House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Greg Hands, who resigned as a minister last week to enable him to vote against Heathrow expansion, says that "we all need to keep our election pledges".

He pledged to his constituents in Chelsea and Fulham that he would vote against a third runway. He asks for an update on Tory manifesto pledges to leave the single market, customs union and peruse an "independent trade policy".

Theresa May pays tribute to Greg Hands' ministerial work and says that the government aims to do "independent trade deals around the world" and leaving the customs union and single market will "enable us to do exactly that".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Mary Creagh asks if the PM will congratulate the foreign secretary for expressing what a hard Brexit will do to British jobs and businesses?

The PM replies that the government are pursuing a good deal for UK business, citizens and jobs. She says the deal will be good for both the UK and the EU.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

Labour's Afzal Khan asks a question about concerns about Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.

He asks if former minister Baroness Warsi is correct that the party is "in denial about Islamophobia in its ranks?"

Prime Minister Theresa May says Islamophobia is "wrong, there is no place for it in our society".

She says she brought in specific recording of anti-Muslim hate crime while home secretary.

She says the Conservative Party will "investigate any allegations" and "in some cases members have been suspended or expelled from the party as a result".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake tells the House that Wales has some of the poorest areas in Europe. He asks if the mid-Wales growth deal will go the same way as the Swansea Bay lagoon development or is Wales "not worth the investment?"

Theresa May says she has signed the Swansea City Deal, the Cardiff City Deal and the North Wales Deal. The government are in discussion over the Mid-Wales Deal, she says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour Plymouth MP Luke Pollard asks about whether she will meet with him to discuss plans to extend civil decommissioning at certain ports for old Royal Navy submarines.

He points out that 13 old nuclear submarines are currently in Devonport, with a further seven in Rosyth, leaving "little room" for ones that are due to come out of service soon.

Theresa May says the government takes the safe disposal of submarines "very seriously".

There is capacity to support the decommissioning of all current Trafalgar class submarines at Devonport, she says.

She promises to respond to him on the matter "in due course".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

The SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford also raises warnings on Brexit from business this week. He says the government has "completely failed to listen to business" and asks why 186,000 car manufacturing jobs are considered "disposable".

Theresa May says the government is "consistently listening to business" and cites the implementation period and the government's aim of frictionless trade as issues that they have listened on.

She says business also agrees with her vision of a "global Britain" signing trade deals around the world.

Ian Blackford says the PM has "failed to answer the question" which he says is typical of a "government that refuses to listen".

He asks if there is any analysis of what would happen if the UK stayed in the single market

Theresa May says the UK is still the preferred country for foreign direct investment, more jobs are being created and the country recently attracted £2.3bn investment from the tech industry, adding that "there are more examples I can give him".

She then suggests that the SNP should listen to Scottish business, who she says have a very clear message: "stay in the United Kingdom"

House of Commons
Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn uses his final question to accuse Theresa May of "putting jobs at risk" by refusing to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

He adds that whilst a no-deal would threaten jobs in manufacturing, but not those of the "warring egos" in the Cabinet.

"No deal is a bad deal," he adds.

In reply, Theresa May recounts a long list of what she sees as government achievements, including cuts to stamp duty, backing expansion of Heathrow and low rates of unemployment.

It will be a "Britain fit for the future" that will leave the EU next year, she tells MPs.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

Jeremy Corbyn says Labour's priority is defending jobs. He tells the House the Cabinet is split in two over a customs union with the EU.

He asks if the Leader of House speaks for the government when she said a customs partnership looked "quite bureaucratic".

The PM replies that the government is looking at both options for frictionless trade.

She says the government will negotiate trade deals across the world. She says that every Labour government leaves office with more people out of work than when they started.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

In between some effective knockabout on the government’s Brexit woes, and their consequences for jobs, Jeremy Corbyn is sounding more and more committed to some kind of “seamless” customs union arrangement with the EU.….

Interesting.

House of Commons
Parliament

For this fourth question, Jeremy Corbyn says that "even Brexiteers...are concerned about their own financial interests".

He says Jacob Rees-Mogg's hedge fund is relocating to the Eurozone as a result of Brexit before quoting from a letter sent to him by a worker at Honda in Swindon.

The worker, called Andrew, apparently says he's "seen nothing that gives me confidence" that there will be a trade agreement that gives seamless access to Europe.

Mr Corbyn asks if the government will "listen to workers" and "secure and agreement that safeguards jobs".

Theresa May says that jobs are "at the heart of what we are doing" on both Brexit and industrial strategy. She says the Conservatives will deliver a Brexit that is "good for our economy, good for jobs, good for people up and down this country".

She then says that many have accused Mr Corbyn of being a "Brexiteer himself" and wonders why, if that's true, Labour is "trying to frustrate Brexit".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HOC

Jeremy Corbyn replies that Boris Johnson didn't back the new runway at Heathrow either - but jokes that he did his bit for the aviation industry by flying to Afghanistan on the day of the vote.

The threat to walk away from Brexit talks is "not threatening" the EU, he adds, but only threatens jobs in the UK.

He asks how many firms are privately warning the prime minister about the consequences of a no-deal Brexit in the way that BMW and Airbus have recently done in public.

Theresa May replies that the government is "listening to business" and wants to deliver a customs arrangement with the EU to keep trade "as frictionless trade as possible".

In contrast, she paints Labour's economic policies as a "plan to break Britain".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

The leader of the Opposition tells the House that the PM has give thumbs down to the foreign secretary.

Jeremy Corbyn asks the prime minister to reassure thousands of workers from Airbus to take the "phony threat" of a no deal off the table.

The prime minister asks if the leader of the Opposition is concerned about Brexit, then why did he not back the Heathrow expansion.

She tells MPs she agrees with the secretary general of Unite that she it will keep the UK as a "world leader" in the industry.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Jeremy Corbyn zeros in on the government’s visible divisions.

The Cabinet choreography is interesting here; no Boris Johnson on the frontbench, but Business Secretary Greg Clark is in shot as the prime minister “backs business” doing a bit of sage nodding.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, hoc

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn uses his first question to ask about Brexit.

He raises comments made by Boris Johnson about the business community following Brexit warnings by Airbus and others.

Mr Corbyn says Mr Johnson used an "Anglo-Saxon term to make his point" and asks if the PM agrees.

Theresa May says "this party and this government has always been a party that backs business and will continue to back business".

She says Mr Corbyn has to ask himself if he wants to "back business or wants to overthrow capitalism - he can't do both".