House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative former leader Lord Howard of Lympne speaks against the amendment, observing that while it may not be intended to "thwart the will of the people" that would be its "perilous outcome".

He says it creates the potential for the Lords to block Brexit, and "if that would not provide a constitutional crisis I do not know what will".

"It's thoroughly misconceived and demonstrates the appalling lengths to which die-hard Remainers are prepared to go to achieve their ends," he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Press Association

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey is asking the government for a statement on the proposed merger between Sainsbury's and Asda.

The announcement came on Saturday morning, when the two supermarkets announced they were in "advanced" talks.

Former business secretary and Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Vince Cable, has said that the deal "must be investigated" by the Competition and Markets Authority.

The two supermarkets would allow the merger to leapfrog the largest supermarket in terms of market share, Tesco.

The BBC Business Editor, Simon Jack, has published his analysis in the form of five big questions for the merger.

You can read more from the BBC on this, here.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Peers now return to report stage debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill, external, which 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.

Conservative Viscount Hailsham is introducing an amendment allowing Parliament to determine the government’s course of action if the final Brexit deal is rejected by MPs or is not finalised by 28 February 2019.

He warns that without this, Parliament's view will be of "remarkably little significance" and the government would be conducting itself like "an elected dictatorship".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

UKIP's Lord Pearson of Rannoch asks about figures from the Office for National Statistics "showing that the Muslim population of England grew 10 times faster than the general population between 2001 and 2016".

He says "good Muslims must follow Mohammed and impose sharia law on their hosts" and working-class Brits are concerned about the "Islamification" of the UK as evidenced by Muslim-majority local authorities.

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford says the government has made no assessment of this or any other faith group and sharia law has no jurisdiction in the UK.

She adds his comments are "not for this House".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Jeff Smith asks what assessment has been made of the financial sustainability of local authorities in 2018-19.

Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak says local government will have access "to over £45bn in core spending power this financial year", and he says local authorities estimate they will keep £2.4bn in business rates growth.

Mr Smith says Mr Brokenshire will "have to do better than his predecessor" as councils are in "crisis mode" and "raiding reserves" for normal functioning of their services.

Mr Sunak says that Manchester received £30m for housing infrastructure funds and £30m for adult social care, as well as £20m from business rates in the Manchester area.

Dominic Casciani
Home Affairs Correspondent

Last month there was a bit of a hoo-ha when Sajid Javid, speaking in Parliament, called the Labour group Momentum “hard left neo-fascist”., external

Today there’s a rumour going around on social media that the new home secretary could ban the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.

That is not remotely true.

The only groups Mr Javid can ban under terrorism legislation are... those involved in terrorism, which means violence, or its encouragement, for an ideological end.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne says that Tory Northamptonshire Council is "effectively insolvent" and Worcestershire Council is now reporting similar problems. He asks if the secretary of state will demand "the funding that our councils, all our councils, desperately need".

Mr Brokenshire says that his father was the former chief executive of a local council, and says that he hopes Mr Gwynne will welcome the additional core funding available to councils from the government.

He adds the current green paper on social care will allow further debate on the long-term funding for social care.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

In the Lords, Labour's Baroness Lister of Burtersett asks about the impact of the benefit cap on child and family wellbeing since that cap was lowered in 2016–17.

She says in the case of its application to lone parents of infants it is causing, in the words of a High Court judge, "real misery".

She asks what is achieved by imposing it.

Work and Pensions Minister Baroness Buscombe responds "I would not call it imposing - I would call it empowering."

She defends it as a "strong financial incentive for those who can work" and argues supporting parents into work is the best way to tackle child poverty.

Under further questioning from Labour, she tells peers it's not something the government is going to consider any further.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative Jeremy Lefroy asks what is being done to ensure fairness in the allocation of funding to local government.

Mr Brokenshire says the department is undertaking a "fair funding review" to address "concerns" of the current funding formula.

Mr Lefroy asks Mr Brokenshire to look at business rate retention, which he believes would provide a short term answer to the current problems faced by his constituency.

Mr Brokenshire says the prospectus for business rates retention is open to all local authorities, meaning that considerations for future pilots can only be made once all applications have been received.

He adds that he will look carefully at this once all applications have been received.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse asks why the department underspent on affordable housing schemes in 2017-18.

James Brokenshire says the affordable homes programme is "bid-led" and spending may vary from the budget as it is based on the number of bids received.

Ms Hobhouse replies that £800m was sent back from the department to the Treasury, and she asks the new secretary of state to get on with building new council homes.

Mr Brokenshire says the department built 41,000 affordable homes in 2016/17, and he says he hopes to continue the work of his predecessor in this area.

House of Lords
Parliament

After question time, peers return to report stage debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill, external, which 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 first big vote will be around 4pm, on an amendment proposed by Conservative Viscount Hailsham, allowing Parliament to determine the government’s course of action if the final Brexit deal is rejected by MPs or is not finalised by 28 February 2019.

Other major amendments cover parliamentary approval for the government's phase two negotiating mandate, and the rights of child refugees stranded in Europe who have family in the UK.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons kicks off at 2.30pm today with Housing, Communities and Local Government questions being asked to the newly appointed secretary of state, James Brokenshire, and his team of ministers.

At 3.30pm, there's the first of two urgent questions.

First is on the planned merger between Sainsbury's and Asda, announced on Saturday morning. The second is on the Windrush immigration row.

At around 5.15pm, we can expect a statement from the government on Syria.

The Commons will then move to debate the remaining stages of the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, external. This will then be followed by committee stage and subsequent stages of the Laser Misuse (Vehicles) Bill, external.

Welcome to our coverage of what promises to be another busy week in Westminster.

With the fall-out from the resignation of former home secretary Amber Rudd to deal with; and a big day in the House of Lords as debate at report stage for the EU Withdrawal Bill continues, today promises to be full of drama.

Thanks for joining us...