House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Leader of the Lords Baroness Evans of Bowes Park opens today's marathon debate on the bill, saying it's necessary to ensure a fully functioning statute book and to preserve legal protections after Brexit.

To some disquiet, she says: "It's not about revisiting the arguments of the referendum, not about our future relationship with the EU, not about enacting policy" but it is about "passing legislation required to honour the referendum result".

She reminds peers that "extensive scrutiny" that took place in the Commons and recommends they accept the committee which has been proposed to "sift" the delegated powers created under the bill.

House of Lords
Parliament

Today is peers first chance to debate the EU Withdrawal Bill, external, which repeals the European Communities Act and writes EU law into UK law.

Second reading is a chance for peers to debate the general principles of a bill.

The bulk of amendments will come when the bill goes on to committee stage and peers seek to secure changes.

But, unusually for second reading, Labour's Lord Adonis has put down a "regret motion" which could be voted during the course of the next two days.

It reads:

House of Lords
Parliament

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The Lords debate on the EU Bill is underway and it's a full House.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

With a list of 195 speakers - a record-breaking figure - peers have been advised to keep their speeches down to six minutes.

The Lords isn't regulated as strictly as the Commons so peers could technically speak for longer. But they could incur the disapproval of their colleagues if they do so.

Image source, HoL

Peers are assembling earlier than normal - at 11am - to accommodate the huge number of speakers wishing to take part in today's second reading debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

There'll be a break for lunch, before peers hold their daily question session at 2.30pm - after which debate on the bill will resume.

Ninety peers are expected to take part today and the debate will continue tomorrow.

We'll shortly be going over to the House of Lords as they embark on their two-day marathon debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill. 195 peers have declared that they want to speak.

We'll be following it all here...

Select Committee
Parliament

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The new witnesses are:

• Chris Martin, Managing Director, Independent Trustee Services Ltd
• Robin Ellison, Chair of Trustees of Carillion Defined Benefit Pension Scheme

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative MP Heidi Allen says that Stephen Haddrill was working with the government on the immediate aftermath of the financial crash of 2008.

She asks why he hasn't been asking for more powers from the government to prevent future situations like this.

Mr Haddrill says "we have not achieved what we want" due to "a lack of government interest" when it comes to expanding the powers of the regulators "in recent years".

Labour's Rachel Reeves asks if companies should be required to change accountancy firms, considering that KPMG worked for 19 years for Carillion, "since its inception".

Mr Haddrill says that the maximum term for an accountancy firm working for a large company is ten years, but the same company can be granted an extension of their contract.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Labour MP and Work and Pensions Committee Chair Frank Field says two former finance directors at Carillion came from KPMG.

He adds that KPMG had been auditing Carillion's accounts for the last 19 years.

"Did that not sound a warning to you?", he says. He asks Mr Haddrill if the government should consider breaking up the "oligarchy" of the big four accountancy firms.

Mr Haddrill says that there should be more competition in the accounting sector, there is competition "among the big four" companies, but there have been no new entries from smaller companies to the market.

He adds that there are rules surrounding the extent to which auditors can join private companies, and the "cooling-off" period is around two years.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Labour's Rachel Reeves asks what took place during the Financial Reporting Council's monitoring of Carillion in July 2017, and if the body is "properly resourced".

Stephen Haddrill says it was not public knowledge that the FRC was monitoring what was happening at Carillion.

He adds that confidentiality requirements built in to the company mean that the FRC cannot say when they are monitoring.

Ms Reeves says that the Director for Corporate Governance and Reporting in the FRC is a former director of KPMG, the accountancy firm that was auditing Carillion.

Mr Haddrill replies that he left KPMG around "about 2000" and that he is "not responsible" for taking investigations forward.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Conservative Antoinette Sandbach asks when monitoring of Carillion began. FRC chief Stephen Haddrill says that it began in July 2017.

Ms Sandbach asks why investigations were not started when KPMG, an auditor, raised concerns as early as 2015/16.

Mr Haddrill replies that "some of the disclosures were not as full as they should be".

Ms Sandbach asks if misconduct is assessed against the government's own code of corporate governance.

"No," Mr Haddrill replies, "there isn't regulatory enforcement of the code, the code is enforced, if that's the right word, by shareholders".

"So basically what you're telling us today," Ms Sandbach replies, "is that we can't rely on the audited accounts of any major company".

Mr Haddrill says that Ms Sandbach is mixing up corporate governance and the reporting of accounts in a company.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Labour's Peter Kyle asks if the powers of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) need to be changed in light of what has happened to Carillion.

He says that in the case of a school, Ofsted would be fully aware of poor governance.

The body's chief executive Stephen Haddrill replies that there are aspects of the FRC's ability to review "which should be expanded".

He adds that the FRC does not have the power to review corporate accounts, but has powers to look at the accounts after "events" have taken place.

The FRC cannot look into what is happening in a company when it is still trading, he tells MPs.

"We are one of the most effective audit regulators in the world," Mr Haddrill adds, when challenged by Mr Kyle.

Select Committee
Parliament

Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee and Labour MP Rachel Reeves asks for the Insolvency Service's assessment of what has happened with Carillion.

Sarah Albon says the firm is made up of 326 companies and subsidiaries, with 199 based in the UK.

She says the Insolvency Service is focusing on 16 companies and 36 directors.

She adds that in this case, liquidation and investigation are taking place at the same time, which is not usual practice. Normally a company is dissolved first before investigations take place, she adds.

Image source, HoC

Select Committee
Parliament

First up, MPs are hearing from:

• Stephen Haddrill, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Reporting Council
• Sarah Albon, Chief Executive Officer, The Insolvency Service

Then at 10.15am they will take evidence from:

• Chris Martin, Managing Director, Independent Trustee Services Ltd
• Robin Ellison, Chair of Trustees of Carillion Defined Benefit Pension Scheme

Select Committee
Parliament

Business in the Commons begins at 11.30am, but first this morning MPs from two select committees are beginning their inquiry into the collapse of construction giant Carillion.

The company, which had many government contracts, went into liquidation earlier this month, with debts amounting to £1.5bn.

Yesterday the Work and Pensions Committee said the firm "wriggled out" of payments into its company pension schemes as its troubles grew. The pension schemes were overall in deficit.

This morning members of the committee, alongside members of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, will be taking evidence on how the pension scheme was managed.

It was a day on which Conservative tensions over the government's Brexit strategy were played out in Parliament.

Veteran Conservative Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash urged the government to reject the EU's guidelines, published today, for a transition period after the UK's departure on 29 March 2019.

But Conservative Europhile Anna Soubry called on Theresa May to "see off hard Brexiteers" in the Conservative party, stating that 35 Tory MPs should not be allowed to dictate the Brexit terms.

Meanwhile, the Brexit Secretary David Davis told the Lords EU committee that the UK wanted a "right to object" to new laws passed by the EU during the transition period.

We'll be back on Tuesday at 11am when the House of Lords gets stuck into the EU Withdrawal Bill.

House of Commons
Parliament

The House of Commons adjourns and will return on Tuesday for business, energy and industrial strategy questions.

House of Commons
Parliament

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan responds to tonight's debate, telling the House that "human rights are interdependent and indivisible" and the government is "committed" to protecting LGBT rights.

He says there's a balance to be struck between encouraging change in other countries and respecting their democracies.

"Our best approach is to persuade and cajole," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Chris Bryant is opening his adjournment debate on same-sex marriage in Bermuda.

The Bermudan Domestic Partnership Act, which aims to reverse a Supreme Court ruling last May that opened the way for gay marriages in this British Overseas Territory, has yet to be signed into law.

Mr Bryant argues people should "enjoy the same freedoms in Bermuda as they do in England, Wales - or for that matter Northern Ireland".