House of Lords
Parliament

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Crossbencher and former police ombudsman in Northern Ireland Baroness O'Loan doesn't think the Lords should amend the bill, but warns the government against complacency.

We can't assume that the peace agreement in Northern Ireland will stand, she says. 

She says that Brexit will result in the recreation of borders between Ireland and Northern Ireland which will in turn create protests, hostility and violence.

Such borders, she suggests, could also precipitate a referendum on uniting Ireland. 

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have divided to vote - this division has been called on New Clause 17, which calls for a public register of beneficial ownership of companies registered in Crown dependencies.

House of Commons
Parliament

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace says the government's "ambition is still to have public registry of beneficial ownership."

He says that currently, however, the law enforcement agencies will be able to tackle criminals harbouring money in these countries as registers are due within the coming months. 

He suggests "they have done an awful lot so far" to have reached an agreement on registers, but now is not the time to open them publicly. 

He also says that it might not be the correct legal procedure.

The Minister says that public registers in Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies can be expected once the UK has finished compiling their own.

Shadow Home Office minister Rupa Huq says that they will move the amendment to a vote. 

Select Committee
Parliament

Committee chair and former GP Sarah Wollaston asks if there are "opportunities" for medical training if the UK were to end or amend the recommendations of the European Working Time Directive post-Brexit. 

The directive limits workers to average 48 hour weeks.

Professor David Lomas, of the Association of UK University Hospitals, says his experience training 30 years ago, when long hours were common, "prejudices him", but says the directive has "damaged" the way doctors train. 

He tells the committee that when he trained as a doctor he'd regularly clock in on Friday morning and not leave until Sunday evening.

Daniel Mortimer of NHS Employers says there's a risk if we blame the European Working Time Directive for what have actually been a "complex set of factors" that have changed medical training.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Leigh of Hurley accuses the Liberal Democrats of seeking to defy the democratic will on Brexit. 

He adds that they are "fuelled by indifference" about whether the House of Lords "remains in existence".

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbench peer, and one of the authors of Article 50, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard begins by arguing that the UK will be economically damaged by Brexit.

"Bullingdon Boys will be just fine, others will not," he says.

Turning to the options available if the UK does not get a good exit deal he sets out three possibilities.

• First he says that Parliament can ask the government to go back and get a better deal. He adds that this is frequently done by the US Congress
• Secondly he says the government can ask for the negotiation period to be extended
• Thirdly he tells peers that Article 50 is not irreversible and that the UK can change its mind about withdrawal - "and no one in Brussels can stop us".

He tells peers that, because the withdrawal process can be stopped, he will support the bill. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Among the most contentious amendments to this bill is one which would require Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to establish publicly accessible registers of the beneficial ownership of companies. 

This effectively means that companies set up in British Overseas Territories - such as the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands or Gibraltar - will have to reveal who really owns it. During the Panama Papers controversy last year, British territories were mentioned numerous times. 

Currently, they are required to give this information to law enforcement agencies, but the clause would make this information available to the public. 

Why would one company (or individual) start another company in an Overseas Territory? In order to pay less tax by funneling profits made in the UK into places where tax rates are considerably lower. The amendment would name and shame companies paying less tax in the UK through shell companies. 

It would also help see if individuals, countries and governments from outside the UK are using Overseas Territories for questionable reasons. 

The clause has been tabled by mostly Labour MPs and has led to a considerable amount of debate. 

Jeremy Corbyn is not a "true believer" on Europe and failed his "test" during the referendum campaign, says peer Lord Liddle.

Select Committee
Parliament

We've got a new trio of witnesses in front of the committee, this time focusing on employment issues in health and social care and Brexit. The three are Daniel Mortimer of NHS Employers, Professor Martin Green of Care England and Professor David Lomas of the Association of UK University Hospitals.

NHS Employers chief Daniel Mortimer tells the committee that in recent years the NHS has tended to recruit nurses from the EU due to the ease of doing so. Although in the last two years he says "employers were starting to find there was not the same quantity of nurses from the EU as economies picked up".

He adds that a post-Brexit UK immigration system would have to give the health service greater access to skilled migrant visas and that currently the "system is designed to disincentivise people coming to the country" and they want it to be "as easy as possible" to get talented people in. 

Professor David Lomas adds that it's "almost impossible" to hire medical staff from countries like the United States, Australia, India and China, which reduces the size of the "pool" hospitals are able to pull talent from. He says that after Brexit the immigration system must be reformed.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Robathan attacks the Liberal Democrats for calling, in the past, for a referendum on Europe but then not accepting the result.

Do they not understand why they were so comprehensively rejected in 2015? he asks.

