Summary

  • Minister resigns over 'delays' to maximum stake for fixed-odds betting machines

  • MPs debated an urgent question on the matter this morning

  • MPs concluded debate on 2018 Budget during afternoon

  • They later approved series of motions authorising government spending plans

  • Legislation implementing Budget expected to be published next week

  • Lords debated social mobility and problem gambling

  1. Tory MP opposes Tobacco Billpublished at 13:02 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Ten Minute Rule Bill

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Philip DaviesImage source, HoC

    Speaking to oppose Sir Kevin's bill, Tory MP Philip Davies says the points it raises are "unwelcome or largely not necessary".

    He says the tax has already been increased, with tax now making up more than 90% of the price of tobacco.

    "If the government was capable getting any more money out of the tobacco companies, it already would have done so", he says.

    He says Sir Kevin "keeps banging the drum", referencing the repeated attempts to change the law, "but perhaps it's time to change the tune."

    The bill proceeds to its next stage without a division. However it is unlikely to progress further without government support.

  2. Labour MP bids to make tobacco companies help smokers quitpublished at 12:59 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Ten Minute Rule Bill

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Sir Kevin BarronImage source, HoC

    Labour's Sir Kevin Barron is now tabling his Tobacco Bill as a ten minute rule motion.

    The bill would require the government consider requiring tobacco companies to meet the costs of stop smoking services, and create an offence of selling tobacco without a licence.

    Sir Kevin says the UK "still has 7.6 million smokers, which means more than 200 people a day still die from smoking-related incidents".

    He says the tobacco companies "have made a fortune" in the UK, but services helping people to quit smoking have seen cuts.

    "They have got this country in this mess and they must get us out of it", he says.

  3. UK 'will continue to work' with Brazil after Bolsonaro electionpublished at 12:50 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Foreign Office Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Mark FieldImage source, HoC

    Labour's Jeff Smith raises the election of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil and asks how the government will approach the future relationship with the country as a result.

    Minister Mark Field says the Brazilian president has been democratically elected, and as such the UK will continue to work with the country.

    He adds: "our view on racism, homophobia is clear. It will never be acceptable".

    "We will not shy away when we disagree with other governments, including our closest allies".

  4. Hunt: Reports of China's Uighur camps 'broadly accurate'published at 12:49 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    MPs move onto topical questions to foreign office ministers.

    Conservative Steve Baker asks what the government makes of "extremely alarming" reports that China has constructed "internment camps" for Muslim Uighurs.

    Jeremy Hunt says ministers have looked at the reports "with a lot of concern", whilst British diplomats who have visited China's western Xinjiang region "concur that those reports are broadly accurate".

    Following a second question from Conservative Richard Graham, the foreign secretary says "this is an issue of very great concern" and that government may raise it in Geneva in human rights talks.

  5. Hunt 'doubles down' on EU-Soviet remarkspublished at 12:42 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor tweets:

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  6. Hunt: I stand by EU-Soviet Union comparisonpublished at 12:42 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Foreign Office Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Jeremy HuntImage source, HoC

    Shadow foreign affairs minister Khalid Mahmood asks if the foreign secretary apologised to European foreign ministers during a recent meeting about likening the EU to the Soviet Union earlier this month.

    Mr Hunt replies: "I stand by exactly what I said, which was that a club of free countries that was set up in part to stand against the Soviet Union and totalitarianism should not, in a way that is inconsistent with their values, seek to punish someone who wishes to leave".

    SNP MP Stephen Gethins says he is "going to give him another opportunity", to apologise to those who were "deeply offended" by his recent comments.

    Mr Hunt says "those states agree with what I'm saying", adding that former Soviet countries have been "amongst our strongest supporters" in he Brexit process.

    Mr Gethins says Lithuania's EU commissioner, who was "born in a gulag", has offered Jeremy Hunt "a history lesson", and asks whether he will take up the offer.

    Jeremy Hunt says he "will happily send him a copy of my speech...what he will see is that I said it was very important that the UK and continental Europe work to stand against those totalitarian regimes".

  7. SNP MP: I was denied entry to Gaza to teach doctorspublished at 12:15 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Foreign Office Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    SNP MP Dr Philipa Whitford asks what is being done diplomatically to improve access to healthcare in Gaza.

