PMQs LIVE: May blasts back at Benn on Customs Union – We need a BRITISH trade policy!
THERESA May hit back at an attack from Labour's Hillary Benn about the Government's insistence on leaving the Customs Union during a wide-ranging PMQs this lunchtime, telling the MP the UK needs to get out in order to strike its own free trade deals with the rest of the world.
Theresa May reflects on 100 year anniversary of women's suffrage
In a Commons session that lurched between battles over police cuts and knife crime, NHS contracts and local council failings, the Prime Minister refused to bow down to Labour demands to remain in the customs union by saying they are incompatible with international trade plans.
Mrs May was congratulated by Tory MP Sir Bill Cash on her decision to rule out remaining in Brussels' customs union and urged May to repudiate any of these EU threats" in reference to reports the EU is plotting to restrict the UK's access to the single market if Britain does not play by the rules during a Brexit transition period.
Mrs May responded by saying the Government would be "robust" in its arguments.
The Prime Minister's clash with Jeremy Corbyn centred on police cuts, and the fiery exchange saw victories for both leaders.
Mrs May struggled to defend the Tory police cuts but responded with a strong attack on Corbyn's own voting record.
She said: “The leader of the opposition voted against changing the law so anyone caught carrying a knife for the second time would face a custodial sentence.
“He has called for much shorter sentences for those who break the law”.
Pointing at Boris Johnson, Mrs May added: “When there was a Conservative mayor in London, knife crime went down.
“Now there is a Labour mayor in London, knife crime has gone up”.
Scroll down for live updates from this week's PMQs:
12.45pm: The Lib Dem leader gets his moment - Sir Vince Cable said: “Can the Prime Minister give a guarantee that in negotiations with America after Brexit, the NHS will be excluded and in conversations with Donald Trump, it is absolutely clear that the NHS is not for sale.”
The Prime Minister replied: ”We are starting discussions with the American administration.
“First of all looking at what we can do to increase trade between America and the UK already even before the possibility of any free trade agreement.
“We will go into those negotiations to get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom.”
12.43pm: Hillary Benn, the Labour chairman of the Brexit Select Committee, asks why the Government has insisted on leaving the customs union because he believes it would provide a workable solution to the ongoing issues surrounding the Irish border.
Mrs May hits back, telling Benn that remaining a member of the customs union would stop Britain from striking its own free trade deals.
House of Commons ERUPT after May SLAMS Labour MP
12.38pm: There's the Brexit mention!
Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said: “May I congratulate the Prime Minister for her approach to the customs union.
“I warned her about ultimatums from the EU, would she be good enough to be robust against these EU threats.”
Mrs May replied defiantly: “I can ensure him, we will be robust in our agreements.
"We will hear all sorts of things about positions that are being taken, what matters is the positions in the actual negotiations.”
12.35pm: Bizarrely, despite a 'war cabinet' meeting today and May's lunch with Barnier on Monday, Brexit has still not come up in the Commons.
12.32pm: Mr Skinner is wished a happy birthday by both Theresa May and John Bercow, to which he responds "I don't celebrate old age".
The 'Beast of Bolsover' will be 86 on Saturday.
12.31pm: Labour MP Dennis Skinner, as many expected, raises the NHS crisis.
The veteran MP said to cheers from his bench: “The people in the NHS need help, what they told me last week was in the Labour government when they had their money increased that was a golden period.
“The chancellor of the Exchequer put one per cent on the national insurance, that went directly to the health service.
"It is called long-term stability, under this government they don’t know if they are coming or going.”
Mrs May said the Labour government could afford to spend so much because “the Conservative government had left a golden economic legacy”.
House of Commons ERUPT after May SLAMS Labour MP
12.25pm: A bit more from the Blackford-May clash:
SNP MP Ian Blackford said: “However, today in the UK, 3.8 million women are not receiving the pension they are entitled to.
‘Will the PM do her bit for gender equality and the injustice faced by 1950s women?”
Mrs May replied: “As people are living longer, it is important we equalise the pension age between men and women, we are doing that.
‘We have acted, we have put in an extra one billion to ensure nobody is going to see their pension entitlement change.”
12.23pm: SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford once again calls on the PM to take responsibility for the closure of RBS branches in Scotland.
Mrs May responds by saying she welcomes the decision to offer a reprieve to some branches before attacking the SNP's ability to provide broadband for rural areas.
Definitely seen that exchange before...
May SLAMS Corbyn in 'knife-crime' dig at Sadiq Khan
12.20pm: Mrs May responds by attacking Labour's policies, saying "you can only pay for public services if you have a strong economy".
She says Labour would "bankrupt Britain" which would result in less funding for the police.
12.15pm: Corbyn says "too many people don't feel safe" and adds the UK has seen the highest rise in recorded crime in more the 50 years.
May says the police now do more to help vulnerable people and says she is giving the police more powers, before attacking Corbyn's voting record on offering the police the ability to do more to tackle crime.
Corbyn says the police budget has been cut and accuses the Tories of reducing means of prevention and cure.
Mrs May replied: “The leader of the opposition voted against changing the law so anyone caught carrying a knife for the second time would face a custodial sentence.
“He has called for much shorter sentences for those who break the law”.
Pointing at Boris Johnson, Mrs May said: “When there was a Conservative mayor in London, knife crime went down.
“Now there is a Labour mayor in London, knife crime has gone up”.
12.08pm: Corbyn's up. He joins May in offering a tribute to the dead soldier as well as those who campaigned for women to given the vote.
He moves on to crime and asks with offences on the rise, does Mrs May have any regrets about cutting the police force by 21,000 officers.
Mrs May responds by saying crime is down to record low levels, which Corbyn doubts, saying crime is up by a fifth.
Corbyn said: “Recorded crime is up by a fifth, violent crime is up by 20 per cent and when the prime minister was home secretary £2.3 billion was cut from police budgets.”
He said an inspectorate said the police cuts is a “national crisis” and questioned May over cutting 21,000 police officers.
He said: “The inspectorate found the police are failing to record tens of thousands of offences.
“The chief constable of Bedfordshire said we do not have the resources to keep citizens safe, it is a scandal.”
Mrs May replied by saying there has been more recording of crime in general.
She said: “This is a government that is protecting police budgets.”
12.05pm: Tory MP Craig Mackinlay asks for assurances that Thanet, his constituency, will be given more time to get its local plan right following failings by the UKIP-led council.
May says she is considering intervening as a result of the council's failings.
12.01pm: Theresa May opens with a tribute to a captain who died in a road traffic accident in Iraq before moving on to mention the centenary of women getting the vote.
She says: “I am sure the whole house will want to join me in marking the heroic and tireless struggle that led to women having the vote”.
After jeers of "some women" from the Labour bench, she says all women got the vote just ten years later under a Tory government.
11.55am: Vince Cable's ready (even though he doesn't actually get a question by right)
11.50am: Good morning and welcome to today's coverage of PMQs.
Below is a list of the MPs due set to pose questions to the Prime Minister. Keep an eye out for Dennis Skinner at number six and Thelma Walker at number 14, should make for decent viewing!
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