Key points

Jeremy Corbyn begins by pointing out the Bank of England says growth this year will be the lowest for a decade. May says a report says UK growth will be higher than Germany’s. Borrowing is down, she says.

Corbyn says May may not have had time to look at the Bank’s forecasts. It says there is a one in four chance of a recession. Is May’s shambolic Brexit to blame, or her lack of an industrial strategy? May says there has been consistent growth. Under Labour, there would be capital flight and £1tn of borrowing.

Corbyn says the incomes of the richest have grown, while the poorest are getting poorer. Will May commit to ending the benefits freeze? May says income inequality is lower than it was under Labour. And the lowest earners have had their fastest pay rise for 20 years under the national minimum wage.

Corbyn says the Tories opposed the principle of the minimum wage. He points out Amber Rudd admitted universal credit was driving people to food banks. May says changes are being made to universal credit. She says welfare should be fair for claimants, but also for taxpayers. Absolute child poverty is at a record low.

Corbyn says it is clearly not working, because people doing two or three jobs have to access food banks. May used to talk about the just-about-managing. But they are not managing. Child poverty is up, pensioner poverty is up, homelessness is up, manufacturing is in recession, and austerity is not over. Are any of these burning injustices a priority for the prime minister?

May says manufacturing is not in recession. And Corbyn is wrong about the lowest earners; they have had the highest rise for 20 years because of the national living wage. Income tax has been cut and fuel duty frozen. She says Labour voted against these tax cuts. It is working people who always pay the price of Labour.

Snap verdict

Is Jeremy Corbyn expecting an early election? It sounded a bit like it, because that would explain his decision to opt for a portmanteau PMQs strategy, lobbing attack lines at Theresa May on a wide range of economic and welfare policies. It sounded a bit like a medley of Labour conference greatest hits.

The problem with this approach is that it is hard to get anything to stick, and most of the exchanges felt like a high-scoring draw, with May firing back with her own CCHQ talking points. Corbyn’s point about increasing food bank use and welfare changes being to blame was powerful, but because his questions were wide-ranging, rather than focused, May got off rather lightly. (If you ask about universal credit, you are entitled to an answer. If you try to shoehorn UC, plus the two-child limit, plus the benefit cap, plus Sure Start centres into your questions, you shouldn’t be surprised if you receive a broad-brush response.)

That said, it was interesting that Corbyn felt confident enough to start with an attack on May’s record on economic growth (which is conventionally seen as more of a Tory issue than a Corbyn one). And Corbyn’s peroration (ie, his sixth question) was first-class. This is the one that his office will clip for YouTube and other social media, and for that audience it is all that matters. As May pointed out in her response, not everything he said may have passed the fact-check test, but it was enough to make the outing a Corbyn success.

Memorable lines

Jeremy Corbyn:

Yesterday, figures showed that the incomes of the top fifth increased by 4.7% last year, while incomes of the poorest fifth fell by 1.6%. Will the prime minister now commit to ending the benefit freeze or does she believe that rising poverty is a price worth paying? … She used to talk about the just-about-managing. Well, they’re not managing any more.

Theresa May: