By Matthew Barrett
Follow Matthew on Twitter.
A stronger than usual performance by Labour's Ed Miliband today. He used his questions to criticise the Government's approach to unemployment.
Mr Miliband started his line of questioning by asking why unemployment rose for the sixth time in a row. David Cameron stated his sympathy for people who become unemployed, and said this was why the Government was taking action to get people back to work. Mr Cameron said it was important to note a small decrease in long-term unemployment.
Mr Miliband asked the Prime Minister to confirm an unemployment forecast which indicated unemployment would rise in the coming months. Mr Cameron noted the forecast was made by the Office for Budget Responsibility, whose independence means Ministers cannot "fiddle" forecasts. Mr Miliband said the OBR figures showed unemployment was getting worse under the Government's policies and then asked the Prime Minister to confirm that there were 147,000 young people out of work.
Mr Cameron said it was important that the Coalition measured youth unemployment as people not in a permanent job, in contrast to the previous government, which counted short-term work schemes as taking youngsters out of unemployment. Mr Miliband had no real reply to this point, instead saying "this really is a return to the 1980s".
Mr Miliband said youth unemployment had a "scarring affect" and asked the Prime Minister to confirm a 102% rise in youth unemployment, to which he answered that low interest rates are vital to lower unemployment. Mr Cameron noted Mr Miliband's apparent reversal in position: "last year he wanted to march against the cuts, now he tells us he accepts them", but "today he's telling us he wants to spend more and borrow more. He's so incompetent he can't even do a u-turn properly". This prompted such excited shouts of "more!" from Conservative Members that Mr Speaker felt the need to intervene.
Mr Miliband demanded once again to know what had happened to youth unemployment under the Coalition. Mr Cameron said "Let me give him the figures", and proceeded to list statistics. This reality-based approach seemed to annoy Labour Members. Mr Miliband advised the Prime Minister to "change course", saying unemployment was rising because of cuts coming "too far, too fast". Mr Cameron ended the exchange by reading out a quote from a pro-business Labour figure, Luke Bozier, who has condemned Labour's economic policies.
Some notes on backbench questions: