PMQs LIVE: Kemi Badenoch blasts 'patronising' Keir Starmer in fiery PMQs clash over defence

SNP slam Starmer over energy bills accusing Labour of 'incompetency'

The SNP's leader in Westminster has slammed Labour, accusing the party of "incompetency" over rising energy bills.

Stephen Flynn asked if the increase was down to "incompetency" or if Labour had "been caught out lying?"

Starmer responded with a dig at the SNP, saying the party was "very quiet" on their record in Scotland, insisting he and his party should "take responsibility for their own record." He insisted that Labour was pushing "for energy independence."

Davey demands Starmer to answer if Labour back a European rearmament bank

The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey wished the Prime Minister luck with his upcokming meeting with President Trump but claimed it was "clear" that the UK won't be able to rely on the US to ensure security against Putin's aggression.

Davey said that Europe must rearm in the face of Russian threat and said his party backs a European rearmament bank.

Starmer responded, saying the UK "will resist [Davey's] suggestion that we have got somehow to choose between the US and our European partners. I do not believe that to be the case."

Starmer hits back over Badenoch's accusation of inconsistency

Sir Keir Starmer has hit back over Kemi's claims that Labour have been inconsistent over the defence uplift numbers.

The Prime Minister said: "We went through this two weeks ago, going through the same question over and over again.

"If you take the financial year this year and then you take the financial year for 2027/28, the difference between the two is £13.4 billion. That is the same answer. If you ask again I will give the same answer again."

Badenoch grills Starmer over Chagos deal funding 

Kemi Badenoch pressed the Prime Minister if he paying for Chagos with deficiency uplift or not.

The Prime Minister responded, saying the money announced going to defend security of our country.

Starmer also accused the Conservative leader of giving "a rambling speech" yesterday, adding that Labour has been clear the defence spending has been "full credible costed plan."

Badenoch asks Starmer for UK's role in ensuring Ukraine at negotiating table

Badenoch used her first question to ask what steps were being taken to make sure Ukraine would be at the negotiating table.

The Prime Minister responded saying: "My consistent position is the continued sovereignty of Ukraine and ability to decide for themselves."

PMQ's about to start

Sir Kier Starmer is about to face off against Kemi Badenoch in Prime Minister's Questions before he heads to Washington for his first set of in-person talks with President Donald Trump.

We'll be bringing you all the key moments here on the GB News Politics Live blog.

Tom Harwood and Gloria De Piero will also be providing live commentary and putting your questions to a top panel of MPs on PMQs Live, which you can watch here.

Publication of Stormont’s programme for government hit by yet another delay

Stormont’s delayed programme for government has been hit by another hitch after its planned publication was postponed at late notice.

The latest hold up has been blamed on an administrative issue, with Alliance Party Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir complaining he was not being provided with sufficient time to review the final document ahead of a planned Executive meeting to sign it off.

Ministers had been due to meet on Wednesday morning to approve the devolved administration’s governance plan.

A press conference involving Sinn Fein First Minister Michelle O’Neill and DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly was planned at Stormont Castle after the meeting for a public announcement on the programme for government (PFG).

However, those plans were shelved late on Tuesday night.

 Farage advises Starmer on Trump ahead of 'difficult' White House trip - 'He's sharp as hell!'

Nigel Farage has warned that there are "some very difficult issues" facing Sir Keir Starmer when he meets Donald Trump later this week.

The Prime Minister is set to meet the President for the first time since the Republican was sworn in for the second time, with the war in Ukraine most likely to dominate the conversation.

Now, the Reform UK leader, who Trump previously described as a "great guy", has offered some tips for Starmer ahead of their meeting in Washington.

The Clacton MP told The Telegraph: "[With Trump] you have to be straightforward. You’ve got to not be too hesitant. He fires questions with great rapidity and he thinks very quickly. So they are quite full-on conversations...he is sharp as hell."

It comes as Reform's Chief Whip and Ashfield MP Lee Anderson has hit back at Starmer, saying he will soon be "fawning over President Trump" after the Prime Minister accused Farage of "fawning over Putin".

Farage added: "I wish the Prime Minister luck, but Trump and he are very different people...Chagos is difficult. Aligning with EU food standards threatens any free trade deal with America. There are some very difficult issues here."

Trump has told reporters that Ukrainian President Zelensky wants to come to Washington DC later this week to sign a critical minerals deal that is central to Kyiv's push to win US ongoing support of its war with Russia.

The Republican President also told reporters there needs be some form of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict is struck.

WATCH: Donald Trump’s role in defence boost revealed as John Healey responds to US President’s ‘challenge’

Defence Secretary John Healey has clarified that the UK's defence spending boost is not being done specifically for Donald Trump.

