the fbi of abusing its powers to spy on president trump's election campaign. mr trump says the document tells a disgraceful story. democrats claim the memo is an attempt to discredit the investigation into russian interference in the election. there have been chaotic scenes during the sentencing of the former team doctor of the american gymnastics team, larry nassar, who's been found guilty of sexually abusing girls in his care. randall margraves, whose three daughters were victims, apologised. thejudge said she would not punish him. as many as 90 migrants are feared drowned after a smuggler‘s boat capsized off the east coast of libya. the bodies of ten people have been recovered so far. only three people have been rescued. now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello, and welcome to

the week in parliament. coming up in the next half hour: the bill putting eu law on the uk statute book clears its first hurdle in the lords. but there's a hint of the battles to come. at this pivotal moment in our history, we cannot, we must not, indulge in that very british habit of just muddling through. mps vote to move out of parliament for a multi—billion pound repair programme, after warnings there's a risk of it burning down! we must recognise that as time passes without competence of action, those risks only increase. also on this programme, it's stand—in day at prime minister's questions, where emily thornberry attacks the government and the dup for not backing votes at 16. they are not the coalition of chaos, mr speaker,

there are the coalition of cavemen! but david lidington says that labour put up the age for doing all sorts of things. raise the age to 18, and raise the age for using a sunbed to 18. but first, after two days of debate and 190 speakers, the eu withdrawal bill cleared its first parliamentary hurdle in the house of lords. the bill transfers eu law into uk domestic law to avoid a legal black hole opening up after brexit. it's already been through the commons, so now it was down to peers to have their say, and the government could have been left in no doubt it was going to have a fight on its hands. a labour former transport secretary lord adonis, proposed a rare vote to regret the bill, in effect calling for a second referendum. the interest of the public as a whole do not lie in making britain poorer.

they do not lie in undermining the good friday agreements. they do not lie in diminishing trade and our people's right to live and work across europe. there was strong criticism too from a former brexit minister. all we hear day after day are conflicting, confusing voices. if this continues and ministers cannot agree amongst themselves on the future relationship the government wants, how can this prime minister possibly negotiate a clear, precise set of terms with the future relationship of the eu? my fear is that we will get meaningless waffle in a political decoration in october. the implementation period will not be a bridge to a clear destination, it will be a gang plank into thin air. at this pivotal moment in our history, we cannot, we must not, indulge in that very british habit of just muddling through.

a former ukip leader said he supported the bill but thought the government needed to change tack on the brexit negotiations. they should sit the eurocrats down and tell them we have done our best to make clauses to defy the article 50 work. they have abused our trust, and we see no future in going on like this. so we are unilaterally taking back our law, our borders, fisheries, agriculture is and so on, but we will also be generous. we will give them wide mutual residence. we will allow them to continue in free trade with us. we will go on helping them with security, and then we will decide, my lords, how much cash will give them, which may be nothing after march 29 next year if they do not behave themselves and fall into the above. it remains government policy that through brexit, we will strengthen our democracy, protecting

and enhabcing environemtal and social laws in its process. in its current form, this build will fail on all those aims, and sadly the gaps in the bill will leave the environment is the biggest casualty. as things stand, both government and opposition parties are finding it hard to agree on a way forward. so a referendum on a new question about the future relationship may become unavoidable. although this is not something we should be voting at this stage. i know what my duty is, and it is to bring to the attention of the other house the manifest defects which exist in this legislation. we may not make them any wiser, my lords, but if we do it properly with this bill, we will make them better informed. heavens knows they need it.

the duty of of your lordships house is very clear. that duty, i submit, is to assert our rights to scrutinise, to amend, and if needs be, to reject unacceptable parts of this bill, and to use the entire arsenal of our powers and prerogatives to limit the damage that threatens the sovereignty of parliament and the national interest. i cannot believe it is in the national interest to get onto such a referendum merry—go—round. whatever point of view we fought for in the referendum campaign, we could have made a success of the united kingdom in the european union. and we can make a success with some cost and upheavel of being outside the european union, but we cannot possibly make a success

at being in a national state of bewilderment about when we're going to have another referendum, and which direction we're going in. well, at the end of that, lord adonis didn't press his motion to the vote, and the bill passed its second reading, it will begin detailed scrutiny in the lords later this month. now, mps have backed a call for parliament to move out of the palace of westminster while billions of pounds of repairs are carried out. the building is part of a world heritage site but there are problems with asbestos, wiring, pipes, and plumbing. the thorny problem of how to carry out the repairs has been looked out over the years, with three options being put forward — moving out altogether, moving one chamber out at a time and staying put for the work to be carried out around mps and peers. the three options carry correspondingly increasing price tags. opening a debate in the commons, the leader of the house presented mps with two two motions, one of which suggested a further review delaying any decision for a furtherfour years, and a second suggesting the setting up of a delivery authority as soon as possible to look at the options

again and fully cost them. andrea leadsom said she'd approach the question of restoration with a healthy degree of scepticism. i, like many, felt that the case for a major restoration programme had probably been overstated, and that the powers look fine to me, and we would be able to continue to patch and mend as we went along, as we have done for many, many decades. however, mr speaker, during my seven months in thejob, i have, as they say, gone on a journey. i have lived and breathed this topic. i have visited the basement and seen for myself what our engineers are up against. we must recognise that as time passes without comprehensive action, those risks only increase. this work is necessary for safety — that has been agreed by everyone. we need to do now. we cannot delay, any delay increases the costs. a lib dem dismissed the idea

of moving one chamber out at a time. because the services do provide for the whole of the house, and therefore, you cannot in fact decant half the building. when i look at his building and i look at the stunning architecture and condition of it, i see it as some sort of sad metaphor for brexitised britain — dilapidated, falling to bits around our ears, generally unloved, and in need of a lot of attention and support. doesn't that just sum up where this nation is? mr speaker. is it not the case, that my honourable cousin from scotland, it would take a crowbar and can of irnbru to wrestle him from this place? he loves it here! recovering from that, pete wishart said he favoured turning the palace into a tourist attraction. a group of mps had put down an amendment to the motion, proposing that all mps and peers moving out altogether while the work

was carried out, and calling for the proposed delivery agency to oversee the project to be set up as soon as possible. one of the mps behind that amendment said trying to move out one chamber at a time would double the cost and risk of fire. the thought of cutting a sewer system in half, or the electrics, or of the any other works, does not make sense because of the nature of the building. well, there then followed a series of votes. unusually, this was what's known as a free vote, meaning that mps didn't have to follow a party line but could vote however they wanted. mps backed the amendment calling for both houses to move out of the palace while work was carried out by 236 votes to 220. there's no date set for when that will happen, but during the debate, andrea leadsom said mps and peers would not leave the houses of parliament until 2025 at the earliest. peers will have their say in the next few days. it was all change at prime ministers questions. theresa may in china

was on a trip to china, attempting to boost trade and relations. as well as formal talks, there was time for mrs may and her husband to pay a visit to a peking opera performance, for a little music and drama. well, back in westminster, the lead role at prime minster‘s questions had been delegated to the cabinet office minister, david lidington, who faced the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry. the exchanges began with a little bit of banter about the last time the two had faced each other across the despatch box. let me start by welcoming the minister back to his role, deputising for the prime minister. last time he did so was in december, 2016, when his party with 17 points ahead in the polls, and he told the house that the labour party was quarelling like the film mutiny on the bounty, re—shot by the team who made carry on. well, what a difference a year makes! it's a delight to me to see the right honourable lady

still in her place, when no fewer than 97 members of her front bench have either been sacked or resigned since the opposition took office. emily thornberry asked about the number of women in parliament. i am pleased that my party, since i was first elected 25 years ago, has made considerable progress, but i accept that there is more to be done. i hope that she, for her part, will accept that we have now had two women leaders and prime ministers, so they have a bit of catching up to do. i have to say, mr speaker, that if the party opposite of proud of having a female leader, why are so many of them trying to get rid of her? and why has she had to run away to china to get away from them? she then turned to the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. it was originally restricted to

