Select Committee
Parliament

• Stephen Twigg (Chair) - Labour (Co-op)
• Richard BurdenLabour
• Nigel Evans - Conservative
• Mrs Pauline Latham - Conservative
• Chris Law - Scottish National Party
• Ivan Lewis - Independent
• Mark Menzies - Conservative
• Lloyd Russell-Moyle - Labour (Co-op)
• Paul Scully - Conservative
• Virendra Sharma - Labour
• Henry Smith - Conservative

You can read more about the committee and its work here, external.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, AFP/Getty

This morning sees the International Development Committee take evidence from development stakeholders and the government on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The committee is considering how the Department for International Development (DFID) can progress short, medium and long term aims in the Palestinian territory, which has one of the highest population densities in the world and is under blockade by Israel.

Earlier this year, the United Nations warned of a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza that put the area at risk of collapse. The ongoing blockade, in place for over 10 years, has restricted access to food, water, electricity, and other basic commodities.

Conflict has once again broken out between Palestinians and the Israelis in recent months, with more than 125 Palestinians killed since protests began at the Gaza-Israeli border on 30 March.

Israel has been criticised for using "wholly disproportionate" force in response to the protests; but Israel points the blame at Iran, who they argue have fuelled the violence.

The committee will hear evidence from:

At 10.00am:

• Rachel Evers - Director of Legal Affairs, UN Relief and Works Agency
• Jamie McGoldrick - Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
• Aimee Shalan - Chief Executive, Medical Aid for Palestinians

At 10.45am:

• Alistair Burt MP - Minister of State for International Development and Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

You can read more about life in the Gaza Strip here and more about the UK government's work in the Occupied Palestinian Territories here, external.

Welcome to our coverage of the day in Westminster.

We're kicking off this morning with coverage of the International Development Committee - which is investigating the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

As well as representatives from NGOs, MPs will be questioning Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt.

Peers send the Brexit bill back to the House of Commons after backing a greater role for Parliament.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HOL

The Lords have sent one amendment in the EU Withdrawal Bill back to the Commons again, on Parliament having a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal.

MPs will vote on Wednesday on how much of a say Parliament should have on Brexit after the House of Lords defeat for the government.

Peers decided MPs should have to approve whatever the government decided to do next if there was no final agreement with the EU.

Their amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill was backed by 354 votes to 235.

Moving the amendment, Viscount Hailsham said it merely replicated what Dominic Grieve thought he had agreed to after discussions with the Solicitor General last week.

Viscount Hailsham also said Mr Grieve was deeply disappointed on Thursday afternoon when the government published their own documents on a meaningful vote.

But on other issues, the Lords agreed with the Commons' rejections and amendments in lieu in other parts of the bill, from the exit date, to scrutiny and Northern Ireland.

House of Commons
Parliament

The votes are in and the results are 88 in favour, and 51 voting against, on a motion that the House has considered the Sewel Convention.

That brings our live coverage of today's events in the Commons to an end.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are voting on the SNP's motion now, as the debate comes to an end.

House of Commons
Parliament

Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine says the debate has been disappointing because it has demonstrated the problems that "got us here in the first place".

"What I and my party would like to see is the opportunity to create...a dispute resolution procedure," she says.

"Can we abandon the positions and get on with finding a solution?"

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington says that Lord Sewel himself has said there has been no power grab, and there is no constitutional crisis.

He says that Clause 11 of the EU Withdrawal Bill was strongly criticised for bringing powers back to Westminster from Brussels - and he says the government listened to the criticisms and reversed the proposals.

One criticism was that too many powers were covered by the freezing power - and the government altered the bill so that only 24 out of 153 were covered; plus the government introduced a sunset clause to ensure that power was time limited, he adds.

There is also a binding political agreement to apply the Sewel Convention, he says.

I regret very much that the Scottish government and Parliament did not agree in the same way the Welsh government and assembly did, he says.

Image source, hoc

Labour's Lesley Laird, the shadow Scotland secretary, says the debate concerns the future of the Scottish devolution settlement and the future of the UK - and, like many others, she criticises David Mundell for not responding to the debate.

