26/01/2017 Thursday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Thursday in Parliament.

The Brexit Bill has been published, but some MPs say the Government

hasn't allowed enough time to debate it.

I am astonished at the amount of time that the Leader of the House

A new direction for US foreign policy?

The Foreign Secretary chooses his words carefully.

I don't think we've seen any policy changes, official policy changes

And Gordon Brown warns that there's not enough money to educate

The children of the world will be without the qualifications they

need, and that is indeed a crisis that's got to be dealt with.

The day kicked off with questions to David Davis, the Secretary

The Prime Minister has announced that there

will be a White Paper, setting out the Government's Brexit strategy.

Many MPs wanted to know when the document would appear.

Can I thank the Secretary of State very much for the part he played,

That has been welcomed across the House, and is good news.

Can he now tell us, does he know when it might be published,

and how much time this place will have to debate it?

Of course, this is a decision solely for the Prime Minister,

to publish the White Paper, but it's nice to be able to agree

In terms of timing, we are going to be...

Sorry, my voice and the microphone together.

In terms of timing, the Prime Minister said

It will be as expeditiously as we can.

It takes time, she knows, she's been in Government,

these things have a procedure, it takes time to do,

but we won't waste time in producing it for the House.

I hope the Secretary of State gets his voice back,

he'll be needing it over the next couple of weeks.

Does he think that we should be able to see the White Paper before

Well, with respect to the honourable gentleman,

There'll be lots of legislation, I assume - I'm looking

to see if he nods - I assume he's referring

The Article 50 legislation is about carrying out

the will of the British people, the decision

There will be much more legislation after that

which will relate to policy, the maintenance of European law -

that's the Great Repeal Bill, but also the new legislation

So it's certainly going to be before all that, and I'll be

I'm concerned by some of the responses from the Secretary

of State, who seemed to be bursting with entusiasm

about this White Paper, now it seems we may not get it

Given the level of interest in the legislation and the amendments

that are going to be tabled, we need this White Paper before

How do you deal with an opposition that won't take yes for an answer?

I've said we'll deal with it and I will produce it

as expeditiously as possible, as quickly as possible.

He can work as fast as he can, I suppose, but we do need it

When we get it, will it be a cut and paste of

Or instead, will we have assessments of the financial impact on this

Let me start, as I said at the beginning,

the Prime Minister's speech - one of the clearest expositions

of national policy I've heard in many, many years -

answered all of the questions that the opposition and

Brexit Committee raised, other than those that would actively

Labour will be putting down amendments to the Brexit Bill.

Now that we have a commitment to a White Paper, the role

of Parliament in the Article 50 process needs to be determined.

That's why Labour will seek to table an amendment to the proposed

Article 50 bill to require the Secretary of State to lay periodic

reports at intervals of no less than two months on progress

of the negotiations under Article 50.

Will the Secretary of State commit now to the principle

Well, from behind me, I hear, "Like he's not going to do that".

Since the start of this, since September, nearly five months,

I've done five statements in front of this House, ten debates,

appeared in front of a number of select committees and that

I suspect two months will be a rather unambitious aim.

A little later, a Bill paving the way for the UK's exit

from the European Union was presented to Parliament.

It's called the European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill.

European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill.

And the Commons leader, David Lidington announced

the timetable for debating the Bill in the Commons.

Tuesday the 31st of January, second reading of the

European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill, day one.

Wednesday the first of February, conclusion of second reading

of the European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill.

Monday the 6th of February, consideration in committee

of the European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill, day one.

Tuesday the 7th of February, continuation of consideration

in committee of the European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill.

Wednesday the 8th of February, conclusion of consideration

in committee for the European Union - Notification of Withdrawal Bill,

followed by remaining stages of the European Union -

So that's five days for debating the Brexit Bill.

As you can hear from the jeers, some MPs did not think the Government

First there was to be no vote, now there's a vote.

Then there was to be no bill, now there's a bill.

