BBC Radio 5 live

BBC News Channel

The US has a "very, very special and unique relationship with Great Britain", senior US Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has said.

Speaking ahead of Theresa May's address to Republican congressmen in Philadelphia, he said:

BBC News Channel

The Scottish Nationalists are going to fight "tooth and nail" against triggering Article 50, which begins the process of the UK leaving the EU, says former leader Alex Salmond.

The SNP has tabled 50 amendments to the bill, which Mr Salmond says he hopes will catch support from MPs on all sides.

He says there is "a real concern" in the Commons and the Lords about what happens when there is a parliamentary vote in 18 months time "if there's no agreement on the terms".

He asked if this would mean the UK getting ejected on World Trade terms "so you'd end up with choice between a bad deal and even worse deal".

BBC News Channel

Theresa May has put herself in "an extraordinary, difficult, awkward position" by visiting a US president who has "declared his support for torture", SNP former leader Alex Salmond has said.

He asked how appropriate it is for the UK prime minister to be gifting Donald Trump a Scottish quaich, which is "a cup of kindness, a symbol of universal love and solidarity", in the wake of his declaration.

Mr Salmond claims Mrs May has "given the impression of being so desperate to have a trade deal because of the weakness of her position" over the EU.

Mr Salmond said the idea that Mrs May is going to change Mr Trump's nature "is just fantastic".

He said the UK has good terms of trade with the US and the last thing it needs to do is change these into better terms for the US.

Holyrood's consent is likely to be needed for the Great Repeal Bill which removes EU laws from the UK, David Mundell says.

Ministers are trying to do too much and becoming less transparent, a leading think tank suggests.

House of Lords
Parliament

Closing the debate, Labour business spokeswoman Baroness Hayter says the majority of those speaking have delivered "a very strong plea to recognise the rights and the expectations" of EU citizens in the UK.

"These are not bargaining chips to be used," she says. "These are human beings. They are our friends and colleagues."

She claims that such a tactic will not be "looked on well by the other side" in negotiations with the EU.

Finally, Baroness Hayter, who was born in Germany, refers back to her opening comments about having to fill in an 85 page form to prove UK residency. It seems she told that story just for illustrative purposes.

"I was actually born British. I don't have to fill in the form but many others do."

BBC Radio 4

Andrew Lilico, chairman of Europe Economics, tells the World at One that the average US trade deal takes something like 18 months to negotiate, rather than five to 10 years. 

He says there is "very high political will" involved in the case of a US-UK deal.

He believes Donald Trump will want a deal with the UK to act as a template to show the world what a fair trading deal with the US is, having already said he believes deals involving low-wage low-standards economies are unfair on the US.

Mr Lilico adds: "If we can get in first and be the template for that I think he will have an appetite for making the deal look good from our side as well as his."

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Is a US-UK trade deal on the cards? And if so, what will be up for grabs?

Sir Andrew Cahn, the former UK Trade and Investment chief, has told BBC Radio 4's World at One that while people think it will be 5 to 10 years before a deal is done - the fact there is political enthusiasm on both sides for one means it could be much quicker.

The problem, he says, will be what sort of deal could the UK get? As Britain has a trade surplus with the US - and Mr Trump says he doesn' t like trade deficits - the question will be what is up for sale. He thinks the US might want access for its expensive pharmaceuticals for the NHS as well as farm products, which would not be welcomed by UK farmers.

He says recent comments are encouraging but it will be difficult to get a deal that is good for the UK, its exporters and its economy. 

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

The government has drafted in senior officials to support the Commonwealth amid continuing concerns over the way the organisation is being run, BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale says.

The Department for International Development said last month that the secretariat that runs the Commonwealth in London - led by the Labour peer, Lady Scotland - was "under performing" and needed "urgent organisational reform".

Senior diplomatic and political sources - speaking off the record to the BBC - have also accused the Commonwealth Secretary-General of "arrogance" and "poor leadership". 

But a spokesman for Lady Scotland insisted she had the backing of the 52 Commonwealth countries that elected her and had launched a programme to modernise the Commonwealth-Secretariat.

Tim Hitchens, a senior Foreign Office official and former ambassador to Japan, has been put in charge of a team preparing for the Commonwealth summit in London next year.

Sir Simon Gass, a very senior official who retired from the Foreign Office last year, has been made acting chief operating officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat. He is working directly with Lady Scotland at the secretariat's headquarters at Marlborough House in London. 

The appointments are being seen in Whitehall as an attempt by the government to shore up a troubled organisation before a meeting of Commonwealth trade ministers in London in March - which they hope will show how Britain after Brexit can do more trade with countries outside the European Union.

John Pienaar

Jeremy Corbyn's decision to order his MPs to vote in favour of triggering Article 50 - to start the process of the UK leaving the EU - has been made to assure people Labour respects the EU referendum result, BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar says.

But he may face a small rebellion from those opposed to it, including some of his own shadow ministerial team.

Clive Lewis and Tulip Siddiq are among shadow ministers who may choose to oppose triggering Article 50, John says.

It is possible the vote may be followed by some shadow ministerial sackings - although Jeremy Corbyn will want to avoid this, he says.

Here's what Labour Jeremy Corbyn has said about Theresa May's meeting with President Donald Trump:

Asked about the implications for the 'special relationship', Mr Corbyn said there had to be a "good relationship" with the USA. Pressed on whether he supported the concept of a special relationship or would be happy to see a cooling of relations, Mr Corbyn said: "No, we have to have an effective and good relationship with the USA."  

Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour MPs will face a three-line whip in order to compel them to vote to invoke Article 50, triggering the UK's withdrawal from the EU. 

The Labour leader said he wanted "all of our MPs to support the Article 50 vote when it comes up next week". 

Pushed on whether this meant a three-line whip, Mr Corbyn said:

Mr Corbyn added that Labour would put out a statement to members saying that "we want them to vote for Article 50".

He understood the "pressures and issues" members faced, but called on them to "unite" around "important issues" and "not to block Article 50 but to make sure it goes through next week".

The Daily Politics

Parliament is in an unprecedented position in that it is being asked to vote for Brexit - something 75% of MPs are opposed to, according to constitutional expert Vernon Bernard Bogdanor.

He said MPs have to make up their minds whether to vote on the Article 50 bill according to their views of what's best for Britain - or the result of the EU referendum.

"There are only two parties that favour Brexit in Parliament - the DUP with eight MPs and UKIP with one MP. Nine MPs out of 650 - now that's not very representative of the country," he told BBC2's Daily Politics.

He says he expects the government has deliberately framed the bill "very tightly hoping amendments will be ruled out of order".

The government will timetable the bill to ensure it gets through within a set period of time, he says.

But Mr Bogdanor argues that the House of Lords is more of a problem for the government because it does not have a majority there.

However, he says the prime minister could call a general election if the Lords tried to thwart the legislation.

Negotiations for leaving the EU need to be done under a single banner, Brexit Secretary David Davis says.

Reality Check

This is a very short two clause bill as promised by BREXIT Secretary David Davis earlier today. At 133 words it is the shortest bill of this Parliamentary session- but isn't the shortest bit of legislation ever. That honour goes to the "Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918". That bill was just 70 words long and allowed women to sit in Parliament.

Image source, Parliamentary Archives

EU member states no longer want to take the UK to task over Brexit, says Chancellor Philip Hammond.