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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow (now) and Nicola Slawson (earlier)

Government wins vote on EU withdrawal bill with majority of 36 - as it happened

Watch live: MPs resume debate on the EU withdrawal bill

Summary

That’s all from me for tonight.

Thanks for the comments.

Here is Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s international affairs spokesman, on tonight’s votes.

The passing of the bill to the committee stage this evening marks a dark day for devolution and democracy in the UK, and another step closer towards the damaging impact the Tory government’s Brexit strategy – or lack of – will have on the UK’s economy, jobs and living standards.

Despite the disappointment, I am pleased to see Labour’s shift in stance towards backing the SNP’s long-standing position on the importance of securing the best possible legislation and deal, and the dangers if opposition parties remain divided in their approach in holding this Tory government to account.

This is echoed by yesterday’s welcome comments by Jeremy Corbyn on seeking a deal whereby the UK stays in the single market.

The challenge now is for MPs across the chamber to unite behind a common purpose in ensuring that this UK government is prevented from railroading further Brexit legislation through that risks the very foundations of devolution.

Ken Clarke votes against government on programme motion

And here are the figures showing how MPs voted by party on the programme motion.

For the progamme motion

Conservatives: 308

DUP: 10

Against the programme motion

Labour: 248

SNP: 34

Lib Dem: 12

Plaid Cymru: 4

Green: 1

Conservative: 1 (Ken Clarke)

Independent: 1 (Lady Hernon)

  • Ken Clarke, the Conservative former chancellor, voted against the government on the programme motion. He was the only Conservative to vote against the government in any of the three votes on the bill tonight. On the main second reading vote he abstained.

Full list of 290 MPs who voted against bill at second reading

And here is the full list of the 290 MPs who voted against the bill at second reading.

Ms Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Mr Adrian Bailey (Labour (Co-op) - West Bromwich West)
Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Margaret Beckett (Labour - Derby South)
Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Luciana Berger (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Mr Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods (Labour - City of Durham)
Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Mr Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Mr Nicholas Brown (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Ms Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Sir Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Dr Lisa Cameron (Scottish National Party - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Mr Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Jenny Chapman (Labour - Darlington)
Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Ann Clwyd (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Vernon Coaker (Labour - Gedling)
Ann Coffey (Labour - Stockport)
Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Jeremy Corbyn (Labour - Islington North)
Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
John Cryer (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Mr Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Sir Edward Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Geraint Davies (Labour (Co-op) - Swansea West)
Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Emma Dent Coad (Labour - Kensington)
Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Dr David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Ms Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Mrs Louise Ellman (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, Riverside)
Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Mike Gapes (Labour (Co-op) - Ilford South)
Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Mr Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Ms Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Sue Hayman (Labour - Workington)
John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Mr Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Mr Stephen Hepburn (Labour - Jarrow)
Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Dame Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Mr George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Dr Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Mr David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Ms Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Mr Chris Leslie (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham East)
Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Mr Ivan Lewis (Labour - Bury South)
David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Mr Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Christian Matheson (Labour - City of Chester)
Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Stuart C. McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Mr Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Conor McGinn (Labour - St Helens North)
Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Brendan O’Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Jared O’Mara (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Fiona Onasanya (Labour - Peterborough)
Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)
Albert Owen (Labour - Ynys Môn)
Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Teresa Pearce (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Mr Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Ms Marie Rimmer (Labour - St Helens South and Whiston)
Mr Geoffrey Robinson (Labour - Coventry North West)
Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Joan Ryan (Labour - Enfield North)
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Mr Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Mr Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Mr Gavin Shuker (Labour (Co-op) - Luton South)
Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Ruth Smeeth (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Angela Smith (Labour - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Mr Paul J Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Chuka Umunna (Labour - Streatham)
Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Tom Watson (Labour - West Bromwich East)
Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Dr Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Dr Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Dr Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Chris Williamson (Labour - Derby North)
Phil Wilson (Labour - Sedgefield)
Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
John Woodcock (Labour (Co-op) - Barrow and Furness)
Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)

There were also two tellers for the noes, Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford) and Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe).

Full of MPs who voted for EU withdrawal bill at second reading

Here is the full list of the 326 MPs who voted for the EU withdrawal bill at second reading.

Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Heidi Allen (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Victoria Atkins (Conservative - Louth and Horncastle)
Mr Richard Bacon (Conservative - South Norfolk)
Mrs Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - Saffron Walden)
Mr Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Stephen Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Mr John Baron (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Guto Bebb (Conservative - Aberconwy)
Sir Henry Bellingham (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Richard Benyon (Conservative - Newbury)
Sir Paul Beresford (Conservative - Mole Valley)
Jake Berry (Conservative - Rossendale and Darwen)
Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Crispin Blunt (Conservative - Reigate)
Mr Peter Bone (Conservative - Wellingborough)
Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Mr Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Andrew Bridgen (Conservative - North West Leicestershire)
Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
James Brokenshire (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Conor Burns (Conservative - Bournemouth West)
Alistair Burt (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Mr Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Mr Ronnie Campbell (Labour - Blyth Valley)
James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Sir William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Mr Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Jo Churchill (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Mr Simon Clarke (Conservative - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Damian Collins (Conservative - Folkestone and Hythe)
Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Mr Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
David T. C. Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Mims Davies (Conservative - Eastleigh)
Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Mr David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Mr Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Leo Docherty (Conservative - Aldershot)
Julia Dockerill (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast North)
Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson (Democratic Unionist Party - Lagan Valley)
Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Ms Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Richard Drax (Conservative - South Dorset)
James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
David Duguid (Conservative - Banff and Buchan)
Mr Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Sir Alan Duncan (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Mr Philip Dunne (Conservative - Ludlow)
Michael Ellis (Conservative - Northampton North)
Mr Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Charlie Elphicke (Conservative - Dover)
George Eustice (Conservative - Camborne and Redruth)
Mr Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Sir Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Suella Fernandes (Conservative - Fareham)
Frank Field (Labour - Birkenhead)
Mark Field (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Kevin Foster (Conservative - Torbay)
Dr Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Mr Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Lucy Frazer (Conservative - South East Cambridgeshire)
George Freeman (Conservative - Mid Norfolk)
Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Mr Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Sir Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Mr David Gauke (Conservative - South West Hertfordshire)
Ms Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Zac Goldsmith (Conservative - Richmond Park)
Mr Robert Goodwill (Conservative - Scarborough and Whitby)
Michael Gove (Conservative - Surrey Heath)
Luke Graham (Conservative - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Mrs Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and The Weald)
James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)
Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Justine Greening (Conservative - Putney)
Mr Dominic Grieve (Conservative - Beaconsfield)
Mr Sam Gyimah (Conservative - East Surrey)
Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Mr Philip Hammond (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Greg Hands (Conservative - Chelsea and Fulham)
Mr Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Richard Harrington (Conservative - Watford)
Rebecca Harris (Conservative - Castle Point)
Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Simon Hart (Conservative - Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire)
Mr John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Sir Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative - North Devon)
Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Nick Herbert (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Kate Hoey (Labour - Vauxhall)
George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Mr Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Kelvin Hopkins (Labour - Luton North)
John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)
Mr Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Mr Nick Hurd (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Mr Alister Jack (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Margot James (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Mr Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Mr Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Boris Johnson (Conservative - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Dr Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Joseph Johnson (Conservative - Orpington)
Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Mr David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Mr Marcus Jones (Conservative - Nuneaton)
Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Seema Kennedy (Conservative - South Ribble)
Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Julian Knight (Conservative - Solihull)
Sir Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative - Spelthorne)
John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Mark Lancaster (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Mrs Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Dr Phillip Lee (Conservative - Bracknell)
Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Sir Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Sir Oliver Letwin (Conservative - West Dorset)
Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Brandon Lewis (Conservative - Great Yarmouth)
Dr Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Mr David Lidington (Conservative - Aylesbury)
Emma Little Pengelly (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast South)
Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Mr Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Mrs Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Alan Mak (Conservative - Havant)
Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
John Mann (Labour - Bassetlaw)
Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Mrs Theresa May (Conservative - Maidenhead)
Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Sir Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative - Derbyshire Dales)
Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Mark Menzies (Conservative - Fylde)
Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Mrs Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Amanda Milling (Conservative - Cannock Chase)
Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Anne Milton (Conservative - Guildford)
Mr Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Penny Mordaunt (Conservative - Portsmouth North)
Nicky Morgan (Conservative - Loughborough)
Anne Marie Morris (Independent - Newton Abbot)
David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Mrs Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Dr Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Sarah Newton (Conservative - Truro and Falmouth)
Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Neil O’Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Dr Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Neil Parish (Conservative - Tiverton and Honiton)
Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Mr Owen Paterson (Conservative - North Shropshire)
Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)
Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Claire Perry (Conservative - Devizes)
Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Christopher Pincher (Conservative - Tamworth)
Dr Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Rebecca Pow (Conservative - Taunton Deane)
Victoria Prentis (Conservative - Banbury)
Mr Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Jeremy Quin (Conservative - Horsham)
Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Dominic Raab (Conservative - Esher and Walton)
John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Mr Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Mary Robinson (Conservative - Cheadle)
Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Douglas Ross (Conservative - Moray)
Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Amber Rudd (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
David Rutley (Conservative - Macclesfield)
Antoinette Sandbach (Conservative - Eddisbury)
Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Mr Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Alok Sharma (Conservative - Reading West)
Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Mr Keith Simpson (Conservative - Broadland)
Chris Skidmore (Conservative - Kingswood)
Mr Dennis Skinner (Labour - Bolsover)
Chloe Smith (Conservative - Norwich North)
Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Sir Nicholas Soames (Conservative - Mid Sussex)
Anna Soubry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Dame Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Bob Stewart (Conservative - Beckenham)
Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Rory Stewart (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Graham Stringer (Labour - Blackley and Broughton)
Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Rishi Sunak (Conservative - Richmond (Yorks))
Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Sir Hugo Swire (Conservative - East Devon)
Mr Robert Syms (Conservative - Poole)
Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)
Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Michael Tomlinson (Conservative - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
David Tredinnick (Conservative - Bosworth)
Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Elizabeth Truss (Conservative - South West Norfolk)
Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge and Malling)
Mr Edward Vaizey (Conservative - Wantage)
Mr Shailesh Vara (Conservative - North West Cambridgeshire)
Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Mr Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Mr Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Mr Ben Wallace (Conservative - Wyre and Preston North)
David Warburton (Conservative - Somerton and Frome)
Matt Warman (Conservative - Boston and Skegness)
Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Mrs Heather Wheeler (Conservative - South Derbyshire)
Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Mr John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Conservative - Totnes)
Mike Wood (Conservative - Dudley South)
Mr William Wragg (Conservative - Hazel Grove)
Jeremy Wright (Conservative - Kenilworth and Southam)
Nadhim Zahawi (Conservative - Stratford-on-Avon)

