four years? these arrangements every four years? isn't it because circumstances change, they have a right to change their minds? that is indeed the case. as he will understand. but if he invites me to draw and analogy with the people of scotland, i must remind him that people of scotland we re remind him that people of scotland were repeatedly promised that their referendum was a once in a generation question. on the issue of substance and tone, the sure substance and tone, the sure substance is not for the church. in respect to the turn, i would like to say that i think the tone of yesterday's a very important debate oi'i yesterday's a very important debate on the governments domestic abuse bill and the tone of the exchanges today represent a huge improvement

oi'i today represent a huge improvement on last week. i thank the prime ministerand on last week. i thank the prime minister and colleagues. point of order. it may not be necessary, but it is a courtesy to note that your calm, quiet voice isjust courtesy to note that your calm, quiet voice is just as effective as other voices we have heard. well, why didn't i realise in advance just how generous the honourable gentleman was going to be, andi honourable gentleman was going to be, and i thank him for what he said, which is much appreciated. we now come to the backbench motion oi'i we now come to the backbench motion on women's mental health. to move the motion, i call vera hobhouse. mr speaker, constituents often come to us at their lowest points, and we listen to them going through anxiety, depression and trauma. poor mental health affects not only the individual, but everybody around

them. women are far more likely to experience serious mental health issues. young women are at the greatest risk, with one in five having self harmed, and 13% having been diagnosed with post—traumatic stress disorder. over the course of this parliament, there has been a great deal of talk in this house around mental health, and that is progress. however, the opportunity to discuss women's specific needs when it comes to mental health services has been limited. ten months after the publication of the women's mental health task force final report, little has changed. there is a long way to go before our mental health services are working for women. there is now an obligation for government to step in and respond to the growing crisis in women's mental health, with substantive policy. will she give way? i am happy to give way. i am grateful. i very much welcome the

work of the mental health task force and its report on the principles laid out in that report. at the same share my concern that those principles are not going to be effective —— does she share my concern that those principles are not going to be effectively implemented without some concrete targets from the government? the next stage needs to be a full women's mental health strategy with those targets and commitment in it. i couldn't agree more. we need a strategy. more than half of women who experience mental health issues have experienced abuse, meaning it is rooted in issues of gender—based violence, and we had a very, very moving debate yesterday, with many, many harrowing examples. we have a long way to go to change the whole culture around domestic violence and treat the consequences of eight. when it comes to treatment, we must ensure that front line mental health services for women are trauma informed. there is a legalframework

we could actually use called the istanbul convention, to which we signed up back in 2012, but so far, we have failed to bring this convention into domestic law. one consequence of this is that we do not have enough rape crisis centres across the country. earlier this year, fern champion, herself a survivor of sexual violence, came forward after being turned away by her local rape crisis centre. she launched a petition asking the government to ratify the istanbul convention and has so far —— has so far received io0,000 signatures. this is simply not good enough to effectively support women and prevent them from developing serious mental health problems after suffering abuse. ratifying the

istanbul convention would mean the uk would uphold the international standards of survivors' rights. earlier this year, i tabled a bill that would guarantee a health checkup specifically for mothers six weeks after giving birth. depression before, during and after giving birth is a serious condition which is unrecognised... which, if it is unrecognised, is untreated, for nearly half of new mothers suffering depression. statistics suggest that mothers are afraid to speak up. many new mothers get less than three minutes to discuss their health with a health care professional. conversations about the reality of motherhood and perinatal depression are still few and far between. this is not only a huge problem for the mother herself. undiagnosed mental health problems and mothers have serious consequences for the newborn child, and its development. i have

also been campaigning for better treatment for eating disorders. eating disorders disproportionately affect women, although they don't discriminate. women in the lgbt q community are particularly susceptible. i am community are particularly susceptible. iam happy community are particularly susceptible. i am happy to give way. on the subject of perinatal mental illness, i absolutely accord with what she has said. she will also ee, what she has said. she will also agree, i'm sure, the shocking statistic that suicide is the leading cause of direct maternal deaths occurring within a year after the end of pregnancy in the united kingdom. perinatal mental illness can actually lead to the loss of life amongst new mothers, and we need to do so much better in those early mental health checks for them. absolutely. and postnatal depression is something that really is hidden, and the campaign done by the end ct,

