Prime Minister's Questions: The key bits and the verdict
10 April 2019
Just hours ahead of her solo pitch to 27 EU leaders for a short delay to Brexit, Theresa May faced Jeremy Corbyn at the dispatch box. Here is what happened. While talks continued between the Conservatives and Labour on breaking the parliamentary deadlock on the UK's exit from the EU, the Labour leader avoided the issue of Brexit. Mr Corbyn did mark the 21st anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland - as did Mrs May and the SNP's Ian Blackford - and called for it to be maintained post-Brexit. But he moved on to attack Mrs May over local council funding, claiming nine of the 10 most deprived council areas in the country had seen cuts almost three times the average of any other council. "We shouldn't forget communities across the country abandoned by this government," he said. The PM defended her record, saying councils have more money available this year; and she said her government "listened to councils", for example by lifting the borrowing cap at their request to help funding to build new homes. Mr Corbyn threw more statistics across the dispatch box, saying cuts in Swindon alone amounted to PS235 per household and in Stoke-on-Trent it rose to PS640, but the affluent county of Surrey was seeing an increase in its funding. He also claimed 500,000 more children had gone into relative poverty and, in Stoke alone, 4,000 food bank parcels had been handed out to children. The Labour leader asked: "Does she think areas with the highest levels of deprivation deserve facing the largest cuts in their budget?" The PM said members across the House "should take action to make sure families are getting more money into their pockets". Mrs May listed measures taken by her government, from freezing fuel duty to introducing the Living Wage, adding: "He should be backing these measures instead of voting against them." She admitted that the government had asked local councils "to take difficult decisions to living with our means", but only because of the deficit left by Labour. In their last exchange, Mr Corbyn said it was a "political choice to impose austerity", which was "vindictive and damaging". He concluded: "Far from tackling burning injustices... [she has] pushed councils to the brink and left those 'just about managing' not being able to manage at all. That is her legacy." Mrs May said she was proud in what her government had achieved, including better schools, more jobs and lower borrowing. She finished by saying a Labour government led by Mr Corbyn would be about "destroying our defences, abandoning our allies, [seeing] billions more in borrowing, fewer opportunities and higher taxes for everyone. That's a Labour future and we will never let it happen." The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, was not afraid to focus on Brexit. He asked the prime minister outright whether the government had offered a further referendum to Labour during their talks - "yes or no?" Mrs May reiterated her opposition to another public vote and reminded him the Commons had voted on and rejected such an outcome twice. But Mr Blackford stayed on topic, saying: "People can't have faith in a backroom deal cooked up by two leaders who don't possess the ingredients to hold their parties together, never mind hold these islands together." He then asked her whether she would accept a longer extension from the EU if offered at the summit later. The PM said she had "made her position clear", but took a jibe at the SNP MP, saying: "It is a little difficult for many of us in this House to hear him week after week stand up and say that the UK should stay within the European Union when Scottish independence would have meant taking Scotland out of the European Union." Mr Blackford wasn't the only one highlighting Brexit either, as Conservative MP Henry Smith warned of the cost of a long extension to the UK. Police funding came up on both sides of the Commons. Conservative Theresa Villiers brought up a case of a 15-year-old in her constituency chased by three men with a knife and criticised London's Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan for closing her local police station. But Labour's Wayne David showed the PM a graph on how her government's choices on funding had affected the police in Wales. Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas called on the prime minister to speak to more young campaigners about threats to the environment. Mrs May said it gave her an opportunity to praise the green credentials of a school in her constituency. Here is BBC parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy's take. You wouldn't guess from PMQs that the UK is on the eve of an emergency European Council which could see Brexit postponed for perhaps a year. The elephant in the Chamber sat quietly at the back, emitting the occasional gentle belch, as the main protagonists argued about council spending in the run up to the local elections on 2 May - trading soundbites about Tory austerity and Labour's record deficits. The SNP's Ian Blackford wasn't playing and, on its 21st anniversary, he opened on the impact of Brexit on the Good Friday Agreement. And he attacked the Conservatives and Labour as "Brexit parties", as they continue their talks on a possible deal to get some agreed form of Brexit through the Commons. It was noticeable that the PM did not answer Mr Blackford's well-targeted question about whether a referendum was on the table in those talks - merely observing that some in the Commons might propose a referendum, but her position had not changed. A few antennae quivered at that careful formulation. The PM took some rather diffident Brexit fire from her own side, but not as much as might have been expected the morning after 97 Conservatives defied the party whip and voted against a further postponement. It was mild rather than bitter. Craig Tracey said Britain had nothing to fear from a no-deal exit. Henry Smith complained about the cost of Brexit payments to the EU, and David Duguid offered an easy hit for the PM about leaving the Commons Fisheries Policy. Any thought that the PM might be treated to a pre-summit monstering from Brexiteer backbenchers, to demonstrate that she might not be able to deliver whatever she promised EU leaders, was soon dispelled. The troops were on best behaviour.
The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, was not afraid to focus on Brexit. He asked the prime minister outright whether the government had offered a further referendum to Labour during their talks - "yes or no?" Mrs May reiterated her opposition to another public vote and reminded him the Commons had voted on and rejected such an outcome twice. But Mr Blackford stayed on topic, saying: "People can't have faith in a backroom deal cooked up by two leaders who don't possess the ingredients to hold their parties together, never mind hold these islands together." He then asked her whether she would accept a longer extension from the EU if offered at the summit later. The PM said she had "made her position clear", but took a jibe at the SNP MP, saying: "It is a little difficult for many of us in this House to hear him week after week stand up and say that the UK should stay within the European Union when Scottish independence would have meant taking Scotland out of the European Union." Mr Blackford wasn't the only one highlighting Brexit either, as Conservative MP Henry Smith warned of the cost of a long extension to the UK. Police funding came up on both sides of the Commons. Conservative Theresa Villiers brought up a case of a 15-year-old in her constituency chased by three men with a knife and criticised London's Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan for closing her local police station. But Labour's Wayne David showed the PM a graph on how her government's choices on funding had affected the police in Wales. Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas called on the prime minister to speak to more young campaigners about threats to the environment. Mrs May said it gave her an opportunity to praise the green credentials of a school in her constituency.
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What else came up?
Here is BBC parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy's take. You wouldn't guess from PMQs that the UK is on the eve of an emergency European Council which could see Brexit postponed for perhaps a year. The elephant in the Chamber sat quietly at the back, emitting the occasional gentle belch, as the main protagonists argued about council spending in the run up to the local elections on 2 May - trading soundbites about Tory austerity and Labour's record deficits. The SNP's Ian Blackford wasn't playing and, on its 21st anniversary, he opened on the impact of Brexit on the Good Friday Agreement. And he attacked the Conservatives and Labour as "Brexit parties", as they continue their talks on a possible deal to get some agreed form of Brexit through the Commons. It was noticeable that the PM did not answer Mr Blackford's well-targeted question about whether a referendum was on the table in those talks - merely observing that some in the Commons might propose a referendum, but her position had not changed. A few antennae quivered at that careful formulation. The PM took some rather diffident Brexit fire from her own side, but not as much as might have been expected the morning after 97 Conservatives defied the party whip and voted against a further postponement. It was mild rather than bitter. Craig Tracey said Britain had nothing to fear from a no-deal exit. Henry Smith complained about the cost of Brexit payments to the EU, and David Duguid offered an easy hit for the PM about leaving the Commons Fisheries Policy. Any thought that the PM might be treated to a pre-summit monstering from Brexiteer backbenchers, to demonstrate that she might not be able to deliver whatever she promised EU leaders, was soon dispelled. The troops were on best behaviour.
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The verdict?