There were also two tellers for the ayes, Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton) and Mark Spencer (Conservative - Sherwood).

How MPs voted at second reading - including the seven Labour MPs who backed government

We now have the breakdown of how MPs voted, by party, at second reading.

Voting for the second reading

Conservatives: 308

DUP: 10

Labour: 7

Independent: 1

The Labour MPs voting in favour were: Ronnie Campbell, Frank Field, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, John Mann, Dennis Skinner and Graham Stringer.

The independent was Anne Marie Morris (in reality a Conservative - see 12.30am.)

  • Seven Labour MPs vote with government for EU withdrawal bill at second reading.

Voting against the second reading

Labour: 238

SNP: 34

Lib Dem: 12

Plaid Cymru: 4

Independent: 1

Green party: 1

This independent was Lady Hernon, the MP for North Down and the one proper independent in the Commons.

  • No Tory MPs rebel against government by voting against bill at second reading.

Updated

There were two further motions relating to the bill on the order paper - a money motion, authorising spending arising from the bill, and a ways and means motion, authorising taxation required by the bill. Both went through on the nod (ie, by acclamation - because no MPs shouted “no” when given the chance.)

That was not because MPs opposed to the bill favour these particular measures. It was because they are auxiliary to the bill itself, and so any votes would just have been seen as a re-run of the ones we have already had.

MPs back programme motion by majority of 17

MPs have voted for the programme motion by 318 votes to 301 - a majority of 17.

Labour says vote for bill will 'lead to division and chaos' for Brexit

And here is a statement from Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, on the result.

This is a deeply disappointing result.

This bill is an affront to parliamentary democracy and a naked power grab by government ministers. It leaves rights unprotected, it silences parliament on key decisions and undermines the devolution settlement.

It will make the Brexit process more uncertain, and lead to division and chaos when we need unity and clarity.

Labour will seek to amend and remove the worst aspects from the bill as it passes through parliament. But the flaws are so fundamental it’s hard to see how this bill could ever be made fit for purpose.

May says vote for bill will provide 'certainty and clarity' for Brexit

Theresa May has issued this statement following about the bill getting its second reading.

Earlier this morning parliament took a historic decision to back the will of the British people and vote for a bill which gives certainty and clarity ahead of our withdrawal from the European Union.

Although there is more to do, this decision means we can move on with negotiations with solid foundations and we continue to encourage MPs from all parts of the UK to work together in support of this vital piece of legislation.

MPs are now voting on the programme motion, which says eight days will be set aside for the debate on the bill at committee stage (when MPs go through it line by line) and another two days for the bill’s remaining stages in the Commons.

MPs vote to give EU withdrawal bill second reading by majority of 36

MPs have voted to give the EU withdrawal bill a second reading by 326 to 290 - a majority of 36.

And here is the breakdown of MPs, by party, who voted against the Labour amendment.

Conservatives: 308

DUP: 9

Independent: 1

The independent is Anne Marie Morris, who is a Conservative but who has been suspended from the party for using a racist phrase and so now counts as an independent.

Updated

How MPs voted, by party, on the Labour amendment

Here is the breakdown of how many MPs, by party, voted for the Labour amendment.

Labour: 244

SNP: 34

Lib Dem: 12

Plaid Cymru: 4

Independent: 1

Green: 1

The Conservative Anne-Marie Trevelyan says Dennis Skinner, the veteran Labour MP and a Brexit supporter, has been voting with the government.

MPs are now voting on whether to give the bill a second reading. The result is likely to be very similar to the result of the first vote.

Government wins first EU withdrawal bill vote by majority of 22

The government has won the vote by 318 to 296 - a majority of 22.

Here is my colleague Anushka Asthana’s story about the debate.

And this is how it starts.

Conservative MPs have warned Theresa May that their support for her government’s Brexit legislation is not unconditional, as they prepared to demand significant changes to the EU withdrawal bill minutes after backing it in parliament.

Despite no expected Tory rebellion during the midnight vote of the bill’s second reading, senior backbenchers were among those racing to lay down critical amendments immediately afterwards.

Their calls for change come alongside those of MPs from across the House of Commons, including a series of demands from opposition frontbenches.

Significantly, the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, who has been highly critical of the legislation. teamed up with John Penrose MP to warn against a power grab by ministers through so-called Henry VIII powers.

Here is the full text of Labour’s reasoned amendment - explaining why it does not think the bill should get a second reading.

That this House respects the EU referendum result and recognises that the UK will leave the EU, believes that insisting on proper scrutiny of this bill and its proposed powers is the responsibility of this sovereign parliament, recognises the need for considered and effective legislation to preserve EU-derived rights, protections and regulations in UK law as the UK leaves the EU but declines to give a second reading to the European Union (withdrawal) bill because the bill fails to protect and reassert the principle of parliamentary sovereignty by handing sweeping powers to government ministers allowing them to bypass parliament on key decisions, allows for rights and protections to be reduced or removed through secondary legislation without any meaningful or guaranteed parliamentary scrutiny, fails to include a presumption of devolution which would allow effective transfer of devolved competencies coming back from the EU to the devolved administrations and makes unnecessary and unjustified alterations to the devolution settlements, fails to provide certainty that rights and protections will be enforced as effectively in the future as they are at present, risks weakening human rights protections by failing to transpose the EU charter of fundamental rights into UK law, provides no mechanism for ensuring that the UK does not lag behind the EU in workplace protections and environmental standards in the future and prevents the UK implementing strong transitional arrangements on the same basic terms we currently enjoy, including remaining within a customs union and within the single market.

