Kemi Badenoch was warmly greeted by backbenchers as she arrived at a Tory 1922 Committee meeting with MPs banging tables for at least 30 seconds

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer clash at PMQs.

Labour is “only just getting started”, Sir Keir Starmer has said as he reflected from the despatch box on his first year in Number 10.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: “It’s the end of term, so why don’t we go through his end of term scorecard? The economy is contracting; inflation, highest in the G7; unemployment up every month under this Government; spending out of control, borrowing costs more expensive than Greece, and this is just the first year.”

Mrs Badenoch added: “The fact is, this summer, they’re going to have to go to their constituents and explain why they’ve been making such a mess over the last 12 months. And isn’t (it) the case that the worst – given that this is just their first year – the worst is yet to come?”

Sir Keir replied Labour MPs would “happily” face their constituents this summer and “tell them we promised two million extra NHS appointments and we delivered four million extra appointments”.

The Prime Minister continued: “I’ve got to upgrade that, it’s now 4.5 million extra appointments. So we’re going to tell our constituents that, then we’re going to tell them about the free school meals we’re rolling out, free breakfast clubs, the free childcare and school uniform costs. We’ll tell them about that.

“And then when we’ve done that, we’ll move on to affordable houses and tell them about the £39 billion we’re investing. When we’ve finished that, we’ll tell them about the rail and road upgrades across the country with a £120 billion investment, and of course, the free trade deals.

“And Mr Speaker, we’re only just getting started.”

Following PMQs, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Labour won’t rule out hitting the self employed with new taxes. They won’t rule out a tax raid on pensions.

“And the Prime Minister says ‘modest incomes’ refers to anyone without savings, raising the prospect of a tax on savings in the autumn.

“Labour are treating working people with contempt. Hiking taxes is not inevitable – it is a choice brought on by the government’s economic incompetence.”

A “tax on pension contributions is a tax on working people”, Kemi Badenoch has warned.

The Conservative Party leader told the Commons: “Perhaps he should speak to farmers and small business people and find out what those working people think about his Government.

“But that’s not all. We know the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) is launching a review into pension contributions. It’s as clear as day why this is – it is because the Government is considering taxing them.

“Does the Prime Minister agree with me that a tax on pension contributions is a tax on working people?”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “We made absolutely clear manifesto commitments which she asked me about last week and we’re keeping to. I’m not going to write the budget months out.”

He later added: “I’m proud of the decisions that we took to invest in our NHS, to invest in our public services, all the decisions that they opposed. And it’s no wonder that after a first year of a Labour Government business confidence is (at) a nine-year high. That’s longer than she’s been in government.”

To a call of “withdraw” from the Opposition benches, Sir Keir replied: “I’m not withdrawing – I’m going to repeat: business confidence is at a nine-year high.”

Kemi Badenoch pressed Sir Keir Starmer on whether the self-employed will be “next in line for a Labour tax raid”.

The Conservative leader said: “I’m not talking the country down, I’m talking him down.

“I asked him what a modest income was, he answered what a working person is. He doesn’t know what a modest income is. And even on working people, they cannot define it.

“The Chief Secretary to the Treasury said that working people are people who don’t get a pay slip, but millions of self-employed people don’t get a pay slip. So are the self employed next in line for a Labour tax raid?”

The Prime Minister replied: “The self-employed were the very people who suffered under their watch, repeatedly suffered under their watch, particularly if I remember during Covid, when they didn’t get the support that they needed. But she talks the country down. She cherry picks.”

He added: “Since we’ve been in Government, we’ve created 380,000 jobs. The employment rate is up and inactivity is down. The complete opposite of what we inherited.”

The Prime Minister said the Government is working for those “who put in every day and don’t get back what they deserve”, as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed him on what a “modest income” is.

Mrs Badenoch said: “He’s talking about what he achieved. We just heard that inflation is up again, the worst in the G7. We left him with 2% inflation. We have borrowing up, unemployment up, taxes are up under his Government. The fact is, the Prime Minister doesn’t get it, so let me tell him: his budget last year had high taxes. That’s why the economy is contracting.

“But, the Government has said that they won’t put up taxes for people on modest incomes, but they also seem incapable of explaining who is in that category. So can the Prime Minister clear up the confusion and tell us what he thinks a modest income is?”

Sir Keir Starmer replied: “I think of the working people across this country who put in every day and don’t get back what they deserve, and that’s who we’re working for. That’s who we’re fixing the country (for).

“The sort of people that work hard but haven’t necessarily got the savings to buy themselves out of problems. And that’s who we’re working for, and that’s why we put the national living wage up, that’s an extra £1,400.”

He added: “We know exactly who we’re working for. She comes here every week and just talks the country down.”

Tory ex-ministers have “serious questions to answer” about the Afghan data leak which resulted in an £850 million secret relocation scheme and an unprecedented legal gagging order, Sir Keir Starmer said.

The Prime Minister hit out at the Tories over the “major data breach” which saw a defence official release details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban.

Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a scheme set up after the breach which was kept secret as the result of a superinjunction imposed in 2023 which was only lifted on Tuesday.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “We warned in opposition about Conservative management of this policy and yesterday, the Defence Secretary set out the full extent of the failings that we inherited: a major data breach, a superinjunction, a secret route that has already cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

“Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen.”

Kemi Badenoch began by saying: “Yesterday, the head of the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) warned the Government that higher and higher levels of taxes are bad for growth. Does the Prime Minister agree?”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer replied: “I’ll tell you what’s bad for growth, 14 years of a Tory government. Stagnant growth for 14 years, leaving a £22 billion black hole.”

