some of us started this easter monday with heavy rain, others with a covering of snow but it is mainly outbreaks of rain as we go through the afternoon. snow on the high hills but particularly in scotland and this afternoon and evening, we could well see some of that snow falling to lower levels, even in the central belt as well, so keep monitoring the situation if you have got travel plans. southern parts of the uk brightening up a little bit with a few showers but the milder air is reaching new. moving through the night further snow in scotland could lead to some significantjimmy leisha is in the highlands, so, a chilly night to come here. further showers with some sunny spells through the day tomorrow. big range of temperatures. good afternoon. you're watching bbc news. our main headlines... after five years in charge, the director of public prosecutions

for england and wales, alison saunders, is to step down later this year china responds to president trump's import taxes on steel and aluminium by placing new tariffs on more than 120 us products. there's a new warning from health staff that the nhs in england is likely to face a "year—round crisis", as this winter's pressures extend into the summer. the m62 near bradford reopens after two men are killed when a car was driven on the wrong side of the road. one man has been arrested. now on bbc news, westminster in review. hello and welcome to westminster in review, our look back at all the big events in parliament since christmas.

coming up, as the uk inches ever closer to leading the european union closer to leaving the european union there is agreement between the two sides on the next phase of brexit. but there are still some big sticking points not least over fishing rights. the tories are treating this industry as expendable. i understand how fishing communities feel at the moment, i share their disappointment. tough questions for the bosses of collapsed construction firm carillion after it went under leaving job losses across the uk and a pensions black hole. you say how sad and disappointed you are. but what actions do you take to show how you feel? it's just words, isn't it? after the poisoning of a spy and his daughter with a rare nerve agent the premise to expels 23 russian diplomats.

the government has concluded that it is highly likely that russia was responsible for the act against sergei and yulia skripal. but first, the uk is set to leave the eu in less than a year, theresa may's big achievement in last few months has meant in last few months has been to secure a interim deal meaning there will be a transitional period from our leaving till the end of 2020. during that time the uk will be able to negotiate its own trading while you citizens moving to the uk will enjoy the same rights as those who arrived before brexit. but there is still no agreement on how to avoid a hard border between northern ireland and the irish republic. and anger that the deal will see the uk effectively remain haddock into the thames.

the mood in fishing communities is one of palpable anger. this is not what they were promised. if they can let us down like this over the deal for a transitional period, how do we know that they will not do it again when it comes to the final deal? i know, as someone whose father was a fish merchant. the first thing i will happily acknowledge is that there is disappointment in fishing communities, i know, as someone whose father was a fish merchant and his grandparents went to see you to finish, i understand how the communities feel about the situation at the moment. they will never ever be trusted ever again by the scottish fishermen. can he save us the time and say what they can expect from his government? the tories are treating this industry as expendable, the secretary of state talked about revival but industry cannot

revive based on the status quo that the government has delivered on the cfp — does he understand why my constituency will see this as a total sell—out? what did we get in return? the big prize that we have secured is an implementation period that allows us as a country to prepare for all the benefits that brexit will bring. michael gove in hot water over the interim fishing deal. down the corridor, the lords were also getting their teeth into brexit. the eu withdrawal bill which puts all you law into uk law to stop a legislative black hole opening up pass through the comments before christmas, and so it was off to the upper house for peers to begin their detailed scrutiny of the plans. at end of january they held a two—day debate on the principles of the bill. the duty of your lordships‘ house is very clear. the duty i submit is to assert our

rights to scrutinise, to amend and if need be, to reject u na cce pta ble parts of this bill. the more we argue here the weaker we make the government's negotiating position. should we not be implementing the people's vote, unelected as we are, pulling together and presenting a united front? the government can expect no let—up in our efforts to make this bill somehow against all odds work in the interest of the british people, as we leave europe. as we leave the europe, an act of extraordinary political self harm that our grandchildren and their children will not forgive us for. this sovereign parliament, once the terms of any british exit are known and the reality of it becomes clear, is entitled to choose if it wants to to seek the opinion of the british people

as to whether this is what they want. we could have made a success of the united kingdom in the european union, and we can make a success with some costs and upheaval of being outside the european union, but we cannot possibly make a success of being in a national state of bewilderment about what we're going to have another referendum and which direction we are going in. william hague at the start of the scrutiny of the eu withdrawal bill. so far peers have not voted on the detail of the bill but all that is set to change after easter when they move on to theirfinal stage of highly detailed scrutiny. expect plenty of late nights, right votes and potential government deceits. and if brexit weren't tricky enough, just before easter, remainers used the parliamentary debate to air allegations that the vote leave campaign

