difficult transition for you and did you ever miss the life about a few so to speak? >> it wasn't difficult. i've known people who became judge is and so dislikes the decision-making process that they left the bench. i was an advocate. i was glad to be an advocate. i found a decision-making process while his different, enormously challenging, enormously satisfying. i love being a judge because the opportunity to resolve disputes large and small, they'll matter to somebody, as some have large public significant and that's the very satisfying role.

♪ >> hello there and welcome to westminster written review. back with all the drama here i westminster since the summer. coming up on this program, theresa may held her success in securing a nerd breaks a deal. >> it is good news for those people who voted me. it is good news for people who were worried we were going to crash without you. >> 18 months the prime ministers scraped through phase one of negotiations. >> basing claims they are pushing people into poverty and destitution. ministers make changes to the welfare benefit. >> no government is perfect. no benefit is perfect. no debate, no motion is perfect, but by god, we worked together.

>> in his budget for house building and first-time buyers, but opposition mps recognize the sluggish time ahead. >> before the starting position for millions of people as if by then we will have already been struggling with 90 years of austerity. >> with every parting day, the u.k. is closer to brexit is scheduled to leave the european union at the end of march 2019. and with the deadline approaching, mps also trying to pin down some pretty big questions. such as what role will congress have been the brexit process? what will the final goal look like and what will the uk's relationship with europe after we left. meanwhile prime minister theresa may has faced a complex task trying to push through the comments with factions in her

own party together and northern ireland's democratic unionist. mps she relies on to get those through. over the summer to move forward has shown little success. teresa may travel to florence in september to make a speech of offering assurances on e.u. citizens like a new economic relationship. and while that may have been seen as a step forward, when a trouble hit conference performance told the prime minister struck down approach by a prankster with disintegrating background. to talk about when parliament returning the item and mrs. making to the comments to update and peace. >> mr. speaker a new deep in special partnership returning a united kingdom may start a successful european union and our offer to our european friends. achieving that partnership will require leadership and

flexibility. not just from us, but our friends from 27 nations that the e.u. >> in fact demonstrated the scale of a massive government is making of these negotiations. 15 months on from the referendum we are still no clear what the future of this country will look like. just at the moment when britain needs a strong negotiating team, we have a cabinet at each other's throats. half of the conservative party of the foreign secretary, the other half of the chancellor. >> theresa may ridicules shifting approach to brag say. >> they want to live the single market and they might stay in the single market. >> now they want to stay in the customs union forever and needs to be against the second referendum, but now they've refused to rule it out.

no wonder they say them into power. >> went to reset it returns a few days later the conflicting demands on the prime minister was clearly on shown. to keep out the conversations that the european union despite the u.k. dropping out of the e.u. with no deal and relying on well-trained organization rules. >> those talks will continue and you will not listen to does unfortunately sometime to want talks to stop in us to go into wto rules. >> stick trick i've come a follow-through and have confidence. unfortunately, many people undermining her of people threatening to go into bobby's with the later party. >> when is the prime minister going to face down the idea of it her party and her backbench and in her cabinet, who from the

safety of their homes and their shadows clamber and find no deal that's a would make huge damage to managing to leave the u.k. weaker and leave the world much smaller. >> we need to know the details of our future integration in any transition deal before the end of the year. this is absolutely critical that we stay in the market. >> the foreign secretary would be helpful in the european council this morning by quoting shakespeare, including the affairs of men which take the lead on to fortune from julius caesar, which is by brutus who went on to stab his leader. it's not a perfect method for her predicament.

>> i always welcome literary references of my right honorable friend brings there in his speeches and his statement. he and i are both working to ensure we get the right deals in the united kingdom when we need. >> theresa may wasn't the only member of the government facing conflicting pressures. the brexit day today was consistently close to release more information to parliament. the start of november back to make the government show the common committee a series of impact studies on the effects of dealing with the e.u. the reports related to 58 different in the u.k. including tourism and the nhs. they had resisted publishing the study is the study is saying that could damage the uk's negotiating positions that used an obscure parliamentary procedure to make the government release the papers. >> looking at what i have here, two things are obvious. in many way is unremarkable.

