House of Lords
Parliament

Former Scottish secretary Lord Forsyth of Drumlean tables an amendment to allow politicians "for the first time to discuss the Fiscal Framework in either house".

He argues that the fiscal framework, which was agreed last week between the Treasury and the Scottish government, should "be approved by both houses of parliament".

Lord Forsyth says he finds it "extraordinary that something as important as the future financial settlement of the whole of the United Kingdom should be decided in this way". 

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs in the House of Commons are voting on the regulations that would set the date of the EU referendum on 23 June. 

The regulations would also set the start of the official referendum period as Friday 15 April.

You can read the statutory instrument that MPs are voting on here, external.

The result is expected at 6.55pm.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers begin by debating an amendment tabled by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Wallace of Tankerness to devolve powers to change the laws governing electricity generating stations and overhead lines to the Scottish Parliament.

Lord Wallace tells peers that while the laws governing approvals of new power generating stations and overhead lines have been updated in England and Wales they have been left languishing in Scotland.

"This has effectively become a bit of a legislative orphan," he tells peers.

Scotland Minister Lord Dunlop promises that the issue will be looked at before the bill's third reading, its final stage in the House of Lords, and Lord Wallace withdraws his amendment.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, PA

Tax

• Scottish Parliament will gain powers to set the thresholds and rates of income tax on earnings in Scotland, and retain all the money raised in Scotland
• Provide the Scottish Parliament with the first ten percentage points of standard rate VAT revenue raised in Scotland (and 2.5% reduced rate)
• Devolve responsibility for Air Passenger Duty and the Aggregates Levy to the Scottish Parliament
• Additional borrowing powers will be agreed between the UK and Scottish parliaments as part of a new fiscal framework for Scotland

Welfare

• Scottish Parliament will get around £2.5bn of new welfare powers
• Allow the Scottish Parliament to vary the frequency of Universal Credit payments in Scotland
• Give the Scottish Parliament powers to set the rules over a range of benefits which affect carers, disabled people, the elderly, and to control programmes to help people find work.

Fiscal framework

• A new Fiscal Framework has been announced after an agreement was struck between the UK and Scottish governments last week
• Barnett formula will be retained but will account for a smaller share of the Scottish Parliament’s revenues because more than half of it would now be raised by tax decisions made at Holyrood.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers now move on to the Scotland Bill at report stage.

The bill seeks to honour the commitment made to Scotland before the independence referendum to transfer significant new powers to the Scottish Parliament - known as 'the Vow' - and deliver full the Smith Commission Agreement, drawn up after the independence vote.

Under the bill, the Scottish Parliament will be given the power to set rates and bands of income tax from April 2017, keep half of all VAT receipts, and be given the ability to top up welfare benefits and create new payments.  

House of Lords
Parliament

Shadow home affairs spokesman Lord Rosser asks for evidence on the government's claim that they are "working with the French authorities and others to ensure that refugees applying to joining their families in the UK under Dublin regulations are processed quickly".

Lord Rosser claims that peers are currently having to take the government's word that children are "not being left vulnerable to child traffickers and joining the thousands of disappeared in Europe".

Lord Bates replies that, amongst other things, the government are "focusing on hot spots" of child trafficking and the independent anti-slavery commissioner has been sent out to Calais to "see what more can be done".

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's Stephen Gethins says that the SNP is against holding a referendum on the 23 June. 

He argues that the referendum campaign will "overlap" with elections to the Scottish Parliament, which will be held in May.

House of Lords
Parliament

Home Office Minister Lord Bates is now repeating the answer to an urgent question given earlier in the House of Commons by James Brokenshire on child refugees in Calais.

When statements or answers to urgent questions are deemed important enough, ministers will repeat them in the House of Lords to allow peers to ask questions on the subject.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Sir Bill Cash says he is worried that voters will not have "impartial" information on the European Union in order to make a decision on 23 June. 

He argues that the renegotiation carried out by the prime minister over the terms of Britain's membership of the EU cannot be guaranteed to be upheld by other European states. He wants this made clear during the referendum.

House of Lords
Parliament

The remaining government concessions are agreed to without a vote. 

The amended bill will now return to the House of Commons, as MPs must agree to the final text of the bill before it can become law. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow Europe minister Pat Glass says she hopes this will be the last debate on the "process" of the referendum.

She tells the Commons that Labour do not believe the referendum will clash with assembly elections if it is held on 23 June.

She adds that holding the referendum in June will limit the "uncertainty", which will be caused in the run-up to the vote, and says Labour will support the motion.

House of Lords
Parliament

The government has been defeated on the issue. 

Peers agree to Lord Low's amendments to require the government to carry out an impact assessment before it can bring forward its changes to the Employment and Support Allowance, external by 289 votes to 219.

House of Commons
Parliament

The government has faced criticism that the referendum is being held too soon, and will clash with elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Europe Minister David Lidington says that 23 June is a "full seven weeks" after the date of elections to the UK's devolved assemblies, and so concerns that it will interfere with them are misplaced.

He dismisses the idea that the referendum is being held too soon, noting that traditionally a general election used to be held with six weeks notice, and that this referendum has been announced four months in advance, which, he argues, is plenty of time.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lord Low of Dalston pushes his amendments to a vote.

There's no clear winner in the initial oral vote, so the House of Lords divides to allow peers, many of whom are not in the chamber, to register their votes in the lobbies.

Results for the division are expected at 5.40pm

The London borough of Havering is the most Eurosceptic in Britain, according to a YouGov survey.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Reuters

MPs have moved on to debate a motion on the date of the in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

If passed this motion would set the date of the referendum on 23 June.

The European Union - often known as the EU - is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries. 

Read more about the referendum here.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Liam Fox raises a point of order about the guidance for civil servants on the EU referendum. He says ministers are required to give full answers to the House of Commons, and asks how they can do that if civil servants are withholding documents relating to the referendum.

Speaker Bercow says the question is "good and legitimate", but it is at this stage "hypothetical". 

He says it will have to be looked at "on a case by case basis".

Image source, House of Commons

More scorn from the Conservative benches for the government's stance on the issue. Julian Lewis says the "big battalions of the civil service" seem to be lined up on one side of the argument while Sir Gerald Howarth says the public may come to believe the referendum is being "rigged". He suggests that it is a "constitutional outrage" that ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Justice, who are "intimately involved" in EU-related issues, are denied access to such material. Former Welsh Secretary David Jones asks how ministers in such a situation can expect to remain responsible for the work of their departments while Tim Loughton jokes that ministers may have to submit Freedom of Information requests to find out what is going on.