House of Lords
Parliament

Peers have voted to support Labour's motion which calls for a select committee to consider the impact of two particular clauses in the Trade Union Bill.

The clauses in question concern trade union's funding of political parties which Labour says could cost them £6m a year. 

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted against the SNP amendment to the bill by 307 to 47, a majority of 260.

MPs are now voting on amendment 5, which would exempt poppers from the bill, as recommended by the Home Affairs Select Committee. 

The amendment has the support of the Labour front bench, the SNP and the former Lib Dem health minister Norman Lamb.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers have voted in favour of the motion 327 to 234 giving a majority of 93.

This is the 24th defeat for the government since the election in May.

Select Committee
Parliament

After a fairly robust evidence session this afternoon, Andrew Tyrie thanks Ms McDermott and Mr Griffith-Jones for their work and adjourns the committee.

Select Committee
Parliament

Responding to a question from committee chair Andrew Tyrie, Ms McDermott tells MPs that the FCA has six leak inquiries underway at the moment.

Ms McDermott also reveals that the FCA undertook 15 leak inquiries last year.

"That's quite a lot isn't it," Mr Tyrie asks Ms McDermott.

"Yes it is," she replies.

Despite this Ms McDermott tells the committee "we have no reason to believe that we have a systematic leaker" in the organisation.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's New Clause 2 is defeated by 306 votes to 227, a majority of 79.

But no sooner have we had the result than MPs divide for a third time, this time on an Amendment 14, placed by the SNP, to exclude from criminalisation people who order psychoactive substances online for personal consumption.

MPs in the Commons and peers in the Lords are voting at the same time...leading to the sight of green and red bells swinging on the annunciator.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour's Baroness Smith says she doesn't think the government has made its point very well and begs to test the opinion of the House.

The question is put and peers rise to vote. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Business Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe tells peers that the bill is not about political party funding but trade unions.

"All institutions need modernisation," she says, "and this is what the bill is about."

She assures peers that the government will be publishing impact statements on the bill tomorrow and urges peers to reject the motion.

House of Commons
Parliament

After a very short debate, the House divides again, to vote on New Clause 2.

New Clause 2 gives additional powers to local authorities or the police to shut down premises.

Select Committee
Parliament

SNP MP George Kerevan is now asking about a lack of enforcement action on HSBC for their tax evasion scandal, and especially the fact that the decision was announced by the media.

Ms McDermott replies "we never said we were taking any enforcement action" and states that normal FCA procedure is not to comment on individual cases.

Mr Kerevan asks Mr Griffith-Jones about the fact that "a major decision is announced to the press at a very sensitive time" and asks him if he made any effort to discover where the press had gathered their information.

Mr Griffith-Jones responds that he did not as he knows the FCA do not publish press releases on every decision that has been made.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Forsyth tells peers that he is in two minds.

He notes that the bill enacts a Conservative manifesto commitment, which the House of Lords should therefore not seek to block.

However he believes that attacking the funding of the Labour Party would lead to an attack on Conservative Party funding "leading us into a war of mutual destruction which will not enhance the reputation of parliament".

He suggests that the best possible outcome would be for the motion to be rejected but for the government to think again about a different way of meeting this manifesto commitment.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's New Clause 1 has been defeated by 307 votes to 241, a majority of 66.

The House then moves on to the second set of amendments being considered at Report Stage, starting with New Clause 2, which Labour says would give more powers to shut down a premises where "legal highs" were being sold.

House of Lords
Parliament

Former Head of the Home Civil Service Lord Kerslake believes this is an issue of the "utmost constitutional seriousness" which should be a concern to anyone regardless of their political leanings.

He argues that it would be "possible and credible" for the select committee to look at the impact of the two clauses in the time frame set out.

He tells peers that he intends to support the motion.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have divided to vote on New Clause 1 of the Psychoactive Substances Bill. The new clause has been put forward by the Labour Party and would make drug education a "foundation subject" in the national curriculum. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Home Office Minister Mike Penning, speaking on the poppers amendment, says he doesn't want to "make life difficult for any individual group".

He said that initially he "knew very little about poppers" but evidence showed that "since 1993 they've been mentioned 20 times in a death certificate".

He says after initial publication of the bill, experts came forward to say poppers weren't as dangerous as the government thought. 

He says they have come up with a compromise and will hold an independent investigation. If the investigation decides that poppers do not belong in the bill, they can use the bill's clause three to exempt poppers by the summer.

He says he has "listened extensively across the house" and is "trying to do the right thing to protect people".

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbencher Lord Bew admits that he is finding it difficult to see a way through the problem.

On the motion itself he is sceptical that a select committee considering the clauses will not be able to achieve much in the short time frame of five weeks.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative MP Chris Philp returns to fairly well-trodden ground in this committee hearing by asking whether the witnesses think that the FCA decision to drop the banking culture review should have been communicated better.

As in previous exchanges on this matter there is a noticeable difference in how the FCA management regard the decision and how the MPs see it. Mr Griffith-Jones reiterates his belief that the decision was not as major as MPs are making out - that it was just a change of approach rather than a change of objective.

Mr Philp says that it seems it would have been a "frankly more professional way of doing things" to "explain the decision properly rather than having it leaked out in an uncontrolled way".

Mr Griffith-Jones responds by saying that the interest in the story from the media seemed to be more about a narrative of government interference rather than being about the decision itself.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lord Tyler concludes his speech by stating that his party will be supporting the motion this afternoon.

Conservative Lord Cormack rises to express sympathy with the Labour Party in believing the bill to be "significantly deficient".

He tells peers that to suggest the bill is not singling out one political party is "disingenuous" and argues the legislation does not sit well with the fairness of the "one party conservatism" he believes in.

However he argues that there is not enough time for a select committee to properly examine the clauses and therefore proposes amending the bill to delay the two disputed clauses.