Prime Minister's Questions: The key bits and the verdict

Theresa May and Jeremy CorbynImage source, House of Commons

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have gone head-to-head at Prime Minister's Questions. What happened?

As expected, their clashes were dominated by the collapse of government contractor Carillion.

Labour's Catherine McKinnell got the ball rolling with a call to protect the future of the firm's 1,400 apprentices.

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Mrs May reeled off some broad reassurances about protecting jobs and services but seemed to be taking forever to get round to the subject of apprentices - prompting cat calls from the Labour benches. She eventually said the minister responsible would be "looking very carefully" at what could be done to help the apprentices.

The PM got a brief respite from Tory MP Simon Hoare - who hailed productivity growth - before Jeremy Corbyn got to his feet.

The Labour leader's first question - on why the government ignored profit warnings - led to a lecture from Mrs May on the meaning of the term "profit warning" and some pre-prepared swipes at Labour politicians, in Wales and Leeds, allegedly handing out contracts to Carillion after profit warnings had been issued.

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Mrs May refused to answer Mr Corbyn's next question, about whether the government was negligent in ignoring the warning signs, claiming it was not a question. After a dramatic pause, as he battled to contain his anger, Mr Corbyn shouted his question across the despatch box at the PM.

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The Labour leader had another go, asking why nobody from the government - a Crown representative - was in post overlooking the company during a crucial period.

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Mr Corbyn broadened out his attack to focus on the "super rich" - and the pay and bonuses going to Carillion's chief executive. Mrs May said the Official Receiver was looking into the issue and could recover the cash if necessary.

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Mr Corbyn then highlighted the plight of small businesses potentially left out of pocket by the collapse of Carillion, saying the outsourcing giant was a "notorious late payer".

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The Labour leader ended with an attack on the "broken system" of outsourcing public services to private companies, citing Stagecoach, Virgin, Atos and Capita as the worst offenders.

Mrs May - who must have been relieved to get the end of this week's exchanges - fell back on a familiar attack on Labour's economic policies, which she claimed would "cause a run on the pound". She also defended the government's handling of the Carillion crisis, saying they had protected taxpayers from a bailout.

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What else came up?

The SNP's leader at Westminster Iain Blackford claimed people in Scotland would be £2,300 a year worse off if the UK left the single market after Brexit. Mrs May did not really engage with the issue.

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Mrs May breezed through the rest of the session, with barely another mention of Carillion. Tory MP Desmond Swayne - who was apparently caught napping during a speech by colleague Ken Clarke on Tuesday - piped up with a self-deprecating quip and a question about plastic waste.

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Tory MP Zac Goldsmith brought up the sentencing of taxi driver rapist John Worboys. Theresa May said that the case was being looked at.

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The verdict

Here's what BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar thought:

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Here's BBC Parliament's Mark D'Arcy's verdict:

"That could have been much tougher for Theresa May who must have thought the government was vulnerable on several fronts. Labour's questioning on the Carillion issue was well targeted and Jeremy Corbyn was able to deliver an attack on the whole idea of privatisation in the public services, which will have pleased his troops in the chamber and his supporters outside.

But the PM was well briefed and had taken the precaution of having the Cabinet Minister coordinating the Government response, David Lidington, sitting next to her. So she was not wrong-footed at any stage.

Conservative MPs did their best to goad Mr Corbyn during his questioning, but while he sounded angry, he didn't lose his focus, or stumble. It's another example of two ordinary parliamentary performers circling one another but failing to do any serious rhetorical damage.

Each side in this gladiatorial combat will be satisfied, and I suspect nothing very much will have changed as a result of today's exchanges.

Meanwhile the SNP's Ian Blackford is still struggling to match the effectiveness of his predecessor, Angus Robertson, who lost his seat at the election last June. Mr Robertson was the stand out performer in PMQs in the last parliament; Mr Blackford has yet to match his forensic well-targeted questioning."

What pundits are saying on Twitter

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