House of Lords
Parliament

Former Commons clerk Lord Lisvane "brings up the century" as the 100th speaker in the debate.

He describes the bill as "refreshingly short" but confesses to being puzzled by subsection two of the first clause: "This section has effect despite any provision made by or under the European Communities Act 1972 or any other enactment."

He wonders if this is an "insurance policy" to avoid an "oh crickey moment" when an inconvenient piece of legislation is "unearthed".

Or, he suggests, perhaps the drafters of the bill have something in mind that will be at odds with the provision of the bill.

He advises the government to keep in mind one rule of drafting legislation: "If you don't specify your target the courts may not agree that you have hit it." 

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are now debating the final stages of the Criminal Finances Bill.

The bill is designed to improve the government’s ability to tackle money laundering, corruption, tax evasion and terrorist financing.

It comes in response to organised criminals, who are able to utilise the British financial system to move, hide, or use the proceeds of crime.

The bill will create new powers to help agencies and private sector investigate and tackle money laundering, including forcing suspects to identify the source of wealth and increased ‘seizure and forfeiture’ powers.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative James Dudderidge uses a point of order to ask whether the Speaker has been asked by the government or Backbench Business Committee to allocate time to debate and vote on the MP's vote of no confidence in the Speaker himself.

The MP organised an Early Day Motion, external expressing no confidence in Mr Speaker, after John Bercow called for President Trump to be barred from speaking in the Houses of Parliament, raising concerns that the Speaker had breached impartiality. 

The motion has been signed by five MPs.

The Speaker replies: "The short answer is no, and there is no reason they should have done." He says he is even more sure of this response, given the advice of Clerk of the House, who has been "in the service of the house for 40 years". 

Conservative Andrew Bridgen then follows-up by asking for an apology.

The Speaker replies that he had addressed the issue fully during a point of order two weeks, and that "they shall leave the matter there."

A new behind-the-scenes documentary features criticisms of the way the Upper House works.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lib Dem Baroness Northover has done the calculations and found that there are 23 speakers per line of the bill.

The short bill presages a complex process, she says, and she adds that Parliament must be "fully engaged".

If negotiations do not produce "sunlit uplands", she tells peers "we must not be afraid to say so".

House of Commons
Parliament

UKIP’s Douglas Carswell asks whether, given missile tests in North Korea and a more aggressive Russia, the western world should show more “resolve” in tackling these issues.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson replies that many people are “hopeful” of that the US will find its leadership role again "where it has been lacking".

House of Lords
Parliament

Baroness Jones of Moulescoomb is the only Green Party peer, but campaigned to leave the EU against her party line.

"I found myself in some very unsavoury company at times," she says. But she says she believes "passionately" that "we have made the right decision".

However, she expresses reservations about the government's plan. She says she wishes there was a "decent" white paper with "detail".

She defends her right to place amendments to the bill. She says she's not trying to "wreck the bill", nor is she a "traitor". 

She adds that threats to abolish the Lords if they amend the bill are actually suggestions of "a welcome bonus".

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP's Martyn Day asks what representations were made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on settlements in the Palestinian territories during his visit last week. 

The foreign secretary says he repeated the UK's "historic position" that the settlements are illegal and a barrier to peace.

Shadow foreign minister Fabian Hamilton claims that President Trump has "casually disregarded" this policy in his first month, and asks the foreign secretary to clarify whether the Israeli prime minister had mentioned whether settlements would become a norm. 

The shadow foreign minister also asks if the US was heading towards support of a one-state solution. 

Boris Johnson says that he does not think this is the case, but that there "needs to be dialogue", but currently, "the Palestinians are not committing to dialogue in the way that they should and it takes two to negotiate." 

House of Lords
Parliament

Lord Liddle spends much of his speech criticising his own party and its leadership both before and after the referendum vote. 

He says it's now "time for Labour to tell the truth on Brexit", that "the biggest losers from Brexit are going to be the working poor...a rise in child poverty is the inevitable outcome". 

He adds that on the value of the pound, down since the Brexit vote, "we've seen nothing yet".

Crossbencher Lord Green of Deddington says that the decision has been made and "we must now get on with it". But he says he wants to "introduce an optimistic note". 

In time, the decision will be seen to be the "right one for Britain" because of opposition to "ever closer union", a desire to "take back control of our own affairs" and because mass immigration had placed "unacceptable pressures on our society". 

Lord Green of Deddington is the founder and chair of pressure group MigrationWatch UK.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

As usual, the foreign secretary is asked about the UK's trade and diplomatic relations post-Brexit. 

Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood claims that many African countries were keen to do deals with the UK "now we were free of the shackles" of EU trade law. 