had exceeded spending limits in the referendum. vote leave has strongly denied accusations that it used a different pro—brexit group to get around strict spending controls. but remainers‘ unhappiness of the referendum campaign and result looks set to rumble on. but theresa may will be relieved that she has a deal on a transitional period with its provisions on citizens‘ rights and trade and as we heard earlier, that controversial section on fishing. 0n the last monday before the easter break she updated mps on her latest summit meeting with eu leaders. whilst i recognise that not everyone will welcome continuation of current trading terms for another 21 months, such an implementation period has been widely welcomed by british business because it is necessary if we are to minimise uncertainty and deliver a smooth and successful brexit.

we are pleased at some progress being made on the transition period, especially given the agreement is identical to what labour was calling for last summer. the only real question is why it took the government so long to realise that a transition on the same terms is vital to protectjobs and our economy? given that her government and unfortunately the official opposition have had more positions on brexit than the karma sutra, isn't it time that this idea of nonsense stop and that our constituents will be protected from the disastrous economic impacts of brexit? can i say to the honourable lady that the picture she paints is not one that i recognise. theresa may on that in term brexit deal. i'm delighted to say i'm joined by the bbc‘s political correspondent chris mason. what can we glean from this interim deal that it might tell us about the final deal?

it tells us that in the short term there is going to be a difference between the legal moment of brexit happening at the end of march next year and the point at which there is fundamental change, which will come at the end of 2020. so, the government will fulfil its obligation to take us out at the end of march of next year but pretty much very little actually changes. the government's argument is that it allows business more time to adjust and also gives them more negotiating time in terms of securing the longer term deal. and their hope is that those who have agitated for brexit for a generation can live with effectively the status quo for a period of the best part of two years because it allows them to secure their prize in the end. but one of those things that doesn't change is the common fisheries policy. the government must have seen that coming? i think they did. there is a curiosity around fishing because it is

symbolically hugely important to the context of brexit, whilst economically relatively unimportant. it is a small sliver of the overall uk economy though i'll be it concentrates in particular areas. in fishing communities their industry has decimated and many of them hugely critical of the fishing policy. they had hoped that there might be some transition but they would only have to stay within the confines of eu fishing regulations for perhaps nine months or one year after the pointer brexit. after the point of brexit. they now know it is going to be nearly two years and are deeply angry. they are certainly using this point to flex their political muscle, to try and ensure that in the long term after the transition and implementation period they got an arrangement around fishing rights that is from their perspective a notable improvement on what happens. on what happens now.

we are talked about the transition deal means in the uk but what about in the eu? are they very united still? they are certainly proud that up until now the 27 of the eu have been united, i think there's the prospect that that might change as we get into the nitty—gritty of how a trade deal might work and how his security cooperation might work but at the moment the eu is very proud publicly and privately that up until now they've managed to keep themselves together. thank you, we will be hearing from you a little bit later in the programme. now let's take a look at some other news in brief.. nine months on from the grenfell tower fire, just 62 out of 204 households had been found permanent homes. 71 people died in the fire. the housing secretary said some of those made homeless were still living in hotels. a memorial service was held on march 22, marking one year since the westminster terror attack that left five dead

and dozens injured. an islamic extremist drove into pedestrians on westminster bridge before heading to the houses of parliament. pc keith palmer who was on guard outside was stabbed and killed before the attacker was shot dead. a few days later, mps said lessons must be learned following a report on the response to the suicide bombing at manchester arena two months after the westminster attack. salman abedi detonated a homemade device at an ariana grande concert killing 22 people. the review revealed that it took nearly two hours for firefighters to be deployed, that there were communication problems between the emergency services and a complete failure of a helpline for relatives. mps praised the emergency services and the residents but the government to learn from what had happened.