    Foreign office minister Alistair Burt says the government "remains deeply concerned" about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and raises it regularly with Israel, whilst the UK also supports health care in Gaza through the international committee of the Red Cross.

    Philippa Whitford says she was recently "formally denied" entry to Gaza when she attempted entry to teach medical specialists, and asks whether the minister will raise it with Israel.

    Mr Burt says he already has, but adds it is up to Israel to control its own borders. He pays tribute to Dr Whitford's work, the value of which he says "can't be overestimated".

  8. Foreign secretary 'had no knowledge' of Khashoggi abduction planpublished at 12:07 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Foreign Office Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Jeremy HuntImage source, HoC

    Labour's Gill Furniss says there are media reports that the UK intelligence services may have known about plans to abduct Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and asks the foreign secretary to confirm whether he was aware of this.

    Mr Hunt says "I don't comment on intelligence matters", but adds that he "had no knowledge myself".

    Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry pushes back, asking again: "did the intelligence services know, and has he asked them?"

    Mr Hunt repeats that he cannot comment on intelligence matters, but "I didn't know about this attack...we are as shocked as everyone else".

    Ms Thornberry replies that "it won't do" to "hide behind the blanket response" of not commenting on intelligence matters.

    She requests that Mr Hunt agrees to attend an emergency Intelligence and Security Commission sitting to advise on the matter in private.

    The foreign secretary says her pressing for comment on intelligence matters is "totally inappropriate", but he will consider an invitation to the Intelligence and Security Commission if he receives one.

    He adds: "whilst I respect her concern, I wish she would express the same concern about events in Venezuela and Russia...countries that share Labour's anti-Western worldview".

  9. UK 'continues to lead' efforts to tackle sexual violence during warspublished at 11:50 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    Foreign Office Questions

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Harriet BaldwinImage source, HoC

    Tory MP Caroline Johnson kicks questions off by asking about diplomatic approaches to tackling sexual violence in conflict.

    Foreign Office minister Harriet Baldwin says the government "continues to lead" global efforts in this area, has developed tools for survivors, and "secured sanctions against seven Burmese military".

    Shadow foreign office minister Liz McInnes says the UN population fund has "operated fearlessly at the front line of conflict...helping hundreds of thousands of girls and women who have suffered sexual violence."

    She asks if the minister agrees it is "utterly reprehensible" that US president Donald Trump has "eliminated" funding for that agency, "to a tune of £700 million".

    Ms Baldwin says she can only speak for the UK government, but the UK "continues to support this important agenda" and "increase the amount we are doing in terms of access to safe family planning".

  10. Today in the Commonspublished at 11:22 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    The Budget debate continues today, but before that MPs will ask questions of Foreign Office ministers. There are no statements or urgent questions tabled, so Labour MP Kevin Barron will then table his Tobacco Bill as a ten minute rule motion.

    Labour party colleague Dan Jarvis rounds off the day with his adjournment debate, on the effect of reductions in local authority budgets.

  11. Good morningpublished at 11:17 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2018

    As the analysis of the Budget continues, MPs return for a further day's debate today, following Philip Hammond's statement yesterday.

    First of all today, MPs will be putting questions to Foreign Office ministers, and the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt.

  12. That's it for todaypublished at 21:53 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Today's been dominated by the Budget which was delivered by the Chancellor Philip Hammond this afternoon.

    You can read about the main announcements here.

    Our coverage of the Commons tomorrow will begin at 11.30am with questions to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, before continued debate of the Budget.

  13. 'Austerity hasn't ended at all'published at 21:53 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    Budget debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Labour MP for Bedford, Mohammad Yasin, says that if you're burgled in his constituency "more often than not police will take little or no action", such is their their funding restrictions.

    "The underfunding of police is about as political as anything you can get," he says, but he says that he wasn’t invited to a local meeting with the police minister and PCC as he was told it wasn’t political.

    He says gangs have thrived and drug users do not received the support their require, so crime thrives, all as a result of cuts to services.

    "It is all because of the government's austerity agenda, and we have seen that austerity hasn't ended at all."

  14. School announcement 'will go nowhere near' needspublished at 21:52 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    The Budget

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Ruth CadburyImage source, HoC

    Labour MP Ruth Cadbury says "nationally, real wage growth has fallen by 8% in the last eight years", which is particularly having "a real strain on women".

