The main points from prime minister's questions in the House of Commons from 1200 GMT:

# Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is standing in for Tony Blair, who is at a Nato conference in Latvia.

# Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, standing in for Conservative leader David Cameron, said the situation troops faced in Iraq was "not getting any easier" and asked how the Iraqi government could improve the situation.

# Mr Prescott said ministers were working "extremely hard" with Iraqi counterparts to improve security in Basra and that neighbouring countries should be encouraged to help.

# Mr Hague asked "what criteria" would be used to judge the security situation before the number of troops in Iraq was reduced. Mr Prescott said the situation was continuing to be looked at.

# Lib Dem deputy leader Vincent Cable asked about Mr Blair's comments that people in the North should "worry less" about the North-South divide. Mr Prescott said the differential between the North and South had been reduced, according to the latest evidence. This was down to regional development agencies promoted by Labour, he added.

# Mr Prescott said the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007 should be celebrated, but added that the trade was "terrible" and still going on in many parts of the world.

# Conservative James Brokenshire asked what was being done to reduce hospital infections. Mr Prescott said the opposition had "always" tried to undermine measures to improve resources.

# Labour's Bob Blizzard accused Tories of "hypocrisy" in not supporting government measures to introduce ID cards but calling for more safeguards for national security. Mr Prescott said the opposition should listen to the views of experts.

# Mr Prescott said more people were using public transport than in 1997.

# Labour's Tom Levitt asked what local authorities could do to fight climate change. Mr Prescott said the UK had "led the way" on the issue and that local authorities were "extremely important" and get the necessary resources to help.

# Lib Dem John Leech urged the government to support "urgent research" into the value of lung cancer screening. Mr Prescott said every constituency had benefited from better NHS resources.

# Mr Hague asked how much had been taken by the government from pension funds. It was the "biggest destruction of savings" by any government, he added.
# Mr Prescott said Labour would "take no lectures from the Tories on pensions" who had opposed a "far better pensions deal." He asked Mr Hague to "tell us what he thinks the figure is".

# Mr Hague said nothing had been said to oppose the Pensions Bill "in the last few hours" since it had been published on Wednesday morning.
# Mr Prescott said opinion polls published earlier showed the "honeymoon" enjoyed by Tory leader David Cameron was over.

# Referring to the current Tory anti-debt campaign calling those who used too much credit as "tossers", Mr Prescott said he had "always thought" the opposition front bench was "full of them".

# Labour's Anne Snelgrove asked about personal credit companies offering loans at high rates. Mr Prescott said this was causing "great concern" and people were often "not aware" of what these deals included. These people should not be exploited, he added.

Conservative John Greenway said many parts of the UK did not have the protection from flooding they needed and asked if a cut to Environment Agency spending had been a "mistake". Mr Prescott said there had been a "tremendous increase" in funding since 1997.