the second is the wide range of sectors analyzed demonstrate why so important for members of the house to see the impact assessments. >> after a great deal, the information was released, but an incomplete. david davis was asked to appear before the committee deeming the impact assessments were in fact impact assessments at all. >> the answer to aggression has undertaken any impacts of leaving the british economy and so there is someone, for example . [inaudible] on aerospace, financial service. doesn't it strike you rather strange given around the

committee in which you have impact assessments on all sorts of things all the time and the next fundamental change we have facing the country and you told us the government hasn't undertaken any impact assessments at all? >> the first thing, mr. chairman, when these were initiated they did that to understand the effects of what the outcome would be. you don't need the impact assessment to understand that if there is a regulatory hurdle between our producer and the market they will have an impact and in fact. the assessment i said to you before is not a straightforward. i'm not a fan of economic models because they have all proven wrong.

>> the brexit talk continued in mid-october the e.u. said not enough progress had been made to move onto the second phase of the brexit talk, which among other things of that good at their future trading relationship. progress has been made on the rights of e.u. nationals in the so-called brexit amounts of money the u.k. will pay on exiting the e.u. one point remains how to avoid the return the republic and northern ireland. it was that the deal had been done in december but those hopes were torpedoed by the democratic unionist party who made it clear at the last minute she would not accept a deal in northern ireland's trading rule with the irish pub like in the u.k. so after some frantic telephone diplomacy a compromise was finally reached a few days later and in the early hours of the

morning, theresa may printed brussels alongside the president to announce his deal had been struck to align progressions to phase two. theresa may made a long-awaited statement to mps that british negotiators had argued robustly for the outcomes achieved which were a fair deal to return to the right of more than 3 million e.u. citizens living in the u.k. in a million u.k. nationals living in the e.u. said they can carry on living their lives as before. a fair settlement to the account meeting our rights and obligations under party member states in the spirit of our future partnership and a commitment to maintain the common travel area that i linked to to uphold the belfast agreement and avoid the hard border between northern island of ireland will oppose the the constitutional and economic integrity of the whole united kingdom. >> she went nothing would be agreed until everything was

agreed. this bill is good news all around. >> this is good news for those people that we were so far down in the negotiations was never going to happen. it is good news for people who voted to remain, who were worried we were going without a deal. we are going to do so in a smooth and orderly way with a new tea partnership with our friends are taking back control of our money once again. this is the government mission and on friday we took a big step towards achieving it and i commend the statements. >> 18 months on from the referendum results, the prime minister's scrape through phase one of the negotiation. scraped through after 18 months. two months later than planned with many of the key aspects of phase one still not clear.

this weekend, cabinet members have managed to contradict each other. indeed, some have managed to go even further and contradict themselves. >> last week we had the humiliating scene of the prime minister being forced out of the original deal, rushing back to london the government had to rewrite the agreement to reach the approval. we have to wonder, who is running the u.k.? is the right honorable member? >> he confirmed the text of the agreement that makes clear in the event of the deal, northern ireland will not be separated politically, economically or in a regulatory requirement that the u.k. on the island of ireland but in the event of no deal, nothing is agreed. >> i suggest to the minister in

order in the next stage of negotiations, she might want to suspend tribal politics that invite the leader of the opposition candidate the leader of the opposition to join her negotiating team since whatever they are tactical differences, the agreements on the fundamentals of brexit and withdraw from the single market, disastrous as that may be. >> have captivated the house with regulatory excess that would be paid and contradict that had come in promising full regulatory alignment dismissed and she can't even get her brexit secretary to agree with her, how on earth is she going to get a good deal to protect

jobs investment and growth? >> so, phase one of the talk included ken theresa may talk them out at a triumph? the bbc political correspondent will be joining me throughout the program. how please will theresa may be with what she got out of this? >> to be tilted your ear in the direction of downing street from where you were watching or listening around the u.k. you will hear relief because there was a huge sense getting to the point where they could move on to phase two which they wanted to do by christmas and they managed to do it. there is a huge amount of noise on the phone call from eileen foster back to the u.k. without having cut a deal and we can telephone diplomacy without having gone out there and getting the deal and the embarrassment elite leader in the house of commons vote.