MPs are now voting on the Labour amendment.

Lidington says government willing to allow MPs more time to debate bill at committee stage

Lidington says, despite these safeguards, sincere concerns were expressed by MPs.

There have been constructive comments from a range of MPs, he says.

He says between second reading and the committee stage David Davis and his team intend to discuss the suggestions made with MPs from all sides of the House.

For example, they will look at whether the right balance is struck between the negative and affirmative procedure (two mechanisms for passing secondary legislation - the bill favours the negative procedure, the only allowing the least scrutiny).

Dominic Grieve asks if the government is willing to extend the eight days allowed for the debate on the bill at committee stage.

Lidington says 64 hours have been set aside. That is more than the 39 hours set aside by the Blair government for the equivalent debate on the Lisbon treaty, he says. But he goes on:

Where there is good reason to extend debate further, we are willing to consider that very seriously and carefully indeed. I hope he will take that assurance in the spirit in which it has been intended.

  • Lidington says government willing to allow MPs more time to debate bill at committee stage.

Lidington is now turning to delegated powers.

There are “significant safeguards” in the bill, he says. MPs have overlooked those in the debate. Each of the clauses giving ministers powers to make law specifies that those powers can only be used in certain circumstances.

For example, the powers in clause nine can only be used for implementing the withdrawal agreement.

And clause 17 can only be used for “consequential” purposes. He says “consequential” has a long-established and tightly-defined meaning in parliamentary terms.

Turning to devolution, Lidington says the UK government wants to ensure that after Brexit a Scottish farmer can sell his produce throughout the UK without having to worry about two sets of regulations.

But he is confident that the devolved administrations will get more powers are Brexit, he says.

Lidington says EU treaties will cease to apply to the UK when the UK leaves the EU. But, under the bill, EU law will continue to apply.

For example, all the rights available under the working time directive or the Equality Act will remain in force.

Dominic Grieve, the pro-European Conservative former attorney general, says:

I wonder if what [Lidington] says can be correct.

(Grieve is being tactful; he means Lidington is wrong.) Grieve says under the bill specific rights to challenge government decisions to go.

(Grieve is referring to Francovich damages. There is more on that issue here.)

Lidington says those rights will continue to apply in the abstract. But he concedes that Grieve has a point in some respects.

Updated

Lidington says he wants to start by saying why the bill is needed.

Ken Clarke and Sir Keir Starmer, who are both strongly pro-remain - and Lidington says he puts himself in that category too - accepted that the bill is not about taking the UK out of the EU, he says. He says it is about ensuring that, when the UK does leave, the process will be smooth because EU law will have been imported into UK law.

He says, if Labour vote against the bill, they will be voting against people continuing to enjoy the rights they have under EU law.

Ken Clarke, the Conservative pro-European and former chancellor, intervenes. He asks for an undertaking that the government will produce “substantial amendments” at committee stage to address the concerns raised about the discretionary powers given by the bill to ministers. He says he would accept assurances from Lidington and David Davis because they are two members of the government he would trust (implying he would not say the same about some of their colleagues.)

Lidington says he will address this point in due course.

David Lidington winds up for the government

David Lidington, the justice secretary, is winding up now. He says 107 MPs have spoken in the two-day debate.

He wants to address the three main criticisms of the bill raised by MPs, he says.

They are: the underlying principles of EU law; the issues relating to devolution; and the proposals for delegated powers.

Pennycook says the bill is “fundamentally flawed”. Parliament should not accept it, and that is why Labour will vote against, he says.

Pennycook says ministers should not have asked MPs to support such a flawed bill. Labour raised concerns about the proposals after the white paper was published, and again after the bill itself was produced.

Many other committees and organisations have raised similar concerns.

The government has had plenty of time to change its plan. But only now are ministers promising to listen.

He says MPs are being asked to take ministers on trust when they say they will accept changes.

But in his opening speech David Davis, the Brexit secretary, defended the bill in its current form, he says.

Pennycook is still speaking.

The sweeping powers in the bill are not the only problem, he says.

The bill would also prevent a smooth transition. In ruling out the charter of fundamental rights, the bill could deny people the rights it is seeking to maintain.

And its implications for the devolved bodies could undermine the union, he says.

He quotes Dominic Grieve’s Evening Standard article criticising the bill approvingly.

The shadow Brexit minister, Matthew Pennycook, is winding up now for Labour from the front bench.

The bill is one of the most constitutionally important in history. And transferring EU law into UK law will be one of parliament’s biggest undertakings.

Pennycook says Labour accepts that EU law will have to be transferred into UK law to facilitate Brexit.

The bill is not about whether Brexit takes place, he says. He says Brexit will happen because of article 50 - which Labour overwhelmingly supported, he says.

Quoting Ken Clarke, he says the issue is not whether the bill is necessary - but whether in its current form it is acceptable.

Many MPs have identified flaws in the bill. As Sir Keir Starmer said in his opening speech, those problems are fundamental, he says.

He says the powers given to ministers in clauses seven to nine are “extraordinary in their constitutional potency and scope”.

And he says clause 17 is so extensive it could extend to every aspect of national life.

Updated

Labour’s Mike Hill, who represents Hartlepool, says most people in his constituency want Brexit. He says he accepts he needs to honour that. But voting against the bill does not amount to blocking Brexit, he says.

The Conservative MP Dan Poulter has not been impressed by the debate.

Labour’s James Frith tells MPs he has come to parliament to oppose the bill 36 hours after the birth of his baby, Bobby James. In a jibe at the Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg, he says MPs on his side of the House change nappies as well as serving in parliament.

Joanna Cherry, the SNP’s justice and home affairs spokeswoman, is speaking now. She quotes from a Law Society of Scotland briefing saying the bill would remove from Scotland legislative competence for EU law that is being repatriated to the UK. This would cover issues like fisheries, that are devolved, she says.

Good evening. I’m Andrew Sparrow and I’m taking over from Nicola, who has been driving the blog for the last five hours or so.

If, like me, you are quickly catching up, you might want to read today’s online Hansard. As I write it has the whole of the debate up to just after 8pm, and Victoria Atkins’ speech. You can read it here. It will update as the night goes on, although it is normally about three hours behind the actual debate.

Labour MP Alex Norris compares the Brexit strategy with that of a stag do.

He says:

We’re wandering around the continent wondering who’s with us - that’s the strategy of a stag do, not a negotiation.

For anyone who enjoys reading threads on Twitter, here’s one that is getting a lot of attention tonight.

It’s by Schona Jolly, a London-based international human rights and equalities lawyer.

SNP MP Pete Wishart points out that there will only be seven days to make changes during the committee stage.

He says technically there will be eight days of debate but because the parliamentary day is four hours shorter on two of the days reserved for debate, there will only be seven in reality.

He says:

Seven days to practically rewrite the whole of the law system for the United Kingdom. What an absolute embarrassment.

To put it into perspective, the Maastricht treaty had 22 days for debate during the committee stage.

“The clowns are in charge of the Brexit circus,” Wishart adds.

Updated

“This bill is flawed,” says Labour’s Gareth Snell.

“Look at the way government has treated this House,” he says, referring to how the government tried avoid consulting parliament when activating article 50.

“The writing of the bill is an affront to the democratic ideals which we hold dear,” he says in a passionate speech.

Updated

This is from the Daily Mirror’s Mikey Smith. Just 90 minutes left!

Updated

Suella Fernandes, a Tory MP, says that membership of the EU has had a “corrosive effect on democracy”.

She says voting against the bill could lead to chaos and calls the bill an “integral part of machinery that will make Brexit a reality and give parliament back its power”.

She says that Brexit is “a birth, and a chance for new beginnings, not a death”.

Updated

Big Ben got a mention earlier – of course – from Tory backbencher Nusrat Ghani. Here’s a little more from her speech.

She said:

Without the iconic and much-loved bongs of Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster may appear diminished, but the EU withdrawal bill, however, will ensure that this palace is more sovereign and more accountable with or without its hourly chimes.

Updated

Here’s more from Stephen Kinnock’s speech.

