has referred herself to a standards panel over her actions during an investigation into alex salmond. greater manchester police are continuing their investigation into a hit—and—run accident in which an 11—year—old boy died last night. parts of germany, austria and sweden are suffering exceptional amounts of snow, with a number of ski resorts and mountain villages having to be evacuated. now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello and welcome to the week in parliament, our attempt to make sense of a fractious few days at westminster. the ayes to the right, 308. the noes to the left, 297. cheering

the prime minister loses two key votes. will it be third time lucky? the only way to avoid no deal is to vote for the deal. and the speaker takes on his critics. honourably and conscientiously in the firm and continuing conviction that i am right. all that and more to come. but first, downing street had hoped that mps would return to westminster from their christmas break refreshed and ready to endorse theresa may's brexit plan. spoiler alert — it didn't turn out like that. the government was defeated twice in the commons over its brexit timetable, and there were bitter arguments over the rules of the game — and how the referee, speaker bercow, chose to apply them. the first defeat on the finance bill makes it harderfor britain to leave the eu without a deal. the ayes to the right, 303.

the noes to the left, 296. 20 conservatives, among them 17 former ministers, rebelled. it was the first time a government had been defeated on a finance bill for a0 years and means parliament will have to vote again on any tax changes to pay for no—deal plans. at prime minister's questions, the labour leader drew his own conclusions. the prime minister has been recklessly wasting time holding the country to ransom with the threat of no—deal, in a desperate attempt to blackmail mps to vote for her hopelessly unpopular deal. prime minister. the right honourable gentleman can say what he likes about no—deal, but he opposes any deal that the government has negotiated with the european union. he opposes the deal. he opposes the deal that the eu say is the only deal. and that leaves him with no deal. the only way to avoid no deal is to vote for the deal.

if the right honourable gentleman... if the right honourable gentleman is uncertain about what i am saying, perhaps i can give him a tip. he might like to use a lip reader. it was almost as if they hadn't been away. but the stage—managed rows during pmqs were nothing compared to the arguments about the rules for the so—called meaningful vote, and what happens if the government loses. the speaker's decision to allow mps a vote on an amendment that will force theresa may to return with a plan b within days rather than weeks sparked uproar. for many of us, we will now have an unshakeable conviction that the referee of our affairs, not least that you gave... not least that you gave your opinion and your vote on the issue of brexit publicly, that we will have an unshakeable

conviction that the referee is no longer neutral. i have always been scrupulously fair to brexiteers and remainers like, as i have always been to people of different opinions on a miscellany of other issues. that has been the case, it is the case, it will continue to be the case. mps spent longer raising points of order about the process than they had questioning the prime minister. i am absolutely hopping mad. when i became an mp three years ago, i was determined that i would not become part of the establishment. do people in this house have any idea how out of touch the general public think we are most days? one mp even raised a point of order to complain about the points of order. is there any means available to this house, mr speaker, to communicate to the conservative party we're now all bored, we're now all tired about these points of order?

the nation is increasingly embarrassed by them, and how do we therefore get on with today's debate? in politics, as in sport, the referee's decision is final. and the chair has to make his best judgment there and then. that is what i have done, honourably and conscientiously, in the firm and continuing conviction that i am right. and when it came to the vote, few were surprised by another government defeat. the ayes to the right, 308. the noes to the left, 297. the actual debate that followed was rather muted in comparison, the calm after the storm. ministers did their best to sell the brexit deal to a sceptical audience. because we can say to france, to the netherlands, to denmark and to other nations, i'm afraid you're locked out of our waters, but at the same time, we have access to their markets

without tariffs and quotas, and at the same time we say your citizens can't come here under our rules, and at the same time we say we're not paying a penny for these privileges, and at the same time we say we're outside the jurisdiction of the european court ofjustice. european nations will say to the european institutions, i thought you weren't going to allow cherry—picking, but why is it that britain has this bowl of glistening cherries? i thought you were going to say the brits couldn't have their cake and eat it. but they are having an array of privileges and access routes and opportunities, while at the same time not paying for it, not accepting our citizens, and not allowing our boats into their waters. but controversial plans to keep the irish border open if there's no trade deal, the so—called backstop, remain a stumbling block with the dup. you've been in northern ireland, you've met the mps, you've met the unionist people, you understand their opinion. can i suggest to you, minister, that what you need to do now

