Brexit - as it happened: Philip Hammond challenges Brussels over City deal as EU warns against 'pick and mix' approach

Elsewhere, a Momentum official has has sparked a row after calling on Labour to disaffiliate from trade unions who “stick it” to the rank and file members of the party.

Christine Shawcroft, who was elected by the party’s governing body last month to head up Labour’s disputes body, also said she was throwing her support behind the Momentum founder Jon Lansman in the contest for general secretary. 

Story here:

Back in Westminster Hall, Labour MP Melanie Onn also indicated that shadow chancellor John McDonnell's repetition of comments that

Esther McVey should be "lynched" would count as a hate crime.

Asked about his comments by Tory backbencher Philip Davies, Ms Onn replied: "If the individual to whom the comments were directed were to feel that that was something they wished to report, then I think it would fall within the scope of the discussions that we are having today. e

“Those sorts of comments are unnecessarily aggressive, I do not think there is any place for them, certainly not in the nature of political debate and discourse.”

Mr McDonnell made the comments about the newly-appointed Work and Pensions Secretary at a rally in 2014.

The SNP's Mhairi Black delivered a shocking speech about the scale of misogynistic abuse she has faced online.

She said: "I struggle to see any joke in being systematically called a dyke, a rug muncher, a slut, a whore, a scruffy bint.

"I've been told you can't put lipstick on a pig, let the dirty bitch each shit and die.

"I could soften some of this by talking about the C-word but the reality is there is no softening when you're targeted with these words and you're left reading them on my screen every day, day in, day out - she needs a kick in the c***, guttural c***, ugly c***, wee animal c*** - there is no softening just how sexualised and misogynistic the abuse is."

She added there needs to be reflection on what happens in Parliament, with the "full extent of abuse and danger" women face on a daily basis only beginning to be realised.

Ms Black said: "Only a few weeks ago I was physically pressed up against a Member (of Parliament) in the voting lobby who is accused of sexual misconduct because there's so little room.

"Now, I don't think that's normal and I think it's fair to say that's something maybe that we should be looking at - something we should be talking about - because I'm blessed in that I have the same right and influence as any other elected man in this place, but what about all the female staff in here who don't?"

Home Office minister Victoria Atkins said the Government "is listening" but suggested a law change might not be the way forward.

Unite boss Len McCluskey has intervened in the growing row between Momentum and the unions on the left of the Labour Party.

Backers of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince have launched a “bizarre” public relations drive to improve his image, as he is accused of waging a bloody war in Yemen ahead of an official visit to the UK.

​Story here: 

Amber Rudd is currently chairing a meeting of Cobra - the Government's emergency committee - about the apparent poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Vulnerable children are "paying the price" of austerity, shadow chancellor John McDonnell claimed as he called for an extra £2 billion to address the "national scandal".

He said Chancellor Philip Hammond must use next week's Spring Statement to plug the funding gap children's services face by 2020.

Labour said the squeeze on council budgets since 2010 was making it hard for authorities to provide the care and support needed by vulnerable youngsters.

Mr McDonnell said: "It is a national scandal that vulnerable children are paying the price for the austerity policies of this Tory Government."

Labour highlighted figures showing that last year saw the biggest rise in the number of children in care for seven years.

Analysis by Labour found that between 2010 and 2016 the number of children assessed by social workers as being in need rose by 5%, those subject to a child protection plan increased by 29% and the number in care was up 10%.

Three-quarters of English councils exceeded their budgets for children's services last year, overspending by a total of £605 million, Labour said.

Mr McDonnell said: "Today's report lays out in stark detail how nearly eight years of Tory austerity has created a crisis in children's services in our country.

"It is simply unacceptable that, while there are more children being taken into care today than at any point since the 1980s, children's services face a £2 billion deficit by 2020."

On Labour, Momentum founder Jon Lansman has also tweeted about the row over Christine Shawcroft's call to disaffiliate with the unions (see here).

PMQs is starting shortly. Here's a list of the MPs with questions this week.