House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Robathan says the civil servants who produced the Brexit analysis papers are the same ones who wrote that we would have a recession and 500,000 unemployed people if we voted to leave.

He asks if peers don't take their instructions from the people, who should they take instructions from?

He also calls it "embarrassing" that some peers are arguing that they should seek to frustrate Brexit in the national interest.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour shadow treasury minister Peter Dowd says the minister's response was filled with "complacency like a line through a stick of rock". He pushes the clause, calling for a review of the bank levy, to a vote.

House of Commons
Parliament

Treasury Minister Mel Stride says there is "a good reason" why the bank levy is gradually being reduced.

Risks are declining, he tells MPs, and no bank failed recent Bank of England stress tests, which assess how resilient banks are to recession and financial crises.

Turning to PFI, he says that "the vast majority of these projects were signed between 1997 and 2010" - when Labour was in government.

Mr Stride says the Conservative government is prioritising improved value for money and, when it cannot achieve a cost reduction, "working to improve day-to-day effectiveness" of PFI projects.

He rejects the option of a windfall tax, arguing that it would make it harder for governments to sign contracts with the private sector.

House of Commons
Parliament

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SNP economy spokeswoman Kirsty Blackman says her party opposes reductions in the bank levy.

She also claims that, although she is "a fairly left-wing person within the SNP", she finds that she has "more in common" with many people in the City of London, who are "incredibly upset about Brexit", than many Conservatives.

BBC Business News

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Financing projects such as schools and hospitals privately costs taxpayers billions of pounds more than public sector alternatives, parliament's spending watchdog says.

A report suggests a group of schools cost 40% more to build and a hospital 70% more to construct than if they were financed by government borrowing.

The National Audit Office report , externalidentifies costs and benefits of PFI.

The Treasury said it only approved PFI contracts that were value for money.

The collapse of Carillion, which was working on numerous PFI projects, has renewed criticism of such schemes.

Read more.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Stella Creasy introduces amendments targeting "the excess profits of PFI companies".

"I was into PFI before all the cool kids were," she tells the House, meaning that she has long been a critic of the Private Finance Initiative, a scheme under which private consortiums build facilities such as schools, hospitals and roads, in return for regular payments over as many as 30 years.

PFI has had "toxic" consequences, she says, adding that "governments of all colours" have used it.

Ms Creasy accuses PFI firms of charging excessive interest calling them the "legal loan sharks of the public sector."

The UK paid £10bn in PFI charges last year, more than half of which was interest, she says.

She argues that the cost of PFI means that 20% of extra government funding for schools and hospitals "will not touch the sides" and will go as "pure profit" to PFI companies.

The Labour MP says PFI firms need to be told that "time is up" and to produce plans to reduce the level of interest - or face "a windfall tax" if necessary.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Conservative former chancellor Lord Lamont of Lerwick rises to speak in defence of leaving the EU and the customs union, saying: "We're not pursuing this out of dogma - we're trying to make an assessment of what's in the best interest of the country."

The government is trying to establish a free trade deal with the EU, he points out, which will benefit the UK.

He's confronted with post-Brexit GDP predictions by Lib Dem Baroness Kramer and says "I'm not just going to be persuaded by a piece of paper with a statistic."

House of Lords
Parliament

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Crossbencher Lord Carlile of Berriew focuses on the economic analysis of Brexit which has been made available for peers and MPs to view, advising everyone to go and read it.

He says that as a lawyer of nearly 50 years standing he's seen a lot of suicide notes - real and fake - and this document is a real one.

On a similar note, Lib Dem leader in the Lords Lord Newby says the economic analysis carried out on Brexit and leaked to BuzzFeed is "not for the faint-hearted" but is also "far too optimistic".

Select Committee
Parliament

The SNP's Martin Docherty-Hughes asks if the Defence Secretary believes, as some in the government have said, that members of so-called Islamic State, should be stripped of their citizenship and if so, what is the legal basis for doing so.

Last week Gavin Williamson suggested that he didn't want two captured British Isis members, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, to return to Britain. It has been reported that the two men, both from west London, have had their UK citizenship revoked.

Gavin Williamson says international law is "pivotal" to everything. He says that the UK and its allies have been "very successful" at depriving Isis of territory but must "remain engaged" and "eliminate that threat". "I think legally, if someone can have their citizenship removed...it should be looked at," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Chris Philp rises to defend the government's position on the bank levy.

While the levy is being reduced, banks pay a surplus profit tax of 8%, Mr Philp says, the equivalent of "a third more corporation tax" than other businesses.