is remove the backstop, and that is the only way you will gain our support. there was, though, a glimmer of hope for the prime minister as some threatened rebels switched sides. mr speaker, i will with a heavy heart vote for this deal because we are in the dying stages and no—deal is unconscionable. but i beg colleagues to ask their frontbenches to work together across the house in pursuit of something we can all be proud of. and some labour mps sought government support to protect workers‘ rights and environmental standards. as this amendment proposes, the uk's goal, post—brexit, should be to ensure that workers‘ rights do not slip back, that the rights, including workers‘ rights enjoyed by many british employees, are protected. likewise uk standards on water pollution, pesticides, emissions, energy conservation, on carbon reduction, must all be protected. a uk commitment to not walk backwards. we stand ready to engage in those discussions. on this particular amendment, we as ever need to look at the implications and the drafting very carefully, but i'm hopeful

this will be an amendment that it will be possible to accept. greg clark suggested that could be a totem of wider cross—party co—operation. but there was still some confusion over what happens if, as most people expect, the government loses the so—called meaningful vote. the media are reporting that number ten downing street is briefing that its interpretation of yesterday‘s vote and the requirements of the legislation is that if the prime minister‘s motion is defeated next tuesday, then the debate on a plan b that the government will be obliged to bring forward would in their intention be restricted to only 90 minutes, on an entire plan b, and that also that they would only allow for one amendment to be chosen and voted upon. given that the prime minister and the government have been saying that they want to listen, that they want to reach out, that they want to build a consensus, how, if this is the case,

can we believe anything that the government is saying? that prompted something very unusual in the chamber, where the government chief whip is normally seen but seldom heard. just to confirm, no decision has been made along the lines of what the right honourable lady has said, and the government will do everything it can to ensure that the house is fully consulted in every eventuality next week, and the information that the right honourable lady has is not correct. the lesser—spotted chief whip, trying to clear up the confusion. now if, like me, you are occasionally a little bewildered by all the brexit shenanigans here at westminster, you may feel in need of a little expert advice. so who better thanjill rutter and anand menon? hello, both. and jill rutter, first of all, we know that mps have decided theresa may has to come back to the commons if she loses next tuesday‘s vote.

what is the wider significance of that, of her having to come back in days rather than weeks? it really means that she needs to be working now on what her strategy is for if she loses, or as most people expect, when she loses next week. so rather than have the luxury, though would it really have existed because she would have had to make a statement pretty quickly, and be facing pmqs the next day, she‘ll have to actually know what she wants to do next. and there are some doubts about how quickly the commons gets to vote on this, and that will need to be sorted out. it also reduces the amount of time she might have thought she‘d have to go back to brussels and ask for some extra concessions. so that would be pretty emergency phone call to mrjuncker and mr tusk to say, i need this to be able to get it over the line. so she‘s compressed that window, that‘s the real thing. the other significance is that this is an issue that the government decided to fight on and lost, so it again gives this sense that the government isn‘t controlling parliamentary procedures. and what will she have to do when she comes back?

does she have to unveil a complete plan b, or does she just has to take note of yet another commons defeat? well, it's spectacularly unclear as yet, and the government is saying we have not decided. whether or not she just has too come and lay a motion before the house, in which case she can do that, they have a 90 minute debate, and it is all done and dusted. what is interesting, in the broader sense, going back to what jill was saying, is this is an amendment that was put down by someone that clearly doesn't want us to find a solution that leads to a deal being signed. i mean, dominic grieve has been very clear. he wants a referendum. and it's very interesting that the reaction to this amendment from the eu has been negative so far, because it does constrain the options when it comes to trying to find a workable alternative to the withdrawal agreement. now, one of the concessions she has offered is for mps to have a vote before britain either enters the backstop or the transition period is extended. i mean, that contradicts a legally binding withdrawal agreement, doesn‘t it? yes, essentially.