women with property over the age of 30 and then 90 years ago, it was extended to all women over 21, and almost 50 years ago, it was extended to all men and women over the age of 18. so can i ask the minister a simple question? how many more years do we have to wait until the vote is extended to everyone over 16? i have to say, i am slightly baffled by the honourable lady's comments, when compared to what her party did in office. because it was the last labour government that raised the legal age for buying cigarettes to 18, raised the age for selling knives to 18, raised the age to buy fireworks to 18, and raised the age for using a sunbed for 18! there is no logical objection to the vote at 16. that is why the welsh government support it, that is why every single political party in this house supports it, except of course the conservative party and the dup. once again, joined in opposition

to change, they are not the coalition of chaos, mr speaker, there are the coalition of cavemen! the situation we have here, mr speaker, with the national voting age at 18, is one that is followed by 26 out of the 27 other members of the european union. by the united states, canada, new zealand, and australia. unless she is going to denounce all of those countries as somehow inadequate to her own particular standards, then quite honestly, mr speaker, she ought to grow up and try to treat this subject with a great deal of seriousness. now let's take a look at some other news in brief. more than 100 people

signed a petition for stronger laws. several mps described dramatic experience is that people are and animals in their constituencies had suffered. let me read you this from one of the residents affected. this is an eyewitness statement. strangers standing at either other ends of the street saw fireworks used as if they were guns. pointing at each other. i saw one young child being hit in the head by fireworks, fortunately it did not explode it had it exploded it would've resulted in some serious burns. it has been dubbed an just. in the debate in the comments, mps call for an end to car park charges and hospitals in england. it's estimated that it cost visitors, staff and patients around £100 million a year. no one goes to the hospital by choice, no one chooses to be ill, we rely on doctors and nurses

to look after us and we urge the minister who is here today to take urgent action to end this social injustice once and for all. the government has rejected claims that dental care in england is in crisis. there are calls to fluoride to be added to water to combat tooth decay. dental care is in crisis. charities provide emergency dental care. a quarter of five your olds have tooth decay. more than half the dentist plan to leave nhs in five years. government funding has fallen, which means people pay more and more. government funding has fallen, which means people pay more and moral don't recognise the picture the noble lady has painted. there are 2596 noble lady has painted. there are 25% of five your olds who are not decay free and that's not enough, but that it has increased over the past ten years. it has been going up. there are more dentists

practising on the nhs than ever. mps held a debate on the next phase of high speed rail, extending the route from the west midlands to crewe. but a conservative rejected the idea that the line would provide an alternative to flying to europe. one mp said his constituents would still have to go across birmingham to change trains. a local councillor timed how long it would take. to change trains. a local councillor timed how long it would takem took him 22 minutes to tramp across, here is me trapping across, birmingham to get the train. a government minister dramatically resigned in the house lord bates apologised to for what he described of lords after arriving late for question time. i've always believed we should rise to the highest possible standards of courtesy and respect in responding on behalf of the government to the questions of the legislature. i

thoroughly ashamed at not eating in the right place and therefore i should be offering my resignation to the prime minister. with immediate effect. i do apologise. the prime minister. with immediate effect. ido apologise. lord the prime minister. with immediate effect. i do apologise. lord bates immediately walked out of the chamber. downing street later said the prime minister had refused to accept his resignation. well, while we're on the subject of apologies, a brexit minister apologised to the mps following comments he made at question time on thursday. a conservative mp suggested to steve baker that treasury officials were trying to influence policy with negative economic projections. will my honourable friend confirm that he heard from the centre of european research that officials in treasury deliberately developed a model to share that all options and status remaining in view commissions were bad. and they used this to influence

policy? i am sorry to say to my honourable friend's account is essentially correct. at the time i thought it was implausible because my direct experience is that civil servants are very careful to uphold the impartiality of the civil service. well, overnight, audio of what charles grant, the director of the centre for european research had said was released, and first thing friday steve baker came to the commons to accept he'd got it wrong. yesterday i answered a question based on my honest recollection. the ordeal of that conversation is 110w the ordeal of that conversation is now available and i'm glad the re cord now available and i'm glad the record stands corrected. in the context of that ordeal i accept that i should have corrected or dismissed the premise of my honourable friend's question. i have apologised

