members of the house of lords have begun debating the legislation to give theresa may the authority to trigger brexit talks. this is the scene live. it comes as the prime minister warns peers not to delay the process. properly there'll be debate and scurtiny in the house of lords but i don't want to see anyone hold up want the british people want. nhs trusts in england report an overspend of nearly £900 million in the first nine months of the financial year despite extra funding from the government. a big rise in council tax bills across england as local authorities try to tackle the social care crisis. most households could be charged 5% more from april. i'm simon mccoy, in the next hour. the us vice president is in brussels where he warns european allies to step up their spending on defence. today it is my privilege on behalf of president trump to express the strong commitment of the united states to continued co—operation and partnership with the european union. the president expects real progress

by the end of 2017. and will it be a night to remember for sutton as they host arsenal in the fa cup at their modest stadium in south london. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. lord hague is on his feet debating the bill that will allow article 50 to be triggered. somme in the eu that believe if it's made difficult enough we'll somehow lose heart which does not help a successful negotiated outcome. in any case, a country cannot go around in circles. opinion will vary over the next few years. there'll be

opinion polls that say people do not agree with leaving the eu any more and then six months later that they do agree. but we cannot be leaving the eu in 2017 and remaining in 2018 and leaving again in 2019 and by 2020 be too confused to know what we are doing. a country cannot go round in circles ah decision was made in the referendum. i take issue with the referendum. i take issue with the noble lord when he says people expressed a view which has a casual contagion to it, that they sauntered by the ballot box and expressed a view about whether we should be in the eu. they made a decision in a process that was intended to be decisive and agreed at the time to be decisive. so as someone whose preference was to remain in the european union, my second preference, give than that is not available, is to leave it with some degree of unity and good order and

confidence and determination for the country to seek advantages from leaving the eu since we'll inevitably have the disadvantages of doing so. so the case for invoking article 50 is overwhelming and the case to do so now is in escapable. there is a need to end the uncertainty — i go a long way with the noble lord, lord hope, on this. there are immensely complex negotiations to undertake and there is no reason to delay the start of the negotiations as some have argued because there are elections in germany, france, the netherlands. it's in the nature of the process set up by article 50 with a two—year timetable that the real bargains and compromises and trade—offs and deals will be made near the end of that process allowing time for the consideration of this parliament and

the european parliament. so elections in the next six months across europe are no reason to delay that. that is not when those decisions will be made. so i conclude that this is not to do and it's necessary to do it now. real democratic accountability coming from the government being able to go toa from the government being able to go to a general election in 2020 and be judged as to how it conducted this process , judged as to how it conducted this process, as well as in parliament beforehand. if those two things are true, what form should the bill take? well, it should take as simple a form as possible and again i go a long way with the noble lord, lordship's house hope. i have negotiated many, many times in the european union on behalf of this country and anybody who is involved in this negotiation will want this legislation to be as simple and straightforward as possible without additions to it that undercut and undermine the position of ministers.

this bill is pleasingly simple, unusually simple in its construction and content. that is something that should be welcomed, my lords, and i fear that amendments of process for the bill will turn out not to be so well thought out in two years‘ time and that amendments of policy will undermine the positions of ministers as they seek a successful outcome. so therefore, my lords, i think it‘s right to invoke article 50 to do so now and to do so with the simplest bill that it is possible to bring forward and i commend ministers for doing so. my doing so. my lords i‘m particularly pleased to follow the right honourable lord, lord hague of richmond. i do not believe that it‘s a great error to revisit the principles and that it will open up a... studio: let us speak to our

correspondent, leila nathoo. we have hours of this ahead, possibly beyond midnight? we do. a flavour of what we can expect from the rest of the evening there from lord hague. the debate started about 2. 30 when we heard from the leader of the lords, lady evans, she opened the debate when 190 peers are yet to speak, but lady evans opened the debate saying this was a procedural part if you like of the brexit process, it‘s just the legal means of getting brexit under way. there to hear her speech was theresa may in a very unusual occurrence. the prime minister herself was in the lord‘s chamberfor the minister herself was in the lord‘s chamber for the start of the debate. she heard the opening arguments. if you look closely in the chamber you can see her sitting there looking on. again, very unusualfor the prime minister to be present in such a debate, perhaps showing the

significance of this hearing. this is the first chance that the lords have had to air their views and discuss brexit and discuss the government‘s plans for withdrawal. we heard from lady evans and responding for the opposition, the leader of the lords, lady smith who said labour was not there to block brexit but would not be threatened into not fulfilling their constitutional role as peers. she said she didn‘t want to give the government a blank cheque, although there would be no sabotage of brexit, labour would be seeking to amend the legislation in areas like the rights of eu citizens being guaranteed in parliament to have a meaningful vote on the final deal and securing the good friday agreement and the open border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. so plenty of this to come butjust some of the arguments being heard so far. thank

you very much. the prime minister in the lords of course in her role as a privy councillor. if you want to keep watching that in full, it‘s on the bbc parliament channel. it's it‘s expected to go on waydown mid might. nhs trusts in england are overspending by hundreds of millions of pounds more than expected — according to figures out this lunchtime. trusts reported a deficit of 886 million pounds in the last quarter, more than one and a half times the government target. doctor kathy mclean from the regulator nhs improvement, had this explanation. it is higher than our original anticipation but the number of patients coming into hospital, obviously we need to treat them as a priority and in spite of that, the hospitals are working really hard to keep the costs down. indeed, compared with last year, there are 44 less hospitals posting a deficit this year compared with last year. joining me from westminster

is niall dickson, chief executive of the nhs confederation. you won‘t be surprised by this. what do you think the explanation is? the pictures you are seeing in hospitals andindeedin pictures you are seeing in hospitals and indeed in mental health trusts as well is a manifestation of a system which is not currently working. that‘s largely because in social care, they‘re not able to look after people and because community services are not funded sufficiently in order to try and prevent people from becoming ill. so we‘ve got more and more older people, we hear this all the time, but more and more older people with a range of different conditions who could be managed more effectively in the community but especially during this cold weather time many of them

end up in hospital emergency departments and then the kind of pressures that we are seeing, that means cancelled operations by those hospitals, that means again once those elderly people have been put right, as it were, they can‘t get them back into the community because there aren‘t maces sothe system is clogged up and under huge pressure. i think the worrying aspect of this is, although there‘s been some improvement as was just said in terms of the number of trusts in deficit, the fact is that trusts are having to make decisions at the moment sometimes making non—recurrent savings which means in a way the problem will reappear next year and next year we are going to face year and next year we are going to fa ce eve n year and next year we are going to face even greater problems just when we wa nt face even greater problems just when we want to try and transform the system. so it really does come back to social care and where the divisions are between presumably council spending and the government spending — you would say what that the government had to ringfence money specifically for social care, john ashworth who ijust

money specifically for social care, john ashworth who i just spoke to said it‘s time to take it away from the business rate cuts and put it straight into that — would you go a step further? we believe that the method at which the government chooses to fund is a matter for government and not for us to dictate. but the need in terms of social care funding is absolutely u na nswera ble social care funding is absolutely una nswerable and if social care funding is absolutely unanswerable and if you go and talk to nurses, i spoke to a senior nurse, she said fill had more money, in spite of the pressures, i would spend it on social care because that‘s why these people are coming in here and it‘s also why elsewhere in the hospital we can‘t get patients home again. why do you think this remains politically unresolved? think this remains politically unresolved ? i think this remains politically unresolved? i remember andy burnham nearly a decade ago talking about the need for a cross party solution to the social care crisis, as he called it then. it‘s not exactly a surprise this, is it? it's not. 2008-09, i

surprise this, is it? it's not. 2008—09, i was at the king‘s fund at that time and we talked about a social care system which was not coping well enough. now the situation is considerably worse. there are something like two million elderly people in england who‘re not receiving any support at all who should be being supported by the social care system. it‘s never been managed irrespective of parties, never managed to achieve that level of political pre—taxion in order to be able to try to get the funding in place and what we are seeing in the health service is a consequence of that under—funding. thank you very much. a line of news from paris. we are hearing from reuters that french police are searching the headquarters of the national front. marine marine le pen

being investigated. she and francois fill london facing allegations of abusing their position —— francois fillon. the national front headquarters in paris are being searched by french police. more from that from our correspondent in paris later. local government association which represents councils has warned that deep cuts to other services will still have to be made because of the huge cost of looking after growing numbers of elderly and disabled people. here‘s our social affairs correspondent alison holt. yes, you be fine. this is social care in action. good girl. and i will be behind you. after several falls, 80 year old maureen edwards is being given support that will mean she regains some independence and rebuilds her confidence. it means she and her husband will be able to cope at home. according to today‘s survey, the sheer demand for this sort

of care is the reason why most local authorities in england plan to raise council tax. that was wonderful. we've got the carers, they come in, get her up, wash her, dresser. wash her, dress her. you know, it's helped no end. yeah, very good. i‘m grateful for all that they‘ve done for me, i really am. and... without them, i don‘t know what i would have done. the edwards live in surrey and it‘s the council‘s social workers who organise their support. the authority had discussed increasing its council tax by 15% to meet the growing care costs. now, like most local authorities, it‘s likely to rise byjust under 5%. staff here describe the demand as unrelenting. i‘ve worked in adult social care for 20 years and i‘ve never known the pressure that we‘ve got now. and there‘s no simple solution to it.