so it‘s meaningless. it‘s pretty meaningless. well, you could say it is actually potentially damaging, because the european parliament still has to ratify the deal, and this is already giving us a bit of a notice of bad intent by the uk. and the uk has quite a track record so far in the negotiations of reneging on what appear to be commitments. it also doesn‘t add anything, because actually, in uk law, parliament could always decide to do that. it can always decide to breach international obligations if it wants. so you could say doesn‘t actually add anything to what parliament could do anyway, but it actually gives early notice that we might do something. and moreover it doesn‘t seem to have done the trick with the dup, so at the moment it seems to be a bit of a lose—all—round strategy, but we‘ll wait to see, maybe that will change when we finally get to the vote next week. there is a game of smoke and mirrors here going on on all sorts of levels, with people saying things that actually if you dig below the surface don't have much in the way of meaning.

but it just speaks of desperation on all sides. desperation by the prime minister to get this deal over the line, desperation by some of her opponents to make sure she fails. and whatever happens, we know the speaker, john bercow, is going to play a pretty big role. yes, and we also know that the relationship between the government and john bercow are maybe not at their lowest—ever ebb, probably at their lowest—ever ebb. they have not been great for some time. but the really interesting thing is when the government finally gets around to having a vote, with amendments, the order in which you select those amendments starts to matter, because quite a lot of people will be waiting to see that their preferred amendment falls before they move on to support their second or third preference. so the speaker will play a very important role in deciding what order those amendments are voted on. and i won‘t ask you to make predictions beyond what you think will happen on tuesday, and perhaps in the few days ahead. it is remarkable to me how little seems to have changed since before christmas. i expected christmas to be a time of intense activity by the whips, by number ten, sweet—talking mps. there were signs before christmas that the dup was softening its tone.

the tone is back to what it always was now. so i expect the prime minister will lose. i expect a few tory mps will have been convinced over christmas. i think she will lose by less than she would have lost by before the christmas break, but i think that's scant consolation for number ten. i think pretty much the same, actually. i think the interesting thing is, how much will she lose by? is it sort of within the margins, where people can then say she‘s got a basis to work on, she needs one more heave? maybe something where she can go back to the eu and say, if you can just go there, then i can get it over the line? because i think the eu does not want to be basically negotiating with the very many factions that are now emerging in the uk parliament. they do not want to be salamied by a prime minister trying to sort of patch together her majority. if she can say it would take this one thing, and i can guarantee that that will bring over the 30 extra i need, then that would put her in a very different position. thank you both very much indeed.

as we‘ve seen, a major stumbling block for the prime minister‘s deal remains the irish backstop. theresa may has suggested that politicians at stormont could be given a say in the future on whether eu rules should apply in northern ireland. but it‘s exactly two years since northern ireland had a government and an assembly. from stormont, here‘s jayne mccormack. you could hear a pin drop around this place these days. that is how quiet it is. it all started two years ago this week when deputy first minister martin mcguinness resigned, triggering the collapse of the assembly. at the time he cited the dup, his main partner in government at the time, and its handling of a flawed energy scheme known as rhi as the main reason. fast forward to now, past an assembly election, failed talks after talks, and dozens of decisions put on hold in the absence of ministers, and little has changed.

the deadlock now, though, isn‘t due to rhi but over sinn fein demands for an irish language act to enshrine the rights of irish speakers here. the dup has refused to budge, and in the meantime the british and irish governments have continued to focus on brexit. that and what is happening in westminster in the next couple of weeks could make getting this assembly restored very difficult. jayne mccormack. time now for a breatherfrom brexit, and a brief look at some of the other highlights from westminster and beyond. televised leaders‘ debates are a relatively recent addition to british election campaigns. but there are often arguments over the format and sometimes one leader, usually the one with the most to lose, refuses to debate head to head with her — or his — rivals. an e—petition calling for an independent body to be in charge of future tv leaders debates has attracted the signatures of 135,000 people, so triggering a debate in westminster hall. there is a very clear expectation amongst the public

