Tory MEP leader Ashley Fox has said his colleagues in the European Parliament "will do all they can to help the UK Government steer a successful path through the forthcoming negotiations with Brussels".

The statement comes after a meeting in Brussels with Department for Exiting the EU Minister David Jones who said: ""I am delighted to have this opportunity to meet Conservative MEPs.

"I want to hear the views of colleagues on the way forward and tap into their expertise over the next couple of years as we withdraw from the European Union." 

House of Commons
Parliament

Justice Secretary Liz Truss condemns the Prison Officers Association's (POA) position as "unnecessary and unlawful" and says the government is taking steps to end the protests.

She says the government is taking action to improve safety in prisons, including recruiting an extra 2,500 officers, introducing measures to tackle psychoactive drugs, improving security across prison estates and training 300 dogs to find drugs. 

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's health spokesperson Philippa Whitford tells MPs that in Scotland, where the health and social care budgets are integrated, "delayed discharges" have fallen by 9%.

In England this figure has risen by 30%. She therefore urges the government to fund social care in order to relieve pressure on A&E services.

Philip Dunne argues that under the Barnett formula - which calculates the level of public spending due to the devolved nations - the NHS in Scotland receives £1,500 more per capita to spend than the NHS in England. 

He also notes that the NHS in Scotland has missed seven out of eight of its key targets.

Select Committee
Parliament

DUP MP David Simpson asks the witnesses: "who actually bears the cost of all the food wasted?"

Mr Stuart cites an example when he "never felt more ashamed" to be a British consumer than when he met a group of women in Kenya who were forced to destroy a whole basil plant, and lose a day's pay because a large supermarket in Europe had cancelled an order. 

These are the people "least able to bear the cost" and it is often the case that this falls to the "bottom of the supply-chain", he said. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Sir Edward Leigh tells MPs that the NHS is stretched and offers the government his own suggestions.

He says that ministers will either have to tax people more, or "think the unthinkable" and charge people for certain procedures.

His proposal is met by some boos, but he insists that the country needs to have "an honest debate" about finances of the NHS. 

Minister Philip Dunne replies that it is the government's ambition to integrate health and social care provision in order to meet "the challenges he has identified". 

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

It is understood the government has prepared a short three line bill to begin the process of leaving the EU  - so Theresa May can meet her March deadline to trigger Article 50.

Sources say they believe the legislation is so tightly drawn it will be difficult for critical MPs to amend.

Ministers have drawn up the legislation in the expectation that they may lose their appeal to the Supreme Court, which would force them to consult parliament.

Sources say they would plan to introduce the bill in the Commons immediately after the Supreme Court  ruling.

They would hope to push the bill through the Commons in two weeks.

It would then go to the House of Lords where it is understood the government hope peers would back down.

Ministers believe that peers would not dare defy MPs if the Commons had approved the legislation.

Sources say they have devised the bill to be "bombproof" to amendments.

Sources say although the government looked at allowing parliament a vote through "a substantive motion" rather than legislation, they decided this would leave them vulnerable to further legal challenge.

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury echoes John McDonnell's earlier comments on the previous government's tax changes. 

Rebecca Long-Bailey said:"We wouldn't have made the cuts to inheritance tax, we wouldn't have made the cuts to capital gains tax.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour MP Angela Smith asks if the campaigners think the government should introduce a mandatory food waste target.

Mr Stuart says that England should have a national food waste target similar to those in Scotland and the United States. 

But he says that mandatory reporting of the food waste by supermarkets would be more desirable. 

Mr Stuart adds that the the CEOs of supermarket chains Sainsbury's and Tesco favour this idea.  

The Daily Politics

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth tells MPs that public health budgets, social care budgets and maintenance budgets have all been cut.

He notes that the high risk maintenance backlog has soared by 69% and that "even the most urgent repairs are being left undone".

Jeremy Hunt replies that in 2010, the party that wanted to cut NHS budgets was Labour not the Conservatives, adding: "It is not enough to found the NHS, you have to fund it."

This response provokes a rebuke from Speaker John Bercow who is cross the health secretary keeps "dilating on the policies of the Labour Party".

"If he does so again," he warns "I will sit him down." 

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Stewart Jackson says his local hospital in Peterborough is labouring under a "£35m annual millstone" as a result of PFI (Private-Finance Initiative) debt.

PFI schemes allowed private organisations to pay for and provide public sector capital projects such as hospitals, schools or prisons.    

He argues that there would be more money to spend on frontline care if the NHS did not have to deal with £64bn in debt from "appalling PFI contracts".

Jeremy Hunt agrees, describing PFI as a "disastrous mistake". 

The Daily Politics

Select Committee
Parliament

Mr Stuart tells the committee that businesses are "very clearly" confusing customers with date labels on food products. 

Use-by dates should be given to inform the customer when the product will become a health hazard, but Mr Stuart argues that business are not using them properly and instead treating them as best before dates. 

This makes people "believe they have got to throw away food" as soon as the date has passed, he argues. 

There is a "very strong case" to get rid of best before dates on products such as fruit and vegetables, he adds. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tells MPs that in the last four years, 31 NHS trusts have gone into special measures and, of those, 15 have come out.

He praises trusts in Sherwood and the Wye Valley who have recently come out of special measures.

Labour MP and former shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander says there are as many trusts in special measures as those that have come out, and asks when the government will accept that NHS resources are "inadequate".

Jeremy Hunt replies that when Labour was in power "these problems were swept under the carpet" and not dealt with.

He says the Conservative government does not want "another Mid-Staffs". 

BBC News Channel

Robyn Munro from the Institute for Government told the BBC that a leaked memo saying the government had "no plan" for Brexit reads more like an internal memo for an external government auditor.

Ms Munro said: "We shouldn't take from this memo that there is no plan in Whitehall."

She said the leak did, however, highlight the need for more communication from government on Brexit plans. 

Ms Munro said there was a problem of a "lack of clarity" over Brexit, and that "it's not clear where the government is going."

Speaking at Covent Garden's Dragon Hall, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the government was struggling to "get a grip of the chaos it’s injected into the Brexit process."

Mr McDonnell said the UK needed a government willing to "take five steps":

"First, place the public finances on secure foundations for the future. Second end the cruelty of the spending cuts programme. Third, invest in the long-term to create secure, well-paid jobs. Fourth, reform our tax system so the richest pay and the rest don’t shoulder the burden. And fifth, lay out a clear plan and a vision for our country after Brexit."