Summary

  • Prime Minister's Questions

  • Theresa May and Corbyn clash on health

  • Labour's Tom Watson 'dabs' at PMQs

  • Help pledged for firms on business rates

  1. Lords 'is London's best day-care centre'published at 12:37 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    A new behind-the-scenes documentary features criticisms of the way the Upper House works.

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  2. Public should have 'final word' on Brexitpublished at 12:28 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Says Lib Dem peer Baroness Kramer

  3. Leadsom in post-Brexit food standards pledgepublished at 12:22 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Andrea LeadsomImage source, AFP

    Food imported under any post-Brexit free trade deal with the United States will have to meet British standards, the environment secretary has said. 

    Speaking at the National Farmers Union annual conference, Andrea Leadsom sought to dispel fears the government could water down its own protections to make it easier to strike a trade agreement with the US, which is perceived to have lower environment and food safety standards. 

    She insisted the government would stick to a Conservative manifesto commitment to maintain animal welfare standards in international trade deals. 

    And she backed the continuation of the UK's Red Tractor kitemark, which confirms food has been independently checked and meets standards on traceability, safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection. 

  4. Lib Dem peer won't follow party linepublished at 12:22 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Baroness Falkner of Margravine, a Lib Dem peer, is rebelling against her own party position of calling for a second referendum. 

    She told fellow peers that she has German husband and a house in Italy, so for that reason she has "a big dog in this fight, not just a whippet". 

    But she revealed she will be voting with the Government on Article 50. 

  5. Labour must 'tell the truth' on Brexitpublished at 12:21 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Brexit Bill

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord Liddle spends much of his speech criticising his own party and its leadership both before and after the referendum vote. 

    He says it's now "time for Labour to tell the truth on Brexit", that "the biggest losers from Brexit are going to be the working poor...a rise in child poverty is the inevitable outcome". 

    He adds that on the value of the pound, down since the Brexit vote, "we've seen nothing yet".

    Crossbencher Lord Green of Deddington says that the decision has been made and "we must now get on with it". But he says he wants to "introduce an optimistic note". 

    In time, the decision will be seen to be the "right one for Britain" because of opposition to "ever closer union", a desire to "take back control of our own affairs" and because mass immigration had placed "unacceptable pressures on our society". 

    Lord Green of Deddington is the founder and chair of pressure group MigrationWatch UK.

  6. Foreign secretary grilled on post-Brexit tradepublished at 12:21 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Foreign office questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    TradeImage source, PA
    Image caption,

    Anti-Brexit campaigners held a go-slow protest at Ravensdale, Co Louth on the main road between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at the weekend.

    As usual, the foreign secretary is asked about the UK's trade and diplomatic relations post-Brexit. 

    Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood claims that many African countries were keen to do deals with the UK "now we were free of the shackles" of EU trade law. 

    He also mentions similar conversations with Canada and south-east Asian countries, as well as the broader Commonwealth, which a couple of Conservative MPs suggest should be priority countries for trade deals. 

    On Japan, Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma replies to concerns that the UK will "trail behind" the EU, who are working on a free-trade deal with the country. He says that the Nissan plant deal with the country shows a "vote of confidence" from Japan. 

    However, the SNP's Paul Grady says he is worried that Brexit will cut the UK off from the world in times of crisis, including towards South Sudan who have just announced a famine. 

    Boris Johnson argues that the country punches above its weight on foreign aid and that 400 troops have been sent to the region. 

  7. No deal risks criminal return to the 'Costa del Crime'published at 12:16 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Brexit Bill

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Ex-Met Police Commissioner Lord Blair of Boughton says he wants to "urge the government to deal separately and with speed" on EU-UK security and criminal issues, like the European Arrest Warrant.

    He joins warnings that the "cliff edge" on security cooperation is real and that if we fall out of the EU without a deal "the terrorists and the paedophiles and the drug barons will breathe a sigh of relief" and "the British ones will return to the Costa del Crime", the name given to areas of Spain popular with British criminals when the UK and Spain lacked an extradition treaty.

