this is bbc news. the headlines: hurricane irma has slammed into florida's west coast, with strong winds and storm surges leaving at least three people dead. millions of homes are without power and parts of miami are underwater. almost 200,000 people have fled to emergency shelters. at least 25 people were killed by hurricane irma in the caribbean, five of them in the british virgin islands, where a relief effort is under way. homes and boats have been destroyed, and a state of emergency declared. damage to housing and infrastructure could total ten billion dollars. the first funerals have been held for those killed in a massive earthquake off southern mexico on thursday night. 90 people are now thought to have died in what was the country's strongest quake for a century. the fear of aftershocks is forcing many to camp in the streets. now on bbc news, it is time for the week in parliament. mps returned to westminster to talk

about a bill transferring eu laws to uk legislation. labour accuses the government of a power grab. let me be clear. this bill does only what is necessary for a smooth exit. this bill would reduce mps to spectators as power is poured into the hands of ministers. jeremy corbyn wants an end to the pay cap for nurses. poll pay needs experienced staff are leaving and fewer people are

training to become nurses. —— poor. asa training to become nurses. —— poor. as a result of what the labour government did, we have to pay more on debt interest. and a labour peer tries to end hereditary by—elections in the lord's. this is unbelievable. last year we had an election with an electorate of three with seven candidates. the first week back was dominated by brexit. talks on the terms of the uk leaving the eu continued over the summer with both sides expressing frustration over the pace of rogue rest. in the commons, david davis laughed at the idea the negotiations would be easy. a conservative mp tackled theresa may over the powers contained in the eu withdrawal bill which mps will

debate late in the week. it repeals the european communities act of 1972 and transfers eu laws into uk legislation. some loss and legislations will simply transfer across. but many will have to change. —— laws. but many mps are concerned the bill gives mps the ability to make sweeping use of known as henry viii powers to change them without scrutiny. can my friend make sure she will look in particular at the amendments which seek to change the eu withdrawal bill so that it doesn't become an unprecedented and unnecessary government power grab.|i unprecedented and unnecessary government power grab. i am grateful to my right honourable friend for raising this issue. i know that, like me, she wants an orderly exit

from the eu. we are supporting this bill which enables us to leave the eu in an orderly manner with a functioning statute book. as we do that we will require certain powers to make changes to the book after the bill becomes law because negotiations are ongoing. we will do that through parliamentary scrutiny, an approach which has been... an approach that has been endorsed the house of constitution committee. the next day they released an updated report which was less helpful to the government. we will hear from two of its members later in the programme. back to the eu withdrawal bill. when the first day of the debate began on thursday, the brexit secretary sought to reassure mps. put simply, this bill is an essential step. while it does not take us out of the eu” while it does not take us out of the eu,, that is article 50, it make

sure we know where we stand, worker rights are upheld, and consumers are protected. this makes sure that as we leave we do so in an orderly manner. it does only what is necessary for a smooth exit and to provide stability. that we are leaving is settled. how we leave is not. this bill invites us to surrender all power and influence to the government and ministers. that will betray everything we were sent here to do. we have got to make sure that on the day of exit, the statute book works. frankly, the only way we can achieve it in the time scale with which we are constrained, and which is set out in article 50, is to have a flexible, pragmatic system such as the system that is laid out in the draft bill. if you look at the amendments put

forward, there are very powerful reasons that mps from different parties have come up with for rejecting this bill at this stage. that tells us there is something seriously and fundamentally flaws in the bill and it cannot be allowed to go forward in its present form. if that gives a problem for government timetables, tough. we do not need to legislate in this fashion to carry out the technical task of leaving the eu. i remain utterly bemused as to why the legislation has been drafted in this form. parliament also has a job to do to hold the ministers to account and this bill, as drafted, stops us doing that. it stops us standing up for democracy in this house and it stops us making sure, frankly, the government doesn't screw up brexit in the process as it takes through and its decisions. this bill was always going to be a sow‘s ear because the government started the negotiations without clear objectives or outcomes. therefore, the bill had to cater for any scenario — deal or no deal. the government claims the bill

will restore sovereignty to parliament and secure certainty post—brexit. but that is not the case. it transfers huge powers to ministers, not to members of this house, over matters that are vital to people's lives like maternity and paternity leave, holidays, environmental standards, and a whole range of other issues. and i feel the bill could increase uncertainty, including the likelihood of legal challenge and judicial review, because the powers in the bill are so broadly drawn. you can love parliament and want to jealously guard its rights and privileges created by our predecessors, but still show pragmatism in the national interest when the times demand it. because that is politics, that's life, that is the job we are sent to here to do. that is poetry and prose, romance and reality. that is what we're sent here to achieve. robertjenrick.

