18:38

Chris Patten is now concluding the Lords debate.

He says invites Lord Duncan, the minister, to join him later on in voting for the government’s policy (a joke about how his amendment, which the government is opposing, is nominally just a statement of government policy).

Referring to Lord Bridges’s speech (see 5.46pm), he says he would not have signed an agreement in December that could lead to the creation of a border in the North Sea. As a former Hong Kong governor, he knows enough about one country, two systems.

He calls for a vote.

And now peers are voting on the amendment.

At this point I’m handing over to my colleague Kevin Rawlinson.