Select Committee
Parliament

The Brexit Committee is hearing from Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK's former permanent representative to the EU. He resigned as ambassador at the start of the year, and wrote a resignation letter to his staff that was highly critical of the government.

Discussing the potential for a UK "divorce bill" after Brexit, he tells the committee that both net contributors and net recipients of EU funds are "agitated", with countries worried that they'll either receive less money for EU funded projects, or have to pay more into the EU budget because of the withdrawal of the UK. 

He says that "every chancellor and finance minister is doing a calculation" about how out of pocket they'll be due to Brexit.

Image source, PA

Thousands of street parties, picnics and baking competitions will be held on 17 and 18 June to remember MP Jo Cox, a year after she was murdered.

Her widower Brendan said the UK-wide event, called The Great Get Together, would be a "fitting tribute" to the mother-of-two who died on 16 June 2016.

Her murder was "designed to divide our country" so uniting in this way would be "a powerful statement", he added.

The Royal Family and several charities are helping to publicise the event. Read more

The Supreme Court is to rule later on whether an income barrier stopping thousands of British citizens from bringing a foreign spouse to the UK is lawful.

As of 2012, Britons must earn more than £18,600 before a husband or wife from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) can settle in the UK.

Critics claim 15,000 children have been separated from parents because of it.

If the government loses, thousands of couples who currently live outside the UK could move to Britain. Read more

Welcome to our live coverage of events in Westminster and beyond. 

We have Prime Minister's Questions to look forward to at midday while it is the last day of campaigning in the Copeland and Stoke Central by-elections.

There is also a lot of Brexit-related action in the committee corridors and there is also a Commons debate on local government finance which is likely to be unusually controversial given the ongoing row over business rates.

Stay with us for all the latest developments. 

Lord Lamont urges peers not to amend the Brexit bill during a marathon debate.

The European Commission's president warns of a "tough" two-year divorce negotiation with the EU.

Select Committee
Parliament

Committee chair and former GP Sarah Wollaston asks if there are "opportunities" for medical training if the UK were to end or amend the recommendations of the European Working Time Directive post-Brexit. 

The directive limits workers to average 48 hour weeks.

Professor David Lomas, of the Association of UK University Hospitals, says his experience training 30 years ago, when long hours were common, "prejudices him", but says the directive has "damaged" the way doctors train. 

He tells the committee that when he trained as a doctor he'd regularly clock in on Friday morning and not leave until Sunday evening.

Daniel Mortimer of NHS Employers says there's a risk if we blame the European Working Time Directive for what have actually been a "complex set of factors" that have changed medical training.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Leigh of Hurley accuses the Liberal Democrats of seeking to defy the democratic will on Brexit. 

He adds that they are "fuelled by indifference" about whether the House of Lords "remains in existence".

Image source, UK Parliament

Some more things we've learned from this afternoon's Health Select Committee evidence on how Brexit is likely to impact on patients and those who work in the service: 

• Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said the current tier 2 visa system for Non-EU migrants discouraged people coming in and called for a new system. He told the committee it's much quicker to recruit from within the EU. He added it was too early to say what effect Brexit will have on staff vacancy rates but pointed to reports of lower numbers of nurse applicants; 
• Martin Green of Care England told the committee there is a 'data desert' with regards to how many care & NHS staff are EU nationals. Danny Mortimer agreed, saying "'we're in foothills of collection of this data" but it's believed 6-7% of NHS staff are EU nationals and 12-13% of workforce are non-UK nationals. 

Police have met senior figures at Glasgow City Council amid allegations of malpractice, it has emerged.

It follows claims of cronyism within the land and environmental services department.

A long-running internal investigation has been looking at a number of issues, including alleged procurement irregularities.

The department's executive director resigned last November. Police Scotland said their inquiries were at an early stage. Read more

House of Lords
Parliament

Lord Kerr, the UK's former ambassador to the EU, has accused the government of "conniving in the fiction" that the Article 50 process for leaving the EU is irrevocable.

The former diplomat, regarded as something of an expert in the field of EU law, said that Article 50 was not an "expulsion procedure" and it was perfectly feasible for the UK to withdraw its own notification of withdrawal during the two years of negotiations.

Speaking in the Brexit bill debate, he told peers if ministers concluded that life outside the EU was an "abyss" and decided to change course, there is nothing that anyone could do to stop them.

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbench peer, and one of the authors of Article 50, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard begins by arguing that the UK will be economically damaged by Brexit.

"Bullingdon Boys will be just fine, others will not," he says.

Turning to the options available if the UK does not get a good exit deal he sets out three possibilities.

• First he says that Parliament can ask the government to go back and get a better deal. He adds that this is frequently done by the US Congress
• Secondly he says the government can ask for the negotiation period to be extended
• Thirdly he tells peers that Article 50 is not irreversible and that the UK can change its mind about withdrawal - "and no one in Brussels can stop us".

He tells peers that, because the withdrawal process can be stopped, he will support the bill. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbencher Lord Low of Dalston tells peers that he will vote against the bill.

Partly, he says, because the Leave campaign was fraudulent and partly "out of sheer bloody mindedness".

He argues that the referendum was advisory and did not mandate a hard Brexit.

House of Lords
Parliament

Next is the Labour peer and former Director of Strategy in Downing Street 2007-08, Lord Livermore.

He says that peers are being asked to support an unelected PM with no mandate of her own, adding that there is no majority for a hard Brexit in the country.

And yet the government has the nerve to lecture us on respecting the will of the people, he says.

He also criticises his own party's leadership for supporting the bill. 

The British people are being sold a lie and "we should say so", he says.

He argues that when promises on Brexit prove undeliverable, "there will be terrible reckoning".

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Robathan attacks the Liberal Democrats for calling, in the past, for a referendum on Europe but then not accepting the result.

Do they not understand why they were so comprehensively rejected in 2015? he asks.

He adds that people expect politicians to live up to their promises.

Image source, AFP

The French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has said he would like UK banks and workers to move to France after Brexit.

Speaking after holding talks with Theresa May in Downing Street, Mr Macron said: “I was very happy to see that some academics and researchers in the UK, because of the Brexit, would consider to come to France precisely to work.”

Asked if he wants banks to move to Paris after Brexit, he said: “I want banks, talents, researchers, academics and so on. I think that France and EU are a very attractive space.”

He said he had a “series of initiatives” in his programme of government “to get talented people… working here, to come to France”.

The centre-left politician said his discussions with the British prime minister “covered all topics” regarding the UK’s relationship with the EU and France.

He said: “I reaffirmed my willingness first to have a fair execution of the Brexit.” He also spoke of his “need to protect and defend French and European interests”.

Mr Macron said he would like a “fair execution" of the Le Touqet agreement on border controls and “further co-operation in terms of defence”.

On the future of French nationals in the UK, he said he would be "very careful" about French people being allowed to stay in the UK "and work in good conditions”.

Asked if coming to Downing Street helped his anti-establishment image in France, he said “I will refer to one of your anti-establishment guys Mr Boris Johnson saying that here you are in the sixth French city.”

After speaking to the media in Downing Street, Mr Macron walked around Westminster stopping to chat and take selfies, often with French nationals.

Select Committee
Parliament

One of the witnesses is Christopher Chantry, who has been campaigning since the Brexit vote for UK citizens in the EU and currently lives in France. 

He says the status of UK nationals who live in the EU must be sorted out as soon as possible to avoid uncertainty. 

He also calls on the UK government to make the first move, and unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens who live in the UK, by an act of parliament. 

It would give the UK leverage and the "moral high-ground" in negotiations, he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbencher Lord Bilimoria tells peers that in the years of building his Cobra company he did not "spend one hour of one day worrying about EU legislation".

He argues that laws are predominantly made in this Parliament.

On the prospect of holding another referendum, he says people should be allowed to change their minds.

He argues that Theresa May and Philip Hammond, who were on the remain side, have changed their minds on Brexit.

"The court jester" - as he dubs Boris Johnson - used to be a remainer before changing his mind to support the leave campaign, he adds.