Then there was to be no White Paper, now there's to be a White Paper.

We should have chanced our arm and said we should definitely be

The second reading will be next Tuesday, but we of course know

there will be the committee of the whole House the following

week with everything rushed through and concluded

As the Leader of the House, as the guardian of this House's

procedure and its business, will he now guarantee today

and right now there will be a White Paper published in time

for the committee of the whole House, so this House can consider

that White Paper and a bill of such importance and magnitude.

I was astonished at the amount of time that the Leader of the House

has given this Parliament to debate it.

And he's being very coy about whether the White Paper

will be published before the committee stage of the Bill.

Can he give us more time and tell us if he's going to publish

I think, if you consider that this is a two-clause bill,

that the second clause is dealing only with the extent of the Bill

to the United Kingdom, there is plenty of time,

including two full days at second reading, for all opinions

Just three days to debate the detail of the most important issue facing

this country in a generation, the repercussions of which will face

generations to come, is totally unacceptable.

And I would hope that every opposition party in this House

and every member who cares about parliamentary democracy

will vote against this contempt of Parliament when it comes

Well, I simply say to the honourable gentleman that his party supported

the Referendum Bill, and putting the question

to the people, and his party supported the timetable

of triggering Article 50 by the end of March.

And the Bill is designed to secure that those objectives are met.

The UK is in a position to show "international leadership" to end

the fighting in Yemen and prevent a famine -

that's the view of the SNP's Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh,

who called for an urgent statement about the conflict

between the forces loyal to the Yemen's President Hadi

The Foreign Office Minister set out the UK's position.

The UK supports the Saudi Arabian-led coalition

military intervention, which came at the request

of the legitimate President Hadi, and we are clear through that

coalition and the Government of Yemen military gains must be

used to drive forward the political process.

I last spoke to President Hadi on the 15th of January to discuss

the importance of taking measures to prevent economic collapse.

We continue to strongly support the tireless efforts

of the UN special envoy, in trying to achieve

We're providing over ?1 million to the UN special envoy's office

to bolster the UN's capacity to facilitate the peace process,

and the UN special envoy is due to brief the UN Security Council

today in New York on the latest developments on the UN's plans.

When the UN Security Council meets this afternoon,

it will do so against a backdrop of heavy fighting in the Red Sea,

and an increasingly dire humanitarian situation

There are already 7 million people starving in Yemen.

If these ports are destroyed or besieged, then delivery of vital

aid which is required to avert famine in Yemen will become

The only way to prevent this unfolding humanitarian disaster

deteriorating even further is to agree an immediate ceasefire.

Today's meeting of the UN Security Council provides a key

The SNP believes that the UK is in a unique position to show

positive international readership in order to bring about

I understand her desire to want to call for a ceasefire,

a cessation of hostilities immediately.

We will see what comes out of the meeting today and comes out

But I'm absolutely in agreement with her, this is actually

Calling for it needs to work in conjunction

with the art of the possible, otherwise it simply is just words.

In order for us to be able to ensure it will hold,

we need to be able to say what happens if one of the sides,

either of the sides, actually breaches the

He talks about the need for a political solution,

when is he going to present our resolution to the United Nations?

When we going to get proper investigations

into alleged violations of international humanitarian law?

Why we continuing to sell Saudi Arabia the arms

And, ultimately, when we going to bring the suffering of the people

of Yemen to an end and then get the humanitarian aid

Every debate, every month, now every year, we ask

the same basic questions, and every time the Minister -

whose name now is, I'm afraid, synonymous with the Yemen conflict -

stands there and gives us the same non-answers.

The Minister said that arms were subject to strict controls, and aid

was getting to people caught up in this awful conflict.

You're watching Thursday in Parliament

Now, as the Prime Minister was preparing to meet Donald Trump,

the Foreign Secretary was facing a group of peers.