  8. Boris Johnson: UK on verge of 'bre-entry'published at 12:07 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Boris Johnson is taking questions from MPs in the Commons and, as ever, his capacity for an unusual turn of phrase is attracting some attention. 

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  9. Peers must 'protect the common good'published at 12:04 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Brexit Bill

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws

    Labour's Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws makes a speech that is partly a defence of the House of Lords itself, as well as a defence of the European Union. She says that peers bring "expertise from all walks of life" and asks "are we supposed to abandon that experience when it really matters?"

    She says that the House has a "higher duty" to "take the long view" and "should be able to exercise independent judgement". 

    She expresses her worries about Brexit's effect on peace in Ireland, the UK's reliance on the United States, the government's apparent willingness to trade on World Trade Organisation rules if it crashes out of the EU without a proper agreement.

    She says peers are "expected to protect the common good" and that "if our consciences are telling us that Brexit is a folly" peers have to listen to "that little voice". 

    She says that "history will record what each of us did" and future generations will ask peers, "what did you do...did you dance to the tune of the Daily Mail?"

    She says she'll support several amendments and "if they're not accepted will vote against this bill".

  10. 'No change' in Middle East policypublished at 12:04 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Foreign Office questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Boris Johnson

    The SNP’s Alex Salmond says it would be “difficult to interpret American policy” at the moment, and suggests that the UK shouldn’t try and double-guess it, particularly in regards to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian crisis.

    Boris Johnson says there is no expectation that the US will harden its position, and neither will the UK.

    Mr Salmond follows up by asking who confirmed President Trump's state visit and asks – given Boris Johnson's apparent similarity to the President – whether the foreign secretary was concerned about being confused for the president when he visits.

    Mr Johnson avoids answering the first question, but confirms he has been mistaken for President Trump twice; once in New York and once in Newcastle...

  11. Plans to crack down on 'boomerang' fire bossespublished at 11:58 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Fire engineImage source, PA

    Ministers have set out plans to crack down on so-called "boomerang bosses" in the fire service who they say are taking advantage of loopholes to avoid pension contributions.

    They say some chief fire officers are retiring and taking a lump sum from their pension pot before being re-employed in a similar role on equivalent or more lucrative terms.

    By doing so, Home Office minister Brandon Lewis said some individuals could potentially avoid employee pension contributions of more than £20,000 a year, with the taxpayer having to make up the shortfall.

    The government is consulting on a change to the fire and rescue national framework to ban boomerang bosses in all but exceptional circumstances and to stop them from drawing their pension alongside their salaries.

    On Monday, the Fire Brigade Union wrote to members to say they were facing the worst cuts to the service in modern history and attacks on pay, conditions and pensions.  

  12. Foreign Office questions begin with questions on US-UK relationspublished at 11:52 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Boris Johnson

    Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tells MPs he met the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last Thursday and Friday in Bonn, and had "very good conversations" which would help "entrench and deepen the relationship" between the two countries.

    When asked about the ban on people travelling from predominently Muslim countries, he reiterates that the UK "did not support" the policy. 

    He says he had "engage[d] constructively" to ensure the ban did not effect any British passport holder, regardless of question of birth. He also says the policy was in line with similar policies put forward by former President Obama.

    He also states that he was happy with the prospects of a trade deal with the United States post-Brexit, saying Mr Tillerson had said that the "UK was at the front of the queue".

    When asked by Conservative Sir Simon Burns, Mr Johnson denies any knowledge of the US putting ground forces into northern Syria to tackle the group so-called Islamic State, but welcomed any "new thinking" on the conflict. 

  13. PM's 'Ukip speech' praisedpublished at 11:42 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Brexit Bill

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord Willoughby de Broke
    Image caption,

    Lord Willoughby de Broke tells peers that when the arguments were taken to the British people, they voted out.

    Labour's Lord McKenzie of Luton talks about his sadness at the result of the vote and his worries for the future of Luton's Vauxhall motors plant.

    Lib Dem Baroness Kramer rises to advocate for what she calls a "first vote" on the terms of Brexit. She also outlines her worries about the "extraordinary complexity" of negotiations over the future of the financial services sector.

