House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Shadow exiting the EU secretary Sir Keir Starmer says "we need to be clear about what this amendment is and what it is not".

He says it is "not about" frustrating Brexit or undermining the government. He says it is important because this is the most significant peace-time process the UK has to take part.

He says that Mr Davis now wants to sideline Parliament when its voice "is most needed".

The minister would make statement in the event of no deal.

He says: "well I should think so," saying that Parliament would have a ministerial statement within 21 days, rather than the usual 28.

"The very idea that Parliament actually having a say prompts the usual cries," he says, frustrating Brexit, weaken the negotiating hand and Parliament micromanaging negotiations.

He says the sky "didn't fall in" when the government was previously required to publish documents on its negotiating objectives or impact assessments.

This is about "making sure there is a process", he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Exiting the EU Secretary David Davis says the UK Parliament has "considerably more powers" than European governments in agreeing the final outcome.

The UK intends to conclude negotiations later this year before bringing the agreements before the Commons and Lords.

He lays out the thinking behind the government motion, which alters Lord Hailsham's amendment, and he explains the differences between the two.

The government will make statements in the event that no agreements are made by January, he says.

The core disagreement comes from whether the motion on the government deal would be amendable.

But he says: "The Lords amendment undermines the strength of the United Kingdom in negotiations," saying, that in trying to head off a 'no deal' you make 'no deal' more likely.

The Lords amendment is an attempt to head off Brexit, he tells MPs.

Relatives call for a criminal inquiry into the "unforgivable" actions at the Gosport hospital.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons turns their attention to consideration of Lords amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill, made on Monday.

On Monday, the one amendment still insisted on by the Lords was from Conservative Viscount Hailsham. He is resolute in his view that Parliament must have a say on the final Brexit deal.

The government has laid its own amendment to this, and Dominic Grieve has tabled a manuscript amendment which would once again allow a meaningful vote on the final deal.

The government has also issued a statement which explains what it is trying to achieve with its amendment, explaining one of the key issues, the "neutral motion".

The Commons is going to be debating the government's motion, as well as Mr Grieve's and an amendment from Lib Dem Tom Brake.

What we do know is that if the government wins the vote, then the Lords will get the bill back at 7:30pm this evening for further consideration.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb, who has been campaigning on this issue, thanks the secretary of state for allowing this inquiry back in 2013, after trusting Mr Lamb's judgement on the issue.

He asks if Mr Hunt agrees that the UK should overcome the problem of different inquiries and inquests which prevents timely release of information. There needs to be a mechanism for families to complain, he adds.

Mr Hunt pays tribute to Norman Lamb says that "his instincts have been proved absolutely right" after not following advice from Department for Health staff.

"At the heart is this problem that we didn't listen to families early enough," he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The SNP's Martyn Day says "these are truly horrific events" and he says the inquiry has taken far longer than the original forecast of two years.

He says he "sincerely hopes" that this will be the beginning of justice for the families affected.

Mr Hunt says one of the big questions is where families should turn if they have concerns.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HOC

The Speaker has reminded the House that some of the MPs whose constituencies are most affected by the scandal at Gosport Hospital who will not be able to speak in this debate because of their positions on the government frontbench.He acknowledges their presence in the House.

Only backbenchers can ask questions after the minister's and shadow minister's statements.

The affected MPs are Caroline Dinenage for Gosport, Penny Mordaunt for Portsmouth North, Suella Braverman for Fareham and George Hollingbery for Meon Valley.

House of Commons
Parliament

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says he agrees with everything that has been said by the shadow health secretary.

The big question is not how this could have happened once, but "how it could have been allowed to go on for so long without being stopped", he says.

The poor treatment of whistleblowers and ignoring of families is "wrong", he adds.

He says he believes that the NHS is more "transparent and open," but he does not "by any means" "believe that we are there".

He asks if police forces are really getting the information they need to proceed with their investigations.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

That was quite an old fashoined PMQs, with a long exchange on the funding of the government’s new NHS pledge at its centre, and some effective interventions from the backbenches.

Theresa May seemed somehow more confident and less careworn, and came armed with some quotes from Jeremy Corbyn that seemed to show Labour making plans on how to spend a Brexit divident.

The Labour leader had his moments in these exchanges, but he blunted his initial attack with too many preliminary remarks before getting to the sharp part of his question.

He was a bit more agile in his responses than he sometimes is and dropped in some well prepared lines.

The key question of which taxes would be raised to meet the PM’s new spending commitment was fended off with a statement that the Chancellor was looking at that – quite a weak answer, which the PM sought to move past with a series of mocking attacks on Labour’s economic compentance.

And Mr Corbyn did not manage the laser-like focus he needed to press his attack.

I don’t think anyone “won” these exchanges, but both leaders got their attack lines on the record.

The PM actually looked rather more uncomfortable when the SNP’s Ian Blackford raised President Trump’s treatment of the children of immigrant families.

One sign of this was that she opened her reply with a slightly out of place jibe that it was good to see Mr Blackford in his place – a reference to his walkout last week.

She had a well prepared answer which also referenced her record as home secretary, but she was then on the receiving end of a really effective question from Labour’s Gavin Shuker who asked what President Trump had to do, to get his invitation to a state visit revoked.

