Summary

  • MPs back bill to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation

  • They also back bill aiming to prolong voting rights of UK expats

  • Both bills will now pass to the next stage for detailed scrutiny

  1. Flagging up imminent good news?published at 12:41 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    Mark D'Arcy
    Parliamentary Correspondent

    Sir Mike Penning has had several Commons debates on the Primodos issue – and he knows perfectly well the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is about to deliver “good news” on the safety of medical drugs and treatments.

  2. Tory MP questions Primodos drug responepublished at 12:40 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Conservative MP Sir Mike Penning asks if the Prime Minister has any "good news" for people who have suffered side-effects from the pregnancy drug Primodos.

    In reply Theresa May says concerns raised by campaign groups have shown "there is an issue with our regulatory and healthcare system".

    There needs to be a "faster, more understanding response" to people who raise concerns, she adds.

    Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be setting out plans for a review in this area later today, she says.

  3. Watch: The SNP raise the situation in Syriapublished at 12:38 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

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  4. Did the EU force the UK to change the colour of passports?published at 12:38 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Reality Check

    Theresa May says: "After we leave the European Union we return to deciding the colour of passports that we want, not what the EU wants."

    But the European Union has never had the power to force the UK to change the colour of the British passport.

    Abandoning blue for burgundy was a decision taken by the UK in the 1980s after the then EEC (European Economic Community) member states tried to harmonise designs to make life easier for travellers and border officials.

    But ministers could have ignored it - Croatia retained its blue passport after it joined the EU in 2013.

  5. Watch: The PM's 'blank cheque' jokepublished at 12:37 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

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  6. Euratom and cancer treatmentspublished at 12:37 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Labour MP Tulip Siddiq argues that the UK's decision to leave nuclear regulatory treaty Euratom when it leaves the EU will "limit our access to vital cancer treatments".

    If medical isotopes used in radiotherapy treatments are delayed "they could be deemed useless on arrival", she adds.

    Theresa May says Ms Siddiq is "wrong on two counts".

    The UK government wants continued "freedom of trade" with the EU, the PM says, and insists that the import of radioactive isotopes "will not be affected by our withdrawal from Euratom".

  7. PM pressed on Alfie Dingley casepublished at 12:35 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Alfie DingleyImage source, Maggie Deacon/PA wire

    Conservative backbencher Crispin Blunt mentions Alfie Dingley, the six year old from Warwickshire with a rare condition that means he suffers up to 30 violent seizures a day.

    His parents believe his condition can be alleviated with medical cannabis oil, currently illegal in the UK.

    Yesterday Home Office minister Nick Hurd promised to find a "lawful" way of helping Alfie.

    Crispin Blunt asks if the Prime Minister will help "give British citizens the earliest possible access to the benefit of medicines derived from cannabis".

    Theresa May says the "sympathies of members across the House are with Alfie". She says that "if medicines are permitted to be used they must have been through the most rigorous testing" under the "same regulations that apply to all medicines in the UK".

  8. Tory MP calls for 'speedy' system to allow EU citizens to staypublished at 12:33 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    London Conservative MP Paul Scully says EU citizens have settled in the UK capital "in the belief that they'll be able to build a life here".

    He calls for a "speedy" system to allow them to stay and "get on with their lives" after the UK leaves the EU.

    Theresa May says that she wants EU citizens living in the UK to stay, adding that obtaining settled status "is not going to cost more than the cost of a British passport".

    She also notes that a delegation of French parliamentarians are watching today's session.

    Did they hear Tory MP Chris Green's comments about French firms bidding to design the new UK passports?

  9. Will Domestic Violence Bill be as comprehensive as promised?published at 12:30 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Labour's Angela Smith raises the case of her constituent Claire Throssell, whose two sons were killed in an arson attack committed by their father. She wants to know when the promised Domestic Violence Bill is going to be published and if it will be as "comprehensive as promised"

    Theresa May expresses her sympathy to Claire Throssell and says the Home Secretary Amber Rudd is running a consultation on the bill, telling the House that the government "is committed to working to support the victims of domestic violence".

