Labour leader Harriet Harman blasts 'gloating and sneering' David Cameron at PMQs

David Cameron was accused of "gloating" and "sneering" today as the Tory leader faced a grilling from MPs during the second Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) of the parliament on 10 June.

Harriet Harman, the interim Labour leader, launched the attack after Cameron quoted her saying that some Labour supporters did not want Ed Miliband to win the general election.

The remark came after Harman had asked the prime minister if he would let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.

"Can I just say in his initial response to my question that he won the election – he's the prime minister – so he doesn't need to do ranting and sneering and gloating. He can just answer the question and, frankly, he should show a bit more class," the Camberwell and Peckham MP said.

But Cameron was quick to turn the Labour leader's comments around and joked that "it must be the first time someone has ever been accused of gloating whilst quoting the leader of the opposition".

The prime minister added that Harman had "talked a lot of sense" and promised to continue to quote the acting Labour leader in the future.

The Conservative premier was also able to make a quip about Douglas Carswell, Ukip's only MP in the House of Commons.

Carswell asked the prime minister why he was not pushing Europe for a larger repatriation of powers from Brussels to the UK. Cameron joked that the Clacton representative had a backbench rebellion.

The main announcement from today's exchange was that the all-Conservative government plans to launch a Migration Advisory Committee.

The body will investigate how best to cut non-European Economic Area (EEA) immigration to the UK after net migration hit more than 318,000 in 2014 – three times over Cameron's "tens of thousands" target.

Number 10 said that the commission will examine how skilled work visa (Tier 2) system operates and comes after Cameron held his first meeting with his new Immigration Taskforce.

"This government is on the side of working people: in the past, it has been too easy for businesses to recruit from overseas, undermining those who want to work hard and do the right thing," the prime minister said.

"As part of our one-nation approach, pushed forward by my Immigration Taskforce, we have asked the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on what more can be done to reduce levels of work migration from outside the EU."