Brexit news: Government finally publishes full legal advice as Theresa May accused of 'inadvertently misleading' parliament
Follow all the latest updates, as they happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has been accused of "inadvertently misleading" parliament over Brexit in an angry prime minister's questions clash, as the government was forced to publish the full legal advice on her deal.
Her administration became the first in modern political history to be found in contempt of parliament over its refusal to hand over the advice on a bruising day in the Commons, where Ms May suffered three significant defeats.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the advice had to "dragged out" of ministers and claimed Ms May had been misleading MPs, before he was rebuked by the Speaker.
Meanwhile, home secretary Sajid Javid acknowledged the deal is not "perfect in every sense" as he opened the second day of debates, which will culminate in a Commons showdown next week.
To follow events as they happened, see our live coverage below
My colleague Rob Merrick has been watching Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, appearing in front of a Commons committee. Here are some highlights:
Chris Skidmore - who advocated Remain at the EU referendum - has been appointed universities minister - after his predecessor Sam Gyimah quit the government on Friday in protest at Theresa May's plans for Brexit.
In an attempt to shore up support for the PM's deal, Downing Street has been promoting the agreement on social media - to the tune of £50,000 - according to the Press Association.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who obtained the figures with a parliamentary question, has said taxpayers' money has been thrown "down the drain".
No details were given of how the money was spent, but a series of clips promoting the deal have been released on the @theresa-may and @10DowningStreet Twitter feeds and the Prime Minister's Facebook page with the hashtag £BackTheBrexitDeal.
This was between 20 August and 20 November - five days before the EU agreed to the deal, meaning the final figures are likely to be much higher.
Releasing the figures in a written reply, Cabinet Office Minister Chloe Smith stressed that the £52,509 spend amounted to less than 0.02% of the total Government communications budget of £300 million a year.
Ms Moran, a supporter of the Best For Britain campaign for a second EU referendum, said: "It beggars belief that the Prime Minister is spending over £50,000 of taxpayers' money promoting a deal that literally no-one wants.
Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer appears to have had a first glance of the legal advice, which hasn't yet been published online. He has just posted this:
The government's legal advice that was presented to cabinet when the Brexit deal was reached at an official level has just been released to some MPs.
This comes after Theresa May's administration was yesterday found in contempt of Parliament - an unprecedented move - for failing to publish the legal advice when the chamber demanded ministers did so two weeks' ago.
Helpfully, Labour's Brexit team has started tweeting it out
Prime Minister's Questions has now started - just minutes after the government's legal advice was published. Jeremy Corbyn kicks off the session with the word "Brexit", but says we must not ignore rising poverty in Britain, citing a recent UN report on the issue.
The PM says "we do not agree with this report".
Corbyn says universal credit is turning into "universal discredit" and demands for the rollout to be halted. But May says the government has "made changes as we have gone through those changes".
"We've listened and made changes - a system that delivers for people," she says.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments