The recently appointed Deputy Prime Minister will step in for Boris Johnson as he is currently in the US. In the absence of the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer will follow convention and step aside from the dispatch box to allow Ms Rayner to quiz her Tory counterpart. The Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne is expected to grill Mr Raab on the unfolding energy crisis and the recent Brexit snub by US President Joe Biden.

       President Biden played down the prospects of a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and US during a meeting with Mr Johnson in the White House on Tuesday.

       He said: "We're going to talk a little bit about trade today and we're going to have to work that through."

       President Biden, who has Irish heritage, also raised concerns about the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol, created to prevent a hard border.

       He added: “And I would not at all like to see, nor I might add would many of my Republican colleagues like to see, a change in the Irish accords, the end result having a closed border in Ireland.”

       The Prime Minister insisted the 78-year-old was “absolutely right” and reiterated the UK’s commitment to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

       Mr Johnson said: “On that point, Joe, we're completely at one, nobody wants to see anything that interrupts or unbalances the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement."

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