House of Lords
Parliament

Labour's Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne has accused the government of being in “complete chaos” over the public sector pay cap, and has called on Conservative MPs to support tonight’s Labour amendment to the Queen’s Speech.

He said: “If these Tory MPs genuinely believe that they want to see public sector workers have a pay rise, they’ve got a chance to show that tonight.”

Mr Gwynne said the government had “made warm words to their back benches” but now “the frontbench, and particularly the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had put a block on this”.

He said people had voted for “an end to austerity” in the general election, and that they were told “this government would listen”.

“This is very reminiscent, isn’t it, of the general election campaign where the prime minister used exactly the same words over social care – nothing has changed,” he said.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative former chancellor Lord Lamont criticises the use of "empty phrases" such as hard or soft Brexit and argues we need to "lessen the toxicity of this debate - we should not be against co-operation with other parties".

"It should be possible to translate public mandate into political consensus," particularly since there are key "similarities" between the main parties' manifesto promises to deliver Brexit.

"It's in all our interest to get the best deal," he emphasises.

House of Lords
Parliament

Former Cabinet secretary and crossbencher Lord Armstrong is introducing his amendment calling on the government to suspend Brexit talks.

He says "we're not ready" to proceed with quitting the EU as it's "not clear what we want to achieve".

He argues Brexit can't be taken forward by a government "so lacking in strength and stability, so unclear on its objectives, so unlikely to survive".

A former chairman of the Conservative Party has said his party had no need to cut a financial deal as part of their arrangement with the DUP.

Lord Tebbit told BBC Northern Ireland: "I don't think it needed to have financial aspect to it I don't think the DUP would have done anything which would have precipitated another general election at the moment."

The Conservative peer said he had concerns that other parts of the UK would feel hard done by, saying: "I think it is unwise because it sparks off other people "

The peer also reacted to criticism from his party colleague Lord Patten who described the arrangement with the DUP as "a bung."

Lord Tebbit told the BBC: "I would rather put a bung in Lord Patten if I am honest "

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Lord Adonis begins his speech by issuing "condolences" to the new Brexit minister on her appointment and pointing out two out of four ministers for exiting the EU "have already exited".

He points out 60% of our trade is with the EU or countries with free trade agreements, and in approaching trade after Brexit the government is "trying to fill a swimming pool with a teaspoon - an interesting idea, but don't jump in for about three centuries".

"The solution clear and simple - stay in the single market," he urges, moving an amendment to regret that the government is not seeking single market membership after Brexit.

BBC News Channel

Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin, a former cabinet minister, tells BBC News there is a need to reduce the deficit "while finding extra cash for these essential public services".

He thinks that many public sector workers "are paid less well than many comparable people in the private sector" which, he argues, is the reverse of the situation a few years ago.

Therefore the government should look at "doing something about public sector pay".

And he predicts that ministers will need to consider "well-judged tax rises of a kind that the public will accept" in the future.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

The prime minister’s spokesman insisted several times under repeated questioning that the "government’s policy on the pay cap has not changed".

He added: "We are working though recommendations of the pay bodies and government will be responding in due course… My political colleagues have said tough decisions have got the deficit down and pay restraint has protected jobs."

Asked if the policy would change, he replied: "I am commenting on the here and now. Sometimes pay review body recommendations are accepted, sometimes not. We are not going to pre-empt this."

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP and doctor Andrew Murrison has said it is “absolutely right” to look at removing the pay cap for public sector workers.

Mr Murrison said that public sector workers “give far more back to the service than we give to them in terms of the package”, adding that he worried that the “well of good will” among medical workers would soon run “completely dry”.

He told the Commons: “When you have to support your families and when you have to pay the mortgage… it is pretty rotten when you see salaries increasing rightly in the general economy except in the public service.”

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Conservative MP Chris Grayling said it was "irresponsible of Jeremy Corbyn" to suggest that government cuts to local authority and fire service budgets were to blame for the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The issue of the Grenfell Tower was raised at Prime Minister's Questions at Westminster where the Labour leader said the fire had exposed "the disastrous effects of austerity" and "the terrible consequences of deregulation".

Labour MP Owen Smith, who was in discussion with Mr Grayling, told Radio 4's World at One that if you have a "cult of deregulation, which both parties have done on occasion, then we will have these problems".

Mr Grayling also added that there is a "dedicated team working across government in response to the disaster and he stressed how difficult it has been to establish exactly how many people were victims.

After shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird called on SNP MPs to support Labour's Queen's Speech amendment, shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne has made a similar appeal to Conservatives.

Mr Gwynne said the general election result meant ministers had "already been forced to drop some of their most damaging policies, such as taking winter fuel payments away from more than 10m pensioners or removing the triple lock guarantee on pensions.

“Now, it appears, the dramatic increase in Labour’s vote at the general election and the strength of feeling among the British people may force the Government to U-turn and stop cutting public sector workers’ pay.

“If this change of heart is real, I look forward to seeing Conservative MPs supporting Labour’s amendment to the Queen’s Speech today, which would end cuts to the police and fire service and lift the public sector pay cap.”

It is customary for MPs in Parliament to refer to colleagues from the same party as "my honourable friend" with other parties' MPs referred to as "the honourable lady" or "the honourable gentleman".

Since striking a deal with the DUP, some Conservatives have been referring to DUP MPs as honourable friends

Theresa May addressed the DUP's Nigel Dodds as "my right honourable friend" at Prime Minister's Questions and a Conservative source said that other ministers had done the same over the past few days.

The friendliness has been reciprocated. On Tuesday, DUP MP Ian Paisley referred to "my right honourable... and even closer friend, the prime minister".

During the coalition of 2010-15, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs regularly addressed each other as "friend", but they were in a formal coalition and both party's MPs sat on the government's side of the Commons chamber.

The DUP have formed an agreement to back the Tories on some key votes but its MPs have continued to sit on the opposition parties' side of the House.

Image source, Reuters

There will be serious implications if the Stormont parties cannot agree a deal on restoring devolution by Thursday's deadline, Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has said.

Mr Brokenshire would not go into detail about any alternatives he might be considering if the talks fail.

He denied the Tory-DUP confidence and supply deal would make it impossible for the government to maintain their impartiality in Northern Ireland. He said he was not part of those talks.

Talks to restore Northern Ireland's devolved government are going down to the wire, with the parties having until 16:00 BST on Thursday to reach an agreement.

Read more here.

Conservative peer Lord Patten has attacked his party's deal with the DUP and the government's extra funding for Northern Ireland.

"Northern Ireland and its citizens know as well as I do, that a bung is a bung is a bung," the former cabinet minister said.

However, another former Tory cabinet minister is less than impressed with Lord Patten's intervention.

BBC Radio 2