House of Lords
Parliament

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Conservative former chancellor Lord Lamont of Lerwick speaks against the amendment, telling peers the percentage of exports which go to the EU is lower than was earlier claimed.

He says "the pattern of our trade has been changing" and the share of EU trade is reducing.

What is important, he says, is to decide "which is better for the future trend of our trade - a customs union with the EU or a free trade agreement". He says he favours the latter.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Next to speak to the amendment is Conservative Lord Patten of Barnes, who takes aim at Liam Fox comments about the ease of negotiating a deal, pointing out last year's Tory manifesto said it's right to be sceptical of "easy answers to deeply complex problems".

Technical issues in negotiating a new customs arrangement are going to be "demanding", he warns, rules of origin are going to be a problem, and the idea you can grandfather the current agreement is "absurd".

House of Lords
Parliament

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And we're off... Crossbencher Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - often described as the architect of Article 50 - is introducing an amendment in his name with cross-party backing.

The amendment would require the government to report to Parliament by 31 October 2018 on the steps it has taken to negotiate continued participation in a UK-EU customs union before the European Communities Act 1972 can be repealed.

He tells peers the government is right to seek frictionless trade, but any customs frontier would introduce "considerable" friction.

"As distance doubles, trade halves," he stresses, "and it will be hard not to see our overall trade with the EU fall if customs arrangements become more complicated."

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons moves on to a general debate on industrial strategy. MPs will continue to debate this until it's time for the adjournment debate at the end of the day.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Lib Dem Lord Tyler raises alleged misuse of personal data, held by Facebook, in election campaigns.

He says, in view of Leave campaigners attacking the impartiality of the Electoral Commission, "any complacency adds to the demand for a free and fair vote [on leaving the EU] at the end of this process [Brexit negotiations]".

Cabinet Office spokesman Lord Young of Cookham points out the Information Commissioner is conducting an ongoing investigation into Cambridge Analytica "using all available powers".

He says both the ICO and Election Commission are independent bodies with "robust chief executives capable of withstanding pressure".

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Geraint Davies asks for a "concrete undertaking that our environment won't suffer with new trade deals following Brexit".

"Yes," says the environment secretary.

As a follow up Mr Davies asks if Michael Gove is keen on a "non regression principle" on the environment which he says Michel Barnier is keen on.

It would effectively be a guarantee that the UK couldn't cut environmental protections below EU levels.

Michael Gove says he doesn't think any such thing would be nessecery "because I think there will be better mechanisms", and he says it would be a way of the EU taking control of domestic legislation "against the spirit of taking back control".

On issues like plastic "we're doing better than they [the EU] are", he adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

All eyes are on the Lords today - after question time, from around 3.30pm, peers will get their first day of report stage debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill, external.

The bill repeals the European Communities Act 1972 and writes EU law into UK law ahead of Brexit.

Report stage is when changes discussed earlier in the bill's passage are usually made - either through amendments brought forward by the government or forced on them through a vote.

The government can expect its first big test at around 5pm, when peers will vote on a cross-party amendment to require the government to report to Parliament by 31 October 2018 on the steps it has taken to negotiate continued participation in a UK-EU customs union before the European Communities Act 1972 can be repealed.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Kerry McCarthy is asking about the case for enshrining the government's post-Brexit environmental principles in law or setting them out in a departmental policy statement every year.

Michael Gove says he can "see advantages in either approach".

Kerry McCarthy says there is a "concern" that an annual policy statement could "easily be weakened", compared to principles enshrined in law.

Mr Gove has promised that UK environmental standards will not be compromised after Brexit.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald says that "Labour are fully supportive of this bill," saying that concerns they originally had about the bill have been dealt with effectively in the Lords.

He says that the decision to host a general election disrupted the original passage of this bill. He says he remains surprised that the government did not suggest this as a specific unified bill, and has instead "fragmented" provisions on the future of transport legislation across separate bills.

He says that Labour has had to "remind" the government to introduce this bill.

