Sky News

Labour's Andrew Gwynne says the Conservatives won the vote with the help of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Speaking on Sky News, the shadow communities secretary argues that the Tories managed to find £1bn for Northern Ireland to make a deal with the DUP but will not fund a pay rise for public sector workers.

But Conservative former minister John Penrose claims Mr Gwynne is "gently trying to gloss over" the fact that "the size of the bill will be far, far, far greater" if the public sector pay cap ends.

The government has survived its first vote on the Queen's Speech but there could be up to three more votes at the end of the final day of debate on the government's legislative programme on Thursday.

This will include another Labour amendment and the Speaker can choose two more from other parties or backbench MPs.

He'll say which ones he's picked at the start of the debate at around 10:30 BST.

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Labour's amendment calling for an end to the public sector pay cap is defeated by 323 votes to 309 - giving the government a majority of 14.

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Image source, HoL

Conservative peer Lord Cormack claims he was sacked from his role on the EU Committee's Home Affairs Sub-Committee because he "had the temerity" to vote for amendments to the government's Article 50 bill.

"That is not the spirit of leadership we require from our government at a time like this," he says.

He says the idea of a cross-party commission of both Houses on Brexit merits "careful consideration".

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Jeremy Hunt wraps up his speech by asserting that the Conservative Party is the party of the NHS, and accuses Labour of using it "to milk votes".

Speaker John Bercow then calls the first division of the new Parliament to vote on Labour's amendment which seeks to end the public sector pay cap and give emergency and public services' staff a "fair pay rise".

The result of the vote is expected at 7.15pm.

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“We will not make our decision on public sector pay until the pay review body has reported," Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tells MPs.

"And we will listen to what they say, and we will listen to what people in this House have said before making a final decision."

"The Tories are in utter chaos. They have U-turned on their own U-turn within the space of a few hours," says Lib Dem leader Tim Farron.

"This is not strong and stable, it is a government that is spinning out of control.

"The Treasury can find £1 billion for the DUP so Theresa May can cling on to power, but can't find the cash to properly pay our teachers, nurses and police.

"Public sector workers deserve a pay rise now, not for this decision to be kicked into the long grass."

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Image source, HoC

The health secretary is concluding the debate for the government, and joins others in praising the work of emergency staff during the tragic events of the past weeks, remarking after one anecdote that "there is no such thing as 'just a job' in the NHS - it is a vocation".

Jeremy Hunt speaks about MPs who have called for cross-party consensus on health and social care issues.

He says that governments always seek to get consensus on difficult policy issues and that this government is no different, but adds that it "takes two to tango".

Labour, he says, have fought two elections in a row where they have sought to turn it into a referendum on the NHS.

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Image source, HoC

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth responds to the debate from the Labour frontbench.

He lists some of the problems being faced by the National Health Service before saying: "What was there in the Queen's Speech for the NHS and social care? Nothing!"

Mr Ashworth tells MPs that the health secretary has previously expressed sympathy for underpaid health workers, but says "sympathy won't put food on the table".

Speaking to the Labour amendment, Mr Ashworth tells Conservative MPs that they can give public sector workers a pay rise tonight "if they join us in the lobby".

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Image source, HoC

The SNP's Tommy Sheppard says he believes that the reason government went into an election with a majority and lost it is because of the so-called "dementia tax" policy in the Conservative Party manifesto.

He says that the promised review of social care and its funding in the Queen's Speech worries him as he is concerned that the thinking behind that policy is still alive and well in the Conservative Party.

Mr Sheppard says there is a perfectly legitimate point of view on the political right that funding for public services should be shifted from the state to the individual - saying it is "coherent but wrong".

"That point of view becomes incoherent and unjust when you say it is only going to be applied on those who contract debilitating illnesses," he says.

Each Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP is now "worth more" than Cristiano Ronaldo, a Scottish National Party MP has told the House of Commons.

Alison Thewliss made the remark as she questioned the Tory government about the £1bn deal they signed with the DUP.

But her comparison of the 10 DUP MPs with the world's third most expensive footballer led to roars of laughter.

Read more.