the hidden half campaign, addresses exactly that. whoever has been a pa rent exactly that. whoever has been a parent knows parenthood is not easy, and probably all mothers go through some form of depression or some feeling really down after giving birth, andi feeling really down after giving birth, and i keep saying, even i, if someone had asked me, i would have said, oh, i am someone had asked me, i would have said, oh, iam not feeling particularly well. and not addressing it early on where these things could develop into something much more serious is a problem, and thatis much more serious is a problem, and that is why it is so very important that is why it is so very important that we have a six—week checkup, particularly for women, and notjust for the newborn child. i am happy to give way. i'm grateful for her giving way. she has been very generous. a number of my constituents have got in touch on that point about perinatal checkups, and my constituent, catherine, gave me very briefly here experiences. she said, i asked for a six—week checkup with the gp, and this was at

best three. physical symptoms were looked at, but nothing checked with regards to my mental health. there needs to be a standard physical and mental health check for all new mothers. would she agree we need to be better? yes, indeed, and when i am talking to the campaign is, i think they are looking now at the gp new contracts that are going out —— the campaigners. i think that is definitely a way forward, but then of course, we need adequate training, because you need to ask the right questions in order to finally get to a point. because it does sort of stigmatise. everyone thinks, you are a new mum, you should be on top of the world, nobody really wants to admit that sometimes, motherhood can be very difficult, and one doesn't always feel great. so we need also the training for people, when new mums come in, to ask the right questions. but going back to eating disorders. eating disorders disproportionately affect women, although they do not

discriminate. eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental health conditions, and if we think that we've got about a million sufferers of eating disorders, this is ultimately an epidemic that is being there undiagnosed, untreated, and we must do so much better. our nhs is not well equipped to stop the problem early and treat it. waiting times for adults have been shooting up times for adults have been shooting up over the last few years. alternative methods such as bmi measurements —— outdated measurements —— outdated measurements such as bmi are still being used to diagnose conditions, failing to realise that at the core ofan failing to realise that at the core of an eating disorder is mental health, not a physical health problem. despite the increasing public and professional awareness of eating disorders, medical students only receive two hours of training about the conditions, and their treatment, during their entire time in medical schools. studio: we are going to leave that coverage of the house of commons

now, where a little earlier, the prime minister, boris johnson, now, where a little earlier, the prime minister, borisjohnson, had been outlining his plans for a brexit deal. he said the government has gone the extra mile with the proposals, which he called a sincere effort to try to break the deadlock. but labour's leaderjeremy corbyn said the reaction from the eu had been lukewarm. let's go to stockholm, where the irish taoiseach leo varadkar is giving a press conference, and we will living. —— listen in. ireland and sweden have a close co—operation, and excellent bilateral relationship. we often work closely together, and that goes for the work within the eu, but also otherwise, we do share views, we share values. today, it goes without saying that our focus has been on brexit. we have had a good discussion on this huge challenge, at least in the light of the proposal presented yesterday by the

british prime minister boris johnson. in the long perspective, of course, johnson. in the long perspective, of course , we johnson. in the long perspective, of course, we share a common interest ofa course, we share a common interest of a good and deep relationship between the eu and the uk bilaterally, and in the short term, we need an orderly brexit, and this means we need to find a solution that can balance, on the one hand, detecting the single market, and on the other hand, being firm on avoiding a hard border between the irish republic and northern ireland. on that matter, sweden stands in solidarity with ireland. we all rememberthe solidarity with ireland. we all remember the violence during the troubles very clearly, and the good friday agreement must not be put at risk. of course, there are other issues as well. as well as brexit, we are entering a new mandate for the european institutions, and soon we will have a new commission in place and that the president elect.

it is in all of our interests to have a strong, united european union in orderto have a strong, united european union in order to meet all the common challenges we see ahead of us. we need to tackle climate change, of course, and make the internal market work fully to create more jobs. we need to stand up for common values and combat organised crime and terrorism, and not least take a common responsibility when it comes to migration. sol common responsibility when it comes to migration. so i would like to thank the taoiseach for his meeting here, andi thank the taoiseach for his meeting here, and i look forward to continuing our cooperation, both within the eu and bilaterally between our two countries. thank you. thank you very much, stefan. i wa nt you. thank you very much, stefan. i want to thank the prime minister for welcoming me to stockholm today, and to congratulate you on your election as prime minister, and i look forward to working with you in the

