Prime Minister’s Questions (widely known as PMQs) is the set-piece of the Parliamentary week.
The Prime Minister comes to the House of Commons at noon every Wednesday when Parliament is sitting and answers questions from back-benchers and opposition leaders.
Unlike other oral question sessions, the Prime Minister generally has no foreknowledge of what is to be asked, although questions tend to be topical and based on that week’s news agenda. That is not to say there is no list of questions on the Order Paper.
In effect, all questions at Prime Minister’s Questions are supplementary questions.
All MPs who want to ask a question, normally table the same question about the Prime Minister’s engagements for that day, to which the Prime Minister responds the first time it is asked. After that each, questioner asks a supplementary on any subject they wish, to which the Prime Minister responds.
The highlight of the weekly half-hour session is normally the head-to-head exchange between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition is permitted six questions and is normally the second or third questioner called. The Leader of the Opposition may ask two sets of three questions on any subject, with a gap in between, or use all six in one go.
The leader of the next largest party in the House of Commons, currently the Scottish National Party is permitted two questions.
Prime Minister’s Questions are generally scheduled to last for half an hour, albeit under former Speaker John Bercow, the sessions frequently extended way past their formal length.
