Select Committee
Parliament

Committee chair Neil Parish welcomes the witnesses to the committee and the witnesses for their view on the state of the English tourist industry. 

Patricia Yates of Visit Britain expresses optimism about the tourism industry, and says "domestic travel has grown at a time when the economy is strong".

She says that this indicates people they have chosen to holiday domestically, rather than being limited by financial constraints.

House of Commons
Parliament

Work and Pensions Minister Damian Hinds tells MPs that the Chancellor's Autumn Statement (due next week) will build on "significant progress" made by the government. 

He tells MPs that since 2010 the government has taken tough decision to reduce the large deficit inherited.

He hopes that MPs will recognise the "value of the government's approach" and offers a healthy picture of the country's prospects.

He notes that unemployment is the lowest it has been for a decade, average wages are rising and the number of workless households is falling.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Peers return bright eyed and bushy tailed today at 3pm for the usual session of oral questions to government ministers.

Today's questions cover topics including the current state of mental health provision for children and young people, and future diplomatic relations between the UK and the United States, following the US presidential election.

Hot on the heels of that will be government minister Baroness Williams of Trafford repeating the answer given earlier in the Commons to an urgent question about the implementation of section 67 of the Immigration Act.

After that peers will debate consideration of Commons reasons for rejecting Lords amendments to the Investigatory Powers Bill - the latest episode in the game of parliamentary ping pong, external on this bill between the two Houses of Parliament.

The main business if the day will be the fifth and final day of committee stage consideration of the Policing and Crime Bill.

Select Committee
Parliament

The committee has launched an inquiry into the role of tourism in supporting rural growth in England.

Rural tourism provides around £17bn a year to the English economy. However, rural communities face some particular problems as far as tourism growth is concerned - such as transport connections, restrictions to broadband access and seasonal employment.

The inquiry will look into marketing and supporting the visitor economy in England's rural coast and countryside.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, Thinkstock

Shortly, the Environment Committee will be holding their first evidence session of their inquiry into rural tourism in England.

The witnesses giving evidence this afternoon will be:

• Patricia Yates, Director of Strategy and Communications, VisitBritain/VisitEngland
• Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive, Welcome to Yorkshire
• Jude Leitch, Director, Northumberland Tourism.

Distributional analysis was introduced by the Coalition government as part of the information published alongside the Budget and Autumn Statement.

The analysis calculates the impact of changes to spending plans on households in different parts of the income distribution.

Since the Summer Budget of July 2015 the analysis changed so that it now shows how public spending and taxes are distributed rather than the amounts different households will receive.

Earlier this year the Treasury Committee called , externalon the government to revert to the analysis originally used by the Coalition government.

House of Commons
Parliament

John McDonnell says that it may be "a post-truth" age but he still believes in evidence based policy.

He therefore argues that it is "critical" that the government restores the distributional analysis of its spending proposals.

He adds that the analysis should be "intelligible and usable" accusing the former Chancellor of trying to hide the impact of his policies.

BBC Radio 5 live

The Conservative MP Anna Soubry says Rolls Royce bosses fear any Brexit deal involving leaving the EU customs union would seriously damage their business. 

Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC 5live Daily, the Conservative MP for Broxstowe said:  

A customs union is a form of trade agreement between two or more countries. It means they decide not to impose tariffs (taxes on imports) on each other's goods and agree to impose common external tariffs on goods from countries outside their customs union.

However, they also limit the freedom of their individual members to strike their own trade deals.

Whether to remove itself from the EU's customs union will be a key question in the government's Brexit process.

Britain does not have to be a member of the EU's single market to be in a customs union with the EU.

Supporters of the customs union point out that if the UK were to leave it, there would be much more paperwork for UK businesses to fill out, and it could make the border issues involving Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic more complicated.

On the other hand, those wanting to leave the customs union say it would make it easier to negotiate trade deals with countries outside the union.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is moving the opposition day debate on the analysis of Universal Credit and Employment Support Allowance for the Autumn Statement.

The motion calls on the government to reserve cuts to Universal Credits and Employment Support Allowance, and to reintroduce detailed distributional analysis for the Autumn Statement and all further financial statements, as was done between 2010 and 2015.  

Mr McDonnell says that the fiscal framework imposed by the former Chancellor was "so inflexible" that it failed to meet economic targets. 

The Autumn Statement will be delivered by Chancellor Philip Hammond on 23 November.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

The British government has told MPs that it has decided not to allow thousands of Chagos islanders to return home.

Instead, the Foreign Office said the Chagossians would be offered compensation worth £40m over the next ten years.

The government also confirmed that the UK will allow the US to continue to maintain its huge military base in the islands in the Indian Ocean.

House of Commons
Parliament

Ms Thewliss present her bill to the House - and curtsies as she approaches the chair (to murmurs of amusement from benches around her) - and it passes to second reading without a division. 

The bill will next be debated on 24 February 2017.

Inside the secret Facebook group, where Clinton supporters share stories, and new political activism.

House of Commons
Parliament

Speaking about her ten minute rule bill, SNP MP Alison Thewliss says families are making decisions based on how the formula companies "present their products on their shelves", she says.

She said adverts can be "misleading" and that guides for families about infant formula are being left to organisations such as First Steps Nutrition Trust and Baby Milk Action.

Poorest families are "losing out the most", as they have the least access to such information, she adds. 

Ms Thewliss urges the government to act to protect their interests. 

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP MP Alison Thewliss is now introducing her Feeding Products for Babies and Children Bill, under the ten minute rule.

The bill would control the advertising on feeding products for babies and children and could control claims allowed to be made by advertisers when producing adverts. 

Ten minute rule bills are introduced by backbench MPs and are a type of private members' bill. 

The MP introducing the bill can give a ten minute speech when proposing it to the House.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP MP Stewart Hosie raises a point of order about the prime minister's suggestion that the Scottish National Party campaigned during the independence referendum to leave the EU single market, which he says is not correct.

Speaker Bercow takes him it is the responsibility of "each and every member of the House" to take responsibility for their own statements. 

Mr Bercow says as with many things, the situation lends itself "to a number of different interpretations".