Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of being an ‘ostrich prime minister’ with his head in the sand over the economy – PMQs live

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says people in rural communities, like Devon (where his party hopes to win the Tiverton and Honiton byelection next week), are hurting because rural fuel duty relief is not available.

Johnson says all households are getting help with the cost of energy under his government’s plans.

People do not know what Lib Dem policies are. The Lib Dems are in favour of green taxes, and returning to the common agricultural policy, he says.

Updated at 07.45 EDT

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says Nicola Sturgeon yesterday launched a national conversation on Scotland’s right to choose its own future. Its neighbours are outperforming it, he says. Scotland is being held back by Westminster.

Johnson says the UK performs better when it is together.

Blackford says the fall in the value of the pound suggests the UK is not doing well. Scotland cannot afford to remain trapped in the failing Westminster system:

Stop the world – Scotland wants to get on.

Johnson says there are a record number of people in payroll employment. What could be more foolish than a project that would impose trade barriers between England and Scotland?

Updated at 07.45 EDT

Andrew Selous (Con) asks about a constituent who now has terminal bowel cancer because a diagnosis was missed. So will the government ensure areas get enough GP capacity?

Johnson says they must ensure this happens. The NHS has a duty to take account of population growth, and provide services for new developments.

Updated at 07.46 EDT

Starmer says he does not want the strikes to go ahead. Johnson does, so that he can “feed on the division”. He starts quoting from what Tory MPs said about Johnson. Reading out the quotes, he invites Tory MPs to say who it was. His favourite was a document describing him as “the Conservative Corbyn”. That was not intended as a compliment, he says.

People know the truth, he says. The economy is growing more slowly than in competitor country. The PM sounds “totally deluded”. He is failing to tackle inflation, and failing to help people. And his big idea: going back to imperial measurements. Under him, the economy is going backwards.

Johnson says Starmer tried to get Corbyn elected as PM. And Corbyn is “relatively dynamic compared to [Starmer]”. He says he will continue to take the tough decisions to help the British people. Labour is on the side of the union barons, he says. And Labour is also on the side of the people-traffickers. They carp from the sidelines. And no matter how much welly Angela Rayner asks him to apply, that welly is always on the left foot.

Updated at 07.49 EDT

Starmer says Johnson thinks he is on Love Island. Johnson was warned about inflation last autumn. But he ignored the warnings; he did not act. When will he accept that he got it badly wrong when he claimed worries about inflation were unfounded?

Johnson says he is helping people with the cost of living. They can do that because they have the “fiscal firepower”, because the economy is in good shape. He challenges Starmer to say he opposes the rail strikes. Let Starmer disagree with the union barons.

Updated at 07.51 EDT

Starmer says Johnson is not just denying the problem. He is making it worse with his tax rises. When did screwing business turn from a flippant comment to economic policy.

Johnson says it is tech week. The superdeduction helps. Under Labour taxes go up, he says. He says on average people are getting a tax cut worth £330. Labour has made promises worth £94bn. That is why Labour governments leave office with unemployment higher then when they came in.

Starmer says Johnson is in government, he is not. He says he does not want the strikes to go ahead. But Johnson does – so he can blame Labour.

Starmer says Johnson thinks he can perform Jedi mind tricks on the public. But he can’t. The economy has shrunk for the second month in a row. How does it help to have an ostrich PM, with his head in the sand?

Johnson says Starmer is running the country down. Employment is at a record high, he says. He says investment levels are higher than in France or Germany. Starmer should be talking the country up, he says.

Updated at 07.54 EDT

Starmer says Johnson has not answered the question. Why is the UK on course for lower growth?

Quoting a Latin legal term, Johnson says he has already answered that. What would help would be for Starmer to denounce the rail strikes, he says.

Keir Starmer starts by paying tribute to those who served in the Falklands war. His uncle was among them, he says. He was on HMS Antelope when it went down. Luckily he survived.

He says the UK is on course for the lowest growth of any major economy apart from Russia. Why?

Johnson says it is because the UK came out for the pandemic early. That would not have happened under Labour, he says.

Updated at 07.55 EDT

Mike Wood (Con) says government support for households is appreciated. But energy costs are causing problems for energy-intensive production. Will the PM consider how the Black Country can be a pilot for means of decarbonising?

Boris Johnson says Wood is a great champion for the Black Country. It has already had investment for a cluster plan to develop decarbonisation.