at home and abroad. britain, a major ally of the us, questioned mr trump's assertion that islamic state militants in syria had been defeated. the us central bank, the federal reserve, has again raised interest rates, despite repeated appeals by donald trump not to do so. they've gone up by 0.25% taking them to 2.5%. shares sank after the announcement. the european commission has published a series of contingency measures designed to limit any damage caused by a no—deal brexit. the measures include temporarily allowing british airlines to operate flights into and out of the eu but not within in it. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. hello there and welcome

to wednesday and parliament. coming up, read his lips. what did jeremy corbyn call theresa may during prime minister's questions? look behind you. they‘ re not impressed, and neither is the country! hear, hear! it's not what you might have thought. mr speaker, i did not use the words "stupid woman" about the prime minister or anyone else. and away from a fractious chamber, a minister hints at a benefits rethink. i would much rather every individual gets the personal attention and care getting on the universal credit than sticking to a prescribed timetable. all that to come and more. but first, there are 100 days to go before brexit. and britain's departure

from the european union dominated the last prime minister's questions of the year. but question time was overshadowed by a row over whatjeremy corbyn called theresa may under his breath, remarks caught by the cameras but not the microphones. the prime minister had mocked the labour leader's failure to call a vote of no—confidence in her government. i've got some news for him. i've got some advice for the right honourable gentleman. look behind you. they‘ re not impressed and neither is the country! hear, hear! jeremy corbyn said later the words he used were "stupid people" but others read his lips differently. this year, when we'll be celebrating 100 years of the women getting the vote, do you think it's appropriate language... can i ask my right honourable friend... ..to call people "stupid women" in this chamber? ahhh. . .! can i say to my honourable friend that i think that everybody in this

house, particularly in this 100th year anniversary of women getting the vote, should be aiming to encourage women to come into this chamber... hear, hear! ..and to stand in this chamber. and should therefore use appropriate language in this chamber when they are referring to female members. after question time, tory mps queued up to raise the issue with the speaker. you may not have seen during the exchanges in prime minister's questions, but when the leader of the opposition sat down, he muttered words which were quite clearly visible, accusing the prime minister of being a "stupid woman". disgraceful! bearing in mind mr speaker, the booklet that you issued this week, the words that the leader

of the opposition said last september, would it not be appropriate for him to come back and the chamber and apologise? hear, hear! john bercow said he hadn't seen it. it is incumbent upon all members of this house to operate in accordance with its best conventions and to follow the conventions and courtesies? if a member has failed to do so, that member has a responsibility to apologise. that prompted the leader of the commons to ask... why it is that when an opposition member found that you had called me a "stupid woman", you did not apologise in this chamber? no, no... yes. i'll deal with the point. hear, hear! i dealt with that matter months ago in remarks that i made to the house

of commons, to which the right honourable lady in our various meeting since has made no reference and which requires from the chair today no elaboration whatsoever. she has asked the question, i dealt with it month ago, she has asked the question, i dealt with it months ago, i've reiterated the rationale for the way in which i responded, the matter has been treated of and i am leaving it there. if it was one of my male colleagues on this side of the house that had used that expression against a woman on the front bench on the opposition, you, sir, would take action immediately. hear, hear! this is not acceptable. please, would you deal with it as you often do, mr speaker, in the fair way, but also from the point of view of women in this house who are fed up over decades of being abused by men? i'm very happy... hear, hear! i'm very happy to deal with it.

the right honourable lady is absolutely right to say that if i witnessed an instance of the kind that has just been alleged, i would deprecate it unreservedly. i understand the observations made by the right honourable lady opposite and i hope that i bow to no one in my wish to see the courtesies of these house observed, but you believe that it is in order for what appears to be becoming almost an orchestrated riots to take place ? hear, hear! once again, orchestrated riot or not, that row made prime minister's questions look and sound slightly less serious than usual? once again, theresa may came under pressure over her decision to postpone the meaningful vote and to rule out leaving the eu without a deal. would the prime minister and the uncertainty by ruling out no deal.

will she also and the uncertainty, please, by publishing the long—term plan for the nhs before we break for christmas? can i say to my honourable friend that she and indeed a number of others have raised this question of no deal and not wanting to have no deal. as i have said earlier in answer to questions, there is a simple way to ensure that we don't leave with no deal and that is to back the deal. yesterday alongside other opposition party leaders the snp tabled a motion of no—confidence in this shambolic government. when the official opposition fails to step up, the real opposition to this tory government will step in. hear, hear. the prime minister is now running scared and denying to give time to her motion for fear of the result. prime minister, are you so frightened of defeat that she will deny the parliament another vote? hear, hear! can i say to the right

honourable gentleman — we've been clear that parliament will have a meaningful vote on the deal. we have set out when that will be. the leader of the official opposition also focused on the prime minister's decision to postpone a vote on her brexit deal untiljanuary. the prime minister, mr speaker, have thrown away two years on her botched negotiations. yep. she's now recklessly wasting £4 billion of public money. yep. she's holding parliament and the country to ransom. she is irresponsibly risking jobs, investment and our industries. there have been no changes so she must put her deal to the vote. parliament must take back control. hear, hear! there is no majority in this house for no deal, mr speaker. isn't this just a deeply cynical manoeuvre from a failing and utterly reckless prime minister? hear, hear!

i have to say to the right honourable gentleman, it's a bit rich him standing here and talking about dithering. laughter let's see what the labour party did this week. they say they will call a vote of no—confidence. then they said they would. then he said he wouldn't. then it was ineffective. i know it's christmas... order! members must not shout at the prime minister! order! calm yourselves. try to get into the christmas spirit. if you can't do that, at least listen to the prime minister. thank you, thank you, mr speaker. they said they'd put on a vote of no—confidence. then they said they wouldn't, then they said they would, then they did it but it wasn't effective. i know it's the christmas season and the pantomime season, but what do we see from the labour front bench and the right honourable gentleman? 'he's going to want a confidence vote?

'oh, yes he is. 'oh, no he isn't.‘ laughter i've got some news for him. i've got some advice for the right honourable gentleman. look behind you. they're not impressed and neither is the country! hear, hear! and that is where we came in. two and half hours later, the speaker having consulted lip speakers returned to the chamber. having heard the allegation against the leader of the opposition, and having watched the footage, it is easy to see why the leader of the opposition's words might be construed as "stupid woman". nobody can be 100% certain, that includes professional lip readers. but i will naturally take and would be expected to take the word of any right honourable or honourable member. it is reasonable to expect the house to do the same. during prime minister's question time today,

i refered to those who believe were seeking to turn a debate about the national crisis facing our country into a pantomime as "stupid people". groaning mr speaker, i did not use the words "stupid woman" about the prime minister or anyone else and am completely opposed to the use of sexist or misogynist language in absolutely any form at all. i think that the country in this house will have drawn their own conclusions. and i deeply regret... hear, hear! i deeply regret that the right honourable gentleman has not seen fit to apologise to my right, honourable friend, the prime minister. with your guidance, how may i make is orderly?

read my lips, i do not believe him. as somebody who is still a relatively new member of this house, i wondered if you could advise me on how i explain to my constituents the level of party politics that is being played out... laughter party politics in the house of commons. whatever next, hey? after all the fuss over whatjeremy corbyn may or may not have said, mps moved on to an emergency debate on the government's decision to ramp up preparations for leaving the eu without a deal. on tuesday, the cabinet decided to allocate £2 billion to government departments in case there is no deal by march the 29th. the defence secretary announced that 3500 troops are on standby. labour said it was time to rule out a no—deal brexit. we have a prime minister unable to put her vote, her deal to the vote and the prospect of further renegotiation. rather than try to reach