mps will conclude that debate and hold their first votes on the bill at around midnight on monday. to discuss all that, i was joined a little earlier by the conservative peer and member of the lords constitution committee, lord norton. ann taylor, now lady taylor, who was a labour whip during her party's turbulent time in office in the late ‘70s. she's also now the chair of that constitution committee which released its latest report on the eu withdrawal bill on thursday. and pete wishart, the snp's spokesman on the constitution in the commons. i began by asking him, given that the uk was leaving the eu, how he would tackle brexit? my view is that the functionality of the repeal bill, the way it applies across the nations of the united kingdom, suggest this is not the means to deliver it. i have just come from the debate and my sense is that some of the big themes of the bill are starting to be reset, a sense from the back bench of the conservative party to

the front bench of the labour party and some others who have an interest, there could be progress made on all this. with respect, you haven't answered my question. what would you do differently? i think the key debate is going to come around the henry viii powers. to make sure the government all these powers when it comes to legislation. and i think if there was a means to deal with some of the big questions about this, it would probably be less unpalatable than that. even if the snp had a bill that dealt with the worst aspects of the henry viii powers, i would still be troubled. the idea from us that it is a power grab. let's pick up on this power grab. it's a real concern. the committee described it as "breathtaking in its scope and potential." doesn't the government

have to do this? it is not challenging the principle of whether we're going to have a bill, have a withdrawal, you have to get the mechanisms right. we are focusing on what is the mechanism, and the government has introduced into the bill some provisions which we think are moving in the right direction, but there is still an awful long way to go to actually ensure the relationship between parliament and the executive is right in enabling parliament to be involved in scrutiny and approval of the measures. the way it's drawn at the moment, it is complex and it does confer on ministers exceptional powers. ann taylor, whether you like it or not, henry viii powers are perfectly legitimate, they are used all the time? there has been an increase in the use of henry viii powers and we as a constitution committee have been expressing concern about that for some time.

this is on a totally different level. clause 17 more or less says that government ministers can make themselves any act of parliament that parliament would normally make. so it's giving totally different powers on a totally different scale. let's put your whip's hat on. if you were in the government whips' office at the moment and you were facing no majority at all in the commons, what would you be doing? how would you be trying to keep your team onside? it's not just your team, it's the whole of parliament. if you alienate parliament, you will run into more and more difficulty. what we have done on the house of lords constitution committee is try to provide mechanisms which would help parliament to deal with a situation which could end up as a crisis if we are not careful. we have said that with the henry viii powers and the delegated legislation, every measure that the government brings forward should have a certificate saying whether it is any change to current law. and, if it is, we should have

special mechanisms to give it more scrutiny than if it's just a straightforward transition. that's a very simple thing, but we have to make sure that parliament has the power and committee time to deal with this. the key thing about this is that we only have eight days to consider this. but the government's counterargument is that this is technical. things like like maastricht were changing laws. this is reinventing the whole of uk law. disentangling us from an institution of decades. pretending that you can do this in eight days, when there will be thousands of changes, is nonsense. but the clock is ticking. maastricht took 41 days. lisbon took 25. entering the common market took 20. we'll have eight days! it'sjust bizarre. if the government suffers defeats in the commons and lords,

how serious is that? is that something that will be the end of the government? because it's not an issue of a policy, it's a principle and people have voted in a referendum. it's the task of both houses to improve the bill. there are two elements to it. one is to ensure that there is proper parliamentary scrutiny of the process and the other is certainty in law once it is enacted. we have to get the bill right, if the government doesn't accept it's defeated. i don't see a problem with that and the government should be looking to itself to ensure the outcome is a bill that actually achieves those objectives. i'm sure this is something we will return to. we'll see what happens on monday.

but for the moment, thank you very much for coming into the programme. and if you'd like to see a longer version of that interview, it's available on our website, bbc.co.uk/parliaments. now let's go back to wednesday and prime minister's questions. jeremy corbyn used the first session since the summer break to focus on workers pay. with nurses protesting outside, he stepped up his calls for an end to the public sector pay cap. today, thousands of nursing and other health care staff are outside parliament. they are demanding that this government scrapped the 1% pay cap. poor pay means experienced staff are leaving and fewer people are training to become nurses. there is already a shortage of 40,000 nurses across the uk. will the prime minister see sense and any public sector pay cap and ensure our nhs staff are properly paid? theresa may said pay guidelines

would be published later in the year but it was balance between those being paid and those paying the bill. he asks consistently for money to be spent. he can do that in opposition because he knows he doesn't have to pay for it. the problem with labour is that they do it in government as well. as a result of the decisions labour party took in government, we now have to pay more on debt interest than on nhs pay. that is the result of labour! the snp's westminster leader turned to a leaked document suggesting the government would take a much tougher line on eu immigration after brexit. does the prime minister agree with me that immigration is essential to the strength of the uk as well as enhancing our cultural and diversity fabric. as i have said many times before, immigration has been good for the uk.

but what people want to see is control of that immigration. theresa may. meanwhile, scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has outlined her programme for government — pledging to scrap the 1% cap on public sector pay rises. 0ur scotland political correspondent, glenn campbell, was watching. having lost seats in the uk general election, this was a chance for nicola sturgeon to refresh, if not we launch, the snp government. independents gotjust one mention. instead a blizzard of announcements on devolved topics. education, she said, was her top priority with school reform and more power for head teachers. 0n justice she wants to do away with shortjail terms of less than one year in most cases. 0n the environment she wants to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars in scotland by 2032,

eight years ahead of the uk. the first minister also proposes to lift the 1% cap on public sector pay rises, prompting some to speculate she might be prepared to raise income tax to pay for it. she has committed to a fuller debate on that topic. in order to get anything done as leader of a minority government the first minister has been careful to choose a programme that will avoid uniting all the opposition against her. glenn campbell. now let's take a look at some other news from around westminster in brief. borisjohnson updated mps on north korea's missile tests. the country has fired a missile over japan and claims to have detonated a hydrogen bomb. borisjohnson set out the gravity of the situation and called for calm diplomacy. the house must be under no illusion that this is another advance in north korea's clear ambitions. in a country blighted by economic failure where in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands people died of starvation or reduced to eating grass and leaves to survive,

the regime has squandered its resources on building an illegal armoury of nuclear bombs. the house will wish to join me in condemning a nuclear test that poses a grave threat to the security of every country in east asia and the wider world. the british government has promised urgent assistance to territories and commonwealth countries hit by hurricane irma. believed to be one of the most powerful storms on record, it's devastated parts of the caribbean. among the islands — hit by winds of more than 180mph — were british overseas territories and members of the commonwealth, including anguilla, montserrat and the british virgin islands. the united nations says the number of rohingya refugees crossing from myanmar — also known as burma — into bangladesh has surged in recent days. the rohingya are a stateless, mostly muslim, ethnic minority who have faced persecution in myanmar.

more than 123,000 are now said to have fled violence in the country's rakhine state. this is one of the worst outbreaks of violence in decades and the international community is effectively staying silent. peers also wanted to know what the uk government was doing to help. the minister there insisted its concerns had been made clear. we do condemn this violence and we're trying to look to ways to assist burma and to assist those who are directly affected. twelve weeks after the grenfell tower tragedy, the communities secretary sajid javid told mps thatjust two families had moved into permanent homes. of the 196 households affected, 29 more had moved into temporary accommodation.

one reason for the low take—up of temporary home offices some residents do not want to move twice. they have said it is tuesday where they are until a permanent home becomes available. i don't want to see anyone living in emergency accommodation for longer than is necessary. nor do i want to see families make snap decisions simply because i have better numbers to report at the dispatch box. the government says it has no plans to review the new law banning psychoactive substances — formerly known as "legal highs" — following the collapse of a prosecution last month. the crown prosecution service is reviewing two cases after a judge said nitrous oxide, better known as "laughing gas", was exempt from the ban, as it's used by doctors for pain—relief. it has not taken long for the courts to expose the vulnerability are part of the legislation. based with the pressing problem of psychoactive su bsta nces will the government seem reason and accept that prohibition, orthodoxy of the last century and reiterated on a crude model in the 2016 act has failed

with disastrous consequences in terms of the growth of crime, the blighting of innumerable lives were not to mention chaos in our prisons? from this month, all three and four—year—olds in england are entitled to 30 hours of free childcare a week, up from 15 hours. but labour says parents are in "limbo" because of failings in the government's scheme. this childcare has been advertised as free but it's clear it will be subsidised by carers or providers. it will price them out. will he now listen and commit to re—evaluating the policy's funding? as we are only six days into september, 152,829 parents have secured a place. that is 71%.

robert goodwill. now there's a row brewing over the make up of a handful of key commons committees. public bill — or standing committees — scrutinise the detail of legislation. the government wants to have a majority on the committees in this session of parliament, even though it doesn't have a majority in the commons. the snp's pete wishart isn't happy. this government has no means to expect to have a majority. they do not command the majority. this is a house of minorities. that parliamentary reality and arithmetic has to be reflected into the parliamentary standing committees of this house. the make—up of those committees is due to be voted by mps next week. now to the lords where, although most hereditary peers were kicked out of the house of lords in 1999, several dozen do remain. vacancies in their ranks are filled by a system of by—elections held amongst peers.

a bill to scrap the system was talked out by opponents last year. now its author, labour life peer lord grocott, is trying again and his bill had its second reading in the lords on friday. we had a by—election last year. i'll have to say this slowly because it's unbelievable, there was an electorate of three and there were seven candidates. i don't know of any electoral system anywhere on the planet or in history where you have twice as many candidates as they are electors. i have no doubt that 90% of peers in the house of lords would actively like to see this by—election system scrapped or at least are indifferent to its whole continuation. it was blocked last year by a handful, a very small number, of largely hereditary peers. that can't go on forever. they may think it can but you can only be canute for so long. it would be very nice if the government said, yes, this is an indefensible system, which they know it is, and we will give you full backing.

the government is always able to say we have far more important things to do, which is true. this is a two—year session. mine is a two—clause bill. it would take a day maximum if people were sensible about it. it's only a small improvement but it is an improvement in our parliamentary system and it's time we got on and did it. and lord grocott‘s bill will now move on to scrutiny by a committee of the whole house. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the political news this week. here's richard morris with our countdown. five, four, three, two, one. over the summer big ben fell silent for repair work. that's caused upset in the commons, where one mp had the question. if big ben's bongs are silent, they are loved by the community and international visitors, could we please have a debate

as to why this has happened, and is it beyond the whit of man for silencers to be worn by the workers? first week back in the first defeat for the government in the lords. there was surprise in the commons on thursday after labour's ann clwyd revealed she had missed a vote because she was stuck in a lift. the leader of the house promised to elevate the issue. i hope she won't take it out of good humour if i say i am rather surprised the lift dared. protest descended on parliament to oppose the henry viii powers which could be used under the eu withdrawal bill. protesters claim it could amount to a ministerial power grab. in brussels, a fire alarm interrupted the chief brexit negotiator michel barnier on thursday. it is the monthly drill. was this a sign of a swift

and orderly exit? translation: i was talking about something quite important. richard morris. and that's it from me for now, but dojoin keith mcdougall on bbc parliament on monday night at 11 for a full round up of the day at westminster, including the second day of debate on that eu withdrawal bill. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello. as irma continues north across the state of florida, we here in the british isles have experienced quite an unsettled weekend.

and that theme continues on into the forthcoming week. for a time, we'll see cool and at times windy weather and some pretty heavy downpours to boot. the concerns start as early as monday morning, especially so across wales and the south—west, where some of the gusts of wind could easily be up at around 50, if not 60mph. at the same time, those conditions could be exacerbated by some squally showers indeed. elsewhere across the british isles, how do we start the new week? ina similarvein. the wind not a concern as in wales and the south—west. but the wind will be ever present for many parts of western scotland and northern ireland and a good part of england and wales. and there will be plenty of showers to go around as well. at times, some of those showers will merge to give the odd longer spell of rain. perhaps nowhere more so than this north—eastern quarter of scotland. quite close to an area of low pressure there. showers, quite sharp, they will have hail and thunder.

if you see too many, you are not going to be in the mid to upper teens, closer to 10—11. out of monday and into tuesday, a little ridge of high pressure working across the british isles, tending to settle things down. this is one of the quieter days of the week, at least to start with. it will feel pleasant with less wind. 16—19, something like that. later in the day overnight into wednesday, we could see the emergence from the atlantic of a very vigorous area of low pressure gradually churning its way right across the heart of the british isles. there are already warnings from the met office about the intensity of that rain for the northern parts of england and wales and the strength of the wind. the system has the good grace to move on into the north sea, leaving behind, for the bulk of us, wednesday as another really showery day. and do you know what, we continue that theme on into thursday. the wind from the north—west

still quite a noticeable feature of the day. in the midst of all of this there will be sunny spells but it really won't do much for the temperatures, never better than about 12 or 13 in the north, around 17 or 18 in the south. thursday and friday, a tantalising and teasing prospect of some high pressurejust beginning to work into the west, but it probably won't keep those fronts at bay for the northern parts of britain. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers

in north america and around the globe. my name is gavin grey. our top stories: hurricane irma slams into florida's west coast, as strong winds and storm surges leave at least three people dead. millions of homes are without power and parts of miami are underwater. almost 200,000 people have fled to emergency shelters. there is barely a soul on the streets in florida due to the risk of flying debris. caribbean islands count the cost of the hurricane. about 30 people are dead. damage to housing and infrastructure could total $10 billion. and 90 people are now thought to have died in mexico's strongest quake for a century. the fear of aftershocks is forcing many to camp in the streets.