Summary

  • It's private members' bill day in the Commons

  • First bill is Stalking Protection Bill - Tory MP Sarah Wollaston's bill

  • MPs also debate Parking Bill

  1. What's happening today?published at 10:48 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Today marks 100 years since the passing of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act, which allowed women over 21 to become MPs for the first time.

    The London Eye will be lit up in suffragette colours tonight and Parliament is marking it by holding AskHerToStand Day.

    A number of women will shadow their local MP, take part in a series of events, talks, workshops and listen to PMQs.

  2. Former MPs appearing before committeepublished at 10:48 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Women in the House of Commons

    Select Committee
    Parliament

    WitnessesImage source, HoC

    The next panel of witnesses, all former MPs from the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Parties take their seats.

  3. 'Equivalent of a house deposit' required to be an MPpublished at 10:34 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Women in the House of Commons

    Select Committee
    Parliament

    Isabel HardmanImage source, HoC

    Isabel Hardman tells the committee that women are "disproportionately affected" by the cost of standing to be an MP.

    Women are not encouraged to take financial risks in the way men are, she says, and lots of MPs, male or female, had a "humble start" but we are "not seeing people coming from working-class backgrounds".

    The Spectator journalist says that prospective candidates "have to save the equivalent of a house deposit to be able to interview for this job".

  4. Is it worth it?published at 10:19 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Women in the House of Commons

    Select Committee
    Parliament

    Quote Message

    A lot of the time it is not about whether women can get selected, but rather whether she can be elected and what comes afterwards and whether it is worth it"

    Nan Sloane, Training Co-ordinator, Labour Women's Network

    Nan SloaneImage source, HoC
  5. Access to Parliament 'controlled by political parties'published at 10:08 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Women in the House of Commons

    Select Committee
    Parliament

    Maria Miller MPImage source, HoC

    Committee chair Maria Miller welcomes the panel of women to the committee.

    Professor Sarah Childs says that access to politics is "controlled by political parties" and there is a need to look at the way these parties create a demand for female candidates.

    Isabel Hardman of The Spectator describes the image of Parliament to outsiders as "a manly place" and selection panels often imagine a man, rather than a women.

    Baroness Jenkin, Chair of Women2Win, a campaign to elect more Conservative women to Parliament tells the committee "a boy probably knows at the age of seven he would make a great MP, a women has to be told she would be great at the age of 45".

  6. Act which allowed women to stand as MPspublished at 10:01 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Parliament tweets

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  7. 100 years of female representationpublished at 09:54 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

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  8. What’s it all about?published at 09:53 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    PAImage source, HoC

    The Women and Equalities Committee are holding an inquiry into women in the House of Commons.

    The 2017 general election returned the highest number and proportion of female MPs ever recorded: 208 out of 650.

    However, women still make up only 32% of MPs, compared with 30% in 2015.

    The committee is following up its 2016 report, in light of the 2017 snap election, to look at what progress has been made and where further action is needed.

  9. Coming up...published at 09:49 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Select Committee
    Parliament

    The Women and Equalities committee will examine the barriers to the representation of women in Parliament.

    Giving evidence will be:

    At 09.50am:

    • Professor Sarah Childs, Birkbeck University
    • Isabel Hardman, Assistant Editor, The Spectator
    • Baroness Anne Jenkin of Kennington, Women2Win
    • Nan Sloane, Labour Women’s Network
    • Sam Smethers, Chief Executive, The Fawcett Society

    At 10.40am:

    • Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh OBE, former SNP MP
    • Flick Drummond, former Conservative MP
    • Rt Hon Jenny Willott OBE, former Liberal Democrat MP
    • Gemma Doyle, former Labour MP
  10. Good morningpublished at 09:49 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November 2018

    Welcome to our coverage of Wednesday in Parliament.

    We're about to cross over to the committee rooms, where MPs on the Women and Equalities Committee are talking about women in the Commons.

  11. Brexit debate in Lords showcases every viewpointpublished at 21:29 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    We'll be leaving our coverage of the Lords there for today, but you can keep watching the debate live on BBC Parliament.

    The debate has seen a wide variety of views from across the Brexit spectrum, and across the party-political spectrum as well.

    Many peers have expressed concern at the prime minister's deal, but their response has been mixed. Some have called for a second referendum, or a so-called People's Vote, whilst others have called for negotiations to be abandoned and for the UK to leave without a deal.

    Others have said they support the deal, with some expressing a resigned acceptance that it is the best that can be achieved.

    We'll back tomorrow for PMQs and all the rest of the week's events in Parliament.

    You'll find more coverage of Brexit by the BBC here, and the Brexit live page from the BBC Politics team here.

    Thanks for joining us.

  12. Don't get stuck with May, Rees-Mogg warnspublished at 21:28 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    The Brexiteer urges Tories to topple the PM now or face her leading the party into a 2022 election.