that is the prime minister said in the newspaper before christmas, she got to where she set out to get to at the outset. to that extent, yeah, she will be relieved. >> but i did take ages to get there and what does that tell us? >> it took ages. longer than originally thought because october was the first of mind, which was broken. remember, not everything in those discussions is resolved. the barrier was sufficient progress is the phase. it doesn't mean that it's all done. huge questions for instance around the irish border in agreement the border should be soft, that there isn't much of an agreement yet about exactly how you go about achieving that. what is all of this tell you? it's a mighty complicated business double, the generation

before we get on to what many people think will be an even more complicated discussion which is that the future generation will look like not because please do have to agree first. before starting the negotiation to see if they can get what they want to achieve. >> are we any closer to knowing what theresa may really want out of this in the end? >> i'm not sure we are. the argument you hear is that she's been the ultimate pragmatist, observing the views and her government, within her party, within parliaments in the country to come up with a pragmatic solution that the country can accept. the tricky thing in the essence of the whole challenge politically is that referenda divide, people forced onto one side or the other, a black-and-white moments in the politics after a referendum is the return of gray and the prime

minister's task is to find some sort of solution around trying to do that is acceptable if it isn't seen as a watering down of what they would want them to 40% on the losing side of the referendum and that is mighty hard because compromising guarantee some people will be disappointed. >> will come back to you later in the program. thank you very much indeed. >> let's take a look at some other stories. >> it's been described as a tragedy unprecedented in modern times. the fire that swept through in west london in june that 71 people died. it's not the blaze began accidentally on the fourth floor as 255 from across london were at the scene. they rallied around and were set up to accept what flooded in from across the capital.

six-month memorial service was held at the cathedral in london attended by the prime minister and members of the royal family. before christmas the community came to update mps. >> the council has been finding places for 207 household. to date, 144 households over 70% have accepted an offer of a temporary alternate accommodation. we should move the families involved in nobody should be rushed or pushed into making a decision about where to live. but to have so many families including some children still living in hotels six months after the tragedy is not good enough. >> they hit the headlines with the government to crack down on the tax scandal of the

generation. the bbc's panorama program of billions of leaked financial documents known as the paradise papers showing how many legally avoided overseas. >> does the government not recognize the taxpayer hearing again today is utterly outraged that if you are rich or you are a business, we can avoid on industrial scale and they are protect good by lack of transparency. >> a government commissioned review concluded it was conceivable of the bombing at manchester arena and make could've been avoided. the man responsible for the attack had been a former subject of interest. other attacks have been averted as march. the government has to project bid to ban the mesh and implant to treat a number of conditions

such as internal organ prolapse and incontinence. high numbers of women have begun to come forward claiming they have twist that are degraded and left them in debilitating pain. >> she stated that the mesh is never fully removed in failure of implanting means that the national fuse, stick a nadir to work inside blood vessels, creating lifelong injuries. >> it still is the best product for treating stress incontinence , but the prolapse prolapse -- [inaudible] i can give advice to members today before the end of the year. >> the health minister was back later to tell mps attack on social care in england is coming in four years time.

the cap of 72.5000 pounds on an individual following the recommendations in 2011 and have already been put in to an act of parliament that they will now be a fresh consultation on the future's victim of social care. >> we will not be creating forward the previous plan to implement the care in 2020. >> it's no good to say the government consulting consulted on this in the general election and therefore proposes were rejected by the electorate. will my children be suffering the same misery about mike haircut in the next 30 years. >> in the absence of provision i might make an indeed might encourage me to make him is a reasonable for me to expect from a social care cuts to be paid for by the state can do to inherit my substantial housing

asset? >> my honorable friend in a nutshell, actually summarizes neatly one of the debates we have to have, which is people can achieve care when they need it and it will be paid for while at the same time achieving intergenerational furtherance. >> now for an issue that rumbled on and demanded the government made changes to universal credit. six existing working age benefits of being of the system and making it easier for people to get into work. i doubt many mps supported the idea of a growing chorus of concern about the six-week rate payment, which opponents said was pushing people into that. jeremy corbyn took a. >> universal credit card and debt, at home with this.

