House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Economy spokesperson Kirsty Blackman says that her party have concerns with the regulations.

The aims of this Statutory Instrument "clash" with a similar EU exit SI in regard to securitisation, she says, and this is "confusing for the House".

She adds that the Henry VIII powers are "the core" of the SNP's concerns and worries that there has been no consultation on the UK implementation of this law.

Ms Blackman calls for some form of White Paper on the future of authorities and accuses the government is making "piecemeal" policy changes by SI.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Exiting the EU Minister Lord Callanan says that the debate this afternoon is for the Lords to take note of the continued negotiation between the EU and UK.

He says that since the new Brexit Secretary came to his position, he has sought to draw on the "wide range of experience" and "wisdom" that the Lords have on Brexit.

He adds that Mr Barclay is also speaking to peers from different parties on the matter.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen says it is the UK's obligation as a member state of the EU, to ensure domestic law is compatible with EU legislation.

This includes the SI being debated today, he says.

He adds that "this is not an EU exit statutory instrument" and says that that these will be debated in due course.

Mr Glen says that the EU have responded to the slow recovery of the securitisation market after the financial crisis, by proposing legislative measures to promote a transparent and liquid market.

He says there have been consultation and scrutiny by committees.

"These proposals build upon the lessons learnt from the financial crisis," adds the minister.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour's Lord Kennedy asks a private notice question on human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and whether or not it is safe to deport asylum seekers to the country.

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams says "the UK continues to call for the government of Zimbabwe" to protect human rights and to call for free and fair elections. Those who have asylum claims refused are "by definition, not at risk upon return".

Lord Kennedy says there are reports of oppression of activists and beatings, rapes and killings. He asks how it is safe to deport people to the country.

Baroness Williams says that "where we return somebody to their country of origin, we will only seek to do so where we and the courts have considered it safe to do so".

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Shadow Treasury minister Anneliese Dodds says that these regulations are not labelled as no-deal Brexit preparations but are being pushed through alongside 70 Brexit-related statutory instruments on financial services.

She says that these statutory instruments require more debate and scrutiny.

Ms Dodds says that securitisation refers to the pulling of different debts and repackaging of these loans into one single financial product that is sold to investors.

These were a "key" cause of the credit crunch, she adds.

The shadow minister says that these regulations would be better as part of primary regulation.

House of Lords
Parliament

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In the House of Lords, Liberal Democrat Lord Greaves asks what advice is being given to schools for students who are planning to take part in the climate change protest on 15 February.

Education Minister Lord Agnew says the government "understands the importance of the issue but missing school is not the solution". Absence causes disruption for students and teachers, he states.

Lord Greaves replies that students in school today will "suffer the most" from the "disastrous consequences of climate change". He asks for a "clear guarantee" that those students who take part in actions on Friday "will not be punished".

Lord Agnew says it is up to the headteachers of the schools if it it an authorised absence or not.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Tory MP Charles Walker says Sir David Natzler has been his "brick" and he says as the Chairman of the Procedure Committee he bounces "into his office on a regular basis demonstrating the clear thinking of the totally uninformed".

He adds that Sir David never says no but responds with the enthusiasm to make ideas better.

Mr Walker says his "ethos of public service... reverberates around the corridors of the House of Commons".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Member of the House of Commons Commission, Sir Paul Beresford, pays his tribute to David Natzler.

Sir Paul said some members have had the opportunity to work closely with Sir David on committees and says he always took the clerk's advice.

The Conservative MP adds that key members of staff often had thank you parties in Sir David's rooms and says that his speeches on these occasions were a "merciless delight".

He wishes Sir David Natzler and his wife the "very best for their retirement" and adds he would like a signed copy of his memoirs.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow Leader of the House Valerie Vaz endorses the previous tributes to Sir David Natzler.

Ms Vaz speaks about her predecessor Bruce George who was close to Sir David, and says they were the Laurel and Hardy of the parliamentary football team.

Ms Vaz says the reform of the House of Commons is a tribute to him and adds the House "owes him a huge debt".

The shadow leader of the House says Sir David is responsible for nearly 2,500 members of staff and add that they have great respect for him.

She concludes by speaking about his work on BAME schemes and paying tribute to his family life.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom says it is a pleasure to pay tribute to Sir David Natzler this afternoon.

Sir David has given outstanding service to the House of Commons, she says, noting that his commitment is "unchallenged" and that he has provided "invaluable advice to numerous leaders of the House".

"I have personally benefited from the advice and the wisdom Sir David readily provides," she adds, noting that she has "a huge amount of respect for him".

Ms Leadsom thanks Sir David for "acting to make swift progress on the Cox Report recommendations", and for "getting this House through this challenging period".

She concludes by wishing Sir David Natzler a restful retirement.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The Speaker pays tribute to Sir David Natzler, saying that the clerk has served the House for over four decades.

His service has been "unstinting, selfless, formidable...quite exceptional", he says.

John Bercow commends his "absolute undiluted passion for Parliament" and says the clerk has given his skills in a "manner universally appreciated".

Mr Bercow says Sir David Natzler will be particularly proud of his work on the select committee on the reform of the House of Commons.

He concludes that he hopes all colleagues will wish Sir David and his wife a happy retirement.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Matt Western is now introducing his Bus Drivers (Working Hours on Local Routes) Bill which seeks to limit the driving hours worked by bus drivers on local routes.

