House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey says nearly 4m people in the UK are in insecure work, 1.1m in the gig economy.

She says some policies being introduced are "some of Labour's policies" and she is pleased to see that these have "finally made an appearance in the government's Good Work Plan".

She had "hoped for something big today", she says, but warns the new rules will "not shift the balance of power in the gig economy".

On zero hour contracts, she warns that there are currently abilities for employees to request more regular work, it's just that employers are not obliged to provide such extra hours.

The current system for awarding employment tribunal rewards "is not fit for purpose," she states, adding that 35% of current employment tribunal winners do not receive the funds they are owed.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Business Secretary Greg Clark says that the government has taken on board the recommendations of the Taylor Review, external, and is now looking at how best to implement them.

"Good work and developing better jobs is at the centre of the vision of the industrial strategy," he states.

"We will not allow these high standards to be breached by a minority" of employers who believe that workers "are just their entitlements".

The government is also introducing new legislation to legitimise the rights of agency workers, he states, as well as reforming regulations on allowing employees to have their voices heard.

He says new policies will be introduced to help vulnerable workers understand their rights, as well as a setting up a single body for dispute resolutions.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The government have today unveiled their Good Work Plan which contains workplace reforms which they say 'will protect gig economy workers'.

The reforms are based on the findings of a review into modern working practices led by Matthew Taylor, a former aide to Tony Blair and chief executive of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Ministers say the new legislation will:

• close a loophole that had allowed agency staff to be paid less than permanent employees
• ensure firms will have to provide a "statement of rights" on the first day of a person's employment, setting out what paid leave they are entitled to, including for illness, maternity and paternity leave
• increase the maximum fine employers face at a tribunal from £5,000 to £20,000, if they are found to have demonstrated "malice, spite or gross oversight"
• ensure that companies will have to calculate holiday pay based on 52 weeks, as opposed to 12 weeks, so people in "seasonal or atypical roles get the paid time off they are entitled to"

But, Labour and the unions say the reforms do not go far enough.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says Jeremy Corbyn's move is NOT the same as a traditional vote of confidence in the government, but it could be politically embarrassing for her.

It's also not clear when any vote of this sort would take place, because it does not have the same force as a vote of confidence in the government.

A senior fellow at the Institute of Government tweets:

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are asking if they can come back early voluntarily from their Christmas break in order to debate and vote on the Withdrawal Agreement.

Mr Bercow is telling MPs that his understand is that this would need to take place with the agreement of the Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour House of Lords leader Baroness Smith of Basildon says her party fully support the committee report.

She was "extremely disappointed" that some questioned the qualifications of the Standards Commissioner, which was "entirely inappropriate". The tone of the previous debate was also completely inappropriate and highlighted why the commissioner was needed.

She expresses frustration at some comments questioning how women deal with sexual harassment.

No one requested to read the transcripts of evidence prior to the original debate, she says, despite them being advertised as available. Despite this being advertised again, only two requested this prior to today's debate.

"The transcripts that I have read, and members of the the committee have read, do clearly demonstrate an inquisitorial process by the commissioner to do justice to the process."

House of Commons
Parliament

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Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn says it is unacceptable to wait until January for MPs to vote on the meaningful vote and that due to this, he is going to table a motion of no confidence in the prime minister immediately.

The Speaker John Bercow says he has noted Mr Corbyn's comments.

House of Lords
Parliament

Wrapping up for the Lib Dems, Lord Newby says he "publicly dissociates" himself from Lord McNally's comments.

He says the party "strongly support" the report of the committee and the complainant, he would not wish her to feel that the sentiment of the House was anything but supportive of her.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Lib Dem Lord McNally says of Jasvinder Sanghera - who made the complaint against Lord Lester - that "she waited another seven years [to make a complaint] for political reasons, not for trauma".

This receives considerable backlash from peers, who suggest he is "embarrassing himself, you're embarrassing all of us".

"We're talking about a man whose reputation before this case was one of the giants of civil liberties, of sexual liberties," he says.

He begs the procedure committee to consider whether the handling of the case was appropriate, suggesting that it has been unfair and concerns have been ignored.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Tory Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia says she is not a friend of Lord Lester, but it is "insidious" and "offensive" to suggest peers would put friendships over their duty as peers.

She criticises suggestions that "Lester's mafia" plotted to reject the committee suggestions, as she and many others felt "there is something not right about this report".

They were not suggesting Lord Lester was innocent, they were expressing concern at the process.