just before easter and the high court overturned a decision to free the serial sex offender john worboys, known as the black cab rapist. the head of the parole board nick hardwick resigned. we can't have a system whereby we rely upon victims, victims of a serial predatory sex offender, to keep us safe. the primary role of government is to keep the people safe. will the minister take this opportunity to apologise to the victims for the many failures that have left them having to pursue justice because nobody will do it for them? i share the anger that he does that victims had to go through this process and i am sorry that that happened. the president's club later announced it was too closed following claims that women were grouped at the men only event. 0rganisers chose to make this a men only event. they chose to treat the hostesses

to make them parade across the stage in front of men to make them wear black skimpy outfits and specify the colour of their underwear. women have the right to feel safe wherever they work. and allegations of this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable. there were celebrations across parliament to mark 100 years of women getting the right to vote. although it didn't apply to all, it was a historic step forward. the house of lords held a special debate to mark the anniversary. 0ne peer recalled her conversations with a former suffragette. i loved to hear more than once about how she would help to carry one of those big laundry baskets when she got to attend the meetings during the cat and mouse acts. and the police on the floor would say what is in that basket? and they would carry it as if it contained what they said it contained, bunting. it actually contained mrs bankers. it actually contained mrs pankhurst. there was a prolonged standing

ovation in the lords when the former cabinet minister tessa jowell called for greater global cooperation to help beat cancer. she was speaking following her diagnosis of a severe brain tumour in may last year. i hope that this debate will give hope to other cancer patients like me. so that we can live well together with cancer. notjust dying of it. all of us. for longer. thank you. applause there were tough questions for senior executives from the collapse construction company carillion when they appeared in front of mps. carillion was involved in building

programmes for schools, hospitals and prisons and it went into liquidation leaving supplies unpaid and a £1 billion hole in the pension scheme. an array of senior executives gave his side of the story. but the joint committees were not impressed saying afterwards that the directors were delusional characters. do you feel perhaps that you were asleep at the wheel, that you were surprised? no, i don't believe i was asleep at the wheel. the key focus of my time in the role was to bring net debt down. words can't describe the depth of my despair. i am devastated by the impact that the collapse has had on the pensioners, on customers, on suppliers, on staff. all of you are sitting here, multimillions of pounds worth of payment from the company over a period

of years and you say how sad and disappointed you are. but what actions do you take to show that? because it's just words, isn't it? it'sjust words, i'm saddened, i'm disappointed, i wish i could have done things differently. pensioners are taking cuts, large numbers people will not get paid for their contracts. other people have lost theirjobs. and you are still all right. all of you. aren't you? do any of you want to say anything before i thank you and close the meeting? so you walk away and we will be doing a report. thank you very much for coming today. executives at carillion lost for words. the uk's relationship with russia hit a new low after the poisoning of a former russian double agent and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal were found slumped on a bench in the cathedral city of salisbury. it was later revealed

they'd been poisoned using a military grade nerve agent. and the uk believed russia was to blame. coming to the commons shortly after the attack, theresa may set up the evidence. based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world leading experts at the defence science and technology laboratory at porton down, given in the past that russia has reproduced this agent and still would be capable of doing so, russia's record of conducting state—sponsored assassinations and our assessment that russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations, the government has concluded that it is highly likely that russia was responsible for the act against sergei and yulia skripal. jeremy corbyn began by condemning the attack and calling for continued dialogue not the cutting off of all content. it his later comments on party funding provoked heckling from tories and disagreement

from his own side. we are all familiar with the way huge fortunes often acquired in the most dubious circumstances in russia sometimes connected with criminal elements have ended up sheltering in london and trying to buy political influence in british party politics. and there has been over £800,000 worth of donations to the conservative party... to the conservative party from russian oligarchs and their associates. there are certain circumstances as she knows where we take party political differences of opinion. but when our countries potentially under attack, that isjust not appropriate. would the prime minister not agree that one of the most effective ways of punishing russia for these appalling activities would be to seize the private property assets of members of the putin regime and their associates? theresa may came back to the commons 48 hours later after the russian government failed to respond to a midnight deadline to explain

how a nerve agent came to be used in the poison attack. and she said she would be expelling 23 russian diplomats. and there was a final update just before the easter break. 18 countries have announced their intention to expel more than 100 russian intelligence officers from their countries. this includes 15 eu member states as well as the united states, canada and the ukraine. this is the largest collective expulsion of russian intelligence officers in history. there is clear evidence that the russian state has a case to answer and that they have failed to do so and we can therefore draw no other conclusion other than russia has a direct or indirect responsibility for this. russia with that state—sponsored act of terrorism crossed a line. i think we should be gratified to see the response of our friends and allies across the world that recognise the seriousness

and importance of the events that took place two weekends ago. i'm delighted to say that our political correspondent chris mason is still with me to talk about all things russia. chris, does the government see this as a short term spat or something longer—term? i think they understand that this a longer—term problem. with the re—election of putin a couple of weeks ago, the challenge is not likely to go away. how do they go about facing a russia that appears to be acting so brazenly on foreign soil? i think they will chalk up something of a diplomatic victory from the expulsions of diplomats that we've seen from western allies of the uk in the last couple of days. but the central challenge remains and there has been a lot of discussion about this at westminster both privately and publicly. which is — what can be done ultimately that will touch the sides and be

