MP Lamb bids to decriminalise cannabispublished at 16:13 Greenwich Mean Time 11 December 2018
A former health minister has called on MPs to legalise the possession, purchase and consumption of cannabis.
Read MoreDebate on reconciliation in foreign policy and international development
Georgina Pattinson
A former health minister has called on MPs to legalise the possession, purchase and consumption of cannabis.
Read MoreEmergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
House of Commons
Parliament
Conservative MP and Brexiteer Nadine Dorries says the EU Commission's Jean-Claude Junker has made clear that "the EU will make no concessions on the backstop".
She says the prime minister is being "very badly advised by third-rate advisors in Number 10", and that she is "in a bunker" with no way out.
Nadine Dorries says she "wouldn't be surprised" if Parliament rises early at the end of this week, and adds that Theresa May is "starring in her own episode of Downfall - and we all know how this story ends."
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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Labour's Kate Hoey says she is "proud" that people in London voted for Brexit in greater numbers than they voted for Labour's London Mayor, Sadiq Khan.
She says she "thought we live in a democracy," she states "but how wrong I was".
"Too many people continue to find every legal impediment to delay and to try and thwart" the result of the vote, she says.
She accuses Theresa May of continuing to work for the Remain side.
"The EU has seemed to run rings around the prime minister," she states.
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Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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Tory MP Dominic Grieve says "what happened yesterday was pretty unprecedented" and that he is "worried" about the implications of pulling the vote.
Mr Grieve adds that the government has given itself "considerable latitude" over when the deal will return to the Commons to be voted on, and asks that if Theresa May returns having not made any changes, that "this House's consideration of the business resume at once as it is in the national interest".
"For this debate to resume on 19 January is simply not acceptable," he adds.
Labour MP Chris Bryant interrupts to tell of rumours that government whips are pushing for the Commons not to sit next week.
Mr Grieve says "it is imperative that Parliament is able to have its say on the deal, a deal which is rather less desirable than remaining."
He concludes that he supports a referendum.
But the Speaker's spokeswoman says he has never allowed his personal views to influence his job.
Read MoreEmergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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The DUP's Gregory Campbell says that the EU and Irish governments have sold the British government a "line" on the importance of the backstop.
He says the UK does not need a backstop because anyone who works in the area would know "a hundred other ways" to get around hard border arrangements.
"There is no point, no basis for any backstop, we have been led into a trap," he states.
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee Sir Bill Cash says Theresa May has "reached the point of no return" and "may well have to resign".
He says pulling the vote shows the prime minister's own lack of faith in the deal, and that "this agreement has all the characteristics of a dead parrot".
He adds that the withdrawal agreement's failings "go well beyond the backstop" and that a vote is needed on it now.
"Public trust has been shattered in our democracy," he says, "clutching straws and running away from the vote is contemptible".
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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Conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin says that the result of the referendum was the result of an "out of touch political elite".
He calls a second vote "disingenuous" and states that no-one in 2016 said that the vote would be a "dry run".
That vote in 2016 "was the people's choice", he states.
"There is no ambiguity in the word leave which this House placed on the ballot paper," he says.
"Leave does not mean bringing back the same treaty" or holding the UK "hostage", he adds.
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Commons leader Andrea Leadsom this morning questioned Speaker John Bercow's impartiality over Brexit.
It followed his criticism of the government's decision to cancel Tuesday's crunch vote on Brexit, which Mr Bercow said was "deeply discourteous" to MPs.
Mrs Leadsom told BBC Radio 4's Today: "He's made his views on Brexit on the record, and the problem with that of course is that the chair's impartiality is absolutely essential."
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Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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Chair of the Brexit Committee Hilary Benn says he "doubts any piece of paper is going to save the withdrawal agreement or political declaration from defeat here".
He adds that the government now has two choices; to abandon its red lines and apply to join the European Economic Area (EEA) and a customs union, "but there would be consequences in relation to free movement", or to go back to the people.
Mr Benn says going back to the people is "not without risk" in terms of the legitimacy of a second referendum, phrasing the question and working out what method would be used if two or more questions were to be asked.
