Minister says ‘toxic mix’ of factors at Westminster has created sexist culture which needs to change – UK politics live | Politics

Parliament is proroguing today because yesterday the House of Lords gave up fighting for changes to two bills passed by the Commons – the elections bill and the nationality and borders bill. The bills were among several subject to parliamentary “ping pong” – last-minute haggling between the Commons and the Lords – but, as usual, the Lords eventually conceded to the elected chamber.

This is from the PA Media report on the elections bill last night.

The way has been paved to end the current parliamentary session after the last major piece of legislation cleared the House of Lords.

Peers backed down from continuing their stand-off with the Tory-dominated Commons over the elections bill, rejecting making further changes which would have required the legislation being sent back to MPs for consideration.

The elections bill also contained contentious reforms, including the introduction of photo ID for voters, which it is feared could see a significant number of people turned away from polling stations, and provisions that critics warn threaten the independence of the Electoral Commission.

At the same time, it will scrap a 15-year limit on British citizens living overseas being able to vote from abroad.

Raising his concerns, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Wallace of Saltaire said: “One of the many adverse affects of this bill is that it makes it much easier, and without barriers, for overseas citizens to vote, but makes it more difficult for domestic citizens to vote. That’s very odd, and not entirely democratic, undesirable.”

Labour frontbencher Lady Hayman said: “The government has simply got it wrong on requiring voter ID to be presented at polling stations. We are disappointed and unhappy that there has been absolutely no movement whatsoever from the Government on this. There is clear concern right across this House about the undermining of the independence of the Electoral Commission.”

And this is from the PA report last night on the nationality and borders bill.

Controversial asylum and immigration reforms are poised to become law after peers halted their stand-off.

The bruising tussle over the nationality and borders bill ended after the House of Lords rejected by 212 to 157, majority 55, a last-ditch bid to ensure provisions in the legislation complied with the UK’s international obligations towards refugees.

There were cries of “shame” from some peers as the result was announced.

Contentious provisions in the bill include offshoring asylum, with the government already having struck a deal with Rwanda, and making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally.

It also allows for asylum seekers to be treated differently based on how they entered the UK.

The bill had been mauled during its passage through the unelected chamber, but the changes made during the process known as parliamentary ping-pong were repeatedly overturned by the Commons, where the government has a majority.

About 27,100 people have arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes, PA Media reports. PA says:

This includes 16,000 people under the family scheme, and 11,100 people under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme as of Monday, according to Home Office figures released this morning.

The figures also show that, as of Wednesday, around 117,600 applications have been made for visas, and 86,100 visas have been issued.

These include 42,900 applications under the family scheme, of which 34,900 visas have been granted, and 74,700 applications under the sponsorship scheme, of which 51,300 visas have been granted.

Good morning. Yesterday’s revelation that a Conservative MP had been seen by female colleagues watching pornography on his phone in the Commons chamber, which emerged at a meeting where a group of female Tories complained to the whips about misogyny in the party, and which coincided with an ongoing debate about how women are treated at Westminster prompted by an article in the Mail on Sunday widely condemned as sexist, has created what feels like another MeToo moment. Whether it will lead to lasting change, though, remains to be seen.

Here is our overnight story.

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, was on the morning broadcast round earlier and he said there was a problem with the “overall culture” at Westminster, because of a “toxic mix” of factors. He told Sky News:

This is a problem, I think, about the overall culture of the House of Commons. It is late sitting, long nights with bars, and that very often leads, and it has done for decades, to behavioural challenges.

In another interview Wallace described the long hours, the drinking and the pressure MPs face as “a toxic mix that leads to all sorts of things”.

Wallace said that he hoped the situation would improve. “I think it’s really important that we think about ways to change the culture in the House of Commons,” he said.

But the difficulty of achieving any significant culture shift became evident when Wallace was asked about the MP accused of watching porn in the chamber – who has not been named publicly, and whose identity is not common knowledge at Westminster. The Tory whips are not taking disciplinary action unilaterally; they are just saying that the matter should be dealt with through parliament’s independent complaints and grievance service (set up to deal with complaints about sexual misconduct by MPs), but that requires the female MPs who witnessed the porn watching to complain. It is not clear at this point that they will do so. Wallace told the Today programme that he would encourage them to submit a complaint.

Asked if he thought the culprit should be expelled from the Conservative party, Wallace would not go that far, but he said the person should “certainly lose the whip”.

MeToo led to women speaking about about misconduct that had previously been tolerated, and the BBC is reporting the comments of an unnamed female Welsh MP who says a member of the shadow cabinet told her that she was a secret weapon for her party because women voters wanted to be her friend, while men wanted to sleep with her. One BBC report said they were using “sleep with” as a euphemism because the actual language was cruder. Labour says it will take any complaint seriously, but according to the BBC report, the woman has not yet decided to make a formal complaint.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The Home Office publishes its weekly figures on visas issued to Ukrainian refugees.

9.30am: The ONS publishes quarterly crime figures for England and Wales.

10.45am: James Cleverly, the Europe minister, gives evidence to the Commons European scrutiny committee.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions from MSPs.

Late morning/early afternoon: Parliament is due to prorogue, meaning this session of parliament will formally end and MPs and peers will be in recess until the Queen’s speech, on Tuesday 10 May.

At some point today Steve Barclay, the PM’s chief of staff, is also due to meet Passport Office managers to discuss what it is doing to cut the delays customers are experiencing.

And Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit minister, is on a visit where he due to announce a fourth delay to physical checks on fresh food imported from the EU.

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