The Daily Politics

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Antoinette Sandbach asks what the department is doing to support the education of girls.

Minister James Wharton replies that in the last parliament the government helped five million girls get the education they need and deserve. He adds that in this parliament the government aims to help 6.5 million girls into education.

Labour's Alison McGovern says education in Syria is being severely undermined by President Assad dropping bombs on schools.

Mr Wharton replies that the UK is doing what it can but accepts that more needs to be done.

European Parliament
Brussels

French Socialist Emmanuel Maurel asks whether the EU could use trade agreements as a means to get countries to comply with more stringent transparency requirements. 

He suggests that the bloc could for example deny preferential trading terms to countries that refused to implement transparency rules on tax reporting or beneficial ownership. 

Prof Stiglitz replies that he thinks this "would be a good idea".

He says such an approach could "advance the principle of transparency enormously". 

Select Committee
Parliament

Chair Mr Benn closes the session and thanks the witnesses for their time and coming to give evidence.

Next week, the Brexit committee will hear from witnesses from Chatham House, the Legatum Institute and Open Europe on the same topic. 

European Parliament
Brussels

UKIP MEP Raymond Finch asks Joseph Stiglitz about his recommendation that non-cooperative tax havens could be cut off from the global financial system. 

He says he "seems to be implying a total isolation" for such countries - and asks whether this should be considered immoral if it has a detrimental economic effect there.   

In reply, Prof Stiglitz says that citizens in such countries need to pressure their own governments not to "get away with imposing costs on others".

He does not offer a specific reply to Mr Finch's request for him to comment on the relationship between Hillary Clinton and multinational corporations. 

Select Committee
Parliament

Chair Hilary Benn asks witnesses what kind of clarity they expect to see in the plans and objectives for the process of exiting the European Union.

Dr White says the government needs to "promote confidence" in its plan and ability to execute it effectively. 

Sir Simon says it is inevitable that whatever process, there will be "uncertainty for important stakeholders". 

Professor Barnard tells the committee we have heard "we are leaving for the benefit of the UK", and so there should be a sense that the "public as whole" will benefit from the negotiations, not just sectors such as the City of London with "powerful lobby groups". 

The Daily Politics

The Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said that she still has confidence in the Child Sex Abuse inquiry.

Answering reporters’ questions at the National Police Chiefs Council conference in London, the Home Secretary said

"Yes I still have confidence in the inquiry. I saw the latest news on the inquiry today. I would say that it's a matter for the inquiry. They have independent control over... It's an independent inquiry and so they will manage their own recruitment process"

Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn have live coverage of Prime Minister’s Questions. They are joined by the Housing Minister Gavin Barwell and shadow minister without oortfolio, Andrew Gwynne to discuss the latest developments on Brexit and the situation in Syria, plus looking at what PMs and presidents do after leaving office.

Select Committee
Parliament

DUP MP Sammy Wilson asks the witnesses about whether the differences within the devolved institutions towards the EU referendum can be resolved. 

Dr Hannah White says geographical differences are clear and it important that negotiations "surface all relevant concerns". 

Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU by a majority of 56% to 44%.  

Scotland also voted in favour of the UK staying in the EU by 62% to 38% - with all 32 council areas backing Remain.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative MP Dominic Raab asks about the long term cost for the civil service and whether there will be a "reduction in bureaucracy" following the Article 50 negotiation. 

Sir Simon Fraser says it will have more national policies in place and so there won't be a "linear reduction in bureaucracy".   

Sir Simon tells Mr Raab that if a decision is made to leave the customs union new regulatory checks will have to be implemented on goods crossing the border and that this would be a "heavy regulatory burden". 

Dr Hannah White adds that we may need more immigration officials tracking people coming into the country, if this becomes necessary. 

Both witnesses tell the committee that assumptions cannot be made before we know the outcome of the negotiations. 

European Parliament
Brussels

Spanish Liberal MEP Maite Pagazaurtundua Ruiz gives her backing to the idea of a common EU-wide list of countries defined as tax havens. 

She asks Joseph Stiglitz what the "essential criteria" could be for including countries on the list. 

Prof Stiglitz replies that a 0% corporate tax rate "should be criticised" from a tax competition point of view.

He also says that tax agreements between governments and companies "should be publicised" so that the public can find out whether individual firms are getting "special deals". 

The Petitions Committee is holding an event in honour of its first birthday. 

The "Your Petitions" event is being marked with a flood of information on the government's e-petitions service, which lets members of the public write in with issues and suggestions online. 

The committee said that a petition on holding a second EU referendum was its biggest ever, with over four million signatures. 

The e-petition system, which completed its first full year in July, attracted 23,232 petitions and more than 20 million signatures.

These resulted in 20 debates in the House of Commons, according to a new report.

Read more on the petitions that didn't make it: The e-petitions sent to government that get rejected