the us attorney general, jeff sessions, has become the first member of president trump's cabinet to be questioned by the special counsel investigating allegations of russian interference in the presidential election. us media is reporting that the special counsel is seeking to interview the president, as well. judges in brazil will decide later whether or not to uphold a corruption conviction against the former president lula da silva. he's been found guilty of accepting a penthouse apartment as a bribe. thousands of his supporters have held rallies, saying the charges against him are politically motivated. tens of thousands of people in the philippines have been forced to flee their homes as the country's most active volcano continues to fire huge plumes of ash and lava into the air. the army has been drafted in to help clear the danger area around the mayon volcano. now on bbc news, tuesday in parliament. hello there, and welcome to the programme.

coming up in the next half hour: the government confirms it won't appeal a high court ruling on benefit payments for people with mental illness. labour reckons it's good news for ha rd—pressed claimants. the cuts that have been brought on disabled people by this government is an absolute disgrace. also on this programme: the former chair of the social mobility commission says ministers weren't willing or able to "put their shoulders to the wheel" to tackle the problem. and an mp says it's time to put an end to rip off rickshaw rides in london. charging £200—£300 to go the half—mile from oxford circus. but first: the work and pensions secretary has confirmed that up to 220,000 people could

have their benefits restored to a higher level following a high court ruling. ministers announced on friday that they would not appeal against a high courtjudgment on disability benefits. the row is over those with mental health conditions and whether they should qualify for higher rates of personal independence payments, known as pips. an snp mp asked the new work and pensions secretary to come to the commons and explain what would happen now. esther mcvey said the government would write to those affected and payments would be backdated. we are not appealing the outcome of the recent high courtjudgment in order to provide certainty to our climate. our next steps will build on the positive work this government is already undertaking, including spending on main disability benefits, pip, dla and attendance allowance has risen by 4.2 billion since 2010. real—term spending on disability benefits will be higher every year

to 2010 than in 2010. how long will it take to carry out the review? how much longer will these people have to wait to receive the money that they rely on and the money that rightfully and lawfully is theirs. can the secretary of state explain why her apartment is amassing such an appalling record? doesn't that tell the government something about these cuts? finally, will she not admit the system's most fundamental principle is not to upgrade the budget but to protect the respect and dignity of those who rely on it rather than continuing think to punish people for having disabilities. hear, hear! when you are trying to expand support it is not always going to be easy, so we knew at the time we were taking on a very difficult change and it would no doubt be legal challenges. but do you know what? when there is legal challenges, mr speaker, we've got to look at them, take a true and fair

judgment, and carry on that path. and on this instance i do believe i made a fairjudgment. i have to say the secretary of state's statement, to any disabled person watching this will be absolutely gob smacked. hear, hear! and to say there is a commitment to disabled people when the human committee on the rights of disabled people has said it is a human catastrophe, the cuts that have been brought on disabled people by this government is an absolute disgrace. and she asked, how many people would be affected by the decision. how many people could this be effecting? how many people could this be affecting? it could affect up to 220,000 people. and that's why we are taking this process very seriously and we as a department will be reaching out to those people once we know exactly what we are doing. as for the un, how did the figures that she has given compare internationally? again, and other good point raised

by my right honourable friend. the uk is one of the most generous countries in the world when it comes to supporting its disabled people. hear, hear! 0nly germany in the g7 spends more. we do spend what is deemed appropriate, available and what we have, which is over £50 billion. but as i say, and i will reiterate, we are one of the most generous countries in the world. and other colleagues at last year we should listen to the message that the courts were giving us, accepting their ruling would be a significant step forward... the select committee were about to publish an article. please will the secretary of state commit to seriously considering our recommendations

for what we can do to improve both of those benefits it comes? the secretary of state talks of the unnecessary vilification of her policies. when it was her given to a responsible for the vilification of so many mentally disabled people by presenting them as applying for benefits for which they are not entitled. hear, hear! and i have seen the misery these decisions have cost us so many of my constituents, including those suffering from host dramatic stress syndrome as a consequence of sexual abuse. so we'll she now guaranteed to them the maximum amount of time that they will have to wait to have their cases reviewed? hear, hear! thank you. it is unfortunate when members of the opposition try and ratchet the level of the motion up in the chamber. especially when it is very emotional as it is. nobody has ever sought to vilify anybody. hear, hear!

and i think if we could get that on the record now, this is not about vilification about anybody. it's not about vilification. it is about giving the right support to those people who need it. the work and pensions secretary, esther mcvey. the former head of the social mobility commission, alan milburn, says the government lacks the willingness and ability to deal with the "social crisis" facing the country. the commission's four board members quit in december in protest at a lack of action on the agenda. giving evidence to the education select committee, alan milburn said there had been "disengagement" about the watchdog's status, which had seen its membership shrink from ten commissioners to four. we had an independent department and i was on it. we then made recommendations

to government about who was appointable. it took almost a year for the government to decide who was appointable. that none of the people that we recommended work suitable for appointment. and in that time by the way, none of the candidates heard anything. and effectively and i insisted a letter of apology be sent to candidates and a the other applicants. if the government is not

going to renew our position, then we will be left with three. we know this is my sense. if it requires ten people it requires ten people. and i felt that it was an intolerable position for staff and it was not in a position to be working in the way it had been intended. good initiative, good ministers that try to do the right thing, but overall i think the conclusion was that it didn't seem that the government had the either ability or willingness to put their collective shoulders to the wheel... why was that? it is pretty obvious in a sense. ashley is understandable. brexit is fiercely complex, probably the most complex international negotiations and has ever been. and the conclusions i reached was that unfortunately. the government left then with to really match the rhetoric with the reality.

i said that as a matter of regret, i really do. i think also with brexit actually that there may well be quite a lot of turmoil one way or another. and a lot of change to cope with which means that social change will become even more important. former education secretary, gillian, now lady shephard. the culture secretary has come under pressure from opposition mps to "prohibit" rupert murdoch's £11 billion bid to take full control of the broadcaster, sky. the demands came after the competition and markets authority, the cma, said the takeover was not in the public interest as it would give the murdoch family trust too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda. but sky could end up owned by disney if mr murdoch's proposed sale of fox, which owns 39% of sky, goes ahead. in a statement the culture secretary said that the cma's findings were provisional. a final report is expected in may. i hope the house will understand that i cannot comment successively on the original report before us anonymously for the final report before commenting commenting.

i am however aware of the keen interest across the house on this important matter. and i know that members will be closely scrutinizing the provisional findings and will have views on them. in november, sky has threatened to shutdown sky news if it lived to be a plurality obstacle in their bid. will he reject any attempt by the murdochs to blackmail him or the regulator by threatening sky's staff. hear, hear! i will follow the process by taking into consideration the final report once it is published by the ecma. i will consider what it says, i will consider all the relevant evidence and information published by the cma. and then make a decision. mr speaker, we hear reports that owners of sky would be willing

to close down sky news if it becomes an impeachment in the bill, with a possible loss of 500 jobs. can the secretary of state confirm that he will not allow employers of sky to be used as pawns in any takeover in this final decision coming to vote? what impact will this have on his final decision on a given that disney's reported lack of interest in news broadcasting. thank you very much, mr speaker. well, it is a matter of law that whilst consideration of this proposal is ongoing, sky news cannot be shut down in advance of a decision. when it comes to plurality,

and hejust bear in mind that the greatest disaster that could befall plurality of media in this country would be from sky news which is after all a lossmaking enterprise, although extremely good. you're watching tuesday in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. tuesday is cabinet meeting day. apart from these sorts of pictures. pictures of all the seniorfigures striding up downing street, there's generally not much to say. but this tuesday was different because it'd been widely reported that the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, was planning to pitch for £100—a—week boost for the ngs in england,