as the prime minister except it would be irresponsible to press on regardless? >> theresa may explain why the change had been introduced. >> what we want is a welfare system that provides a safety net for those who need it into the work place, hot people to earn more and provide themselves and their families. >> with the growing labor court debate, demanding the benefit rollout that conservatives objected his party didn't understand the public people face. >> my father died at an early age. there wasn't any support. we absolutely understand the importance. that is why i support universal credit and i don't want to see it because it does offer a transformational opportunity for people. >> none of us aligning the vote

of expedient coming to you with genuine problems here that the government is stealing. >> worried about the impact of the change. >> with her disabled son. she was moved on to universal credit than we did seven weeks for her money. she told one of my clergy that she took paper napkins for mcdonald's because she was unable to afford toilet paper. her son's condition means that he wear his nappies, which was also unable to afford. can any of us here imagine the stress in the dignity of such a situation? >> mps waited to cut the payments although mps from the government side and not vote. a few weeks later the work and pensions announced that his future money could be paid to rack and large advances could be claimed morris lee.

>> we now create balanced package of improvements earlier ensuring extra support for those who need it most. >> while they are welcomed, mps with documents about the benefit beliefs to the committee and the work of the department. the leading contender reminded mps why he fought for the policy to be changed. >> on friday, the most brilliant, but unnecessary organization reported a family coming in of husband, wife and young child or the child was crying with hunger. the family was fed. the father said it had been a lucky week because they had taken pity and invited him to a funeral so that they could finish off the food after the other funeral guests had been fed.

[inaudible] no government is perfect. no benefits system is perfect. but by god, we work to make it perfect. >> with brexit dominating at westminster, but a dark politician comments. chris mason is back with me. is there a long list of policies that are getting what you expect? >> yeah, i think there are. what would we be talking about it brexit wasn't happening, if the results of that equal and opposite? they still would've been around her place in the european union because the referendum results would've been equal but opposite in a substantial chunk of the population to change. but it wouldn't have been as big of a moment obviously is the

referendum result was. what's really striking is the extent to which weather amongst civil servants or politicians or advices which are alleged, collectively the vast majority of our heads space is taken up by brexit, day in, day out and all sorts of other issues, the rich panoply of discussion that we are used to outside the times for outside the times for one topic is dominating everything barely gets any credit and is huge and radical reform of the welfare system has exactly one of those issues. we saw briefly at the tail end of the year make you some headlines, but nowhere near the amount of headlines that would've made simply because brexit is the default topic to westminster talks about at the moment. and on one hand in a macro sense undeniably vastly important it

can be whispering and sometimes a bit dull and often from the end of the viewer doesn't seem to move very far in the course of the day. that's a really big challenge. when i speak to mps, and summer programming and some pro-leave, but they're plenty of topics that matter to people every day whether it be universal credit, schools, hospitals that are getting the amount of attention to their journalistic theory terms of legislation. >> thank you very much. we'll return to later in the program. you are watching "westminster in review" with me, trained for. what is going on in the committee corridor every weeknight on b.c. parliament at 11:00 so you can catch up by the bbci player. now, to one of parliaments

events the budget. the financial statement came against the backdrop of brexit and murmurings about decisions in the cabinet with suggestions that the chancellor's own position was under threat. budget day began with philip hammond taking out for number 11. he was survived by his junior minister as he stepped into downing street containing that all important speech. after smiles in photos, the official car for the short journey. the chancellor spoke for nearly an hour with universal credit, but he began with the preparation for brexit. >> we have our game lasted almost 700 million pounds in brexit preparation. i'm setting aside over the next two years another 3 billion pounds and i stand

ready to allocate if and when needed. >> they set up as they drink a glass of water and theresa may struggle to speech when he handed to help with the costs. >> i did take the precaution of asking my right honorable friend just in case. [cheers and applause] conservative mps thrilled that the next section of this speech was less lighthearted and revealed figures on the opposite budget responsibility, predicted slower growth in the coming years. >> regrettably our product committee performance continues to disappoint. at each of the last 16 fiscal events to his precrisis trend of about three a year but has

remained stubbornly flat. today they revise soundly with the productivity growth business investment and gdp growth across the forecast. >> the one surprise announcement came in philip helmand said there would be 44 billion, 300,000 new homes a year by the middle of the next decade. >> today for all first buyer purchases up to 300,000 pounds, [inaudible] [cheers and applause] and when i had died down, he said that would be a cut for 95% of all first-time buyers to pay stamp duty. it is down to the leader of the opposition to reply to the budget. it is seen as one of the toughest parliamentary

