Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including MPs debating and voting on the first day of the EU withdrawal bill’s committee stage
Field says, if the Lords try to wreck this bill, MPs will want to press the “nuclear button”, he says. “They will sound their own death knell,” he says. Many Labour MPs want to abolish the Lords, he says.
Field says he threw away the pamphlet sent out by the government during the EU referendum campaign without reading it. There were “false truths” told on both sides. The campaign did not enhance the reputation of the political class, he says.
He says the government is not handling Brexit with the” importance or drive or coherence that this issue merits”.
He urges Theresa May to set up the equivalent of a war cabinet to deal with it, with members of the opposition represented too.
He also accuses the government of mishandling the Brexit talks.
A British assumption is always “give and take”, he says. But these talks are different, he says:
What we have now is the Barnier rule of all take and now give.
He also says the bill is too big. In it current form it will not get through the Lords. That is why is he proposing a four-clause alternative.
Labour is urging the government to drop the new amendment announced on Friday making it explicit in the bill that the UK will leave the EU on 29 March 2019. Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, claims it would “stand in the way of an orderly transition”.
BREAKING: @Keir_Starmer calls on Theresa May to withdraw 'gimmick' amendment to #EUWithdrawalBill about exit date or Labour will vote against it pic.twitter.com/f7lMQzJ3Y3
— Shadow Brexit Team (@ShadowBrexit) November 14, 2017
The Labour MP Frank Field is opening the debate now, moving NC49. (See 2.52pm.)
He says he is a “reluctant Brexiteer”. During the referendum he backed leave because he felt “on balance” Britain would be better if the UK were out of the EU.
He says his amendment, with others, effectively gives the government a slimmed-down Brexit bill. (He explains that here.)
And he stresses that his amendment uses British time to determine the UK’s exit from the EU. The government’s new amendment, saying the UK will leave the EU at 11pm on 29 March 2019, effectively uses continental time, because 11pm UK time is midnight Brussels time.
MPs are about to start the first of eight committee stage debates for the EU withdrawal bill. This is the part of the process where they can make changes and, given the small size of the Tory/DUP majority, there is a real chance of the government being defeated at some point between now and the end of the committee stage, probably just before Christmas. There is an even bigger probability of the government having to announce new concessions to avert defeat.
You can find the full text of the bill, and all the papers relevant to it, here. The bill is 62-pages long, but the bundle of amendments so far tabled runs to 191 pages.
If you are looking for a detailed explanation of what is in the bill, here is the Commons library’s 112-page briefing paper on it (pdf).
Today’s debate will come in two parts. MPs will spend four hours debating amendments related to the repeal of the European Communities Act. The first vote will be on an amendment tabled by the Labour MP Frank Field (NC49), a simple amendment inserting a clause saying “the United Kingdom ceases to belong to the European Union on 30 March 2019” but there may be other votes too.
Confusingly, MPs will also debate the new government amendment saying the UK must leave the EU at 11pm on 29 March 2019 during this section, but they will not vote on this until much later in the committee stage.
Then, after the votes, MPs will move on to a four-hour debate on amendments relating to the interpretation of retained EU law. The first vote will be on an amendment tabled by the Labour MP Chris Leslie (NC14). It says:
Within one month of royal assent of this Act the secretary of state shall lay a report before parliament setting out how the interpretation of retained EU law provisions in section 6 shall operate in the event of a transitional period being agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union ahead of the implementation of a withdrawal agreement.
Explaining this, the notes say: “This new clause would ensure that ministers must set out in detail how the provisions in clause 6 would apply during a transitional period before the United Kingdom fully implements a withdrawal agreement.”
Theresa May will meet Manfred Weber, the German MEP who is a close ally of chancellor Angela Merkel, in Downing Street on Wednesday, Number 10 has said. Weber is head of the European People’s party (EPP), the main centre-right group in the European parliament. Earlier today Weber said he believed it was unlikely Brexit talks would move beyond the divorce deal and onto the future relationship before 2018.
Weber said it was unlikely that enough progress will be made on the financial settlement and citizens’ right by the time leaders meet in December and “it doesn’t look like negotiations are going to move onto the second phase to talk about the future.”
Downing Street said it was a meeting of “broad engagement that we’ve been looking to have for a little while”. May’s spokesman said it would be “a opportunity to update on the Brexit process and to discuss other broader European issues.” He went on:
The prime minister as you know likes to engage with members of the European Parliament, it’s part of that process.
Asked if the prime minister would try to convince Weber of the necessity of beginning talks on the future relationship, the spokesman said there had been “progress made in important areas”
Downing Street said Tuesday’s cabinet meeting heard a presentation from the foreign secretary and defence secretary on the fight agains Isis, who said the terror group was “nearing defeat.” The UK has been the second largest contributor to the coalition’s military campaign, including helping to Train 60,000 members of the Iraqi security forces.
“The prime minister thanked the armed forced for their excellent work and said our priority is to ensure we minimise threats to the UK... that includes taking steps to deal with foreign fighters returning to the UK,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.
Andrew Mitchell, the Conservative former chief whip and former international development secretary, is speaking now. He says this is not really a party political issue, because all parties want to tackle tax avoidance. He says the only criticism of the current government might be that it is not moving fast enough.
Peter Dowd, the shadow chief secretary, to the Treasury, is speaking now. He says it is clear what the government should do. It should adopt Labour’s tax transparency and enforcement programme (pdf).
Mel Stride, the financial secretary to the Treasury, is speaking in the debate now.
He says the government has been taking steps to tackle tax avoidance, including in the finance bill that Labour voted against.
Hodge also said the government should implement legislation already on the statute book requiring multinational companies to report their activity and profits on a country by country basis.
She also said HM Revenue and Customs should get more resources.
Every £1 invested in HMRC enforcement yields £97 in additional tax revenues. It’s a complete no brainer that we should be strengthening HMRC and reversing some of the 40% cuts they have suffered under the austerity programme.
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