He added that he has achieved “the highest growth in the G7” and an “investment of £120 billion into this country, which is a record in the first year of any government, and three trade deals, all of which will boost growth”.

‘I’m not going to write the Budget months out from the Budget’ says the Prime Minister.

Kemi Badenoch says the Chancellor does talk about taxes when it suits her.

She goes on to ask about pension contributions and whether they will be taxed.

She says the Government should cut spending, not increase taxes.

“What will the Prime Minister be doing over the summer to get a grip on thecost of borrowing?”

Are the self-employed next in line for a Labour tax rise, asks Kemi Badenoch?

Starmer is responding to these questions by attacking the Tory record but refusing to make any comments about possible future tax rises.

Kemi Badenoch asks if the Prime Minister agrees with the Office for Budget Responsibility that higher taxes are bad for growth.

“His Budget last year had high taxes. That’s why the economy is contracting”.

She says Ministers have said Labour won’t put up taxes for people on modest incomes and challenges Keir Starmer to explain what he thinks a modest income is.

The Prime Minister starts with a statement about “a major data breach, a super injunction, a secret route that has already cost hundreds of millions of pounds”.

He says Conservatives who were Ministers at the time have “serious questions to answer”.

Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after a data breach.

A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released “in error” in February 2022 by a defence official.

MPs depart for the summer recess – the long break away from Parliament – on Tuesday July 22, and return on September 1

Here is the order paper distributed to MPs today. However, other MPs will be chosen at random by the Speaker, and of course Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will ask questions

As we wait for PMQs to begin, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is having a convivial chat with Labour chief whip Mark Tami behind the speaker’s chair

Reform UK has been dealt another blow today after prominent support Rael Braverman, the husband of prominent Tory Suella Braverman, announced he is quitting the party.

Taking to Twitter, Mr Braverman said: “I have left Reform effective immediately”.

He did not elaborate on his reason for doing so, though recent tweets suggest he had been left increasingly frustrated about a number of former Tory MPs joining the party.

Senior Reform figures have also criticised Suella Braverman for serving as Home Secretary at the same time as the Afghan migrant cover-up.

The average UK house price increased by 3.9%, to £269,000, in the 12 months to May, according to provisional Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

The annual growth rate increased from 3.6% in the 12 months to April.

Average house prices increased to £290,000 (3.4% annual growth) in England, £210,000 (5.1%) in Wales, and £192,000 (6.4%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to May.

The average house price for Northern Ireland was £185,000 between January and March, up by 9.5% annually.

Commenting on the latest inflation figures, Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at the free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “The unexpected pickup in UK inflation to 3.6% in June, from 3.4% in May and just 2.0% in the same month a year earlier, will add to economic uncertainty and the downside risks to spending and investment.

“The Bank of England is still likely to trim interest rates again next month, especially if tomorrow’s jobs data are weak. The latest inflation data are only just above the Bank’s own forecasts, which still see the CPI measure dropping back to the 2% target next year and staying there over the medium term (the horizon that matters most for monetary policy).”

He added: “Nonetheless, the gap between inflation in the UK and the euro area has widened markedly since last October’s Budget.

“The obvious culprit is the continued pass through of higher payroll costs following the large increases in employers’ National Insurance contributions and in the national minimum wage.

“It was always likely that these policy choices would backfire on ‘working people’, both by raising prices and cutting jobs. But they are clearly making the Bank of England’s task a lot harder too.”

John Healey has suggested not one person has, or will be, sacked for their part in the enormous data breach that has cost the country millions and put up to 100,000 lives at risk.

Following the lifting of an unprecedented superinjunction yesterday, Mr Healey said: “I’m not going to give you a snap retrospective judgement and I’m certainly not going to lead some witch hunt after a defence official.”

“This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual.”

Responding to June’s inflation figure of 3.6%, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

“These stubbornly high inflation figures are hammering the pockets of households who are still struggling with a cost-of-living crisis that refuses to go away.

“The Conservatives’ mismanagement of the economy led us here and now Donald Trump’s senseless trade war and the Government’s wage suppressing jobs tax are only adding to people’s pain.

“Only by building an economic coalition of the willing to stand up to Trump’s bullying, scrapping the Government’s jobs tax and bolstering our energy security will we see pressure ease for families across the country.”

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Surging services inflation of 4.7% shows the folly of the Chancellors choice to hike NI on businesses rather than the more honest approach of income tax. Higher costs and rising unemployment are the price.”

Rachel Reeves claims there’s ‘more to do’ after she oversaw a further increase in inflation.

Reaction to this morning’s bad news, the Chancellor said: “I know working people are still struggling with the cost of living.

“That is why we have already taken action by increasing the national minimum wage for three million workers, rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school and extending the £3 bus far cap.

“But there is more to do and I’m determined we deliver on our Plan for Change to put more money into people’s pockets.”

Rachel Reeves is under huge pressure this morning after new figures showed a major rise in inflation, beyond that forecast by experts.

Prises rose by 3.6% in June, up from 3.4% in May, well above the 2% target left by the Tories.

Sir Mel Stride MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “This morning’s news that inflation remains well above the 2 per cent target is deeply worrying for families.”

“Labour’s decision to tax jobs and ramp up borrowing is killing growth and stoking inflation – making every day essentials more expensive – and because Labour are too weak to take tough choices on spending, more tax rises are on the way, leaving families facing ever-rising costs.”