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Kemi Badenoch has faced criticism in the past for her performances at PMQs, but the Tory leader seems confident today and backs herself.

Badenoch tells the prime minister: "I get better every week, he gets worse."

This is met with such derision from Labour and Reform MPs that the Speaker has to tell backbenchers to be quiet, calling it a "bad look".

Badenoch accuses Starmer of not wanting to talk about how he plans to make the economy better because "he's got no answers".

She adds: "His trade deals have unravelled. Everyone out there is asking where's the money coming from? And the fact is he doesn't know how to balance the books."

'Rehearsed fury'

Starmer responds by noting Badenoch recently told political comedian Matt Forde she "rehearses" her fury before PMQs.

He adds: "So, a very good rehearsal this morning. 

"I think she asked what we're doing at the budget. We've put record investment in our NHS and our public record investment."

The PM goes on to revive his criticism of Badenoch, which is that she "carp[s] on about national insurance".

The prime minister has been called a "coward" by Kemi Badenoch after he spoke about Liz Truss in the Commons. 

Sir Keir Starmer says the Tories have "learned nothing" since Truss's disastrous mini-budget in 2022, saying the former PM is "back in vogue" and "haunting" the Conservatives. 

"They have learned absolutely nothing," he says. 

Badenoch responds by saying Starmer "loves talking about Liz Truss because he wants to hide from his own economic record". 

"He is a coward," she says, pointing at the prime minister. 

"Every time he stands up there and talks about Liz Truss it's because he is scared to talk about his record and what is happening to the economy out there," she adds. 

The prime minister says the economy is in a better position now than it was when Labour came to power in July.

Sir Keir Starmer is responding to Kemi Badenoch questioning the PM's post on X a little earlier, which said the government had stabilised the economy, and it was now time for a "new chapter".

The Tory leader asks him "what [he] meant" when he said the economy was improving, pointing to figures this week that showed the unemployment rate had reached a four-year-high. 

Starmer responds: "Since the general election, 500,000 more people are in work. 

"And I know she doesn't think that, she's fixated on talking Britain down. We're investing in the future."

It may feel more like the warm-up act than the main event today, but PMQs is still happening.

Keir Starmer will face questions from Kemi Badenoch, Ed Davey, and backbenchers for about half an hour before the chancellor delivers the spending review from 12.30pm.

Watch live at the top of this page.

We thought we'd step away from our coverage of the chancellor's spending review for just a moment to bring you a quick round-up of other political news going on today. 

Negotiations in Gibraltar 

It's been confirmed David Lammy has spoken to the government in Gibraltar over a post-Brexit deal.

Yesterday, our political reporter Tim Baker exclusively revealed Lammy had flown to the British Overseas Territory overnight, the first foreign secretary to do so since 2021. 

The Spanish government claims the area belongs to them, and the situation in Gibraltar has been up in the air since Brexit.

Now, Fabian Picardo, the head of the government in Gibraltar, has confirmed he met with Lammy this morning "to agree final parameters for negotiation".

Migrants cross the English Channel

Next up, dozens of migrants have been pictured in Dover this morning after allegedly crossing the English Channel on small boats illegally. 

The group was seen wearing life jackets and were brought to shore by a Border Force vessel before being driven away on a coach.

The last seven days up to Monday saw zero small boats recorded as successfully crossing the Channel, according to the Home Office and Border Force. But 2025 remains a record-breaking year for the number of migrants reaching the UK's shores via small boat.

Last Falklands era warship sent to the scrapyard

And finally, crowds gathered in Portsmouth to watch the last British warship that served in the Falklands War be towed out to be scrapped.

The Royal Navy Type 82 destroyer, HMS Bristol, is being taken to Turkey to be recycled. It served in a reinforcement role initially during the war, before becoming a flagship. 

It later became a training ship in 1993 before being decommissioned five years ago.

By Laura Bundock, health correspondent

Health services are already struggling to meet the government's much-hyped pledge to hit the waiting list target.

And demands are huge, and not just from our ageing, growing population. 

More people are living with complex conditions. There are commitments to pay staff more. Plus, we all want access to new drugs and new technologies, but they cost a lot.

All of this drives up cost, and the expected extra 2.8% might not pay for it all.

Look out too for the capital budget. This pays for buildings and equipment - the things doctors, nurses, physios etc use every day. Some fear if this spend doesn鈥檛 go up, the crumbling, unsafe buildings and out-of-equipment won鈥檛 improve, making it harder to improve services.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has yet to publish his 10-year plan of reform. Is this money enough to realise his long term ambitions?