  10. Watch: Leaders' exchange on the Northern Ireland borderpublished at 12:28 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

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  11. Watch: Corbyn fears plan to 'destroy workers' rights'published at 12:27 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

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  12. Watch: 'We are putting the people first'published at 12:27 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

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  13. 'Make our new blue passports truly British'published at 12:26 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    PassportsImage source, HOME OFFICE/GETTY

    Chris Green, the Conservative MP for Bolton West, says there are three firms bidding to produce the UK's new, post-Brexit passports.

    One is in his constituency and the other two are French, he says, asking the prime minister to do "all she can" to make "our new, blue passports truly British".

    Theresa May pledges a "fair and open competition" to design the new passports, which the government announced late last year.

  14. Sombre exchange on Syriapublished at 12:25 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    Mark D'Arcy
    Parliamentary Correspondent

    A sombre exchange on the violence in Syria.

    The SNP’s Ian Blackford extracts a carefully measured answer from the Prime Minister with a pensive Boris Johnson, behind her, nodding as she mentions the backers of the Syrian government – ie Russia and Iran

  15. PM 'appalled' by bombing in Eastern Ghoutapublished at 12:25 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Ian BlackfordImage source, HoC

    The SNP's leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, asks what discussions the government is having with the UN about the bombing in the Syrian rebel enclave of the Eastern Ghouta.

    The Syrian military says it is trying to liberate the area from terrorists - but it has also been accused of targeting civilians.

    He asks what the government is doing to ensure existing UN resolutions are enforced.

    Theresa May replies that the government is "appalled" by the escalation of airstrikes in the region.

    She says the UK calls on Syria and its backers to "cease this campaign of violence" and allow humanitarian access.

  16. Bring on the Czech jokes?published at 12:21 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    Mark D'Arcy
    Parliamentary Correspondent

    How many more Czech jokes in the next half hour? The PM’s gone there. Will the backbench bruisers follow?

  17. May's Czech joke...published at 12:19 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Jeremy Corbyn asks how a hard border with Northern Ireland can be avoided if we leave the customs union.

    Theresa May says the government has published papers that show how we can deliver "exactly that".

    Jeremy Corbyn says Boris Johnson's speech last week did not mention Northern Ireland once. He says that the government is all "waffle and empty rhetoric" on Brexit and the government is "on the road to nowhere".

    Theresa May says the leader of the opposition's job is to ask a question but says she's "perfectly happy to respond to the points that he's made".

    She says Labour should "think very carefully" about the security partnership the UK wants with the EU.

    "We believe in maintaining the safety and security of the UK...and of Europe."

    She ends with a gag on tabloid reports about Mr Corbyn's contacts with an eastern bloc spy during the Cold War, eliciting groans and cheers.

    "Normally he stands up and asks me to sign a blank cheque, I know he likes Czechs but really that is terribly depressing."

  18. Labour Brexit position 'crystallising'?published at 12:17 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    Mark D'Arcy
    Parliamentary Correspondent

    Is Labour’s Brexit position crystallising, as some of the big decisions begin to loom?

    Jeremy Corbyn uses an extended exchange to highlight what he says is a threat to employment rights and protections, armed with a series of quotes. He mentions the letter from pro-Brexit Tory backbenchers , and moves on to the Irish Border issue.

    The Prime Minister parries without giving much away and Tories smirk as Jeremy Corbyn accuses the government of “waffle and empty rhetoric”.

  19. Corbyn: Tory MPs want a bonfire of regulationspublished at 12:15 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

    Prime Minister's Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Jeremy Corbyn tells Theresa May that "62 of her backbenchers want a bonfire of regulations [and] want to destroy workers' rights in this country".

    He is referring to a letter from more than 60 Brexit-supporting Tory MPs, who wrote to Theresa May to insist the UK makes a clean break with the EU.

  20. Watch: Corbyn not impressed by Mad Max assurancepublished at 12:14 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2018

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