House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons now moves on to an urgent question on the draft deal for changes to the UK's relationship with the EU, announced today.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked the urgent question to David Cameron, but the Europe Minister David Lidington will stand in for the prime minister, who is making a speech elsewhere.

Sky News

Former Conservative Cabinet minister Peter Lilley tells Sky News he wants to "absorb" the details of the document before committing one way or another in the upcoming EU referendum. He calls for a national debate focused on democracy and ensuring that Parliament "makes decisions where it can on the basis of the will of the British people". At the moment, he says Parliament is too often "sidelined", with little say over many new laws, and that "ministers keep quiet because they do not like to recognise their own impotence".

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle asks about the tax deal announced with Google, who will pay £130m. She wants to know if it is "fair and proportionate".

Business Secretary Sajid Javid says it's a "very important deal" which will lead to a "change in behaviour" because companies will think "action will be taken".

Angela Eagle says "at the weekend he said it 'wasn't a glorious moment'" while the chancellor initially hailed it as a success. She wants to know which it is? She also asks if he realises how unfair a "sweetheart" deal is to small firms who can't "negotiate their own private tax rate".

Sajid Javid says that "some companies got a zero percent tax rate under Labour" and that the current government has "closed 40 of Labour's tax loopholes".

As mentioned by the BBC's Ben Wright and Simon Wilson (see 12:24 entry) there are still some details to be finalised with x, y and Z currently being used. Here's a screengrab of the relevant bit:

MP Steve Baker, who heads Conservatives for Britain - which is seeking EU exit - says campaigners need to study the document but he believes there is "nothing within it which stands up to scrutiny" and "falls short" of what he and many of his colleagues were hoping for. The emergency brake, he says, would only be triggered long after there was a demonstrable problem with welfare claims and would require the permission of other EU states. It is clear, he says, that while a "kind of progress" has been made, the PM has been "negotiating to stay in Europe" all along. He says "all the energy" in the referendum campaign is on the Leave side, contrasting its message with the "fear, timidiy and lukewarm support" of the Stay campaign.  

On the key issue of limiting in-work benefits to workers from other EU states, the draft document contains much that the UK has asked for, but leaves open how long the measures would be allowed to remain in place.

The text states that a member state implementing such measures would be able to limit the access of workers to such benefits for up to a maximum period of four years.  However, as currently formulated, the text suggests that such a limitation would be graduated, gradually increasing access to benefits the longer a worker would spend in the UK.  This is something which may give critics of the Prime Minister the chance to argue that the measures are unlikely to seriously deter large numbers of workers from other EU countries. It is also clear that no agreement has been reached on how long the UK would be allowed to maintain such a regime and for how long it could be renewed.  In the text these figures are replaced by letters (x, y and x) which will be negotiated between member states during the coming weeks and at the summit in Brussels in two weeks time.

In what appears to be an important result for the UK negotiating team, attached to today’s document is a draft declaration from the European Commission acknowledging that according to information provided by the UK, the current situation would appear to meet the standards needed for the introduction of such measures and that “the United Kingdom would be justified in triggering the mechanism in the full expectation of obtaining approval”.

The Daily Politics

Tory MP Nick Herbert - who heads a Conservative group backing the UK staying in a reformed EU - says there are further negotiations to be had but "things seem to be moving the prime minister's way", telling Daily Politics that he believes the emergency brake on in-work benefits could be triggered straight away. He defends the proposals which will see child benefits continue to be paid to families whose dependants live abroad, saying child benefit will not be paid "at anything like the same rate" as at the moment and the proposal will have the "same practical effect" as stopping it altogether. He says it is a "good and sensible outcome which will restore fairness to the system".

Image source, Reuters

European Council president Donald Tusk has hailed the draft EU membership renegotiation package as "a good basis for a compromise", adding that "there are still challenging negotiations ahead. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

BBC News Channel

The co-founder of Leave.EU, one of several groups campaigning for the UK to leave, has accused the prime minister of "trying to deceive the British people" with regards to the proposal for a new settlement for the UK. Richard Tice told the BBC that the changes being proposed were far from adequate:

James Landale
Deputy political editor

David Cameron has secured a package of draft reforms that, if agreed, will allow him to argue that Britain should remain in the European Union. 

But the Prime Minister has by no means achieved all his aims. 

On migration, he's got his emergency welfare brake. But it is not clear how easy it will be to pull that brake or how long it will last. 

And while the benefits of EU migrants will be curbed for four years, they will be gradually restored the longer they stay in the UK. EU migrants will be able to send some their child benefit back home, reflecting prices in their own countries. But Mr Cameron had wanted to block all of it. 

On sovereignty, the PM has secured a clear legal statement that the UK is not committed to further political integration, that there is no common destination for all member states, and that the phrase 'ever closer union' cannot be used to integrate the EU further. 

But it is not yet clear when or how this will be incorporated into the EU treaties. He has also got new powers for national parliaments to block new EU laws but the thresholds are pretty high before those powers can be used. 

On competitiveness, the PM has got some language that commits the EU to strengthen the internal market and cut red tape. But they have been promising to do that for years. 

On protecting non-euro countries, there will be a new mechanism to get the eurozone to think again about decisions that could hit the City of London. 

On security, the PM has got some unexpected gains, making it easier for countries to stop terror suspects coming into the country even if the threat they pose is not imminent. 

There will also be a crackdown to stop people using sham marriages and other loopholes to gain access to the EU. 

So if this draft document, which the government says would be legally binding, is agreed, David Cameron will argue in a referendum that Britain's relationship with the EU has genuinely changed. 

His critics will say - and are saying - that the changes do not amount to a hill of beans. But before he makes the case to the British people, the prime minister now has 27 other countries to convince. 

Campaigners for the UK to remain in the EU have welcomed the draft renegotiation package, saying the changes would be "good for Britain". Lord Rose, who chairs Britain Stronger in Europe, says they show Britain is "clearly influencing the EU’s future and making sure it works in our interests".