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Conservative former chancellor Lord Lamont criticises the use of "empty phrases" such as hard or soft Brexit and argues we need to "lessen the toxicity of this debate - we should not be against co-operation with other parties".

"It should be possible to translate public mandate into political consensus," particularly since there are key "similarities" between the main parties' manifesto promises to deliver Brexit.

"It's in all our interest to get the best deal," he emphasises.

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Labour's Jess Phillips speaks about domestic abuse and sex trafficking in her speech, telling the government that "practical action and resources is what is needed and not more words on goat-skin".

She recounts stories of women who she helped during her time managing a charity supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence, of whom she says "their wombs have kept them captive".

Turning to the issue of women from Northern Ireland being denied free abortions in England, the Birmingham Yardley MP says "we do not have to be culturally or religiously sensitive to our devolved nations...the health secretary has a very real chance to help women by offering them safe free abortions".

"We wouldn't tolerate it with other cultural practices like FGM - why do we tolerate this?"

Finally she turns to the issue of midwife pay - saying her midwife friend is paid an hourly rate of £12.09. Ms Phillips tells MPs that the birth of her baby took two hours and both she and the child nearly died, and says she believes that is worth more than £24.18.

"It seems the ministers opposite don't agree."

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Former Cabinet secretary and crossbencher Lord Armstrong is introducing his amendment calling on the government to suspend Brexit talks.

He says "we're not ready" to proceed with quitting the EU as it's "not clear what we want to achieve".

He argues Brexit can't be taken forward by a government "so lacking in strength and stability, so unclear on its objectives, so unlikely to survive".

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Labour's Lord Adonis begins his speech by issuing "condolences" to the new Brexit minister on her appointment and pointing out two out of four ministers for exiting the EU "have already exited".

He points out 60% of our trade is with the EU or countries with free trade agreements, and in approaching trade after Brexit the government is "trying to fill a swimming pool with a teaspoon - an interesting idea, but don't jump in for about three centuries".

"The solution clear and simple - stay in the single market," he urges, moving an amendment to regret that the government is not seeking single market membership after Brexit.

House of Commons
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The motion being debated this afternoon is:

The Labour amendment to the motion being debated this afternoon (with a vote expected at 7pm) reads:

It is customary for MPs in Parliament to refer to colleagues from the same party as "my honourable friend" with other parties' MPs referred to as "the honourable lady" or "the honourable gentleman".

Since striking a deal with the DUP, some Conservatives have been referring to DUP MPs as honourable friends

Theresa May addressed the DUP's Nigel Dodds as "my right honourable friend" at Prime Minister's Questions and a Conservative source said that other ministers had done the same over the past few days.

The friendliness has been reciprocated. On Tuesday, DUP MP Ian Paisley referred to "my right honourable... and even closer friend, the prime minister".

During the coalition of 2010-15, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs regularly addressed each other as "friend", but they were in a formal coalition and both party's MPs sat on the government's side of the Commons chamber.

The DUP have formed an agreement to back the Tories on some key votes but its MPs have continued to sit on the opposition parties' side of the House.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

The prime minister’s spokesman insisted several times under repeated questioning that the "government’s policy on the pay cap has not changed".

He added: "We are working though recommendations of the pay bodies and government will be responding in due course… My political colleagues have said tough decisions have got the deficit down and pay restraint has protected jobs."

Asked if the policy would change, he replied: "I am commenting on the here and now. Sometimes pay review body recommendations are accepted, sometimes not. We are not going to pre-empt this."

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The new Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, Christine Jardine, makes her maiden speech in the House of Commons.

As with all maiden speeches, Ms Jardine waxes lyrical about her constituency and uses the opportunity to talk about its most celebrated couple - Tian Tian and Yang Guang, the UK's only giant pandas.

She says she appreciates that Tory MPs will be relieved they are no longer outnumbered by the pandas since the most recent election - a reference to the now out-of-date joke that there are more Pandas in Scotland than Tory MPs.

"I sympathise," Ms Jardine says, "they were not alone."

She finishes by saying that the election showed the Scottish people "have no truck with independence".

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Alex Burghart is the new Conservative MP for Brentwood & Ongar, and he makes his maiden speech.