across parliament to break the deadlock, we have a government that is now actively pursuing a policy that is not supported by the cabinet, not supported by parliament and not supported by the country. it is reckless and irresponsible. it's an indictment of a wasted year. even now i would urge the government to take no—deal off the table and find a sensible way forward. delivering the deal negotiated with the european union remains our top priority. it is also the best way to deliver on the democratic choice of the british people and the best way to deliver certainty to businesses and the people of our country. our efforts to get this... i'm going to make some progress there, but i absolutely well. our efforts to get this deal has not changed, however with 100 days until we leave the european union, the government's continued duty is to prepare for every eventuality, including a no—deal scenario. members across this chamber from all parts of the uk are mindful of the devastating impact of tory austerity on public services. and at this time, he wants to spend billions more on no—deal and, if there is a no—deal he knows that that will devastate our public

services even further. so will he on that basis rule out a no deal? hear, hear. the best way... laughter ..to mitigate for a no—deal is to vote for the only deal that is on the table. brexit minister chris heaton—harris. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. home secretary sajid javid has unveiled plans for a new immigration regime for the uk after brexit. he said the future system would be based on people's skills and would bring immigration down to more sustainable levels. opposition mps called the changes a "tragedy," while others said they were left "heartbroken and depressed". we all heard the public's concerns about immigration in the run—up to the eu referendum. these were concerns held by many

voters on both sides of the debate. the result of that referendum was clear. the uk will be leaving the european union on the 29th of march, 2019. this means that we can end freedom of movement so that for the first time in more than 40 years, we will be able to say who can and who cannot come into this country. the automatic preference for eu citizens will end, he said, and priority will be given to people whose skills are needed in the uk. there will be no cap on numbers and no requirement for the high skilled workers to undertake a resident labour market test. and there will be a minimum salary threshold. we are also creating a time—limited, short—term workers route to ensure businesses have the staff that they need to fill the jobs as they adapt to a new immigration system. labour hope the new system would not be based on the myths of the past. the whole house heard the prime minister say

that the government was still committed to reducing migration to tens of thousands, a target that has never been met, will never be met, and is a pretext for anti—immigrant measures. hear, hear. but many members of the house will have heard the home secretary on the radio today repeatedly refusing to commit himself to the tens of thousands target. so, which is it? where does the government stand? she said she supported a single immigration system for all nationalities. to my certain knowledge, nothing drove pro—leave sentiment amongst voters of commonwealth origin, nothing drove it more than the sense that they were disadvantaged in relation to immigration compared to eu nationals. so, if brexit produces nothing else, it ought to produce a system which moves away from the unfairness. we should be a country which treats

the doctor from poland in the same way as we treat a doctor from pakistan. it's just a ferocious blueprint for drawbridge britain to keep people out of this country. will the secretary of state take this opportunity to be absolutely straight with the british people today that their freedom of movement will come to an end? what we do to the eu, they will do to us. all the rights, all the unrestricted rights that we have had in this house to live, to work, to live across a community of 27 nations will be lost to our young people for ever and isn't that an absolute tragedy and shame? there were concerns that plans to set a minimum salary threshold of £30,000 would exclude the brightest and the best in low—paid professions.

some of those brightest and best are not necessarily in high pay professions. and how will his new system to deal with those, i'm thinking particularly of sectors like social care, where we want some good, bright, best people from around the world coming but who won't be probably over any kind of limit in terms of a salary, how are we going to continue to attract those people? the home secretary said there could be a shortage occupation list. that will allow, as it does in the current non—eea immigration system but in a much more effective way, allow us to set a lower salary threshold for those occupations that are in shortage. given that the prime minister and the cabinet are evident proof that being highly paid and highly skilled are not the same thing, why does the government persist with this nonsense of a £30,000 cap to define what constitutes high skills? there are plenty of people in this country who are paid far less than the home secretary and far less than £30,000.