He said:

Lady Macbeth knew that as long as her husband was on the throne, that they would escape punishment for their crimes, because there was no check on their power.

This bill seeks to strip Parliament of its sovereign power, create a cabinet of kings and transform the flow of this House from the beating heart of our democracy into a spectators’ gallery, turning us from legislators into bystanders wholly dependent on the benevolence of ministers.

Let us make no mistake, this bill is not about delivering the will of people, rather it’s about gagging our democracy and this House by the way of a false discourse. It is a silent coup d’etat, masquerading as technical necessity.

Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem MP, says the bill is “tantamount to the temporary abolition of this House”.

The Independent’s John Rentoul is not impressed with either Davey or Stephen Kinnock’s choice of language.

Updated

Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP, says the bill “frustrates the will of the British people” and would lead to the “degradation of our fundamental constitutional rights”.

He says it will turn parliament into “a spectators gallery” while MPs watch on.

It would give ministers “the absolute power of feudal lords”, he warns, and “emasculate this House”.

Updated

This is from my colleague Anushka Asthana.

The BBC’s Esther Webber reminds followers on Twitter that there are still hours of debate to go until the actual vote.

Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams warns Westminster could be “lurching towards constitutional crisis”.

He says the government is seeking to reclaim powers which all parties backed being devolved to the Welsh assembly “as carelessly as it might throw a cigarette end into a pail of petrol”.

Updated

Neither Stella Creasy or Tulip Siddiq – both MPs for Labour – seem to mind the idea of staying late as suggested by Alex Burghart earlier.

Charlie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover & Deal, received a lot of support for making this comment about the EU divorce bill.

Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani says the bill is “a logical step” in the process of leaving the EU.

“Where were your objections when the laws were enacted in Brussels and forced on us in the first place?” she asks opposition MPs.

She adds that she will be “supporting democracy, respecting the will of the people” and voting for the bill.

Updated

SNP MP Hannah Bardell said “this deficient bill” is an “act of complete recklessness” by the government.

She says the bill seeks to “undermine the devolution settlement and the guarantees given to devolved nations on the protections of their power” and is “a wrecking ball to Britain’s democracy”.

Updated

Labour MP Mary Creagh says she will vote against the law because of “the unprecedented Henry VIII powers”.

She says the bill would turn Theresa May into “a female version of Louis XIV - the Sun King”, who reportedly said on his deathbed: “l’etat, c’est moi” (the state is me.)

The MP says instead it should be “l’etat, c’est nous.” (the state is us.)

“There will be no Sun Queen created on our watch,” she added.

Updated

Here’s more from the Tory MP for Brentwood and Ongar, Alex Burghart’s speech. He said MPs should sit until their work is done, as he hit out against “family friendly” hours for parliamentarians.

Burghart questioned how many MPs manage to put their children to bed at night and said the importance of the repeal bill “goes way beyond those concerns”.

The newly-elected MP said it would take time to get the necessary “give and take” on particular clauses and powers in the legislation.

He told the Commons:

If this House finds that it does not have enough time at committee stage it must have more. And call me boring, Mr Speaker, but I was a little disappointed on Thursday when the House didn’t sit past five and it was very sad to see such big beasts manacled to a five minute time constraint.

I heard the father of the house quite rightly pooh-pooh the Blairite family friendly hours under which we labour. Family friendly - is someone yanking my chain? Who of us here gets to put our children to bed of a night, as it is?

We should carry on sitting until our work is done - if we have to sit late, if we have to sit some Fridays, if we have to think about the length of recess, then we must. The importance of getting this Bill right goes way beyond those concerns - this is a job that requires sacrifice.

Giving his backing to the bill, Burghart said the government must be afforded “a degree of plasticity”.

“We do not yet know how the final deal will turn out, we do not yet know when such a deal will be available for this House,” he said. “This bill must be adaptable to permit that process to proceed as best it can and to allow for a multitude of outcomes.”

Updated

Watch Chris Bryant attack the government’s European Union (withdrawal) bill in House of Commons, saying it is fundamentally un-British and based on falsehoods, and authoritarian leaders such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or Vladimir Putin would be proud of the bill.

Labour’s Chris Bryant criticises ‘pernicious’ EU withdrawal bill – video

This is from the FT’s David Allen Green.

Former Labour frontbenchers Daniel Zeichner and Vernon Coaker said they plan to vote against the bill, citing wider concerns about Brexit.

Zeichner said:

Although it’s been increasingly said in parts of the country, actually we should not be withdrawing from the European Union at all, because it is not in our national interest to do so.

I fully understand the opprobrium that will probably be heaped on me for saying this, but I think I’m actually only stating the obvious.

As the farcical non-negotiations continue to fail to proceed, it is clearer and clearer that the most likely outcome is a last-minute fudge that will satisfy no one.

Coaker added:

My constituency voted to leave, and I respect that. But what they didn’t vote for was leaving at any cost to jobs, to business, to workers’ rights, to the environment, to welfare, to the unity of our country.

I have absolutely no problem going back and arguing in my constituency yes, to respect what they said, and how they voted, but also to say to them I cannot as your representative stand up in this parliament and say what is on offer from the government with this EU withdrawal bill is something that will be of benefit to you and your families.

Updated

Labour’s Stephen Doughty says the bill has to be seen in a wider context of recent actions by the government.

The delays in setting up committees, the programme motion that wants limit time spent on the bill, restrictions on judicial review, the Charities Act seeking to muzzle organisations and the trade union bill.

It is all part of a similar agenda by the government to shut down democratic debate.

Updated

Antoinette Sandbach, a Tory MP, said in her speech that her government’s bill was an “unacceptable attempt to demean the role of parliament.”

Updated

Conservative MP Alex Burghart raised eyebrows by criticising the family-friendly hours of the Commons, saying it should be allowed to sit as late as necessary, adding: “Who of us gets to put our kids to bed anyway?”

He said MPs should “carry on sitting until the job is done” and being an MP “requires sacrifice”.

Updated

Derek Thomas, the Tory MP for St Ives joined colleagues in suggesting changes could be made to the bill at a later stage.

He labelled the draft legislation the “only game in town” in a bid to achieve a “smooth” Brexit by March 2019.

However, he added:

I would like to hear how and when ministers intend to ensure full parliamentary process when deciding future UK laws.

Updated

Conservative MP Richard Drax was enjoying himself during his speech not long ago.

Here’s a tweet, featuring a clip worth watching, from the BBC’s Esther Webber.

Updated

Labour’s Heidi Alexander, a former shadow minister, said the bill paved the way for a minister to “sit behind their desk in Whitehall and take us out of the single market at a stroke of a pen”.

She said:

On the most important issue facing this country - our continued membership of the single market - this Bill could mean no direct vote in parliament, no say for MPs, no voice for our constituents.

When we talk about a power grab, it doesn’t get much bigger than that.

Alexander said she would table an amendment at committee stage to ensure parliament rather than ministers decides the UK’s future in the European Economic Area.

Updated

The Green party co-leader, Caroline Lucas, described the bill as “deeply dangerous and undemocratic” as she warned that Britain would be left with “zombie legislation”.

Lucas said the bill was a “constitutional outrage” regardless of people’s views on Brexit, and lambasted the “governance gap” on environmental protection.

She said:

Cutting and pasting laws from the EU statute book into the UK one simply isn’t enough because laws are only as effective as the mechanisms to implement and enforce them in practice.

And in the absence of mechanisms to replace the monitoring and enforcement roles of the Commission and the ECJ [European Court of Justice] we’re effectively going to be left with zombie legislation. It might be on the statute book but it’s not enforceable.

Updated

Conservative MP for Totnes Sarah Wollaston said she would support the government but only in the “expectation that they will support sensible amendments”.

She said:

The point of this is not that the government wants to obstruct sensible debate, I genuinely feel that, but that we should all of us, both as members across this House, working together with ministers, put in place something that genuinely works.

