Theresa May went head-to-head with Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons. Here’s what happened.
The prime minister’s promise at last week’s Conservative conference that austerity was almost over was every bit the gift for Jeremy Corbyn that some had expected.
The Labour leader kicked off with the NHS – how could austerity be over, he asked, when there were 5,000 fewer mental health nurses than in 2010?
The government was spending “record levels” on mental health and only today had announced plans for more support in schools and the first minister for suicide prevention, said Mrs May. More needed to be done but her government had ensured “parity of esteem for mental and physical health” in the NHS for the first time.
It was a Labour amendment that ensured “parity of esteem”, said Mr Corbyn, and “urgent action” was needed now to improve services.
Then he was on to the police. When will austerity be over for them?
The government was pumping £460m a year extra into policing this year, said Mrs May.
So why was the Police Federation taking the government to court over its latest pay settlement, asked Mr Corbyn.
Then it was on to schools. Will all teachers get the independently recommended 3.5% pay rise this year, asked the Labour leader.
School funding was “at a record high” – and 1.9m more children were in schools that had been rated good or outstanding since 2010, thanks to academies and free schools which Labour wanted to scrap, said the PM.
Teachers were getting another real terms pay cut next year and there was a “chronic shortage” of staff, Mr Corbyn hit back, because so many newly-qualified teachers were leaving the profession and the government was failing to meet its recruitment targets.
He then turned the spotlight on local government funding and the crisis-hit Conservative councils in Northamptonshire and Somerset. When will austerity be over for them?
The independent inspector said Northamptonshire County Council’s problems were “not due to lack of funding”, said Mrs May. Councils have had to make “tough decisions”, she added, but more money was coming.
Then it was time for a reprise of her Tory conference speech.
“People have made sacrifices and they need to know their hard work has paid off,” she declared. “And yes, better times are ahead, under a Conservative government.”
Mr Corbyn had another sheath of statistics on government cuts and their impact, asking the PM whether she could “confirm this swingeing austerity on the lowest paid and the disabled people in our society will now end as she said last week?”
The PM replied: “We will see debt falling and we will see support for our public services going up. Austerity is being brought to an end. What is not being brought to an en end is fiscal responsibility.”
Without a halt to the cuts in the upcoming Budget, and a “decent pay rise” for public servants, her claim that austerity was over was “a great big Conservative con”, roared Mr Corbyn.
Mrs May trumpeted her record, claiming wages were up and fewer people were in “absolute poverty”. She pointed to cuts to income tax and energy bills, and the fuel duty freeze, before ending with a claim that Labour would take the country “back to square one”.