PMQs latest: Sunak refuses to rule out deploying UK forces to Middle East - and shrugs off Tory defection (2024)

PMQs has come to a close - and even enthusiasts like our deputy political editor Sam Coates struggled a bit with this week's session.

Despite it being the final Sunak-Starmer face-off before tomorrow's critical local elections, it was a PMQs lacking for "passion" and any "razzmatazz".

"It was very pedestrian," admits Sam, saying he has to apologise to viewers who had every right to expect more.

"The only thing that made me laugh was the Speaker at the beginning going, 'who's banging on the furniture?! They'll have to pay for the damage!'

"That's the closest we got to wit."

Sam notes one moment where, under questioning from Sir Keir, the prime minister refused to rule out scrapping the winter fuel allowance.

But the best exchange for Sam involved Stephen Flynn, the Westminster leader of this week's "most troubled party of all" - the SNP.

He asked about the deployment of UK forces to the Middle East to help US forces distribute aid in Gaza - and Mr Sunak didn't rule it out.

Stephen Crabb, the Tory MP for Pembrokeshire, is up next.

"Thousands of my constituents have lived with foul polluted air," he says, pointing to a local landfill site operated by a business.

"[That] company is owned by somebody with previous convictions for environmental crimes and who a few months ago gave £200,000 to help Vaughan Gething become first minister of Wales."

He also mentions a £400,000 loan given to another of the businessperson's companies by the Bank of Wales, which he says was overseen by Mr Gething as economy minister at the time.

"Does the prime minister agree with me that this serious matter demands an independent investigation?"

Rishi Sunak says the case is "an incredibly important issue".

"I know that people in Wales are concerned about the relationship that he mentions and I also agree with him on the need for transparency and an investigation regarding the Welsh Labour leader, because it's very clear that the situation is not at all transparent and answers are needed."

The UK has "no legal obligation to accept returns of illegal migrants from Ireland", Rishi Sunak declares after a question from the DUP politician Carla Lockhart.

Referring to the Safety of Rwanda Act, which became law last week, he says "it's no surprise that our robust approach to illegal migration is providing a deterrent".

Ireland's prime minister has insisted the UK must respect an existing arrangement between the two countries to take back asylum seekers.

Simon Harris told Sky News yesterday that the UK must honour the deal, in place since 2020, as the row escalated over the Irish government's new plans to return to the UK asylum seekers who cross the border from Northern Ireland.

His comments came after Ireland's deputy prime minister and foreign secretary Micheal Martin said the threat of deportation to Rwanda was causing "fearful" migrants to head for Ireland instead of the UK.

You can read more on that row here:

By Gurpreet Narwan, political correspondent

With Israel determined to launch an offensive in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, the prime minister was pushed on the UK's position on a plan that has raised global alarm.

Against the backdrop of increasingly tense protests and counterprotests on US campuses, Mr Sunak was pushed on levels of humanitarian aid going into Gaza and the UK's ongoing arms exports to Israel.

The prime minister held firm, pointing out that Israel has "a right to defend itself" and talked up UK efforts to get aid into Gaza.

It's a tense issue for Labour too, and the party could pay the price at the ballot box tomorrow, especially in constituencies with large Muslim populations.

"Our coast has taken a battering," the prime minister is told by Tory MP Peter Aldous as he asks about funding for infrastructure to protect coastal communities.

Mr Sunak says almost £1bn of levelling up funding has been allocated to the east of England, including £75m for "coastal places".

He says he will secure a meeting between Mr Aldous, the MP for Waveney in Suffolk, and the relevant minister to discuss how his region can be further supported.

SNP MP Deidre Brock asks the prime minister about "shady" groups behind what she describes as "gutter politics".

She raises a Greenpeace report that alleges 36 "supposed grassroots campaign groups" were "actually administered by Conservative staff and activists".

The groups acted as "global forums for vile racism, antisemitism and Islamophobic attacks on Sadiq Khan", she says.

"Can the prime minister shed some light on the shady groups spreading abuse, their funding, their links to his party and whether he is aware of similar operations existing elsewhere in the UK?"

The prime minister stands and says he is unaware of the reports.

He is unapologetic, however, for any Conservatives pointing out the "record" of other parties.

Next to speak is Caroline Lucas, who brings up a potential Israeli invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

More than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in the city, which Israel claims is the last bastion of Hamas.

Charities, governments and humanitarian organisations on the ground have warned an attack would lead to thousands more Palestinians killed and injured.

"All the signs are that Netanyahu is about to defy the international community," Ms Lucas says.

"If that attack begins, will that be the moment when the prime minister finds the moral backbone to ban arms exports to Israel?

"And if not, how much more suffering has to happen before he acts to prevent further UK complicity and crimes against humanity?"

The UK provides a small amount of arms to Israel.

The prime minister responds: "I've been crystal clear, we want to see humanitarian law respected and adhered to by all parties.

"Too many civilians have been killed and we do want to see Israel take greater care to avoid harming civilians.

"I've made these points repeatedly to Prime Minister Netanyahu specifically about the impacts of any military incursion into Rafah, and we continue to say to the Israelis at all levels that we want to see more aid going in and... a hostage deal so we can move towards a sustainable ceasefire."

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader in Westminster, asks the prime minister whether he is giving "active consideration to the deployment of UK forces in the Middle East".

He says the answer is "yes or no", saying the public needs "clarity".

Mr Sunak skirts the issue, saying he can't get into any operational planning details.

But, he says, "we are absolutely committed to supporting international efforts to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza ... by land, sea and air".

Mr Flynn follows up by asking whether all members will be given a vote before he makes a decision on any UK deployment.

"I'm not going to apologise for our armed forces playing a leading role in supporting international efforts to get more aid in," Mr Sunak says.

"And indeed we are sending Royal Navy support ship RFA Cardigan Bay to the region to support that effort."

He adds the fastest way to end the Israel-Hamas conflict is to ensure there is a "hostage deal that gets hostages out, aid in and for there to be a sustainable pause in the fighting".

He says it is clear there is now a "workable offer on the table" and asks Mr Flynn to join him in urging all parties, including Hamas, to accept the deal.

By Gurpreet Narwan, political correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer began the session by revelling in the defection of Dan Poulter, who moved from the Tory benches to the Labour side last weekend.

The Labour leader said it was symbolic of the wider exodus of Tory voters to Labour.

He then made a series of attacks about unfunded tax cuts and pushed the prime minister on whether he would raid pensioners to shore up the public finances.

The Labour leader was unrelenting, repeatedly trying to undermine the government's offer to pensioners.

It was a considered choice. Pensioners are a core voting base for the Conservatives.

Labour had a clear message for them: "Vote Tory, risk your pension."

Next up is pensions - a divisive issue that allows the political rivals a bit of back-and-forth.

Sir Keir Starmer goes after Rishi Sunak over the "£46bn black hole" his pledge to scrap national insurance would leave (see previous post).

Labour said previously that "Rishi Sunak's unfunded £46bn spending commitment is a threat to the state pension, which could delay retirement for nearly four million over 60s".

Sir Keir puts that to Mr Sunak.

The prime minister comes back: "It's thanks to the triple lock that we've increased pensions by £3,700 since 2010 and they will rise in each and every year of the next parliament.

"It's Labour that always hits pensioners hard."

Sir Keir has a pithy reply:"Vote Tory, risk your pension."

Mr Sunak jumps on the change of topic, making a pitch to voters in the local elections.

"Tomorrow voters will have a choice, and it will be a choice.

"It will be a choice between mayors like Andy Street and Ben Houchen, who are delivering, [against] mayors like Sadiq Khan, who just simply virtue signal."