And she's off!

The chancellor has left 11 Downing Street to head for parliament. 

It's one of the biggest days of Rachel Reeves' time as chancellor, as she prepares to announce her spending review. 

That's in about an hour's time, but first Reeves must sit through PMQs, as Sir Keir Starmer bats off attacks from Kemi Badenoch.

Then she'll take to the dispatch box for the main event.

Of course, we'll bring you all the updates from both of those events right here on the Politics Hub.

Sir Keir Starmer has said the government is now moving "into a new chapter", because the economy has stabilised.

The prime minister has sought to draw a line under his government's first 11-months in office.

It follows the U-turn on cuts to winter fuel payments carried out on Monday, which Starmer told Sky News was only possible due to improving economic circumstances.

In a post on X ahead of the chancellor's spending review this afternoon, Starmer said: "My government was elected on a mandate for change. 

"Our first job was to stabilise the economy and public finances. 

"Now, we move into a new chapter to deliver on our promise of change."

He added that the government is "investing in Britain's renewal, so you and your family are better off". 

The Conservatives have warned the government is "spending money it doesn't have" and that Rachel Reeves is taking a "dangerous gamble with Britain's economic stability".

Mel Stride added that it will be a "spend today, tax tomorrow spending review".

The chancellor's spending review is set to be announced in just a few short hours. 

It'll set out how much funding individual government departments will receive, as Rachel Reeves tries to boost her economic credentials following Monday's U-turn on winter fuel payments. 

But what is the political backdrop to this?

YouGov polling over the weekend makes dire reading for Reeves.

It found that 14% of people think the economy has got better since Labour came to power. By comparison, half of all those surveyed - 50% - said they believe it has got worse. 

On a personal level, the findings are no better either.

10% of people told the pollster they feel better off since last July. But a majority - 51%  of people - said they feel personally worse off. 

Sky News' Sam Coates speaks about the polling and what it means for Reeves

It's this dire public sentiment that Reeves is hoping to turn around. It's also something we expect the chancellor to publicly address.

She will say that Labour "is renewing Britain", but that "too many parts of the country are yet to feel it".

By Tomos Evans, Wales reporter

We鈥檙e less than a year out from the next Senedd election, when people in Wales will head to the polls.

Labour has been in power in Cardiff since the Senedd鈥檚 creation in 1999.

But the Labour Party on both ends of the M4 is acutely aware of the genuine prospect of a change in government in Wales, after a poll last month put Labour in third place.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage kicked off Reform UK's plans to win the Senedd earlier this week in Port Talbot, where he pledged to try to reopen the blast furnaces there.

With all that in mind, Rachel Reeves is expected to pledge extra rail funding for Wales as part of her spending review this lunchtime.

The money 鈥� expected to be at least 拢445m 鈥� will go towards building new stations, upgrading lines and fixing level crossings.

Some of that money is expected to go directly to fund those projects, and some will go to the Welsh government.

It's hoped this will unlock economic potential, with rail projects in both the north and the south of the country.

Labour will argue the cash boost is as a result of the two governments, in Westminster and Cardiff, working together to deliver for Wales.

A Treasury source said Wales will "thrive" under the Labour Westminster government, and that the chancellor鈥檚 package "has the potential to be truly transformative".

But will the funding be enough?  

Opposition parties say it won't, and claim that Wales is owed more.

Plaid Cymru say the spending review will "impose real terms cuts to many important services".

Ben Lake, the party's Treasury spokesperson, added that the re-classification of a rail line between Oxford and Cambridge to an England-and-Wales project would mean the country "loses out on millions in investment".

The row over that project followed a similar debate over high-speed rail project HS2, linking London and Birmingham.

HS2 was classed as an England-and-Wales project by the Conservative government.

If a project is classed as England-only, Wales鈥檚 devolved government gets a population-based share of funding, as was the case in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But England-and-Wales projects are considered to benefit both nations, so the Welsh government gets no extra cash from them.

The Welsh Conservatives have described the spending review as a "kick in the teeth to the people of Wales".

Their leader, Darren Millar, said the promised investment fell "well short of the 拢1bn plus in rail funding planned by the previous UK Conservative government".

The Welsh Liberal Democrats鈥� Westminster spokesperson, David Chadwick, said Wales had been given "the scraps".

He said the funding "falls far short of the billions owed to Wales over recent years" and called for the full devolution of rail to Wales.