He also mentions similar conversations with Canada and south-east Asian countries, as well as the broader Commonwealth, which a couple of Conservative MPs suggest should be priority countries for trade deals. 

On Japan, Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma replies to concerns that the UK will "trail behind" the EU, who are working on a free-trade deal with the country. He says that the Nissan plant deal with the country shows a "vote of confidence" from Japan. 

However, the SNP's Paul Grady says he is worried that Brexit will cut the UK off from the world in times of crisis, including towards South Sudan who have just announced a famine. 

Boris Johnson argues that the country punches above its weight on foreign aid and that 400 troops have been sent to the region. 

House of Commons
Parliament

The shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry asks “when the government is going to take leadership”, given the United States is reviewing much of its foreign policy on issues ranging from Syria to Russia to climate change. 

She says that while the UK “waits for President Trump’s cue”, Russia is leading peace talks in Afghanistan and Syria without British or American involvement.

The foreign secretary argues that it has been the UK taking the lead in peace talks in the Yemen and Somalia, and that the US-UK policy in Syria – which would see President Assad removed from power – is still the leading thinking globally.

In regards to Afghanistan, Boris Johnson says that the UK can be proud of its contribution to peace in the country, where hundreds of woman are being educated and fed.

House of Lords
Parliament

Ex-Met Police Commissioner Lord Blair of Boughton says he wants to "urge the government to deal separately and with speed" on EU-UK security and criminal issues, like the European Arrest Warrant.

He joins warnings that the "cliff edge" on security cooperation is real and that if we fall out of the EU without a deal "the terrorists and the paedophiles and the drug barons will breathe a sigh of relief" and "the British ones will return to the Costa del Crime", the name given to areas of Spain popular with British criminals when the UK and Spain lacked an extradition treaty.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour's Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws makes a speech that is partly a defence of the House of Lords itself, as well as a defence of the European Union. She says that peers bring "expertise from all walks of life" and asks "are we supposed to abandon that experience when it really matters?"

She says that the House has a "higher duty" to "take the long view" and "should be able to exercise independent judgement". 

She expresses her worries about Brexit's effect on peace in Ireland, the UK's reliance on the United States, the government's apparent willingness to trade on World Trade Organisation rules if it crashes out of the EU without a proper agreement.

She says peers are "expected to protect the common good" and that "if our consciences are telling us that Brexit is a folly" peers have to listen to "that little voice". 

She says that "history will record what each of us did" and future generations will ask peers, "what did you do...did you dance to the tune of the Daily Mail?"

She says she'll support several amendments and "if they're not accepted will vote against this bill".

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP’s Alex Salmond says it would be “difficult to interpret American policy” at the moment, and suggests that the UK shouldn’t try and double-guess it, particularly in regards to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian crisis.

Boris Johnson says there is no expectation that the US will harden its position, and neither will the UK.

Mr Salmond follows up by asking who confirmed President Trump's state visit and asks – given Boris Johnson's apparent similarity to the President – whether the foreign secretary was concerned about being confused for the president when he visits.

Mr Johnson avoids answering the first question, but confirms he has been mistaken for President Trump twice; once in New York and once in Newcastle...

House of Commons
Parliament

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tells MPs he met the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last Thursday and Friday in Bonn, and had "very good conversations" which would help "entrench and deepen the relationship" between the two countries.

When asked about the ban on people travelling from predominently Muslim countries, he reiterates that the UK "did not support" the policy. 

He says he had "engage[d] constructively" to ensure the ban did not effect any British passport holder, regardless of question of birth. He also says the policy was in line with similar policies put forward by former President Obama.

He also states that he was happy with the prospects of a trade deal with the United States post-Brexit, saying Mr Tillerson had said that the "UK was at the front of the queue".

When asked by Conservative Sir Simon Burns, Mr Johnson denies any knowledge of the US putting ground forces into northern Syria to tackle the group so-called Islamic State, but welcomed any "new thinking" on the conflict. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour's Lord McKenzie of Luton talks about his sadness at the result of the vote and his worries for the future of Luton's Vauxhall motors plant.

Lib Dem Baroness Kramer rises to advocate for what she calls a "first vote" on the terms of Brexit. She also outlines her worries about the "extraordinary complexity" of negotiations over the future of the financial services sector.

Lord Willoughby de Broke, wearing a purple and yellow Ukip coloured tie for the occasion, says he "profoundly disagrees" with calls for a referendum on the terms of the negotiation. 

He goes on to call the prime minister's Brexit speech a "Ukip speech", and says she is quite clear that the "result was out, no ifs, no buts...a clear, clean Brexit".