PMQs - as it happened: Emily Thornberry labels Tory Government 'coalition of cavemen' over voting age stance
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Your support makes all the difference.Cabinet minister David Lidington said young people lack "sufficient maturity" to vote at 16, as he stood in for Theresa May during Prime Minister's Questions.
Labour's Emily Thornberry branded the Government and its DUP allies as a "coalition of cavemen", when she asked why 16-year-olds were denied the right to vote when they are able to get married, leave school and join the armed forces.
It comes as Downing Street reprimanded a Justice minister who questioned whether Brexit should go ahead if damaging assessments of Britain’s economic prospects are accurate.
In an unusual and hugely significant intervention, Dr Philip Lee asked whether Theresa May could “legitimately lead a country along a path that the evidence and rational consideration indicate would be damaging” after leaked papers laid bare the potential economic damage of withdrawal.
After Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour’s opposition day motion – calling on the Government to release the papers – also passed after the Government ordered its MPs to abstain on the motion.
The documents will now be released to the Exiting the European Union committee “in confidence” and in a “hard copy” format for MPs to study.
Ian Blackford, the party's leader in Westminster, spoke out after leaked analysis showed the economy would not grow as much as current forecasts predict under a number of scenarios for the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told Mr Blackford at Prime Minister's Questions that Britain would leave the single market and customs union as a matter of legality.
He added that Theresa May wanted to negotiate a new partnership with the EU to continue frictionless trade.
"I must say I'm surprised at the minister because there's not a question of legality. We're going to be in a transitional deal, we'll still be in the single market with the EU," said Mr Blackford.
"This is a Government in crisis and an international embarrassment.
"The Chancellor, the Scottish Secretary, the Scottish Conservatives, the Home Secretary have all supported membership of the single market.
"Despite this, the Government is still prepared to make everyone poorer. Where is the leadership?"
Mr Lidington replied: "The leadership which he wants was set out very clearly both at Lancaster House and then again in Florence, and the Prime Minister will be making further speeches on these issues in the weeks and months to come.
"But can I just say to him that the most important single market to the people of Scotland is the single market of the United Kingdom."
Keir Starmer is now introducing Labour's opposition day debate on the Brexit papers - later today Labour will force a vote on the issue. The Government is expected to abstain, meaning the motion will be passed.
He's now talking about the tight security around the sectoral analysis released to MPs in December - and later made available online.
Government to release secret Brexit papers "in confidence"
Minister Robin Walker says the Government will not oppose the motion - and expects the motion to pass.
He says the Government will provide a "hard copy" of the papers to the Exiting the European Union Committee - "in confidence"
From the Number 10 briefing:
On Philip Lee: “He has been spoken to by the chief whip and been reminded that it is best to air views on private”.
He “will recognise that the analysis was initial and not worth commenting on”.
On Lidington's comments that Thornberry should "grow up", he added:" “She would not use that language, but she would agree with the view that 18 is the right age at which people should be allowed to vote”.
On publication - he would not say “when, how or whether they would be redacted”.
But the Government has “made it out stance that we do not participate in these divisions”.
So it will “go through the proper processes and will abide by the will of the house”.
Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke has accused the Government of adopting a "cult of secrecy" amid the row over the leaked economic analysis of Brexit.
Labour is using an arcane parliamentary procedure to attempt to force ministers to release the Whitehall document, which was being shown to senior ministers.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer called on Brexit minister Steve Baker to apologise to civil servants after he criticised the document from the despatch box.
Referring to Brexit minister Steve Baker's suggestion that the Government's assessments of the negative impact of Brexit should not be believed,
the SNP's Peter Grant asks whether the same is true of official analysis showing the economic downsides of Scottish independence.
The Government is "disorganised, disunited, shambolic and incompetent" on Brexit, he adds.
Former Tory minister Anna Soubry is giving an evisceraring speech on the Government's Brexit stance.
She begins by saying: "This madness has to stop..there is a collective outbreak in the Government of a form of madness.
"Their inability to grasp Brexit and do the right thing has got to stop."
It has taken the Cabinet "nineteen months from the referendum to work out what it wants from Brexit", she says.
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