Labour attempts to force Government to publish Brexit legal advice
13 November 2018
MPs debated legal advice on the EU withdrawal agreement and education funding, in the House of Commons on Tuesday 13 November. The subjects for these debates were chosen by the Labour Party.
Legal advice on the EU withdrawal agreement
The subject for this debate was initially scheduled to be mental health. However, the Labour Party changed the motion in an effort to force the Government to publish various documents relating to legal advice the government has received on the terms of the UK's departure from the EU.
The motion is in the form of a humble address, which is a message to the Queen. It's used, among other things to call for papers from departments headed by a Secretary of State. These motions are considered to be binding by the House of Commons.
The motion was passed without a division
- Read the Opposition motion in the Order Paper: main business item number 2
- Watch the debate on legal advice on the EU withdrawal agreement on Parliament TV
- Read Commons Hansard: legal advice on EU withdrawal agreement
Education funding
The second opposition day motion of the day was on education funding. The motion notes that "education spending as a share of national income has fallen from 5.8% to 4.3% since 2010, and claims "education urgently needs new investment".
Again, the motion passed without a division.
- Read the Opposition motion in the Order Paper: main business item number 2
- Watch the debate on education funding on Parliament TV
- Read Commons Hansard: Education funding
Related information
About Opposition Day debates
Opposition days are days allocated in the House of Commons in each session for the discussion of subjects chosen by the Opposition.
Seventeen days are at the disposal of the Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the largest opposition party, to decide which matters are debated. Three days are usually divided between the other opposition parties.
The Opposition generally use them to raise questions of policy and administration. Frequently, two separate subjects are debated on an opposition day.
Image: PC
Follow the @HouseofCommons on Twitter for updates on the UK House of Commons Chamber. Please fill in our quick feedback survey to help us improve our news content.