what he described as its violations of ukrainian sovereignty. at his final press conference as president he said he would continue to speak out to defend what he called "core values". a deadline has passed for the gambian president to step down. west african forces are gathering on the border, poised to move in and enforce a transfer of power to the winner of last month's elections. president jammeh, who's been in powerfor two decades is refusing to leave office. britain's foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has been criticised after apparently comparing the french government to nazi prison guards in its attitude towards the uk leaving the european union. two investment banks have said they'll relocate some staff from london the mainland as a result of brexit. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. hello, and welcome to wednesday in parliament.

coming up: after her brexit speech the labour leader challenges theresa may on her eu exit plan. can i urge her to stop the threats of the bargain basement brexit? i have a plan, he does not have a clue. mps demand the government do more to help a persecuted minority in myanmar. according to reports the minority group have been subject to arson, rape and murder. mps try to find out why we waste so much food. and: pretty much everyone hates theirs — but could we be about to enter a new era for the passport photo? any of us can send essentially a selfie to the passport office for our passport. but first: there'd been mutterings in the commons on tuesday after theresa may decided to make her big brexit speech not in the chamber but to an outside audience. so prime minister's questions

was the first chance for mps to grill her directly on her 12 point plan. in her speech theresa may made clear that the uk would not stay in the single market, that mps and peers would get a vote on the final exit deal and insisted no deal was better than a bad dealfor britain. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn began with a swipe at the prime minster for not setting out her plans in parliament. restoring parliamentary democracy while sidelining parliament. shouting. not so much the iron lady as the irony lady. shouting. yesterday the prime minister finally provided some detail. can i urge her to stop her threats of a bargain basement brexit, a low—pay tax haven on the shores of europe? it would not necessarily damage the eu, but it would certainly

damage this country — businesses, jobs and public services. she demeans herself, her office and our country's standing by making such threats. what i set out yesterday was a plan for a global britain, bringing prosperity to this country and jobs to people, and spreading economic growth across the country. yesterday we learned a little more of the right honourable gentleman's thinking on this issue. he said: "she has said, 'leave the single market,‘ "but at the same time says she wants to have access to the single market. "i'm not quite sure how that's going to go down in europe. "i think we have to have a deal that ensures we have access to the market. "

i've got a plan — he doesn't have a clue. last year the prime minister said that leaving the single market would make trade deals "considerably harder," and that "while we could certainly negotiate our own trade agreements, "there would be no guarantee that they would be on terms as good "as those we enjoy now," but yesterday she offered us only vague guarantees. does she now disagree with herself? the right honnourable i also said it reported to leave the sky would not fall in and look at what has happened to our economic situation since we voted to leave the eu. the right honnourable gentleman talks about the future of the economy. i want us to be an outward—looking nation trading around the world, and bringing prosperity and jobs into the united kingdom. the one thing that would be bad for the economy is the answers that the right honourable gentleman has.

he wants a cap on wages, no control on immigration and to borrow an extra £500 billion. that would not lead to prosperity — it would lead to nojobs, no wages and no skills. will the prime minister provide a commitment today that no part of the great repeal bill will be subject to english votes for english laws? the honourable lady knows full well that if any part of proposed legislation brought before this house applies only to england, it will be subject to english votes for english laws. it was quite clear from the prime minister's speech yesterday that she seeks to build a brexit consensus and to bring our country back together. i thank her for that. to that end, and indeed to strengthen the prime minister's negotiating hand, before article 50 is triggered, will she please at least consider publishing all those 12 objectives in a white paper so that we can debate them here in this place on behalf of all our constituents?

i absolutely understand my right honourable friend's point about parliament's desire to be able to debate the objectives that i set out very clearly in my plan yesterday. one of the objectives and principles i set was about certainty and clarity. it continues to be the government's intention that we will provide clarity whenever it is possible, and we will ensure that, at appropriate times, both the public and parliament are kept informed and are able properly to consider and scrutinise these issues. in response to the right honourable memberfor broxtowe, the prime minister talked about her desire to give clarity around our exit from the eu.

