Select Committee
Parliament

Mrs May is asked why she hasn't published the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

"We will publish the Withdrawal Agreement Bill when we have finished the work on the bill," she says.

She says she thinks it will be "helpful" when "we are able to enable the House to have proper consideration of that bill".

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, AFP

Mrs May says the “best option” for the UK is to leave with a deal.

"I want us to leave the European Union... I have voted consistently in Parliament to leave the European Union," she says.

"Had everyone voted the same way we would no longer be a member of the European Union."

Mrs May adds: "I stand by the references I made in the past that no deal is better than a bad deal. But I happen to think we have a good deal."

Select Committee
Parliament

Mr Benn asks if the government is ready for trade negotiations.

Mrs May says "various" bits of work are being done.

"We would be wanting to extend the input we had on these matters in the second phase of negotiations," she says.

Mr Benn asks if she is concerned that time is being lost.

Mrs May says: "I would have far preferred us to have left on 29 March."

Labour's Hilary Benn asks the PM whether the Brexit options that could be put to the House will include a customs union option.

Mrs May says: “We will discuss the options that will be put towards the House."

He asks about a second referendum.

She says they don't have a policy of a second referendum in all circumstances.

"My view about a second referendum is that we should get on with delivering the first referendum," she says.

Theresa May tells MPs that she has been continuing with efforts to find a way through the Brexit impasse.

Cabinet agreed it was "the right thing for us to do" to "reach out for the opposition", she tells the panel.

"The public want to see us working together," she says.

"We know we need to end this uncertainty as soon as possible."

House of Commons
Parliament

Continuing, Michael Gove says that since 2010 the UK has decarbonised its economy faster than any other country in the G20 group of advanced economies.

He adds that the country's renewable energy capacity has quadrupled since then.

He adds that climate change policies should not "come at the cost" of securing economic growth, which he says pays for technological breakthroughs required for a greener economy.

He says he is happy for the government's record to be looked at, noting that no single party in the Commons has a "monopoly of virtue" on this issue.

The Commons Liaisons Committee meeting has begun.

Image source, AFP

Dozens of towns and cities across the UK have already declared "a climate emergency".

There is no single definition of what that means but many local areas say they want to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

Some councils have promised to introduce electric car hubs or build sustainable homes to try to achieve that goal.

It's a much more ambitious target than the UK government's, which is to reduce carbon emissions by 80% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050.

Read more here.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Like Jeremy Corbyn, Environment Secretary Michael Gove also thanks former Labour leader Ed Miliband for his role in introducing the 2008 Climate Change Act.

Climate change, he says, is a "fight which should unite us", adding that the UK should show "global leadership" on the issue of the environment.

He says the current situation "is an emergency" and is a "crisis", and pays tribute to the "green thread of ambition" shown by previous Conservative governments.

The next generation will "face the consequences" if action is not taken now, he tells MPs.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Like a slowly-deflating party balloon (only without the party) any pressure gradually drained from a curiously listless episode of PMQs.

And so did the MPs.

Once the Chamber was packed and noisy for the weekly confrontation between the PM and the Leader of the Opposition. This time, it wasn’t full from the start, and was getting on for half empty, by the time the session drew to a weary end.

“A rumour went round that there was some paint drying on a wall outside, and people rushed out to watch it,” one Conservative backbencher told me.

The session was all-but Brexit-free - with just a tangential mention from the SNP’s Ian Blackford, who complained about EU student visas.

Jeremy Corbyn attacked on bread and butter issues - this time running through declining life expectancy, rising infant mortality and increased use of food banks - and the prime ministerial ripostes raised a only dutiful but subdued cheer from her troops.

The Labour leader scores with these attacks, which have the additional benefit of keeping him away from the more dangerous territory of Brexit. Sometimes he is mocked for his choice of subject - but he speaks to the real concerns of real voters.

And while most Conservatives avoided anything boat-rocking, on the eve of the local elections, (Scottish Conservative John Lamont gave the PM the chance to have a pop at talk of another Scottish independence referendum), two backbenchers with eyes on higher things did raise uncomfortable subjects.

Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, had a well-targeted question about the decision to allow the Chinese company Huawei to provide critical infrastructure for the new 5G data network, saying it ignored the warnings of US and Australian intelligence partners, that security might be jeopardised.

Then came another ex-army officer, Johnny Mercer, complaining about the latest arrest of an ex-soldier over historical allegations from Northern Ireland.

Both questions received holding answers - underlining that Conservative discontents with the government go well beyond the conduct of Brexit.

The session had begun with the Speaker announcing the presence in the public galleries of students from Fitzwarren School in Wantage. MPs applauded this news, but by the end of the session, they were yawning.

House of Commons
Parliament

Mr Corbyn tells MPs: "This isn’t just a climate change issue it is a climate emergency."

He says weather has become "more extreme" and flash flooding is "more frequent" in the UK.

He says that ice caps are melting, coral reefs are dissolving and there are wildfires in Australia.

Mr Corbyn says the situation is leading to the "terrifying loss of animal and plant species".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The Labour leader starts by praising the "humbling" demonstrations on climate changes conducted by school children.

He says it is "humbling" that "children felt they had to leave school to teach adults a lesson".

He calls it the "most important issue of our time".

"We are witnessing an uprecedented upsurge of climate activism," he says.

He calls it a "necessary wake-up call".

"Today we have the opportunity to say 'we hear you'," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

The debate on climate change has started in the Commons chamber.

House of Commons
Parliament

PMQs comes to an end and Business Secretary Greg Clark makes a statement on a commercial agreement the government has reached with British Steel.

As HuffPost politics editor Paul Waugh notes on Twitter, there was not a single question on Brexit during PMQs - a rare occurrence in the last three years.

Expect this all to come later when Theresa May is grilled by senior MPs on the subject at the Commons liaison committee at 15:00.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Diana Johnson tells MPs that since the prime minister announced the inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal in 2017, "one victim has died every four days".

"Delay is not acceptable," she says, asking why the UK does not pay the victims full compensation.

Theresa May says holding an inquiry is "something that should have taken place earlier".

She adds that the government is ensuring the inquiry is "provided with all the resources it needs".