it would be an absolute tragedy to pull the drawbridge up to those people, deny not just them opportunity but our country the skills and prosperity that we need too. i am heartbroken. this immigration bill could have been an opportunity to show the world what an outward—looking nation we really are. the proud tradition we have of challenging racism in all its forms. and instead, it seems to be setting a really, really unhappy and unfortunate turn. with the language of "cooling—off periods" for people who come here to work?! there is a globalforced migration crisis, mr speaker, and so my question is, what has the home secretary and so my question is, why has the home secretary of all the other things the honourable friends have mentioned, why has the home secretary failed even to consider that this might have been an opportunity to reform the way this country responds to refugees? hear hear. home secretary. well, mr speaker, i'm not sure if the honourable lady has read the same white paper that i have.

the home secretary, sajid javid. the new work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has hinted at changes to the roll—out of universal credit to ensure the new benefits system is effective. the new payment merges six existing benefits, and all claimants are due to be on universal credit by december, 2023. ms rudd was making herfirst appearance before the work and pensions committee. i've asked you to give a mark out of ten to how you are department —— if i asked you to give a mark out of ten to how your department is doing currently, what would it be, and where do you think you can get that to in the next couple of years? or do you think everything is kind of fine now and there's just a bit of tinkering needed...? we will send you two out. laughter.

is that all right? i have some extras in giving numbers sometimes, mr mills. so i will pass on giving it a mark out of ten. but i will say that i am enthusiastic about universal credit, i do think we can get it right. i acknowledge it is not just tinkering. there have been problems and i see that as the biggest challenge i've got to try and make sure that we can fix those problems and give people the confidence to believe universal credit is going to help them in their lives. i mean, you took over the department with almost your foot on the gas at a certain degree of pace for the roll—out of universal credit. are you telling us that you are careful watching of whatever happens you can change the rate at which there is migration? i would like to keep an open mind to that, mrchairman. the priority for me is making sure that we get it right. the home secretary and i were just discussing this recently. we have particular concerns and an end of the committee has —— we have particular concerns and i know the committee has raised these concerns as have stakeholders about the most vulnerable in society. and some of them will take a long

time to get onto universal credit in terms of engaging with them and getting the transfers done effectively. we will learn and see how long we need in order to make sure it's effective. i would much rather every individual gets the personal attention and care getting onto universal credit than sticking to a prescribed timetable. amber rudd. the high—profile use of non—disclosure agreements known as ndas has dominated headlines from hollywood to london. but what might be lesser known is how many women sign them when pregnant or on maternity leave. mps on the women and equalities committee have been trying to find out from campaigners. many of these women are in horrendous, vulnerable states. they've just had a baby. they are trying to get used to motherhood and they are going through this awful experience with employers, they just want it over. they're exhausted, they are sleep deprived. we have heard some stories from women that are devastating. women who have had stillborn children who are then returning to work and they have just been

kicked out of theirjob. you would think they don't have the strength to fight at that point. so they are given a non—disclosure agreement, "there you go, shut up and go away". we know of companies, household brands, who have been awarded for gender inequality, who as soon as a woman gets pregnant, she has lost her job and she's confused and does not know what's going on. they say, "ok, here's a small amount of money, we will give you a good reference if you sign this non—disclosure agreement" and she's out the door and none of her colleagues know that this is going on. and then they can't tell any of their colleagues, friends, the silence, the secrecy... it damages women for a really, really long time. joeli brearley said she didn't want ndas to be scrapped as they gave an incentive for companies to settle with employees. but there did need to be a culture change. now, parliament has a language of its own so you may be reassured to know that the government follows principles that expect ministers and civil servants to communicate in plain english and avoid acronyms. but that advice is not always followed.

in the lords, a former defence secretary complained that he could not understand the current incumbent gavin williamson. yesterday, in an otherwise pretty vacuous statement, the secretary of state for defence said to the other place, "the royal navy has increased its mass and points of presence around the world". talking about clarity, what does that mean? laughter. it may well be that next year, my right honourable friend is a contender for some of the plain english awards called the golden bull award. which was won this year by a sports commentator who said, "he's given the referee no choice but to consider his options". laughter. lord young tipping gavin williamson for greater things. now, before i go, back to those exchanges over what jeremy corbyn may or may not have muttered during prime minister's questions. two experienced mps with a habit of thinking out loud worried about what the whole row could mean for freedom of speech. i am deeply concerned about the fact

that if members are to be rated for what they might say under their breath, we are in the realms of thought crime! and this is the madness of this sweeping the universities. what was said was not on the record! i can't believe that this house is going to get to the state where something mentioned under the breath or slightly, you know, "what a silly sod", or something like that and i say that very often under my breath, quite loudly. mr speaker, we cannot have a system here where we start lip—reading something that someone said to the next—door neighbour when passions are high in this house. it's supposed to be a place where we hide passions, but it's also a place where we treat people like adults and today, we've been rather like badly behaved children. the speaker said other senior mps made similar points.

they do have long experience. they do know what they're talking about. and it might be a good idea to have a degree of calm and a readiness to heed their wise advice. and that appeal for calm from the speaker ends this wednesday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me again at the same time tomorrow for all the highlights of the last day of the parliamentary term. bye for now. hello there. well, as you've probably already heard, the run—up to christmas is set to be a fairly mild one, with ouraircoming in off the atlantic. now, it's not going to be completely settled, though. there will be quite a bit of cloud and also some rain

or showers at times. but a little bit of sunshine, too. now, for thursday, we've still got low pressure in charge of the weather. it'll be anchored to the north—west of the uk. and we'll have a fair old breeze blowing in from the west, and that will continue to feed in showers, most of them across southern and western areas early on thursday, the odd heavy one, with many central and eastern parts seeing the longer dry spells to begin thursday. so we'll have a split in temperatures. where you get the showers, a bit more cloud. southern and western areas, then, temperatures around five to seven degrees. something a bit cooler, though, further north. around scotland, maybe a touch of frost in some of the glens, and maybe a little mist and fog, too. but, for thursday morning, it's going to be a largely dry and a bright one across many northern and eastern areas. showers, though, will get going across the west, and they may merge together to produce some longer spells of rain, some of them could be quite heavy. and, again, it's going to be fairly blustery, particularly near southern and western coasts. mild in the south, 10—11 degrees. further north, these are pretty typical temperatures, in fact, for this time of year.

now, as we head through thursday night, it stays quite breezy, quite showery. for a time, the showers ease down, and then we start to see some wetter and windier weather arriving across the south—west. that's because this next frontal system will move into the southern half of the country during thursday night into friday morning. so it could be quite wet for some. but what it will do is import even milder air across the southern half of the country, as you can see, the yellow and orange colours there. so, although it's going to be a really drab start to friday, a lot of surface spray, standing water on the roads, that rain should eventually clear eastwards. although its northern extent may linger on across parts of northern ireland, northern england, maybe southern scotland. so a bit of a grey day here. to the north of here, again, quite cool with a little bit of sunshine. and sunshine will move in across england and wales. and very mild, 11—14 degrees. now, into the weekend, it looks like saturday will be the driest day with that ridge of high pressure. and then these weather fronts

move in on for sunday. so i think it is a bit of a tale of two halves. there will be one or two showers across northern and eastern areas to begin saturday. otherwise, with that ridge of high pressure building in, it should turn a little bit drier. the winds a bit lighter, too, still coming in from the west, and we should see a good deal of sunshine around, particularly further south and east where you are. ten to 12 degrees, very mild again in the south. around nine or ten in the north. sunday looks wetter and windier across the board. and, as we head on into monday, it looks like it could turn a little bit cooler in the north. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump is pulling us troops out of syria. he says islamic state is defeated. defense chiefs and senior republicans say not so fast. if you're tired of fighting radical islam, i understand it. they're not tired of fighting you. the european commission publishes a series of measures to avoid major disruption if britain leaves the eu without a deal. gunfire

there's been a sharp increase in violence in indian—administered kashmir. more than 500 people killed this year. we have a special report. indian armed forces are fighting what are believed to be two, perhaps three militants who are hiding in there. this gun exchange has just intensified, but the operation has