Select Committee
Parliament

"The damage to the BBC will be so intense if this ends up at tribunal," Carrie Gracie says.

She calls on BBC bosses to allow "independent arbitration" as well as "full transparency on pay".

"They're walking towards their worst outcome now with what they do and they need to stop and let us help them out," she says.

Ms Gracie, who still works for the BBC as a presenter, says she has been accused of "hypocrisy" for not leaving the corporation altogether but says she is not going "to leave the field".

It is time for her to leave the committee room though, as we await a panel of BBC senior managers - including director general Tony Hall - who are up next.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom, is opening the debate on the restoration of the Palace of Westminster.

She says that Parliament will receive a report on this in the next 12-18 months which would then offer a vote on what to do.

Around 75% of the costs that are proposed on the restoration are essential, non-cosmetic changes to the building, she says.

The government does not have a position on this, and will respect the views of the House, she adds. She says that personally, she has "seen for myself what our engineers are up against".

She says that both of her predecessors, including herself, will be voting for the restoration to take place.

Select Committee
Parliament

Carrie Gracie tells the committee that BBC director Tony Hall, former head of news James Harding and current director Fran Unsworth have "made women more visible" in the BBC's output.

She says she is grateful to Mr Harding "for having confidence in me that I could do the China job".

However, she says women promoted to senior positions in the BBC now feel they have been told: "You may be a senior person but that doesn't mean you're entitled to equal pay."

Ahead of today's committee hearing, fourteen women have given written testimonies based on their experiences of pay negotiations at the BBC.

One said her line manager told her "the BBC doesn't do equal pay".

You can read their evidence here.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Lord Goldsmith, a former attorney general, says that "many laws on which we presently depend will fall away," so it is important "that we get this right".

He says the bill creates "legal uncertainty" and creates "jeopardy" for devolution.

He adds that there is wide agreement that "this bill, as it stands, does not do what is required to make it fit for purpose".

Making the bill fit for purpose is not "throwing a spanner in the works" or frustrating the will of the people, he says.

He asks why the government is so "determined that the one element of one protection that will not be kept in place after this bill passes, is the Charter of Fundamental Rights, external?"

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom opens this afternoon's debate on restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster.

The government motion "accepts that there is a clear and pressing need to repair the services in the Palace of Westminster" but says "funding should be limited to facilitate essential work" and agrees to review this before the end of the current Parliament.

Mrs Leadsom tells MPs: "The Commons infrastructure is ageing faster than it is possible to repair it. Work is going on all the time."

However, she adds there's "no blank cheque" and "value for money will frame the choices we make today".

Select Committee
Parliament

Carrie Gracie says that when she decided to quit as China editor, "I went from hero to zero like that".

When she left, "no-one said goodbye, no-one said thank you", she tells the committee.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

After some dramatic scenes in the Lords, as Lord Bates resigns from the government benches for missing a question during Oral Questions, debate resumes on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Lord Hague of Richmond, former foreign secretary during the coalition government of 2010-2015, is the 132nd speaker in the debate.

He says that Lords are agreed, "however reluctantly," of the need to pass a bill for continuity and amendment of law.

"This bill has not arrived in this House in a perfect, finished form," he adds.

He says that depending on your point of view, the view of the country has always been to make a success of Brexit, or to limit the damage caused.

He is not a supporter of a second referendum, as more people voted for Brexit than have ever voted for any government in the UK, he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Just checking back in with the Commons where the Brexit Minister Steve Baker is responding to this afternoon's debate on a Labour motion attempting to require the release of economic analysis of Brexit which was leaked to BuzzFeed.

He speaks of progress made in negotiations, saying forcing the analysis into the public domain could "put that at risk" as it's a preliminary draft.

But he says he will authorise the release on "an exceptional basis" to counter "misrepresentation" of the document in the press.

The motion is then passed without a vote.

Select Committee
Parliament

Carrie Gracie talks about the strain of "being in conflict" with her employer and what she sees as "the belittling" of her work.

"That is very painful," she says, becoming visibly upset and adding that she feels "very angry about what they've put some other people through".

Such "belittling" is, she tells MPs, "what that machine has to do to deny every single one of them" legitimacy in their equal pay complaints.

Select Committee
Parliament

SNP MP Brendan O'Hara asks whether an offer of a £45,000 pay rise to Carrie Gracie as China editor amounted to "hush money".

She says she does not think so and goes on to welcome comments by BBC director general Tony Hall that women will not be required to sign non-disclosure agreements, arguing that openness is key.

She thinks the BBC was instead attempting to resolve the issue "without taking on historic liabilities".

Ms Gracie also says that women "are not told what their male comparator is earning".

She says that many who are offered money "need that money".

She tells the committee: "I was earnng a lot of money and it is possible for me to take the moral high ground."

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour MP Ian Lucas says he and Conservative MP Rebecca Pow earn the same salary and "it is public knowledge".

He does not understand how another publicly-funded organisation - the BBC - would not have similar arrangements.

Michelle Stanistreet agrees that "there needs to be much more public engagement" and there shouldn't be a "Wild West of fees and salary arrangements".

Select Committee
Parliament

Michelle Stanistreet says the BBC's review of its pay structure is looking at "market pay" and not "a public sector ethos".

The NUJ believes "there needs to be a radical restructuring of pay and expenditure," she says.

She attacks recent licence fee settlements, telling the committee: "Cuts to budgets have really impacted on grassroots programming."

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Tory MP Rebecca Pow asks how Carrie Gracie feels walking into a room full of her male colleagues.

Ms Gracie, who has been giving evidence for nearly 90 minutes now, says the equal pay row puts "all of us in difficult positions", including managers.

She says many managers are decent people who have backed her in editorial matters but some may have been forced to "make dishonourable choices".

"We have a toxic work atmosphere... there are women leaving," she says, adding that if BBC managers carry on "sticking their heads in the sand" they will lose cases at employment tribunals.

She urges female colleagues to "keep calm... for the sake of the BBC" and persist with their cases.

Select Committee
Parliament

Carrie Gracie compares herself to "a Chinese petitioner going to the emperor", saying: "I thought if I got this message to Tony Hall he would sort it out - I was that innocent."

She adds it cannot continue. "It will not stand... many women will leave."

Select Committee
Parliament

Carrie Gracie says she went into James Harding's office in the days when he was director of News and he said to her: "How is it you deliver so much and you ask for so little?"

At the time, she wasn't sure if he was talking about money but now thinks he might have been.

Select Committee
Parliament

Carrie Gracie tells the committee that "it's always been complicated to fight for equal pay because it looks as though you're asking for more money".

Conservative Rebecca Pow asks if she thinks she was paid less because she was seen as a soft touch.

Ms Gracie replies: "Yes."

Select Committee
Parliament

The NUJ's Michelle Stanistreet says they've been pressing the BBC for greater transparency over pay and grading, arguing that "it could only be a positive thing".

Conservative Julian Knight asks if less senior journalists are affected by these inequalities.

Ms Stanistreet replies there's been "serial misuse of managerial discretion" resulting in pay inequities where men are often treated "advantageously".