House of Lords
Parliament

Business in the House of Lords draws to a close, and peers will return at 11am tomorrow for questions to ministers.

House of Commons
Parliament

"It is for us as a House to wait for the government's response," John Bercow says, in response to a point of order from the SNP's Pete Wishart.

"It is not for us leap ahead."

The Speaker says MPs should not expect the government's response tonight but, when pressed by Conservative Sarah Wollaston, he indicates that he would not expect the House to have to wait "for a period of several days".

Fellow Tory Chris Philp returns to his theme of the publication of redacted documents and the Speaker observes that he is "fast becoming interested in parliamentary procedure".

Recalling the words of the late Tory politician Lord Whitelaw, Mr Bercow says he will "cross bridges only when I come to them".

House of Commons
Parliament

Minister Steve Baker begins his reply on behalf of the government - and immediately takes interventions about whether the government intends to publish redacted documents.

The SNP's Stephen Gethins asks whether a tweet by the Sun's Tom Newton-Dunn, external is accurate but Mr Baker claims the government has made no statement about publishing redacted documents.

Conservative Anna Soubry also presses him on the same subject.

The motion is put to the House and passes without opposition. So, Labour's Sir Keir Starmer asks the Speaker, is it binding?

"Motions of this kind have traditionally been regarded as binding or effective," Speaker John Bercow says.

Therefore he would expect "the humble address" to be presented - ie, the assessments should be given to the select committee as the motion intends.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow Brexit minister Paul Blomfield winds up for the opposition, insisting Labour has no intention of calling for public release of information "that would compromise the government's negotiating position".

Labour is calling for the government to release the information to the Exiting the EU Select Committee, Mr Blomfield says, and it would be for that committee "to agree on the process for publication".

After another entreaty from Conservative Chris Philp, Mr Blomfield says: "We have no intention of withdrawing this motion."

If the government want to stop the motion, it will need to vote against it, he tells the House.

House of Lords
Parliament

Foreign Office Minister Lord Ahmad picks up the point made by Lord Collins, saying co-operation with the EU on sanctions is "the basis on which I hope to continue".

Addressing concerns raised earlier by peers over Henry VIII powers in the bill, he says "our intent is not to take powers for the sake of it" but to ensure "flexibility".

He puts forward the view that this bill is essential for maintaining an international rules-based order.

House of Commons
Parliament

After her Liberal Democrat colleague Tom Brake suggested earlier that the government was seeking to avoid "an inconvenient truth", MP Wera Hobhouse says she backs release of the documents and her party's policy of a referendum on a final Brexit deal.

"What began with democracy should not end with a government plot shrouded in secrecy," she says.

The Brexit secretary "must be hiding bad news", she claims.

House of Commons
Parliament

Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Health Committee, says that her committee and others need to see the Brexit assessments in order to do their jobs.

Ms Wollaston says she would be willing to view sensitive information in "a private setting" if required.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's motion calls for the Brexit impact assessments to be released to the Exiting the EU Select Committee.

Tory MP Chris Philp says information has been known to leak from select committees.

"A redacted or summary version of the reports would strike the right balance," he argues - urging the opposition to withdraw its motion, saying there has been some consensus on that from all sides of the House.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Shadow foreign affairs spokesman Lord Collins of Highbury responds to this afternoon's debate on continuing sanctions after Brexit.

He recognises the UK needs a domestic legal framework in place before EU withdrawal, without which "we cannot fulfil the most basic of our obligations".

But he asks how co-operation with the EU on these matters will continue, claiming there's nothing substantive in the bill to address this.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg says he supports the principle of the opposition calling for papers.

He thinks it is "a general waste of this House's time to have motions on motherhood and apple pie".

He adds: "I have no doubt that this motion is, in all senses, binding."

Mr Rees-Mogg says that select committees have the right to call witnesses and for papers - powers which are delegated to them by the House. Therefore the House of Commons has the right to exercise such powers itself.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Seema Malhotra calls for confirmation of the timing of the release of the impact assessments.

"Time is of the essence," she says.

"The confusion at the heart of government should not now get in the way of a nation preparing together for the huge challenges to our economy that clearly lie ahead."

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP David Lammy says he wants to read the impact assessments.

"I expect to read that the NHS is going to do a lot with the £350m," he jokes sarcastically, referring to a row over a claim by the Leave campaign ahead of last year's referendum, which continues still.

Mr Lammy says that MPs are not the people who will struggle as a result of any negative economic consequences of Brexit.

House of Commons
Parliament

Bernard Jenkin says Labour's motion today is one that it should "think very carefully about before repeating".

The Conservative MP says: "This is a power to call for papers that should be used very sparingly."

According to the pro-Brexit MP, the government needs to the ability to exercise "due confidentially" while it negotiates Brexit with the EU and the opposition risks undermining that negotiating position.

Mr Jenkin adds that his constituents want to leave the EU and have had enough of "the games being played here at Westminster, the games being played by the European Union".