We know delegating legislation needs to be reformed even if we didn’t have this bill before us so let’s use this as an opportunity, because as we’ve heard there’s going to be up to 1,000 of these coming before this house, and we need this house to decide whether or not there’s going to be a negative or an affirmative procedure, we need to reform the way so that we can genuinely develop expertise along the lines suggested by the Hansard Society, with MPs with genuine interest scrutinising these proposals.

But also the point is that that committee would have the power to send it to a committee of the whole House, not just a small delegated legislation committee sitting in a committee room but all of us here as we’re doing today.

Updated

Tory MP, Conor Burns, has criticised Labour’s confused position over Brexit, saying they were perhaps getting their inspiration from Heinz by having 57 varieties of Brexit on offer.

The shadow home secretary supports free movement. The leader of the opposition and the shadow Brexit secretary say it must end.

The deputy leader says we would stay in the single market forever. The shadow chancellor says we should leave the single market to respect the referendum.

The shadow trade secretary has described staying in the customs union as ‘a disaster’, and the shadow Brexit secretary supports staying in a customs union, while the deputy leader of the Labour Party says we could stay in the customs union indefinitely.

One could be forgiven for thinking that honourable gentlemen opposite and their ladies on the front bench are getting their inspiration from Heinz, the 57 varieties of Brexit that are on offer.

And while the government introduce a sunset clause into this Bill, to make sure that the measures and provisions laid out in it can’t last for more than two years, the policy of the Labour Party on Brexit can barely last two days, and if it lasts two weeks it appears to be a long-term policy indeed.

This is Nicola Slawson taking over for the next few hours. Here’s a little more from Chris Bryant’s speech. He raised concerns about so-called Henry VIII powers, which would allow secondary legislation to be passed with little parliamentary scrutiny.

Ministers believe between 800 and 1,000 such statutory instruments will be required as Brexit legislation makes its way through parliament.

On the whole, the Tudor exercise was not a proud demonstration of democracy. These are clauses that Erdogan, Maduro and Putin would be proud of.

He told MPs the powers would allow ministers to alter the bill itself - “a dangerous spiral of autocracy”.

He added:

This bill is utterly pernicious, it is dangerous, it is fundamentally un-British and I think that it has at its heart a lie. It pretends to bring back power to this country, but it actually represents the biggest peace time power grab by the executive over the legislature, by the government over parliament, in 100 years.

Bryant said the government should “triage” the new powers, setting up a system to decide which laws can be decided under the clauses.

He said major changes to students, student nurses and benefits had already been made by the government through secondary legislation “which should never have been used for such measures”.

He said:

Look at the track record of this government. Because what they’ve done recently, they’ve engaged in what I would, frankly, call jiggery-pokery with the DUP to try and make sure that they have a majority, and let’s hope we do end up having a vote when it comes to an estimates day on the 1 billion for the DUP.

They delayed the setting up of select committees until now, so that it will be impossible for people to scrutinise many of the things that are going through during the summer months.

Tomorrow, they’re trying to make sure that for the first time in our history, the government which doesn’t have a majority in this House has a majority on every single committee. If that doesn’t make you question the bona fides of this government, nothing will.

Updated

Afternoon summary

  • Conservative MPs have renewed their call for amendments to the EU withdrawal bill at the start of its second day of debate. The Commons will vote at midnight. The bill seems certain to get a second reading and, with some reports suggesting around 20 Labour MPs will defy the whip and refuse to vote against the bill, it seems likely that Jeremy Corbyn will be hit by a larger rebellion than Theresa May. But many Conservative speaking in the debate have stressed that their support for the bill is conditional, and that they expect to see significant amendments to the bill when it goes through committee. They are concerned about the sweeping powers it will give to ministers to amend primary legislation by order (“Henry VIII” powers) and they wanted tougher parliamentary oversight. Some have also complained that only eight days have been set aside for the committee stage debate. In an unusual move, the debate is being wound up this evening not by a junior Brexit minister but by David Lidington, the justice secretary. Lidington is a pro-European who is liked and respected by those Tories most likely to rebel on this, and the Conservative MP Bob Neill said that he hoped when Lidington spoke, he would commit the government to giving more time for the committee stage debate if that proved necessary. (See 4.47pm.) A colleague will be taking over the blog for now, but I will be back after 11pm to cover the end of the debate and the votes. There could be five in all: on the Labour amendment, then the second reading, and then the programme motion (which allocates eight days for the committee stage), the money resolution (authorising spending required by the bill) and the ways and means resolution (authorising taxation and fees required by the bill).

Labour’s Chris Bryant is speaking now. On the basis of his opening, this is probably the stand-out speech of the debate so far. He starts by saying the bill “utterly pernicious”, “dangerous”, ultimately a lie. He says it amounts to the biggest power grab for 100 years and it would herald a “dangerous spiral of autocracy”. Referring to some of the clauses in the bill giving ministers powers to amend law “by fiat”, he says:

These are clauses Erdogan, Maduro and Putin would be proud of.

He says that since 1950 only 11 statutory instruments (items of secondary legislation, of which around 1,000 are expected to be passed under the powers in the bill) have been rejected by the Commons.

The former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has said his party is facing the fight for its existence and said his party had not managed to convince people it could be the home for liberal centrists.

Ahead of the party’s conference this weekend, Ashdown said the party had not managed to have “one big, dangerous idea” since the coalition ended in 2015 and said new leader Vince Cable had to forge a new path for the party where they were no longer seen as the establishment.

“The biggest danger for our party at the seaside next week lies in glossing over the existential challenges which now face us,” he wrote in a blog for Lib Dem Voice.

Unless we are prepared to be realistic about where we are, return to being radical about what we propose, recreate ourselves as an insurgent force and re-kindle our lost habit of intellectual ferment, things could get even worse for us.

Ashdown, who said he would lay out four ideas of his own over the coming days, said the Lib Dems under Tim Farron had failed to advance in conditions that had never been more favourable.

The vast sea of people who share our beliefs, find themselves voiceless and silent. Not all of them, sadly, are Liberal Democrats or want to be. If we cannot, or will not be the gathering point for these, the new left out millions, then who will and what are we for?

Ashdown said the party had advanced when people saw them as outsider.

Now people see us, not as a force for change but as a part of the establishment.

Whether we could have been insurgents in government is a question for history. The question for now is; there is a hunger for change out there, why don’t we any longer look or sound like the people to bring it?

There may be many reasons for that. But the biggest one is that we are doing very little new thinking and producing very few new ideas.

Updated

Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP and a one-time acting Ukip leader, says fishing is one area where the public are demanding a clean Brexit. He says reimposing a 200-mile border around the coast for the British fleet around where that is possible, and a border at the halfway point where other countries have territorial water, will ensure the revival our Britain’s coastal communities.

Updated

This is from the New Statesman’s George Eaton.

Labour’s David Lammy is speaking now. After Anna Soubry, the pro-European Conservative intervenes, Lammy says that her bark has been loud, but that “her actions have been far less loud” (ie, that she talks about fighting the government over Brexit, but that she does not follow it through).

Soubry rejects this. She says that there would not have been a white paper on Brexit if it had not been for people like her. She says the Tory pro-Europeans have achieved more than Labour.

Intervening on Peter Bone, Labour’s Chris Bryant points out that under the negative procedure, the weakest of the various mechanisms used to scrutinise secondary legislation (measures go through automatically unless MPs or peers object), it is up to the government to decide whether a measure gets to a vote. He says the government often refuses to allow a vote when the government calls for one.

(As Pat McFadden pointed out early, at 4.46pm, the bill proposes giving ministers extensive powers that would be exercised using the negative procedure.)

Bone accepts there is a problem with the negative procedure.

Peter Bone, the pro-leave Conservative, says he will be very surprised if the bill leaves the Commons without being amended. But the principle behind the bill is important, he says.

Dame Margaret Beckett, the Labour former foreign secretary, says the time set aside for debate on the bill is not remotely appropriate given the serious of what is at stake.

She says the government should find new measures to enable the “Henry VIII” powers in the bill to be properly scrutinised by parliamentarians. These mechanisms could be time-limited, she says.

She also says the government has a duty to bring forward proposals to improve the bill.

And she says the bill reads as if it was drafted for a government with a majority.

