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So it's come down to money. Who would have thought it?

After five rounds of negotiations on Brexit, the EU remains insistent: there will be no discussions with the UK on a transition period, or on future relations, until financial commitments have been clarified.

So what exactly is it about the money that is proving so difficult to resolve?

Read more here.

Image source, PA

House of Commons
Parliament

During Prime Minister's Questions earlier today, Conservative Kevin Foster said that the prime minister would be aware of the "vital role" supported housing plays with many vulnerable people in his constituency of Torbay.

He asked her what assurances she could give him about the ongoing support the government will be giving.

Theresa May said the issue was something that the government has been looking at "very closely" over the last year, with a response to a consultation commissioned by Damien Green when he was work and pensions secretary due to be published on 31 October.

"As part of our response to the review, we will not apply the local housing allowance cap to supported housing," Mrs May told him.

"Indeed we will not be implementing it in the wider social renting sector."

House of Commons
Parliament

John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, is introducing Labour's motion on supported housing. The motion calls on the government to halt plans to cap local housing allowance for tenants in supported housing.

Earlier today, Theresa May confirmed plans to do so during PMQs in answer to a question from Conservative backbencher Kevin Foster, and also said that the cap would not be applied to any social housing tenant.

John Healey says that the supported housing sector still has funding issues, however.

He says he wants to see a funding system that's led by the need of users rather than those of government. He says a long-term system for supported housing is needed.

Susan Hulme
Parliamentary correspondent

The chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs has told MPs that an extra £7.3m is needed to upgrade existing customs-checking technology as a fallback to prevent what MPs fear could be 180 km tailbacks and piles of rotting food at UK ports.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee are concerned that the HMRC is introducing crucial new customs technology at almost the same moment as the UK leaves the EU - with potentially "catastrophic" results if it goes wrong.

The HMRC chief, Jon Thompson, told MPs that he was "reasonably confident" the new system would be ready by January 2019, just two months before Brexit.

But, he said, the level of technological change meant that there had to be a "full-blown" contingency plan.

He said that was not fully funded at the moment, and that HMRC was in discussions with the Treasury for an extra £7.3m pounds to make sure the old system, known as Chief, could cope with the extra work generated by Brexit.

House of Commons
Parliament

As Labour's motion is put to the House, no-one on the government benches shouts to oppose it - so it passes unopposed.

Shadow social care minister Barbara Keeley raises a point of order to say that the government has chosen not to vote on a "vital issue", and says it shows that the "weak and divided" government wants to "pick and choose" which issues they vote on.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Minister Marcus Jones agrees with comments made earlier by Labour MP Liz Kendall who decried the partisan, short term nature of thinking on the social care issue.

Calls for a cross-party approach to the issue have been a prominent feature of this debate.

He says this is a problem that has "come about over many decades" but the government is "absolutely right" to recognise the challenges of adult social care.

And he says they've put more funding into the sector until 2020 and that beyond that they're looking for a "sustainable" solution.

Select Committee
Parliament

Dominic Grieve winds up his evidence to the committee by suggesting the EU Withdrawal Bill could be seen as an "opportunity" to reform how delegated powers are managed, which might be of benefit to future generations.

The evidence session then draws to a close.

Select Committee
Parliament

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve says the period of sunset clauses, external outlined in the bill are "reasonable".

But he adds some policy areas should be protected from "interference" by SI, but sunset clauses "are not a substitute for a proper scrutiny mechanism".

Select Committee
Parliament

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Labour's Rushanara Ali asks Sir Ivan Rogers whether it was "irresponsible" of the prime minister to trigger Article 50 when she did.

"Not a question I can really answer, I think," he replies.

Sir Ivan explains that his advice in advance of triggering, was that you lose control of the process, which is ceded to the other 27 EU countries.

"They dictate the game, dictate the pace of the game and dictate what the game's about."

Select Committee
Parliament

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Senior researcher from the Hansard Society Joel Blackwell says a bit more about how a "sift and scrutinise" committee would look at statutory instruments arising from the EU Withdrawal Bill.

He says if the committee were divided on whether an SI should be approved it would go to the Commons for a 90-minute debate before a vote.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Winding up the debate for Labour, shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne says there is a "shared concern" on both sides of the house about government "inaction" on social care.

He says that by 2025 an additional 220,000 to 470,000 workers will be needed in the care sector, but he says that under current budget projections local councils simply won't be able to meet this demand.

Last year, £366m more was spent on social care than was predicted, which is "unsustainable".

He calls on the government to fund social care properly.

He finishes by acknowledging that social care is not an issue that falls along party lines, and is something that affects everyone. He says that everyone in the House should support Labour's motion tonight, adding that "abstention is a cop-out".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative Vicky Ford says that "we're all living longer, thanks to our NHS" but adds that increased lifespans are in turn creating problems for the NHS.

She suggests that the government look at what happens in other countries, and consider an equity release scheme to help pay for people's care. Equity release is effectively a loan taken out against the value of someone's home.

Vicky Ford says that most importantly politicians from all parties must work together.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Conservative Stephen Hammond asks what legal obstacles there could be to completing a deal by 30 March 2019.

Barrister Sir Alan Dashwood says that he doesn't believe Article 50 presents any impediment to a transitional deal, but there would be different ways of organising it.

"The simplest would be to delay the entry into force of the withdrawal agreement."

It would mean that although all the terms of withdrawal had been agreed, it would mean the UK would remain a member of the EU for a further period of time.

He says that another possibility is that the withdrawal agreement could provide for parts of existing treaties to continue to apply to the UK.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve tells the committee: "If the government tries to do it [leave EU without vote on deal] there would be a serious risk of legal challenge."

He says it's therefore in the government's interest to have a statute to underpin the final bill, and to try to achieve it via statutory instruments would be "a risky thing to do".

He foresees "a necessary extension" to the March 2019 exit date to allow both sides to ratify the deal.

Select Committee
Parliament

Sir Keir Starmer tells the committee: "The theory that agreement will be nanoseconds before midnight doesn't hold because the European Parliament needs to vote on it."

Without that, he says, it won't be ratified.

Sir Keir continues: "I don't know on what basis David Davis was saying what he said this morning - I'm struggling to make sense of it."

Select Committee
Parliament

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"The trouble about the language of no deal is that it's so evasive," Catherine Barnard tells the committee.

She says there's a reasonable chance of an Article 50 divorce deal, because it's in both sides interests.

However she warns that if there's no deal at the end of the transition period, "it's just extending the cliff edge. It's walking up the plank, just the plank's a bit longer."

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Tracy Brabin says that "there simply isn't enough money" for social care in her constituency, Batley and Spen.

She tells the House that her local council says that the funding is so tight that they've warned they might have to stop cutting the grass or reduce bin collections in order to continue to pay for social care.

She says it is a national problem that requires a national solution.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz is asked if a vote to annul a statutory instrument would be binding.

She says she would have to seek guidance from parliamentary counsel, leaving Labour's Helen Goodman rather unimpressed.