He adds that people expect politicians to live up to their promises.

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbencher Lord Low of Dalston tells peers that he will vote against the bill.

Partly, he says, because the Leave campaign was fraudulent and partly "out of sheer bloody mindedness".

He argues that the referendum was advisory and did not mandate a hard Brexit.

House of Lords
Parliament

Next is the Labour peer and former Director of Strategy in Downing Street 2007-08, Lord Livermore.

He says that peers are being asked to support an unelected PM with no mandate of her own, adding that there is no majority for a hard Brexit in the country.

And yet the government has the nerve to lecture us on respecting the will of the people, he says.

He also criticises his own party's leadership for supporting the bill. 

The British people are being sold a lie and "we should say so", he says.

He argues that when promises on Brexit prove undeliverable, "there will be terrible reckoning".

Select Committee
Parliament

One of the witnesses is Christopher Chantry, who has been campaigning since the Brexit vote for UK citizens in the EU and currently lives in France. 

He says the status of UK nationals who live in the EU must be sorted out as soon as possible to avoid uncertainty. 

He also calls on the UK government to make the first move, and unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens who live in the UK, by an act of parliament. 

It would give the UK leverage and the "moral high-ground" in negotiations, he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbencher Lord Bilimoria tells peers that in the years of building his Cobra company he did not "spend one hour of one day worrying about EU legislation".

He argues that laws are predominantly made in this Parliament.

On the prospect of holding another referendum, he says people should be allowed to change their minds.

He argues that Theresa May and Philip Hammond, who were on the remain side, have changed their minds on Brexit.

"The court jester" - as he dubs Boris Johnson - used to be a remainer before changing his mind to support the leave campaign, he adds. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Lord Paddick, argues it is up to the people to decide "through a referendum" the outcome of any negotiations with the EU. 

On security, he says "essential cooperation with the EU cannot be achieved without ceding sovereignty", contradicting the Leave campaign's claim that Britain can be secure and reclaim sovereignty. 

He says that the UK will have to remain part of the European Court of Justice in order to remain part of some security and crime agreements.

House of Lords
Parliament

It would be a "double assault to democracy" to override the voice of the public and the elected chamber, says Lord Maude of Horsham.

He claims that Brexit "offers opportunity, not certainty", acknowledging that much of the opportunity will come as a result of negotiations. 

He says he hopes that economic self-interest of the EU will prevail over any attempt to harm the UK. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers are debating the Brexit bill again this afternoon, and Lord Darling of Roulanish, chancellor under Gordon Brown, is one of the first to speak.

He calls for the government to be "grown up" about Brexit. 

In reference to negotiations with the EU, he says that there will be a need for rational conversations over issues relating to migration and security. The government white paper laid out broad ideas, but the 27 remaining EU members will have different ideas, he says.

He also claims that a trade deal with the US should not be seen as an "alternative" to the EU, saying "if someone is going to come first, someone has to come second".

He therefore believes that those who wanted to remain in the EU should not "sit down and be quiet" giving the government a "blank cheque", but to act as a rational voice.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Heidi Alexander asks Joseph Meirion Thomas the extent of what he claims is the abuse of the EHIC card. 

He's told the committee that for many migrants the "first thing" they do is apply for a UK EHIC card. This would enable the UK to be charged for medical treatment in foreign countries.

He replies he has "no idea" of numbers, but "I know that it's extremely common". He says Overseas Visitor Officers in hospitals, the people tasked with chasing up payment for treatment from foreign users of the NHS, tell him so.

Heidi Alexander says that he's made a "sweeping statement" without anything to back it up.

In 2015, the NHS admitted that the system was vulnerable to abuse, but believed that the scale was limited.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Tebbit complains that new cycling routes means it takes an hour to get from Westminster to Tower Bridge by car thereby creating more air pollution.

"Get on yer bike," advises an off-camera peer quoting Lord Tebbit's advice to the unemployed when he was a minister in 1980s.

It is impertinent, Lord Tebbit replies, to expect people of his age to cycle on London roads.

Take the district line, suggests Lord Gardiner.

Select Committee
Parliament

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The first part of today's Health Committee hearing has centred around the EHIC, the European Health Insurance Card. 

The card enables EU and EEA residents to be treated in hospitals in any other EU or EEA country at no cost. Former surgeon and NHS "health tourism" whistleblower Joseph Meirion Thomas tells the committee that he believes the EHIC card needs to be ended after Brexit.

When asked about the potential effects for British people travelling into Europe post-Brexit, he says that most people already buy travel insurance so "what difference does it make?" 

"I buy my travel insurance by the year, and it's very reasonable," he adds.