Watch: Sunak faces Starmer at final PMQs before summer recess

Rishi Sunak faced Sir Keir Starmer at the final Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, 19 July, before parliament's summer recess.

Today's session came before Thursday's by-elections which are set to take place in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Selby and Ainsty, and Somerset and Frome.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are hoping to inflict blows on the Tories.

This week's by-elections will be difficult, the prime minister has admitted.

"Midterm by-elections for incumbent governments are always difficult, I don’t expect these to be any different from that.

“But I passionately believe that my priorities are the country’s priorities,” Mr Sunak told ITV on Monday.

Political analyst Lord Hayward has said that the Conservatives could pay the “penalty” for the controversies and turmoil that plagued Boris Johnson’s government.

The former prime minister resigned as an MP in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, a seat he had held since 2015, after the Privileges Committee found he had lied to MPs with his assurances lockdown rules were followed in No 10 during the pandemic.

His resignation and the subsequent by-election in his seat has offered Labour a chance to snatch the constituency from Mr Sunak’s party.