In Full: David Cameron Prime Minister's Questions

The full Prime Minister's Questions: From Democracy Live

By Gavin Stamp

1242 The consensus on the Daily Politics seems to be that this was a relatively low-key Prime Minister's Questions. Anyway, that concludes our text coverage, please join us again next week.

1240 BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson tells Daily Politics Mr Cameron also used Prime Minister's Questions to prepare the ground for future spending announcements, particularly by suggesting the police need to cut their wage bill. A review of police pay and employment conditions due out next week was likely to be very controversial, Nick Robinson added.

1238 BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson tells Daily Politics we did not learn much about the UK's strategy towards Libya. He said Ed Miliband "alluded" to the fact that there was not wide international support for a no-fly zone but that he did not feel able to push the point too far. Mr Cameron toned down his rhetoric on the issue, he added.

Robinson, Hammond and Darling review PMQs

1235 The session has ended and Liam Fox is now answering a Labour question about Armed Forces redundancies. You can watch those exchanges on the video screen above.

1233 BBC political correspondent Adam Fleming says: Not the most polished of PM's questions. Ed Miliband seemed to be put off when he was delivering his lines of attack and David Cameron's jokes about brotherly loyalty didn't get particularly big laughs in the Chamber. The biggest gasp came when Labour's Stephen Timms said that the House of Commons Library felt the Prime Minister had used statistics in a misleading way last week, which the PM denied. The main focus of the session was Libya - ranging from the "facilitation payments" made to help evacuate UK nationals, to the details of how Britain is making a big contribution to the humanitarian effort in the country.

1231 Mr Cameron is asked whether Birmingham Council is cutting its services "too far and too fast". The prime minister says all councils are facing challenges but, even with the budget cuts, central government grants to local authorities will still be at 2007 levels.

1229 Another question about Libya and whether the frozen assets of the Gaddafi regime should be used to compensate the families of people who may have been killed in Northern Ireland as a result of past Libyan funding of the IRA. Mr Cameron says the frozen assets rightfully belong to the Libyan people.

1228 A Labour MP suggests Mr Cameron was "reckless and loose-tongued" in telling journalists that the UK had to bribe Libyan officials to evacuate UK nationals from the country. Mr Cameron said the UK had to pay "some facilitation payments" but this was always the case in such situations and he was sure this was the proper thing to do.

1227 Questions from backbenchers are continuing. Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams welcomes electrification of the rail line from London to Bristol and Cardiff. Mr Cameron - who mistakenly calls it the West Coast Main Line - says Labour did not manage this in 13 years while the government had done this in nine months.

1225 Labour MP Graeme Morrice asks the government to prioritise efforts to tackle child poverty in the Budget. Mr Cameron highlights the raising of the child tax credit as evidence of the government's commitment in this area.

1224 Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell says Libyans must be "able to determine the fate" of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. Mr Cameron says his government supports people who want to have greater democracy in their country.

1222 Mr Cameron is asked what the government is doing for the armed forces. He says that the UK will still have the fourth largest defence budget in the world after spending cuts and will continue to support the UK's "superbly professional" military.

1221 BBC political correspondent Adam Fleming says: The initial exchange between David Cameron and Ed Miliband was fairly muted, as you might expect when they were discussing a potential humanitarian crisis on Libya's borders. The prime minister still seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea of a no-fly zone in Libya but the only British planes in action in the near future will be involved in airlifting stranded Egyptians - as part of a big British aid reponse announced by the PM. The PM batted off the accusation from Ed Miliband that defence cuts would leave the British military stretched too thinly. Their second exchange was more political with Miliband accusing the government of retreating on a promise to protect Sure Start centres and the prime minister hitting back with a couple of jokes about family loyalty.

1220 Former Labour Treasury minister Stephen Timms suggests the government has published misleading figures about Labour's past employment programmes. Mr Cameron says Labour failed to tackle youth unemployment and get people back to work.

1218 After the leaders' clash ends there is a change of tone as David Cameron agrees with an MP that the assassination on Wednesday of Pakistan's communities minister was "absolutely shocking".

1216 Mr Cameron accuses his opposite number of jumping on an "opportunistic bandwagon". He says councils have funding to ensure Sure Start centres do not have to close. Mr Miliband urges the prime minister to use his power to "get a grip" and bring back the ring fencing of Sure Start centres.

