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Labour MP Jamie Reed is asking an urgent question on the Sellafield nuclear processing plant following claims that it is "dangerously run down".

A BBC investigation has uncovered a catalogue of safety concerns at the nuclear site, which is located in Mr Reed's Cumbria constituency.

Panorama found parts of Sellafield regularly have too few staff to operate safely and that radioactive materials have been stored in degrading plastic bottles.  

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, tipped by some to take over from Keith Vaz as chair of the home affairs committee, has said his departure was very sad but that the MP had done the right thing. Praising Mr Vaz's leadership of the committee, he added. 

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Image source, House of Commons

David Burrowes, a Conservative member of the home affairs select committee, says Mr Vaz had been an excellent chair over the past nine years but that his position had been "fatally compromised" by the allegations about his private life and his departure was inevitable. 

He tells Radio 4's World at One that given the committee's responsibility for examining issues such as prostitution and drugs, it was essential that its members were "absolutely objective" and "not likely to be conflicted" in any way. 

Mr Vaz's authority had been undermined, he argues, and it was the "honourable thing" for him to quit - adding that he expects an interim chair to be appointed pending the election of a replacement. 

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

The BBC's Norman Smith says Mr Vaz's permanent departure was something of a surprise because the feeling of some members of the committee was that he would only step aside temporarily. What changed things, he says, was that support from Labour MPs on the committee was ebbing away and there was a prospect that if he did not go voluntarily things could start to get "very ugly". There is no indication that Mr Vaz will step down as an MP, he adds, saying his instinct was that he would carry on as member for Leicester East. 

“It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain Chair. I have always been passionate about Select Committees, having served as either Chair or Member for half of my time in Parliament. The integrity of the Select Committee system matters to me. Those who hold others to account, must themselves be accountable

"I am immeasurably proud of the work the Committee has undertaken over the last 9 years, and I am privileged to have been the longest serving Chair of this Committee. This work has included the publication of 120 reports, hearing evidence from Ministers 113 times, and hearing from a total of 1379 witnesses. I am very pleased that so many Members of the Committee have gone onto high office and Ministerial positions.

"I told the Committee today of my decision to stand aside immediately from Committee business, and my intention to resign. This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family. I have recommended that in the interim, Tim Loughton MP, the senior Conservative member, should Chair proceedings.

"After speaking to the House authorities, I will formally tender my resignation to Mr Speaker so that it coincides with the timetable for the election of other Committee Chairs, such as the Brexit Committee, Culture, Media and Sport, and Science and Technology, so that the elections can take place together. 

"I would like to thank my fellow members of the Committee, past and present, for their tremendous support. I would also like to thank the Clerks of the House for the amazing work they have done to strengthen the Select Committee system, we are not quite on par with the United States, but we are getting there. They are a vital body for the scrutiny of government. I would like to particularly thank my two Clerks, Tom Healey and Carol Oxborough.”

In a statement, Keith Vaz has announced he is stepping down immediately as chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, amid allegations about his private life.

He said he had informed the committee of his intention, saying it was "my decision, and mine alone", and his "first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family". He has recommended Conservative MP Tim Loughton to be interim chairman.

Mr Vaz said he was "immeasurably proud" of the committee's work over the past nine years and was "privileged" to have been its "longest serving chair".  

The Daily Politics

The Greens have been urging other parties on the left of politics to join a so-called progressive alliance, including electoral pacts in some areas to help defeat Conservative candidates.

Discussing how the idea would work, newly-elected Green co-leader Caroline Lucas said it would be up to local constituencies to decide. But she said it would essentially be “a one-off arrangement” in marginal seats. The party wants to get enough MPs with electoral reform as the "number one issue in their manifesto", to try to change "archaic" system, she explains.

Her neighbouring MP, Labour's Peter Kyle, says he likes the idea of parties working together in the common interest, but he says he can't see how such a pact would be viewed by voters, as it would be an "electoral stitch up".

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Parliament

Liz Truss uses the beginning of topical questions to make a statement on her aims.

She says she is "proud to take on the role of Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary".

Over the next two months she will be "laying out plans for prison reform and setting out plans to modernise the courts to ensure we continue to have a world leading system".

The Ministry of Defence has announced, external it is to sell more than 1,200 hectares of surplus public sector land - including two golf courses at RAF Henlow and Southwick Park - to build up to 17,000 new homes and "create a more effective and efficient defence estate".

The department say's it's part of the government's target of building 160,000 new homes by 2020. The money generated from land sales will be invested back into meeting the needs of the Armed Forces.  

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:

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Parliament

Labour MP Luciana Burger accuses the government of a "dereliction of duty" which has led to 100 people "taking their lives in prison" this year - the highest level for over 25 years.

Over 9,000 people have self harmed, an increase of 25% in the last year, she adds.

"The government should be ashamed," she says, and asks what the government will do to "look after thousands of prisoners with serious mental health problems who need looking after".

Justice Minister Dr Philip Lee replies that mental health care is "hugely complex" and the "etymology of mental health doesn't just occur in the term of a parliament".

Because of this complexity he says he is "not about to make a commitment at the despatch box".

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At 12:30 BST, Labour MP Jamie Reed, will ask an urgent question in the Commons on safety at the nuclear plant Sellafield in Cumbria. The question is to the secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark. But it is unclear who will answer for the government.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The Daily Politics

Leicester Conservative councillor Ross Grant tells the BBC's Daily Politics he thinks Labour MP Keith Vaz should immediately resign as chairman of the Home Affairs Committee and also consider his position as an MP over allegations about his private life.

Green co-leader Caroline Lucas says there "might be some sense" in Mr Vaz standing aside from the committee's inquiry on prostitution. But she says she is "not yet persuaded" his alleged conduct is in the public interest "because no illegality has been shown to be the case, or gross hypocrisy", she adds.

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Graham Brady has been re-elected unopposed as chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs. 

Charles Walker and Cheryl Gillan were elected as the two vice-chairmen, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown as treasurer with Nigel Evans and Bob Blackman as joint secretaries. All were unopposed.

Fourteen MPs will stand for the 12 places on the executive committee, including:

1. Steve Baker
2. Sir Simon Burns
3. David Burrowes
4. Rehman Chishti
5. James Cleverley
6. Dr James Davies
7. Bernard Jenkin
8. Jason McCartney
9. Karl McCartney
10. Antoinette Sandbach
11. Alec Shelbrooke
12. Andrew Turner
13. Bill Wiggin
14. William Wragg