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Westminster attack: PC Keith Palmer named as police officer killed – as it happened

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Five dead, including police officer and attacker, and 40 injured after assault on Houses of Parliament

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Thu 23 Mar 2017 01.58 EDTFirst published on Wed 22 Mar 2017 05.11 EDT
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Richard Burden, the shadow transport minister, asks if there is a risk posed by the countries affected.

And why are the US rules different?

What is being done to ensure passengers get the right information?

He says there are “too many loose ends” in this announcement.

He says Grayling should give more information about why this decision has been taken.

Grayling says Labour was in power for 13 years. It knows that there are some things that cannot be said in public.

There is an evolving threat to aircraft, he says.

This is not about singling out countries. It is about protecting UK citizens.

He says the rules will apply to transfer passengers.

Grayling is responding to Shuker.

He says the government responds to evolving threats. He says he will not discuss details. But he says the government has taken this step “for good reasons”.

He says the UK has decided what is best for the UK.

He says it is for the airlines to resolve what happens to people on handluggage-only tickets.

He will be writing to insurers to ask them to be mindful of the theft issue.

This decision has been taken to protect passengers, he says. But the government cannot put all its reasons in the public domain.

Labour’s Gavin Shuker says this is a major change.

Can Grayling explain why the US and UK bans are different?

He says the Washington Post says the US were discussing changes for a fortnight. When did Grayling first lean of the US plans?

Will Grayling harmonise the changes? That would make life easier for passengers, he says.

What happens to people who travel on a handluggage-only ticket?

What will the government do to stop items being stolen?

What evidence is there that placing problematic items in the hold will be safer? Some batteries have been banned from holds because they are a risk.

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, is responding to the urgent question.

He says the government will always take steps to protect the travelling public.

He outlines the countries involved.

Partners in the region have had the decision explained to them, he says.

The US made a similar announcement. The UK has been in close contact with them, he says.

He says passengers boarding flights to the UK from the countries affected will not be able to take into the cabin a phone, tablet or laptop above a certain size.

Labour’s Jack Dromey says 96% of schools in Birmingham will lose £20m under the new schools funding formula. But places like Windsor and Maidenhead will gain. How can this be fair?

May says the current system is unfair. Some schools in London get twice as much as schools in other parts of the country.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Conservative, asks about the Jo Cox commission on loneliness and asks if May will meet women working on this.

May says they are doing very good work.

Labour’s Julie Cooper says shocking pay rises have been given to Liverpool CCG. Will the government investigate failures in Liverpool CCG.

May says NHS England is investigating this.

Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards says in triggering article 50 next week May is the modern day equivalent of Lord Cardigan at the Charge of the Light Brigade.

May says in triggering article 50 she is responding to the will of the British people.

Snap PMQs verdict

Some of Corbyn’s best PMQs have been on education, and on May’s plans to extend grammar schools, and this was one of his best outings for weeks, although he was probably at his most effective in the first half of the exchange, when he was focusing on school funding, not selection. He put the figures about cuts well, and, for the first time in ages, resorted to the ‘here’s a question from a voter’ tactic (once his hallmark), which today worked effectively. May was bland and unconvincing on the general funding point, although she was right to say that the school funding formula was an issue that governments have dodged for too long. She seemed much more animated defending grammars, the domestic policy initiative to which she seems most personally committed, but Corbyn held his ground well, helped by being able to quote Tories opposed to this. You could tell May was under pressure because resorted to the personal, attacking Corbyn for a decision about this son’s education (which reportedly helped to break up his second marriage - he did not support his wife’s desire to send their son to a grammar), but if you are going to go personal, you probably have to be ruthless to make it decisive, and May did not press her point, with the result that Corbyn was not thrown off his stride. So it was an effective performance by him, if not a decisive win.

Robertson focused on two well-rehearsed SNP complaints: May’s failure to reach an agreement with Scotland on Brexit, and her refusal to commit to offering Scotland an independence referendum. Both are relatively easy hits, although, in her second answer, May was able to come back with a particularly well-honed soundbite about how she is honouring the results of the UK’s last two referendums, while the SNP is doing neither.

(Regular readers will notice that the snap verdict now includes Angus Robertson. We’ve decided to experiment with featuring him here, along with Jeremy Corbyn, because “indyref2” is now firmly on the agenda. Let us know what you think.)

UPDATE: I’ve corrected the paragraph above. It was Corbyn’s second marriage that reportedly broke up partly because of the grammar school decision, not his first marriage.

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