He says that he is a student and teacher of medieval history, and tells MPs that a friend was "kind enough" to say that this was the perfect training for a career as a Tory MP.

Mr Burghart says that this is indeed true and reminds the House that the Peasant's Revolt of 1381 began on Brentwood high street and was a rebellion against "vexatious taxation" levied by a distant and overbearing government.

He warns MPs that his constituent's attitude towards taxation has "changed very little in the intervening 636 years".

Addressing the problems facing the country, Mr Burghart says that the best way to tackle them by going to the root causes such as improving employment and schools.

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Lib Dem spokesman Lord Wallace of Saltaire argues Theresa May called the election partly to prevent peers from "asking awkward questions" about Brexit, but he thinks "it is precisely our job to ask difficult questions and ask the Commons to think again".

He asks for assurance they will be given sufficient time to examine Brexit legislation.

He says some supporters of Brexit see our future as part of a "white Commonwealth" and that we risk becoming "citizens of nowhere".

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Labour Brexit spokesperson Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town begins by saying there is "an enormous task" facing government in engineering "a Brexit that works for all".

"We await answers to a plethora of questions" to what she describes as the biggest decision since going to war in 1939.

On immigration, she says she's "sorry it's still a priority rather than jobs and growth".

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The new Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon, Colin Clark, makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons after claiming the scalp of former SNP Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond in the general election.

Mr Clark says that the downturn in North Sea oil has opened up opportunities for tourism in his area of north east Scotland, which he uses to segue into a section on how Gordon is "rich with castles, stunning and bracing beaches and is very well served by golf courses".

He goes on to warn of "punitive business rates" which damage employment, investment and sentiment and risk displacing jobs.

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Peers now resume the debate on the Queen's Speech, with today's session focused on Brexit.

There are three amendments to be debated:

• The Labour front bench on securing a form of Brexit which prioritises jobs
• Labour's Lord Adonis regretting that the government is not seeking membership of the single market
• Crossbencher Lord Armstrong on suspending Brexit talks

Opening for the government is Baroness Anelay of St Johns, who was recently made a minister for exiting the EU.

She says the government wants "a deep and special relationship" with the EU after Brexit whereas "the Labour Party has not been quite as clear".

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Labour's David Hanson speaks about police funding and numbers in his speech - saying that it was fortunate that the Manchester and London attacks took place so close to police nerve centres. He also asks about the future of the European Arrest Warrant.

Conservative Mike Wood talks about mental health services during his remarks, saying that the government should take great pride in the changes it has introduced. He says he hopes that several of the new guidelines on mental health will find a statutory footing in upcoming legislation

The SNP's Phillipa Whitford focuses her remarks on the effects of poverty, telling MPs that 1,400 children die every year as a direct result of poverty - "that's like the roof of a secondary school collapsing on them every year," she says.

"Surely if that was happening then we would take action."

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Conservative Baroness McIntosh of Pickering wants to know what discussions the government has had with farmers and growers on access to foreign workers, and whether it intends to reintroduce the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.

She says there's a "critical shortage" at the moment and calls for a review of "utmost urgency".

Environment Minister Lord Gardiner of Kimble says the government is "fully seized of this issue" and the scheme is kept under "careful review".

During a recent select committee inquiry into seasonal labour shortfalls, the government said net migration figures showed that sufficient labour was available in the UK and that there was currently no need for a seasonal agricultural workers scheme for migrants.

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Crossbencher Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho points out victims of terrorism and their families also find "relief by using social media" to find information and support.

She sees it as "just as important to protect an open and free internet as it is to take down extremist material".

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford acknowledges social media can be "a useful tool to challenge" extremist ideologies but "there's a very fine balance between freedom of speech and speech which is hateful".

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Paul Williams, the new Labour MP for Stockton South, makes his maiden speech.

Mr Williams is a doctor and he tells MPs that he has already received medical complaints from his new colleagues about their bad backs "and other problems that confidentiality and common decency" prevent him from divulging.

He says that MPs can join him in keeping fit at his 6am boot camp if they want - several groans can be heard.

Mr Williams finishes by saying of the people of the country "what a great opportunity we have to listen to their voices," before adding that in the election "from many ordinary mouths came one extraordinary message - we must listen and we must act".