people getting older, people living longer and their needs are increasing with more complexity. councils pay for most social care and today‘s survey shows nearly all are struggling with the costs. there are 151 local authorities in england, 147 plan to raise council tax specifically to help pay for social care. but councils warn that won‘t plug the funding gap and that could mean cuts to other council services. there has been a united voice of local government to say that they need to have more funding into social care and that the crisis in social care is immediate now. the funding for local government needs to be resolved immediately. and another step for me. the government says extra funding is being put into social care and that authorities will soon be able to keep all of the money they raise from council tax and business rates. i'm behind you. alison holt, bbc news.

the headlines: peers have begun debating the legislation to give theresa may the authority to trigger brexit talks. this is the scene live where the house is expected to sit until at least midnight and, in an unusual move, the prime minister‘s also been present inside the chamber. nhs trusts in england report an overspend of nearly £900 million in the first nine months of the financial year despite extra funding from the government. a big rise in council tax bills across england as local authorities try to tackle the social care crisis. most households could be charged 5% more from april. and in sport, badminton, weightlifting archery, fencing and wheelchair rugby fail to overturn uk sport‘s decision to cut all their funding for the coke owe olympics and paralympics. the five sports failed to provide any compelling new evidence to change uk sport‘s assessment of their medal potential.

non—league sutton united face arsenal in the fa cup tonight. sutton are the lowest ranked team left in the competition, non—league lincoln city await the winners in the quarter—finals. and england all—rounder ben stokes has become the most expensive foreign player in the most expensive foreign player in the history of the indian premier league, bought for £1.7 million by the puna rising super giants. back with more on those stories at 4. 30. the us vice president, mike pence has described america‘s commitment to the european union as steadfast and enduring, after his first official meeting with the president of the european council. meanwhile president trump is facing calls to further clarify his comments over the weekend, in which he appeared to suggest that there had been a terror attack in sweden. we are about restoring capability.

we are about restoring capability. we intend to increase military funding to make it possible for us to provide for the common defence for the people of the united states but also meet the obligations that we have with our treaty allies, including in this historic treaty. america i can say therefore with confidence, will do our part, but europe‘s defence requires europe‘s commitment as much as ours. while we commend the few nations that are on track and have met the obligation, the truth is, some still have a credible path to meet this minimum goal. let me say again what i said this last weekend in munich. the president of the united states and the american people expect our allies to keep their word and to do more in our common defence. the president expects real progress by the end of 2017. gavin lee is in

brussels. or what, the end of 2017. gavin lee is in brussels. orwhat, gavin, is he saying if they don‘t come up with the money, they won‘t be as protected as they were before? the money, they won‘t be as protected as they were before ?|j think it‘s all question marks. it‘s being left out there. this was a similar thing that happened a few days ago when the defence secretary was in brussels at nato and said basically more countries have to put their hands in their pockets and pay more money or we‘ll look to moderate what we do. he was asked what do you mean by moderate and he said at the moment we won‘t look at that until we see who is paying what. in fact actually mike pence today a short while ago said; "if you don‘t have a plan to pay your commitment which is 296 plan to pay your commitment which is 2% of the gdp for each country to nato, then get one". that is what he said. at the moment five countries meet the target, including the uk out of 28. what has happened since we heard donald trump a few weeks ago describing nato as obsolete, in

the last few weeks we are told nato pledges have increased by $10 billion and that means by the end of this year, six out of the 28 countries are slowly starting to meet the target. what reaction in brussels from those who aren‘t up to their gdp standard? brussels from those who aren‘t up to their gdp standard ?|j brussels from those who aren‘t up to their gdp standard? i think this is a slow burning exercise. those in the baltic states, you have estonia for example paying its way, lot i have ya and lithuania are due, i‘m told by nato staff by this or next year to meet the 2% target —— latvia and lithuania. the summit in wales, it was said that in the next five to ten years, this will this will be met and some are doing that. there‘s been rhetoric and numerous comments from donald trump about nato and the european union being an institution. i think this was very much a

bridge—building deployment, an exercise of soothing european anxieties by mike pence. he said today, i‘ve been personally deployed by donald trump to come here to say that we are stead fastly committed to the eu, i think the issue will be though, and this is something also mentioned by the former us ambassador to the eu, it‘s all very well hearing it from mike pence, they want to see actions as well as words and perhaps with the rhetoric of the president changing. two senior ukip officials have resigned in protest at their leader‘s handling of the hillsborough controversy. paul nuttall has been embroiled in a row over his website that incorrectly claimed he‘d lost close friends in the tragedy. in a statement, the chair of ukip‘s merseyside branch accuses mr nuttall of crass insensitivity. one of those to resign is ukip‘s former regional chairman for merseyside, adam heatherington. i asked him what caused him to resign earlier. i resigned basically off the back of