    Ms Cadbury says not enough was mentioned about children in the Budget, and, she says, more needs to be done ensure young people have a good education and access to youth centers.

    "The £400m proposed for schools today will not replace the number of school nurses that have been cut," she says, "and will go nowhere near to ensuring all schools have the supplies they need."

    She says there is still another £1.3bn worth of cuts facing local governments next year which is going to be "severely damaging".

    "My council has lost 80% of its central government grant in eight years."

  15. Hammond: Austerity coming to an endpublished at 21:52 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    The Budget means extra money for universal credit and tax cuts - but Labour calls it "half measures and quick fixes".

    Read More
  16. Pothole money 'isn't even enough for every pothole in London'published at 21:50 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    Budget debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Wes StreetingImage source, HoC

    Labour MP Wes Streeting says it's ironic that the Chancellor talks of a jobs miracle, just as Uber are being dragged through the courts to ensure their workers receive proper rights, and hospital services in his constituency are being cut because of a shortage of specialist nurses.

    He says history will "judge this Parliament unkindly" and he says his constituents should "be very worried" that no deal has yet been reached with the EU. He says people should not believe pledges by the government to end austerity, as the lack of deal means "it's a promise they simply cannot make."

    He criticises the amount of funding announced, suggesting money announced for potholes "isn't enough for every pothole in this city", never mind across the country.

    He says it is policing budgets that he is most frustrated by. "Community policing only exists in the speeches of ministers."

    He says it is "an absolute disgrace" that the Budget "doesn't deliver a single penny for policing".

    "This Budget doesn't deliver for anyone."

  17. Labour: Household debt 'ballooning' due to Tory austerity policiespublished at 21:45 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    The Budget

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Catherine WestImage source, HoC

    Labour MP Catherine West says "household debt is ballooning" and asks what the government is doing to crack down on "the drivers of this debt - including zero hour contracts".

    "This is after eight years of crippling Tory and Liberal Democrat austerity."

    "In today's speech this was skated over in the briefest of terms when this issue is a national scandal," she says.

    Ms West says "the household debt crisis isn't about people living outside of their means, it's about them being squeezed out of every bit of money they have."

    "The government has just sat back and watch this happen," she says, "while six million people are taking home less than the minimum living wage."

  18. Delay in Universal Credit rollout 'just prolonging the pain'published at 21:31 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    Budget debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    "I can't see how the announcements made today do go any way near what is needed" in order to prepare for the uncertainty presented by Brexit, Labour MP Catherine McKinnell says.

    She adds that the government "needs to start listening" to MPs for constituencies where Universal Credit is being rolled out, "they continue to say that the funding is not enough".

    She says last year food banks in her constituency provided for "21,000 residents, with half of all food parcels going to households with children".

    "Slowing down and throwing more money at the rollout of a failing system is just prolonging the pain," she says.

  19. 'The country is suffering due to crumbling public services'published at 21:25 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    The Budget

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Helen GoodmanImage source, HoC

    Labour MP Helen Goodman says the fundamental problem is that "the government have completely mishandled the Brexit negotiations".

    "Instead of trying to build a cross party and a national consensus on Brexit, the prime minister has constantly pandered to the extreme hard right members of the ERG and as a consequence no deal now looms over everything," she says.

    She says "employment growth cannot be seen in my constituency where it is higher than it was a year ago."

    "Everybody in this country is suffering due to the crumbling public services," she says. "The government is borrowing more, but not as much as we'd like and big businesses should be paying more taxes."

    Ms Goodman calls the prime minister's claim that austerity is over "absurd", when more people than ever are using food banks.

  20. Call to 'take back control' of worker rightspublished at 21:25 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October 2018

    Budget debate

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Judith CumminsImage source, HoC

    Labour's Judith Cummins says those who work multiple low paid jobs in order to make ends meet are being forgotten, and the Budget offered nothing for them.

    "We need urgent action to give millions of workers across the country a pay rise," she says, adding that "the current situation where we have multiple minimum wages across age groups is wrong."

    She calls for a restoration of trade union rights. "Take back control has become a popular phrase recently, but we urgently need to let workers take back control of their lives," she says.

    "The world of work has changed dramatically in recent years - we need new rights for this new world, the Chancellor's Budget failed to deliver this."