Banks will continue to pay more tax than other businesses after the bill becomes law, he adds.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Asked about pay Gavin Williamson says that if the independent body that sets pay in the armed forces suggests anything more than a 1% rise they will be "faced with a difficult decision" over finances. He says the department has not budgeted for anything more than a 1% rise.

Lieutenant General Mark Poffley, the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff for Military Capability, adds that there are issues "across the public sector" over pay.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The bank levy is an annual tax on the value of all of the debts of UK banks (including money deposited with the banks), over £20bn.

In the 2015 Budget , the government announced the levy was to be gradually reduced. By 2021, it will apply to banks' UK balance sheets only., external

The government imposed the levy with the aim of discouraging banks from relying on risky forms of borrowing, and Labour's proposed review would look at whether this has worked.

House of Commons
Parliament

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MPs are now considering a Labour amendment which would require "a review of the operation and effectiveness of the bank levy" within six months of the passing of the bill.

Shadow Treasury minister Peter Dowd says he doesn't want to embark on "a bank-bashing session" but accuses ministers of having "folded to pressure from the banks" and of setting the levy at too low a level.

It was set at a third of the level in France and lower even than in the United States, he argues, adding that cutting it further is "not acceptable".

House of Lords
Parliament

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Peers are now getting started on the first of ten days' committee-stage debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill, external, which repeals the European Communities Act and writes EU law into UK law.

Committee stage is when peers undertake detailed line-by-line scrutiny of legislation, but it is rare for them to vote on changes to the bill at this point - this usually happens at report stage.

Today's debate focuses on Clause 1, which repeals the ECA on exit day - 29 March 2019.

Plaid Cymru's Lord Wigley introduces an amendment which would make the repeal conditional on the UK having secured its position on the single market and customs union, arguing "it cannot take place in a vacuum".

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs reject Labour's amendment calling for equality impact assessments by 304 votes to 265.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Crossbencher Baroness Meacher asks the government to issue a special licence under section 30 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to enable the family of Alfie Dingley to import cannabis-based medication to treat his epilepsy.

The Home Office denied the family's request for a licence as the drug is illegal in the UK.

Alfie was taken to the Netherlands to take a cannabis-based medication in September. It reduced the number of seizures he had, said his family.

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford says she has a "huge amount of sympathy" for Alfie and his family and ministers will consider every option, including a special licence.

House of Commons
Parliament

Over in the Commons, the House has divided on a new clause to the Finance (No. 2) Bill.

The Labour amendment calls for "equality impact analyses of certain provisions" of the bill if it becomes law.

The analyses would focus on:

• the impact on households at different levels of income
• the impact on people with protected characteristics (within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010)
• compliance with the public sector equality duty
• the impact on equality in different parts of the United Kingdom and different regions of England

House of Lords
Parliament

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In the light of the loss of retention monies by small firms following the insolvency of Carillion, Crossbencher Lord Aberdare asks what steps are being taken to provide protection against such losses in the future.

He calls for "immediate steps" such as the ringfencing of retention funds in trusts.

Lib Dem Baroness Burt of Solihull echoes his comments, saying retentions can lead to "late payments and bad cash flow practices".

Business Minister Lord Henley acknowledges the practice of retention can have "negative impacts", but urges peers to wait for the results of a consultation on this subject which is currently under way.

He says a private member's bill introduced by Conservative MP Peter Aldous to address these problems could be one way forward.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Gavin Williamson says the defence world is dealing with the "speed at which these state-based threats have increased". He says previously there has been "complacency" since the end of the Cold War.

"We've probably all got to look at how we invest more to deal with this threat which we've not been used to dealing with for the last 25 years", he adds.

Chair Julian Lewis asks if it is not in the UK's interests for there to be "open dialogue" with Russia, particularly in areas where the two countries have something in common, like the fight against terrorism.

The Defence Secretary says it's "absolutely vital to have that dialogue" but it is "difficult to create a platform to work together" when Russia is undermining UK national security.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Reuters

The Lords get started at 3pm with questions on:

• living conditions in Gaza
• the loss of retention monies by small firms following the insolvency of Carillion
• the provision of and funding for local neighbourhood services
• enabling the family of Alfie Dingley to import cannabis-based medication to treat his epilepsy

After that, peers will embark on the first of ten days' committee-stage debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill, external, which repeals the European Communities Act and writes EU law into UK law.

Committee stage is when peers undertake detailed line-by-line scrutiny of legislation, but it is rare for them to vote on changes to the bill at this point - this usually happens at report stage.

This evening's dinner-break debate is on promoting volunteering.