occasions. jeremy corbyn said the test of any budget was how it affected people's lives. >> the payment is now lower than in 2010 in wages are now falling again. economic growth in the first three quarters of this year as lower since 2009 in the slowest of the major economies in the g7. >> or may corbyn said a million people weren't getting the care they needed and he reacted angrily from the hackles from a conservative mp. >> over 6 billion will of been cut from social care budget by next march. i hope the honorable member begins to understand what it's like to wait for social care of other people have to give up their work. >> on housing, jeremy corbyn reckons he heard it all before. >> 300,000 homes three years ago. not a single one has yet been

dealt in those three years. we need a large-scale publicly funded housebuilding program. not this government accounting tricks and promises. >> the westminster leader backing people in scotland. >> before the winds of brexit had a command millions of people is that by then we will have already been stumbling with nine years of austerity. the service is the insight into public service in particular feeling the squeeze. this is a budget that shows the chancellor is named for what is going on while it is behaving to have money. >> while many recent budget has unraveled in the days after the speech, and while a few dramatic headlines, it did for the most part stick together, no doubt to the relief of theresa man or

party managers. were deceptively philip hammond who is in danger of being reshuffled. chris latham who is still with us. >> an extraordinary year because he's one of the few conservatives who can point to how the german election was good news for him because a widespread expert patient prior to the election and during the campaign when printed p. people thought theresa may was going to come up with a majority with philip hammond was shuffled out of an disappeared be fired a sickly. he barely had the campaign trail much to his he acknowledged he felt the conservative should have pushed what he thought was strong handled on the economy during the campaign that didn't happen and he was parsed that have been barely saw the light of day. but he survived his chancellor. that was really exciting in the buildup to the budget it was pretty easy to find mps. not just those who disagree on brexit where he instinctively came for pretty close alignment

with the european union and divergence, but quite a few conservative mps who felt to borrow a phrase in a digital age, but along came the budget or a previous budget from earlier this year where he ended up in overtly preaching which they then have to go back on. this one's been to hold politically even though the overall message for deep in his numbers, but the overall message around the numbers as far as the economy was concerned was pretty grand as they sell for a chancellor. >> it's one of the great offices of state in the current climate. >> white, exactly. having a political discussion around the economy is still shaped by something may happen in political terms eons ago going back to the financial

crisis in the sense that is still a huge driver and how people see politics in the money in their pockets. the government is still living beyond its means, spending more every year than bringing in taxes. the issue around the deficit is still there in first the coalition and the conservatives that down to eradicate being pushed further and further back. and yet, the chancellor still has an issue. there isn't that much cash. >> is somewhat grudgingly. >> millions of pounds can be set aside. potentially an expensive business is the pragmatic thing to do and so that has to be for the expenditure. in the long run there can be

economic benefits such as brexit in these highly controversial remains. but yet again, it even in the conversation for a few minutes ago about universal credit, brexit with every discussion about politics. >> will be back with you one last time. for now, thank you. it wasn't the only one making a budget statement beside him. increasing power about how money is spent. and for the last year or so has income tax. the finance secretary outlined his own plans to help first-time buyers. the most eye-catching amounts for higher earners. raising over 160 million pounds to help fund pay raises. >> they have therefore enabled me to reverse the real cut the westminster has informed our

budget next year while ensuring that scotland is not just the u.k., but for the majority of taxpayers -- [cheers and applause] >> the message of this budget is to be ambitious. don't be hard-working. don't be successful because we will penalize you for failure to grow the scottish economy. >> the truth is scotland needs really radical change not tinkering around the exit. and it should be paced on the principle and it should be based on the principle from each according to their means, to their needs, depending on the top rate does not do it. >> by adding new rate in bands, so they can raise additional

revenue for public services by reducing tax at the bottom end of the income scale, not at the top end is the conservatives of the u.k. government seem to continue to want. >> this budget does not do enough to meet the long-term needs. does not include the transformation and education we added four. >> let's take another look at the news brief. >> the international development resides over unauthorized meetings with israeli officials. ordered from unofficial trips to africa by the pm and driven straight from the airport to downing street to explain herself. liz patel had dirty apologize for holding unauthorized meetings in august with israeli politicians including prime minister benjamin netanyahu, but later emerged she had two further meetings about government officials present. ms. patel resigned saying it had been a privilege to work as