yea rs forward to working with you in the years ahead. bilateral relations between ireland and sweden are excellent, both at a bilateral level, and in terms of our cooperation at a european level as well. we use this meeting is an opportunity to discuss festival brexit, discussed the current state of play, and of course, both countries very keen to see a deal that allows the uk to leave the eu in an orderly fashion, but not in such a way that undermines the integrity of the single market or causes a hard border on the island of ireland. the proposals put forward by the uk are certainly welcome in the sense that we now have written proposals that we can engage on, but they do fall short in a number of aspects. certainly, our view is that any consent mechanism would have to be reflective of the views of the whole of the population of northern ireland, and not give any one party of any denomination a veto, and also, we need to explore

and much more detail the customs proposals being put forward, as it is very much the view of the irish government and people of ireland, north and south, that there should not be customs checkpoints or ta riffs not be customs checkpoints or tariffs on trade between north and south. we also had a good discussion on climate action, which, as you know, is increasingly a priority for the irish government, and i think sweden has done a lot that we can learn from. many of the governance structures that sweden has put in place, particularly around a statutory advisory climate council and sectional and regional plans, i very much envisioned in our climate action plan as well, so we agreed at the two ministries and two governments would engage in that, and we would seek advice from sweden as to follow them down the very successful path they are on in relation climate action, and was very reassured to hear sweden has reached the point where 70% of their electricity is from renewables,

about 30% from nuclear, and our aim is to get to 70%, and it is clearly doable, because sweden has done it, and we will do more experience in policy exchanges on that in the period ahead. as the prime minister said, a new european commission ta kes said, a new european commission takes office in the ist of november. the top of the agenda will be issues like migration and security, but also the new five year budget for the european union. the mfs and both ireland and sweden are net contributors to the budget, both countries, because of our strong economies, face very considerable increases in our contribution to the eu budget over the next couple of yea rs, eu budget over the next couple of years, so eu budget over the next couple of yea rs, so we eu budget over the next couple of years, so we want to make sure that that money is spent well, and is spent in the right way. we also touched on a few issues around bilateral trade between the two countries, which is growing all the time. so thanks very much for having me on my team here, and i really appreciate your welcome. thank you. tony connelly from rte. the

exclamatory paper from yesterday accompanying the british text said that there could be physical customs checks on premises or on other designated locations which weren't actually spelled—out. yet this morning, borisjohnson, the prime minister, said they would be no new infrastructure projects anywhere. what is your understanding of the british position and that, in terms of the paper, and how problematic would that be for the irish government? and ifi would that be for the irish government? and if i can ask prime minister lofven, do you expect that as we get closer to the deadline at the end of october, will they naturally be shown ireland to make concessions? —— will there be pressure on ireland to make concessions? first, iam to make concessions? first, i am reassured to hear prime ministerjohnson's remarks that he is not proposing there be any new physical infrastructure associated with customs after brexit, but...

shall i start again? ok. first of all, iam reassured by prime ministerjohnson saying today that he is not proposing there should be any new physical infrastructure on the island of ireland links to customs or customs checks, but as you pointed out, tony, that is actually in contradiction to the papers resented by the uk government yesterday. so i think working with the eu task force in particular, with michel barnier ‘s task force, and the uk government, we will have to deal with what those proposals mean. but our position is very clear. we don't want to see any customs posts between north and south, nor do we want to see any ta riffs south, nor do we want to see any tariffs or restrictions on trade between north and south. those were all abolished in the 1990s. we don't wa nt to all abolished in the 1990s. we don't want to go back to that. the majority of the people in the north don't, the majority of people in the republic down, but if we are going to be in two different customs unions, i think that creates a real difficulty that is going to be very ha rd to

difficulty that is going to be very hard to reconcile. first, we respect very much, as i said, also, the irish perspective of this, and that has been very important for sweden and the eu as a whole to make sure that we don't get into a situation where we place this ha rd into a situation where we place this hard border on ireland. so that is something we fully respect. it is not up to ireland to make concessions and say, it is now your responsibility. that is not the case. it is up to two parties, the united kingdom and the european union, to try to find a solution. i'm very glad that bob prime minister borisjohnson i'm very glad that bob prime minister boris johnson has i'm very glad that bob prime minister borisjohnson has now presented this proposal. i think it isa very presented this proposal. i think it is a very good start to negotiations. they are in a hurry, definitely, but let's negotiate from that, but from our point of view, we will listen very much to what