She says that last week the Conservatives took the EU Withdrawal Bill process to a "new level of farce", after there was no debate on devolution issues.

Labour has played a constructive role, by talking to both governments, she says.

It's time to bring in new thinking, with experts on law and the constitution, as well as voices from industry and business, she says. "The government has clearly run out of ideas," she says.

And she too calls for the resignation or dismissal of David Mundell.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts calls the EU Withdrawal Bill "shock tactic, a vortex of centralisation".

She says, thanks to "mission creep", Wales will lose more powers than Scotland. Wales will lose its power to protect its economy she says, because the Conservatives will impose its free-market ideology.

Governing the UK "should not be a case of one country asset stripping" another, she says.

She accuses Labour of being complicit in the power grab, by forcing so many divisions last week that devolution was not debated.

The Westminster parties will always consider Wales an "adjunct," she says, adding the Brexit process reinforces the case for full Welsh independence.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Ross Thomson says there "is no power grab" because the powers were never held in Scotland but in Brussels.

He says the SNP does not want those powers but would rather give them back to the EU.

He says leaving the EU will in fact see the Scottish Parliament gain powers.

The SNP's calls for David Mundell, the Scotland Secretary, to resign are a "broken record", he says, and he calls for some in the SNP to consider their positions instead.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP MP Brendan O'Hara says the Conservatives have never supported devolution to Scotland.

They are using Brexit to reverse 10 years of devolution, he says, and says he does not trust the Conservatives to honour their promise to hand powers back after seven years.

This is "Scotland against the Tories", he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Colin Clark agrees with cries that "Scotland is watching", saying Scottish people are watching the SNP ignore both the independence and EU referendums.

"The SNP are acting as a fifth column," he says, asking "where is the power grab?"

He says the SNP's opposition to the EU Withdrawal Bill is about Scottish independence rather than any other principle, and they will alienate their constituents.

He says the SNP's actions put Scottish influence on the Brexit process at risk.

He comes in for much jeering as, when asked why he does not accept the SNP's disagreement, he suggests that the SNP refuses to accept the "no" result of the 2014 independent referendum.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Ian Murray of Edinburgh South says the SNP was part of the problem it now complains about.

He says the SNP supported the programme motion and thus allowed voting time for the previous debate to eat in to debating time on devolution issues.

He says it is "misinformation" on the SNP's behalf to suggest that powers are going to be taken from the Scottish Parliament via the EU Withdrawal Bill.

It is simply "politically expedient" for the SNP and Conservatives to be seen to disagree, he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Alister Jack says time ran out on the devolution debate during last week's EU debate because Labour forced votes on every single amendment from the previous session.

He says the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is determined not to have an agreement with the UK government on Brexit as this would help her in her bid for a "divisive" second Scottish independence referendum.

He adds she wants to take powers from the UK government and "hand them straight back to Brussels".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town says she thinks the work for these sifting committees will be "just starting".

Leader of the Lords Baroness Evans of Bowes Park says she hopes that scrutiny of these Statutory Instruments will happen as soon as the committees are set up.

"We will certainly be working together" to get the "functioning statute book we want", she finishes.

Motion R passes without division.

With that, scrutiny of the Commons amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill ends for today and the Lords adjourns.

House of Commons
Parliament

Ian Blackford calls Scottish Conservative MPs "Theresa May's poodles" for allowing the devolution elements of the EU Withdrawal Bill to pass with no debate.

A member of his party intervenes to declare that politics is now "Scotland verses the Tories".

House of Lords
Parliament

Leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, is moving Motion R to agree with the Commons in their disagreement on sifting for secondary legislation and scrutiny.

She says there has been concerns that ministers might ignore the sifting committees, but "there is likely to be a political cost" to go against a sifting committee recommendation.

The government have always expected to have to explain themselves, she adds.

She hopes Lords do not think this is not a commitment that ministers would seek to shy away from, she states.