House of Commons
Parliament

The House divides on new clause 25, tabled by Labour's Kerry McCarthy and backed by a group of other Labour backbenchers, plus Lib Dem and Green Party MPs.

The amendment would require enhanced parliamentary scrutiny if ministers want to change EU laws after they have been transferred into UK law.

House of Commons
Parliament

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas backs the amendments on membership of the European Economic Area and Labour MP Kerry McCarthy's amendment to require that powers the bill grants to ministers could only be used in the areas specified in the bill.

Ms Lucas seeks assurances from ministers that there will be no "weakening or dilution of workers' rights".

She says the government has said it does not plan to reduce workers rights but "it is a puzzle as to why there is a resistance" to putting the commitments into the bill.

Ms Lucas argues that people who voted to leave the EU last year did not vote to abandon "hard-won" rights and protections - indeed, she further argues, the Leave campaign said there could be improved rights for workers, "denied them, apparently, by the evil bureaucrats of the EU".

Turning to the matter of single market membership, the Greens' co-leader says she would think that "any strong and stable government worthy of the name would want to keep its options open".

Ms Lucas also says that citizens of other EU states have been made to feel unwelcome and that makes her "ashamed of this country".

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House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Anna Soubry, who told the House earlier that she had received threats today following the Telegraph's front page branding some Tory MPs "mutineers", says there has been "far too much rhetoric and far too many insults... and it's got to stop".

She tells MPs: "History will not be kind to this place when it writes what's happened since the referendum back in 2016."

Ms Soubry says she thinks the debate on the bill could help in "healing the great divide that has occurred in our party" - and fellow Conservative Nicky Morgan adds: "The country."

Labour's Kate Hoey intervenes to say abuse is not "based only against people who are Remainers" and says Leave supporters have also received abuse.

She argues it might be better to ignore it.

"I would love to ignore death threats," Ms Soubry responds.

"The thing is, actually, I find them quite frightening."

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Chuka Umunna speaks up for Conservative MPs described by the Daily Telegraph, external as "Brexit mutineers".

Mr Umunna says the MPs have been "accused of not doing right by the people, simply because they have been seeking to do their job".

He defends them, saying: "All they have sought to do is do right by their country."

Mr Umunna adds that the UK is not "a police state" and the House should send a message that "this democracy will not tolerate members of Parliament being threatened".

"There are members in this House who whip this up," he alleges.

"They are grossly irresponsible and should be thinking more carefully in the future about what they are doing."

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights brings together the rights of everyone living in the EU into a single document. It incorporates rights and ideas found in a number of other documents including the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Social Charter of the European Union and all European Court of Justice case law. It came into law alongside the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

After Brexit it will cease to apply in the UK.

However, the European Convention on Human Rights will continue to apply in the UK after Brexit. It protects the rights of citizens of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, which is completely separate from the European Union. The rights guaranteed by the ECHR have also been put into UK law as part of the Human Rights Act 1998. Those rights include rights to life, freedom from torture and slavery, liberty, a family life and freedom of thought and conscience.

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House of Commons
Parliament

Tory MP John Redwood says he doesn't believe "anyone is threatening" existing protections.

"A lot of this is already in British law and goes beyond the EU minimum standards," he adds.

"I think this is a great time for Parliament," he tells his fellow MPs, arguing that Parliament will be able to "get rid of VAT on things it doesn't like" and protect fisheries, along with other measures.

House of Commons
Parliament

Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards speaks in support of his party's amendment "allowing the UK to keep open the option of remaining in the EEA as negotiations proceed".

"Our departure from the single market... is not inevitable," he says, adding that membership is "absolutely crucial" for Wales and sustains "200,000 jobs".

Mr Edwards accuses the Conservatives of "reverting to their 19th Century model of splendid isolationism".

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Parliament

Labour's Chris Leslie says his amendment would enable the UK "to stay informed" of regulations and laws after the date of Brexit.

If the EU departs from regulations adopted by the UK, it is important to know about it, he argues.

"We can't just pretend that we're cut off from them," he adds, calling for the UK to "keep pace with the European Union".

Mr Leslie says "regulatory alignment" should be the important principle and UK should follow a European regulatory model, rather than an American or Chinese model.

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Parliament

Priti Patel, who lost her job as international development secretary last week, jokes that she is speaking "following an intensive course over the last week... on how to stage an exit which was the focus of a degree of international attention".

She says the bill "paves the way for a smooth withdrawal" from the EU, adding that the solicitor general has provided guarantees about the retention of EU laws.

Ms Patel, who campaigned to leave the EU, says she is confident that the UK can do "a great Brexit trade deal" with the EU.

Parliament will have the "opportunity to make laws, to amend laws, but also look at what will work in our national interest", she says - insisting that this does not mean "arbitrarily cutting" regulations.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Kerry McCarthy introduces her amendments aimed at safeguarding "crucial environmental protections" against being reshaped through delegated powers.

"We cannot trust ministers with unmitigated power over regulations," she says, highlighting that the UK wanted to put a moratorium on the EU-wide restriction on neonicotoids, a pesticide affecting bees.

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Parliament

The Conservative MP for Bromley Bob Neill insists that his has "always been a party of social protection and social reform".

Former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who represented Bromley, was also in that tradition of Conservatives, he says.

He proposes an amendment which would allow Parliament to approve EU legislation passed before the UK's exit day but not taking full effect until after that day.

Sarah Gosling
BBC News Online

Today the front page of the Daily Telegraph showed a number of Conservative party members branded "mutineers" for their refusal to back a "hard" Brexit.

Image source, The Daily Telegraph

Conservative Totnes MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, one of those pictured on the front page, has spoken out on the matter.

Dr Wollaston has been vocal on her blog about her position as both a Remain supporter, external and has commented on the Brexit result in June last year., external

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Parliament

Labour MP Heidi Alexander speaks in support of her amendment which would make clear that the government cannot use the EU Withdrawal Bill to take the UK out of the European Economic Area.

"The words 'European Economic Area' or 'single market' did not appear on the ballot paper," she says, accusing the government of "rewriting history" with its own interpretation of the referendum result.

Conservative Anna Soubry thinks such a move could "help bring people back together" and help establish a consensus.

Ms Alexander says the government is "worried that there might be a parliamentary majority for a so-called soft Brexit", which would give certainty to business and be a compromise between a "risky, delusional Brexit" and the views of her London constituents.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative John Redwood, who campaigned for Brexit, says about the only thing that the Leave and Remain campaigns agreed on ahead of the referendum was that leaving the EU would mean leaving the single market.

Many MPs shout in disagreement but Robert Buckland, noting that he campaigned on the opposite side to Mr Redwood, says he accepts that that would be the outcome of the referendum vote.

The European Economic Area is the European Union's single market. The 31 member states have no tariffs, quotas or taxes on trade with each other, and agree to the "four freedoms", of workers, capital, goods and services.

Being a member of the EEA does not require EU membership.

Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway are all EEA members without being in the EU, they are instead members of the European Free Trade Association. They are exempt from applying some aspects of EU law.

The three EFTA members of the EEA are not members of the EU customs union, which enables them to make trade deals with third parties.

In 2013 Iceland became the first European country to negotiate a deal with China.

The UK government's current Brexit plan involves leaving the EEA and the customs union.

Image source, EPA