House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer says "this House has now spoken and it is of huge significance."

He says "the government must publish the Attorney General's legal advice in full" and that he "hopes the government will confirm and comply with that order".

Sir Keir Starmer asks the Speaker what measures can be taken to ensure the government publish the legal advice in full "if they continue to fail to do so".

Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom says "the government has listened carefully and will publish full and final advice provided by the Attorney General, but realising the serious constitutional issues this raises, the issue will be sent to the Privileges Committee first."

Sir Keir Starmer calls for the steps outlined to be completed by next Tuesday ahead of the meaningful vote.

The Speaker John Bercow says he thinks it is "unimaginable" that the full legal advice would not be provided to MPs before then.

Andrea Leadsom then confirms "the government will act tomorrow".

The pound is now trading lower against the dollar, at $1.2709, following a key vote in the House of Commons...

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted in favour of the motion finding ministers in contempt of Parliament.

This is for not releasing the Attorney General's "final and full" legal advice on the Brexit deal.

In all - 311 voted that the government were in contempt, with 293 voting against the motion.

Opposition parties accuse ministers of ignoring the will of Parliament over release of full legal advice.

House of Commons
Parliament

The government’s amendment calling for the dispute over Brexit legal advice to be referred to the Commons Privileges Committee has been narrowly rejected by 311 votes to 307.

If approved, this would have meant the committee would have had to issue its opinion on the matter – a process that could have taken weeks.

Instead, MPs now divide to vote on the main opposition motion – which accuses ministers of contempt for failing to publish the full Brexit legal advice.

House of Commons
Parliament

That’s the debate on the contempt motion over the Brexit legal advice row finished.

MPs have now divided to vote on the government’s amendment to the main contempt motion.

This amendment says that the dispute over whether ministers are in contempt of Parliament should be referred to the Commons Privileges Committee.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer says he has listened carefully to some good points, and some "very bad points" made during the debate this afternoon.

He says opposition MPs who tabled today's motion have been "careful" to accuse "ministers", rather than named individuals, of contempt.

Ministers, he says, have had time to come up with an alternative remedy "but have done nothing".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Simon Hoare says contempt is not an issue of disobeying Parliament, but an issue of preventing MPs from being able to carry out their work.

He says it's an important difference, and this position has not been reached. Opposition MPs are playing political games with the issue, he says.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer had already made a decision on whether the demands had been met by the government before the attorney general appeared before MPs, he argues.

"This is a parlour game, we are not going to play it, we are going to support the government's amendment", he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Michael Tomlinson says it was a "mistake" for the government not to have opposed Labour's original motion requesting publication of the Brexit legal advice.

However he says Attorney General Geoffrey Cox was right not to disclose the legal advice - and gave "ample advice" during his statement to MPs yesterday.

"It is now no longer a legal question, it is a political question and that is a question for each member of the House to debate a week today", he adds.

He adds that he will support the government's amendment to the contempt motion, which calls for the matter to be referred to the Commons Privileges Committee.

House of Lords
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Peers are now debating their main legislation for today - the Financial Services (Implementation of Legislation) Bill at second reading.

This is a Brexit contingency bill, which would provide a way for the Treasury to update EU financial services law if the UK were to leave the bloc without a deal or transition period.

Specifically, the bill gives the power to make changes to EU laws which have been agreed or are under negotiation at the point of exit, and due to be implemented within two years of the UK leaving the EU.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Oral questions begins with a question from Lib Dem peer Lord Greaves, who asks about information included in rail franchise agreements.

Transport minister Baroness Sugg says all agreements contain obligations to act in the best interests of passengers.

During bids, franchises are asked to demonstrate how customer satisfaction would be ensured, she adds.

Labour spokesman Lord Tunnicliffe says delays and cancellations are symptomatic of the structure of the railway - but it is the governance structure that is wrong.

This is made worse by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, he says, adding that things will not get better until Mr Grayling accepts either his responsibility or stands aside.

Baroness Sugg says the government has accepted responsibility.

"We do need to see change, but that is in the structure of the railways, not in who is Secretary of State", she adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Chris Bryant says he is "pleased" that the motion does not specifically call out the Attorney General as he is "an honourable man doing his best".

Mr Bryant says he "cannot find a moment in the history of Parliament when the government has referred itself to the Privileges Committee", and that its move to do so today is unprecedented.

He adds that he believes the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox "in his heart believes that the House are doing the right thing debating a contempt of Parliament motion today".

"The House must surely be able to require documents," he concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Ken Clarke says the dispute involves a "difficult dilemma" between respecting the sovereignty of Parliament and the convention that government legal advice is confidential.

MPs have a "duty" to sometimes instruct the government, he says.

He says the Conservative party may regret challenging the authority of Parliament when it eventually finds itself in opposition again.

But he adds Labour may also regret its attempts to override the usual convention that legal advice to ministers is not published.

He says opposition MPs should have a conversation with the Attorney General about the national interest involved in withholding advice.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Over in the House of Lords, the day is beginning with the introduction of new peer Baroness Osamor, external.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg warns that governments who "run roughshod" over parliamentary privilege find things more difficult when they are in opposition.

He says he recognises that Labour's motion calling for the advice to be published was not tabled to harm the nation - and accuses ministers of confusing the national interest with the government interest.

However he says he will support the government's amendment to the contempt motion to be voted on this afternoon, which refers the matter to the Commons Privileges Committee.

He says the committee should consider the use of so-called 'humble address' motions more broadly, although this is not a question that needs to be addressed today.

He adds though that regardless of the result of the vote later, Labour's original motion calling for the Brexit legal advice to be published should be respected, unless overturned.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake says "it is clear that the government's actions are contempt as the refusal to release the advice is an act which impedes the House in the performance of its functions."

Mr Brake says: "We must take the decision we have to next week in the full knowledge of all legal advice."

He adds that the advice on the Iraq war was "cherry picked, massaged and reinforces the government's case", and he says the government is "doing exactly the same thing with refusing to present the full legal advice".

"We know what the purpose of the government's amendment is - it is to delay proceedings as the possibility of the committee discussing it by 11 November are precisely nil," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Dominic Grieve says that MPs are the "high court of Parliament" but the difficulty is "our powers are entirely, archaic almost completely unusable".

The Conservative MP continues that any attempt to use them would "run foul of most modern principles of justice".

"The teeth are not really present," he adds and that there are only "blunt instruments to be used".

The law officers' advice should not be published, says the MP, who was himself Attorney General, as it "undermines the ability to provide proper confidential advice".

Mr Grieve says as a former law officer, "I have simply no idea if there ever was a final and full advice."

"The one person who cannot be blamed for this mess" is the Attorney General as he does not make the decision on disclosure, he says.

"Our processes and powers bear no relation to the real world" and "can cause serious injustice", he concludes.