aaron banks‘ comments, they are totally a disgrace. that‘s why. aaron banks‘ comments, they are totally a disgrace. that's why. so it was aaron banks, rather than the paul nuttall controversy over hillsborough, was it? that was an error made but it‘s aaron banks basically saying they were milking it, it wasn‘t a travel di, it was an accident and, you know, it‘s 27 yea rs accident and, you know, it‘s 27 years that the families of the hillsborough victims have been trying to get justice. hillsborough victims have been trying to getjustice. was that hillsborough victims have been trying to get justice. was that your own decision or was there pressure on you from colleagues in merseyside? no. it's my own decision. i represent the people of this city for ukip. i think the comments from aaron banks have com pletely comments from aaron banks have completely caused a lot of problems. norman smith said the resignations we re norman smith said the resignations were another dent in paul nuttall‘s credibility as leader. they‘ve said nothing publicly, they don‘t want to go on the record. privately, they are suggesting that the two men quit because of a backlash in liverpool following the

false statements put up on mr nuttall‘s website and they are saying mr nuttall understands their decision, bears them no animosity and he said he has faced no criticism from people in liverpool. i think the difficulty is, this is cumulative, it‘s one thing after another with mr nuttall during this by—election campaign. obviously, you go back to the controversy over whether he really did play professional football, whether he did have a phd, most recently whether he was offered a board on a training company in the north west and now this. this is continual drip—dripping of question marks frankly about his credibility which you sense is probably denting his prospects in the by—election and more than that, his standing as leader. that seems to me what is so striking about the resignations. these two are not gone meek and mildly, more in sorrow nan anger. thief made forceful criticisms of mr

nuttall and banks saying they are not up to the job of leading the party, condemning their comments as crass, insensitive. these are two chairmen coming out all guns blazing. the reason for the reticence is maybe they are wondering whether there‘ll be any more? there hasn't been any so far. when i spoke to the personal handling media for the two men this morning, he suggested that there would be several more including from several other ukip officials. my guess is that those around mr nuttall have been on the blower to the local party in merseyside and said, what are you doing, don‘t you realise there is a by—election four days ahead, you must be barking mad, stop it. mr hetherington was trying to play that down too, marked contrast to the language he was putting out in the press release this morning and i have the sense that mr nuttall is struggling, not just in the by—election but as

leader and you just feel with ukip ever since nigel farage stepped aside, they have had a leadership issue again and again. the leaders have struggled to command confidence to give the party stability and that seems the case with mr nuttall too. iraqi forces are continuing their advance into mosul, iraq‘s 2nd biggest city, after launching a major attack yesterday to remove islamic state fighters from their last major stronghold in the country. the progress of the operation has been slowed because of huge improvised explosive devices that the is militants have placed along the route. our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville and cameraman nick millard are the only television journalists on the frontline with iraqi forces. they‘re now on the outskirts of western mosul the only part of the city still held by so called islamic state. in record time, iraq‘s federal police have made it to within sight of mosul city. that‘s the south east of the city you can see there. and the river tigris just in the foreground. it really was a very fast assault to get here. and now, behind me, perhaps

if we move the camera over there, you mightjust be able to pick out the helicopter, the gunship which is launching an attack against the town of abu saif. that‘s a very important town, because all that lies between the federal police and mosul is that town, and it‘s a is stronghold. all morning we‘ve watched these helicopters attacking the town. the iraqi police have fired their own home—made rockets deep inside that town. it‘s very important for them. just two miles, 3km or so... gunfire we can hear the helicopters firing again, can‘t quite see it. but we can hear it firing. just beyond that town, two miles or so, is mosul‘s airport. that airport is mostly of symbolic value because the islamic state long ago destroyed the runways and terminal buildings.

but taking that would be very important because it would be a symbolic victory. and after that, they would be in mosul. let‘s retu rnthe let‘s returnthe house of lords. lord hill has already said mps and lords mustn‘t be allowed to interfere. let‘s listen in. they have now accepted that we have voted to leave. their priority is to work out their own future at 27, not to sit there putting everything on hold hoping that one day the phone will ring and it will be the british foreign secretary saying, sorry, we‘d like a different offer or sorry, we‘d like to come back after. business here in britain is also not sitting here waiting for something to turn up. every day, the facts on

the ground are changing, as they make their investment decisions, as they plan ahead. their time scales, shareholders, will not permit a debating house approach. now, i know that most here want to remain on the best possible terms with the rest of europe once we‘ve left, to cooperate on defence and security, to keep europe secure, to continue to trade together, to keep europe prosperous, together, to keep europe prosperous, to clock rate on research on science, to encourage to clock rate on research on science, to encourage our to clock rate on research on science, to encourage our young people to learn from each other —— to cooperate on research. to have open minds, even if we don‘t have open minds, even if we don‘t have open borders. but to increase the chances of this happening, to avoid the dangers of a mutually damaging political crash, we need to have a grown—up negotiation. that means, my lords, we also need to think

