Brexit: Baroness Smith says 'it has been a long debate'

There were hours of argument and more than 14 votes in the House of Lords before the government came to the agreement that the bill designed to stop a no-deal Brexit would clear the Upper House by 17:00 BST on Friday.

Just before 01:30 BST, the Government Chief Whip in the Lords, Lord Ashton, made the announcement.

In response, Labour's Leader in the House of Lords, Baroness Smith, confirmed that the opposition supported the move, and said that she hoped there would be no further frustrations of the bill as it goes through all its stages.