PMQs verdict: Corbyn posed some taxing questions but must do more to clobber Cameron

The steel crisis. Ever-worsening Tory in-fighting over Europe. Cameron’s personal ratings tanking. Labour is calling for a Cabinet minister to resign.

There was plenty for Jeremy Corbyn to go on at PMQs today. It is a testament to how seriously the Labour leadership is taking the issue of tax avoidance that he devoted the session to that one issue.

There was something different in Corbyn’s approach today. He has in the past appeared to put little effort into his preparations for Prime Minister’s Questions, simply selecting six questions to put across the despatch box to David Cameron.

But today, there were no crowd-sourced questions. Today, his questions had a logical progression to them, from the tax row, to HMRC cuts, to a public ownership register – and came with statistics to challenge Cameron’s own narratives.

Today, Corbyn even had a comeback ready for a Cameron putdown.

As the PM made a joke about Corbyn’s tax return being “uncosted” (a mistake made on the form meant he had paid more tax than was necessary), the Labour leader replied: “I paid more tax than some companies owned by people he might know quite well.”

It wasn’t the greatest delivery, but the fact he had come armed with a line is interesting: he knew Cameron would want to mock him over his tax return, and by having a retort ready, he was able to push back onto the issues.

That seems to be because Corbyn and McDonnell believe tax avoidance is an issue where they can really start to make their mark. The Google tax deal furore in January provided John McDonnell with the opportunity for possibly his best week as Shadow Chancellor yet, and Labour had dominated the story in the media.

Now, they are doing the same. Regular conference calls from the leader’s office are apparently taking place so that Corbyn can map out how best to push the issue forward, and today’s PMQs led into an Opposition Day debate on tax avoidance and evasion.

After the publication of Cameron and Osborne’s tax returns on Monday, following serious Labour pressure, this story looked in danger of running out of steam, with the opposition nowhere to go. Through Corbyn’s approach to PMQs today, however we can see the leadership is starting to add some forward planning to its approach to the media. But is it enough to be successful?