carefully about the language that we use in this debate. the ludicrously polarised nature of our political and media debate, the chronically debased nature of our longth language where everything is a catastrophe or deliberation, this is a real obstacle to working out how we are going to overcome the challenges that we will face on leaving, but also how to make the most of the new opportunities that will also open up. i believe, my lords, we need a political climate that is far more reasoned, far more calm, far more rationale if we are going to help bring the country together and lead it through the period ahead. that‘s why we need to be thinking more about how we can bring remainers and

levers together instead of co nsta ntly levers together instead of constantly driving whens between us —— leavers. we need to be talking more about the things that can bring us together with our european neighbours, rather than the things that drive us apart. and instead of endlessly rerunning the referendum debate, we need to spend much more time thinking constructively about our future. if that isn‘t a job description for your lordship‘s house, i don‘t know what is. my my lords i loved being leader of this house. i saw how important it was that we should be different from the other place with a different voice and a different set of experiences. i saw very clearly the contribution that we make to improving legislation and i had no hesitation in pointing out to my collea g u es hesitation in pointing out to my colleagues in the other place our right to perform that role, to scrutinise ministers, to ask them to think again. but the truth, my

lords, is that the rest of europe wa nts to lords, is that the rest of europe wants to get on with its post referendum life. business wants to be able to get on with its post referendum life and so i gently suggest do we. lords i'm please to follow lord hill and his very intelligent contribution to this debate, but i wa nt contribution to this debate, but i want to make a remark about lord hague's speech. contrary to what he said today, the noble lord believes we should stay and i quote just one step away from the single market. i know this because he wrote it. he could not therefore possibly in my view agree with the government's present approach. george osborne was right when he said that the government is being driven by politics, not economics, in its

approach to brexit and this is what's changed since the noble lord wrote his original article. that's why the government can contemplate brexit at any cost. the economics are secondary. the trade is secondary. the investment and the jobs are secondary. what matters instead is assuaging the edeal ogs and here—in lies the danger for the country. the government has lost its sense of prospective in this matter. the prime minister is terrified of looking less than full hearted so she is over compensating. debate is discouraged in case it gives the impression of being faint—hearted. critics are attacked in case their arguments catch on. as is well— known, i was a arguments catch on. as is well—known, i was a remainor, arguments catch on. as is well—known, iwas a remainor, not arguments catch on. as is well—known, i was a remainor, not i might say because of my pension

rights, but because i am a patriot. a patriot rather than a nationalist. and that's why i think the approach the government has chosen to take to brexit is wrong. instead of saying we're leaving the european union, but want the closest possible future relationship with the european union, and meaning it, the government has decided that we're out, notjust of government has decided that we're out, not just of the government has decided that we're out, notjust of the european union, but we're fully out of the entirety of the single market as well and we're out entirely of the customs union as well. we don't want to have anything to do with one single bit of it as mrs may wrote in her article on friday. in other words, to all intense and purposes, we are going to be out of europe altogether

and we are going to be the worse for that as a country. and our former eu partners have heard the government loud and clear. i can tell you, i travel on continent still, the people that we are going to negotiate want the message that we wa nt negotiate want the message that we want out of the place and this cannot avoid having consequences in the negotiations. but the most important point and the main point that i want to make in this debate this afternoon is that this is not what a lot of leave supporters backed when they voted in the referendum. yes, they did want to leave the european union, but they didn't want to turn britain into a poorer, politically, isolated off—shore tax haven without reach or

influence in the world. and once they see the consequences my lords, they see the consequences my lords, they may and i stress may, want to think again about the outcome of the government's chosen path. and parliament'sjob government's chosen path. and parliament's job will be to reflect that change of view and to create the means of expressing it. let me conclude by saying one thing concerning trade and i have been both a trade secretary at home as well as a trade commissioner in europe. the government can say it wants a comprehensive trade agreement to give us and i quote, "the exact same benefits as we have now. as david davis said in the other place some weeks ago. but my lords, unless we comply with europe's market rules and accept its

common product standards and the regulation of services as they prescribe we will not have the same trade. we will not have the equal benefits and to say otherwise my lords is a fraud on the public. we can pay for access and no doubt we will have to pay through the nose for this, but it will not bring the same volume of trade or the same rights and we will not have the same means of enforcing those rights in our trade in europe. that's why when all this becomes apparent, it having been carefully obscured in the referendum, the political circumstances will change and so might people's minds. we cannot for tell exactly what the context will be in18 tell exactly what the context will be in 18 months or two years' time.