It sets a very dangerous precedent, she says. Labour is right to vote against it.

The Conservative MP Vicky Ford says she will vote for the bill. It is necessary, she says. But she says Britain and other EU countries tell developing democracies that they must ensure laws are properly scrutinised. The government must follow that principle, and give parliament the ability to scrutinise the “Henry VIII” powers being exercised by ministers as they bring EU law into UK law.

She says on Thursday last week David Davis, the Brexit secretary, floated the idea of a “triage system”, that would allow particularly sensitive measures to be flagged up for higher scrutiny. She says that was a helpful suggestion.

The Labour MP Sir Kevin Barron has posted a tweet saying he will be abstaining on the bill.

Labour’s Pat McFadden is speaking now. He says the bill will not give parliament any special ability to scrutinise the extensive powers it would give to ministers to change law by secondary legislation. Most of the powers would be exercised using the negative procedure, involving the weakest level of scrutiny, he says.

He says it is important to oppose it at second reading because that is where parliament has maximum leverage.

And he does not accept that voting down the bill would create a chaotic Brexit. You only need two cabinet ministers in the same room to get a chaotic Brexit because they all disagree, he claims.

Bob Neill, the Conservative chair of the Commons justice committee, is speaking now. He says he will back the bill, but he says it “needs improvement in a number of areas”. He agrees with the criticisms made by Ken Clarke (here) and Dominic Grieve (here) in Thursday’s debate, he says. He says clause 7 and clause 9, which deal with the “Henry VIII” powers being given to ministers, “go beyond that which is acceptable or necessary”.

On the subject of the programme motion, which gives eight days for the committee stage, he says he can support this, but that he wants assurances that the government will allow more time if that turns out to be necessary.

He says he hopes he will hear assurances on this point when David Lidington, the justice secretary, winds up the debate for the government tonight.

Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesman, is speaking now. In comments released by the SNP in advance, he said the party wanted to work with other parties to challenge the bill. He said:

There is a very real and extraordinary risk that on the very day Scotland celebrates the 20th anniversary since the Scottish devolution referendum, the Tory government will seek to pass the second reading of its flawed EU Bill that will not just take back control from Brussels, but from Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff as well.

The Brexit process is bigger than any party, and it is certainly bigger than any of Theresa May’s cabinet. The reality is that unless MPs from across the chamber unite around the common purpose of securing the best possible legislation, then the devolved administrations risk falling foul to a Westminster power grab and the Leave campaign’s mantra of ‘taking back control’.

That is why the time for adopting a new cross-party and cross-nations approach is now - that means we all have to work together. It will be a challenge for the UK government but it is also a challenge for opposition parties and we will have to work constructively – if the government is willing to listen.

The pro-leave Conservative Zac Goldsmith said that any attempt to block Brexit would trigger an extreme backlash. He paid tribute to the role played by the EU in raising environmental standards. But he said leaving the EU would enable the UK to reform the common agriculture policy in line with the wishes of environmentalists.

Labour’s Caroline Flint is speaking now. She says she shares many of the concerns about the bill expressed by Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary. She said it should be possible for the government to differentiate between routine bits of secondary legislation, which can go through with little scrutiny, and the important bits of Brexit-implementing secondary legislation which will need much more thorough scrutiny, she says.

But she says she is not opposing the bill because she accepts that Brexit has to be implemented. She told her constituents she would accept the result of the referendum, she says. She says she does not back a second referendum.

Updated

Edward Leigh, the Conservative pro-leave MP, said the government should be generous to remainers and listen to their concerns about the bill. But he had a joke about the proposal to give ministers extensive “Henry VIII” powers. Henry VIII was a bastard, “but he was my kind of bastard”.

Cheryl Gillan, the Conservative former Welsh secretary, says she will back the bill because it “does what it says on the tin” and enables the UK to leave the EU.

Frank Field, the Labour former welfare minister and a pro-leave MP, says he will back the bill to implement the results of the referendum. He says he will table an amendment intended to replace the bill with a simple, four-clause version.

He says his four proposed clauses are: setting a firm exit date; incorporating all EU law into EU law; creating a mechanism to allow parliament to decide what it wants to keep and jettison; and creating a “safe haven” from which the UK can negotiate its new relationship with the EU.

Bernard Jenkin, a leading pro-leave supporter, accused Labour of engaging in “professional outrage”. He said the Labour vote against the bill did not deserve to be taken seriously.

Labour’s Angela Smith said in her speech that, although she would be voting against the bill, she was not voting against Brexit. She was voting against “Brexit badly handled”.

Maria Miller, the Conservative MP who chairs the women and equalities minister, opened the debate. She said it was important for the bill to get a second reading, but that she wanted to see it amended to ensure that rights aren’t lost when the UK leaves the EU.

Under the terms of the bill, the provision of the EU charter of fundamental rights will not longer be part of UK law. Miller said she was not necessarily asking for it to be retained.

But what I am saying is that we need to ensure that its effect is captured. To do otherwise would mean the current backstop on equality rights is removed, and that is not the status quo that the secretary of state is demanding.

She called for an explicit commitment to be included in the bill saying that the current level of equalities protection would be retained.

MPs resume debate on EU withdrawal bill

MPs are now resuming their debate on the EU withdrawal bill.

John Bercow, the Commons speaker, says there will be a six-minute limit on speeches.

He says 90 MPs want to speak. He says he will try to accommodate them all, but some might be be called.

Corbyn's World at One interview - Summary and analysis

In a Guardian article last month Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said that “constructive ambiguity” - a term David Davis used in reference to the government’s negotiating strategy - can only get you so far. That may be true, but Labour has not necessarily got to that point yet. This afternoon’s Jeremy Corbyn’s office has put out a statement saying party policy has not changed (see 2.35pm), but Corbyn’s tone certainly has. In a major interview at the start of the summer he implied that he would find the “Norway option” unacceptable as a long-term post-Brexit settlement. This afternoon he implied that he would be up for this. For those campaigning for a soft Brexit, this is an important tonal shift.

One argument - made here, for example, by Guido Fawkes - is that this is a bit of a shambles. But ambiguity often has its uses in politics, particularly for a party that does not have to make the choices facing a government, and Labour’s gradual move into softer Brexit territory may turn out to be propitious. It certainly has not done it any harm so far.

If Corbyn’s Brexit stance was a fudge, he laid it out quite well. But it was noticeable that he became much more animated during the interview talking about two other subjects: banning arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and his allotment. On both topics, he was really very good - passionate, human and very likeable. When Corbyn first became Labour leader he was often a very awkward interviewee, but over the last year in particular he has become much better. If anyone has been giving him media training, they deserve a bonus.

Here are the main points.

  • Corbyn would not rule out Labour keeping the UK in the single market permanently. His office said later that Labour policy had not changed, but Corbyn’s comments (see 1.07pm) implied that he would be happy to the UK to have a Norway-style relationship with the EU, as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the European Free Trade Association (Efta). In July, in an interview with Andrew Marr (pdf), Corbyn said that if the UK left the EU, it would be leaving the single market because “the two things are inextricably linked”.
  • Corbyn signalled that he would stay on as Labour leader until the next election, even if it was in 2022. “I’m absolutely fine,” he said, referring to his age and health. “I’m fit and healthy, don’t worry about that.”
  • He said he thought that the government would not last and that the next election would come before 2022.
  • He said that he wanted UK to remain a member of many EU-related agencies after Brexit.

[Flint] and I both voted to implement article 50. That means respecting the result of the referendum. It doesn’t mean handing over all our powers of scrutiny in parliament, all our decision making on how the negotiations proceed, to one secretary of state away from parliamentary scrutiny. This is a power grab by the government at the expense of our democratically-elected parliament.

