Westminster today - as it happened: Ministers questioned over 'civil servant Brexit conspiracy' to keep UK in EU customs union
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Theresa May met Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in Beijing, as she battled to keep her MPs onside at home.
The Prime Minister was hoping to make progress towards a post-Brexit trade deal with China, despite her International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, warning that one might not be possible. Ms May gave Mr Xi a Blue Planet 2 box set, Downing Street said.
It came as Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, floated the claim in the Commons that civil servants may be distorting evidence to “influence” the Government to stay in the EU’s customs union.
The comments blindsided Downing Street, which said it was unaware that the allegation had been aired and declined to immediately comment.
Alongside Mr Baker, his boss – the Brexit Secretary David Davis – visibly winced as the minister confirmed the allegation, raised by his fellow anti-EU Tory, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Here is the Downing Street read out on May's meeting today with President Xi during her three-day official visit to China.
President Xi said that, step by step, China and the UK had elevated our relationship and he looked forward to further building on its success. The President quoted William Shakespeare, stating that: ‘What’s past is prologue.’
The PM said that, once Britain leaves the EU, we will be free to strike our own trade deals and pointed to the joint trade and investment review which will now take place as the first step towards delivering ambitious future trade arrangements.
President Xi said China’s markets would be further opened to the UK, including in sectors such as beef, dairy and other agricultural goods.
The PM and the President said the UK and China would hold further discussions on how best they can cooperate on the Belt and Road initiative, which offers significant opportunities to deliver further prosperity and sustainable development across Asia and the wider world. The PM and President spoke of the importance of international standards and transparency to ensure the initiative’s success.
The PM said it had so far been a very successful trip for the business delegation which had accompanied her to China, with deals worth at least £9bn expected to be signed.
The President and the PM discussed their shared commitment to protecting the environment, including their support for the Paris climate change agreement and determination to tackle the ivory and illegal wildlife trades.
The PM said the world had a collective responsibility to tackle plastic pollution on behalf of future generations. She pointed to the work which was being done in China to remove plastic particles from the Yangtzse river to stop them from flowing into the ocean.
The two leaders discussed North Korea and their shared determination to bring to an end DPRK’s illegal nuclear activity, agreeing denuclearisation was the objective.
They discussed Hong Kong, and reiterated the importance of and their commitment to “One Country, Two Systems”.
As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, they also discussed the importance of the Rules-Based International System.
The PM and President agreed the importance of having frank conversations in areas where the two countries do not see eye to eye, and looked forward to further deepening their ties in the ‘golden era’, including in areas such as culture and education.
Opening the debate in the Commons the so-called "Mother of the House" Harriet Harman said: "This motion asks the House for its in-principle agreement to make arrangements for when a member has a baby or adopts a child, because at the moment we don't have any such arrangements.
"In this House we set the rules for parents outside the House having babies or adopting a child and we do that because we think that it's important for the child and it's important for the parents and we do it because we don't want new parents to have to ask for favours but to be clear where they stand, but there is no such system for members of this House."
Ms Harman said: "A woman giving birth should not be a matter of wrangling between Whips' Offices or an opportunity to take advantage over the Government however much they would deserve it."
Labour's Laura Pidcock (North West Durham) said that the negotiation between Whips is "important in other circumstances", but added: "I am sure many women in this House who take time off to be with their baby in the first few weeks want to practise that act of democracy in representing their constituents whilst being a new mother and not denied that by the presentation that they just haven't voted."
Ms Harman agreed, and said: "Why should that constituency lose the right for the vote in their name to be cast because their MP is having a baby?
"When you are in a birthing pool you cannot be voting, but your constituency has a right to be heard."
Sarah Wollaston, Conservative chair of the Health Select Committee, said she supported the motion, noting: "I very much hope this is the thin end of the wedge because I think on the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, we must do more to fix the pipeline issue we have here around encouraging more women at a younger age to think of coming forward and putting themselves forward to become Members of Parliament."
Conservative former minister Maria Miller, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, replied: "It is 100 years on since the first woman sat in this place but it can, for many of us, still feel like we're operating in an 18th century model of work - and that is something that really does need to change."
Labour's Emma Reynolds, the MP for Wolverhampton North East, recalled giving birth shortly before last year's snap general election, telling MPs: "I went out campaigning seven days after giving birth and I did suffer for it physically - and then I had a rest."
Andrea Leadsom, the Commons leader, is now up. She says I think we can all agree new parents should spend time with their children.
Andrea Leadsom tells the House the Procedure Committee will undertake an inquiry into baby leave for MPs
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