Owen Paterson: Minister Stephen Barclay expresses regret over vote

Minister Stephen Barclay has expressed his "regret" over the "mistake" the government made with the vote on Owen Paterson's conduct last week.

Government-backed plans to review MP standard rules, after Mr Paterson was found to have broken lobbying rules, were withdrawn following a backlash.

Mr Paterson has since resigned his North Shropshire seat in Parliament.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of "giving a green light to corruption".

Speaking during an emergency debate on the subject, Sir Keir said "the government wants to weaken the system because it keeps investigating and finding against them".

He also accused the prime minister - who did not attend the debate - of "running scared".

And at the beginning of the Commons debate - which is due to last for three hours - Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said it was essential to "sort out the mess we're in".

He said any review of the process had to to be done on a cross-party basis.

Mr Paterson's resignation as a Conservative MP came after the government blocked a proposal to suspend him for 30 days and review the whole investigation system, before backtracking after an outcry from opposition parties and some Tories.

The sanction was recommended by the Commons Standards Committee following a report by Parliament's standards commissioner Kathryn Stone that found he had repeatedly breached Commons rules banning "paid advocacy".

Mr Paterson denied breaching Commons lobbying rules, and said the process for investigating him was unfair.