Image source, Parliament TV

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy stepped in for PMQs this week while Keir Starmer is in China, with shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith deputising for Kemi Badenoch.

Much of the back-and-forth focused on supporting small businesses, especially after Labour announced yesterday that pubs and music venues in England will be given a 15% discount on their business rates bills from April - read the background here.

Here's how the exchanges unfolded:

• Griffith called it a "U-turn" on changes announced in November's Budget, which left many facing significant increases in their business rates bills - and asked Lammy to confirm that "90% of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will get nothing"
• Lammy said he wanted to see "pubs in good health and to support hospitality" and that the chancellor has announced a £4bn support package - saying 7,000 pubs closed under the Tories
• Griffith called it "too little, too late", saying the chancellor is handing out "sticking plasters" while high streets are "bleeding out"
• Lammy hit back, saying Griffith opposed the minimum wage, and said steps were being taken to help small business

• In reference to the prime minister's trip to China, deputy Lib Dem leader Daisy Cooper asked what consequences China will face if it does not stop what she described as espionage and repression
• Lammy did not answer directly, but said ignoring China would be a "dereliction of duty" and that the government wants to take a consistent and strategic approach

We are ending our live coverage now - see you next week for more PMQs.

Vicki Young
Politics Live presenter

With Keir Starmer away in China, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was pushed on the financial pressures facing Britain’s pubs by the Conservative shadow business secretary.

After DPMQs, Home Office Minister Mike Tapp tells me on Politics Live that the government’s support for pubs has been “well received” by landlords and pub owners.

Andrew Bowie - who sits in Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet - welcomes what he calls the government’s "partial u-turn" on business rates, but argues other hospitality businesses need help too.

Keir Starmer will be hoping the 15% temporary reduction in rates will be enough to take the sting out of this story.

A closer look at Griffith's claim that unemployment always rises under Labourpublished at 13:12 GMT

13:12 GMT

By Anthony Reuben

At deputy Prime Minister’s Questions, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: "Every Labour government leaves office with unemployment higher than when they arrived."

This claim has been made by Conservative MPs before and Labour denies it, pointing to the first Labour government, which lasted from January to November 1924 under the premiership of Ramsay Macdonald.

There are clearly caveats about the reliability of 100-year-old statistics, but according to this handy representation of long-term Bank of England figures, external, unemployment was 7.50% in January 1924 and 7.18% in November 1924, which is a fall. This report from the National Archives, external suggests falls in both the number unemployed and the unemployment rate.

For the five Labour governments that followed, unemployment was higher at the end of these governments than it was at the beginning.

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney brings up the protests in Iran, where the Iranian government has launched a "deadly crackdown".

She asks whether Labour will proscribe the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

Lammy says he "utterly condemns" the Iranian regime's "brutal oppression of peaceful protesters" and says the government is taking action to protect UK interests from Iranian state threats, including through the use of sanctions.

But he says it's "a long-standing position" of successive governments "not to comment on whether a specific organisation is being considered for proscription".

That's a wrap on our updates from PMQs - we'll bring you a recap shortly.

Conservative MP and former minister Wendy Morton says six in 10 families say their pay is going backwards and that middle earners are worse off too.

She asks Lammy if the government has broken its promise to improve living standards.

Lammy says real wages have risen nearly every single month since Labour came into office.

Cooper says with Russia waging war in Europe, China "hunting" pro-democracy protesters, and Donald Trump challenging the world order, the UK must "act with urgency and ramp up defence spending now".

She asks whether Lammy will consider a Liberal Democrat plan to issue defence bonds to raise £20bn in the next two years to rebuild Britain's armed forces.

Lammy replies that when Labour left office last time, the country was spending 2.5% on defence, and accuses the Lib Dems of cutting it during the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

Image source, House of Commons

Lib Dem MP Daisy Cooper asks what consequences China will face if it do not stop what she characterises as espionage and repression.

She says while UK citizen Jimmy Lai is being held in prison, the PM has gone to ask for a trade deal on the promise of a super embassy.

Lammy doesn't answer the question directly, and instead repeats Starmer's justification that ignoring China would be a "dereliction of duty", adding that other international leaders are also making visits.

Cooper says Lammy could not name a single consequence if the Chinese do not stop their espionage and repression.

Joshua Nevett
Reporting from the House of Commons

The exchanges between Lammy and Griffith have now ended.

Griffith brought up Andy Burnham - who was blocked from standing as Labour candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election over the weekend - several times during his questioning.

Speaking about unemployment, Griffith said Andy from Manchester was "having his dreams crushed by Labour".