  • He said the Labour conference in Brighton would be be “probably the biggest conference we’ve ever had”.
  • Corbyn said the UK needed to adopt a robust approach to President Trump. He had “many disagreements” with Trump, but he would not directly commit himself to joining an anti-Trump protest.
  • He said that the UK should not be selling arms to Saudi Arabia. It was contradictory to be selling arms to Saudi Arabia while also giving aid to Yemen to alleviate the suffering caused by those weapons, he argued.
  • He said Britain sold too many arms to countries that abuse human rights. Asked if he would stop the arms trade, he did not call for all arms sales to be blocked, but he said that parliament’s arms exports licensing committee should be reconvened and that he favoured converting arms industry jobs into other sorts of jobs.
  • He said he still had time to work on his allotment, and that having a hobby like this made him a better politician. His allotment was in “good fettle”, he said, and he was there yesterday, digging up potatoes, and bringing home “vast quantities” of beans and spinach. He said it was important for a politician to have an outside interest like this.

You have to make time to make sure you have a balance in your life. If you just do one thing, you don’t necessarily do it very well. If you do other things in your life, it helps you think about things. It also helps you to understand the natural process, why things grow, how things grow. Harold Wilson once said the most important thing in the world is somebody who can grow 10 tonnes of corn where only eight tonnes grew before.

  • But he said he would never take part in Strictly Come Dancing. Asked why, he said: “My dancing is terrible.”

Updated

Senior figures in Labour are convinced that there is no such thing as single market membership. For example, they argue that Norway is not a member of the single market, but has a deal under which it has access (in areas other than fisheries) to the market as a result of accepting the rules.

Despite the suggestion that a Norway-style option could be on the table for Labour, leading shadow cabinet members are against the idea, because they believe it carries a democratic deficit. They do not think it is acceptable to follow the rules of the market without having a say in the design of those rules.

Corbyn's office says Labour policy has not changed

Jeremy Corbyn’s office has now put out a statement following his World at One interview saying that Labour policy has not changed. A spokesman for Corbyn said:

Our position hasn’t changed. We won’t be “members” of the single market after the transition. We want to achieve full tariff free access to the single market. That could be achieved by a new relationship with the single market or a bespoke trade deal with the EU, which was what Jeremy was referring too.

This is very similar to what the government is saying it wants its relationship with the EU to be after the transition. The key difference is that Labour favours single market and customs union membership during the transition, while the government is ruling this out.

This is from the BBC’s Katy Searle.

The “Labour source” argument overlooks the point that staying in the European Economic Area (EEA), which would count as the “Norway option”, would be seen as staying in the single market. Corbyn sounded more open to this than he has been in the past.

Updated

Here is some Twitter comment from journalists on the Jeremy Corbyn interview.

From the Observer’s Toby Helm

From the Express’s Nick Gutteridge

From Henry Newman from the Open Europe thinktank

From Keiran Pedley from the polling organisation GfK

Corbynites win landslide victory in key Labour party internal vote

Corbynites are celebrating their first significant victory ahead of Labour conference today, with the landslide victory of two left-wing candidates won a landslide vote to one of the party’s most influential bodies.

Labour’s left-wing is now set to dominate the party’s conference’s arrangements committee, which oversees what is debated at Labour conference, taking over immediately after this year’s conference in Brighton.

Momentum-backed Seema Chandwani, secretary of Tottenham Labour, and former CWU secretary Billy Hayes won almost double the number of member votes than the incumbents, shadow minister Gloria de Piero and peer Michael Cashman. The Corbyn-supporting candidates doubled their vote share since 2015, when the candidates were Momentum founder Jon Lansman and Corbyn staffer Katy Clark.

A Momentum spokesperson said:

This result reflects the overwhelming desire among the Labour Party members for a more democratic, grassroots party where they have a real say in how it’s run and what it stands for.

To double the vote for Corbyn supporting candidates in just one election cycle shows both the strength of the movement and the support Jeremy has across the party.

De Piero tweeted her congratulations to both Chandwani and Hayes, but also highlighted some of the abuse she had received during the campaign.

Chandwani had attracted some controversy during the course of the election campaign, after authoring a blog where she called MPs who had opposed Corbyn a “bunch of talentless morons”.

Q: There does seem to be some incoherence in Labour’s position. People say different things.

Corbyn says there is a great deal of coherence.

But some colleagues “think aloud” about the future.

The party’s view is clear on the EU withdrawal bill. It is set out in Labour’s amendment.

Q: Will you stay on as Labour leader until the next election?

Corbyn says he is fine. He has been campaigning over the summer.

Q: But what about staying until 2022?

Corbyn says he is perfectly well.

But he does not think we will have to wait until 2022 for an election. He thinks it will come much sooner than that.

Q: Would you take part in Strictly?

No, says Corbyn. He says his dancing is terrible.

Q: What about your other hobbies? Have you time for the allotment?

Corbyn seems to perk up noticeably. His allotment is in fine fettle, he says.

He says it is important to make time for things outside of politics. And he quotes Harold Wilson on the importance of people who can grow things.

And that’s it. I will post a summary soon.

Q: Did you support Tony Blair’s proposals yesterday?

Corbyn says he watched the interview “with interest”.

Q: Only with interest?

Corbyn says Blair appeared not to understand Labour’s policy.

Q: If you stay in, you have to accept freedom of movement?

Corbyn says we need proper regulation of the labour market. It is not acceptable for people to come to the UK on very low wages.

Q: Are you aware of the net migration figures?

Corbyn says they change quite a lot. It has come down.

Q: Are you aware of the figure?

It is below 300,000.

Q: It is around 250,000. Is that acceptable?

Corbyn says the UK would be in a much worse position if it did not have EU labour.

The BBC is now broadcasting the Brexit part of the Corbyn interview.

Corbyn says he wants the UK to have a close relationship with the EU after Brexit.

Q: Are there no circumstances in which you can imagine the UK staying in the EU?

Corbyn says Labour is in a complicated position. Most Labour voters backed remain, but a substantial minority voted to leave. The UK voted to leave. That must be respected, he says.

But he says there some EU agencies that the UK should remain part of.

Q: What about in the shorter term?

Corbyn says he does not see how it is possible to reach agreement on all trade issues by March 2019.

Going to World Trade Organisation terms then would be damaging.

So Labour has backed membership of the single market and the customs union during that period.

Q: For how long?

It would not be open ended, he says.

It would be as short as possible but as long as necessary.

Q: You might be facing Labour rebellions tonight?

Corbyn says he hopes Labour MPs will recognise the way the bill takes away powers of parliamentary scrutiny.

This is a power grab by the government, he says.

Q: The TUC wants the UK to stay in the single market permanently. Could we stay in indefinitely?

Corbyn says big industries have major supply chains across Europe. Those relationships must continue.

Q: So the UK could stay in indefinitely.

We want a relationship which allows us to trade within the single market. Whether that is formal membership, which is only possible, I believe, if you are actually a member of the EU, or whether it is an agreed trading relationship, is open for discussion. The outcome is more important than the nomenclature along the way.

Corbyn plays down prospect of Labour keeping UK in single market permanently - but doesn't rule it out

Jeremy Corbyn has given an interview to the the World at One. According to the clip that Wato has just broadcast, Corbyn said that he did not think the UK would be able to remain a permanent, formal member of the single market after Brexit - but he did not absolutely rule it out.

This is what Corbyn told Martha Kearney when asked if the UK could stay in the single market and the customs union indefinitely.

We want a relationship which allows us to trade within the single market. Whether that is formal membership, which is only possible, I believe, if you are actually a member of the EU, or whether it is an agreed trading relationship, is open for discussion.

I will cover the interview in full when it gets broadcast.

Updated

There are no statements or urgent questions today. That means the EU withdrawal bill debate will start at about 3.30pm.

Trade unions will lead protests against Trump if he visits UK, O'Grady tells TUC

The TUC will lead a protest against President Trump if he ever visits the UK, Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said in her speech. She told delegates:

If Trump sets a foot on our soil the TUC will be proud to lead a peaceful protest. Let us send a message - Donald Trump, you are not welcome here.

As my colleague Patrick Wintour reported in June, Trump has told Theresa May that he does not want to come to the UK for a state visit if he is going to be met with large-scale protests. So we may be waiting for that visit of quite some time ...

No 10 lobby briefing - Summary

Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.

