03/02/2017 The Week in Parliament

Hello there and welcome to The Week in Parliament -

as MPs take the first Parliamentary step on the road to Brexit.

So the ayes have it, the ayes have it.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Jeremy Corbyn demands Theresa May

retracts her invitation to Donald Trump to come

Just what more does President Trump have to do,

before the Prime Minister will listen to the 1.8

million people who've already called for his state visit invitation to be

But Theresa May rejects that call, and says Labour has

He can lead a protest - I'M leading a country.

And, in a debate on the damage done by drinking, a former minister talks

about growing up as the son of an alcoholic.

I know what it's like to feel that cold nausea, when you find

the empty bottles hidden around the house.

But first: The result was never in doubt,

but there was still a sense of drama in the Commons when,

after two days of debate, the moment finally came for MPs

to vote on the bill allowing the government to trigger

So the ayes have it, the ayes have it.

That result was the culmination of a process started

when the government's plan to trigger Brexit WITHOUT

Parliament's consent was challenged in the courts.

Judges ruled that MPs and peers should have a vote before ministers

began the formal divorce proceedings.

And so, two days were set aside for debate on a bill

to trigger Article 50 - and in total nearly 200 MPs

had their say over 18 hours of debate in the Commons chamber.

It's not a bill about whether or not the UK should leave the EU,

It is simply about Parliament empowering

a decision already made, a point of no return already passed.

We asked the people of the UK if they wanted to leave

the European Union; they decided they did.

So at the core of this bill lies a very simple

question: Do we trust the people, or not?

I hope the respectful approach that I've tried to adopt to colleagues,

and to the anxiety among the 48%, is reflected across the House,

and that we will see a good deal less of the gloating,

from those who campaigned to leave, than we've seen in the past.

It is our duty to accept and respect the outcome of the referendum -

but we remain a European country, with a shared history.

Above all, it is our duty to ensure an outcome

that is not just for the 52%, or the 48%, but for the 100%.

Apparently, you follow the rabbit down the hole,

and you emerge in a wonderland - where suddenly, countries throughout

the world are queuing up, to give us trading advantages

and access to their markets, that previously we've never been

able to achieve as part of the European Union.

Don't let me be too cynical - I hope that's right.

I do want the best outcome for the United Kingdom

No doubt somewhere there's a Hatter holding a tea party,

You're not just divvying up the Nana Mouskouri records

here or divvying up the Borgen box set - this has an impact on each

Europe is where our future lies - it's one where we tackle inequality,

climate change, refugess get help, areas that don't

get much of a hearing in Whitehall these days...

Pooling our sovereignty and working together is a good thing.

Passing this bill, and turning your back on our amendment,

would turn its back on the progress made, and disrespect

The British people gave the government the mandate to pulll

The British people gave the government the mandate to pull

the United Kingdom out of the European Union.

The British people did NOT give this government the mandate to threaten

to turn our country into some tawdry, low-regulation,

low-tax cowboy economy - and the British people most

certainly did NOT give the mandate to the government

to indulge in this ludicrous, sycophantic farce we've

seen in recent days, in which this government,

having burnt every bridge left with our friends in Europe,

rushes across the Atlantic to sidle next to a US President

who they don't seem to be aware, whose nativism, whose isolationism,

whose protectionism is diametrically opposed to the long-term strategic

A Labour MP was one of those who defied her party's leadership,

and said she'd vote against triggering Article 50.

Some have been victims of racism and hate crimes,

like my friend Susanne who came to Cardiff from Germany,

and has a young daughter, Lilith, who is in primary school,

who have been spat at, and told to go "home".

And had bricks and stones thrown at them

And this is the climate that they and we are living

But other MPs welcomed the bill - and the decision to leave.

Those who wanted to vote to remain tried to scare the devil out

They told them all kinds of horrors were going to beset them...

Within a couple of days, they were going to be eating

bread and having to drink water, and lose our jobs...

