House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald asks Mr Grayling to confirm that the project will be "kept on track" and delivered on date and to budget.

He raises concern that HS2 will be run in the private sector and asks why the government is "determined" to hand over "vast swathes of our public services" to Richard Branson.

He argues that if billions of public money is being invested in the railways "it is right that the revenues go back to the exchequer".

The Justice Secretary was speaking in the House of Commons after prison officers took industrial action.

House of Commons
Parliament

Chris Grayling says he is "under no illusions that this is not an easy undertaking".

He tells MPs that It would be easy to "make do and mend" existing railways but "that is not what the public deserves".

He acknowledges that building major infrastructure will always be "disruptive and disturbing" and therefore says those affected directly will have access to statutory compensation.

Select Committee
Parliament

Neil Parish thanks the witnesses for coming to give evidence and closes the evidence session.

He says we have "plenty of food and ammunition" to throw at the supermarkets when they come to give evidence in the coming weeks.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Department for Transport

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling now gets to his feet to make a statement on the HS2 route.

The government has, today, confirmed the route for the second phase of the high-speed rail line HS2, from Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds.

The government is yet to formally decide whether to site a new station on the edge of Sheffield or to the city centre.

Critics say the £56bn project will damage the countryside. The government believes HS2 will boost the economy. 

The first phase of HS2 ( London-Birmingham) is due to open in December 2026. The second Y-shaped phase extends the line to Yorkshire and north-west England and is expected to be completed by 2032-33.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Image source, PA

As Westminster does from time to time, there is a frothing row this morning over where a memo - which pertains to reveal the government's private Brexit woes and is splashed on the front of The Times - actually comes from.

To say that Downing Street is cross is an understatement. They are furious at the story emerging, not just because the claims in it are embarrassing and attack the prime minister's style, but because they say the document was not written by anyone with a real understanding of what's going on, but by a consultant, thought to be from the firm Deloitte, whose analysis was part of a pitch for work.

The Times disputes that, saying that senior civil servants were in fact also involved.

But whoever is right, the document does matter because it underlines what we have reported and others have written about many times.

Five months after the referendum, the cabinet is struggling to agree a common position on what "Brexit means Brexit" really means.

Read more...

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Former Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin, who briefly led the government's Brexit unit, says nobody needed a memo to tell them that leaving the EU would be "a huge challenge" .

He added that Brexit would be "the biggest thing of its kind that this country's ever done", but that the government was "entirely devoted" to carrying it through.

Brighton MP Caroline Lucas said Labour's commitment to supporting a vote to trigger Article 50 was weakening the case for those who oppose a hard Brexit. 

Ms Lucas said: "As a result we now have less power to persuade the government to give us proper details on their plans ahead of a vote

“Though we should not seek to overturn the result of the referendum it is down to us as MPs to look closely at the deal on the table before throwing our support behind the government’s plans," she continued. 

"A small majority of people voted to leave the EU, but without any clear plan of what such a vote would mean. I’d urge Labour to rethink their stance on this."

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has promised to, "work constructively" with junior doctors  to "address their concerns" after last week's decision by the British Medical Association to drop the threat of further strikes.

Mr Hunt told the Commons he hadn't been sure that he would ever be able to announce that the BMA had called off its industrial action.

The Health Secretary said the BMA had committed to work with the government on the implementation of new contracts for junior doctors.

He said this would make a significant contribution "to our commitment to a safer seven day NHS".

Mr Hunt said junior doctors were a "vital and valued part of our NHS".

House of Commons
Parliament

Chair of the Justice Committee Bob Neil asks the justice secretary to concede that there is an underlying issue of poor staff morale and a lack of retention - "particularly of experienced officers".

He asks what proposals have been brought forward to tackle the issue.

Liz Truss says that proposals had been put forward and urges the Prison Officers Association to come back to the negotiating table instead of "indulging in illegal industrial action".

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative MP Chris Davies asks what the hospitality industry can do to reduce food waste.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says there are "wasteful cultures" in hospitality industry globally. He cites the hotel breakfast buffet as a "nightmare" for food waste because it must look the same when the first guests see it at 6.30am and when the last guests see it at 10am and constantly be filled up.

The hospitality industry needs to "engage with the customer" and encourage hotels to compete on this difficult issue, he says. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon describes the situation as a crisis and accuses the government of having "lost control" of the situation. 

He blames the rise in assaults in prisons on a 6,000 reduction in staff numbers since 2010.

The government's white paper, he says, does not provide the rapid action needed.

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

David Jones, a minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, has dismissed claims the civil service requires 30,000 extra staff to carry out Brexit.

Speaking in Brussels, Mr Jones said: "That is a nonsensical figure which we certainly don't recognise."

The figure comes from a memo leaked to the Times, which the government has said is an "unsolicited document" from an external accountancy firm and has "no authority".

Select Committee
Parliament

The committee moves to discussing wonky-shaped vegetables and the way supermarkets deal with them. 

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall describes how supermarkets are bagging up "comedy veg" to put into bags designated for "wonky-shaped vegetables", but in the process throwing away lots of vegetables that are perfectly good. 

Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall tells the committee that the vast majority of imperfect vegetables "lie very close to perfection". 

The celebrity chef says supermarkets have become "removed from reality" and "deluded" about people will or won't buy.