many of my constituents are european citizens who are paying tax and bringing up theirfamilies here. what assurance can she give them about their future, particularly if they change employer or are freelancers? one of the objectives i set out in my speech yesterday was something i have said before about the guaranteeing of rights for eu citizens living here in the uk, but i also want to see the rights of uk citizens living in the 27 member states being guaranteed. i remain open, and i encourage others across europe to agree with me that this is an issue we should look at as early as possible in order to give people the confidence and reassurance that the honourable lady is looking for. how can abandoning membership of a customs union that takes 68% of wales‘s exports, including, crucially, 90% of our food and drink exports — and that supports 200,000 jobs cause anything other than "calamitous self—harm" ? what we will be doing is negotiating a free trade agreement

with the european union to get the best possible access for trade with the eu, but we also want to be able to negotiate trade agreements with other countries around the world. a number of countries have already expressed interest in doing that with us. we want to do that to open up new export markets being delivered for businesses here in the united kingdom, including the sort of trade in wales that the honourable gentleman is talking about. on the question of customs with the european union, we want an arrangement that will involve the most frictionless borders possible. theresa may. the arguments on brexit continued on the committee corridor, where there were calls for the government to immediately guarantee the rights of eu citizens to stay in the uk. during the latest session of the exiting the european union committee that demand was made by eu nationals living here and by british people living on the continent. we do not want to be these bargaining chips in the renegotiations and we feel we have been taken hostage. that is a very strong feeling people really feel in the communities

that we are negotiating capital. this is a political issue but not granting our rights... we are human beings, we have got to be treated like human beings. the prime minister has said she wants to achieve this soon, but in agreement with the rest of europe. she tried to get agreement to discuss this last council meeting, a lot of european countries wanted to but germany and others refused. are you putting any pressure, or you tell me what pressure you are putting on your home governments to ensure they put pressure on the rest of the eu to settle this issue quickly? our position is we want the british government to make the first move because the uk is leaving the eu, not the other way round, and that decision can only come from the british government because in the eu the national governments have been told by the commission they cannot open any talks or negotiation before article 50 is triggered, and so it is a bit of a kafkaesque

situation, as a result, because no one wants to do the first move. no—one in the eu can make any move because article 50 has not been triggered. you do not look up the polish or romanian or other governments at having any role in this? i would say we are focused on the british government because we really believe they are the party that can make the first move. they have. we live in the uk, our government is the british government. we want something to be done immediately, in line with the prime minister's speech yesterday. i think there should be a resolution on the day that brexit is triggered. we live in the uk, our government is the british government. we want something to be done immediately, in line with the prime minister's speech yesterday. i think there should be a resolution on the day that brexit is triggered. i think there should be a resolution in place by both houses

of parliament calling on the other member states to make similar arrangements. of course, this can be prepared by diplomatic channels before that date. there is time between now and the end of march to do so. do you agree with the prime minister that she should wait for agreement from the other eu countries to protect british citizens living abroad before giving the rights to eu citizens here? it is the uk triggering this process, it is not the other 27 member states. therefore it would be a magnanimous gesture on the part of the prime minister and a good way of opening negotiations. let's remember when you are negotiating you should try and offer benefits to the other side. i think it would be an extreme magnanimous gesture by saying, look, we are doing this for the eu nationals in the uk, we call upon you to do the same. these people cannot wait for it to be happy is to get a resolution. i would prefer she acted unilaterally now and that would encourage other countries to reciprocate, it would improve relationships at the start of the negotiations and i cannot see any reason