    Read More
  13. Business leaders set to meet PM on Brexitpublished at 21:25 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    It comes after a DUP MP accuses NI businesses of being government puppets over Theresa May's Brexit deal.

    Read More
  14. Brexit 'about creating a bigger, more open Britain'published at 21:21 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord DobbsImage source, HoL

    Conservative peer Lord Dobbs says Brexit is not about "having our cake and eating it" - it is about creating a "bigger, more open Britain that takes the many talents and cultures we have and forges them into a new player on the world stage."

    It is about taking advantages of "the challenges of a new world that has already left the European Union behind", he says.

    Failure to seize the opportunity that Brexit presents would be "beyond measure", he warns.

  15. Tory peer: We've totally misjudged our place in the worldpublished at 21:06 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord BalfeImage source, HoL

    "You're never better off outside a club than you are inside a club," Tory peer Lord Balfe says. The negotiators have probably got the best they could.

    "We are facing a second Suez," he says. "We have totally misjudged our place in the world...and we are going to regret leaving the European Union every year we are out."

    He says the UK and the EU are inextricably linked and leaving the EU won't change that - "you can't change geography".

    "This is probably the best deal that you can get, but it's a sad day we are even seeking it."

  16. Labour peer predicts deal will be supported by MPspublished at 21:05 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord DesaiImage source, HoL

    Labour peer Lord Desai says he is "a realistic pessimist about this deal".

    "You don't always get the best option in life...you have to choose between the second and the third best, maybe even the fourth best."

    He predicts that the deal will be approved by MPs, as the threat of no deal is sufficient to form a "temporary coalition" of MPs who will vote in favour of it.

    "This deal - as bad as it - is the best that can be got," he says, and the prime minister recognises that.

    "I say cheer up...this is the best you can get."

  17. Criticism of deal 'greatly overstated'published at 20:51 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord Butler of BrockwellImage source, HoL

    Crossbencher Lord Butler of Brockwell says he regards many of the criticisms of the deal as "greatly overstated".

    He thinks it would be better to remain in the EU and have a say in rule making but - if this is not an option - then the acceptance of rules "with which we largely agree" is not a large price to pay for frictionless trade.

    On the backstop, he says he would not expect the UK to have unilateral control, and the measures put forward seem fair, while the suggestion that it creates internal borders that cannot be accepted is "cutting off your nose to spite your face", as differences already exist across the United Kingdom.

    To represent the deal as one that would turn the UK into "a vassal state" seems to him to be "absurd", he says. If the agreement doesn't give everything that was promised, he says "join the club".

    "There are many of us that knew it never could and never would."

  18. The British people have been treated 'as mere hapless citizens'published at 20:33 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Baroness CrawleyImage source, HoC

    Labour peer Baroness Crawley says "this was probably the best deal the prime minister could have bought back from Brussels, given where she started from".

    The whole Brexit referendum was an attempt by David Cameron to hold his party together, she says, and throughout the whole process the British people have been treated as "mere hapless civilians".

    She says there's no use saying Parliament will not allow the UK to leave without a deal, as without an alternative "we automatically fall into a no deal".

    Theresa May does not have the votes in the Commons to get the deal through, she says, and she has her doubts over the likelihood of a general election - "the last general election in January was in 1910" - so she is another peer calling for a further referendum.

  19. 'I wish I could support this deal but I cannot'published at 20:18 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Conservative peer Baroness Altman says the deal is not what the UK needs, it is "merely a stay of execution".

    She says "I earnestly wish that I could support" the deal the prime minister has achieved, but it is "so significantly different to the campaign promises given to the British people" that she cannot.

    "How can Parliament truly believe it is safe to proceed?" she asks.

    If Parliament is not sure then she says they must use democracy to find out what the British people truly want.

  20. UK 'paying a staggering price for our emasculation'published at 20:13 Greenwich Mean Time 20 November 2018

    Debate on Brexit Statement

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Lord ForsythImage source, HoL

    Conservative peer Lord Forsyth of Drumlean - who supported the Leave campaign - says the withdrawal proposal is not what 17.4 million people voted for. "It is a Trojan horse that threatens our very existence as a self governing and independent United Kingdom."

    "We're told that we should support it in the national interest," he says. "Is it in the national interest to abandon any say in making our laws and to pay a staggering price for our emasculation?"

    The backstop is "a gift on Scottish separatists" and a "slap in the face" for the Scottish MPs that "saved us from a Corbyn government", plus a "total betrayal" of the DUP.

    "This is a hokey-pokey agreement, leaving our country half in and half out of a failing political organisation."

    He says there is still time for the prime minister to change course and to keep the faith of those that voted to leave "on the promise that we would get their country back."