Speaking on GB News, Healey responded to questions about whether the increase was "done for Donald Trump" with a firm denial.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

Nigel Farage issues chilling free speech warning after 'outrageous' decision to cancel Reform meeting

Nigel Farage has issued a chilling free speech warning after a Reform UK local branch meeting in Norfolk's "poshest town" was cancelled in mysterious circumstances.

The Reform UK leader, who earlier this week faced down mask-wearing Antifa protesters in Cornwall, waded in on the free speech row after it divided a parish of just 4,000 people.

Farage compared the incident at Holt Community Centre in North Norfolk to the "intimidatory" protest held outside Reform UK's Redruth rally.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

First Minister Swinney vows to unite Scotland 'against the increasingly extreme and radical right'

John Swinney is set to outline his plan to "renew public trust in politics" and unite Scotland "against the increasingly extreme and radical right."

It comes less than 24 hours after Scottish Government’s Budget passed its final vote at Holyrood, with support from Green and Liberal Democrat MSPs as well as Alba’s sole MSP.

His speech will say: "At the start of the year, I warned that failure to pass the Budget would send a signal that parliament and politics could not deliver. That failure would only serve the interests of an increasingly extreme and radical right and leave devolution dangerously exposed.

“These are pivotal moments for our country and for our future. If we are to restore trust in our politics, we must deliver public services that work better for the people we serve. The budget enables us to do so but we must do more. It is time to come together to draw a line in the sand. To set out who we are and what we believe in."

Shadow defence secretary says foreign aid was 'not going to make any difference' in Russia’s invasion

James Cartlidge has called on Labour to remain "focused on the reality of the situation" claiming that foreign aid was "not going to make any difference" in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

When asked if foreign aid was the right place to make cuts in order to fund the rise in defence spending, the shadow defence secretary said aid played a different role when counter-terrorism was the "main job" on the armed forces, because it was "not nation-on-nation, peer-to-peer military."

He said: "In that circumstance you can argue that aid is almost part of your defence because obviously if a country is unstable, it’s more likely to ferment the conditions where terrorism or those sort of disruptive organisations succeed. So aid is really important.

"However, when you’re faced with a peer military threat like Russia, a country where aid is not going to make any difference, then you have to be focused on the reality of the situation."

EXPOSED: Five 'wokest' foreign aid contracts active TODAY as Starmer cuts overseas spending to boost defence

As Keir Starmer slashes the foreign aid budget to boost defence spending, GB News has taken a look at the five most progressive foreign aid contracts currently active.

It comes after Starmer announced on Tuesday that the UK Government will increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 - three years earlier than originally planned - as Donald Trump's commitment to European security wavers.

His £13.4billion splurge will be funded through "painful" cuts to the foreign aid budget, which will be slashed from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent.

GB News members can read the full analysis here.

Scottish government “stands firmly behind” single-sex space provision

An SNP minister has said the Scottish government "stands firmly behind" provision of single sex spaces amid a tribunal brought by a nurse who objected to sharing a women’s changing room with a transgender doctor.

Sandie Peggie claims she was subject to unlawful harassment under the Equality Act when she was expected to share a changing room with Dr Beth Upton, a trans doctor.

Social justice secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville has told Holyrood: "This government stands firmly behind the separate and single-sex exemptions provided in the 2010 act. Members will be aware this allows for trans people to be excluded when this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.”

Lib Dems SLAM Conservatives over 'unforgivable legacy' as new corridor care figures released

The Liberal Democrats have taken a swipe at the Conservatives as new figures have shown almost four in five NHS doctors were forced to provide corridor care in the past month.

The party's Health and Social Care spokeswoman Helen Morgan MP said: "To think that corridor care has not just become accepted but the standard way our hospitals operate is utterly harrowing.

"Hearing stories of people dying in glorified cupboards or having to be resuscitated in crowded corridors is heartbreaking and we should never accept that this is just the way things are now.

"It is the Conservatives' unforgivable legacy that has pushed patients into these horrific situations and staff to breaking point but the Labour government’s lack of urgency in gripping this has been inexcusable.

"Patients cannot take any more of the can being kicked down the road. We need to see the Government's social care review completed within a year to free up hospital beds and get people out of A&E waiting rooms to prevent this from ever happening again."

Healey praises Trump's mineral deal as a 'good thing' if it brings peace

Defence Secretary John Healey has said a minerals deal agreed between the US and Ukraine would be a "good thing" if it helps "shape" long-term peace.

Healey told Times Radio it appears the countries are "close to a deal”, adding he spoke to his counterparts in Washington and Kyiv on Tuesday.

He said: "In the end, that detail’s a matter for the two countries, and we’ll see the detail emerge, but peace is part of a process. We’re at an early stage, and if this helps shape the long-term peace that’s required in Ukraine, then that’s a good thing.

"In the meantime, my job as defence minister is to make sure that we help keep Ukraine in the fight as strong as possible and that we don’t jeopardise the peace by forgetting about the war."