ireland and france have to say, because we do not want to cause problems in the future. thank you. i want to reflect on the fa ct thank you. i want to reflect on the fact that if the united kingdom leaves the european union, ireland is sort of in the same position as sweden is with being a border country of the european union, and i wonder if our prime minister has been able to share any insight or giving you any tips or anything for moving forward when the uk supposedly leaves the european union? and also, i would like to ask you, taoiseach, what kind of preparation is your government are currently putting in place if they would be no—deal brexit? thank you. i suppose on the second

part,... on the first part, we briefly discussed the border between sweden and norway, but obviously, thatis sweden and norway, but obviously, that is not a solution we want to apply to ireland by any means, because it does have the elements of a hard border, notwithstanding the advanced technology that both norway and sweden are famous for. when it comes to our preparations for a no—deal brexit, they are now very advanced. we will post there present advanced. we will post there present a budget to our government there we re a budget to our government there were parliament next week, and that budget will be a budget for no deal. so we are going from an economy that grew by more than 5% this year to projecting economic growth of only 0.7% next year, and our budget will reflect that, and it is very much one that will build up resources for us to respond to any economic shock, particularly putting in place a very substantial package to save businesses that may be viable, but vulnerable, as a consequence of brexit, savejobs vulnerable, as a consequence of brexit, save jobs that may be

vulnerable, but viable, support our tourism sector and our agriculture. we will present those as a package in some detail next tuesday as part of our national budget. in terms of preparations, to deal with checks and controls, they are in place now. in the ports and the airports, and most of our ports goes through dublin port, and we are ready to do that on november the ist. in fact, we we re that on november the ist. in fact, we were ready on april the ist, had it arisen. the difficulty that still arises is what we will do in the land border between northern ireland and ireland. we will, of course, wa nt to and ireland. we will, of course, want to protect the single market, because we are going to stay in the single market no matter what happens. we haven't yet agree contingencies with the european commission and how that will be managed. firstly a question for the taoiseach. what are the main obstacles taoiseach. what are the main o bsta cles as taoiseach. what are the main obstacles as you see them in the offer made by borisjohnson? and at this stage, is there in space and

time left to be able to get the deal over the line? and secondly, you have been very clear that in a no deal situation, they would be de fa cto deal situation, they would be de facto checks, but that is part of a deal, ireland would not sign up voluntarily to such checks. can you categorically rule out any such checks as part of a deal? and could i also asked the prime minister, just in relation to the same question i asked the taoiseach, how realistic is it, this deal, to get it over the line in the time we have left? sorry, the first part of the question? sorry, it was a long question. what do you see is the main obstacles, as you see them, to the deal put forward by boris johnson? can we get that over the line potentially? i think there are two major obstacles. the first is the proposals on customs. you know, i don't fully understand how we could have northern ireland and the republic of ireland in separate

customs unions and somehow avoid their being tariffs, checks, and trading posts between north and south. so we need to tease that through. secondly, ithink south. so we need to tease that through. secondly, i think the issue of consent and democracy is important, and as i said before, any consent mechanism, any democracy mechanism, must reflect the views of the majority of people in ireland and northern ireland, and no one party, not my party, not sinn fein, not the dup, should be in a position to veto what the will of the majority are in ireland. so i think there is difficulty around that aspect of it. around the other part, what i have said before is that if we end up in a no deal scenario, it may be the case that we have to live no dealfor a matter of may be the case that we have to live no deal for a matter of time, may be the case that we have to live no dealfor a matter of time, and

ireland will do what is necessary to protect the single market, to ensure our place in the single market and protect our jobs our place in the single market and protect ourjobs and economy and prosperity. but having to do that for a period of time while we negotiate a deal, or pursue other solutions, is very different to an irish government actually signing up to an international treaty, to putting in place checks between north and south, and that is something we cannot countenance. vote ? emote? evoked? yes, i think so, that was certainly the case with the withdrawal agreement —— certainly the case with the withdrawal agreement "e certainly the case with the withdrawal agreement -- a vote? i hadn't actually thought of that, but it isa hadn't actually thought of that, but it is a very fair question, and having put that to a resolution, i think it would be entirely appropriate to do so if there were a revised deal. if the european parliament is going to vote on it, and the house of commons, i think it would be right and proper that the

