Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, House of Commons

Student loans were in focus at today's PMQs - an emotive topic for many graduates who have seen their debt interest jump in recent years thanks to high inflation.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch put to the prime minister that the system was at "breaking point", but Keir Starmer responded that it was the Conservatives that "scammed the country" when the coalition government introduced Plan 2 loans in 2012.

Badenoch then accused him of "taking from students to give to benefit street", and questioned whether he would make "another" U-turn at the Spring Statement next week to "fix the student loans system".

• How the system works: The student loans system is complex - you can read more about it in our explainer. For Plan 2 loans, the interest on the debt is linked to the RPI measure of inflation, plus up to 3%
• What the Tories have said: They pledged to cut the interest rate on some loans introduced in the decade up to 2023, capping the interest at RPI only
• Change ahead from Labour? Pushed on whether he would change the system, Starmer said that the government would "look at ways to make it fairer" and defended the government's record on the cost of living by pointing to a fall in inflation and interest rates

We're now closing our live coverage, but you can read more in our news article.

The Conservatives have said they would lower the interest on some student loans but the plan would also involve axing government funding for some courses.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott previously told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that the party wanted to stop the government funding "dead-end" programmes.

Pressed by Kuenssberg for an example, Trott referred to creative arts.

She said some 75% of loans for these courses are "not paid back".

But speaking on BBC Politics Live after PMQs this afternoon, Jenny Chapman, a foreign office minister, said "the risk" was that "degrees that look less valuable today" end up being the ones that "give this country its edge in the future".

She added: "Who thought 10 years ago that gaming qualifications in higher education would be the thing that really opened the door to high earning, valuable, global careers?"

What is happening with energy bills?published at 13:34 GMT

13:34 GMT

By Anthony Reuben

Keir Starmer earlier talked about £117 being cut from energy bills while Kemi Badenoch responded: "Energy bills are still higher than when he came into office."

The prime minister was referring to today’s announcement that energy bills will be £117 lower from April in England, Scotland and Wales.

What has been cut is the regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap, which is based on the energy usage of a “typical household”.

The £117 fall will take the annual bill for a typical household to £1,641, which is indeed higher than this household’s bill , externalin July 2024, when Labour came to power (it was £1,568).

The fall is not as much as the £150 promised by the chancellor in November’s Budget.

There are two reasons for this: the £150 was for an “average household” and it consumes a different amount of energy than the typical one featured in the energy price cap.

The other reason is that network costs have gone up due to investment in the ways gas and electricity are moved around the country, which was announced in December.

Vicki Young
Deputy political editor

Speaking on Politics Live shortly after PMQs, government minister Jenny Chapman tells me that there are “huge issues” around the student loans system and that “these numbers just don’t add up".

She adds: “We have to look at this. I can’t tell you what the change is going to be... but no one is defending the way this is now.”

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake tells me that “Keir Starmer is looking at this because we forced him into that position” but he acknowledged that his party had made “mistakes in government”.

He says that the Conservatives would cut the cost of student debt by “cutting courses where you don’t get payback in terms of future earnings".

During this week's PMQs, Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey called on the prime minister to launch a public inquiry into whether Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, used British airports and Royal Air Force bases to traffic young women and girls.

"The former prime minister Gordon Brown has raised deeply shocking concerns that Jeffrey Epstein may have used British airports and even RAF bases to traffic young women and girls in and out of our country," Davey said.

"This is appalling," he added. He went on to ask Starmer if he agreed that there needed to be an inquiry.

If not, Davey added, "will he, at the very least, commit to releasing the flight logs and related documents, [or] will he wait for the house to force the government to do that?"

In response, Starmer said there was an ongoing police investigation and that had to "run its course before deciding what next action needs to be taken".

When were student loan thresholds frozen?published at 13:09 GMT

13:09 GMT

By Anthony Reuben and Lucy Dady

Keir Starmer responded to Kemi Badenoch’s question about student loan thresholds being frozen by saying: "Under their government, student loan thresholds were frozen for 10 years.”

The threshold is the level of earnings at which graduates have to start paying off their student loans. The government announced in November that the threshold for Plan 2 loans would be frozen at its April 2026 level of £29,385 for three years instead of increasing in line with inflation.

Around 5.8 million students took out a Plan 2 loan between 2012 and 2023. The threshold was originally set at £21,000 and was supposed to increase each year from 2017. It was actually frozen in 2017, but increased to £25,000 in 2018. Then in 2022 it was frozen for three years at £27,295.

Badenoch has also recently been talking about the interest on the loans, which she said “increasingly feel like a scam”. The interest is calculated on the rate of inflation measured by RPI plus three percentage points.

This means anyone earning over £28,471 is currently charged up to 6.2% interest.

Graduates have been posting on social media saying they owe much more now than they originally borrowed, despite making repayments for years.

This chart shows how the interest added to their loan can outpace the amount they repaid. It is for someone who started an undergraduate degree in 2016, borrowed the average amount for fees and maintenance and has earned the average amount for a graduate.

It was the interest added to student loans that Kemi Badenoch focused on in today's Prime Minister's Questions.

• She repeatedly asked if the prime minister would cut those interest rates, saying the loans system is now "at breaking point"
• Starmer said the government will "look at ways to make it fairer" but that the government "inherited their broken student loans system"
• Asked if he will U-turn on the issue at the Spring Statement, the PM pivots to Labour's work on inflation and says his government is taking action on reducing the cost of living
• Meanwhile, Badenoch made a claim about Labour being called the "paedo defenders party" - before the Speaker had to step in to calm things down
• Badenoch accused the PM of being "distracted" by Labour's scandals

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

The prime minister is in full campaigning mode ahead of tomorrow’s Gorton and Denton by-election.

