Summary

  • MPs back Brexit bill by 498 votes to 114

  • Bill gives go-ahead for Article 50

  • White Paper on Brexit published

  • It sets out UK's Brexit talks strategy

  1. Wednesday's papers: Financial Timespublished at 21:45 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

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  2. Rudd: Trump travel ban could help ISpublished at 21:43 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    The home secretary warns that the president's travel restrictions are a "propaganda opportunity".

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  3. Wes Streeting and Michael Gove argue over £350m promisepublished at 21:36 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    Michael Gove and Wes Streeting

    Labour's Wes Streeting acknowledges that those who campaigned for remain should accept the result of the EU referendum.

    However, he says the victors must also abide by their promises in the campaign.

    "Just as Brexit means Brexit so too should £350m per week for the NHS mean £350m per week for the NHS," he says.

    Conservative - and leave campaigner - Michael Gove accuses the MP of being "economical with the actualité".

    He says that the Vote Leave campaign argued that "we should take back control of the money and spend it on our priorities" adding that he argued for £100m per week to go to the NHS.

    That sentence was rather too long to fit on a bus, suggests Mr Streeting. 

  4. 'Let's end the division'published at 21:35 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    Dominic Raab

    Conservative Dominic Raab wants the UK to begin negotiations "with self-belief and ambition".

    He tells MPs that "key voices on the continent want to join us" to forge the best deal for Britain and Europe.

    "Let's end the division. Let's unite for the best future we can secure."

  5. Alexander: Democracy did not begin or end on 23 Junepublished at 21:34 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    Heidi Alexander

    Labour MP Heidi Alexander tells MPs that she will vote against triggering Article 50.

    "How can you ignore the will of people?" she predicts people will ask.

    She argues that democracy "did not start or end on 23 June".

    She notes that the Conservative manifesto promised to keep Britain in the single market and adds that the prime minister, who, she says, was "crowned without a single vote", decides what leaving the EU looks like.

    "That might look like democracy to some but not to me."

  6. Lucas: Prime minister has no mandate for 'extreme Brexit'published at 20:49 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

    House of Commons
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    Caroline Lucas

    The prime minister has no mandate for the "extreme Brexit" she is pursuing, says Green MP and party leader Caroline Lucas.

    Nobody voted to scrap consumer standards or workers' rights, she says.

    She adds that nobody voted for the UK to become a tax haven "floating away from Europe clinging on to the coat tails of Donald Trump".

    However, she argues, that will be the logical consequences of the government's current course of action.  

    She says Article 50 should not be triggered until the government has given guarantees on standards including environmental protections.

  7. Brexit bill 'difficult' for Labour MPspublished at 20:06 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Sir Keir Starmer says that as democrats, Labour MPs should not stand in the way of Article 50.

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  8. Lammy: The people have not spokenpublished at 19:58 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    David Lammy

    Let's not pretend the people have spoken, says Labour's David Lammy.

    He notes that only 27% of the population voted to leave. 

    He further adds that 16-year-olds were "denied a say", one million expats were not allowed to vote, only two nations of the UK voted for leave, there was no quadruple lock and there was no two-thirds majority required. 

    Under these terms, he says, MPs are being asked to rubber stamp the most extreme version of Brexit which will leave a £60bn divorce bill.

  9. Constituents voted against EU's 'finger wagging'published at 19:54 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Kelly Tollhurst

    Conservative Kelly Tollhurst, who voted remain, disagrees with the notion that people didn't know what they voted for.

    She says her constituents voted for a number of reasons including immigration and because of the "patronising, finger wagging" from the EU. 

  10. 'Vast majority of Muslims' can enter USpublished at 19:52 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Homeland Security chief John Kelly says Mr Trump's immigration block is not a ban on Muslims.

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  11. Labour MP warns against divisionpublished at 19:49 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    Ian Lucas

    Labour's Ian Lucas worries that the debate has been too focused on division.

    He refers not just to the country but to his own party - "the party that I love".

    He pleads with MPs to "put divisions behind us" and urges the government to work with Labour MPs to get the best deal for the UK.

  12. 'It is right we get on with it'published at 19:42 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    Ranil Jayawardena

    Conservative Ranil Jayawardena urges MPs to be democrats.

    No matter how individual constituencies voted, he says that MPs should respect the views of the British people.

    "It is right we get on with it."

  13. Pro- and anti-Trump petition numberspublished at 19:32 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    The petitions over the planned UK state visit by Donald Trump continue to attract large numbers of signatures. 

    That saying his invitation should be revoked is currently on 1.725 million. The petition saying the visit should go ahead is approaching 159,000. 

    Both have attracted almost 10,000 supporters in the last hour.

  14. MPs agree to debate until midnightpublished at 19:10 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    House of Commons
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    House of Commons

    MPs agree the business motion to extend the debate on the bill until midnight tonight.

    Normally, debate would finish at 7pm on a Tuesday.

    Spare a thought, though, for the MP who has secured tonight's adjournment debate, Karen Buck, who will have to wait an extra five hours to speak.

  15. Treasury committee chairman: 'Merit' in leaving customs unionpublished at 19:10 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    "I was a remainer and I think it was a mistake to leave," says Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the Treasury Committee, but he accepts the referendum result.

    "The question now is where we're going to arrive," he tells the House, claiming that opportunities "do exist and are significant".

    He thinks there is "merit" in leaving the customs union and the UK could benefit from trade with Asian countries if it does so.

    The BBC explains the difference between a free trade area, a single market and a customs union here.

  16. Labour MP: Leaving EU has too great an economic costpublished at 19:08 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Labour MP and former minister Stephen Timms says he will vote against the bill.

    He argues that there are reasonable arguments for leaving the EU but doing so comes at too great an economic cost.

    He also suggests that some supporters of Brexit seem happy to replace "annoying interference from Brussels with annoying interference from Washington".

  17. Jacob Rees-Mogg's 'day of wisdom and song'published at 19:00 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Jacob Rees-Mogg

    "It is very rare that specific days are commemorated as I think the 23 June 2016 will be commemorated," says Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    "It is on a par with St Crispin's Day 1415 and with 18 June 1815 - great days in our nation's history."

    He is referring to the Battle of Agincourt and the Battle of Waterloo respectively.

    He says the referendum result means "our constitution has been put back on a proper footing... by the wisdom of the British people and, as it happens, by the Supreme Court".

    He goes on to describe 23 June as "that day of wisdom and song".

  18. Lib Dem MP: 'This is not the end of the debate'published at 18:37 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Sarah Olney

    Sarah Olney, Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park, says there is no evidence that "the best interests of the country will be served by the immediate triggering of Article 50 and the pursuit of the hardest Brexit possible".

    She argues: "The will of the people cannot be tied down to one single point and be presumed to never change or waver."

    She adds: "This is not the end of the debate. It is only the beginning."

    And Ms Olney calls for "a referendum on the terms" of any Brexit deal that the government reaches in negotiations and confirms she will vote against the bill.

  19. Clegg: Brexit leading UK down 'perilous path'published at 18:36 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Media caption,

    Nick Clegg expresses a "sense of foreboding" about the forthcoming negotiations on the UK's separation from the EU

  20. Jo Stevens: 'a matter of principle and conscience' to oppose the billpublished at 18:36 Greenwich Mean Time 31 January 2017

    Brexit bill debate

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    Jo Stevens

    Jo Stevens, who quit the Labour frontbench in protest at leader Jeremy Corbyn's decision to order his MPs to back the bill, speaks now.

    The former shadow Welsh secretary says many constituents of hers who are originally from other countries are "frightened" and some "have been spat at and told to go home".

    She attacks former Prime Minister David Cameron, calling him "a man who put himself and his party above our national interest" and says she cannot accept current PM Theresa May's assertion in her recent speech that the UK is leaving the single market.

    "The referendum result last year felt like a body blow," she says. 

    "The prime minister's speech felt like the life support machine being switched off. And triggering Article 50 will, for me, feel like the funeral.

    "It is a matter of principle and conscience for me and I must represent the majority of my constituents and share their view - and I will not vote for this bill."