as a brexit dividend. -- nhs. well, we don't know exactly what transpired at the meeting but theresa may did make a plea for discussions about future funding to remain private. in the afternoon, jeremy hunt was appearing before the health committee and the subject came up. in the run—up to today's events, you supported the foreign secretary's call for the nhs. how did that go? i don't think any health secretary, resources for his or her department. obviously, you understand i can't tell you about the precise content of the cabinet. isn't it odd that the foreign secretary was making these comments are public? i am not able to comment about what happened, but i would say that there was a brexit debate and then nhs debate, and occasionally those two debates coming together. there is not going to be any money

flowing, so where's this money going to come from? we'll have to ask the foreign secretary. in addition to touching on cabinet tensions, the health committee was chiefly concerned with what might happen to the provision of medicines after the uk leaves the eu. jeremy hunt was asked about a transition deal. we need one now. you could sign up to one now. and the business secretary could as well, based on the status quo. what is holding it up? the hard brexit supporters such as boris johnson? no, the reality of these things, no, these communications of the eu and the... they do need to be negotiated with the e u. the eu and you could agree

i'iow the e u. the eu and you could agree now 011 the e u. the eu and you could agree now on the transition. that is a question you need to address to david davis. but we have made it very clear that the transition deal, that was agreed with the eu in december, and i think a pretty important moment in the negotiations, also moving onto discussions in the future relationship. there are going to be some is to be dotted and send feedback need to be crossed, it was a broad agreement, as far as the sectors concerned is along the lines that we would all... i am very confident that we can add the transition deal. we've heard from a number of people in different trade associations, that british patients will receive new medicines more slowly than they do at the moment. and that obviously can be critical for patient's treatment. how are we going to deal with that issue after brexit? i think the first point to make is that, british patients currently

receive new medicines too slowly. there are a number of reasons for that, nhs, due process, but part of the catalytic effect of brexit was for us to look much harder. and one of those is the fact that when they develop new drugs in the uk, it takes too long to get picked up by the nhs. and that is a significant negative as far as we are concerned. so we are looking more broadly, for patient‘s safety, it is an absolute priority to make sure that things do not slow down as a result of brexit. the justice secretary says the "most stringent" licensing conditions must be placed on the black cab rapist, john worboys

when he is released from prison. worboys is believed to have carried out more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults on women in london between 2002 and 2008. he was transferred from hmp wakefield in west yorkshire to hmp belmarsh, south—east london, at the weekend ahead of his expected release. david gauke said that while the "precise conditions" for parole are decided at an "operational level", he had written to the authorities stressing the need to ensure that the concerns of victims were put at the heart of this process". the case was raised by a conservative mp. they propose to release him, and it is terrifying. and like his victims, they are appalled to learn that he is been moved to the new prison, he will do absolutely everything in his power to ensure that worboys is released to keep him out of greater london. what i say to my honourable friend

who has been tireless on this matter in recent weeks is that first of all, when it comes to the precise conditions, those are operational matters that are decided at an operational level. nearly a fortnight ago i wrote to the relevant authorities and stressed the need to ensure that the needs of victims were put at the heart of this process and that the most stringent measures are taken. and the review of public safety,

those of us with victims in our constituency, can you confirm that the government will at least co—operate with the judicial review? well, i've been, and i thank my honourable friend for her question. i set out that i would not be pursuing a traditional review on behalf of the government in this case. but i also made it very clear that i would not say or do anything that would stand in the way of others who may have different meanings into a traditional review. -- judicial —— judicial review. -- judicial review. the criminal lived in my constituency and he is not welcome back. he needs to be prosecuted for his crimes and how is the ministry better ensuring that victims rights are upheld in future? it is troubled us all. it has troubled me personally.

of course it has. in this particular case, the state is investigating the review from a probation point of view. as the secretary of state has already said, there are operational responsibilities here and response to where he is transferred to and his directions. the government's been accused of ‘playing games' by not setting out its preferred plan for the post—brexit relationship between the eu and the uk's financial services sector. the issue was raised in the house of lords by a liberal democrat who chairs a lords committee on financial affairs. what is lacking is a paper, telling the financial services senator. what it should implement and plan for when the transition period is over. this is an industry that, more than 1 million jobs are at stake, and has huge strategic importance for the united kingdom.

