Select Committee
Parliament

Shortly, members of the European Scrutiny Committee will start taking evidence from the Brexit Secretary David Davis.

They're likely to quiz him about the current negotiations, and the European Commission's draft withdrawal agreement.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP MP David Linden asks how many people at Yarl's Wood are on suicide watch.

Minister Caroline Nokes tells him "there is a reducing number of people refusing food and fluid".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Jess Phillips tells the House about a woman who reported threats from a violent ex-partner and was taken to Yarl's Wood "rather than a place of safety".

"We detained a victim," Ms Phillips says, arguing that the threat of being sent to a detention centre will "deter" women from reporting such threats.

The immigration minister tells MPs to tells her of such cases, as she "will always want to look at them personally".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Yvette Cooper, asks the minister to confirm that no individual should have their case prioritised or accelerated as a result of taking part in a protest at the "difficult conditions" in Yarl's Wood.

She says this would amount to "punitive action".

Caroline Nokes replies that the refusal of food is "taken very seriously" and detention remains a part of the immigration system, which should be handled in "as fair a way as possible".

House of Commons
Parliament

"Why does the government continue to detain vulnerable people?" asks SNP immigration spokesman Stuart McDonald.

It is "time for radical reform of the UK detention regime", he argues.

Caroline Nokes tells him that most people going through the immigration system are living in the community and only 5% are in immigration detention.

House of Commons
Parliament

Diane Abbott, who visited the Yarl's Wood Centre in Bedford recently, asks whether the minister knew of hunger strikes.

The shadow home secretary also says detainees refusing food were sent letters "implying that your deportation will be accelerated".

Minister Caroline Nokes says it is important that anyone on hunger strike "should not regard that as a route to prevent removal from this country".

If detainees did so, it might encourage them "to put their health at risk", she argues.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, SOUTH BEDS NEWS AGENCY

Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes answers the next urgent question, on the Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre.

The question comes from shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who has said detainees at the centre are in a "desperate" situation and accused the government of ignoring women who are on "hunger strike" at the centre.

Ms Nokes says detainees have access to medical professionals and anyone "refusing food" is "closely monitored".

Ministers want the "highest standards" of protection for detainees, she adds.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Elizabeth Denham says it "might be time" for a code of conduct for the use of social media in political campaigns.

The use of the websites in political campaigns may have "got ahead of where the law is", she says.

A code of conduct would create a "level playing field" where "everybody knows what the rules are", she adds.

In her conversations with political parties, there is agreement that there should be "clear rules of the road" when it comes to using social media to target individual voters, she tells MPs.

Select Committee
Parliament

Boris Johnson's question and answer session on Russia has finished but here are a few more nuggets from the fake news inquiry.

Tory MP Giles Watling asks Elizabeth Denham what new powers she would ask to have "more teeth" when dealing with data protection breaches.

Ms Denham replies that the new EU general data protection regulation - which will come into effect in May - will provide "many more tools in my toolkit".

In particular, she says she will get the power to fine companies up to 4% of their global turnover or £17m - which she says will be "very useful" against bigger companies.

House of Commons
Parliament

Responding to a question from Conservative Paul Masterton, Boris Johnson says that MPs should think "long and hard" before appearing on Russia Today.

Russia Today has been described by US intelligence agencies as "Russia's state-run propaganda machine".

"Your dad, your dad" shout several voices from the opposition benches.

Mr Johnson's father Stanley appeared on the channel to discuss his book, last year.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, BBC/Cuba/Nick Wall

Labour MP Rupa Huq says the situation has "disturbing" parallels with BBC drama McMafia.

Calling for more action on financial transparency, she tells the foreign secretary: "Patting yourself on the back and saying that we're leading the world looks complacent."

Boris Johnson agrees that there is "more that can be done to promote financial transparency" but insists that UK's record is "second to none".

House of Commons
Parliament

A Conservative Desmond Swayne wonders whether "the peace dividend" at the end of the Cold War was "utterly misconceived".

Boris Johnson replies that he "resists comparisons between events today" and the "misery and suffering" in the gulags.

House of Commons
Parliament

Tory MP Jack Lopresti asks whether the government considers alleged attacks on UK soil as a "nuisance" to be lived with or as "acts of war".

Boris Johnson says they can be "increasingly" categorised as "acts of war".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Luciana Berger asks the foreign secretary if toxicology reports on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia will be released.

Mr Johnson replies that he isn't going to give a commentary on the investigation.

House of Commons
Parliament

"The way to achieve peace with Russia is peace through strength," Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh says.

The UK needs to spend more than 2% of GDP - the Nato minimum - on defence, he argues.

Boris Johnson says it is right to spend "at least 2% on defence".

House of Commons
Parliament

Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson says a report by Heidi Blake of Buzzfeed, external - referenced by some other MPs - points to a "wider pattern of multiple assassinations on UK soil".

There is a "high concentration" of Russian assets in London, she adds and calls on the government to take stronger action.

"The UK leads the world on cracking down on money laundering," Boris Johnson insists.