservatives say it is a long-term ambition and point to their instincts to cut taxes when they can.

The PM says his government has just increased the state pension by £900 and promised to keep the "triple lock" for pensions in the next parliament.

People are better off being treated by the NHS in Conservative-run England than Labour-run Wales, he adds.

Yet again, says Sunak, Starmer is sniping instead of setting out his plans for the country.

Meanwhile the Tories are delivering a brighter future - with taxes and inflation down, wages up and free childcare expanded, the PM says.

Starmer says the PM had two chances to rule out cuts to the state pension.

Starmer says he is giving Sunak one more chance to answer the question. He asks the PM again: Is the £46bn promise to abolish National Insurance being paid for by tax, the NHS or pensions?

Chris Mason
Political editor

The biggest roar from the Conservative benches - by a mile - came with Rishi Sunak’s pop at Keir Starmer that he should spend less time reading Liz Truss’s book and more reading Angela Rayner’s tax advice.

The prime minister is punching at a Labour bruise: the ongoing police investigation into Angela Rayner’s living arrangements before she became an MP.

Sunak says his government has delivered the biggest tax cut for businesses since the 1980s.

He then quotes Starmer recently saying he would put up taxes.

"It's always the same ... higher taxes and working people paying the price," Sunak says.

Starmer makes the point "no single politician has ever put up tax more" than Sunak has.

He adds the PM was given the chance to rule out cutting the NHS or state pensions to pay for scrapping National Insurance, and accuses him of dodging the question.

Starmer asks if Sunak will now rule out cuts to the NHS, cuts to the state pension or putting up taxes to pay for the "unfunded" £46bn plan.

The PM says he has just cut taxes by £900 for the typical worker - and cut business taxes.

Labour, he adds, is already putting them up in Wales, Birmingham and London.

Sunak says it's "always the same" with Labour. The party puts taxes up at the expense of working people, he says.

Starmer says Sunak is refusing to say where the money will come from to scrap National Insurance (as a reminder, this is a "long-term ambition" of the government, not a current policy).

The Labour leader asks whether the PM is going to cut the state pension or the NHS or put up income tax.

"Which one is it?"

Chris Mason
Political editor

Listening to Rishi Sunak talk about Liz Truss is quite something.

He refers to "that book" - a reference to her writing published this week.

The former prime minister is referred to as "her" and "my predecessor".

He doesn’t name her.

Image source, Getty Images

Sunak responds by bringing up the former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

He says Starmer tried to make his predecessor PM, despite him failing to deal with antisemitism, opposing Nato and "siding with our enemies".

Sunak accuses Starmer of putting "his own interests ahead of Britain's".

Starmer asks Sunak to explain how he will pay for his "completely unfunded" £46bn ambition to scrap National Insurance.

As a reminder, the government has recently cut National Insurance twice, and Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have spoken of a long-term ambition to scrap it altogether.

But in March, Hunt said scrapping NI would be "the work of many parliaments".

Sunak responds by saying Starmer should spend less time reading Truss's book and more time reading the deputy leader's tax advice, to loud cheering from Tory MPs.

This prompts the Speaker of the House to interrupt, saying he wants to get through PMQs.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer starts by welcoming the postmasters to the gallery and says there must be a Hillsborough law as he marks the anniversary of the disaster.

Starmer says former Prime Minister Liz Truss's new memoir is "quite the read" as she claims her budget was one of her "happiest" moments.

He asks the prime minister if he has "met anyone with a mortgage who agrees?"

Before taking questions, Rishi Sunak begins by saying wrongly convicted sub-postmasters are in the House of Commons to watch the session.

He calls the scandal one of the country's worst miscarriages of justice, and says the government has taken action to rectify it.

Rishi Sunak is on his feet at PMQs. Stay tuned while we bring you updates.

Prime Minister's Questions will kick off at midday.

You can watch it live at the top of the page and we will be bringing you updates here.

Let’s take a closer look at the smoking ban.

Last night, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67. Known as the "smoking ban", it would ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes.

The measures, championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, survived despite opposition from several leading Tory figures, who argued it would limit personal freedom.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told MPs there was “no liberty in addiction" as she defended the plans.

If they become law, the UK's smoking laws would be among the strictest in the world.

Conservative MPs were given a free vote on the bill, meaning they were not ordered to vote with the government. But full support by Labour's front bench ensured the measures passed.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Unless the opinion polls shift and shift quite a bit, Rishi Sunak knows his time left as prime minister might be running out.

But he is the instigator of a smoking plan with substantial, cross-party political support, which looks set to herald a sizeable social change.

And that cross-party support suggests it's an idea with greater political longevity than he might have, because Labour wouldn't scrap it if they win the election.

In other words, whatever happens, it is what some in politics call a legacy.

This isn't the end of this discussion: what we have seen so far are the early parliamentary stages. There is more to come before it becomes law.

So that is the big picture, potential social change stuff. What about the politics?

Read Chris Mason’s full analysis here.

Image source, PA Media

Angela Rayner also made headlines this week, as the row over her living arrangements before she was an MP continued.

Police are investigating whether the Labour deputy leader gave false information about her main residence in Stockport a decade ago. She's denied doing anything wrong, and has also rejected breaking any tax rules during the sale of a council house.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves defended Rayner, saying she was “certain” she had done nothing wrong.

Over the weekend, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said, external Rayner was "very keen" to speak to the police because she wanted to “set out all of the facts".

Rayner has vowed to resign if she was found to have committed a criminal offence.

As well as the situation in the Middle East, this week PMQs will also likely see Rishi Sunak being questioned about the Rwanda bill and the smoking ban which was backed by the MPs in a vote last night.

The Rwanda bill, which proposes sending the asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda, deeming the African country as safe, is still in a process known as “parliamentary ping-pong”.

Peers have made six amendments and MPs rejected all changes on Monday.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is known as the smoking ban, plans to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes. There was some opposition from several leading Tory figures, arguing it would limit personal freedom.

On Monday, the PM was grilled on Monday in the House of Commons on the UK’s ongoing support for Israel and the help to defend itself against Iran’s drone and missile attack on Saturday.

The questions are likely to continue during today’s PMQs.