international development secretary. >> britain as part of its special relationship with the united states, but the election of president trump has caused a few bumps along the road. the president's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel reversing decades of policy average many mps that the peace process back by decades. and his retreating of anti-islamic video by a far right group led many by the president be called off. >> president donald trump was wrong to retreat posted by far right group. when they look at the wider picture, the relationship between the u.k. and america that i know it's valuable, the friendship is between our two nations. >> we have absolutely no idea what the president will say or treat maxton before he visited, what does he actually need to

say before the idea of a state visit is once and for all? >> mr. speaker, an invitation for the visit has been extended and expected, but the date has yet to be agreed. >> president trump's role of the road came up again when north korea announced its missile over japan's and has successfully tested a nuclear weapon that could be loaded on the missile. >> i disagree with the government, but if there is to be any value in the action, surely the point secretary could use his influence the president donald trump instead of sending inflammatory tweets into letters a precarious situation. >> i really must disagree powerfully with the honorable lady and somehow this crisis has

been ripped up by the americans or by the president or by the white house when you look at the history not just in the last year, but the last 10 years from the last 30 years. this is nuclear weapons by a rogue state. >> the assembly after the power-sharing executive collapsed in january. talk stood in a deadlock failed in november, forcing the northern ireland secretary although he stopped short of reimposing direct rule. scottish labour leader via by surprise when she announced she was stepping down after two years. the party after slipping and i'm a celebrity get me out of here.

and the labour former mp to take the top job. labor is now the third-largest party on hollywood behind the mp in conservatives. westminster went inside and saw at the center of scandal and the adamant allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior emerged. several mps found themselves on the instigation by their parties are in some cases the police. early casualty was michael fallon. he quit in november saying his behavior they have fallen short of the standard expected by the u.k. military. he told the bbc would have been acceptable 10 years ago is clearly not acceptable now. the prime minister later announced that parliament is to have an independent procedure to do with complaints about abuse. the leader explained the next step. >> the new system should provide

support, advice and action on a wide section around harassment. we will do everything in our power to ensure the solution is transparent, fair enough that day. >> just before christmas, theresa may suffered another blow when she lost her third cabinet minister within two months. she sat her closest political ally of the man who was damien green after a government inquiry found he twice made inaccurate and misleading statements about the discovery of on his parliamentary office computer. he denied downloading but admitted he should have been cleared police have spoken to him and his lawyer about the material. let's go back to brexit. we saw earlier in the program the delicate balancing act the prime minister is trying to strike to keep her party together and make aggressive talks with the rest of the e.u. there was an equally trickery

back to navigate westminster itself as they try to push through what had originally been called the great repeal bill and now by the more modest title of the e.u. withdrawal bill. it feels the european communities act of 1972 in the european community and says that the process for the current e.u. laws into u.k. law's so the legal system doesn't collapse after brexit. when it had debated the comments to explained what was needed. >> put simply, this bill does not take us out of the european union. it does ensure on the debris of the businesses know where they stand. workers rights are upheld and consumers remain dead. this bill is vital to ensuring as we receive, we do so in an orderly manner. >> to portray this bill is a

technical exercise converting e.u. law into our law without raising any serious issues about the role of parliament. nothing could be further from the truth. >> they are utterly incompatible with the idea and have not taken back control to parliament once and for all. >> the truth of this bill is always going to be a solid year because the government started negotiations without clear object did outcomes and therefore the bill had the case before any eventuality or in a scenario deal or no deal. >> into the u.k. simply isn't enough. they are only as effective as the mechanisms in practice and in the absence of mechanisms to replace the enforcement role in the ec jay to respect the zombie

legislation that might be -- but his most imports a bowl. >> it is quite clear from what ministers have said, from what the legislation aside, that is not so clear. first of all, the e.u. be brought into were eventually if it is not appropriate it can be amended. >> being raised into line by line scrutiny two or three issues bubbled to the surface. earlier in the program, one of the key sticking points was how to deal with the border between northern ireland and the irish republic. one northern ireland made a plea for the principles to be