  • Theresa May is holding a Cobra meeting to discuss the government’s response to Hurricane Irma, the prime minister’s spokesman said. He also he rejected claims that the government’s response so far had been inadequate. This was “an unprecedented situation”, he said, and it involved “a huge number of British citizens” in the path of the hurricane. He told journalists:

We are talking about a huge number of British citizens who are in the path of this hurricane, and we are doing everything we can to help them ...

RFA Mounts Bay was not in the region by chance. It was pre-positioned there in July ahead of hurricane season. What that meant was that DfID (Department for International Development) aid supplies, specially trained military personnel and a helicopter were in the Caribbean when Irma hit, and they could start getting to Anguilla as soon as the hurricane passed.

We were prepared for this and we responded quickly. We are now responding to an unprecedented situation and making sure that all the resources that are needed are getting there.

The morning after Irma hit, Mounts Bay delivered six tonnes of shelter and cleared the runway to allow relief flights to land. The ship moved to BVI (British Virgin Islands) and got the airfield operating again. It will deliver further supplies to Anguilla today, having resupplied. We’ve provided £32m in immediate assistance to the overseas territories. DFID are matching every pound donated to the British Red Cross by the public.

We’ve deployed almost 700 troops to the region. We have three helicopters and an A400 aircraft to help transport personnel between the islands. There will be more helicopters arriving with HMS Ocean. Twenty tonnes of aid are there.Other countries are asking for our assistance in the region. The French asked for our assistance and we are providing that.

  • The spokesman signalled that the government would be willing to compromise over the EU withdrawal bill as it went through the Commons. He said:

We have been clear that we are going to listen to the concerns of people on this bill and that is what we will do.

  • May is hosting a meeting in Downing Street later with her new trade envoys. Some are David Cameron appointees who have been reappointed, but some are new.
10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Updated

At the TUC conference Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, is just wrapping up her speech. I will post a summary when I’ve seen the full text.

These are from ITV’s Paul Brand.

Here is our preview story.

Frank Field, the Labour former welfare minister, will defy the Labour whip and vote for the EU referendum bill. He will be voting to “deliver on the outcome of the referendum” according to aides. He does want to amend the bill at a later stage but agrees with Caroline Flint that Labour’s job is not to “kill the bill” but to improve it as it passes through the house.

I’m back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. Theresa May is chairing a Cobra meeting to discuss Hurricane Irma, the prime minister’s spokesman said, but he rejected claims that the government’s response so far had been inadequate. This was “an unprecedented situation”, he said, and it involved “a huge number of British citizens” in the path of the hurricane.

Otherwise, the briefing was rather dull. I will post a summary (for what it is worth) shortly.

Sir Alan Duncan, the deputy foreign minister, has revealed that Brexit has been good for the government’s wine supplies. In a written ministerial statement about the government hospitality wine cellar, he says that consumption by volume fell by 12% in the financial year 2016/17 “due to fewer government events, particularly during the EU referendum period”.

I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing. I will post again after 11.30am.

The Scottish government says nuisance calls disproportionately affect people in Scotland. It has announced a 50,000 fund to install call-blocking technology for those most at risk but, in a news release, the Scottish government’s economy secretary, Keith Brown, says that the UK government regulates this area and that it should do more. He proposes “exploring a model which automatically opts people out of unwanted calls.”

Blair says he considered British football league as means of keeping England and Scotland close after devolution

In an interview with BBC Scotland, to mark the 20th anniversary today of the Scottish devolution referendum, Tony Blair has revealed that he considered the case for having a British football league as a means of keeping England and Scotland together after devolution. He said:

Since that time [the referendum] I’ve always sort of thought about what we did right and what we did wrong.

I think in retrospect I would have looked for more ways of trying to keep Scotland and England culturally aligned.

I know it sounds a bit strange but I was for a time quite obsessed with the idea that, for example, for football we should be opening up the English league and the Scottish league and having them together because I always thought we should be looking at ways of making sure that people felt a connection.

Blair said that having a British football team “was going to be a step far too far”, but added:

I was looking for ways of making sure that, as we in a sense diverged around devolution, that there were elements of convergence and I still think in the future it’s important we look for that ...

One of the reasons I was always against nationalism is that I felt that ultimately, although I understood the reasons for it, it’s got a divisive aspect to it and so for me devolution was about a sensible set of reforms to government but I wanted to make sure all the way through that we kept that sense of unity culturally and politically at the right level for the UK.

Tony Blair on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday.
Tony Blair on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA

Johnson says he hopes Brexit coincides with 'renaissance' for the EU

Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s Today interview.

  • Johnson, the foreign secretary, refused to rule out free movement for EU nationals staying during the Brexit transition. (See 8.56am.)
  • He said that he hoped Brexit would coincide with a “renaissance” for the EU. He said:

I’m interest to hear that the commission president, Monsieur Juncker - who has many great qualities, by the way - he has said that he regards Brexit as - or he’s about to say this, according the papers, - a moment for the renaissance of the European Union. Well, fantastic, let’s get on with it, let’s have a renaissance of the European Union.

This is rather different from the argument that Michael Gove, the environment secretary, advanced during the EU referendum campaign last year when he and Johnson were jointly running the Vote Leave campaign. Gove implied that he would like to see Brexit lead to the break-up of the EU. In one speech Gove said:

The UK’s success [outside the EU] will send a very different message to the EU’s peoples. They will see that a different Europe is possible. It is possible to regain democratic control of your own country and currency, to trade and co-operate with other EU nations without surrendering fundamental sovereignty to a remote and unelected bureaucracy. And, by following that path, your people are richer, your influence for good greater, your future brighter.

So - yes there will be “contagion” if Britain leaves the EU. But what will be catching is democracy ...

For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning of something potentially even more exciting - the democratic liberation of a whole continent.

  • Johnson backed Theresa May’s leadership, saying she needed to “keep going”. Asked what she should do, he replied:

Keep going. She needs to keep going, get this thing done. What people want is a government that delivers on the priorities of the people.

  • He said MPs voting against the EU withdrawal bill tonight would be “effectively voting to frustrate Brexit”. He said:

The vote tonight is very important. We need to get it done. We need to get this great ship launched ...

People who vote against it will be effectively voting to frustrate Brexit by producing a completely chaotic result.

  • He said criticism of the government’s response to Hurricane Irma, and the level of support offered to Britons and to British territories affected by it, was “completely unjustified”. He said:

This is a very big consular crisis and I am confident we are doing everything we possibly can to help British nationals ...

It doesn’t make any sense when a hurricane is impending to send in heavy aircraft or to send in ships that are not going to be capable themselves of withstanding the storm ...

If you look at what is happening now you can see an unprecedented British effort to deal with what has been an unprecedented catastrophe for the region.

Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Boris Johnson refuses to rule out free movement staying during Brexit transition

At midnight MPs will vote on giving the EU withdrawal bill a second reading. The government seems certain to win (there does not even seem to be much prospect of defeat on the programme motion), but it will be an important Brexit milestone,

Another one will come when Theresa May delivers her much-anticipated autumn Brexit speech, probably at the end of next week. Boris Johnson was on the Today programme this morning, mostly talking about the British response to Hurricane Irma (which we are covering on a separate live blog), and he offered an intriguing hint as to what might be in it.

John Humphrys asked about the transition period that would happen after Brexit. During that period Britain would stay in the internal market and in the customs union, Humphrys claimed (even though the government has not quite put it like that), and then he added: “I’m assuming, correct me if I’m wrong, there will still be free movement of people for those two years?”

Johnson could have chosen to correct Humphrys. Or he could have chosen to say that we will be leaving the EU at the end of March 2019, and that free movement would have to go. But instead he replied:

I’m not going to pre-empt any announcements that the prime minister will make about this in due course ...

That sounded like a possible hint that the May speech will contain a concession to the EU that involves keeping free movement, in some form, during the transition period.

I will post more from the interview shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies holds a briefing on NHS services.

11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.

3.30pm: MPs are due to resume their debate on the EU withdrawal bill. They will vote at midnight.

Also the TUC annual conference is taking place. Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, is speaking.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard’s Playbook. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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