PMQ’s live: Rishi Sunak to face off Keir Starmer as No 10 refuses to rule out snap general election

The prime minister is under mounting pressure to call a snap election from voters and the opposition.

He has consistently refused to unveil the exact date of the next election, only suggesting it will take place in the second half of 2024.

• Q1 Labour MP for Wellingborough Gen Kitchen

• Q2 Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington Elliot Colburn

• Q3 Conservative MP for Devizes Danny Kruger

• Q4 Conservative MP for Clwyd South Simon Baynes

• Q5 Conservative MP for North West Cambridgeshire Shailesh Vara

• Q6 Conservative MP for Maldon Sir John Whittingdale

• Q7 SNP MP for Glasgow Central Alison Thewliss

• Q8 Labour MP for Lewisham East Janet Daby

• Q9 Conservative MP for Gedling Tom Randall

• Q10 Labour MP for Jarrow Kate Osborne

• Q11 Conservative MP for Colchester Will Quince

• Q12 Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay John Baron

• Q13 Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy

• Q14 Alliance MP for North Down Stephen Farry

• Q15 Conservative MP for Colne Valley Jason McCartney

Speculation over a possible snap general election is mounting in Downing Street.

Despite the hopeful economic landscape, Rishi Sunak could still press the election button, The Telegraph writes.

Various No 10 insiders have refused to give any details on the possibility of a snap election but there is speculation the PM could trigger a Cabinet reshuffle.

Following reports over chief constables to pause non-priority arrests, Labour MP Shabana Mahmood has criticised the Conservative government for mismanaging the justice system.

She says: “It beggars belief that police are being told to sit on their hands and ignore crime because the Conservatives have mismanaged the criminal justice system so badly.

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“Rishi Sunak’s rap sheet now reads: the rushed early release of domestic abusers on to our streets, deliberate delays to trials, and victims waiting years for justice. The public will be absolutely dumbfounded. This cannot go on.

“Labour is the party of law and order. We will build the new prisons needed and make Britain’s streets safe.”

The former Post Office CEO is being grilled in the first day of public questioning over a scandal which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted

Andy Gregory is leading a separate blog covering the full updates here.

Senior Labour MPs were guests at the Heritage Foundation, the USA’s leading right-wing think tank, in Washington DC this week.

The Independent has learnt that senior Labour MPs, including shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock and shadow exports minister Tan Dhesi, were guests at the right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington DC this week.

The Heritage Foundation has earned a reputation for being at the heart of a shift to the right in the Republican Party. It has led Project 2025, the preparations for the next Republican administration in the White House including policy documents and staffing.

The shadow ministers were joined by Tory Crewe MP Kieran Mullan and pro-Trump British think tank the Legatum Institute at the discussions in Washington.

Police chiefs have been advised to scale back on arrests to ease prison overcrowding.

Forces are being told to consider cutting down on non-priority arrests.

According to The Times , internal documents from National Police Chiefs’ Council said “any planned operations where large numbers of arrests may take place” should be paused to ease pressures in the criminal justice system.

The news is likely to heap pressure on Rishi Sunak’s during today’s PMQs as the government has recently come under fire over a policy to free criminals from jail early and delays to court cases to tackle prison overcrowding.

Possible sanctions include an unlimited fine if ministers are found to have broken the law, Kate Devlin writes.

Rishi Sunak said the UK can expect “brighter days ahead” after rate of consumer prices index inflation fell to 2.3 per cent in April.

The eagerly-anticipated data published by the Office for National Statistics shows inflation is now at the lowest level since 2021.

Andrew Feinstein has launched his own campaign against the Labour leader to snatch the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.

The independent candidate was an MP in Nelson Mandela’s government in South Africa.

Launching his fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, he said: “The UK needs to see the back of the corrupt and incompetent Conservative Government but Keir Starmer has shown that he cannot be trusted to lead a Labour Government that will reverse the austerity, threats to civil liberties and warmongering that are causing so much suffering here and abroad.”