Parliament met till 1.15am this morning to approve the Development Planning Bill, the second of three Bills which will bring about the demerger of Mepa.

The authority is being split into the Development Planning Authority – responsible for building development, and the Environment Authority. The environment was so far a directorate within Mepa.

The first two bills centred on the set-up and purpose of the new authorities. The third bill will be about revisionary tribunals.

Yesterday’s was a marathon sitting, starting at 2pm and continuing into the night, with a break for a statement by the prime minister on the climate change conference and the EU summit with Turkey.

Labour MP Luciano Busuttil, who took over the chairmanship of the sitting for some hours, summed up his feelings in a Facebook post, saying: “British MPs managed to decide to attack ISIS before we finished demerger law.”

The Commons held a 10-hour debate yesterday and gave the green light for RAF bombing of Isis targets in Syria.

The committee debate on the demerger bills has been marked by MP Marlene Farrugia’s decision to split from Labour and vote for Opposition amendments, which centred mostly on reducing the government’s control over the new authorities.