that politicians and particularly leaders of political parties are much more visible, much more accessible than they were previously. the public, i believe, want greater opportunities to see political leaders in action and interacting with one another in order to build up a more complete picture of who they are and what they stand for. british women forced into marriages abroad the scottish government admitted acting unlawfully while investigating sexual harassment claims against the former first minister, alex salmond. the government breached its own guidelines by appointing an investigating officer who had "prior involvement" in the case. the current first minister, nicola sturgeon, said the settlement at the court of session in edinburgh had no implications — one way or the other — for the substance of the complaints or the credibility of the complainants. presiding officer, it remains my view that the government was right to begin an investigation when the series complaints were made and not allow them to be swept under the carpet

because of the identity of the person complained about. while in this one respect the operation and application of the procedure was flawed, the scottish government considered the procedure itself to be robust and does remain in place. a police investigation continues. mr salmond, who denies the allegations made by two women, said the case had resulted in "abject surrender" for the scottish government. he said the process used against him was unfair and tainted by bias and that he was not guilty of any criminality. and he called for scotland‘s most senior civil servant, leslie evans, to resign. for a former first minister of scotla nd requiring to take the administration of the scottish government to court to establish that point should not have been necessary. and the person who is responsible for that, that institutional failure, the permanent secretary of the scottish government, should consider her position and take the appropriate action. nicola sturgeon said she had

full confidence in leslie evans. a new army recruitment drive targeted at young people and using modern—day phrases such as "snowflakes", "me, me, me millennials" and "phone zombies" came under friendly fire from a former defence secretary. we now have the smallest army since the napoleonic wars. we have got a reduced target of 80,000, which we have failed to meet by several thousand. we havejust launched a campaign through newspapers and the media to recruit snowflakes, which must terrify the russians, i have to say. snowflakes, your country needs you. in any other week, major changes to the government‘s flagship welfare policy — affecting millions of people — would dominate the headlines from westminster. this was, of course, no normal week, but the changes to universal credit made by the new work and pensions secretary,

amber rudd, are significant. she has postponed a commons vote to transfer three million existing welfare claimants to the new benefit. instead, a pilot involving 10,000 people will take place. and the proposal to limit payments to the first two children won‘t be made retrospective. but she chose to make the announcement outside the commons. the speaker wasn‘t impressed. let me say, for the avoidance of doubt, in terms so clear as to brook of no misunderstanding, that if a change in government policy is to be announced, especially on a major matter that has been the subject of considerable controversy, it is proper for that announcement of a change first to be made to the house. but earlier in the week, after news of the changes leaked, one of amber rudd‘s junior ministers had been brought to the commons to answer an urgent question. all new claimants now

receive universal credit. in the future, we will move claimants who have not changed circumstances from legacy benefits to universal credit in an approach known as managed migration. it is right that the government should seek to align provision for all in order to eventually operate one welfare system. the department has long planned to initially support 10,000 people through this process in a test phase before increasing the number of those migrating. this first phase will give us the opportunity to learn how to provide the best support while keeping parliament fully informed of our approach. delaying the vote on managed migration from legacy benefits to universal credit is a small acceptance from the government that things may not be well with universal credit. we have six years of evidence and lobbying to show the secretary of state that. the secretary of state knows she can't get away with kicking the can down the road. she knows that changes need to be made and that it isn'tjust her credibility that is on the line but the lives of recipients

who rely on that support. the universal credit structure and the changes right from the beginning has been a disaster. it has been delayed. it has cost money. they are having to delay further because they are worried about the effect it will have. in my area, there has been a 39% increase in food bank usage after the roll—out of universal credit. it is causing real distress, and there are still £4] billion of benefit cuts between now and 2020 to be administered. will he now admit that this is a rolling disaster area and commit at that dispatch box to have a proper review and do the right thing? perhaps the honourable lady wasn't listening. i already set out the extra funding that we have in bringing forward and i wish she would support this. and of course through this process we learn and we make changes as appropriate. but the reality is that we are now in a system which is much simpler,

