Politics latest: Tory MP Natalie Elphicke defects to Labour - as Sunak faces Starmer at PMQs (2024)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hits back at Rishi Sunak's mention of the Angela Rayner police investigation, saying: "I think his record is played two, lost two."

Turning to the local elections, he says: "At least after Thursday night he can go to the many places that he calls home and enjoy the fruits of his success.

"In Southampton or Downing Street, he's got great Labour councils."

And in Richmond, Sir Keir says, he can "enjoy a brand new Labour mayor of North Yorkshire".

Sir Keir Starmer rises, beaming, and welcomes Natalie Elphicke - Labour's new Dover MP, who crossed the floor just moments ago after defecting from the Tories.

He also "warmly" welcomes the new Labour MP for Blackpool South, Chris Webb, who won a by-election there last week.

"It's good to know they've got a proper champion back at last," he adds, with the former Tory MP there having resigned after a lobbying scandal.

Sir Keir asks the prime minister what the point is of this "failed government" staggering on.

Rishi Sunak deflects the question, but Sir Keir comes back again.

"How many more times does the public and his own MPs need to reject him before he takes the hint?"

The prime minister says it's the general elections that count, not success in local votes.

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates was just about to preview PMQs when news of Natalie Elphicke's defection broke.

The MP for Dover has switched from the Tories to Labour (see 12.01 post).

After the weekend the prime minister has had in the local elections, it's "incredibly bad news" for Rishi Sunak, says Sam.

Happening just seconds before PMQs began, he describes it as an "extraordinary development".

"No doubt Labour will be making the most of it," he adds.

"This will send absolute shockwaves through the Tory benches."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is on his feet in the House of Commons, as another weekly Prime Minister's Questions begins.

The PM begins by congratulating John Swinney on becoming the new leader of the SNP.

HIs first question relates to children vaping - and he outlines that the government has already done a lot to tackle it by restricting advertising rules.

Starmer is up shortly.

Natalie Elphicke, the MP for Dover, has defected to the Labour Party, it has just been announced.

She crossed the floor of the Commons shortly before Prime Minister's Questions began.

In a statement, she said "many things have changed" since she joined the Tories in 2019, and now "the modern Labour Party looks to the future".

Labour 'has changed out of all recognition'

She added: "When I was elected in 2019, the Conservative Party occupied the centre ground of British politics. The party was about building the future and making the most of the opportunities that lay ahead for our country.

"Since then, many things have changed. The elected prime minister was ousted in a coup led by the unelected Rishi Sunak.

"Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division.

"The centre ground has been abandoned and key pledges of the 2019 manifesto have been ditched."

She says Labour under Sir Keir Starmer has "changed out of all recognition" and its policies "can be trusted".

Ms Elphicke said she "carefully considered" the decision, adding: "We need to move on from the broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government."

By Gurpreet Narwan, political correspondent

In his first PMQs since the bruising local elections, the prime minister will have to dodge some awkward questions.

Having lost nearly 500 seats as well as the West Midlands mayoral contest, Rishi Sunak will double down on the government's achievements, while the opposition will claim the results are overwhelming evidence the Tories have lost people's confidence.

Expect a protracted back and forth on the local election results.

Nevertheless, the prime minister may be feeling energised after avoiding a revolt from his own MPs.

It is likely he will continue to focus on his party’s record on the economy, chiefly that inflation is coming down, and that data will soon show the country has emerged from recession.

He won't be able to dwell on it for long because events in the Middle East will take over.

The government is likely to face a series of questions about Israel's operations in Gaza. With ministers condemning strikes on Rafah, expect MPs to ask whether the UK will ban arms sales to Israel.

It's a question that has come up repeatedly, especially from the SNP, but now has renewed urgency.

The hack on the Ministry of Defence's payroll systems, as revealed by Sky News, will probably also feature in PMQs today.

But like yesterday, the prime minister is unlikely to confirm whether China was behind the attack.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just been spotted heading out of Number 10 ahead of Prime Minister's Questions, which will kick off in the Commons shortly.

We'll have updates here in the Politics Hub throughout.

By Tomos Evans, Wales reporter

Wales's first minister Vaughan Gething has said he is "entirely relaxed" after being accused of misleading the UK COVID Inquiry.

Nation.Cymru reported on Tuesday thatMr Gethingsent a text message in which he said "I'm deleting the messages in this group".

"They can be captured in an FOI [Freedom of Information request] and I think we are all in the right place on the choice being made," the message added.

The Welsh news outlet reported the message was posted in a ministerial group chat on Monday 17 August 2020.

"The message that has been published today is a message from me without the context of the discussion," Mr Gething said at First Minister's questions.

You can read more below:

Over a year ago, Rishi Sunak made five pledges for voters to judge him on.

The prime minister met his promise to halve inflation by the end of 2023.

But with the general election approaching, how is Mr Sunak doing on delivering his other promises?

You can see the progress for yourself below:

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local elections complete, Labour is still sitting comfortably ahead, with the Tories trailing behind.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the trackerhere.