Select Committee
Parliament

Eni Aluko accuses England goalkeeping coach Lee Kendall of speaking to her in a fake Caribbean accent.

"It was behaviour that differentiated me from other players," she says.

Ms Aluko says "I don't think he meant it maliciously".

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Chris Matheson asks about the comments made to her by her former coach Mark Sampson, particularly ones that took place during matches.

Ms Aluko tells the committee many of the comments were "inflammatory" and based on no objective at all.

I scored in that game and I had "scored six goals in six matches", she adds.

The Chelsea Ladies striker says Sampson made racist comments to her, including about her family in Nigeria being infected with the Ebola virus.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative Ranil Jayawardena puts it to Mr Wishart that opposition MPs get to scrutinise delegated powers when they serve on committees.

Mr Wishart says in his experience they are "frustrating" and routinely only last 20 minutes out of a possible 90 minutes.

He adds that serving on these committees is seen as "punishment".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

In an extremely short contribution to the debate, Work and Pensions Committee chair Frank Field says he wants to ask a question which he hopes the minister will answer at the end of the debate.

He says his local food bank says they will need an extra 15 tonnes of food this Christmas because of the UC rollout.

He asks if he should tell constituents that the local food bank is "scaremongering" and that the government is right, or if he should tell them to help contribute that extra food because people in Birkinhead will be "hungry" over Christmas.

After one of the longest sessions of prime minister questions, Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil suggested one reason for the 50-minute length was the number of time the Speaker put MPs in their place.

He told viewers that "at times he seemed to be filling up most of the space himself with about eight different interventions".

John Bercow told MPs, while referring to his Dutch counterpart watching from the public gallery: "Today is exceptionally noisy, and we are not setting a very good example to our Dutch friends. I am sure they do it much better."

Select Committee
Parliament

The Procedure Committee is taking evidence from SNP business spokesman Pete Wishart on the EU Withdrawal Bill and delegated legislation.

Pete Wishart describes his frustrations as "manifold", particularly with, as he puts it, the "presumption" in the bill that if a power isn't devolved, it's reserved.

"It's deeply concerning," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Iain Duncan Smith was work and pensions secretary when universal credit was first conceived.

He says it was aimed at helping people who have been "forgotten about in a complex system that did them no favours".

He says the roll-out has taken so long because of the "grave mistakes" of the quick roll out of tax credits and "deliberately designed" so that issues could be identified and rectified.

He says he wants to talk about "universal support", which "nobody ever talks about".

He says it's vital, because it helps people in debt who are on UC to "change their lives".

Select Committee
Parliament

Eni Aluko is asked about her allegedly not wanting Drew Spence to be involved.

"That's not true, I think it's an attempt for the FA to blame me", she says.

Former England women's football coach Mark Sampson upset Spence, a mixed-raced player, by asking her how many times she had been arrested, external.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP spokesperson Neil Gray makes a reference to Douglas Ross, the Conservative MP for Moray, who is not attending today's debate because he's officiating in tonight's Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Olympiacos.

He points out that Mr Ross's constituents on universal credit "would get sanctioned" for not attending a work related meeting.

Conservative MP Lucy Frazer raises a point of order to ask if it's "appropriate" to talk at length about the absence or otherwise of a fellow member.

Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing says she "allowed a passing reference" but "I think we've had enough for the Honourable Member for Moray", and urges MPs to stick to the topic of the debate.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Eni Aluko tells the committee that she feels "vinidicated and relieved".

The former England footballer says that today's report "suggests it was all worth it".

Barrister Katharine Newton found that Mark Sampson twice made discriminatory "ill-judged attempts at humour", but concludes he is not racist.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

SNP spokesperson Neil Gray says his party doesn't want to see universal credit scrapped but fixed.

He suggests a four week wait for the first payment, rather than the contentious six. He says the monthly payments should be replaced with fortnightly payments and that advance payments should replace the crisis loan.

He goes on to speculate that the government will be whipped to abstain on tonight's vote because they're "playing for time", but it must be fixed "now".

App users may need to click on the above to view the tweet.

Eni Aluko has not added to her 102 England caps since making her claims in 2016 as part of an FA inquiry into its management culture.

The 30-year-old accused Sampson of belittling her, making racist remarks to both her (in the form of a comment about her Nigerian family and the Ebola virus) and a team-mate. Aluko also said she suffered "victimisation as a result of reporting discrimination".

Sampson, 34, said his conscience was clear, and denied being a racist.

Aluko subsequently reached a settlement of about £80,000 with the FA, which insisted it was to avoid the threat of an employment tribunal disrupting the England squad's preparations for Euro 2017.

Following an internal review that cleared Sampson, barrister Katharine Newton reached the same conclusion, but the FA faced calls for a more thorough investigation after it emerged key witnesses had not been interviewed.

Select Committee
Parliament

Here's when the witnesses are speaking at the hearing:

At 14:30 BST:

• Eniola Aluko (Chelsea Ladies and former England footballer)

At 15:30 BST:

• Lianne Sanderson (England women's footballer)

At 16:00 BST:

• Martin Glenn, FA chief executive
• Greg Clarke, FA chairman
• Dan Ashworth, FA technical director
• Rachel Brace, FA Human Resources director

House of Commons
Parliament

Secretary of State David Gauke winds up his speech by criticising Labour, saying their calls to pause universal credit are not "not constructive opposition, but an attempt to wreck", he says.

He says Labour has made "no attempt to set out a real alternative" and that the government is "delivering a welfare system that puts work at the heart of it".

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative backbencher Helen Whately intervenes to say that everyone she's spoken to who needed a loan to bridge the six week gap has got it "within two or three days".

She also says that job centre staff in her constituency are positive about universal credit. She asks if the secretary of state "[shares] my frustration that we're hearing so much negativity" from the opposition.

David Gauke says he would "urge honourable members to engage with their local job centres".

He says that when they talk to staff they'll hear "exactly" what Helen Whately has just said, and find people supporting a "system delivering, giving people the opportunity to get jobs".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Angela Eagle intervenes to say that universal credit is leaving people "penniless and possibly destitute" and says there are "people who cannot afford to survive" the six week gap between claiming UC and receiving the first payment.

She says loans "aren't an adequate response" and asks if the secretary of state will "admit the human suffering" being caused.

Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke says that if people want support, they can get it and that "if there is someone who literally doesn't have a penny, they can get that money on the day".

He says that the government doesn't "scare" claimants, unlike Labour.

Image source, HoC