I think the people, advocates of free speech and free press and a

powerful democracy, would view their wishes dimly. This is the moment we

begin to take back control of our laws, our borders and our money.

Once again we become a sovereign nation in command of our own

destiny. At the end of that epic debate,

MPs rejected an SNP amendment attempting to block the bill -

and passed it by a majority of 384. 47 Labour rebels, the SNP,

the Lib Dems and the former Conservative Chancellor,

Ken Clarke, all voted against. The bill will now reappear

in the Commons on Monday, Well, the next day, the government

published its 75-page Brexit policy document,

laying out what its objectives are in the forthcoming negotiations

on extracting the UK There were few surprises,

as the principles were contained in the Prime Minister's keynote

speech last month. The Secretary of State said it

confirmed the Prime Minister's vision of an independent,

truly global UK. I have said at this Despatch Box

that there will be any number of To that end, the White Paper makes

clear that we expect to bring forward separate legislation

in areas such as customs Delivering a smooth,

mutually beneficial exit, avoiding a disruptive cliff edge,

will be the key. Whatever the outcome

of our negotiations, we seek a more open,

outward-looking, confident and The White Paper is available

on the Government website, and I've arranged for copies to be

put in the library of both Houses. Mr Speaker, normally I would thank

the Secretary of State for early sight of his statement,

but this statement says nothing. Otherwise, all honourable members

will have to watch on their screens, as the European Parliament

debates our deal, before we get to express any views on it -

that is completely unacceptable, Now, before the big vote

on Wednesday night, Theresa May had faced Jeremy Corbyn for the regular

round of Prime Minister's Questions. The Labour leader pressed

the Prime Minister over her recent visit to the US, and meeting

with President Trump. Theresa May was the first overseas

leader to meet Mr Trump. The pair discussed Nato

and trade, before giving Just hours after Mrs May left

Washington, the President announced a ban on people from seven mainly

Muslim countries Mr Speaker, Downing Street has not

denied that the Prime Minister was told by the White House

that the Executive order on travel So let's be clear: was

the Prime Minister told about the ban during her visit,

and did she try to persuade If he's asking me whether I had

advance notice of a ban on refugees, the answer is no. If he's asking me

if I had advance notice that the Executive order could affect British

citizens, the answer is no. If he's asking if I had advance notice of

the travel restrictions, the answer is, we all did. Because President

Trump said he was going to do this in his election campaign. President

Trump has drawn at international agreements on refugees. He has

threatened to dump international agreements on climate change. He has

praised the use of torture. He has incited hatred against Muslims, he

has directly attacked women's rights. Just what more does the

President have to do before the Prime Minister will listen to the

1.8 million people who have already called for his state visit

invitation to be withdrawn? The right honourable gentleman's

foreign policy is to object to and insult the democratically elected

head of state of our most important ally. Let's just see what he would

have achieved in the last week. Would he have been able to protect

British citizens from the impact of the Executive order? No. Would he

have been able to lay the foundations of a trade deal? Would

he have got a 100% commitment to Nato? No. That's what Labour has to

offer this country. Less protection for British citizens, less

prosperous, less safer. -- less safe. He can lead a protest, I'm

leading a country. Well, staying with the fallout

from Donald Trump's travel ban, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd told

MPs on the Home Affairs Committee it could create a potential "propaganda

opportunity" for so-called Islamic I saw and Ayyash will use every

opportunity they can to make difficulties to create the

environment they want, to radicalise people, to bring them over to their

side. So it is a propaganda opportunity for them potentially. We

will continue to monitor what is said, continue to take down the sort

of literature and postings we see on the Internet, that try to encourage

that sort of extremism semicolon they may use this as an example, and

we will continue to take down the sites where we can.

The next stage in the plan to expand Heathrow Airport is under way.

