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Shadow transport secretary Gareth Bacon addresses HS2 from the Tory side.

And he gives the closest thing to a mea culpa and apology you'd normally get from such a statement.

He said that in 2023, when the Conservatives scrapped the northern leg of HS2, they accepted the "path we took to reach that point was not perfect".

He then criticises the plan that replaced the northern leg.

Bacon says: "I will not today pretend that the Network North plan was not a product of mistakes we made in the handling of HS2, because it clearly was. 

"As a country, we must learn from those mistakes and we must not repeat them."

He welcomes the appointment of Mark Wild as the new chair of HS2.

Keir Starmer has landed in London having flown back from the G7 summit in Canada.

The prime minister arrived home shortly after PMQs finished in the Commons.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is nothing less than excoriating about HS2.

She blames the Conservatives for broken timelines and budgets.

Alexander claims it could become "one of the most expensive railway lines in the world, with projected costs soaring by 拢37bn under previous conservative governments and 拢2bn of taxpayers money sunk into phase two work before it was cancelled by the previous government".

The minister says the line between London and HS2 will be build and " won't reinstate cancelled sections we can't afford, but we will do the hard but necessary work to rebuild public trust".

She adds that "financial delegations" to the project are being cut, "placing a lid on spiralling costs until the reset is complete".

Alexander reiterates her commitment to reduce costs by saying HS2 will work with suppliers so contracts are incentivised to save taxpayer money.

New leadership

The transport secretary announced that Mike Brown will be the new chair of HS2.

He is a former TfL commissioner, and Alexander says the pair worked on the Elizabeth Line together and turned that around too.

She says the project was "an appalling mess", but it is "one we will sort out".

PMQs is often feisty but there are rarely actual announcements.

Angela Rayner is making use of her time at the ballot box as she announces nearly 拢48 million in funding for a new city centre quarter in Peterborough.

Easton train station, near Peterborough, will also get a refurbishment with that money - subject to the business case approval.

Andrew Pakes, the Labour MP for the area, looks very pleased at that.

We're now hearing from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on the HS2 issue.

It does not look like it will be a happy one for the project.

By Rob Powell, political correspondent

Well the respectful and moderate tone between Chris Philp and Angela Rayner lasted all of three minutes.

As predicted, the Tory shadow home secretary asked the deputy prime minister for more detail on the newly announced public inquiry into grooming gangs.

Rayner responded by thanking her opposite number for his 鈥渢one鈥� and for 鈥減utting survivors at the heart鈥� of his questions. 

Then everything deteriorated.

A toxic and incredibly party political exchange followed.

鈥淪he鈥檚 got a cheek鈥�, wailed Philp. 

鈥淛ohnny come lately鈥�, said the deputy PM.

This would be undignified even if the topic of debate wasn鈥檛 child rape.

No one expects PMQs to be completely shorn of all politics, but it鈥檚 hard to see what we learnt from that exchange. 

The Tories didn鈥檛 want a public inquiry into grooming, now they do. 

Labour didn鈥檛 want a public inquiry into grooming, now they do.

The Tories didn鈥檛 manage to stop small boats crossing the channel.

Labour haven鈥檛 managed to stop small boats crossing the channel. 

Enlightening, this was not. 

With one of her questions, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper starts by raising her party's opposition to Iraq in 2003.

She says this was a "a war in which the UK blindly followed the US in a move which was not backed by the United Nations".

She goes on to say, that in the wake of reports Donald Trump is considering attacking Iran, will Labour commit to "not blindly follow the US into war again?"

Rayner replies: "The one thing I will say is: we agree with President Trump that Iran must never have nuclear weapons.

"But we've been consistent in urging Iran to engage in the diplomatic process and work with the United States, and we continue to support that diplomatic approach."

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp stays on familiar turf for him, and attacks the current government for record numbers of people crossing the small boats.

Naturally, he puts part of the blame on the scrapping of the Rwanda plan.

Philp says Labour has "lost control" of the borders.

Rayner replies by turning the issue back on Philp.

She says Philp "was the man at the heart of the Home Office when immigration soared" - adding that it was him that "lost control of our borders" and spent "拢700m of taxpayers money on persuading just four volunteers to be removed to Rwanda".

Philp hits back, and claims it is Labour that has lost control of the borders.

He asks if Rayner now agrees a "removals deterrent" is needed.

"They lost control of our borders, we're getting control of our borders," Rayner says

She points out there was not much difference between arrival figures when Rwanda was in place and when it was removed.

Chris Philp accuses Sir Keir Starmer of having "smeared campaigners" in January when he called those who said the grooming gangs were covered up because of their ethnicity of "jumping on a far-right bandwagon".

He adds: "Standing up for rape victims is not far right. So will the deputy prime minister apologise for the prime minister ?"

But Angela Rayner says the PM not only raised the issues "but acted on them".

She says Starmer brought the first prosecutions against grooming gangs when he was director of public prosecutions, and first called for action to address "ethnicity issues" in 2012.

Rayner says Starmer's comments about jumping on a far-right bandwagon was specifically about Tory ministers at the time.

In his first question, shadow home secretary Chris Philp asks about the grooming gangs.

He wants to know if the government will agree to a number of demands from survivors on the upcoming inquiry.

This includes that it will be done before the summer recess - i.e. within the next six weeks or so.

Angela Rayner responds with gratitude for Philp's tone - which put the "victim's at the heart of his question".

Rayner does not say when the inquiry will start - but says it will be independent and will have statutory powers.