"It is clear to be that we would only get to that point if all other methods have been exhausted," he says, adding that "we are going to have to apply for an extension of Article 50 as we will require more time".
Mr Benn says "the first concern" must be ensuring that a no deal Brexit does not happen "under any circumstances".
He concludes that the government are "running out of time" and that the prime minister must come back to the Commons next week to give MPs a chance to vote on the deal: "the sooner Parliament casts judgement, the sooner we can get on with the task we face and deal with the mess that our country is now in."
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
House of Commons
Parliament
Conservative Nicky Morgan says that "Parliament needs to think very, very carefully" on "how we are now seen in the midst of this very serious situation".
She says the main position of the Commons is that "we do not want a no deal situation," but, beyond that, there needs to be consensus reached.
Ms Morgan says it is time for a special select committee to reach a consensus, or even a government of national unity.
Parliament must "get down to work" to "hammer out a deal," she finishes.
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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SNP's Westminster Leader Ian Blackford says Theresa May yesterday pulled the vote "in an act of pathetic cowardice" and that "this is a government that is out of control".
He adds that Theresa May has "denied this Parliament of the right to debate because she knows what we knew weeks ago, this deal is dead in the water", and has continued to show contempt by removing the chance for MPs to vote on this deal.
"There are alternatives to the government's plans," he adds.
Mr Blackford says "our rights to vote down her plans have been removed at [the] whim" and questions "where is the parliamentary democracy she talks about?"
He adds that the SNP "will not back this deal or any other deal which makes Scotland poorer", and says this is why he wrote to Jeremy Corbyn to ask him to table a motion of no confidence in Theresa May.
"This is not a time for floundering, this is a time for leadership," he says, "it is time for the prime minister to move aside and let Parliament lead while the people decide."
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Emergency debate on decision to delay meaningful vote
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David Lidington says he sees 21 January "as a deadline", not a target, for the meaningful vote.
When asked repeatedly whether the debate on the deal will be continued before the meaningful vote (due to it being paused half way through), or whether it have to be restarted, David Lidington says "the default position" is for the debate to be resumed.
It all depends however on the outcome of the PM's discussions in Europe, he says, and whether any changes are made to the Brexit deal.
The PM is motivated by the national interest, "and by nothing else", he says.
Every MP - not just the government - will have to confront the "hard but inescapable consequences" when the deal is returned to Parliament.
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
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Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington says that in the last month Theresa May has spent 22 hours at the despatch box speaking to Parliament.
He says that no-one who looks at how much time she has spent in Parliament can be "in doubt" as to how much work Theresa May is putting in to allow Parliamentary scrutiny.
He says there is a "wish in the House to bring this matter to a head" and it is "a requirement under the EU Withdrawal Act for a meaningful vote to take place".
He reiterates that "the remaining stages of this debate, and the votes, have not been cancelled but have been deferred".
Amendments to the bill already passed also remain "in force", he adds.
"The government's view on this is that we need to push on with this sooner rather than later," he says.
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Emergency debate on decision to delay 'meaningful vote'
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Jeremy Corbyn says that if the PM comes back from Europe with "nothing more than warm words" she must put the deal to MPs for a vote.
"No more delays, no more tricks, let Parliament take control," he says.
"If not, then she must go...we cannot allow this shambles to endure."
Let Parliament have a say on "this shabby deal", he tells ministers.
This government has lost the ability to lead, to negotiate and to speak for this Parliament, he says.
Emergency debate on delay to meaningful vote
House of Commons
Parliament
Jeremy Corbyn opens his speech by saying he has had "strong disagreements" with every prime minister that has served during his time in the Commons, but he has never seen such an "abject mess" as the current government.
He states that the prime minister is "demeaning" her office by "running away" from the deal that she has proposed to the Commons.
"She let down all MPs and the people we represent on both sides of this House," he says.
He says that the PM has spent £100,000 of taxpayers' money on trying to sell "this dog's dinner of a Brexit deal".
"This is an extraordinary way of not running a government," he states, "a waste of time and a waste of public money."
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