House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

At question time in the Lords, Lib Dem Baroness Featherstone asks about the extent to which indigenous gas production is needed for energy security.

She urges the government to spurn "the ugly and unnecessary distraction of fracking" and focus on renewable energy sources.

Energy Minister Lord Henley responds that indigenous gas met 46% of demand in 2016, adding: "Renewable gas is all very well and good but it's never going to meet all our demands."

On fracking he pledges to "do all we can to tap into this resource".

Former chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby argues "the strongest opponents of fracking are the Russians" and we need to "be free from this threat of dependence on Russia".

The minister says it's "not surprising" Russia opposes fracking and pledges to do everything to encourage shale gas production.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Vince Cable, says he echoes the feelings expressed by Jess Phillips yesterday, in saying that she would have been minded to support the action, but the fact that the prime minister did not seek approval makes her unlikely to want to support it.

"We are here on an issue of trust," he adds.

He says had the prime minister sought a debate on the principle of the strikes, then she would have commanded a "significant majority" for such action.

He says that the President of the US believes that Assad and Putin are less of a problem than Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg says that every five years, an Armed Forces Bill is passed to make sure that military action can be approved by the executive and enacted.

He says that the last time this bill went through Parliament, the Leader of the Opposition did not add any amendments to limit what the executive could do with the armed forces.

"An executive and a legislature are different things and have different responsibilities," he says.

He says Parliament cannot "run the executive via remote control," he says that the executive is being held to account today.

"The process has been established for centuries and is highly effective," he says. "The executive is only effective as long as it commands the confidence of this House."

We have a "flexible constitution, but we do not have no constitution", he states.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford says the government needs to "reflect very carefully" on this afternoon's debate.

He says the government should bring forward legislation to set out how Parliament should be consulted ahead of future military action.

Parliament may not have a constitution, but it does have conventions, he adds.

Mr Blackford says that if Parliament had been sitting last week, a debate on the air strikes would have been "unavoidable".

"The only people who haven't had a voice are members of this Parliament, and that is to be deeply regretted," he states.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Prime Minister Theresa May says there is "no graver decision" that a prime minister has to make other than to commit armed forces to missions overseas.

The Cabinet Manual states that in 2011 the government acknowledged that a convention had been established to seek approval for military action other than when it was necessary because of an emergency.

She says she shares the principle that in a Parliamentary democracy that MPs should be consulted before military action is taken.

"But that does not mean it is always appropriate, it therefore cannot and should not be codified into a Parliamentary right," she says.

There are some situations where coming to Parliament beforehand would undermine the ability of the armed forces to operate quickly, she says.

Ms May says she was not prepared to undermine the "efficacy" of UK armed forces before the mission.

She adds that to come to Parliament would have "undermined our allies' plans".

Select Committee
Parliament

At the end of the evidence session with Brittany Kaiser, DCMS committee chair Damian Collins announces that tomorrow's planned appearance of former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix has been cancelled.

His lawyers are saying that he can't appear for legal reasons due to the ongoing investigation of Cambridge Analytica by the Information Commissioner's Office.

Damian Collins says he believes there is no reason Mr Nix cannot appear, since he has not been charged with any offence and suggests that he will consider issuing a summons.

Mr Nix was due to appear in front of the committee for a second time after questions were raised about the evidence he gave the first time around.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, says that he believes the principle of seeking Parliamentary approval for acts of warfare, which has been in use since the Iraq War in 2003, should now be "enshrined in law".

"It is important that our armed forces know that they have the democratic backing of Parliament," he says.

He says he welcomes the convention that has been established and says that last week "showed a flagrant disregard for this convention", he adds.

"The prime minister's actions are a clear demonstration of why Parliament must assert its authority on this subject," he says.

He adds that the principal has "long standing support across the House".

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons moves on to an emergency debate requested by Jeremy Corbyn and granted by the Speaker, John Bercow, yesterday evening.

The debate specifically focuses on Parliament's role in the decision of military intervention. It follows the airstrikes, which were carried out in Syria jointly with the US and France, over the Easter recess.

MPs from all sides expressed their belief in the debate yesterday that Parliament should have been consulted - there were voices supporting the prime minister's stance too.

The debate will run for up to three hours.

House of Commons
Parliament

With the conclusion of Treasury questions, the Commons moves on to the Ten Minute Rule Bill.

Conservative MP Bim Afolami is introducing his bill to increase testing for psychoactive substances in prisons. He says that 79 deaths were linked to psychoactive substances in prisons between 2013 and 2016.

Any MP can introduce a ten minute rule bill, and they have ten minutes to introduce the bill. If an MP wishes to oppose the motion, then they have up to ten minutes to set their case against.

If the bill is approved at this stage, it will move to a second reading later in the Parliamentary calendar.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Ian Lucas says that former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix "cannot produce a single example" of work the company has turned down on ethical grounds. He asks if Brittany Kaiser ever turned work down for ethical reasons.

Ms Kaiser says she has "never been under authority to say yes or no" but says that while working for Cambridge Analytica she refused to meet certain prospective clients including the German far right party AfD and the campaign of Marine Le Pen.

Asked by chair Damian Collins who introduced Cambridge Analytica to those two campaigns she says she believes it was the "same individual" who introduced Cambridge Analytica to UKIP.

Earlier in the hearing Brittany Kaiser said that Steve Bannon, who was CEO of Donald Trump's election campaign, introduced UKIP to the company.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's John Mann asks what comparative assessment has been made of the size of the national debt today, and 12 months ago.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen says that public sector net debt as a percentage of GDP was 85.1% at the end of February 2018, which was 0.9% higher than last year.

Mr Mann says "national debt is rising by £5,000 a second at the moment," he asks if the minister will stop NHS hospitals from outsourcing staffing "in order to avoid paying VAT".

He adds that this represents a 6% loss to the Treasury.

Mr Glen replies that "debt is going down this year," and that the government wants to avoid the situation from 2007-10 "where public sector net debt doubled".

Select Committee
Parliament

Brittany Kaiser is highlighting what she believes are breaches of the Data Protection Act by Leave.EU. She says that the database of Eldon Insurance, a company owned by UKIP and Leave.EU donor Arron Banks, was being used "for the benefit of the Leave.EU campaign".

She says that Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance were in the "same building and had the same staff" and that at the Leave.EU phone bank "they were calling out of the insurance database".

In her written evidence, Brittany Kaiser quotes Arron Banks as saying "it's my data".

Ms Kaiser says that at Leave.EU "all of the staff there were employed by an insurance company, almost none of them had any experience in political campaigning".

"They were actively working on the Leave.EU campaign when I was there," she says, "making calls that I assume were normally sales calls, instead they were calling people to undertake a survey about...their interests in leaving the European Union and their interests around Brexit".

Leave.EU was not the officially designated Leave campaign, but since the Leave victory has claimed to have played a "decisive role" in the vote.

Despite putting together detailed proposals, Cambridge Analytica did not work on Leave.EU's campaign.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Peter Bone asks how much has been spent on preparing for the event of a no deal with the EU.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss says £1.5bn has been set aside to prepare for all eventualities in the EU negotiations.

Mr Bone says that between 2019 and 2023 will see a "Brexit dividend of £55bn".

Ms Truss says "there is indeed money that will be released as a result of us leaving the European Union" and the government will work on how best to distribute the money.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Tracy Brabin asks what discussions have been had with the housing, communities and local government secretary on the adequacy of funding for children's services.

Chief Seceretary to the Treasury Liz Truss says that local authorities spent £11.9bn in 2016-17 on childcare support.

Ms Brabin says it is "deeply troubling" that there will be a £2bn gap in funding for children's services by 2020. She asks what can be done to protect vulnerable children.

Ms Truss replies that funding for the most vulnerable through local authorities has increased by £1bn since 2010. Child development outcomes have improved, she adds.