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PMQs Live
PMQs recap – What happened in today’s session?
We had PMQs at midday… in which deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner and justice secretary Dominic Raab stood in for their respective leaders, who were attending former speaker Baroness Boothroyd’s funeral.
Rayner focused on… violence against women and girls, challenging the government on low rape convictions, and slow case progress. In a thinly veiled reference to his own bullying enquiry, she also asked Raab whether he wanted to see bullies brought to justice.
In response, Raab... said the conviction rate measured by the CPS in rape cases had gone up 69%; funding for victims had been quadrupled; and violence against women was one of the government’s “top priorities”. He also accused Rayner of being more interested in playing “political games” than the issues she was raising.
After that, we had a statement by Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick… who confirmed plans to house migrants arriving in the UK on small boats in accommodation such as repurposed barrack blocks on former military bases in Essex and Lincolnshire. There’ll be another site in East Sussex, as well as one in Rishi Sunak’s constituency.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper… branded the plans an “admission of failure” by the government to tackle the migrant crisis. She said small boat crossings had increased and 40% fewer asylum cases were being decided due to the policies. She also accused the Home Office of behaving in such a panicked way that it had, she said, bid against itself for hotel contracts – driving prices up.
PMQs LIVE – Deputies face off as PM and Starmer absent for Boothroyd funeral
Today’s PMQs will see deputy PM Dominic Raab face off with Labour’s deputy Angela Rayner, as neither the PM or leader of the opposition are available.
What time is Prime Minister’s Questions today?
As usual, PMQs starts at midday from the House of Commons.
It’ll last around 30 minutes and can be watched via live stream on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.
Who will be at the dispatch box today?
Wednesday 29 March 2023 session will see the deputies step up to the dispatch boxes.
Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, will replace Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, for PMQs.
And Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, will take the place of party leader Sir Keir on the other side of the House.
Why is there no Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs today?
Both the PM and Sir Keir are absent from Westminster as they are attending the funeral of the former speaker of the House of Commons Baroness Betty Boothroyd.
Lady Boothroyd, a former Labour MP, died last month at the age of 93.
She became the first woman to be elected speaker of the House of Commons in April 1992, ending more than 700 years of parliamentary tradition.
She stayed in the role until October 2000 and remains the only woman to have held this position.
She was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, to mill worker parents and was an MP for 27 years before taking the seat as a Speaker. She then went on two sit in the House of Lords for a further two decades.
Current Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, described Lady Boothroyd as “one of a kind” after her death while Mr Sunak said she was “a remarkable woman who dedicated her life to politics”.
Mourners from across the political spectrum, including the Prime Minister and Sir Keir, are expected to gather to pay their respects at a funeral service near her home in Cambridgeshire.
‘Uneventful PMQS’
This week’s PMQs has ended. It was fairly uneventful, with Labour focusing on crime – in relation to Casey report into the Met Police. There was little about Partygate and not a lot of noise from the Tory backbenches, despite rumbles of a Tory rebellion over today’s Brexit vote.
There’s a lot of politics on the table today – here’s a run down
- Brexit vote on the Windsor framework will take place this afternoon
- The new deal is highly likely to pass, but it will also serve as an indicator as to a potential Tory rebellion – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss have indicated they will vote against the government
- It could also be used to work out how much support Boris Johnson still has within the party
- Boris Johnson will appear at a LIVE televised committee hearing into whether he misled parliament over Partygate – the hearing will begin at 2 pm and will last for several hours
Will there be a short-term inquiry into preparing for the next pandemic?
Labour MP Graham Stringer says the leaked Matt Hancock messages show that during COVID, “at the very heart of government, science wasn’t being followed and rational discourse had been abandoned”.
He adds that this had consequences “for children’s education, mortality rates among the elderly, the economy and access to the health service”.
Mr Stringer says that “lessons must be learned” and “we can’t wait 10 years for the independent inquiry to tell us what we should do next time when the inevitable epidemic arrives”.
The PM refuses to agree to a short inquiry, saying instead that it’s for the public COVID inquiry to set out the timeline for the investigation.
Mr Sunak adds that the inquiry has heard evidence about “core political and administrative decision making”.
SNP is a ‘mess’ says Sunak
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, starts with a tribute to PC Keith Palmer.
What worries the PM most about Brexit – the 4% hit to UK producivity, or three former Tory leaders voting against him this afternoon?
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says it is two.
(Hoyle seems to be thinking of former Tory PMs. Theresa May is not voting against, but Iain Duncan Smith reportedly is.)
Sunak says the SNP is in a mess.
Flynn says people are facing the biggest fall in living standards since the war.
Sunak says the government is helping people with energy bills. – (The Guardian)
Does the PM accept the Casey review in full?
(SKY NEWS)
The Labour leader begins with a tribute to PC Keith Palmer, who was killed by a terrorist in Westminster six years ago.
Sir Keir Starmer segues to asking Rishi Sunak if he accepts the findings of the Casey review into the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Sunak says the government will be working with the London mayor and Met commissioner to ensure culture, standards and behaviour all improve.
Sir Keir says he takes Mr Sunak’s answer to mean that he does accept the report in full.
He says that the government should back Labour’s plan for proper mandatory vetting.
Mr Sunak replies that the College of Policing is updating its statutory code of practice for vetting, and that an independent report on re-inspection of all forces will be retuned within weeks.
Sir Keir says the current state of the system is the result of “sheer negligence” from the government.
He also criticises the government for not backing Labour’s plan to have “high quality rape and sexual offences units in every police force”.
Mr Sunak tries to shift some of the blame on to the Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan – who, as we know, oversees the Met.
The PM adds that the “way the rape victims were treated by the criminal justice system wasn’t good enough” – and that the government has worked to improve it.
Sir Keir chastises the Conservative backbenchers for cheering for their prime minster and the fact “that over 98% of rapists” are never put before the courts.
He against criticises “13 years of Tory government”, and a lack of prosecution of crimes like burglary.
The PM points out “neighbourhood crime” is down by 25% since 2019.
Sir Keir then pivots a favourite Conservative attack line back on Mr Sunak. The Labour leader says the PM is “so totally out of touch, and he needs to get out of Westminster, get out of Kensington”.
He adds that he doesn’t mean “Malibu”.
The Labour leaders says Mr Sunak needs to see the impact of low prosecutions – with 96% of burglaries not going before courts.
Mr Sunak says his north Yorkshire constituency is much further than Sir Keir’s north London seat.
He adds that crime is down, violent crime is down and burglary is down, and brands Sir Keir “soft on crime, soft on criminals”.
Sir Keir says the “only criminal investigation” Mr Sunak has been involved in is the one that saw him fined for breaking lockdown rules.
The Labour leader touts his record of prosecuting “countless rapists”.
And that is the end of their exchange. – (SKY NEWS)
PMQs – PM to be grilled about potential backbench rebellion & Boris inquiry
PM Rishi Sunak will face Sir Keir Starmer in this week’s Prime Ministers Questions.
The PM will likely be questioned about a possible Tory backbench rebellion as MPs vote on a key plank of his new deal with Brussels on post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.
The Windsor Framework – which changes the way the Northern Ireland protocol works – will be voted on later today.
Former PM Boris Johnon’s upcoming committee hearing this afternoon (from 2 pm) will likely be bought up in today’s PMQs as Johnson faces questions over whether he misled Parliament.
What time is PMQs and where can I watch?
PMQs takes place at its usual time of midday from the House of Commons – the session will last about half an hour.
You can watch PMQs on a livestream here on this page. It will also be broadcast live on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.