but i believe and i hope that noble lords will agree, that we cannot simply consign britain's economic future to this head—long rush towards brexit at any cost. we have a responsibility. not to next year's growth figures or inflation figures, but to the prosperity of our country for decades to come. studio: if you want to stay watching that debate bbc parliament is continuing its coverage. we‘re going to westminster hall where mps are debating whether donald trump should be afforded a state visit to britain. two public petitions one saying that he‘s not and the other saying that he‘s not and the other saying that he‘s not and the other saying that as america‘s president he‘s entitled to come. saying that as america‘s president he's entitled to come. he complained and lied about the own result that he had and this was of great concern

when you have a man who is the president, behaving like a petulant child. how is he going to behave in a future conflict that might arise? i give way to the honourable gentleman. his response to mr trump's perhaps ill—considered phraseology, but what complaint... laughter but what complaint did the honourable gentleman make when the person came here who was responsible for rape? there are many people who we re for rape? there are many people who were less welcome than others, and that‘s true. we have had unsavoury characters and not from the united states as it happens, but certainly we can‘t try to imitate the errors of the past, we should set an example by making sure that we don‘t make those mistakes again. my concern is that what we‘ve got here

isa concern is that what we‘ve got here is a situation that is and i say one that‘s of grave concern because of the prime minister is in an awkward position, i believe that from the seventh day of his presidency, things have got far worse. we have seen things have got far worse. we have seen the general michael flynn being forced out of office because he was, he couldn‘t tell the truth about relations with russia. we also know and he was a victim, he could have been a victim of plaquemail. that‘s a very worrying situation when we know during the election campaign that there were allegations made and there was an appeal made by the presidential candidate trump to encourage people to hack the accou nts encourage people to hack the a ccou nts of encourage people to hack the accounts of hillary clinton. now, there may well be a case coming up

which will show that the position of the president is one that‘s going to be difficult to sustain if he himself is open to blackmail. we also know of the confrontation that took place between president obama during the election campaign warning that this was a likely outcome. i'm grateful to him giving way. a higher constituents of brighton signed the petition than any other constituency and i'm proud to represent them today, many of them have raised trump's misogyny and racism, but his contempt for basically mat science. to have a state visit for someone who has shown affrontry to basic science is another reason why he shouldn't be coming here? trump is prepared to challenge the conclusions of 97% of

the world‘s experts on this matter. it isa the world‘s experts on this matter. it is a bad science conspiracy conclusions that he makes on what is apart from the nuclear issue, probably the most important issue of ourtime, but it probably the most important issue of our time, but it is on the nuclear issue where he is again, almost unique in that he believes in nuclear proliferation and is trying to persuade countries like south korea and japan to acquire their own nuclear weapons. we know that the danger of nuclear war is not because of the mall lis of nations, but the likelihood that it will come by accident, by human error, by a technical failure accident, by human error, by a technicalfailure like accident, by human error, by a technical failure like the one that happened when one of our missiles headed in the wrong direction towards the united states in a recent test and the more nations that have nuclear weapons, the more likely it is that they will be, that problem will emerge and we can be plunged into a nuclear war. if we

look at the question which is the petitioners put as a main point is the situation as far as her majesty isa the situation as far as her majesty is a concerned. a former permanent secretary of the foreign and commonwealth office lord rickets reacted to the invitation by arguing that there was no press didn‘t for a us president to visit, in his first year of office, quite right. and he said, "if would have been far wiser to see what sort of president he would turn out to be before advising the queen to invite him." now the queen is put in a very difficult position. i believe for that reason alone that we should consider this and the government should consider this with a bit of mew hillity to decide what the action should take place and change the invitation to one for a visit, not a state visitlj know what a great fan of the monarch

he is and indeed, he probably has wee kly he is and indeed, he probably has weekly chats with her. what did she actually say to the honourable memberto actually say to the honourable member to lead actually say to the honourable memberto lead him actually say to the honourable member to lead him to believe that she found it difficult? you're not allowed to do that. i am well aware of the standing orders on this matter, but i speak as someone with emore mus regard for the queen. she is my inspiration, she is my example and she‘s working at an age that is eight years beyond my age and i‘m certainly not going to be so wimpish to stand down while she continues with her heroic work at her age. we‘re in this position now of surrealism, of a world that‘s unfolding before us where the theme

that has been put forward by trump is that lies are the truth that good is that lies are the truth that good is bad, that war is peace, that fa ntasy is bad, that war is peace, that fantasy is fact and we see this with the figure of the trump big brother there ever present, seven days a week, 2a hours, preaching from his one source week, 2a hours, preaching from his one source of week, 2a hours, preaching from his one source of news, week, 2a hours, preaching from his one source of news, the only voice of truth. i give way to the honourable gentleman. but would he not agree with me that there is something, even though this ban is absurd, there is something quite refreshing about a politician actually doing what they said they would do before they were elected and whilst this ban is quite ridiculous, it is actually a reaction to the chaos caused in the middle east by previous generation of politicians which is far worse than anything that trump has done and which many of the people in this room voted

for. where is the will of the american people? where is your respect for that? the will of the american people has changed rapidly within the last seven days. the position now, well, we‘ll get the facts. the position todayis we‘ll get the facts. the position today is that trump‘s standing is my news 18. that‘s precisely the level of support that was held by richard nixon on the day that he resigned his presidency. he‘s on rock bottom. he‘s the least popular american president in this country ever, go through the figures and he‘s down on a level of approval... studio: we‘re going to pull away from that. if you want to keep watching this then bbc parliament is the place, the continued coverage from westminster hall, if you want to watch the house of lords debate about brexit, push the red button on your hand—set and that‘s everything covered.

