Key points

In a PMQs almost derailed by an SNP protest, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn again traded blows on Brexit.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, was ordered by the Speaker, John Bercow, to leave the Commons chamber after trying to disrupt PMQs with a vote for the house to sit in private. He was doing this as a protest against the way Scotland has been treated over Brexit, the EU withdrawal bill in particular. MPs were meant to debate Lords amendments relating to devolution on Tuesday night, but the debate lasted just 15 minutes.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs - Politics live Read more

Before the kerfuffle, Corbyn told the prime minister “the sad truth and reality” was that many survivors of Grenfell Tower were still waiting for a permanent home. He also asked whether May did as Boris Johnson had suggested when she met Donald Trump and asked the US president to take over the Brexit talks.

May said people had claimed before December she would not get a deal on Brexit then. On Grenfell Tower, she said every household had received an offer of temporary or permanent accommodation, and 183 have accepted.

Corbyn said the government was now working on the basis that the transition could continue until December 2021, not December 2020. Which December was she talking about? Corbyn was wrong, May replied: he was talking about the backstop. Corbyn said he was not sure whether it was a backstop or a backslide. When will the white paper be published? May did say it would be published before the June summit.

May said it would be published after that. The summit was not about Brexit. Many issues were coming up, including sanctions against Russia. She pointed out Corbyn quoted a minister saying it would be published in July. July was after June.

Corbyn said May had to face the fact there may be a meltdown – not his words, but the words of Johnson. Johnson also accused the Treasury of being the heart of remain. Did May back the foreign secretary in wanting more friction for trade?

May closed by telling the Commons Corbyn was trying to organise a music festival. The headline acts were John McDonnell and a band called the Magic Numbers – that just about sums it up.

Snap verdict

May is certainly resilient. After a run of PMQs defeats on Brexit, and with her Brexit strategy looking increasingly threadbare and ill-fated, she still managed to see off fairly comfortably Corbyn’s attempts to ridicule her.

Corbyn’s manner was good – he sounded particularly confident – but mostly his script let him down. His first question was terrific, but he prefaced it with a comment about Grenfell that allowed May to focus on that in her reply (quite effectively) before having to address the Trump point.

Then he asked a series of questions that just hadn’t been properly thought through in advance, because May was able to swat them away quite easily. December 2021 or December 2020? May’s always been able to state her policy clearly (it’s just that it’s not plausible). Publishing the white paper before the June summit? I don’t think she ever had promised that (Corbyn may have been relying on a newspaper report – not always a good guide). Postponing the June summit? Such a non-starter as an idea, it is hard to see why Corbyn thought it would cause May problems.

Having started with a strong question, Corbyn ended well, too, with a rousing soundbite about clashing egos, which of course will play well on the news and on social media. But May’s peroration was funnier, lifted by what was, by PMQs standards, a half-decent joke.

Memorable lines

Corbyn on Johnson:

When the prime minister met Donald Trump last week did she do as the foreign secretary suggested and ask him to take over the Brexit negotiations?

May on Corbyn:

I’ve heard that he is trying to organise a musical festival, Labour Live. I’ll pass over the fact it’s going to have a solidarity tent with no Labour MPs in it. The headline act is the shadow chancellor and the Magic Numbers – that sums them up.

Bercow on Blackford: