Jacob Rees-Mogg has to take numerous interventions from Labour MPs as he makes his opening speech.

One of them, Jess Phillips, asks the Commons leader whether he would have come to the same conclusions if it were a Labour MP under investigation.

Mr Rees-Mogg says "the answer is yes" - prompting some groans from the opposition benches.

Another Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge, says that for Tory MPs to vote to shake-up of the rules on MPs' behaviour today would be “terrible for our democracy”.

Richard Burgon, another Labour MP, says the review of the rules proposed by ministers is "dodgy".

Image source, HoC

Opening the debate, Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg says complaints about the way the system for investigating MPs works are now "too numerous to ignore".

He says he is not here to make a judgement on Mr Paterson's case in particular - but on the "process by which he has been tried".

He says concerns about the current system include a lack of examination of witnesses and the absence of a "right of appeal".

He says the House of Commons, which has to endorse suspensions of MPs, is also not an "“apolitical court of appeal” - meaning there is a need for an "independent appeals process".

The Conservative MP for North Shropshire is in the Commons chamber to watch MPs debate his possible suspension for breaking standards rules.

As the debate gets underway, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirms he has decided to allow a vote on the Tory amendment tabled by former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom.

This would pause the decision on whether Owen Paterson should be suspended and set up a new committee to review his case, and the process for investigating MPs more broadly.

A separate amendment tabled by Tory MP Julian Lewis, to scrap Mr Paterson’s suspension on “compassionate grounds”, has not been selected.

The debate on the backbench bill on schools comes to an end. MPs will now begin their debate on whether to suspend Owen Paterson, which is expected to last 90 minutes.

Boris Johnson’s statement on the COP26 summit has finished, and MPs will now hold a short debate on a backbench bill to prevent future emergency school closures.

The debate on the proposal to suspend Owen Paterson will take place after this has finished – expected to be in around 20 minutes’ time.

The government, which has a large majority in the Commons, has now ordered Conservative MPs to back the amendment seeking to overhaul the standards watchdog - meaning it is likely to pass.

BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley says: "There are a number of Tory MPs who are deeply worried about how this looks and the precedent it sets.

"And even if they do vote for it they will be clenching their noses."

He adds that even if the amendment passes, "it doesn't exonerate Owen Paterson", as a new committee could come to the same verdict as the current one.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Since the 2009 expenses saga - or maybe even the scandals that plagued John Major’s government in the ‘90s - the issue of policing politicians has tested every generation of MPs, who were plagued by the accusation that they were all too willing to let each other off the hook, for offences that would have much more serious consequences for ordinary folk.

A decade ago, parliamentary careers were floundering over expenses claims which varied from the wildly self-indulgent to the outright fraudulent.

But maybe memories have dimmed - the influx of new MPs and the passage of time have softened memories of what was, at the time, a colossal institutional trauma.

At the moment, the system for examining breaches of the rules for MPs is a complicated one, with careers dependent on its verdicts.

So it’s no surprise parliamentarians are deeply concerned about its workings.

But today’s vote entangles an individual case with concerns about the working of the system - and entanglement may spell real trouble for Parliament.

Image source, House of Commons

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner stood in for Sir Keir Starmer in this week's PMQs as he is still stuck at home having tested positive for coronavirus last week.

And a range of topics were raised, including:

• Owen Paterson MP's potential suspension from the House of Commons
• The fairness of tax rules in the new Budget
• The rejection of a carbon storage project in Scotland
• Severe shortages of staff in nearly every part of the NHS
• Universal credit cuts
• The use of stop and search as a police tactic

Stick with us for more analysis of the event, and remember, we will also be covering the debate on Paterson from 14:00 GMT following No 10's change in approach.

Plenty more to come from Westminster...

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner is responding to the PM's statement on COP26 and the G20 in the Commons.

She says the UK needs to "lead by example", but claims the government is "refusing to make its mind up about coal mines in its own borders" and "doing a trade deal with Australia that removes key climate messages".

"How does the PM expect others to do more when he is setting such a poor example," she asks.

On vaccines, she says that in some of the poorest countries less than 3% of people have received even one dose.

She accuses the UK of lagging behind all other G7 countries bar one in sharing surplus vaccines with poorer countries

"Our fantastic scientists who developed the AstraZeneca vaccine are being let down by the prime minister."

Did two million families get a £1,000 tax cut?published at 12:57 Greenwich Mean Time 3 November 2021

12:57 GMT 3 November 2021

Reality Check

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson said: “Two million families had a £1,000 tax cut.”

He was referring to the announcement in last week’s Budget of a cut in the taper rate for universal credit, which is the amount of benefit claimants lose if they earn more money.

The Treasury estimates there are 1.9 million households with a working member that are claiming universal credit.

Almost all of them will indeed benefit from the cut to the taper rate, and there will also be some households now eligible for universal credit who would not have been previously.

But it is not correct to say that all two million will benefit by £1,000. Some of those households will not be earning enough to benefit by this much from the cut in the taper rate.

The prime minister’s figure also does not take into account the impact of last month’s removal of the £20 a week uplift to universal credit.

The Resolution Foundation estimates that if that is taken into account 1.2 million households on universal credit will be better off.

You can read more about it here.

Other agreements between leaders focused on Covid.

Boris Johnson says the UK will have provided 30m doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and another 20m next year as part of a deal with the G20.

The G20 - a group of the world's largest economies - has also agreed to set a unilateral minimum rate of tax for businesses.

But back to the environment, the PM says: "Far more needs to be done to spare humanity from catastrophic climate change.

"In the meantime, global warming is already contributing" to worse weather patterns around the world.

If you want to follow more of this statement, do hop over to our COP26 live page for full reporting and analysis.

Image source, House of Commons

Johnson turns to the COP26 climate summit and at the recent G20 meeting, saying: "This is the moment when we must turn words into action."

He warns that increasing temperatures could potentially wipe out all coral reefs around the world.

He says there is "encouraging evidence" that members of the G20 have shown "political will exists" in order to try and reverse increasing carbon emissions.

PMQs has come to an end and the PM is now giving a statement on the COP26 climate summit.

MPs will debate the case of Owen Paterson after his statement.

That debate begins at roughly 14:00 GMT - and we will be covering it here on the live page.