we‘re hearing claims that trump is a deeply unpopular choice for a state visit. let‘s go outside because nick beak is outside. there is a protest, there aren‘t many people there, are there? hi simon, a couple of hundred at the moment. people have arrived so at the moment. people have arrived so far, within parliament we heard some conflicting arguments, conflicting voices about the merits or not of the trump visitment people here are of one voice, they don‘t wa nt here are of one voice, they don‘t want donald trump to come here on a state visit. they say it is not right that the red carpet should be extended to him. no to racism, dump trump, we don‘t want trump are some of the messages. someone is dressed as the statue of liberty, the statue of taking liberties is the message from the woman who made an effort down there. it has got to be said this isn‘t the first protest since it was announced that there would be a state visit for president trump. we have seen other protests in

london in particular, we expect most people to be arriving maybe at about 6.30pm. nota huge people to be arriving maybe at about 6.30pm. not a huge presence here.ks the hi—visibilityjackets of the metropolitan police and you‘ve got officers around here, but certainly they expect in the next few hours or so more they expect in the next few hours or so more people to come here and to protest against the trump visit which as i say, people deeply unhappy about. nick, we will be back later. he‘s on parliament square and not trafalgar square! in a moment a look at how the financial markets in europe closed the day, but first the headlines on bbc news: peers begin debating the legislation to give theresa may the authority to trigger brexit talks. this is the scene live where the house is expected to sit until at least midnight — and in an unusual move — the prime minister has also been present in the chamber. nhs trusts in england report an overspend of nearly £900 million in the first nine months

of the financial year despite extra funding from the government. a big rise in council tax bills across england as local authorities try to tackle the social care crisis. most households could be charged 5% more from april. hello. now a look at how the markets in europe have ended the trading session. in london, the ftse 100 has been struggling today. it has had some big fallers — with unilever and bovis homes down considerably. royal bank of scotland are doing well today. rbs has struggled to find a buyer. analyst at morgan stanley said the move could add 10% to profits by 2019. rbs is expected to report a

lossen friday, but the bank‘s boss said it would return to the black next year. bovis homes announced it is setting aside £7 million to compensate customers who were sold unfinished orfaulty homes. it customers who were sold unfinished or faulty homes. it announced a customers who were sold unfinished orfaulty homes. it announced a drop of 3% in pre—tax profits. the house—builder admitted that properties that were built last year fell short of its high standard that home—buyers should expect. the biggest merger deal in corporate history didn‘t happen after kraft hinds said it was dropping a bid to buy unilever. it rejected a £115 billion bid from kraft on friday. james bevan is chief investment officer at ccla investment management. let‘s start with the failed bid of

unilever. unilever shares down considerably. are we going to see more attempts to take over consumer food groups in the uk, do you think? there is a broad expectation that consolidation particularly where brands are available is to the fore given that corporates are cheap. there is a broad rumour circulating that they would like to buy unilever‘s food business and that‘s something that maybe tabled in due course. luny leaver's share price down considerably, it was up considerably on friday. is that any cause for concern? no, unilever remains a global class company and the price reaction that we have seen on friday and again today, i don‘t think underplays the enormous capacity this company has to generate huge profits in years to come. this is a great company and i suspect that the share price over the decades will not disappoint. 0k,

let‘s move on to positive shares now. royal bank of scotland up almost 7% there and that‘s because they‘re not selling their subsidiary, even though they were expected to by the next couple of yea rs. expected to by the next couple of years. how significant is this move? well, it‘s an attempt not to have to sell the williams and glyn business. they still have to get the eu to agree that this course of action is proposed by the treasury is a cce pta ble proposed by the treasury is acceptable in terms of dealing with the government help for banks that is, the route cause of this required sale. the other challenge, of course, it is very well to say look, we‘ll keep it and we‘re going to support other banks, but what about those other banks taking the williams and glyn business? i have to say that i‘m not nervous that once the optimism is there today, but in due course it may well wear off. let's move to bovis homes. that‘s a 10% fall in their share price. what‘s the outlook for them? it is unclear. they had a profits

warning in december when they said to the shareholders, we‘re not going to the shareholders, we‘re not going to make as much money as you were expecting. they have come out with numbers that are even worse than that with indeed this sum to be set aside to remeadate bad quality building and the problem the market has is limited visibility on how many homes they can build this year and what sort of profits they can make on their land bank. against that difficult backdrop i think the shares will languish. james, thank you very much. a quick look at markets. the markets are on their way i‘m told. no, ok, well the ftse100 in positive territory before we went to air. also bovis homes was dragging down the ftse earlier today because of that £7 million set aside for customer compensation and that announcement that they‘re scaling back on production by 10%. that‘s it