Starmer ignored Nigel Farage’s question about the Chagos Islands and launched an attack on Reform’s politics of “grievance and division”.

And repeated his call for Farage for him to sack a councillor who shared a social media post appearing to call for a Labour MP to be shot.

He then launched an attack on the Green Party’s drugs policies - something Labour have been hammering hard at the by-election, which is looking like a three-way fight between Labour, Reform and the Greens.

You can find the full list of all 11 candidates standing in the by-election here.

Image source, House of Commons

Starmer now asks Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to condemn Reform's Simon Evans, who shared a social media post that appeared to call for Natalie Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover in Derbyshire, to "be shot".

The prime minister says: "If he has any decency or backbone, he will stand up, apologise, condemn the comments and sack the individual in his party. Will he do so?"

Farage instead goes straight into a question about the Chagos Islands, after British authorities issued a removal order after four Chagossians arrived on a remote part of the Chagos Islands, to protest against a deal to hand over the territory to Mauritius.

Farage asks: "Why do the opinions and human rights of indigenous Chagosians not matter?"

Starmer replies: "So he has neither the decency or the backbone to condemn it and to sack the individual. And that just shows that his party has nothing to offer the country, but grievance and division."

Image source, House of Commons

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey mentions reports that the "trustee of William Blake House", a care home for adults with profound disabilities, "embezzled £1m" and it now faces closure.

He asks the prime minister if he will meet with families trying to find a solution and come up with a "rescue plan" to take over the care home.

In response, Starmer thanks Davey for raising the case and says he will make sure the relevant meeting will be put in place.

On Wednesday, the Charity Commission released a statement saying it is now escalating its engagement to a statutory inquiry after determining there are "serious concerns around possible financial mismanagement, external which require a formal investigation".

William Blake House earlier said it was unable to comment while the Charity Commission's case was ongoing.

Image source, House of Commons

Badenoch insists she will not welcome youth employment levels, and says unemployment is up every month.

She says the prime minister cannot govern because he is "distracted" by Labour's scandals.

The Tory leader asks why the country should have to put up with three more years of his leadership.

Starmer replies: "Yet again she has shown why she is so utterly irrelevant... harping from the sidelines," which is met with roars from MPs.

He repeats what he believes to be his government's biggest achievements - such as investments rising, and inflation decreasing.

Badenoch says Starmer is "desperate to talk about the last government so he can distract from the mess he is making now".

She says he has "no plan to get young people into work" or to "help graduates get out of the debt trap".

She claims Labour has "already made 15 U-turns", and asks: "Will he make another one next week at the Spring Statement to fix the student loans system?"

Starmer responds by running through a list of what he sees as economic achievements: "Bills down, inflation down, surplus up".

He says Badenoch "won't welcome" good economic news, but the business community is welcoming it.

"Her miserable strategy of talking down the economy isn't working," he says.

Image source, House of Commons

After the prime minister claims his government is fixing the student loans system, Badenoch presses again: "How?"

"Why am I willing to ditch old Conservative policies that don't work, and he wants to keep them?" she asks.

Badenoch again claims the government is "taking money out of the pockets of graduates" and into the welfare system.

Starmer says there's a "very long list" of failed Tory policies and goes on to list successes of his government - including falling interest rates.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Real anger from Labour MPs there to Kemi Badenoch’s jibe about Labour being called the “paedo defenders party”.

The Tory leader is clearly hoping this claim - thrown in during a question on student loans - will get some traction.

Lindsay Hoyle has had to step in to calm things down.

Image source, House of Commons

Next, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pivots to reports that Labour backbenchers are unhappy in the party.

She asks: "Why is the prime minister taking from students to give to benefit street?"

In response, Starmer says "what a nerve" Badenoch has, saying that during her party's previous government, student loan thresholds were frozen for 10 years.

"They broke the system, they did it with a bloke over there [pointing to the Lib Dems] when they were in coalition together," he adds.

Image source, House of Commons

Badenoch says Starmer has provided her "no answer" on her first question, on whether he'd cut interest rates on student loans.

The Tory leader also bites back at Starmer, saying her party is under new leadership and that "a lot of people wish his was too".

She now asks if graduates are paying more or less under Labour.

But Starmer says the Tory party is getting "smaller" under Badenoch - a reference to those who have defected from the party.

He pivots to Labour's work on inflation rates and that his government is taking action on reducing the cost of living.

Keir Starmer responds, saying he is "glad the leader of the opposition has admitted they scammed the country on this".

He says the government "inherited their broken student loans system".

The government will "look at ways to make it fairer", including other things in the economy to help students, he adds.

For context: The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government introduced Plan 2 loans in 2012 and tripled tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year. They were phased out across England in 2023 but still apply in Wales.

Image source, House of Commons

Kemi Badenoch begins by asking the prime minister if he'll cut interest rates on student loans.

The Conservative leader says the system is now "at breaking points for graduates" and "it's time for all of us to do something about it".

Image source, House of Commons

Keir Starmer is on his feet at the despatch box in the House of Commons.

That means this week's Prime Minister's Questions is about to get under way.

Watch live above to see how he responds to Kemi Badenoch's questions.

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has confirmed a Times story, external that he reported claims Lord Mandelson was planning to flee the country to the police.

Speaking in the Commons he said to “prevent any inaccurate speculation” he wanted to “confirm that upon receipt of information that I felt it was relevant that I passed it on to the Metropolitan Police in good faith as is my duty and responsibility”.

He said it was “regrettable that this rapidly ended up in the media” and added that, as there is a live police investigation into Lord Mandelson, it “would not be appropriate to make further comment”.

Lord Mandelson’s lawyers say the allegation that he might have been a flight risk was false and baseless.