why the 27 countries would not reciprocate. you have a huge displacement crisis in terms ofi million people, the population of birmingham, who are we can assume and i imagine are working in the shape form and our people that may have to look at returning to the uk or other arrangements, that does not include the may be married to foreign spouses, like myself. if that happened to me, how would my italian wife and my son get the chance to stay in the uk? we're talking about splitting families as well. a foreign office minister has told mps that borisjohnson will raise if that happened to me, how would my italian wife and my son get the chance to stay in the uk? we're talking about splitting families as well. a foreign office minister has told mps that borisjohnson will raise concerns about allegations of human rights abuses in myanmar when he meets the country's leader aung san suu kyi shortly. thousands of rohingya muslims

are said to have fled to neighbouring bangladesh amid allegations that the burmese army has carried out human rights abuses. troops took control of the region after armed men raided police posts, killing nine officers, in october. the minister alok sharma came to the commons to answer an urgent question on the situation. while we condemn the attack and recognise the right of security forces to carry out security operations to root out the perpetrators, we remain deeply concerned by the conduct of the army in its response. although restrictions on media, diplomatic and humanitarian access make the facts difficult to ascertain, we have been worried by numerous reports alleging widespread human rights violations in the security response. as i said, we continue to monitor the situation closely. the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs will visit burma soon and will reiterate our

concerns about such issues. it is very difficult to get accurate information for what is happening in the current states or in order to get to the truth beyond false reports, will he call for access for independent observers and journalists to visit displacement camps in this state? he asked about uk support for an international commission, i assume a un type commission, and i just say that a un—led commission and enquiry can be established in one of three ways, either by the un secretary—general, by the un security council or by the human rights council. establishing and enquiry in this way would acquire broad international support which we assess does not exist in the current international environment. the minister rather sidestepped the question of action in the un by saying that the government's opinion was that there was not a sufficient consensus at the present time to take forward action. can he go rather further than that?

will the government commits to try and build that consensus as opposed to merely remarking that it doesn't exist? will the minister make very clear to the burmese authorities that the welcome re—entry into the international community will not be helped if they fail to protect minorities and particularly this second community? a conservative returned to the plight of the rohinga. hundreds are being attacked, many are being murdered. the villages are being systematically burned or destroyed, many are being sold into slavery with the complicity of burmese authorities. the very authorities of which treat the rohinga as a non—people. my honourable friend the minister has avoided the challenge from the right honourable member from gordon and my honourable friend the member from gillingham. that it is not sufficient for the government to cooperate, the government needs to lead un support if these reports are true. since the burmese security forces started the campaign in october it

has been estimated that around 65,000 rohinga muslims have fled the country. according to reports, the minority group have been subject to arson, rape and murder at the hands of the military. such allegations are incredibly serious and it is for that reason i ask the minister for the fourth time i believe if he will continue to call for the establishment of an independent investigation into these claims. i hope mr speaker that i have made clear today that there are a huge number of avenues that we in the uk are pursuing in terms of getting humanitarian aid and making the case for minorities and actually making it very clear that we care deeply about these matters. at the end of the day that is something we will keep doing. going back to the point about the approach from a un perspective, as i have said, there are a number of areas in which the un is already engaged

and we will continue to work with those to make the case that we must make sure there is resolution in this very troubled area. the foreign office minister. you are watching wednesday in parliament. around 8 million tonnes of food, post—manufacture, as it is called, is wasted each year in the uk. the environment, food and rural affairs committee is carrying out an enquiry into food waste in england and has been healing —— hearing from a panel of supermarket chain representatives. one of the issues that gets a lot of attention is what to do with misshapen fruit and veg that does not make the grade. tescos told the mps about its perfectly imperfect range. what we've typically have done, and i know others have done the same, is we have widened our specifications to the point where that is still perfectly edible food and it can be sold either at discount, it takes account of the whole crop

idea, so when you get a flash of a specific product we can then move extra product that would not make our specifications normally into this perfectly imperfect world. and pretty much every customer who has ever bought one of those has come back and bought another on the basis that it works as a concept. where the product is still outside the specification, then, again, you will hear a slightly different story from morrisons because of the vertical integration but in our world what we do is we facilitate for example potatoes that are too big or too small or into making our recipe dishes. so potato products made by one of her manufacturers are supplied with potatoes that we could not possibly sell within the stores because they might be enormous or very tiny and they are utilised, 165 tonnes or so loss but this year. we take the manufacturing approach, so anything that is the wrong shape or we couldn't sell goes

intojuices, smoothies, soups is a really big category. obviously we sell a lot of soup. and also our ready meals. so we try to do the same thing, but i guess in a slightly different way because we don't sell it in store, unless it's in our basics range. morrisons and said it sold 25,000 tonnes of wonky vegs last year. as of this year there will be 13 different types of fruit and vegetable that we sell which is out of normal spec, why we are selling more is because customers are more interested in the whole agenda and want to buy more of it so they can buy it at a lower price or in a bigger bag. but particularly because we have taken the extra step to market it, it's driven that kind of interest in the customers and if you will, pardon the pun, it is feeding the interest. but, said a conservative committee member, . .. i wonder why you call these vegetables wonky or misshapen or less than perfect.

they are perfect, they're just a different shape. and i think you're contributing, or i wonder if you are contributing to the problem, by referring to them as some kind of weird by—product. wouldn't it be better simply to sell them as they are? because that's what they are — perfectly good and nutritional. why don't you do that? i think it helps customers to work out what they're buying in store so by designating them in a particular way it is clear. so if you were to buy onions from our wonky range, they might be more dirty, and the sizes may be different. and if the customer is not aware that they are buying something slightly different to what they might ordinarily by typically they will come back and say is this the same product? and start to question what we are selling them. one of the things we are trying to do is to be clear about what it is they're buying and provide choice. what we're trying to do,

particularly with the way the packaging is designed and in the way that we talk about it, is to talk about it in a very positive way. i don't think it is about saying that there is something we don't like. in fact, it may not be perfect, but i don't think anybody around the table is suggesting or trying to suggest in the way that the market is that the fruit and veg is anything other than perfectly good to eat. if you have that range, and most of us have a range which is usually three tiers or two tiers, if you introduce another part to the range and don't signal to the customers in some way what the purpose of that is, they find it pretty unhelpful and confusing, so we are adding to the choice, notjust making it wider. the marketeers have kind of found this way and indifferent supermarket you will see different responses, it is the same. we'll let people reach their own conclusions. simon hart on wonky veg. millions of us have one and millions of us hate ours. what am i talking about?

passport photos. the photo booth shockers are the embarrassment of many a seasoned traveller, but couldn't it be possible for people to their own picture, the so—called selfie, and send that in instead? as i understand it, the government is seeking to arrange that any of us can send essentially a selfie to the passport order office to form our passport. the passport is the gold standard as far as identity assurance in this country is concerned. why is the opportunity not being taken to prevent a situation in which people can photoshop images to make sure there is proper certification of when an image has been taken, that it was duly carried out in a proper way and that that image is a secure and reliable basis on which we can prove your identity? the noble lord is absolutely right, security standards are absolutely paramount, whether it is under the old system, shall we call it, or indeed the new digital system. under both systems the security

standards are exactly the same, let me reassure the noble lords. just by examples, both the usa and new zealand allow people to take their own photographs. in terms of a selfie, a photograph that is identified as a selfie that doesn't meet those security standards and requirements are rejected in the examinations process, but that gold standard as the noble lord is right to point out is absolutely paramount as the robustness and confidence in this very important document going forward. under the old system, as it is called, someone has to certify on the back of the photograph that it is a true likeness of the passport holder. how is that going to be achieved if it is a completely digital application process? my lords, the current service that has been in place since april of last year actually is only available at this point in time to adults over the age of 26

who have previously held british passports. so there is the rigour in the new process. what is the difference between a dodgy selfie and a genuine selfie? a dodgy selfie, my lords, is one that does not meet the rigorous requirements of a passport photo. finally, the labour mp tristram hunt has made his last parliamentary speech. mr hunt, a historian, is leaving to become the director of london's victoria and albert museum. his decision will mean there will be a by—election in the stoke—on—trent central constituency. tristram hunt said goodbye during the afternoon's debate on brexit and its applications for security, law enforcement and criminaljustice.