preserved in the bill. and a powerful speech she recalled how they had effect that her family and community and put forward an amendment which he said was designed to protect the principles of mutual respect for all. >> i grew up on a 50-acre farm. they took a number of people by the ira -- [inaudible] many of our friendly neighbors went to a shared door -- [inaudible] we certainly have a hard order

and will regard u.k. border officials. i don't want that on my conscience and i don't believe for one moment that the prime minister wants that. >> what ministers were able to offer assurances on that point, they weren't able to persuade mps including some of their own on another. and it sober, david -- the parliamentary vote on the exit deal might not come until after march 29th team, the uk's intended exit date. in serious outrage a compromise telling he would bring forward a separate bill, implementing the final brexit deal, giving mps a chance in detail. during detailed scrutiny that you withdraw bill, conservative minister put down an amendment demanding that a meaningful vote

be written into law. they should have a say in how we left the iu. the aspect of the debate as far as i can see is how we become polarized that we fail completely and look at the top adult look where we are going to put our foot next. .. even before parliament started have agreement. >> we have handed over lock

stock and barrel to the european union. this attempt to reverse brexit. [inaudible] [any attempt to disagree is somehow a betrayal of brexit. what rubbish. >> if the treaty isn't right in the eyes of this parliament than a couple months could turn to a couple years and in some people would like it to be a couple decades. and when she talks therefore about the meaningful vote, what about the meaningful vote of the people of this country

who voted to leave the european union. surely we need to get that done as quickly as possible to deliver what the people voted for. [laughter] >> the government did offer a last-minute concession to come back to the issue the next day to discuss consideration. >> but it was too late and so the government faced its first defeat by just for votes. >> and so the government headed into the christmas recess with a legislative hangover which will try to cure in the new year. so what does all this tell us about the state of westminster's biggest party? much of the focus has been on the divisions of the conservative party meaning

labor policies having come into any detailed scrutiny. chris is here one must time. the house struggled to come to a position on brexit, hasn't it. >> it has. it speaks to what we were saying earlier when you have a referendum it's going to divide clinical parties. we've seen that within labor as well but spending much of the year contradicting one another and themselves on the outlook of brexit. what was quite stragglin striking his during the general election campaign they seem to be able to sound a little warmer toward the european union the conservatives were even though there are still constant contradictions in both parties but that was possibly a factor helping them along in the general election, but after they managed to benefit from

opposition that you don't get as much me as the government when they are within their own divisions. >> doesn't actually matter of labor's position is constantly shifting if the power. >> it doesn't matters much, but as lieberman and women will point out, given the state of the government in terms of the numbers, that means you lose votes in the house of commons. it's not impossible to imagine a scenario where in 2018 is a general election. it's entirely possible that

jeremy corbin to be prime minister in that instance it would matter. >> let's talk that his position, the amazing transformation over the past 12 months. the fact that i've been able to answer that question definitively and with one word is extraordinary given where we were a year ago. was really striking this year. in 2016 jeremy corbin was the butt of a joke. in 2017 he was in there as a genuine threat and fear that he would be the next prime ministe minister, which is the ultimate compliment for him. he has been politically transformed. he is more confident and they are doing better and even

outperforming what they thought. he is going nowhere until he decides he doesn't want to do the job. >> theresa may looks anything other than strong and stable. >> it's been a terrible year for her. what is useful for her is that she has got to the point in the negotiations that she promised she would buy the stay and there's no obvious successor. so that puts conservatives off having a leadership race. that is good for their party. both of those factors could be remarkably important in keeping theresa may as prime minister for quite a while. >> thank you chris for joining us throughout the program.

finally, one piece of news on which politicians on all sides were able to unite and offer their very best wishes. prince harry had become engaged to american actress megan markel. they made their announcement at the end of november. congratulations poured in from around the world. they are set to wed may 19 at st. george's chapel on the grounds of windsor castle. that brings us to the end of this edition of the program. do join us on the eighth of january when parliament returns and will be back with our daily roundup of life at westminster. but for now, best wishes from all of us here and goodbye. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> we are live at the washington center to hear from philippe ryan, a senior advisor, former senior advisor to hillary clinton. he will talk about the 2016 campaign, the trump administration and look ahead to the 2020 presidential election. live coverage about to get underway on c-span2, one. [inaudible conversations]

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