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Two Labour MPs who expected to lose their seats in the general election have spoken of their surprise and delight at being returned to Parliament.

Vocal Corbyn critic John Woodcock spoke earlier, saying it was good to see Lindsay Hoyle back in his position as deputy speaker before adding "and rather good to be back in mine after everything that happened".

Mr Woodcock had predicted a "historic and catastrophic" defeat for Labour in the election and said he expected to lose his seat.

Holly Lynch, the returning Labour MP for Halifax, strikes a similar tone - saying that after surviving an election she went into with a majority of 428 and the betting odds 10/1 against her, one of her Labour colleagues had greeted her as "Lazarus Lynch".

She thanks Theresa May for launching the Conservative manifesto in her constituency and "parking her tanks firmly on my lawn".

"Not only did the tanks misfire, the engines seized up, and the tracks completely fell off."

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The DUP's new MP for South Antrim, Paul Girvan, makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

He speaks of the UUP MP who he defeated, Danny Kinahan, and says that the two of them were the best of friends even during the election campaign. "I don't know if Danny will still say that about me," he muses, to laughter from his DUP colleagues.

"Political life is somewhat daunting as you receive your P45 in public on a stage," he observes.

Mr Girvan says that it is an honour and a privilege to become an MP and he will support the armed forces and the Union during his time in Parliament.

Today in Parliament
Today in Parliament

The issue of Northern Ireland looms large over Parliament.

Talks to restore the devolved government there are still continuing as the deadline for a deal approaches on Thursday.

And, of course, an agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party now gives the Conservatives a majority at Westminster - twin topics which MPs were anxious to discuss, as Mandy Baker reports.

Not only is the UK leaving but the EU also has pressing new spending demands, a commissioner warns.

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Image source, HoC

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Image source, EPA

Nurse, social worker, teacher, doctor - pretty much any public sector worker in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would have been justified in feeling a bit more chipper this morning, had they had time to listen to comments from the defence secretary or the transport secretary, both hinting that the limit on their pay rises might be about to come to an end.

They might been further bolstered by comments after Prime Minister's Questions, if they had been watching the news this afternoon, when Number 10's spokesman suggested that although it was important still to balance the books, the government understands people are "weary" after years of the limit.

By teatime however, after the Treasury had slightly less enthusiastically said they were "open to discussion", that nurse, social worker, teacher or doctor had slightly less cause for feeling optimistic about a bigger pay rise any time soon.

Read Laura's blog

Conservative MP and former nurse Maria Caulfield has said medical workers “will vote with their feet” unless the pay freeze is tackled.

She said the difference in pay between nurses and hospital managers “cannot be right” given that nurses “are making life and death decisions on every single shift that they do”.

Ms Caulfield said “as a nurse who worked from 2010 to 2015 under the pay cap, I know exactly how difficult it is and how challenging those finances are. Most nurses I know work on their hospital bank to supplement their wages”.

The SNP has weighed into the debate over the public sector pay cap, accusing the government of being in "total chaos".

The party's economy spokesman Kirsty Blackman says: “Another day, another shambles from the Tory government – it is totally unacceptable for millions of public sector workers across the UK to be messed around like this.

“This whole sorry episode reveals that, behind the scenes, the Tories agree with us that the public sector pay cap is increasingly unsustainable."

She adds that the Conservatives "found a magic money tree to buy support from the DUP – so they cannot claim there isn’t money available for fair pay for workers".

“If the UK Government proceed with this pay rise, then there must be absolutely no attempt to get round the Barnett formula and avoid giving Scotland its fair share of any spending increases - as they have so shamefully done with their DUP deal.”

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Image source, HoL

Labour former EU commissioner Lord Mandelson claims the government has taken an "inflexible" approach to Brexit thus far.

He says the choice we're faced with is "regulatory autonomy versus securing place in the single market" and "Philip Hammond is acutely aware of this, whereas Theresa May chose to ignore it in her Lancaster House speech".

He speaks of the need for government to "tell the truth about the implications for prosperity", adding that Mr Hammond, unlike his colleagues, understands this.