Theresa May to miss Prime Minister's questions to greet King and Queen of Spain

File photo dated 30/01/17 of Prime Minister Theresa May. Days after the opening of formal Brexit talks, Mrs May is set to make a bid to break the logjam over the status of expat citizens following UK withdrawal from the EU. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday June 22, 2017. The Prime Minister will use a European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday to brief counterparts on her plans to offer certainty to the three million EU nationals living in the UK, an issue that she has identified as her first priority for early agreement in the talks under Article 50 of the EU treaties. See PA story POLITICS EU. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

11th July 2017

Theresa May is to miss her regular weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, in order to welcome the King and Queen of Spain to London, Downing Street has announced.
King Felipe VI and his wife Queen Letizia are making the first state visit by a Spanish monarch to the UK since 1986, from July 12-14, and Mrs May will join the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at an official ceremony to greet them at Horse Guards Parade.
First Secretary of State Damian Green - effectively the PM's deputy - will take Mrs May's place at the Despatch Box in the Commons to answer questions from MPs for half an hour.
Mrs May's Labour predecessor Gordon Brown was the last premier to miss PMQs because of a state visit, sending Harriet Harman in to deputise for him while he was busy greeting South African President Jacob Zuma in 2010.
The Spanish state visit was initially scheduled for June, but was put back a month to avoid clashing with the General Election.