"Not all men are guilty...there must be a fair process whereby the men feel as protected as the women who accuse them."

House of Commons
Parliament

The House of Commons sent photographer Jessica Taylor to the Chamber for the EU Council statement this afternoon....and have just released the images.

Image source, © UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

Image source, © UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

Image source, © UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

Image source, © UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbencher Baroness Butler-Sloss says the current process "is in most cases entirely the right process", including in the case of Lord Lester.

She suggests further safeguards, however, that could be put in place in order to defend against some of the criticism the case has received.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Green Party peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecomb says today's debate has been "groundhog day" and "going over the same ground again" of last month's debate.

She says she completely supports the report, and criticises those who suggest the process has been unfair, especially Lord Pannick.

"Was it fair to divide the House when there was no expectation [among peers] of there being a vote?" she asks. "Fairness is not playing a full part in this process."

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour peer Lord Falconer of Thoroton says some of the legal criticism of the process - specifically of the commissioner asking questions of both sides of the investigation - "is absolutely ridiculous".

"Don't judge it as lawyers," he urges, "judge it as ordinary people."

He says "the thing that makes me most angry" is the "hypocrisy" of some in using Dame Laura Cox's investigation to back their support for Lord Lester.

That investigation highlighted that members of staff would never believe that they would get a fair hearing if MPs were involved in making a fair decision, he says.

In the previous debate, numerous close friends of Lord Lester "all spoke on his behalf. Nobody spoke on the complaints behalf at all," he says.

"I think we should not regard the [previous] debate as anything other than extreme hypocrisy," he says. The debate focused on process, and then all of Lord Lester's friends voted to remit it, "despite that being the most obvious breach of process".

House of Commons
Parliament

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran asks about former Prime Minister David Cameron being taken on as a "back seat driver and adviser" to Theresa May to help her negotiate Brexit.

"Given that he was the original architect of this mess, I am slightly concerned," she adds, asking the prime minister what role David Cameron is currently fulfilling, and when their last correspondence was.

Theresa May says "he is not giving advice - the last time I spoke to him was when we agreed the withdrawal agreement when I spoke to two former prime ministers as a matter of courtesy to indicate to them what had been negotiated with the European Union."

House of Lords
Parliament

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Conservative Viscount Hailsham, in a long speech, lays out his criticism of the procedure followed in investigating Lord Lester's conduct.

He suggests the system provides none of the safeguards included in investigation procedures elsewhere, specifically that "there is no cross examination of the relevant witnesses".

These "defects" are especially important in this case, he says, as in the case of Lord Lester "credibility" was the central issue.

Following intervention, he acknowledges that he has not read the transcripts of the evidence, but has read "the entirety" of both reports and his argument remains.

He lists numerous historical cases where alternative approaches were taken, to which a fellow peer points out that "conducts and standards of conduct have moved on".

"I very much hope that our requirements of natural justice have not," he responds.

There is a risk of serious injustice under current procedures, he says, which must be addressed.

House of Commons
Parliament

DUP MP Sammy Wilson says the EU "are clinging to this agreement because they know they have got concessions in this agreement which will enable them, when it comes to the future trade arrangements, to extract even more concessions from the UK government".

He questions whether Theresa May would be better walking away now "with £39bn in her pocket, hands free, and able to do the kind of work any government should want to do to make this country prosperous".

Theresa May says it is not the case that there would be no need to pay the £39bn to the EU in a no deal scenario, noting "there would be some financial liabilities".

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg begins by congratulating Theresa May for winning the no confidence vote last week, "and I want to assure her that she commands my confidence too".

Mr Rees-Mogg says on the issue of the second referendum, "better known as the loser's vote", he supports the prime minister's position "because it would be divisive, undemocratic and it would be very hard to avoid a second referendum in Scotland if we had one on the membership of the EU".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour's Kate Hoey asks if Mrs May has spoken to her Chancellor as she says he has taken a negative attitude against those who voted Leave by branding them "extremists, external".

Mrs May says that the Parliament gave the decision to people to choose if they wanted to vote Leave.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh says he wants to express "an unfashionably supportive view of the prime minister" as he believes "the matter is resolvable".

Sir Edward says he believes many who are sceptical about the deal in its current form "could be persuaded to vote for it if there was a legally binding protocol saying, as is normal with international treaties, that if the temporary arrangement ceases to be temporary, than either side can unilaterally withdraw".

"I say to the prime minister keep calm and carry on," he concludes.

Theresa May says "I want to try to make sure the backstop is not used at all."