from me. that‘s all from me, there is a round—up of all the other top business stories on our website — bbc.co.uk/business footage has emerged of the moment the north korean leader‘s half brother was attacked at kuala lumpur airport in malaysia. a woman appears to cover his head with a cloth for a few seconds before walking away. kim jong—nam is then seen telling police what has happened. he collapsed shortly after and died. but north korea has questioned the identification of the man who died and has demanded the body. daniel boetcher reports. cctv footage at kuala lumpur international airport. a figure in a light suit with a bag slung over his shoulder walks through the hall. it‘s believed this man is kimjong—nam. the next pictures are less clear. but the man is grabbed from behind by a woman in a white top. she appears to push a cloth into his face. the footage then shows them separating. the man is seen talking

to airport staff apparently explaining what happened. and seems to be led to police where he again explains and gesticulates, before he‘s accompanied to the airport‘s medical clinic. police believe kim jong—nam, the half—brother of north korea‘s leader kimjong—un, was poisoned at the airport a week ago. the mysterious circumstances, the investigation and speculation that north korea was behind the killing, has led to growing diplomatic tensions. malaysia has recalled its envoy to north korea, while the pyongyang ambassador at kuala lumpur said at a news conference the investigation could not be trusted. it has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on because of the death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the malaysia police, even though its result would be obtained. but malaysia‘s prime minister has defended the investigation

and the work of police and doctors. we have no reason why we want to do something that would paint the north koreans in a bad light. but we will be objective and we expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law. malaysian authorities have said that autopsy results could be ready by the middle of the week and that they will release mr kim‘s body to his next of kin. his son is reported to be travelling to kuala lumpur. now, it is time for the weather. we‘re going tojoin now, it is time for the weather. we‘re going to join matt taylor, i understand. that's right. thank you very much. some of the spring bulbs have been bursting into life today with temperatures climbing well above where they

should be for the time of year. a cracking weather shot there from hertfordshire. these are the sort of values that we have been seeing this afternoon. it is not for keeps though. we‘re back to where we should be for the time of year, it will be feeling colderfor time of year, it will be feeling colder for one time of year, it will be feeling colderfor one or two by time of year, it will be feeling colder for one or two by friday. the colder for one or two by friday. the cold air will come back. single digit highs and for some a noticeable chill indeed. still mild out there this evening. we have seen a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain, north—west england and north wales to end the day. a damp end to the afternoon here. some bright skies for a time, but the weather front pushes across counties. here we stay cloudy and rain and drizzle becoming persistent later on. temperatures hold up here, but with the clearest skies further north, a chilly start to tuesday morning. one or two close to a frost, but a few showers in north—west scotland. quite a bit of morning sunshine and parts of northern ireland and

scotla nd parts of northern ireland and scotland and the far north of england. grey, cloudy and misty and damp. wales, the midlands and southern counties of england and it will be a struggle to brighten up for some. it turns wetter into the afternoonment hill fog here and notice through the afternoon northern ireland, western scotland, you might have started with sunshine, but there will be cloud and rain on the way. the best of the afternoon brightness to the east of high ground and parts of the east midlands and into north—east england could hit 15 celsius. the northern half of the uk, wet and windy weather to take you home from work and take you into the evening and it just gets windier as we go through tuesday night and into wednesday, particularly the northern half of scotland. this area of low pressure whipping on through and could bring 60mph, 70mph gusts into tuesday and wednesday. sunshine and showers here with those turning wintry, much of england and wales starts off cloudy. the northern half of the country, you will see sunshine through the afternoon. but it will feel a good deal chillier, even with that sunshine present, the wind adding to the chill as well. and a big one to

watch this week, well it is through wednesday and into thursday. the weather has pushed its way into much more angrier mode. potentially stormy weather pushing with that area of low pressure eastwards. we will have to keep a close eye on where the low pressure is. as it pushes away, it puts us all into the colder air to end the week and as i‘ve said, unlike today where it felt like mid—may for some, it will be back to feeling like february! today at five, the house of lords is debating the legislation that would give theresa may the authority to begin brexit negotiations. unusually, the prime minister went to the upper chamber to see for herself the start of the two—day debate. peers are being urged to respect the referendum result. i think it is right to invoke article 50, to do so now, and to do so with the simplest bill that it is possible to bring forward, and i commend ministers for doing so. we‘ll have the latest, as a record

190 peers are due to speak. the other main stories on bbc news at five: a big rise in council—tax bills across england as local authorities try to tackle the social care crisis. most households could be charged 5% more from april. nhs trusts in england report an overspend of nearly £900 million in the first nine months of the financial year, that‘s despite extra funding from the government. protests as mps debate president trump‘s state visit to the uk. a petition against the visit