Mr Western argues that members of the public's lives are being put at risk due to bus drivers working "unsafe hours", and discusses an accident which happened in 2015 where a bus crashed into a shop in Coventry, killing seven-year-old Rowan Fitzgerald and 76-year-old Dora Hancox.

The then 77-year-old driver had been involved in four crashes in three years and was working over 60 hours a week, Mr Western adds.

The British laws which regulate bus drivers’ hours on local routes (of less than 50km) limit driving to 10 hours a day, with no weekly or fortnightly limit except that in any two consecutive weeks there must be at least one period of 24 hours off duty, Mr Western says.

"It is entirely legal for a local bus driver to drive 130 hours over a period of two weeks," he adds.

He calls for driving hours for local bus drivers to be capped at 56 hours a week, and no more than 90 hours over any two consecutive weeks, which he says would have "prevented this great tragedy".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Yvette Cooper presents her European Union (Withdrawal) (No 4) Bill to the Speaker.

The bill makes provision in connection with the period of time available for Brexit negotiations.

Ms Cooper has previously tabled an amendment to a government motion, which aims to delay Brexit for up to nine months to prevent the UK leaving without a deal with the EU on 29 March.

House of Commons
Parliament

Lady Sylvia Hermon, asks Karen Bradley if she appreciates the "deep sense of anger" over the fact that MLAs continue to receive their salaries with minor reductions.

The MP asks if the salaries have cost taxpayers £12m.

The Northern Ireland Secretary replies that she understands the anger and that she will write with the most up to date figure.

Image source, HoC

House of Commons
Parliament

DUP MP Gregory Campbell says he has issues about fairness and equality with the situation in Northern Ireland; however he says he will put the best interests of the people first and wants to ensure a comprehensive education and health system are running in Northern Ireland.

He says he believes that if all Northern Ireland politicians did this, government at Stormont could be restored in a week.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley says she hopes this is the case.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The DUP's Westminster Leader Nigel Dodds says that it is "vital" that decisions are taken by UK ministers once Brexit has been taken "over the line" and if there is no functioning Stormont executive.

"The decisions that will be required will be too great," he adds.

Ms Bradley says that she hopes "we can find a basis on which we can get the parties to get together" as the people of Northern Ireland "deserve that".

House of Commons
Parliament

Andrew Murrison, chair of the Northern Ireland Committee, says the plans for the Tyrone-Cavan Interconnector have been stalled which he is disappointed about.

(The project would link the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland electricity networks.)

He says this is a huge infrastructure project that will have a direct impact on the people of Northern Ireland.

Mr Murrison asks if the Northern Ireland secretary will deal with the issue herself as "we cannot keep kicking this can down the road".

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley says this is an example of why devolved government is needed.

Civil servants are allowed to make certain decisions, "but it is no replacement for ministers in Stormont".

"We will find a way to bring this government back together," she concludes.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Both the main players at PMQs had one of their better days, proving, I suppose, that it’s not a zero-sum game, where one of them must do badly for the other to do well.

Jeremy Corbyn continued Labour’s recent targetting of the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, with a series of detailed questions about the Seabourne Ferries saga.

It was an old school piece of PMQs questioning, building up an attack over a series of questions, which saw the PM digging into her file for the pre-scripted answers.

She, in turn, was at her most effective when she counter-attacked on Labour’s policy ambiguity over Brexit, with a particularly wounding line that Jeremy Corbyn was losing his reputation as a conviction politician.

Quieter backbenches

It was also notable that the Conservative benches were rather muted during the attacks on their transport secretary. Perhaps the accumulated weight of the railway timetables saga, the Gatwick drones and even his policies as justice secretary have depressed backbench support? So maybe the attack was a tactical success for Mr Corbyn, but was it also a strategic missed opportunity?

Brexiteer Tories rather tiptoed around the reported remarks of the PM’s Brexit advisor, Olly Robbins, overheard in a Brussels bar. But the twin suggestions attributed to him, of a postponement of Brexit day and of the Northern Ireland backstop being a “bridge” to a post-Brexit customs union with the EU, cause them deep alarm.

Mr Corbyn did not seek to deepen it further, even though it would have been quite easy to segue from Grayling to Robbins, and it was left to the SNP’s Ian Blackford and later the Conservative Henry Smith, to target the alleged bar-room indiscretion.

The PM’s elegant prepared response: “What someone said to someone else, overheard by someone else…in a bar” was eventually deployed in answer to Mr Smith, but was probably drafted with Mr Corbyn in mind.

And Mr Bercow?

The other big PMQs player, John Bercow, had a quiet time. His rebukes were genial, even jovial, and no-one was bruised by them. He even indulged a few spurious points of order at the end, although I’m not sure how grateful Ian Blackford will have been for his colleague Mharie Black’s complaint that when her leader rose to ask his question, lots of MPs immediately got up and left the Chamber.

Elsewhere, there were interesting responses to well placed questions from Tories Robert Halfon (on school exclusions) and George Freeman (Sir Philip Greene’s knighthood) and to Labour’s Chris Evans (on suicide and self harm images on social media) with the PM keen to demonstrate that her government is not so fixated on Brexit that it can’t deal with other issues.