dail should too. do you mind if i clarify that? in the context of stormont having to give its consent every four years and sitjust give its consent every four years and sit just before give its consent every four years and sitjust before the end of the transition, are you suggesting in that context that the dail should also be part of that consent mechanism? 0h, mechanism? oh, no, i am mechanism? oh, no, iam not suggesting mechanism? oh, no, i am not suggesting that. mechanism? oh, no, iam not suggesting that. i thought it was a reference to if we come to a revised withdrawal agreement on the 19th of october, would that be put to the dail. just a quick follow—up, could consent be overcome , a quick follow—up, could consent be overcome, taoiseach, if the consent issue in northern ireland and a reformed assembly, perhaps, and this could form the basis for restarting the power—sharing executive if they could be a mechanism worked out that did not have... got rid of the veto that currently exists, the petition of concern? i think all of these things have to be discussed, but perhaps best not discussed in the form of a press conference without having the other players here. but i would say, we need to be practical with any arrangements when it comes to consent and democracy closes. stormont has not sat for nearly three years. that is the reality of

it. -- three years. that is the reality of it. —— consent and democracy clauses. if we wrote into an international treaty provisions that required certain actions by stormont, what would happen if stormont, what would happen if stormont wasn't operating? you would need a fallback position there as well. that is the kind of thing i think we need to explore with our british friends. is it realistic, or how realistic, was the question? i cannot give you a percentage, but yes, it is possible, of course, otherwise we would not work on it. the eu is right now making the analysis, and there are some? —— there are some question space marks raised, and we can see those, but it is possible. this was a paper with legal text, and you can start the discussions now, so that's really start making

an effort to do what we can, because of course, we want an orderly brexit. that is the best outcome for everybody. to both of you regarding brexit: as you see it now, what is the most probable outcome? will it be deal or no deal or another delay? and to you, what is your solution on how to keep the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland open? i suppose in the first question, i am going to demure. i prefer not to predict at this stage what the outcome will be! one of the things i have learned about brexit over the past few years is that the politics of it changes and can change quite quickly, and often in surprising ways, so i will not look in the crystal balljust today. on avoiding a border between north and southin avoiding a border between north and south in ireland, there have really only ever been five ways to do that. the first is to have a united ireland, and there probably isn't a majority for that at the moment, though some opinion polls would suggest there is. ireland rejoining

the united kingdom, which of course, is never going to happen. the uk deciding to stay in the eu, and all the poll since prime minister johnson became prime minister suggest that is what the british public actually won, but they're british del webb political system isn't able to given that choice, the plus model, or fifth, isn't able to given that choice, the plus model, orfifth, what we call the backstop, which is a unique arrangement northern ireland. so there are one of five ways this can be done, and at least one of those would be acceptable to the irish government, but the best one, of course, a backstop or some form of backstop. i think that is what we are trying to achieve. taoiseach, you do you see any positives to be taken from boris johnson's plans? i take two positives from it. one is accepting regulatory alignment between europe

and the european union is what is needed to avoid a border with checks between north and south, and that is different from the position taken may be two months ago, so i think thatis may be two months ago, so i think that is a move, and a positive one. i think secondly, the suggestion that we might have a no deal, if you like the northern ireland beyond the issues that arise directly from brexit, that we could look at ways to strengthen the all ireland economy, improving the infrastructure, for example, between north and south, and that is something we touched on in our phone call yesterday and would like to develop more, but there is no point in having that unless we have an agreement to add that onto. sol agreement to add that onto. so i haven't answered your question. i will not predict either the outcome, but of course, we are working to get a deal. you have to focus and also preparing for a no—deal brexit. that would be much

worse. it —— but we work to get this deal done. an extension depends on the reason for an extension. we are willing to discuss that, but they would need to be a reason for this. what are we waiting for? when do we extend to this time? so if this comes up, let's see the reason for it. thank you. thank you. so, leo varadkar there, thank you. so, leo varadkarthere, and thank you. so, leo varadkar there, and very much, the focus of any talk of progress in this latest brexit proposal. saying that they do not meet the fully agreed objective, but as we heard there, some cause for optimism in that he said there were positives to be gained from it. we will be back with the latest on brexit a little later on. the prime minister borisjohnson, brexit a little later on. the prime minister boris johnson, of brexit a little later on. the prime minister borisjohnson, of course,

having addressed mps a little earlier in the house