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The Speaker, John Bercow, says he speaks for people on both sides of this matter, when he says a decision on this must come forward.

He says there is a danger of "endless procrastination".

He says he would be happy to facilitate requests for proxy voting, and the matter of baby leave is "qualitatively" different to all other requests for leave.

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Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael thanks Ms Leadsom for her apology.

He says that he was assured yesterday that Conservative Brandon Lewis would not vote in the matter, and had not voted earlier in the day.

"This is a very serious breach of the conventions" as MPs "rely on these agreements being honoured", he says.

He says that pairing is a "19th century practice" trying to cover for "21st century employment law" on baby leave.

He asks for a clear solution to the problem.

Ms Leadsom says she "completely" agrees with him on this issue being resolved. She says there are many things to be considered on proxy voting, as to whether or not it should take place just for baby leave or for any type of leave.

There are also questions on if this should take place for war votes, for instance, she adds.

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Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael asks a question on maternity leave and proxy voting.

Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom says that the situation which happened yseterday was "not good enough" and was done "entirely in error" and "will not be repeated".

She says apologies have been made to Jo Swinson.

Any MP who wishes to vote in a division can request a pair from the whips office, she states.

"I'm really sorry that there was an error made yesterday," she says.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

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With more sub-plots than Game of Thrones, if not similar amounts of gore, today’s PMQs had all the ingredients of a classic, but its two main players rarely hint at a Bafa winning performance, and didn’t rise to the occasion here.

Jeremy Corbyn has tended to open recent exchanges with a well-crafted jibe, and has become progressively better at following them up - but this time he was hampered by an Iain Duncan Smith style frog which took up residence in his throat, and by phrasing his questions in ways which allowed the PM to dispute his facts and accuse him of unfair allegations against her ministers.

This was an England-Panama situation and after the brutal week the PM has endured, he rather needed a 6-0 result which would have sent the Tories slouching out of the Chamber muttering pensively about their leader; they didn’t.

In fact the PM seemed more relaxed than usual, and while her answers remained carefully formulaic, she allowed herself to counter-attack a bit – although her pre-canned jokes seemed a bit flat.

Both Jeremy Corbyn and the SNP’s Ian Blackford got their own attack lines in, but they didn’t seriously discomfit her.

Perhaps the most effective attack came from the Conservative backbench brexiteer, Andrea Jenkyns, who threw the PM’s Brexit Mean Brexit line back at her with the question “at what point was it decided that Brexit means Remain”.

That hurt, and provoked a rather snarling response from the PM, and the follow ups from former Brexit Secretary David Davis and his erstwhile deputy Steve Baker made it clear that the backbench Brexiteer faction is not letting up.

The government needs to beware of those two: “DD” proved a formidable and forensic backbench operator, forcing a couple of Labour ministers to resign, in his days in Opposition; Steve Baker was the key organiser of the backbench Brexit faction in the Coalition years, acting as the key strategist and unofficial whip in the manoeuvres which cornered David Cameron into conceding a referendum on the EU in the first place.

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As it turned out the real star of the show was the senior backbencher Keith Simpson, whose mocking swipe at Boris Johnson, wrapped in a disobliging comparison to Donald Trump, may provide a foretaste of what is to come, when the former foreign secretary makes his resignation statement later in the afternoon.

Normal constraints of courtesy between colleagues and party solidarity have been cast aside by all the factions – and this looked very like an early pre-emptive strike.

Resignation statements are normally heard in silence, but can be accompanied by a dumb-show. Word reaches me that once Mr Johnson had reserved his chosen spot in the Chamber with a “prayer card” government loyalists immediately tried to secure nearby seats, so that they could be seen in TV shot around him, shaking their heads and looking disapproving. It clearly wasn’t a wholly successful effort because he spent PMQs surrounded by a praetorian guard of Brexit stalwarts, but the game is clearly afoot.

When it comes, his statement will be quite a test for Mr Johnson – who, for all his TV expertise, has never really excelled in the very specialised environment of the Commons Chamber – and a moment like Mr Simpson’s attack could be rather destabilising.

The optics matter a lot here - PM is due before the troops in the 1922 Committee this evening - will she or her former foreign secretary be the one with a spring in their step by then?

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Former shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Smith says that there needs to be dialogue between both sides, and he states that the vacuum in Stormont is partially responsible for this.

Ms Bradley says there can be "no excuse" for what took place, but dialogue is needed.