    Lord Willoughby de Broke, wearing a purple and yellow Ukip coloured tie for the occasion, says he "profoundly disagrees" with calls for a referendum on the terms of the negotiation. 

    He goes on to call the prime minister's Brexit speech a "Ukip speech", and says she is quite clear that the "result was out, no ifs, no buts...a clear, clean Brexit". 

  14. Shapps: Business rates rises will 'create problem'published at 11:36 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Victoria Derbyshire

    Grant Shapps

    Conservative MP Grant Shapps says it won't be enough to phase in the changes to business rates as some of his colleagues are suggesting.

    He told the Victoria Derbyshire show that he urged Chancellor Philip Hammond to put off the revaluation when he met him yesterday as it would "create a problem" for many firms.

    Part of the issue, he says, is how the changes have been presented. 

    While he has been told that businesses in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency will on average see their rates fall 1.4%, in fact they will be going up by 5%.

    Quote Message

    We need to fundamentally reform this and have a proper look at how business rates are done. You can't leave it five or seven years and suddenly have these increases because it is an enormous shock to smaller businesses and the wider economy."

  15. Peers continue marathon Brexit debatepublished at 11:21 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Brexit Bill

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Norman Lamont

    Lord Lamont of Lerwick, better known as ex-chancellor Norman Lamont, is the first speaker in today's marathon 13 hour sitting. 

    He notes his surprise that he's up advocating withdrawal from an organisation he campaigned for Britain to join. But he says it's "not we who have changed, but Europe", as evidenced by the name chance from European Community to European Union.

    He says he personally voted leave but says leave supporters must "fully accept" that the concerns of the 48% who voted remain must be taken into account, on issues like university cooperation and EU citizens who live here.

    He spends a large part of his speech attacking Tony Blair, whose speech last week advocating that the British people could still change their minds, has drawn the ire of Brexit supporters. 

    He derides Mr Blair's suggestion that the "full facts" of Brexit were not available. He says that "people have had over 40 years to make up their minds".

    He says the bill should be passed without amendment.

  16. Carney: Pound impact on inflation is 'protracted'published at 11:20 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Bank of England coinImage source, Reuters

    The Bank expects the fall in the value of sterling to push inflation higher, potentially all the way up to 2020, Mark Carney says.

    "One of the lessons we learnt from the depreciation of 2007-8 is that exchange rate pass through is quite protracted," he tells MPs on the Treasury Select Committee.

    A weaker pound makes imports more expensive, which some businesses then choose to pass on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

    The Bank's latest inflation report forecasts that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, will be at 2.4% in three years' time - above the Bank's 2% inflation target.

  17. Today in the House of Commonspublished at 11:20 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    House of Commons

    Proceedings in the House of Commons today will start with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his ministerial team taking questions from MPs. 

    The SNP's Chris Stephens will introduce his Government Services (Telecommunication Charges) Bill - a ten minute rule bill which aims to restrict charges on government advice calls. 

    Later on, the Criminal Finances Bill will advance through its final stages. This will be followed by two motions on social security benefits and pensions. 

    Business will end with an adjournment debate on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Mendi, introduced by Conservative Andrew Murrison.

  18. Tory MP's 'message to the luvvies'published at 11:09 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

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  19. Leadsom to address farmers conferencepublished at 11:00 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom is speaking at the National Farmers Union annual conference in Birmingham later. It is a big event in the farming calendar and it will be Ms Leadsom's first taste of the occasion, after she was appointed in July. 

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  20. Government records £9.4bn surplus in Januarypublished at 11:00 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2017

    Pound coins and notesImage source, PA

    Government finances recorded a £9.4bn in surplus in January, £0.3bn higher than the same month last year.

    Boosted by self-assessment tax receipts, January is typically a strong month for government finances.

    For the year-to-date, public sector net borrowing stands at £49.3bn, the lowest since the comparable period of 2008.

    Philip Hammond presents his budget on 8 March and economists say strong tax receipts should cut the nation's borrowing requirement for 2016-17. Read more