He says that the government still have not introduced provisions that had previously been debated and agreed to, and would "have been on the statute book" by now had it not been for the general election.

He says this shows the government "is absolutely out of ideas" and "incompetent".

Labour's Dawn Butler calls for clarification over destroyed Windrush documents, after the Prime Minister, Theresa May, told MPs landing cards were destroyed under a Labour government.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The Commons moves on to the second reading of the Laser Misuse (Vehicles) Bill., external

The bill was introduced to the Lords by Transport Minister Baroness Sugg. The bill makes it an offence to shine or direct a laser at a vehicle.

Introducing the bill to the Commons, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling says that amendments in the Lords have extended the provisions of the bill, from driven vehicles to aircraft as well.

Mr Grayling says there are "legitimate uses for lasers", they are used in construction, by lecturers and by astronomers. He says that lasers can dazzle or blind drivers with potentially fatal consequences.

This is a problem which has grown, last year, there were 1,000 cases of lasers being shone at drivers.

It is already an offence to shine a light at an aircraft, but this doesn't give the police enough powers to "investigate and pursue", he says.

Jeremy Corbyn asks Theresa May to clarify her role in the disposal of documents for people arriving in the Windrush generation.

Select Committee
Parliament

The 25 year environment plan wants to eradicate "avoidable" plastic waste, and committee chair Mary Creagh asks Michael Gove what his definition of "avoidable" is.

The environment secretary says that the "definition will evolve as technology evolves" but the government should be asking a "relentless question, is there an alternative and why aren't we using it?"

He says there will be exemptions for things like medical use but the government hopes it can "reduce demand for plastics overall".

Image source, HoL

Select Committee
Parliament

The Environmental Audit Committee is hearing from Environment Secretary Michael Gove on the government's 25 year environment plan.

Launched in January, the plan aims to eradicate avoidable plastic waste in the UK and tackle pollution around the world.

Environmental groups criticised the plans for having no legal force while Labour said the proposed 25 year timespan would take far too long.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader, says that "devolution means divergence", it means "difference," and she asks Mr Wright why he "seeks to deny this".

Mr Wright says "there is a dispute here".

He says he respects that there will be "differences of approach" in how this matter for devolution will be carried out.

"There simply cannot be two competing versions" of Brexit rules once the UK leaves the EU, he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow Wales secretary, Christina Rees, says the government challenging such a bill in the courts is something which should be considered by Parliament.

She says there has been "widespread concern" that the bills passed by the government would amount to a "power grab" by the Westminster government.

Mr Wright says the devolution settlements "envisage a situation" on where there are concerns on what an assembly can do, that this is how the dispute should be resolved.

He says he remains optimistic that the government will be able to settle the matter.

BBC News

The UK government has launched a legal challenge to the Scottish and Welsh governments' Brexit bills.

The two devolved parliaments passed legislation last month that is intended to act as an alternative to Westminster's EU Withdrawal Bill.

But the UK government has asked the Supreme Court to rule whether the legislation is constitutional and within devolved powers.

Holyrood's presiding officer has already said he does not believe it is.

Read more here.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The SNP's Joanna Cherry is asking an urgent question about the Brexit bills passed by two devolved Parliaments - the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.

The Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, says the Scotland Act and Wales Act allow the law officers to refer legislation to the Supreme Court in cases where legislation falls from legislative competence.

He says the view of the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament was not within the legislative competence of the Parliament.

He says the Scottish and Welsh continuity bills will frustrate the ability of the government on day one to allow legal certainty for the government on leaving the European Union.

The SNP's Joanna Cherry says this matter is unprecedented and is the first time it has ever happened in Scotland. She says the Scottish government believes it is within their legislative competence and the most senior law officer in Scotland believes so, too.

Mr Wright says it is an unprecedented situation, he adds it is also the first time the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament has advised that it is not within their legislative competence.

He adds that a substantial portion of the bill going through the Scottish Parliament is actually amendments which the SNP failed in adding to the Westminster Bill on Brexit.