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The DUP's Gregory Campbell asks the secretary of state to visit his constituency of East Londonderry as a matter of urgency because of this violence.

Ms Bradley says she has received his written invitation to visit.

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The SNP's Gavin Newlands asks why it has taken an urgent question for the House to hear about this, and he asks if the "vacuum in leadership" in Stormont has led to this current state of affairs.

Ms Bradley says that the comments from the Commons will send a strong message to Northern Ireland on this.

"The answer to this is to have devolved government in Northern Ireland," she states.

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Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd says he shares her views on best wishes for the police service in Northern Ireland.

What took place "was unacceptable", he says. He adds that no-one should overdramatise, but people shouldn't ignore what is taking place.

"There is now an obligation of leadership" from Arlene Foster (DUP leader) and Michelle O'Neill (Sinn Fein leader), but as well as from the UK government, he adds.

The PSNI is under-resourced, he adds.

Ms Bradley says she is "not complacent here" and has tried to work together with community groups on this matter.

She agrees that the situation on the streets was "unacceptable".

She adds that she agrees that the devolved government in Northern Ireland needs to be reconstituted to make decisions for the region.

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Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Tony Lloyd asks an urgent question on violence in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley pays tribute to those who serve in the police service in Northern Ireland. She says that in recent weeks, some of them have come under attack while doing their jobs.

On 12 July she was in Northern Ireland for a briefing on the situation, she says. Last week in Belfast and and South Down, there was an order to stop a bonfire, which led to disorder on the streets, she states.

There was unrelated disorder in Londonderry, she adds.

Every effort is being made to find the people perpetrating these crimes, she adds.

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The SNP's transport spokesperson Alan Brown says that the handling of GTR makes "Brexit looks like an organised process".

He asks what actions the government has been taking to "sort out this mess", and he asks if Govia are still in the running for the South Eastern franchise.

Jo Johnson says it is the "top priority" of the government to make sure this problem is resolved. The rail industry is in both public and private hands, he states, and it is important that both pay their parts in the compensation, he states.

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Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald asks what the company has to do in order to be stripped of its contract.

Govia underestimated the problems on their timetables by a factor of ten, he states, and he says there is no need to wait for the result of the review, as it is obvious what has happened, he adds.

He asks if GTR are in breach of their contractual obligations to the Department for Transport, and he asks who will be funding this compensation scheme for passengers, if it's taxpayers or the company itself.

Mr Johnson says that the department will establish that during their review. He adds that the compensation will be "predominantly funded" by the company itself.

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Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald has tabled an urgent question on the Govia Thameslink franchise.

Transport Minister Jo Johnson says that the transport secretary is in agreement that the new timetables are not acceptable. The department is "watching performance carefully" and some passengers are seeing more trains, and a significant reduction in on the day cancellations.

"The department is closely monitoring for sustained performance improvements," he states, adding that the department is making sure that passengers get compensation.

A claims portal will be opened on their website for affected passengers if they have not been offered refunds shortly, he says.

The department has commissioned two reviews into what went wrong with the May timetable, he states.

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Mother of the House, Labour MP Harriet Harman says "pairing is not the answer for MPs having babies" and requests permission for MPs to vote on proxy voting.

Mrs May says the breaking of last night's pair was done in error.

"We take pairing very seriously," she says, adding that government wants to facilitate parental leave but wants to ensure that there is a proper consultation on the issue of proxy voting.

"We are looking at the interests of individuals but also at the interests of the whole House."

(Pairing is when an MP who is absent from the House for a vote is matched with an MP on the opposite side of the debate, so their votes are recognised.)

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Labour MP Naz Shah asks the prime minister whether she will "reiterate" her commitment to eliminate violence against women and girls.

The International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Honour Abuse will take place this weekend, she points out.

Theresa May says the government has made an "absolute commitment" to fight violence against women.

Honour violence is an "appalling crime", she adds.

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Conservative Anna Soubry congratulates Sir Cliff Richard in his legal action against the BBC.

She asks for the prime minister to look into changing the law so that a suspect is not named by the media, except in exceptional cases, which is something which has widespread support.

"Sir Cliff is not alone" in this, she states.

Mrs May says this is "a very important issue" and relates to many people. She adds that the issue was looked at by her when she was home secretary, and there are cases where naming an individual encourages others to come forward, she states.

"The media need to recognise their responsibilities," she says.