Theresa May wants to enhance the UK's special

And President Trump has said he wants a quick

Boris Johnson, however, had to admit to significant policy

differences between Downing Street and the White House.

We've had statements from the new president to ABC

which showed pretty fundamental disregard for a whole number

of the United States international obligations,

most specifically under the torture Convention.

We have to be very careful with this.

I certainly don't think we seen any policy changes,

official policy changes, or policy pronouncements and,

on the matter of torture, which you rightly draw attention to,

I think the Prime Minister made the position of the government

very clear yesterday in the House of Commons and that is unchanged.

Mrs May says the UK does not sanction torture. What about

refugees from certain countries? Do you think it's acceptable under

international obligations shared by the UK and the US,

to have a ban on refugees I don't want to disappoint

the committee by, you know, retreating too much into this

formula but we haven't yet seen Rather than get into some sort

of hypothetical dispute, let's see And what about the nuclear deal

with Iran, resident Trump says it's I assume that is not the view

of the government since the government is a party

to the deal and doesn't presumably go around making the

worst deals ever made. I think we've already

made our views very clear to the Trump Administration

that we think trying to improve relations

with Iran through this deal, you know, it's a pretty cautious

thing, is, on the whole, a good thing and we regard that

as one of the achievements And then to what may

prove one of the most President Trump has been very clear

already that he wants to eradicate Islamic militancy from the face

of the Earth and he's also been clear that he's prepared

to have a new approach to prioritise the defeat of Isis, possibly

in collaboration with Russia. Would you support a change in US -

UK direction to support those goals, possibly even joining forces,

figuratively and militarily, We are already with

the United States engaged very The committee will know that

more than 1000 sorties have been flown, I think,

almost 1200, we are there. Are you prepared to see

an alliance of forces, To switch sides, to come

in on the side of Assad and the Russians, would be seen,

I think, as a great betrayal of the people of Syria

who have opposed Assad. It would be seen as a betrayal

of the moderate armed opposition that we have supported

and it would be... It would have grave

repercussions in the area. We might find ourselves

in days and weeks to come where the United States

is on a different side That would put us on a direct

collision, or not on a collision but on two different sides

of this argument. With the closest allies

that we are trying to forge relationship that it has been

over the last decades, If there is a possibility

of an arrangement with the Russians that simultaneously allows Assad

to move towards the exit and diminishes Iranian influence

in the region by getting rid of Assad and allows us to join

with the Russians in... attacking Daesh and wiping them off

the face of the earth, or whatever the president has said,

then that might be a way forward. But there were, he said,

no good options. But even if we did achieve the end,

this is the real hit, nor is it clear that even if we did

achieve the end of the Assad regime, that Syria would

be in a better place. The Brexit secretary David Davis

also faced questions on President Trump's remarks

over the use of torture. The Prime Minister will today meet

an American president who champions torture and who is proud

to discriminate against Muslims. Would the Secretary of State,

therefore, agree with me that it is even more important

that his government send a strong moral message,

goods and chattels are bargaining Will he confirm the residency

rights of EU nationals? The Honourable Lady knows my stance

on torture down the years, And the British government's stance

on torture is very plain. We don't condone it,

we don't agree with it under any The Labour former

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has returned to Parliament,

for a few hours, at least, to talk to a committee of MPs

about the challenges he faces in his new job as the UN

special envoy for education. He talked about what he'd seen

first hand when he visited You go to a place like South Sudan,

where I was a few months ago, I don't know if the committee

has been there recently. You have been there some years ago,

I know that, and you meet mothers who have come across the border

from Saddam into South Sudan, The one thing they want

for their children is education. We forget that shelter is sometimes

secretary to the importance that their child has the best

chance in life. I was in a village just outside

Djuba and there was this project, the Bangladesh group who do

these small huts, as schools, so there were places in the school

for only about 20 kids. I remember being in that heart

and there was a small portable and looking in on that portal

were about a hundred kids who were unable to get the education

