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As it happenedended1515606506

PMQs - as it happened: Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn clash over NHS winter crisis warnings

All the latest updates from Westminster, as they happened

Lizzy Buchan
Political Correspondent
Wednesday 10 January 2018 09:47 GMT
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Jeremy Corbyn attacks Theresa May over private healthcare in PMQs

Theresa May was accused of being "too weak" to sack her Health Secretary as warnings over the NHS winter crisis dominated the first Prime Minister's Questions of the year.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn focused all six of his questions on challenges in the health service, after hospitals were told to defer around 55,000 routine operations and potentially millions of outpatient appointments to free up capacity for the sickest patients.

He also mocked Ms May for failing to get rid of Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, who was widely thought to be in line for a move during the reshuffle but kept his job, and expanded his remit, after reportedly refusing to budge.

The two-day reshuffle - aimed at ridding her top team of its “pale, male and stale” image - saw a raft of new MPs promoted to junior ministerial positions. However Ms May’s efforts to shake up the top tier stalled when senior ministers, including Mr Hunt and Justine Greening, until then the Education Secretary, declined other jobs.

MPs also debated opposition day motions on the NHS and the railways, while Labour’s motion demanding that the Government releases extra cash to combat the crisis passed in the Commons without a vote.

See below for live updates

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Brussels correspondent Jon Stone writes that the European Commission has proposed a new EU-wide tax on plastics to help plug a £20bn shortfall in the bloc’s finances after Britain leaves and stops making budget contributions.

Lizzy Buchan10 January 2018 16:39
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Labour's NHS motion passed, as the Tories chose not to contest it. The vote is symbolic - rather than binding on the Government - so ministers do not have to comply with the demands.

In the past, Speaker John Bercow has made plain his disapproval of efforts by Government whips to ignore or abstain on parliamentary votes, after Tories decided not to contest several votes when faced with defeat.

Lizzy Buchan10 January 2018 16:46
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Lizzy Buchan10 January 2018 16:54
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Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will join President Donald Trump and some of the world's leading business figures at the annual World Economic Forum meeting.

Mr McDonnell, a longstanding critic of capitalism, will use the event at the upmarket Swiss ski resort Davos to set out why it is "vital we rewrite the rules of the global economy".

Both Theresa May and Philip Hammond attended last year's summit - and the fact that Mr McDonnell has been invited is a sign that Jeremy Corbyn's Labour is being taken increasingly seriously internationally.

The Shadow Chancellor's spokesman said: "He will further explain Labour's vision for an alternative economic approach to replace the current model of capitalism that has failed the many; and led to an unsustainable concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few.

"In addition, he will raise many of the issues facing working people in our country, and across the world."

Lizzy Buchan10 January 2018 17:06
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Lizzy Buchan10 January 2018 17:16

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