House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Naz Shah asks about the situation in Burma regarding the situation of Rohingya Muslims and lists reports of atrocities being committed against the population. 

David Lidington responds that these reports are "extremely concerning" and notes the "long history" of discrimination against Rohingya people in Burma.

He says that British ministers and the embassy make the UK's concerns "very clear" to Burmese authorities. 

Image source, EPA

A man has been arrested over alleged threats against Gina Miller, the woman behind the Brexit legal challenge.

Met Police officers arrested the man, 55, in Swindon on Monday on suspicion of racially-aggravated malicious communications, police said.

He was taken to a Wiltshire police station and later released on bail.

Officers from the Met's anti-cyber crime Falcon Unit also issued a "cease and desist" notice on 3 December to a 38-year-old man from Fife, Scotland. 

Read more.

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Parliament

Conservative Rehman Chishti says the FTSE 150 has less than 4% of individuals from an ethnic minority on its boards - and he wants to see the figure at 10%.

David Lidington says the government supports a business-led ethnic diversity initiative and he says he wants to see an increase in the diversity of boards.

House of Commons
Parliament

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds says that the vote tonight on the government amendment about Article 50 plans is a vote of the "highest significance and importance".

For first time MPs will have an opportunity to vote on whether they respect the will of the people of the UK, he says - going on to tell the chamber that people will be able to read who stands by respecting the will of the people.

"The more red, white and blue he makes it the better for us on the unionist benches," he says.

David Lidington says the vote tonight will be the first opportunity for MPs to decide whether or not they support the government timetable for triggering Article 50.

Any MP who votes against that motion, he says, will be seeking to thwart the outcome of the referendum in "the most profoundly undemocratic fashion". 

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Peter Bone says there has been talk about paying for access to a tariff-free single market. 

Given the UK is the fifth biggest market in the world, would the "acting prime minister" tell the House how much the European Union should pay for tariff-free access to the UK single market.

David Lidington says thank you for the upgrade, but hopes it's not a career limiting compliment.

A settlement at the end of our negotiation, which gives access to both market is in both the EU's and the UK's interest, David Lidington tells MPs.

Image source, Supreme Court

Dominic Chambers may have a slightly less conversational delivery style than Lord Pannick but he is making essentially the same argument. 

The invoking of Article 50 - beginning the process of taking the UK out of the EU - would negate rights "currently conferred or imposed by EU law" and to do this without the intervention of Parliament would be a violation of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, he tells the court. 

Referring to the 1972 European Communities Act, which paved the way for the UK to join the European club, he says the rights it created "aren't just being transposed through a conduit" but they changed "the domestic legal order". 

He goes on to to quote statements made by the then prime minister Edward Heath in the Commons in 1971 as proof, he says, that if Parliament had not passed motions relating to the UK joining the European Economic Community, the UK would not have been able to sign the 1972 accession treaty.  

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP for Cannock Chase Amanda Milling joins other MPs in asking about poor performing train operators; saying her constituents face "chaos and utter misery".

She says they are often stranded at stations - "late for work and school".

David Lidington says this situation is "clearly unacceptable" and says more needs to be done. He says that this is why the government seeks a closer working across the rail industry to resolve these problems "much more swiftly than in the past".

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson asks about plans to close job centres in Glasgow, saying that it would cause "misery" to those who use them.

David Lidington says the DWP looks at its estates and the offices it has and says he will asks the secretary of state to contact him with details.

"That's not good enough," responds Mr Robertson.

He says the DWP plans to cut the national estate by 20% - but DWP cuts in Glasgow amount to 50%. "Why is this government planning to disproportionately cut job centres in some of the most deprived communities in our country?"  

Mr Lidington says that cuts like this are not about the "raw number" of the offices but how accessible they are.

House of Commons
Parliament

House of Commons
Parliament

The fact is we should be part of the customs union, Emily Thornberry says.

She says that the government is promising to give Parliament a say, when over the road in the Supreme Court "they are spending God-knows how much taxpayers' money" on trying to stop MPs having a say.

My final question is this, she says: "Are we hearing anything different from this government today?"

Mr Lidington responds that the government has said it will publish plans before Article 50 is triggered with a statement about its negotiating proposals.

He says Labour colleagues are questioning the result of the referendum and says the Labour party is currently like "Mutiny on the Bounty as shot by the Carry On team".  

House of Commons
Parliament

We accept the democratic decision of the British public, says Emily Thornberry. We want to leave the European Union on behalf of the whole of the nation. 

We need a straightfoward answer, she says, but leaving the customs union would mean "chaos".

She brings up lamb and beef exports and the tariffs, which David Lidington referred to recently, she says. Does he still agree with himself?

"We face a challenging, wide-ranging negotiation," he says and adds, once again, it would be harmful to outline the detailed position.

Ms Thorberry raises the issue of the Northern Ireland land border with the Republic of Ireland - the UK's only land border with the EU. 

She says that if the UK is not part of the customs union there will have to be customs checks at the border; and quotes him as saying previously that if anyone didn't accept this would be "flying in the face of reality".

Mr Lidington sys the prime minister and Northern Ireland secretary have made it clear that the government want to see the long standing free travel and trade arrangements on the border to continue.

The government is looking for a deal that "works for people north and south of the border" he says.

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Parliament

Emily Thornberry's first question from the Labour frontbench is on the issue of the government's Brexit plans.

Ms Thornberry says that "especially in a time of national crisis" the role of Parliament is central and says she welcomes the government's agreement with Labour's motion today on publishing negotiating plans before triggering Article 50. 

She asks a "straightforward question" - does the government want the UK to remain part of the customs union?

David Lidington responds that the government has always made it clear that it will give additional clarity about our position at the earliest opportunity.

The position is that the government wants "maximum freedom for British companies to work in the EU".

Image source, Supreme Court

It is now the turn of Dominic Chambers, counsel to Deir Dos Santos - who is challenging the government alongside Gina Miller - to address the court. 

He is expected to make many of the same arguments as Lord Pannick.

Image source, Supreme Court

Lord Pannick is moving quickly to his conclusion, suggesting  Attorney General Jeremy Wright's contention that Parliament can look after itself and defend its own interests with regard to Brexit is a "bad legal argument".

He goes on to suggest that the government cannot rely on the Great Repeal Bill as evidence of Parliament's future likely involvement in the Brexit process, arguing there can be no certainty there will be a bill at all or what it will contain.

Summarising his and his client Gina Miller's case, he says. 

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Image source, HoC