Griffith was prodding a sore point for Labour.

But Lammy hit back with plenty of digs about Tory defections, joking that MPs from Griffith’s party were queuing up outside Nigel Farage’s constituency office.

Griffith comes back, saying it is the Conservative party "that is getting stronger". He then has to stop as very loud shouting fills the room.

Continuing, he says Lammy is refusing to answer his question about small businesses, claiming the Labour government will burden small businesses with "£1m a year".

Lammy makes another dig about Tory MPs defecting to Reform UK, before saying his party is making a "difference" by cutting ground rents for leasehold homeowners and bringing down the cost of living.

Griffith says that Lammy does not understand business and that every Labour government leaves office with unemployment higher than when they arrived.

He asks for Labour's estimate of the cost to business of Labour's flagship workers' rights bill.

Lammy says he will take no lectures on business, then talks about the number of Tory MPs turning to Reform UK.

The Tottenham MP calls it the "longest and most disloyal transfer saga since Sol Campbell left Spurs".

Image source, Getty Images

Griffith says he can "feel the deputy prime minister's frustration" at the dispatch box, describing him as the "designated survivor" left behind while Starmer is in China.

He claims businesses will see costs increase by £3,600 under Labour, and says the government is blocking people who "want to get on in life".

He mentions "Andy from Manchester" having his dreams crushed by Labour - a reference to Andy Burnham being barred over the weekend from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election

Lammy says Griffith is in no position to lecture on business, and says under Labour 500,000 more people are in work than a year ago.

Griffith next asks how much it costs to hire a 21-year-old worker under the Labour government.

Lammy responds by saying that Griffith talks about young people when his party is the one that left a "shameful legacy".

Griffith sticks on small businesses, saying Labour's announcement that pubs and music venues in England will be given a 15% discount on their business rates bills from April is "too little too late" and high streets are "bleeding out".

The chancellor is handing out "sticking plasters" and just wants a "cheap headline", he adds.

Lammy says this is the man who "opposed the minimum wage". He says Labour is "proud" of how it supports businesses, and references greater licensing freedoms and tackling late payments.

No surprise Griffith has put focus on changes to business ratespublished at 12:12 GMT

12:12 GMT

Joshua Nevett
Reporting from the House of Commons

It’s no surprise Griffith has put heavy focus on what his party has called a partial U-turn on plans to hike business rates for pubs.

Yesterday, the government announced pubs and music venues in England will be given a 15% discount on their business rates bills from April and will not see increases for two years.

The Conservatives see this as big a dividing line with Labour.

They have promised to abolish business rates for high street shops and pubs if they win the next general election.

Lammy welcomes the shadow business secretary to dispatch box and says it is "always a pleasure" to hear from what he describes as a co-author of the mini-budget.

His comments are met with laughter and jeers in the Commons.

He adds he wants pubs and hospitality in good health "unlike the party opposite who saw 7,000 pubs close under their watch".

Image source, House of Commons

Griffith starts by asking Lammy about Chancellor Rachel Reeves's "U-turn" yesterday in relation to business rates for pubs and other venues.

He asks whether Lammy can confirm whether more than 90% of retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses will get "nothing".

Read more on what the government announced yesterday here.

Harry Farley
Reporting from the House of Commons

With the prime minister away it seems like some MPs are also taking the opportunity to skip the weekly exchange.

I’m sat in the press seats overlooking the House of Commons and there are more empty seats than usual as the shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith asks questions of the deputy PM David Lammy.

Image source, House of Commons

The deputy prime minister is up at the dispatch box, which means deputy PMQs is under way.

Stay tuned for updates and watch live at the top of the page.

Joshua Nevett
Reporting from the House of Commons

Suella Braverman - Reform UK’s latest defector from theTories - has taken her seat alongside the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice and MP Lee Anderson.

The former home secretary is all smiles as she takes in the scenery from a different spot on the opposition backbenches.

Image source, Reuters

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is away from the Commons today as he's in China to develop trade ties with Beijing.

Starmer said of China before leaving the UK: "For years, our approach to China has been dogged by inconsistency – blowing hot and cold."

He added that "like it or not, China matters for the UK", and "a strategic and consistent relationship with them is firmly in our national interest".

"That does not mean turning a blind eye to the challenges they pose – but engaging even where we disagree," he said.

The government has also recently come under fire after plans for a new Chinese mega embassy were approved in the City of London, despite opponents - including the Conservatives - warning it could be used as a base for spying and pose security risks.

The government insists intelligence agencies have been "integral" to the process and that any risks are being "appropriately managed".