Campaigners have won their High Court battle over Theresa May's decision to use the royal prerogative in her Brexit strategy.

Article 50 author Lord Kerr says Brexit could be stopped

House of Commons
Parliament

We're underway in the Commons, with Culture, Media and Sport questions.

Conservative MP Fiona Bruce asks about the regulation of fixed odds betting terminals. She asks if the planned government review will consider reducing the maximum bet, currently set at £100. 

She says doing so would reduce "problem gambling".

Minister Tracy Crouch says there will be a review and it "will look at the stakes and prizes for all gaming machines".

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, Getty Images

According to the Daily Telegraph's, external Allister Heath, there is no comparison between Brexit and the rise of US Republican candidate Donald Trump.

He argues that "in all the ways that really matter", the Brexiteer agenda "is dramatically at odds with what passes for Trump's world view".

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The Daily Telegraph

Image source, PA

Labour former leader Ed Miliband says the only way the government will stop the running commentary on Brexit is to present a plan with a strategy.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, external, he says: "Some are tempted to say that anyone who raises these issues is a 'Remoaner' - wanting to reverse the referendum.

"I don't. I just know that long after this parliament and this government, people will be asking how we responded to the convulsion of Brexit.

"Did we seek calmly and maturely to make decisions in the national interest? Did we seek to bring the 48% and the 52% together?"

Mr Miliband argues that the only hope of unifying the country is for the government to change tack.

"Ministers have nothing to fear from presenting a clear plan to Parliament and everything to gain. They are the government with a majority. If it is a sensible plan, they will get it through."

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Reality Check

We are expecting a court ruling shortly on whether the government can trigger Article 50 without asking MPs first.

Here's Reality Check's take on the question. 

Even if it turns out that an act of Parliament is needed before Article 50 may be triggered, it is difficult to see how Parliament could in practice ignore the result of the referendum.  

House of Commons
Parliament

It's a 9:30am start on a busy day in the House of Commons. 

MPs begin with questions to Culture, Media and Sport ministers, followed by questions to the Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox.

At around 10:30am there's an urgent question from the chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affaisr Committee Neil Parish on air quality. 

That's followed by the announcement of future business in the House, and then two ministerial statements: the first on prison safety, the second on the UK's campaign against the so-called Islamic State. 

There's also a statement from the Chair of the Health Select Committee, Dr Sarah Wollaston, on their report into accident and emergency departments in winter.

The main business of the day is a pair of backbench debates on financial services and the living wage.

The High Court will give its verdict in the historic legal challenge to the government over Brexit.

The way the NHS in England is organised is hindering its ability to meet its challenges, a review led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn says.

Mr Milburn said the current system was "confused and complex".

The review, for consultants PwC, called for a gradual evolution of the structures, saying those who worked in the health service supported reform.

But the Department of Health said its plan for the future would be "delivered within the NHS's existing structures".

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The Daily Telegraph

According to the Daily Telegraph, external, a Conservative MP is calling for BBC1 to restore the tradition of playing the national anthem at the end of each day’s programmes, in honour of Brexit. 

Andrew Rosindell, the MP for Romford, said the BBC should be "unashamedly British" and celebrate the UK's exit from the EU with a clear statement that "Britain is back."  

He has tabled an early day motion calling for the anthem to be played before the switch over to BBC News 24. 

It is the Tory MP's second attempt to restore the practice in Parliament, since it was scrapped in 1997. 

Mr Rosindell told the Telegraph: “The British Broadcasting Corporation should be unashamedly British and playing our British National Anthem once a day on BBC1 is not much to ask.

"They used to do it and it’s time it was restored, to send out a message that Britain is back, following Brexit in tribute to Her Majesty in this, her 90th year!”

Read more, external

Image source, AFP

The Pensions Regulator has launched enforcement action against Sir Philip Green and other former owners of BHS.

The regulator said it was seeking redress for BHS's 20,000 pension scheme members following an investigation.

It has sent warning notices to Sir Philip, his retail group, and Dominic Chappell, who was the owner when the department store chain collapsed.

But Sir Philip said he had given the regulator "a credible and substantial proposal" for the BHS pension deficit.

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Image source, PA

Theresa May has had some fun with George Osborne's preferred campaigning clobber by accepting an award from the former chancellor wearing a high-visibility jacket and hard hat. Mrs May was picking up the Spectator magazine's Politician of the Year award.

Mrs May enjoyed a meteoric, if tumultuous, rise to No 10 in 2016, winning the Tory leadership and becoming PM after the contest that followed David Cameron's resignation in the wake of the Brexit vote. 

She ended Mr Osborne's six year stint as chancellor after becoming PM.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood has defended the role of the civil service during the run-up to the EU referendum and since the Brexit vote. 

In a blog on a government website, he writes: "During the official referendum campaign, we were scrupulous in making sure that all documents issued were factually correct and objective...

"The question has still been asked: 'What was the civil service doing before the referendum? Where is the Brexit plan?' This shows little appreciation of the constitutional and propriety framework in which we operate, not to mention the practical difficulty of producing a comprehensive plan for such a multi-faceted proposition as Brexit."

Sir Jeremy says civil servants have queued up to join the new departments dealing with Brexit, but admits a shortage of trade negotiators.

He writes: "One consequence of our decades-long EU membership is that we are short of certain specialist personnel and skills for tasks that will be central to Brexit and our future international relationships, such as trade negotiations.

"These roles were filled centrally by officials from across the EU. Recognising this, we have opened ourselves to approaches from external consultancies, accountancy firms, project management specialists, and many individuals."

Image source, PA

Justice Secretary Liz Truss has told the BBC funding to recruit 2,000 extra prison staff will come from extra money provided by the Treasury. 

Ms Truss said the chancellor has made available an extra £104m. 

This means the money will not come from savings elsewhere in the Justice Budget.

The Green Party in Richmond has voted to withdraw its candidate Andree Frieze from the Richmond Park by-election, but the local party in Kingston could still decide to field a candidate and is meeting on Thursday evening to make its decision.

Caroline Lucas MP, co-leader of the party, went to Richmond Park to urge activists not to put up a candidate in order to maximise the prospect of defeating what a spokesman described as a “regressive alliance”, with Zac Goldsmith standing as an independent with support from the Conservatives and UKIP.

Under Green party rules, it is up to local parties to decide whether to stand in by-elections - and the national party does not have a role in the decision. 

Richmond Park constituency straddles the boundary between the Richmond and Kingston local parties.

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Correspondent

The Scottish cross-bench peer who wrote Article 50 - the procedure by which the UK would leave the EU - believed it was "not irrevocable".

In a BBC interview, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard said the UK could choose to stay in the EU even after exit negotiations had begun.

He has also renewed calls for either parliament or the public to be given a chance to stop Brexit.

The UK government insisted the leave vote must be respected.

His comments come as the High Court is to rule on whether the government can begin the formal process of leaving the European Union without consulting Parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May said she would trigger the two year exit negotiation process by the end of March 2017.

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Tom Moseley
Political reporter

Anyone following the Brexit debate might think lawyers are the big winners from the UK's vote to leave the EU.

Their clients are desperate for advice as the UK attempts to disentangle itself from EU legislation, while the profession's leading lights clash in a historic legal challenge over Parliament's role in Brexit.

But is the profession really rubbing its hands in glee?

Robert Bourns, the president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said that while there is likely to be a short-term surge in demand, the long-term picture could be less rosy.

Companies are worried about whether their skilled workers will be able to stay in the UK post Brexit and how much regulation they will be subject to, he said.

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