but none of the long promised financial service sectors. replying the minister quoted the minister in the commons. we shall continue to review it, and we will set it out as appropriate. and as we continue to be. it is over a year since they reported on the financial services and brexit are produced. we have no clear view of what the government thinks, if it had to does not know? that it dare not tell? or is it reallyjust not up to the task? if you did not come from the benches opposite, where the labour parties position can only be described as, let me just reminded the lady ——shambolic.

let me just remind the lady precisely what has been happening. there has been an extensive, she knows that we are seeking a good trade agreement between the uk and the eu. a detailed technical talk which she is well aware. there is an ongoing dialogue, this is a delicate sense of time, and to the government must be the arbiter of what is appropriate in particular areas. a conservative former chancellor, said the government had made clear it wanted the maximum possible access. and wasn't it absurd to ask for more detail than that. and to ask a government that is trying to negotiate a deal, to say where it expects to end up,

thatis to say where it expects to end up, that is not realistic. i should not need to remind the noble baroness that london is only a small part of the united kingdoms financial services industry. a large part of it is in scotland, bristol, leeds, these jobs are at risk and this is not the time to be playing games. playing games and that is government playing games and that is recognised in brussels and by the eu. what is recognised is that these are complex and challenging negotiations and a degree of sensitivity surrounds them. we also need to observe a degree of couldn't potentiality. —— confidentiality. lady goldie. finally, in the commons there was a call for people using cycle rickshaws, or pedicabs to be protected from huge rip—off fares. the conservative paul scully introduced a bill, enabling transport for london to regulate the industry. he said because pedicabs weren't regulated there was no requirement for the estimated 1,400 drivers to have insurance, or for vehicle condition or driver

quality to be assessed. paul scully said his bill was "simply ironing out an anomaly", as london was the only part of the uk where cycle rickshaws weren't already regulated. and he argued the change would protect customers. an undercover film—maker revealed in 2016, examples of rickshaw drivers charging chinese tourist £300 each for a three—minute ride. and charging two to £300 to go half a mile, from oxford circus to picadilly circus. pedica bs increased traffic delays and pollution, obstructing legitimate business. many play loud music. clearly not all, but on many occasions, there are enough to ruin the reputation of those simply trying to earn a living in a conscientious way.

well paul scully won the right to take his bill forward. but unless the government backs it, it won't become law. and that's it from me for now but do join us on bbc parliament at 11:00 on wednesday night for a full round up of the day here at westminster, including prime ministers questions, and the brexit secretary, david davis, in front of the brexit committee. some disturbed whether to take us through wednesday. deadbeat area of low pressure that has been named by the irish weather service as storm

georgina. gales and heavy rain across the uk. tune into your bbc local radio station for the latest. georgina drifts to the north—west of scotland. a lot of isobars on the chart showing you will have strong and gusty wind. this rained a band will be drifting south and east across england and wales. squally conditions with that and heavy burst of rain. and hide it, skies will brighten and there will be sunshine and showers chasing into the western areas as well and temperature by the end of the afternoon, 6— 10 degrees. 0ne end of the afternoon, 6— 10 degrees. one of those days where the temperature will drop as the day goes on because we will bring in fresh and cool air which will be with us until the early hours of thursday. showers and some clear spells as well and temperatures by thursday morning will reach seven degrees that it is not much chilly on thursday and friday, some brightness and showers, particularly in the west. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe.

i'm mike embley. our top stories: the russia investigation gets closer to the white house as the us attorney general becomes the first member of president trump's cabinet to be questioned. thousands rally in southern brazil for their former president, lula da silva, urging an appeals court to overturn his conviction for corruption. fears of a major eruption in the philippines after fresh activity from mount mayon. and the south african jazz musician and campaigner against apartheid hugh masekela has died at the age of 78.