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Conservative MP Jack Brereton raises the house fire in Stafford which killed four children in the early hours of yesterday morning.

He says he would like to note his appreciation for the emergency services who acted in these "extremely difficult circumstances", and his condolences to anyone affected by the tragedy.

David Lidington says the "ghastly" news yesterday has left the country in horror.

He pays tribute to the emergency services, those affected and the local schools.

Mr Lidington says the fire service will be leading an investigation into the causes of the tragedy, and that the government will have to wait for the outcomes of this investigation "before seeing if any more lessons can be learned".

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Ex minister and Conservative MP Greg Hands says he and other MPs have today launched a "draft EU-UK trade agreement" but getting a trade deal with the EU "depends on being outside a customs union".

He asks David Lidington to commit the UK to being outside a customs union, as in the 2017 Conservative manifesto promised.

David Lidington says that the Conservatives have promised to leave the customs union in more than just the 2017 manifesto, but returns to a familiar theme.

Businesses, he says, need certainty which is why they "need to have the implementation or transition period" which is why MPs need to support the withdrawal agreement.

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Labour MP Dr Paul Williams says MPs should be working together at this time, noting that the Brexit "crisis" could be resolved if the deal was put to the public for their approval, as "MPs would support this".

He questions why Mr Lidington will not give the public "a final say" when "he knows it will break the deadlock".

David Lidington says this would lead to an erosion of trust in the political process, noting that it would also not stop those who lost the next referendum to call for a third or fourth.

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Conservative Kenneth Clarke says that the exchanges between David Lidington and Emily Thornberry made him think that problems with the deal could be solved in five minutes, if the two of them were to talk.

He asks for indicative votes on the future of Brexit on 14 February, and for the end of domination of the main parties by "Corbynistas and the European Research Group".

Mr Lidington says that he is happy to speak to Emily Thornberry on Brexit matters, he adds it is a "pity" that Jeremy Corbyn waited a fortnight before speaking to the PM privately on Brexit.

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Swansea Labour MP Geraint Davies says one in seven children in the UK have a mental health problem and that there is a "chronic" shortage of trained psychiatrists to treat them, which is being exacerbated by Brexit.

David Lidington says that on immigration there will have to be "new arrangements in place" but adds that "the health service in Wales is devolved".

He says in England the NHS is funding a "largest expansion of mental health services in a generation".

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Labour MP Alex Sobel says his constituent contacted him to say that her husband can't live without insulin and that she is unable to sleep at night due to worrying about his health post-Brexit if there is an insulin shortage.

Mr Sobel says 99% of insulin used in the UK is made in the EU, and that concerns about insulin shortages after 29 March are real.

He adds that Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom has said the UK needs more time over Brexit, and questions when constituents "will be allowed to sleep at night" after the government announces a delay in Article 50.

David Lidington says the government has been talking to suppliers of insulin as part of contingency planning to ensure that supplies will be available to all patients who need them.

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SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford says the governemnt "has sneaked through a cut in pensions credit" which will see some mixed age couples "up to £7,000 a year worse off". He adds that an estimated 300,000 more pensioners are living in poverty than in 2012.

Mr Lidington says this is the situation where couples have one person in work and one person receiving a pension, this is the result of the system that was voted for "many years" ago.

Mr Blackford says that the government continues to take TV-licences from over-75s and is denying women born in the 1950s their full state pensions. He says Scottish pensioners are being "short changed in Scotland".

Mr Lidington says it in Scotland the government is able to top up pensions. Under an SNP government, "Scottish people pay more and get less," he finishes.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Emily Thornberry is pushing very hard for a customs union, and urges David Lidington to work with Labour or let Parliament take charge – are we heading for another try at the Cooper-Boles gambit to give MPs control of Brexit?

David Lidington lashes at Labour, having a bit of fun with their Brexit positioning, but ultimately, he can only offer a holding answer, promising a statement by the PM next week.

This is a light overture to next week’s return to full Brexit hostitilies.

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Emily Thornberry says David Lidington "understands Europe, Northern Ireland and Brexit probably better than any of his colleagues" which is why she expected answers from him today.

But she says there are "no answers" and the government is "sleepwalking" towards no deal Brexit. She offers a "final opportunity" to explain the government's plan and asks if they will "let Parliament take charge instead".

David Lidington says the prime minister "will report back to this House next week". He adds that the two year deadline "stems from European law" and the vote to trigger Article 50, which Emily Thornberry supported.

He says that Labour are making the risk of no deal greater by refusing to support Theresa May's deal and says they should "do the right thing" and vote for it.

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Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry says she is happy to hold a proper seminar for the Cabinet Office minister on what "a proper Brexit looks like"

Technological solutions are a non-starter and a permanent backstop will never be acceptable to the ERG and DUP, she says.

"The only solution that will work is a permanent customs union which would avoid the mayhem and chaos of no-deal."

She asks Mr Lidington to explain why Theresa May is so against a permanent customs union.

David Lidington says a permanent customs union "would not address issues", in respect of Northern Ireland in Ireland, of regulatory standards for industrial goods or sanitary checks for livestock.

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Emily Thornberry says the government is "treading water" while heading towards the Niagara Falls.

She states there is no way to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland without a backstop, customs union or new technology. She asks which the government is working towards.

Mr Lidington says that exporting to the EU without tariffs and checks is contained within the withdrawal deal that has been brokered by the PM.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

An effective blend of mockery and precise questioning from Emily Thornberry – and she repeats Labour’s call for an extension to the negotiating period.

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Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry asks "does the prime minister seriously think she will get anything different?"

She says the EU won't open the deal unless the PM reconsiders her red lines. She says the "sensible" thing "at this late stage" would be to delay Article 50.

David Lidington says it "would simply defer the need for this House...to face up to some difficult decisions".

He goes on to highlight apparent divisions between Jeremy Corbyn and other members of his shadow cabinet over the status of the "backstop".

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Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry says she takes from Mr Lidington's answer that the time for a fresh vote will be after the prime minister has secured what she calls "a significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal agreement".

She asks what will happen if 29 March is fast approaching and those legally binding changes have not been achieved.

Mr Lidington says the prime minister will be in Brussels tomorrow to discuss the changes she is seeking following the votes on her deal in the Commons.

Ms Thornberry needs to face up to the fact that if the UK is to leave the EU in an orderly manner "it requires this House to vote in favour of a deal, and not to simply declare that it does not want a no-deal scenario", he says.