noticed in the kremlin? you touch there on the fact that other countries have expelled their russian diplomats. what does that tell us about the eu's reaction to this and also the uk positive relationship with the eu. there was a frustration whilst that the uk went out of its way not to congratulate president putin on his re—election, jean—claude juncker of the european commission published a letter on twitter that he sent to the kremlin saying congratulations, president putin and he defended that angela merkel of germany had done the same thing. and yet at the same time, via bilateral conversations going on one—on—one between the uk and members of the eu and others, the british government has managed to secure the arrangement with other countries that they would see the expulsion of russian diplomats as well as those in the uk have

expelled from london. they can point to how that can work after brexit regardless of our membership of the eu. we can't talk about russia without talking about jeremy corbyn‘s response to this. from the general election, the labour party seemed to be marching together in one step in moving forward. his response to the russian crisis seems to have completely reopened all the divisions in his party. yeah, it felt like the kind of prising open of the paint can of labour disagreement within the parliamentary party. for months on end we were reporting many mps were uncomfortable with him before the election. that was shortened up by the general election because he proves so many people wrong. and he was allowed to get on with the job. his repeated reaction to the government's response to the salisbury attack irritated to a huge degree a lot of labour mps. because bluntly they felt it conveyed a message to the viewer

of, whose side you are on? and that opened up to include that he is not on the uk's side. clearly, mr corbyn‘s perspective was much more subtle than that. but it really angered labour mps. some of them fear that while the domestic platform that jeremy corbyn setup be ambitious, it shows him side of being popular, but his foreign affairs and things are perhaps less so. but his foreign affairs instincts are perhaps less so. chris thank you for coming onto the programme. finally, there has been much controversy over the role of social media in our in recent months. and secretary of state for digital culture and media support has certainly embraced the digital part of his brief but watching his very own smartphone app. the matt hancock app features pictures and videos of him and allows users to sign up as friends and talk to each other. but there have been concerns about the apps privacy policy and whether it complies with the data protection act. the shadow culture minister wanted action. the general public need

protecting, mr speaker, from their privacy being invaded by matt hancock. their personal information been shared with third parties by matt hancock. and their private photos being accessed by matt hancock. will he undertake to ensure that matt hancock complies fully with all data protection regulations and explain why he thinks other people should abide by their legal obligations with regard to data production if matt hancock doesn't? of course the app does comply. but more importantly, i think we should use digital communications to communicate with our constituents in all of their modern forms. i am frankly delighted by the response that the app has had, far bigger than i could've imagined. and i look forward to communicating with my constituents over matt hancock for many years to come! the very "appy" matt hancock taking hisjob to heart. that is it for now. mps and peers adjourned for the easter recess on march the 29th exactly one year before

the uk leaves the eu. but there is plenty more politics between now and then. join us on bbc parliament when mps and peers return from their easter break on april the 16th. we'll be with you every weeknight at 11pm with a full round up of the day in westminster. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. the weather has been throwing everything at us so far this bank holidays. if it is not heavy rain, it has been heavy, wet snow. here is the picture at three o'clock this afternoon, some rain, mostly rain in northern ireland, and across much of northern england, if you're seeing

snow, it is more likely to be falling as rain but some snow on the higher hills. in scotland there could be some snow this evening at quite low levels, which could well include the central belt for some time, so if you've got travel plans you need to keep on monitoring the situation today. southern parts getting milder, a few heavy showers, which could include a rumble of thunder. into tonight, parts of england and wales, still one or two showers dotted about, still some significant snow accumulations in the highlands. milder for significant snow accumulations in the highlands. milderfor much of england and wales and northern ireland tomorrow, about 11 degrees in newcastle are fast. —— in newcastle and belfast. this is bbc news. the headlines: doctors warn the nhs is facing a year—round crisis — with claims the pressures of winter look set to continue over the summer. we're likely to see trolley waits and pressures on beds similar

to the winters of 2015 and 2016. the director of public prosecutions, alison saunders, will stand down in october after a series of recent controversies. china hits back at us trade tariffs with new import taxes worth over £2 billion. us pork, nuts and wine are among the products hit, as beijing responds to president trump's duties on steel and aluminium. the m62 near bradford reopens after a crash which killed two people. a man has been arrested. and china's abandoned space lab comes to a fiery end, as it falls to earth over the south pacific.