1215 Ed Miliband urges the prime minister to "do another U-turn" and ringfence the budget for Sure Start children's centres. Mr Cameron prompts loud cheers on the government benches by joking that Mr Miliband will soon "be giving him a lecture about family loyalty".

1214 Ed Miliband is now on his second batch of questions. He asks about the proposed closure of Sure Start children's centres. Mr Cameron says the UK has a huge budget deficit and councils are having to make savings like every other organisation.

1212 Mr Cameron is asked about claims that former Labour ministers had dealings with the Gadaffi regime. The prime minister says the matter should be investigated.

1210 Mr Cameron says Labour left his government a defence budget in chaos and says the armed forces will still be equipped to meet evolving challenges around the world. Ed Miliband sits down after this. He still has three questions left.

1209 Ed Miliband now takes on the wider issue of defence cuts. He challenges Mr Cameron to confirm that budget cuts will not affect the ability of UK to meet its security commitments around the word including in the Middle East.

1208 Mr Cameron says the international community should prepare for "all eventualities" for dealing with the Gaddafi regime and says that this includes a no-fly zone, quoting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his answer.

1207 Ed Miliband moves onto the issue of the no-fly zone, asking for "clarification" of the UK's position after he said other countries had "distanced" themselves from the idea.

1205 Ed Miliband asks Mr Cameron to update MPs on the humanitarian situation in Libya and what international bodies such as the United Nations are doing. Mr Cameron says the UK is in "very close touch" with UN bodies to help co-ordinate relief efforts.

1203 The first question is from Tory MP Gavin Barwell. He asks the PM about the UK's efforts to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis on the Libyan-Tunisian border. Mr Cameron said UK officials were at the border and the UK had sent supplies of tents and blankets and were helping with an airlift of people from the Tunisian border to Egypt.

1201 The session gets under way with Mr Cameron on his feet paying tribute to soldiers killed in Afghanistan. He also express sympathy to the people of New Zealand after the earthquake in Christchurch.

1200 The BBC's Nick Robinson says the PM is likely to focus on what the UK and Europe can do on the humanitarian crisis in Libya.

1157 Back to Libya on the Daily Politics. Alistair Darling says there is "some cause for hope" about the long-term democratic futures of countries like Egypt and Tunisia but adds it is "far from clear" there will be a quick resolution to the crisis in Libya.

1155 Campaigners want Chancellor George Osborne to scrap the 1p rise in fuel duty due to come into force in April. Philip Hammond says ministers are "very concerned" about the impact of high fuel prices on family finances and the economy. The chancellor will do "what he can" to help motorists, he adds. Labour's Alistair Darling says he expects something to be done in the Budget later this month.

1152 BBC political correspondent Adam Fleming says: Libya is bound to feature in this session of PM's questions and David Cameron has been keen to show that he is at the forefront of the international response. Labour have tried to paint the government as incompetent over the evacuation of British nationals from the country but perhaps Ed Miliband will want to press the PM over the redundancies announced in the armed forces this week instead given there's going to be an urgent question from the shadow defence secretary straight after PMQs. Alternatively, Ed Miliband's theme earlier this week was an impending "crisis" in living costs for those on low-to-middle incomes and the news of record petrol prices might see him return to the subject.

1149 Another topic that could crop up in PM's questions is rising fuel prices. Motoring journalist Quentin Wilson tells the BBC that 130,000 people and 80 MPs have joined the Fair Fuel campaign urging action to help motorists deal with rising costs.

1146 Transport Secretary Philip Hammond tells the Daily Politics that the government inherited a defence budget in chaos and that the UK needs to "shrink" the size of its armed forces. But he says the UK will still have the fourth largest defence budget in the world.

1142 Labour leader Ed Miliband could raise the issue of defence cuts with the opposition set to ask an urgent question on the subject after PM's questions. Former Chancellor Alistair Darling tells the BBC's Daily Politics that the UK's stance on the no-fly zone in Libya has been "confused" and this stems partly from uncertainty over the UK's military capability amid far-reaching budget cuts.

1138 David Cameron is likely to be pressed on what the international community is doing to try and stop the violence in Libya and deal with the growing humanitarian crisis there. In particular, he could be asked about the UK's position on efforts to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya.

1135 Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Prime Minister's Questions. It's the first one for a fortnight after last week's Parliamentary recess and looks set to be dominated by unfolding events in Libya.