Peers debate Private Members' Bills
Prime minister's questions
House of Commons
Parliament
Image source, HoCThe first question is from Conservative Anna Soubry, who says there are "serious concerns" about the means not the ends of the EU Withdrawal Bill and the risk it will be a "government power grab".
Theresa May responds that "we will require certain powers" via secondary legislation.
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House of Commons
Parliament
The prime minister is waiting for PMQs to start on the frontbench...
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A busy House of Commons ahead of the first PMQs after the summer
Balkans Inquiry
Select Committee
Parliament
Lord Balfe asks if reform of the Dayton Peace Accord is needed in order to solve the region's problems.
Under the agreement, Bosnia was kept as a single state but divided into a two parts - a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb republic.
"It is," replies Lord Ashdown. "Dayton had all sorts of stupidities," he continues but adds that every compromise of the agreement was necessary.
He tells peers that he has never met a Bosnian who would prefer war to "an untidy, rag, tag and bobtail" peace.
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Wales questions
House of Commons
Parliament
Ministers face continued pressure on the issue of rail electrification, with Conservative former Cabinet minister Stephen Crabb calling the bi-mode trains "second-best" and claiming there are "major questions to be asked" about Network Rail's ability to deliver.
Mr Cairns says it was the Public Accounts Committee which called on the government to reassess the case for electrification, and there are new options for infrastructure yet to be explored.
Balkans Inquiry
Select Committee
Parliament
Image source, HoLThere is now a change of witnesses and Lord Ashdown takes his seat.
Lord Howell asks him if there is sufficient interest and understanding of the Balkans.
No, replies Lord Ashdown, "it is off the boil, not of great interest, low down on the political agenda".
But it shouldn't be, he says, describing the region as a "potential bridge" between "Christendom and the Muslim world".
Wales questions
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's Nick Thomas-Symonds raises the decision not to electrify the railway line between Cardiff and Swansea, accusing the government of "once again letting down Wales".
Wales Secretary Alun Cairns responds that electrification would not have "saved any journey time" due to developments in bi-mode trains but instead caused "significant journey disruption and delay".
Balkans Inquiry
Select Committee
Parliament
Lord Howell of Guildford asks how the "two huge revolutions" in energy and communication have impacted on the region.
Sir Michael says the rise of social media has led to "massive brain drain" in Bosnia because young people are more aware of a better opportunities in the West.
Wales questions
House of Commons
Parliament
The first question is from Conservative Steve Double, on steps to foster economic opportunities between South Wales and the South West.
Wales Secretary Alun Cairns says he's "keen to strengthen" it and abolishing the Severn tolls will help.
Balkans Inquiry
Select Committee
Parliament
Image source, AFP/Getty ImagesA British U.N. Protection Force, 1993
Next to ask a question is Baroness Helic who fled from Yugoslavia in 1990s.
She explains that every year the EU and UN Security Council renew the "EUFOR’s Chapter 7 enforcement mandate" which enables outside forces to keep this stability in Bosnia and Herezegovina.
She says each time this mandate gets watered down "to accommodate mainly Russian concerns".
She asks if the British government should ensure that the mandate does not get watered down "or worse case scenario" abandoned.
Sir Michael replies that it is "terribly important" to keep the military presence and that it has a meaningful mandate.
That sends a signal to the people of Bosnia and to the Russians, he adds.
Balkans Inquiry
Select Committee
Parliament
Image source, HoLLabour's Lord Grocott asks what can be done to prevent Serbia from becoming a failed state.
"One shouldn't totally despair," replies Sir Michael.
He suggests that for the younger generations the possibility of joining the EU could encourage positive change.
BBC News UK
The former Yugoslavia was a Socialist state created after German occupation in World War II and a bitter civil war.
A federation of six republics, it brought together Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, Slovenes and others under a comparatively relaxed communist regime.
Tensions between these groups were successfully suppressed under the leadership of President Tito.
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Balkans Inquiry
Select Committee
Parliament
Crossbench peer Lord Hannay of Chiswick asks what interest Britain should now have in the Balkans.
Sir Michael quotes Benjamin Disraeli, "no sane man ever involves himself in the Balkans", but " it is too late for that", he adds.
He tells the committee that Britain should support the EU in its attempt to persuade the countries in the Balkans to join the EU and join Nato.
He expresses concern that President Trump "with his isolationist policies" will leave a vacuum which will be filled by the Russians.
Select Committee
Parliament
Image source, HoLLord Howell of Guildford begins the session by asking about the stability of the region.
Focusing on Bosnia, Sir Michael paints a gloomy a picture of "a rising trend of xenophobia, racial tension, continuing corruption and a rising element of radicalisation among the Muslim community".
He suggests that much of today's "tension and unhappiness" stem from the way the war ended.
He argues that the Americans and Nato delivered weapons into Bosnia which ended up in the hands of radical elements (including Osama Bin Laden).
Today's radicalisation stems from this unhappy history, he says.
Coming up...
House of Commons
Parliament
Image source, ReutersMPs start their day at 11.30am with Wales questions, followed by the first clash between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn since the summer recess at Prime Minister's Questions.
Then there's an urgent question on free childcare entitlement before a government statement on its new shipbuilding strategy.
The main business of the day will be a series of Ways and Means Resolutions relating to the Finance Bill - covering 48 tweaks to the tax system covering such subjects as Venture Capital Trusts and Data Gathering Powers.
Parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy reports Labour is running a three-line whip, which suggests it might not wave them all through.
The day will end with an adjournment debate on knife crime led by the new Labour MP for Croydon Central, Sarah Jones, who has set up a new All Party Parliamentary Group on the issue.
Select Committee
Parliament
The members of the committee are: