House of Commons
Parliament

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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.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The House of Commons kicks off with Treasury questions. The first one is on reducing tax avoidance and evasion, tabled by Conservative, Alex Chalk.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond says that since 2010 HMRC has secured over £175bn that would have gone unclaimed. The tax gap is now at a record low, and one of the lowest in the world at 6%.

Mr Chalk states that multinationals are attempting to "run rings" around HMRC, and he asks what further can be done.

Mr Hammond says that the government is not complacent, and is currently carrying out a call for evidence on whether online companies should be included in tax collection and tackling VAT fraud from online sellers.

MPs spent more than six hours discussing the military action in Syria when they returned to Westminster following the Easter recess.

House of Commons
Parliament

It's the return of the emergency debates in the Commons today, with a debate on whether Parliament should have been consulted before airstrikes were launched in Syria to take place after Treasury questions.

We can expect the emergency debate to start around 12.45pm.

Then, later on, at around 5pm, the Commons will start to debate anti-Semitism. Finally, the Commons will end on a debate on redress for victims of banking misconduct, and the FCA.

Select Committee
Parliament

Brittany Kaiser says she worked on Cambridge Analytica projects in the US, UK, Mexico, Nigeria, Lithuania and Malaysia.

She says she unsuccessfully pitched for work with the CDU, Germany's ruling party, as well as to a consultancy firm in France.

She says that Cambridge Analytica failed to get work in France and Germany because of a reluctance to use data in the way the company proposed.

She says a French political consultancy firm, told them that partnering with Cambridge Analytica would, if revealed publically, "put at risk" their other work.

Select Committee
Parliament

Committee chair Damian Collins asks about the Channel 4 News sting, external where Cambridge Analytica's CEO, Alexander Nix, was caught boasting that the company could "ghost in and out" of a country and leave no trace, as well as suggesting the use of prostitutes to entrap rival politicians.

Brittany Kaiser says she had "never heard" most of what came out in the sting, had never heard suggestions that the firm could break the law and that it is "incredibly shocking sometimes how far a sales pitch could go".

Select Committee
Parliament

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Brittany Kaiser is a former director of program development at Cambridge Analytica. She says she's appearing in front of the committee to highlight what she considers a "priviliged abuse of power" and that she wants to "shed light in these dark places and help people be more responsible for their actions".

She says her job mainly involved meeting potential clients, working out what they needed and how the company could get their business.

She says she wasn't in management at CA and nor did she have access to the company's data.

She left Cambridge Analytica in January.

Select Committee
Parliament

From 10:30am the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee will be taking evidence from Brittany Kaiser, a former director at the scandal-hit political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica is accused of using improperly obtained Facebook data to help the campaign of Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, and the firm's CEO was caught on camera offering to use prostitutes to discredit political candidates in Sri Lanka.

The committee is interested in the work potentially done by the company on the EU referendum campaign.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 this morning, Ms Kaiser said Cambridge Analytica had pitched to Vote Leave, Leave.EU and the official remain campaign, but had not been commissioned to do any work.

Welcome to our coverage of today's events in Westminster. We'll be looking at what's going on in the Commons, Lords and committee rooms today.

First, we'll be watching the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's session questioning Brittany Kaiser, the former director of program development at Cambridge Analytica.

Theresa May defends military action as Labour accuses her of following Donald Trump's "whims".

House of Commons
Parliament

It was the first day back in the Commons at the Easter recess. The prime minister has spent the day in the Commons since 3:30pm to debate Syria with MPs.

The day was dominated by the topic of airstrikes carried out over Syria.

The PM's statement on Syrian airstrikes lasted for three and a quarter hours, with 140 MPs asking questions; then MPs turned to an emergency debate to further discuss the future for Syria and the country more widely.

Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn has been granted an emergency debate tomorrow on whether Parliament should have been consulted before airstrikes were carried out. This will last for up to three hours.

We'll be back in the morning at around 10:30am for the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. The Commons gets underway at 11:30am.

We hope you can join us then.

House of Commons
Parliament

On whether the House has sufficiently debated the matter of Syria, the result is as follows:

• 314 Ayes
• 36 Noes

This means the Commons are happy that they have debated the topic of Syria by a majority of 278.

And that's where we'll leave coverage of the Commons for tonight.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Alison McGovern, who tabled the emergency debate this evening, thanks MPs who have taken part and thanks the prime minister, who she disagrees with on "very many issues" but who has shown "fortitude" by staying in the Chamber today, she says.

She thanks Syrians across the world who have shared with her their experience and what they have been through, it is those who everyone should listen to "most carefully," she says.

She says she remains "deeply uncertain" about the prime minister's strategy for Syria.

With that, the Commons votes on whether the matter of Syria has been debated satisfactorily. The result will come in around 11:15pm.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Theresa May says that the persistent and ongoing use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime "cannot go unanswered".

She says that the UK has tried "time and time again" to use diplomatic channels to prevent President Assad from using chemical weapons against his own people. The reality is that more than five years later, the Syrian government did not dismantle their chemical weapons programme and the Russian guarantee had no value, she says.

"Inaction is not an option," she states.

The action was not about intervening in a civil war or regime change, she says, the action was limited and targeted, which sought to avoid escalation and to prevent further civilian calculations.

Russia's behaviour means that relying solely on the UN Security Council resolutions is "tantamount to accepting" that no action should be taken in Syria to chemical attacks, she says.

Emotions ran high during an urgent question in Parliament this afternoon on the treatment of the Windrush generation, as Mandy Baker reports.

The Home Secretary Amber Rudd apologised for the "appalling" treatment of Windrush migrants.

You can hear more about events in Westminster on Today in Parliament at 11.30pm on Radio 4.