Who won today's PMQs? Starmer said Tories used public money 'as a casino chip'

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have just faced each other across the commons once again for the latest edition of PMQs - and what a chat they've just had.

Last week, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition clashed about the economy and their own personal records and Starmer accused Sunak of being "out of touch".

Seven days later we've seen Starmer change his mind about tuition fees, a major fiasco involving Sue Gray's relationship with the Labour Party, and for Sunak's part, the dawn of a photo ID being required in polling stations and more revelations about the government's plan for protests.

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So what would be the major theme of discussion today?

Spoiler? The economy, and housing.

Below, we summarise the proceedings and what we made of it.

Starmer: "His party used their money as a casino chip," 8/10

Referencing Liz Truss's disastrous but short tenure as PM, Starmer said the party used public money to gamble and that doing so had resulted in a huge increase of people unable to pay their mortgages.

Sunak: "His plans just mean more debt," 4/10

In response, Sunak said the economy was getting better and inflation was going to decrease soon. Starmer would create debt, he warned.

Starmer: "Whatever the topic he pretends everything is fine across the country.. he reinforces just out of touch he is," 9/10

Starmer was having none of it. He said it now takes four years for the average first-time buyer to save up the average 9,000 deposit to get on housing ladder.

The chaser to this shot? Starmer saying this is the average bill for Sunak to heat his swimming pool...

Starmer wants to make Sunak look completely out of the loop with the concerns of normal people - it is working.

Sunak: "Just another in a long line of broken promises," 5/10

So Sunak tried to make Starmer look like an untrustworthy flip-flopper. Given his recent comments about tuition fees, he chose a good week to attack Starmer in this way but in the battle of the out of touch vs the u-turner, the u-turner still came up on top.

Starmer: "Stop blaming everyone else and just build some houses instead," 10/10

Please!

Sunak: "Labour talk and the Conservatives deliver," 6/10

Sunak got aggy. He delivered a punchy line that made Starmer look like an armchair critic moaning on the sidelines, but it would have worked better if the Conservatives (who unlike Labour are in power) actually do "deliver".

Starmer: "They're going to need a bigger note," 10/10

And so Starmer references the infamous note that Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the treasury under Gordon Brown, left when Labour last left office, warning the new coalition government led by David Cameron that they had run out of money.

A confident Starmer implied that when Sunak leaves office for him to come in, the economy will be in an even worse state.

Verdict

This week picked up exactly where last week left off - with Starmer hammering Sunak on the economy and accusing him of being out of touch.

But this edition soon became more focussed on the issue of homeownership and renting, a much under discussed issue in British politics.

Starmer was completely on top of his brief and used his questions to force Sunak to answer uncomfortable questions about the Conservative's record while Sunak awkwardly tried to dodge and duck these questions and present different statistics to paint the Tories in a more flattering light.

The result? A floundering PM and a slick leader of the opposition - though Sunak did manage to fight back a bit and it was nice to see a reasoned debate between two opposing politicians about an interesting and meaty issue, rather than the usual jokes and insults used to patronise the public into supporting them.

Until next week...

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