PMQs Live – windfall tax would raise billions

Starmer: tells PM to give him a break and adds a windfall tax would raise billions and ease the burden on working people.

PM: energy companies need to invest and the 1997 Labour manifesto said there was no economic case for nuclear power and the govt is now having to reverse that.

Starmer: makes a joke about hoping the PM’s police questionnaire was more convincing. The Tories have put up taxes but are planning a small cut for the election year. How did the PM find a chancellor this cynical?

PM: says Rishi Sunak has protected people and Labour wanted to keep the country in lockdown, and the government would have had to tax and borrow more.

Starmer: tax burden is the highest for 70 years and for every £6 they are raising in tax, they are only giving £1 back.

PM: says he does not know where Starmer has been for the last two years and to ignore tha pandemic for a century is extraordinary and Labour do not back the health and social care levy.

Starmer: Labour leader asks PM if he still thinks him and the chancellor are tax-cutting Tories.

PM: Boris Johnson says he does – he says they have introduced the biggest ever fuel duty cut and the biggest cut to personal taxes for 25 years.

PMQs start.

PM starts with an acknowledgement that MPs have read the statement from Jamie Wallis and says the whole house will offer their support. Labour’s Keir Starmer joined the prime minister in offering his support.