they wanted and there was another who told me she had to choose

between her twins, at eight years A Labour MP quoted

the Chief Executive of the global As part of this enquiry

in November Alice Albright, I would have liked her to be

the Democratic candidate but the chair won't allow me to go

there, I don't think, told this committee

that there is a funding crisis And it has gone into humanitarian

shelter and survival, as infrastructure, agriculture got

money, as health has got more money, Unless we now realise that by 2030

there will be 800 million children, half the children of the world,

800 million children, who will not finish education

with any qualification of any value whatsoever, and in 2030 on current

trends, 200 million will still be out of school and never

finish their primary education, 400 million will only get primary

level qualifications, and, as I said, half the children

of the world will be without And that is, indeed,

a crisis that has to be dealt with. So it's a crisis in terms of we've

got a duty to step in when we know that countries will not

meet their targets and we know that we've got a duty we've agreed

to meet that every child be in education, so we need

to do something about I say that 15% of aid, at least,

should go to education. He moved on to talk

about an initiative In a unique project which is called

the double shift school system, we are using the same school

in the morning for Lebanese children and in the afternoon

for Syrian refugees. They've managed to get almost

a quarter of a million children Would you agree that it is vital

that we commit money to humanitarian aid and the vital issue of health,

given the fact that we are at 0.7% and there is no room for increase,

where would you see additional funds I do regret the fact that DFed has

reduced the share for education in saved budget from something

like 12 to 15%, I think, I do understand that some

of that is for humanitarian aid but I think that there is money

to be found for education in other parts of the budget

without affecting health, for example, which I know you

and I think is important, as well. Making a brief appearance

back in Parliament. Now, the Supreme Court ruled

against the government on Tuesday, saying that Parliament

should authorise the That followed a lengthy

and complex court case. Some Peers want to know

how much it all cost. My Lords, the figures for the total

costs associated with the case I had hoped that the welcome

announcement yesterday of a White Paper might have tempted

the noble Lord into answering my question in another

welcome U-turn today. But can I put a serious

issue to him. The Prime Minister has been clear

that she would invoke Article 50 Given that is her deadline

of her choosing, does he accept that it would be more open

and democratic if the past two months were used for Parliamentary

debate rather than the rushed process we have now

during a delay to be considered Well, I dispute, I'm sorry

the premise on which that question is founded,

I'm sorry to say. The government believed,

as did a number of others, including the Leader

of the Opposition straight after the referendum,

that the triggering of Article 50 was a matter for the Royal

prerogative, that was disputed, as I said yesterday,

people have a right to be able That battle was taken for court

and a judgment has been passed. My Lords, I would also dispute

that the last few months have not I have very much enjoyed coming

to this house and answering questions and giving statements

and doing other things and I'm sure Does my right honourable friend not

think it extraordinary to have had that question when the Leader

of the Opposition wanted to move Article 50 the week

after the referendum result? My Lords, it was the day

after the referendum result he said this

and that is absolutely the case. We were not alone, therefore,

in assuming that we would be able to use the Royal prerogative

on the triggering of Article 50. My Lords, the courts have required

the government to come to Parliament to trigger the negotiating process,

the government have said that Parliament will have a vote

at the end of it but what plans does the government have two involve

Parliament and consult parliament during the course

of the negotiations, or is it the case that

for the entire negotiating process, Parliament will actually have no

significant role in influencing I'm very sorry to say,

the noble Lord, I don't know whether I have been somewhere else

or he has been somewhere else but I've been answering questions

here, giving statements and taking part in debates and this

will continue, my Lords, We are absolutely committed

to ensuring that this house and the other place will have ample

opportunity to scrutinise Furthermore, as I have set out

on a number of occasions, there will also be the great repeal

bill and the legislation that will flow from that

which will give your Lordships, I can assure you, a great amount

of legislative fodder But do join me on Friday night at 11

for a round-up of a fast-moving week But, until then, from me,

Kristiina Cooper, goodbye.