House of Commons
Parliament

The sitting is suspended by the Speaker while the Brexit white paper is distributed to MPs.

Image source, HoC

Image source, HoC

House of Commons
Parliament

Following those points of order, the Speaker suspends the sitting of the House as MPs distribute copies of the white paper.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Exiting the EU Secretary Dominic Raab pays tribute to David Davis for his "Herculean" efforts on Brexit so far.

He says the white paper is a "new and detailed proposal" for a "principled, pragmatic and ambitious" relationship between the UK and the EU.

The government is "committed" to forging a new relationship between the EU and the UK, which will be outside the single market and the customs union.

The government's proposals on services provide "regulatory flexibility" for the sector.

Free movement of people will come to an end, he says.

John Bercow interrupts his speech to say that the Commons are unhappy that the white paper has not yet been made available. Mr Raab replies to say that the paper will be made available "as soon as is practicably possible," to more shouts from the Commons.

The Commons is suspended for five minutes, to give MPs time to read the white paper as it is being handed out.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Getty Images

Exiting the EU Secretary Dominic Raab is giving a statement to the Commons on the Brexit white paper being published today.

The white paper outlines the government's views on how Brexit should be carried out.

In May, the government promised that this white paper would be 'significant'.

The previous white paper, external was published in February 2017.

House of Commons
Parliament

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The SNP's Commons business spokesperson Pete Wishart says that the Brexit white paper is the "last chance" to unite the "shambolic" government. He says that the SNP received the white paper at 11:53am.

He says that the prime minister is "but one more resignation away from a leadership challenge".

Ms Leadsom says that there will be an opportunity to ask the Brexit Secretary about the white paper shortly, and also next week.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom says the government "has a good record in providing opposition days" and adds she is happy "to consider" any requests.

She says there will be debates on free trade next week, as well as Home Office questions on Monday.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Lexden asks what assessment the government has made of the contribution of Home Office funding to Operation Conifer, looking into alleged historical abuse in Westminster, conducted by Wiltshire Police.

Baroness Williams of Trafford says the costs of the operation have been reviewed and found to be reasonable.

Lord Lexden asks what is being done about the anonymous source who made the allegations of historical sexual abuse by MPs. These allegations were later deemed baseless. Lord Lexden asks why the government has not set up a public inquiry.

Baroness Williams says the police operation is separate from government.

She says she cannot comment on individual cases and the man, known as Nick, who made the allegations would normally be afforded lifelong anonymity due to the sexual nature of the claims, but that a decision on this will have to be taken if he goes through a criminal case.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow leader of the House Valerie Vaz she is "apoplectic" with rage over the fact that the Brexit white paper was given to the press this morning at 9am under embargo, but will be published for MPs at 1pm, meaning that for the following statement, Parliamentarians will not have seen the paper beforehand.

She calls the new Brexit secretary "authoritarian and cynical".

She says that Labour have lost an Opposition Day debate on the following Wednesday due to the adjournment on Tuesday 24 July.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom, is outlining future business in the Commons.

Highlights include:

• Monday: Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill, external
• Tuesday:Trade Bill, external
• Wednesday: Lords amendments to Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, external
• Thursday: debate on independent complaints and grievance policy for Parliamentary staff, and debate on the Tobacco Control Plan, external

House of Lords
Parliament

For the next question, Baroness Deech asks the government what plans it has to review the 10 year limit on the storage of frozen eggs.

Baroness Manzoor, the government's spokesperson, says there is no clear consensus on what the limit should be, but if such a consensus emerged, the government would review the legislation.

Labour's Lord Winston declares an interest in light of his chairmanship of a research group on the subject. He emphasises that the overall success rate of births from a frozen egg is less than 1%, and asks what the government is doing to regulate clinics advertising rates of 40%.

The minister says success rates depend on a variety of factors, such as age of the mother.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Chair of the Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper says that police funds are stretched, but "short term emergency funding" does not solve the underlying problems.

She says that it is not possible to recruit new officers just to cover short term incidents.

She asks what is being done for short and long term funding for policing.

Mr Hurd says that he believes there needs to be room for short term funding. The government has a police funding settlement for 2019-2020 which will be made available to see in December. The government is currently consulting police chiefs on it, he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lords questions begins with a question from Labour's Baroness Massey of Darwen, who asks how many children's Sure Start centres have been closed in the last two years and what is being done to maintain the benefits the centres have for young people's life chances.

Education Minister Lord Agnew of Oulton says 142 centres have closed since July 2016 but the government is spending a record £6bn on early years support.

Baroness Massey says over 1,000 centres have closed since 2009, and says inspections have declined. She asks if the government is still committed to early years education.

Lord Agnew says inspections still investigate concerns. He says more disadvantaged children are getting 15 hours of free childcare a week.

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Parliament

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The SNP's Drew Hendry says the government should be focusing on President Trump's "abysmal record" on human rights, women and minorities.

He makes reference to concern that Scotland's national police force could have been left with a £5m bill before the Treasury stepped in to cover the policing costs of the visit.

Policing Minister Nick Hurd says he understands the matter has now been resolved.

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Parliament

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Shadow policing minister Louise Haigh says that the government has drafted police officers from elsewhere in the UK, at a time when Yorkshire police are also dealing with an EDL march this weekend.

She says it is "simply dangerous" to ask officers to do "more and more". She adds that there will be five toilets between 300 officers at one Essex overnight stay, and for some it is unclear if they will receive an overnight allowance for travelling to London.

Mr Hurd says that concerns are being "managed" after being raised by Essex Police.

He says the number of police officers required for this operation "has fallen significantly in the last two weeks".

He adds that the police "are very stretched" and do deserve "additional support" which is why there is more money going to them under the new funding settlement.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Home Office Minister Nick Hurd says that the Metropolitan Police have developed "robust plans" for police forces across the UK while Donald Trump visits.

"The police are aware of a number of protests across the country and will be working to manage these," he says, adding that there are "proportionate policing plans" are in effect for the large protests tomorrow in central London.

The government will consider any requests for special branch funding through the normal processes, he states.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadowing policing minister Louise Haigh is asking an urgent question on policing during the visit of the US President, Donald Trump.

The President is visiting just days after he said the UK was in "turmoil" after the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson.

Mr Trump arrives in the UK this afternoon for a two day working visit.

Mrs May has said that the visit is an opportunity to boost security co-operation and to discuss trade links.