House of Commons
Parliament

MPs vote 314 to 292 to reject an amendment from Labour's Heidi Alexander which would mean no minister can notify withdrawal of the UK from the EEA, which allows non-EU countries to be part of the single market.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are voting on an amendment from Labour's Heidi Alexander which would mean no minister can notify withdrawal of the UK from the EEA, which allows non-EU countries to be part of the single market.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Shadow work and pensions spokesperson Lord McKenzie of Luton tells the Lords that women are still more likely to take part time work, have breaks in employment and be employed in lower paid jobs.

He says the campaign has been robust enough to raise awareness of the issue.

Work and Pensions Minister Baroness Buscombe responds that work and society has changed enormously since the introduction of the state pension in 1948.

She says the government has spent £1.1bn on making sure that women do not have to wait longer than 18 months for their state pensions.

Since 1995, governments have gone to great lengths to "dilligently communicate" upcoming changes in state pension ages.

Over the past 17 years, the Department for Work and Pensions has provided over 19m personalised state pension estimates, she adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Brexit Minister Robin Walker is responding to MPs' concerns on Clause 8, which gives ministers the power to make secondary legislation to enable continued compliance with the UK’s international obligations by remedying any breaches that might arise as a result of withdrawal.

He says this means: "We will honour international obligations to maintain good reputation on the world stage."

The powers are necessary because not all treaties are implemented domestically in retained EU law, the minister explains.

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's Hannah Bardell speaks in favour of assessing the bill's impact on international treaties with particular reference to those protecting children's rights.

Discussing young people's response to the referendum, she says Brexit has been an example of "how not to do democracy".

She says it was carried out in "too short a timescale, with not enough opportunity for debate and discussion".

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Sir Desmond Swayne objects to the amendments under discussion, referring to the "sanctimonious guff" spoken about parliamentary sovereignty this afternoon.

He says of all the amendments today: "The purpose is delay, delay long enough for something to turn up."

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Image source, HoC

The Tory rebels, and the government, believed that a last-minute panicked concession from the government side had walked Theresa May back from the brink of defeat.

Frantic conversations between the government, the whips, the party managers and their MPs who were tempted to rebel had been taking place all day.

We saw cabinet ministers take MPs aside - for just a quiet chat of course - in the closing moments of the vote.

And during the voting, which always takes about 15 minutes, some of those who were tempted tweeted that they had decided to abstain - the last minute promise from the minister, Dominic Raab, had changed their minds or delayed the clash.

We saw as one of the possible rebels, a new Scottish MP, Paul Masterton, was cajoled by the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson (the chief whip until weeks ago) - then after the conversation, picked up his mobile phone and tweeted that he was going to abstain. But the arm twisting and arguments failed.

As the MPs who count the votes made their way to the Speaker's chair, the opposition teller made their way to the outside of the despatch box.

It's a physical signal of telling MPs who has won before the official announcement takes place. As that happened the House of Commons erupted - well at least the Labour side.

Read more.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Baroness Bakewell tells the Lords that one day "a film will be made" about the WASPI issue, in the same way that films are made about the suffragettes or others discussing and protesting inequality.

She says the film will show ministers asking the then coalition government leader, David Cameron, for money back from the savings that had been made from the Department for Work and Pensions. Referring to the Minister in the film, "he got only a third of the three billion he had asked for" to "soften the blow," she adds.

The film will demonstrate the "genuine poverty that WASPI women are suffering, because they were not given time to plan," she says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

MPs voted 311 to 292 against a Labour amendment which would have set up a Commons triage committee working alongside the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee to determine the level of scrutiny for each statutory instrument.

They then move on to the second part of today's debate, starting with a new clause from Labour's Chris Leslie, requiring ministers to publish a full list and assessment of implications of this Act on many international treaties and agreements that may be impacted as result of this bill.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Getty Images

Liberal Democrat Baroness Scott of Needham Market has tabled a short debate on transitional arrangements for state pension provision for women born in the 1950s, often referred to as "WASPI" women - WASPI stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality.

The women, born on or after 6th April 1951, due to changes made in 1995 and 2011 Acts, allege inequality in state pension calculations.

Opening the debate, Baroness Scott says that there have been many women who have got up to within 15 months of retirement, who are then told they will have to work another six years.

Thirty-three per cent of men rely solely on the state pension, but 53% of women are reliant on the state pension, she says. Many of the women were paid unfairly and did not have maternity leave, sick leave, and many had to bring up children, she adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative Lord Finkelstein, associate editor of The Times newspaper, is speaking against a group of amendments tabled from across the Lords on so-called "Leveson data protection recommendations".

He is concerned that the office of the Information Commissioner could become engaged in "state censorship".

He says the amendments could lead to protections for the rich and powerful in the media.

"We are failing as a House," Labour spokesman Lord Stevenson of Balmacara tells the Lords, warning if they do not "do this properly" then he is concerned Leveson recommendations will be ignored.

Government spokesman Lord Keen of Elie tells the House that the government are committed to the provision of high quality news media.

Crossbencher Baroness Hollins withdraws her amendment, but says she will press these matters at a later date, to disappointed shouts from some of the opposition benches.

House of Commons
Parliament

There were 12 Conservative rebels who helped bring about the government defeat tonight, according to the Commons Voting app.

They are: Heidi Allen, Ken Clarke, Jonathan Djanogly, Dominic Grieve, Stephen Hammond, Sir Oliver Heald, Nicky Morgan, Robert Neill, Antoinette Sandbach, Anna Soubry, John Stevenson and Sarah Wollaston.

Labour MPs who voted with the government over amendment 7 were Frank Field and Kate Hoey.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are now voting on a Labour amendment which establishes there should be a Commons triage committee working alongside Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee to determine the level of scrutiny for each statutory instrument.

Statutory instruments are a kind of secondary legislation, which means they don't receive the same level of scrutiny in Parliament as primary legislation.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs vote 315 to 294 to reject amendment 241 in the name of the SNP's Philippa Whitford.

It would have forced the government to publish a strategy for retaining reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the EU after Brexit.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are now voting on amendment 241 in the name of the SNP's Philippa Whitford, which would force the government to publish a strategy for retaining reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the EU after Brexit.

The SNP MP has tweeted:

House of Commons
Parliament

As we wait for confirmation for which Conservative MPs voted against the government tonight, here's a tweet from the Labour whips office: