the alabama senate race. democrats are calling for the postponement of a final vote on president trump's planned tax reform. the president wants that vote to be held next week. the british prime minister theresa may is preparing to meet european union leaders in brussels — hours after a parliamentary defeat on a key piece of brexit legislation. mps voted to give parliament a legal guarantee of a vote on the final deal. 11 members of her own conservative party rebelled. the united nations is warning that a reduction in the number of peacekeeping troops in the democratic republic of congo is likely to lead to more instability and loss of life. the unfolding humanitarian crisis has lead to severe acute malnutrition affecting hundreds of thousands of children. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. hello and welcome to the programme.

coming up in the next half—hour, defeat for the government on the brexit bill. to be right, 309. to the left, 305. 0rder! i'm sure you want to hear the result to make sure it is correct. the ayes to the right, 309. the noes to the left, 305. the ayes have it, the ayes have it. a lock. hear, hear! a last—minute concessions failed to

persuade the rebels. downing street was said it was the disappointed despite strong assurances. the government will now decide if further changes to the bill are needed. so how did such a dramatic day unfold? throughout day seven of a detailed consideration of the eu, a rebellion was afoot. it was the fault of clause 9. i know you're following the minutiae of this so i want me to tell you, butjust in case, clause 9 combines the twin concerns of government is taking power away from parliament and whether parliament will get a meaningful vote before the deal was finalised. the key amendment was number seven table by the former conservative attorney—general, dominic grieve. the debate ran for eight hours, but the arguments began even before with a curtain raiser at prime minister's question. the prime minister says she wants a meaningful vote on brexit before

we leave the european union event at the last moment, would she be so good as to accept the right honourable and learned gentleman's amendment seven in the spirit of unity for everybody here and in the country. hear, hear! my right honourable friend makes an important point about the concerns that people have had in this house about having a meaningful vote on this particular issue before we complete the deal. as i set out in the earlier answer i gave to my right honourable friend that is what we will have. we will ensure that there is a meaningful vote on this, and this house that will then be an opportunity for parliament to look at the withdrawal agreement and implementation bill. the fact that there will be no meaningful vote has been set out, confirm by my right honourable friend the brexit secretary in a written ministerial statement today. we were very clear that we won't

commit any statutory instruments until that meaningful vote has taken place, but as currently drafted, what the amendment says is that we should not make any of those, put any of those arrangements for statutory instruments into place until the withdrawal agreement has read the statute book. —— reached the statute book. that could be at a very late stage in the proceedings which could mean that we're not able to have the orderly and smooth exit from the european union that we to have. and so the scene was set in the real debate again. the reality of this bill is that it would allow, in clause nine, allow ministers to start implementing a withdrawal agreement entirely through secondary legislation and allow ministers to do so even before parliament has endorsed the withdrawal agreement. we are recovering from a situation where as members of the european union we have handed over these decisions, lock, stock and barrel to the european union.

this is a massive improvement. to address this attempt to reverse brexit. .. that is absolute rubbish! it is nothing but cant. oh my, what stalinism is this that somehow any attempt to disagree with the way in which this bill is drawn up is somehow a betrayal of brexit. what rubbish! it's not a question i may say to my desperately paranoid eurosceptic friends that somehow i am trying in some surreptitious, remainer way to put a spoke in the wheels of the fast progress of the united kingdom towards the destination to which we are going. they don't know what we've mean. and the case of amendment seven we seem to frankly have run out of road, and what happens in the circumstances, i regret to say, is that

all rational discourse starts to evaporate. the purpose of the amendment the nature of it is entirely lost in a confrontation in which it is suggested that the underlying purpose is the sabotage of the will of the people, which it most manifestly is not. hear, hear! that is then followed by a hurling of public abuse, large numbers of people telling one that one is a traitor. honourable friends, saying things which i find slightly startling. amendment seven is very well drafted, i don't think it's deficient. we will definitely support it and withdraw new clause 66 if you press it to a vote. and then i will

conclude by saying... i give way. this amendment either has to be accepted by my honourable friend on the treasury bench there will be put to a vote. hear, hear! i'm very pleased to hear that and we will support him and the amendment and that eventuality. we need to reserve the ability to use clause nine as soon as practically. —— possible after a deal has been concluded. if we waited for royal assent for final legislation and might be too late and we will be too squeezed for time, even in a scenario where we reach an agreement in october as is our current aim. critically, and i'm not sure all honourable members that picked this up, but the power only endures until exit day. shorter than the operation of the clause seven and in practice on the government's current expected timetable it would in fact only be used for around six months. it's not the open—ended power like some have suggested in good—faith. the government was standing firm, butjust as the 11th hour was approaching, this happened.

i can tell my honourable friend that we are willing to return at report stage to put an amendment on the face of the bill making crystal clear that statutory instruments under clause nine will not enter into force until we've had a meaningful in parliament. ——vote in parliament. but was it enough? i have to say, it is too late. i'm sorry. you cannot treat the house in this fashion. and she may agree with me that the best way of actually getting progress in this area is by moving amendment seven in securing and then delete back there after we can co—operate. the government lost by four votes. you're watching tuesday in parliament with me mandy baker. well, the day was not all about brexit. jeremy corbyn condemned the government's record on homelessness at prime minister ‘s questions. theresa may said the labour

government presided over an increase in the waiting list for social housing, but the session started on a more sombre note as the party leaders remembered the fire at grenfell tower in west london in june. this week marks the six—month anniversary of the grenfell tower fire. i will be attending the national memorial service tomorrow and i'm sure i speakfor members across the house when i say it remains at the forefront of our minds is a truly unimaginable tragedy and should never have happened. many who survived the fires lost everything that night, and i can assure the house that we continue to do everything we can to support those affected and take the necessary steps to make sure it can never happen again. this week does indeed mark six months since the avoidable and tragic fire at grenfell tower which took the lives of 71 people and injured and traumatised many more, and i too will be at the service tomorrow in memory of them. but that fire also shone a light on the neglect of working—class community all over this country. and since this government came to power, homelessness is up by 50%. rough sleeping has doubled. homelessness and rough sleeping have

risen every single year since 2010. will the prime minister pledged today that 2018 will be the year when homelessness starts to go down? hear, hear! across the cells we don't want to see anybody who is homeless or sleeping rough on our streets. that is why the government is putting £500 million into the question of homelessness. that's why we backed the bill that was brought forward by my honourable friend, the member for brent, i'm sorry for harrow. and it's why we have ensured that we are putting into place a number of projects that will deal with this issue of rough sleeping. i asked the prime minister for a pledge to reduce the amount of homelessness next year. the pledge was not forthcoming. 128,000 children will spend christmas without a home to call their own. 60% up on 2010. it's too late for this christmas,

but will the prime minister promised that by christmas 2018, fewer children will be without a home to call their own? i say to the right honourable gentleman, again, that we of course want every child to wake up in their own home. particularly at christmas, but it is incredibly important, even though they can keep a roof over their heads in the most desperate circumstances, that is why we making sure that councils can place families and it brought a range of homes that they fall into the circumstances. jeremy corbyn turn to the state of privately rented houses. when it comes to housing, mr speaker, this government has an absolute disgrace. after seven years, more people are living on the streets. more families in temporary accommodation. more families and homes not fit for human habitation, and fewer people owning their own home. when is this government going to get

out of the pockets of property speculators and rogue landlords and get on the side of tenants and people without a home of their own this christmas? prime minister. under labour, house building down, homes bought and sold down, and social housing down. one thing, i'll tell him one thing did go up under the last labour government, the number of people on the social housing waiting list. 1.74 million people waiting for a home under a labour government. staying with pmqs, the sm snp leader and blackford urged the prime minister to intervene in the royal bank of scotland issue. the bank has announced that it is shedding more than 250 branches in the uk. including nearly 200 operating under the natwest banner.

in 2017, the royal bank of scotland are paying us back by turning their backs and 259 of our communities. this is after we bailed them out in 2008. given we have the majority shareholder, will be prime minister stepped in and tell the royal bank of scotland to stick to their commitment and not close the last bank entirely? i think my right honourable gentleman knows the decision to open and close branches is a commercial decision taken by the banks without intervention from the government but we recognise the impact this has on communities and the secretary of state for scotland raise concerns of the housing expressed on this issue in the meeting with rbs. she said the government wanted to ensure all customers have access to banks. that is why we established the access to banking standards which commits banks to carry out a number of sets before closing a branch, and the post office have

also reached an agreement with banks that will allow more customers to use post office services. the labour mp said she did not have a clue about the concerns of small—town. doncaster market towns have been so that their bank branches are to close. that is too more on top of a record—breaking 700 bank branch closures this year and that is despite delivering 13.5 billion half—year profits. will the prime minister admit that the government's access to banking protocol has failed to keep a single branch opened and will she restore the bank levy and use some of it to stop communities losing their last bank branch. she replied the banking behaviour had changed. as for the levy, she said the government was raising more from the banks than labour did. an mp is calling for changing

the law, and england or wales were debated by mps in westminster hall. when a person commits horrendous crimes, they cannot be allowed to pull the strings from inside a prison cell. i have seen cases where convicted sex offender has the rights of the father. they also influence the lives of the children who were his victims. they should have specialist training to it understand the dynamics of domestic and sexual abuse and to be able to recognise

coercive, controlling behaviour and the tactics used by abusive parents, to mutilate that children of my life from inside prison walls. questions have been raised of the effectiveness of these orders and how they can be best used to protect the child with care from the abusive exercise of it a parent in prison. any change to remove parental responsibility automatically, on conviction of certain criminal offences, would involve some in porting considerations for my department. we would need to be clear that such a change in the law would be in the best interest of all children for whom the current law provides maximum flexibility. but not all the prisoners are abusive parents and they want to maintain family ties what injail. families play an important part in this process. i want to spend a few moments looking at the need to enable prisoners to fulfil their parental responsibilities. i believe this could be and should be a focus for reform. bringing men in particular face—to—face with their enduring responsabilities to the family

is indispensable to the rehabilitation culture we urgently need to develop in our penal system. one of three female prisoners locked up are mothers and one in five days their children being taken away from them. this is all but them to lose herjob, their home, and their children, not just for those six months but forever. claims have surfaced about a potential pensions mis—selling scandal involving thousands of steelworkers. in just over a week, they have to decide what to do with their pension savings when the old british steel pensions scheme ends. the financial conduct authority has intervened to stop several firms of financial advisers offering advice to steelworkers.

the work and pensions committee questioned the regulator about fiuig'ifiisgé féfiulflm iwi “iii: they if theywould sorts of questions they wouldjike see us sorts of questions they wouldjike see us those were sorts of questions they wouldjike see us - those were exactly to see us asking, those were exactly the questions we ask. we go in and when we see high numbers of transfers going through, we ask them expressly why it is in the context of transfers were for most people most of the time staying in a tv scheme is a better outcome, they have satisfied themselves it is suitable in so many cases to transfer and that's exactly where we go with our line of questioning and with our file questioning. as a result of this for firms have stopped offering pensions advice as a direct result of our intervention, either by direct limitations on their permissions, or by voluntary and separate arrangement provided to

us. and separate arrangement provided to us. a conservative mp asked british steel pensions director whether workers would have to move to move toa workers would have to move to move to a personal pensions fund, ppf, after the deadline. what would happen if you reach the end of the year and there are still thousands of people outstanding who haven't taken the decision yet? u nfortu nately haven't taken the decision yet? unfortunately the default position is based a in the british steel pensions scheme to come and moved to the ppf on the 29th of march. if there is no response to the ppf, and we've been trying hard to get that message out. the student loans and system is failing and needs to be replaced according to labour. at the general election the party pledged to scrap university tuition fees and the government has said it will carry out a review of higher education funding. at question time in the house of lords labour seized on the fa ct a house of lords labour seized on the fact a third of students would repay their loans fully. we know up to 45% of the total loan outlay will never be paid. my lords,

the poorest students end up with the biggest debt, and last week the national audit office said that two thirds of students consider universities do not provide value for money and that proper independent advice is not available to stu d e nts independent advice is not available to students when they make these decisions, which have such a large financial consequence upon them. my financial consequence upon them. my lords, how can we have confidence in the forthcoming review when the government defends the present wretched system so determinedly. my lords, will the noble lord accept the current system is failing? we need a new system which is there to students. the noble lord raises a number of points but we believe the student loa n syste m points but we believe the student loan system is working well. there's always room for improvement. but on one of his points, we do believe students do get good advice before they take on the loans and indeed they take on the loans and indeed they have to sign some papers for

that. but on some of his more later points, we are very keen to pursue the value for money approach, and joe johnson in the other place has made it quite clear universities must provide value for money for students. can i also say, and the house knows this, the whole graduate student payment system is designed with a deliberate subsidy in place and we are on track with a complicated formula to achieve that. at the moment we have a situation where degrees have become totally monetised, they have a value, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a good, long, hard look to have something like a graduate tax brought in which would remove the idea of one huge debt hanging over those who take on a degree? certainly the noble lord is right that a graduate tax was considered as part of the reforms considered several years as part of the reforms considered several years ago. as part of the reforms considered several years ago. we don't think this is the right approach but we do think it is right that the students are able to take out loans which the

noble lord i'm sure would agreed increases the aim of having more disadvantaged people in universities. can the minister name and any other government agency that charges 6.1% ona loan? government agency that charges 6.1% on a loan? —— any other. there's a question and i'm not going to be drawn into answering that question! but can i say, the interest rates are very much said, and as i've said before, these are being kept under constant review and there will be a review forthcoming oi'i there will be a review forthcoming on higher education funding. has the government made any assessment as to whether there would be any material difference in the sun is repaid to the treasury over the decades if the rates were set at a less luxurious level? i'm sure those figures have been drawn out, i don't have those with me. but can i say, 98% of all those borrowers who entered into re payment

say, 98% of all those borrowers who entered into repayment before 2013 have repaid. ithink entered into repayment before 2013 have repaid. i think this is testament to the fact that the payment source system working closely with her majesty's revenue and customs is working well. lord younger. a bid to exempt journalists and others from data protection provisions has been condemned in the lord's. as one crossbench peer explained. these memos are the product of representations from all sides and the levenson enquiry that these amendments. they sought a compromise, a way to protect the free expression rights of public publishers and to ensure the public was defended —— amendments —— leve nson was defended —— amendments —— levenson enquiry. but there was opposition. this would inhibit prepublication preparatory work most obviously and particularly the work of investigation and research with a view to publication which may never actually result in publication.

it would provide a field day for those who are seeking to impede academic work, artistic expression, literary expression, as well as journalism, which they do not welcome. it would inevitably create a chilling effect on work in academia, on the arts, literature and journalism. the executive director of the telegraph media group said the proposals would cripple invested to give journalism. it would create a deeply repressive data protection regime for all those involved injournalistic, academic, literary and artistic activities —— investigative. it's not the journalists on the national is that so clearly targeted by these amendments who would be published —— nationals. but the local press, broadcasters, academics, film producers, playwrights, book producers and many

others across they all used data regularly in the course of their activities, it would make their day—to—day work almost impossible. but some peers supported lady hollins. you can roll out all your lawyers, all yourjournalists, you can put your editorials suggesting that we're attacking press freedom, you know it's rubbish, you no, it's not true, but unless you deal with the real hurt, the real problem, the real exposed faults of the media, then this will continue. real exposed faults of the media, then this will continuelj real exposed faults of the media, then this will continue. i can't give this house a legal opinion, i can give them one of experience and give my interest that i attended the leveson inquiry and was only... public interest wasn't defended there, the public interest was defined by the editors in the papers. the labour spokesman said

victims of press intrusion had been let down and action was needed, but he urged lady hollins to withdraw her amendment, which she did.|j think i want to wait and see what is going to emerge from the consultation and i do hope that it will be forthcoming before we reach the third reading of this bill. i beg to withdraw my amendment. not content! terrible! and that was lord prescott expressing his frustration. that's it from me, mandy baker. join me at the same time tomorrow but for now, goodbye. well, after a very brief mild spell, those temperatures are coming down again for the next few days, and into the start of the weekend. and, for thursday, it's low pressure which dominates the scene. tightly packed isoba rs

across the country meaning fairly windy, and they'll be blowing in lots of showers, particularly to western areas of the country. and these showers will be of a wintry mix during the overnight period and first thing on thursday. some snow to the higher ground of scotland, northern ireland, northern england, wales, maybe the south—west of england, and some wet sleetiness down to lower levels for a time too. so, first thing on thursday, we are again looking at an ice risk, particularly from the midlands, north wales northwards, so watch out for these. there could even be some lying snow around on some of the higher routes, for example the pennines and across scotland. but we start thursday off on quite an unsettled note. it's going to be windy, particularly in the west, gales on exposure, showers here and wintry over high ground and wintry showers in parts of wales, the north—west england. ice to watch out for too. largely dry to start in eastern and south—eastern parts. there'll be some early sunshine around, but it will be quite chilly. the same east of the pennines and eastern scotland. but further west, loads of showers and again some heavy and even

sleetiness down to lower levels as well. and then, through the day, very little change. it stays blustery, i think the winds slowly easing down through the day. they'll continue to be strong in the north and the south—west, with gales here. plenty of showers with wintryness again over higher ground and central and eastern parts of the country should be drier, with some sunshine. but notice the temperatures down on wednesday's values, in single figures for all. it's going to feel cold if you add on the wind. then, as we head on in towards friday, we open the floodgates again to the arctic as this area of low pressure moves across in towards scandinavia. so it does mean a cold and frosty start in places for friday, and also a risk of some ice. but i think, generally speaking, friday is looking like a quieter day, more in the way of sunshine around, lighter winds for many. still fairly breezy around

the coasts, where we'll see wintry showers at times. now, that cold air is with us obviously through friday and into the start of the weekend. but then, for the second half of the weekend, we'll start to see this plume of mild air making inroads slowly. a cold start on saturday, again watch out for ice. some sunshine around through the morning. i think that's slowly fading as more cloud piles in from the west, maybe a few showers, and it's going to be another cold day. on sunday, more cloud generally, sunshine will be very few and far between, and there will be a few showers, but that milder air slowly making inroads. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers

in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: donald trump lashes out at his own party — after the republica ns' shock defeat in alabama. a lot of republicans feel differently. they are happy with how this turned out. but as a leader of the party, i would have liked to have had the seat. the british government loses a key vote in parliament on brexit — just before a crucial eu summit. and we have a special report from the democratic republic of congo where violence could be pushing the country into famine. and — up, up and away — how prisoners in the uk used remote—controlled drones to smuggle drugs inside.