In the Commons on Thursday, the Transport Secretary launched

a four-month consultation, and set out planning and

A Liberal Democrat was just one of the MPs to raise

Will he explain what he will do if the airport cannot be delivered

within legal obligation limits, proceed anyway, change the air

quality objectives, or pull the plug on the runway? The airport will not

be able to secure its development consent order if it cannot

demonstrate its ability to meet those targets. But some of the

things we are consulting on today, for example smart use of airspace,

one of the things we will be able to achieve through a space reform and

through the technology now available to us, is to avoid to anything like

the degree we experience at the moment, claimed stacking over the

south-east of England, using up more fuel, that is one of the benefits

that comes from smarter use of airspace.

It will help contribute, as will cleaner, newer generation more

fuel-efficient aircraft that we will see, I think,

extensively in this country in the coming years.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and

Wales, Peter Clarke, says many of his reports

He told the Justice Committee that jails that did not

into practice, often failed to improve or even decline.

In 60 seconds, tell me what is wrong with

Basically, they are unsafe, they are full of drugs, we

have an ageing population, physically the environment is

appalling, and there are far too many people in our prisons suffering

In my judgment, those five issues will

create a major obstruction to the reform programme.

Mr Clarke, so who is holding up this reform?

You've identified the problems, you have

talked about what needs to be improved, where is the block in the

system that prevents the changes that need to be made?

Well, in terms of those issues which I have

mentioned, they are issues which we frequently

refer to in our report, and if I have a

frustration, it's that far too often, not always,

And not in all prisons, but in some, the

prisons which do not respond to the recommendations in our reports,

where there is a hugely low uptake of implementation of our

recommendations are those prisons which do not improve or which

actually decline in the way in which they treat prisoners and the

outcomes that prisoners encounter in those prisons.

The government is seen to need to do more to the

release of the British Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

being held in Iran with her baby daughter.

The charity worker has been accused of security

offences and was detained while trying to leave the country after

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who is

from London, said his wife's detention was a stain on Iran, and

her family denies she has broken any laws.

Here, we have a young mother, a British Iranian citizen imprisoned

after visiting her family with her daughter.

Her daughter is solely a British citizen.

Surely the time has come for the UK to call for

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release before she,

her little daughter, and her

husband, here today with his own mother, suffer further.

My lords, the suffering of the family can only

And we should throughout all of this, regardless of some of

the extraordinary claims made on the internet,

we should remember that this is a loving father who simply

wants his family to be reunited, and I fully respect that.

That is why, my lords, we are urgently seeking

information on what further legal avenues are available

to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and undertake, the FCO

support the family, both here in London and in Tehran.

The former UK ambassador to the EU, Mr Ivan

Rogers, make the headlines in December after the BBC reported his

private remarks to the Prime Minister about how long Brexit

Sir Ivan stepped down last month and in his

resignation letter, he told officials to challenge muddled

Now, in his first public appearance since

his resignation, he has told the European Scrutiny Committee that

Brexit negotiations could be difficult.

This is going to be difficult on a humongous scale,

going to have enormous amounts of business running up

they involve difficult trade-offs for Her Majesty's Government, and

difficult trade-offs for the other 27 on the other side of the table.

Sir Bill Cash asked about an assertion

in the letter last October that exit negotiations could take ten years.

You said that it was going to take ten years.

Can you confirm whether in fact you actually said that?

Was it an intention that you thought you

would be able to get across the message without anyone really

I mean, can you give us a bit more information on that?

I can indeed. I never said it would take ten

Is this reporting by the BBC based on off-the-record remarks and

No. It isn't?

No. Where do you think it came from?

We hear threats, and I assume they are

threats, that is how I interpret them, of having to pay billions of

So far as joining a club, you pay every year to be a member, and when

you leave, you don't pay to leave the club.

You say, thank you very much, and you head off.