Her questioners calculated that the PM is in no position to antagonise President Trump and that she would therefore be trapped into a weak-looking response.

She will have known this question was bound to come up and did her best to sound assertive – responding with a stronger line than before – but she was still left in an uncomfortable position.

Finally, armed with what, from her account, looks like an embarassing set of leaked emails about the handling of the railway timetable change, Labour’s Lisa Nandy held the House while she asked a long but very effective question, laden with mini-quotes and awkward facts.

The PM was clearly caught unawares and fell back on the standard defensive line that governments don’t respond to leaks. But this leak will play into commuter fury over the performance of the railways, and she gave it prime-time exposure.

So today’s winners are Lisa Nandy and Gavin Shuker.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth welcomes the tone of Jeremy Hunt's statement and, he too, pays tribute to Norman Lamb who has campaigned on this issue. He thanks those who took part in the report.

He says it is a "substantial" 400 page report which will take time to absorb.

He says the questions that remain on why concerns went unheeded, especially when the first junior nurse raised her worries in 1991. He asks why patients were handled in a way to limit damage against the organisation.

There are questions for Hampshire Constabulary, he adds, asking why 92 patient deaths were investigated without any prosecutions being brought.

"Families were too readily dismissed, it's shameful," he says.

He asks for reassurances that relevant authorities will investigate and take this further.

He asks what tighter lessons there are for medicines in the NHS.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt says there was a "catalogue of failures" from the Department of Health and the local authorities, police force and NHS.

He says he can "at least, apologise" for what happened and what the families have been through.

He says that had the establishment listened when junior staff and families spoke out, many deaths "would not have happened".

"It is a lonely place seeking answers that others wish you were not asking," he says.

He pays fulsome tribute to former health minister Norman Lamb, who has been campaigning on this issue both in and out of office.

The report took a "families first" approach, meaning that they got advance sight of the report before it was laid before Parliament this morning, he states.

He asks if there was an "institutional desire" to blame the issues "on one rogue doctor" for the sake of protecting institutional reputations.

He adds that the government has changed how it deals with deaths in hospitals, and he will come back to the Commons with a fuller response when more information is known.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is making a statement on deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

A previous investigation by the Department of Health found that, from 1988 - 2000, the use of powerful painkilling drugs, including morphine and diamorphine, had "almost certainly" shortened the lives of some patients.

Police previously investigated the deaths of 92 patients at the hospital.

No-one has ever been charged with a criminal offence.

The only person to face disciplinary action was Dr Jane Barton, who was found guilty of failings in her care of 12 patients at the hospital between 1996 and 1999.

House of Commons
Parliament

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband returns to the US border issue, saying it's been a chilling week for those that believe in values of tolerance and diversity, with a number of anti-immigrant and anti-refugee actions across Europe.

He says it's good Theresa May has condemned what's happening, but asks what she is going to proactively to defend these values. He asks how she will work with with our European allies to make clear to the rest of the world that these actions cannot continue.

Mrs May says the UK will continue to work with government across Europe on these issues and says the UK expects other countries to adhere to international law and commitments to human rights.

"As a government we oppose extremism in all forms... we believe in the fundamentals of liberty, of democracy, of respect for human rights."

"We will continue to work with others to ensure that it is those values that are pre-eminent in everything that we and they do."

House of Commons
Parliament

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is making a statement on deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

A previous investigation by the Department of Health found that, from 1988 - 2000, the use of powerful painkilling drugs, including morphine and diamorphine, had "almost certainly" shortened the lives of some patients.

Police previously investigated the deaths of 92 patients at the hospital.

No-one has ever been charged with a criminal offence.

The only person to face disciplinary action was Dr Jane Barton, who was found guilty of failings in her care of 12 patients at the hospital between 1996 and 1999.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb says that the report from the Gosport Hospital says it is unacceptable that there were 456 people who lost their lives as a result of inappropriate prescriptions.

He asks if the prime minister agrees that families are not ignored in this way. He asks for an independent inquiry to be carried out by another police force.

Mrs May says the events at Gosport Hospital were "tragic" and "deeply troubling". She adds that the issue of the public sector "closing ranks" over problems like this is something which needs to be dealt with.

She adds that Jeremy Hunt has done much work to increase transparency for patients across the NHS.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

DUP Westminster Leader Nigel Dodds raises Michel Barnier's suggestions yesterday the UK could not remain as part of the European Arrest Warrant, and suggests this would be a a 'boon' to terrorists.

He asks if the PM will make it clear that this approach is wrong.

The PM says the future security partnership is an important part of the deal being negotiated.

She says she recognises the importance of these elements for the working of police in Northern Ireland, and says she's absolutely clear that that security partnership is extremely important in negotiations.

House of Commons
Parliament

The DUP's Ian Paisley says that pharmacies are a "front door and shop window to the health service" and he says that advice being given to community pharmacies is to write to the Northern Ireland executive over funding problems.

The Northern Ireland executive is not currently functioning.

Mrs May says she recognises the value of community pharmacies. She adds that the Northern Ireland secretary will be willing to write to him on this matter.