Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch clashed over unemployment, taxes and the resident doctors’ strike in the final Prime Minister’s Questions of the year, as the prime minister also announced steps to release £2.5bn in frozen proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC for Ukraine.

Badenoch used the Commons set-piece, held two days before MPs break for the Christmas recess, to accuse Starmer of failing to deliver on pledges to boost growth and cut joblessness, telling him he had offered “broken promises” rather than results.

She pointed to the latest Office for National Statistics estimate showing the unemployment rate at 5.1% in the three months to October, the highest since late 2020, and argued that the government’s approach was worsening the outlook for young people. She claimed unemployment had risen “every single” month since Labour took office and said youth unemployment was at “record levels”.

Starmer rejected the charge, saying “350,000 more people are in work this year because of this Labour government”, and told MPs his ministers were working on plans to address youth unemployment. He also defended the government’s fiscal approach, saying he was “very proud” of last month’s Budget, which included tax rises and measures the government says are designed to fund public services and spur long-term investment.

BBC Verify said Badenoch’s claim about unemployment rising every month was inaccurate, noting that while the rate has trended upwards since Labour took office in July 2024, it has not increased in every reporting period. For example, it was unchanged at 4.4% in December 2024 to February 2025 compared with the previous quarter.

The Tory leader also accused the prime minister of raising taxes after promising not to, and warned that businesses were being squeezed. Citing pubs in particular, she said they faced what she described as a 15% tax rise because of changes to business rates, and asked whether Starmer would “admit his taxes are forcing pubs to close”.

Starmer replied that temporary reliefs introduced during the Covid period had come to an end as previously agreed, and argued that the government’s focus on raising wages and easing cost-of-living pressures would support firms. He said the Conservatives had “voted against each and every one of those measures”.

The exchange then moved to the new walkout by resident doctors in England, which began at 07:00 on Wednesday amid warnings of a difficult winter for the NHS. Badenoch said Labour had already agreed to a 28.9% pay rise for doctors and was now facing further strike action, insisting the prime minister did not “have the baubles” to ban strikes and had surrendered control to trade unions.

Starmer said the strikes were “dangerous and utterly irresponsible” and urged doctors not to abandon patients. He said the Conservatives had left the health service “on its knees”, while maintaining that his government’s priority was improving hospital conditions during the winter period.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said patients had faced a “terrible winter crisis” in the NHS even before the industrial action, describing people waiting on trolleys, with some “being left undiscovered for hours”. He asked the prime minister to make hospital pressures his “number one priority” through a mass vaccination programme and social care funding. Starmer said tackling hospital conditions was the government’s top priority and cited “over 17 million” vaccinations delivered this year, adding that he wanted uptake to rise further.

PMQs began with Starmer condemning an antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney as “sickening”, saying incidents were not isolated and that the UK would do everything it could to keep Jewish communities safe. Badenoch called the shooting an “atrocity” and said the UK “must drive Islamic extremism out of the country”. Davey urged a firm plan to tackle antisemitism; Starmer said funding for Jewish community security had increased to £28m and that he had ordered a review of protest and hate crime laws aimed at preventing hatred.

In a separate intervention during the session, Starmer told MPs the UK is issuing a licence to enable the transfer of £2.5bn raised from the sale of Chelsea FC to Ukraine, money that has been frozen in a UK bank account since 2022. The funds were expected to be used for humanitarian purposes linked to the war after the club’s former owner, Roman Abramovich, was sanctioned following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Addressing Abramovich directly, Starmer said “the clock is ticking”, urging him to “honour the commitment” and warning the government was prepared to take court action if necessary.

The Commons’ political edge was softened at points by festive jokes, with the SNP’s Stephen Flynn asking Starmer how he planned to spend his “final Christmas” in Downing Street, and Badenoch referring to Labour ministers as “a bunch of turkeys”. Starmer responded by attacking what he called the Conservatives’ “Christmas list”, claiming it would freeze the minimum wage, push children into poverty and scrap maternity leave, before MPs moved on to the final business of the year.