So, do you think this is a genuine, a real

threat to us to pay billions of euros to a club

Or do you think that is an unreasonable request to make at this

I think it can be both genuine and unreasonable, if I may

I hear it considerably, and it has been

He called it a predictably very hard line coming

from the EU commission and from some member states.

And Dane with Brexiter related committees, the

international trade secretary told MPs that the UK is already having

talks over potential trade deals with countries,

including Australia, China, and India.

Liam Fox told the Commons international trade

committee that the new trading relationships would not be something

But he hoped they would be an addition to a three

trade deal with the remaining member states.

In terms of Australia, we have an Australia UK trade working

In terms of China, we have a trade working group, and I'm

chairing the joint economic and trade committee in Beijing.

With a collection of Gulf states, we are working with them to

determine what relationship would be, and looking at our potential

FTA with India, we've got a joint working group, I chaired

And we have embarked on a process of trade

If you were to add up all those potential countries, the level

of exports that you have been talking about, on the list that you

had there, it doesn't come anywhere near the level of exports that we

Well, I'm sure our former chief Secretary all know that

adding up lots of small numbers gets lots of numbers in the end.

And, of course, it is not an either or.

We're not looking here at either trading with the EU or trading with

Your department issued a press release at the

beginning of the year, the item secures over 16 billion

The Financial Times went through the list that you had here.

In fact, most of those have been already

It is the continuity of what UKTI, now the IT

And it was an antidote to the idea that people are

not going to be investing in the United Kingdom.

I have just been in Qatar, and we will be cheering the

UK Qatar UK investment conference in March.

Do you regret the title of your press release?

It was really your department that's secured

I think the more good news we give to

the public, the better, and it counters some of the black

propaganda that still wants to undermine the referendum.

The government has been told to rethink

its alcohol strategy and bring in a minimum unit price

The call came from across the chamber, as MPs debated ways to

One MP focused on the damage done when pregnant women drank, revealing

his own adopted children were both affected by a condition called fetal

The debate was opened by the chair of the all-party

There are currently over 10 million people

drinking at levels which increased their risk of health harm.

those aged 15 to 49 in England, alcohol is now the leading risk

factor of ill health, early mortality, and disability.

MPs turned to the impact of drinking during pregnancy top fetal alcohol

As an adoptive parent, I discovered just

how common this is amongst children who are adopted, including amongst

I didn't know if he can recall when we were receiving

evidence in our all-party group about the impact of fetal alcohol

syndrome on adopt it and fostered children,

that one survey indicated that of the cohort of adoptive

fostered children who were assessed, up to 70% of them have been affected

A Labour MP and former minister had spoken previously about growing up

I know what it is like to feel that cold nausea when you've find

the empty bottles around the house, I know what it is like to feel sick

when you hear your parent being sick first thing in the morning

He said the children of alcoholics often fell

The shadow health minister said his alcoholic father have moved

to Thailand and not come back to the UK for his wedding,

Friends that he had made over there told me he was drinking

They told me he couldn't come to the wedding because he didn't

So, look, I'm the Shadow Health Secretary, I'm going to do

lots of criticising the Tories because it is my job.

But can I say this, minister, I will work with government to put

in place a proper strategy for supporting the children

of alcoholic on a cross-party basis because, quite simply,

2 million children are suffering, let's send them a message

that they should no longer suffer in silence.

The minister said there were grounds for optimism.

People under 18 are drinking less, attitudes are beginning to change,

and there has been a steady reduction in alcohol-related

There was more to do, she said, but she took courage

Great social change requires three things, I think.

It requires long-term political will, it requires

nonpartisan partnership, and it requires bravery.

And I have heard all three of those today.

And I hope that each member who has spoken here today will continue

to work with me as we fight together to tackle this social injustice.

The health Minister Nicola Blackwood.

But do join Joanna on Monday night at 11pm for another round-up

of the best of the day's events at Westminster, as MPs

begin their detailed debate on the bill triggering the start

But for now, from me, Alicia McCarthy, goodbye.