PMQs live: Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer clash at PMQs over economy as PM avoids ruling out NHS cuts

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the Conservatives’ “obsession with wild, unfunded tax cuts” crashed the economy.

He said during PMQs: “I appreciate the prime minister having the stomach to say it out loud, but everyone knows it’s the Tory Party’s obsession with wild, unfunded tax cuts that crashed the economy. We know it, he knows it, they know it and the whole country is living it.

“So, when is he finally going to learn the lesson from his predecessors’ mistakes and explain where the money is coming from for his own completely unfunded £46 billion promise to scrap national insurance?”

Prime minister Rishi Sunak replied: “When my predecessor was running for leader, to use his words, I did have the stomach to argue out loud about her economic policies and the conviction to say that they were wrong not once, but twice.

“He tried to make his predecessor prime minister, despite him opposing Nato and Trident, ignoring antisemitism and siding with our enemies. It’s clear what he did, he put his own interest ahead of Britain’s.”

Rishi Sunak said he “repeatedly warned” about what Liz Truss’s “economic policies would lead to”, Zoe Grunewald reports.

The prime minister has said he “wasn’t afraid to repeatedly” about what the mini budget of his predecessor Liz Truss would “lead to” even “if it wasn’t what people wanted to hear at the time”.

Mr Sunak was responding to questions from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about Ms Truss’ new book. The prime minister added: “I was right then. But I’m also right now when I say that his economic policies would be a disaster for Britain.”

Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out cuts to the NHS and state pensions to fund a £46bn national insurance giveaway, Archie Mitchell reports.

The prime minister has promised to abolish national insurance contributions in the long run, describing it as a “double tax” on work.

But Labour has repeatedly warned the cut would need to be funded by cuts to state pensions or the NHS, which the levy funds.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer twice asked Mr Sunak to rule out cuts to the NHS or state pensions to pay for what he called the “unfunded tax cut”.

“This is genuinely extraordinary, two chances to rule out cuts to state pensions and cuts to the NHS to fund his promise,” Sir Keir said.

He added: “This matters to millions of people who want to know what is going to happen to the NHS and their pensions.”

Sir Keir Starmer has accused “billionaires” Rishi Sunak and Tory peer Lord Ashcroft of “smearing a working class woman” Angela Rayner, Archie Mitchell reports.

The pair have repeatedly criticised Ms Rayner over the sale of her former council house in 2015, suggesting she may have failed to pay due capital gains tax or given false information about her address.

After Mr Sunak referenced the investigation into Ms Rayner at PMQs, Sir Keir said: “We’ve got a billionaire prime minister and a billionaire colleague both of whose families have used schemes to avoid millions of pounds in tax smearing a working class woman.”

Starmer uses his first question to poke fun at former PM Liz Truss, who has been promoting her book this week.

He points out that Truss described her premiership as the happiest period in her life.

He asks Sunak if he has met anyone with a mortgage who agrees with that.

Starmer and Sunak will clash at PMQs in a few minutes.

We’ll have all the action as it happens.

Stay tuned for all the latest updates. Watch it live here.

The right-wing National Conservatism Conference will be free to meet today for its second day of programming without further interference from the police, the Belgium high court has ruled.

The Conseil d’État, the highest court in Belgium relating to issues of public administration, said the conference should be allowed to resume today after it was closed down by the police on Tuesday following an order by the local mayor.

Here’s how all MPs voted:

UK inflation slowed less than expected in March, leading economists and traders to be cautious about possible interest rate cuts in the summer.

The figures released by the ONS on Wednesday morning showed that inflation was 3.2 per cent in March, slightly higher than the 3.1 per cent predicted by economists.

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are set to clash at the first session of PMQs since MPs returned to parliament following the Easter break.

The prime minister and Labour leader face off after the government’s smoking ban for those born after 2009 cleared its first hurdle and as the Rwanda bill returns to the Commons.

We’ll bring you live updates from the session – you’ll also be able to watch it live on our YouTube channel (link to follow).