to charles grant who is an honest and trustworthy man. and he repeated he had the highest regard for hard working civil servants. now let's go back to prime minister's questions, where the snp‘s westminster leader turned his attention to brexit. this is a government in crisis and an international embarrassment. the chancellor, the scottish secreatry, scottish conservatives, they've all supported the single market. despite this, the government is still prepared to make everyone poorer. where is the leadership? the most important single market to the people of scotland is the single market of the united kingdom. which is worth nearly £50 million. that's every year to the scottish economy, four times more than trade with the eu. it is our deep and special partnership with the eu

in the future that will help deliver prosperity to scotland, now the separatist policies pursued by scottish nationalist party. the bbc‘s carrie gracie has told mps she is "very angry" at the way the corporation has treated some female members of staff. she resigned as china editor, citing pay inequalities with colleagues. the bbc said there was no systemic discrimination against women. she told the culture and media committee that the response to her problems was insulting. she said others down the organisation were suffering more. if the bbc cannot sort it out for me, a single person to 55 and a powerful position, how can it sort it out for more vulnerable people without a public profile? that is my concern. people being in conflict, the delays, the opacity

and the belittling of the work, because that's what has to happen if they're not going to concede. they're going to have to crush your self—esteem about your work. that is very painful. i found all of that really hard and i really did, i'm getting upset now. i felt very angry about what they've put some other people through. i really feel angry about some of the things i've seen and heard, and some of the women...the suffering they've gone through. as regards her own case, carrie gracie said the bbc had not to me it sounds like a tacit

admission that it is pay discrimination, as they want to pay £100,000 in back pay. but what is unacceptable to me, i just don't know why they do this, is they've basically said that in those three previous years i was in development. it is an insult to add to the original injury. it is unacceptable to talk to your senior women like that. and the next witness was the director general, tony hall. how is it possible when there is five international editors that they have been inadvertently underpaid for years? the answer is that's wrong. what we are doing going forward is saying we want to make sure that we keep these things regularly under review, we're up front, so we don't get

to the point where the band between someone who's a low pay editor and a top is notjustifiable. we want to bring them down so they are justifiable and then review them regularly. you agree that the bbc has paid less to women who work on equal value? the answer is there may be individual cases where if that is the case we need to know where they are and solve them. but i don't believe that the bbc is an organisation where we've gone out and said, it would be illegal to do that anyway, that we will pay a woman less to do that job. to go back to the case of carrie, we've just heard that she was being paid less. i have said already that the grievance and the mistakes procedure has found i accept were wrong and i am

sorry about that. that was a big failure of management, wasn't it? the systems were not in place. management is always about learning and listening. things are never right. you have to reform. that's why we began a process reforming paying conditions, terms and conditions, two years ago. we also looked at the issue of top talent to pay in use because we knew we had things to get right. and it's taken a long time and as this committee has heard today it's a very congregated issue. but don't underestimate our desire to get this right. finally, mps were all of a twitter on wednesday. a robin had found its way into the chamber and swooped

across the ceiling during welsh questions at the start of the day. it was still roosting in the chamber during prime minister's questions, and the snp‘s westminster leader saw an opportunity to make a quickjoke about david lidington‘s possible leadership ambitions. cani can i welcome the minister to his place? if the reports are true he may be auditioning for a new role andi may be auditioning for a new role and i wonder if he is sending out a letter by robert and! —— robin! or perhaps he could put it on twitter. and that's it from me for now, but dojoin keith macdougall on bbc parliament on monday night at 11pm for a full round up of the day in westminster. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye! good morning. this it looks like sunday will be the brighter of the two days.

saturday is gloomier across scotland, england and wales. some buds of eastern england may stay dry, the same in the far north—east. outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow mixed in and sunshine and showers towards the west in northern ireland. these are often in temperatures. feeling cold in a couple of spots. nothing too significant. lighter and patchy the end of the day. it leaves the risk of ice here and there as we see clearing skies and temperatures close to freezing. a few spots will drop below freezing on sunday and with light winds across scotland and northern ireland it is not a bad day. morning cloud will break up. a brighter day for england and wales more generally, but sunshine and showers towards east anglia and the south—east. even a bit of snow. with a cold north—easterly wind it will feel like temperatures are close to freezing. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani.

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