it has been a profound privilege to represent stoke—on—trent central in this chamber for six and a half years and i would like to place my thanks to the speaker, the clerks of the house, the doorkeepers, staff, perhaps above all the library staff who i feel now face quite a drop in demand. it perhaps it seems particularly perverse to leave the house now and let me apologise to the political parties and people of stoke—on—trent for inflicting a by—election upon them, but it seems perverse to leave just as this place is about to enjoy the largest return of powers since the act and restraint of appeals. in case you are wondering, an act of parliament way back in 1532. it transfered powers from the catholic church to henry viii. mr hunt turned to what the impact of brexit might be. and as power and sovereignty is returned to the uk parliament i think the question we are debating today and you will be into the future is whether we see a britannia unchanged, forging a new era of free trade, cultural exchange and innovation, or whether the world

today is, as my right honourable friend from leeds central suggested, is so interconnected in terms of economy, security of political power that we have in leaving the eu exposed ourselves to international headwinds that will batter rather than benefit us. and at this stage we have no answer to that. the outgoing labour mp tristram hunt. and that is it from me for now, but do join me again at the same time tomorrow for another round—up of the best of the day here at westminster. until then, goodbye. hi, there. there is definitely a pattern emerging with our weather. i will say that much for the weather over the last few days.

here is monday's satellite picture. a lot of cloud across the uk underneath building high pressure. spot the difference on tuesday. a bit of sunshine coming into south—east of england. otherwise it was cloudy. and yesterday's satellite picture also shows a lot of cloud. again, the south—east poking out in the sunshine. can you guess what the forecast will be for thursday? yes, today will be another cloudy day for much of the country. the cloud will be thick enough as we go through the first part of the morning to give a spit of rain in the midlands, maybe west england and wales. but under this blanket of cloud it's a mild start for most. perhaps a touch of frost in aberdeenshire. and certainly for southern wales and southern counties of east anglia it will be a cold start to the day. underneath relatively clear skies a widespread frost. but just as we've seen for the past couple of days there will be sunshine working across southern counties of england. cold, but bright. a weather front continues to dangle across central portions of wales and england, where the thickest cloud is. that's where we could see the odd spit of morning drizzle.

but temperatures about 6—9 celsius as we push into northern parts. in scotland, the cloud thick enough for a few spots of rain. this is the picture through the rest of the day. a cloudy day weatherwise for most of the uk, but again some faring better for sunshine than others. southern counties of england will keep the sunshine. breaks in the cloud across scotland. the best in eastern areas. generally the cloud is a little bit higher in the sky across the northern half, compared to yesterday, so at least it will look brighter underneath those cloudy skies. that's thursday's picture. through the night we're stuck with this cloud through thursday night. again there could be a few mist and fog patches forming, a bit of drizzle through the night. with those clearer skies across southern england and wales we will have pockets of frost. maybe a bit of frost for northern ireland and eastern areas of scotland, but where it stays cloudy temperatures

about 5—7 degrees overnight. into friday and the high pressure is still with us and so is the cloud for a good part of the country. again, some breaks in the cloud. the best of these towards southern england and parts of scotland. where sunny it's cold. underneath the cloud temperatures near normal for the time of year. as we go through the weekend and into the start of next week, don't expect any major changes. we keep a lot of cloud, but at least there will be bright or sunny spells and a little bit cooler through the weekend as well. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: a final farewell to the white house press corps, but barack obama says he will still speak out to defend his "core values." i think we are going to be ok. we just have to fight hard and work for it. and not take it for granted. and i know you always do. troops mass on the border of gambia, ready to force president jammeh to accept electoral defeat and step down. britain's foreign secretary appears

to compare the french government to nazis. european leaders say brexit won't be easy. once a frontline in the syrian civil war, now very quiet. we have a report from the city of aleppo.