where people are able to get one—to—one support that they weren't able to get before, and that is something she should be welcoming. time for a look now at what‘s been happening in the wider world of politics this week. alex partridge has our countdown. at five, as the prime minister lost votes in the commons, she also lost a prominent supporter. kate bush released a statement saying she is not a tory supporter, as she made positive remarks about theresa may to a canadian magazine all the way back in 2016. at four, bad news for mps. there is no longer any alcohol on sale in the commons tearoom. they have to make do with the seven other bars that exist on the parliamentary estate instead. at three, speakerjohn bercow was accused of setting fire to a copy of erskine may with some of his decisions this week. actually setting fire to the bible of parliamentary procedure

is a pastime only for the very rich though. a copy will set you back over £1100. at two, strange goings—on in australia where a photo on prime minister scott morrison‘s official website was edited to give him some shiny australian—made trainers and also two left feet. and at one, the scottish parliament now provides sign language interpretation of first minister‘s questions in the public gallery. which led to this appeal from the presiding officer. please, to keep your questions concise. alex partridge. now, never mind erskine may, in a week when members argued over the precise meaning of "forthwith" the house of commons launched its first—ever mps‘ guide to procedure. the 326—page volume, also available online, is intended to complement erskine may and offer a guide in plain english to proceedings.

the initial feedback for the guide came from mps and staff who were keen to have a very practical, accessible guide, in addition to the advice that they already got from the staff working in the house of commons and the books and rules that were already out there. 0bviously, particularly at the moment, there is a heightened interest in parliamentary processes and procedures. so although it is a coincidence, the fact that the book has come out now, it is obviously useful as well. it makes procedure more accessible to a wider audience. so is this about keeping order in an unruly chamber? the book isn‘t about trying to stop unruly behaviour as such. it‘s about making the wide variety of ways in which mps can represent their constituents as effectively as possible accessible and easy to refer to, and just making it clear that there are a lot of processes out there that can be used to raise the profile of an issue on behalf of an mp‘s constituents. and after the speaker‘s latest rulings on parliamentary procedure, mps are joking that their new guide

is already out of date. alicia mccarthy will be your guide on bbc parliament on monday evening as mps continue their debate on the brexit deal. thank you for watching. bye for now. good afternoon. we‘ve seen more in the way of sunshine across the uk today, we‘ve also seen quite a few pictures like these sent in from our weather watchers across the north and west of scotland, a beautiful rainbow just recently, a and west of scotland, a beautiful rainbowjust recently, a lot of showers packing in on the gusty north—westerly wind. that win staying strong into the evening for

northern england and northern ireland too, and other weather feature set to run into the north of the uk after dark tonight, and behind that some significantly chilly air. generally this afternoon, though, a fresherfeel for the far north already, to the south still pretty mild with temperatures in double figures. but the cold air will start to trickle all the way down across the uk as we go into the early part of the week. for monday morning, though, still mild across most of the uk, it will just be scotland that wakes up to quite widespread frost. if we fly back out again and take a look at how that shapes up in terms of where we see a weather front, you will see what i mean, a temperature roller—coaster for the week ahead. monday, cold air working across the uk, it feels like things are turning wintry, but temporarily, and by the end of the weaker changes again. this is monday anyway, a northerly flow on monday, isobars have opened up flow on monday, isobars have opened up the winds will be lighter, the re m na nts of up the winds will be lighter, the remnants of the weather feature from

scotla nd remnants of the weather feature from scotland could bring a few showers into eastern england through the day. thick cloud approaching northern ireland and western scotla nd northern ireland and western scotland in the afternoon, bringing rain by dark. a fine day for the majority, much lighter winds than today, a fresher feel, majority, much lighter winds than today, a fresherfeel, temperatures just four degrees in aberdeen, nine in london. 0vernight monday into tuesday, well, a warm front across us, moving back into milder air, so temperatures will come up overnight for many, tuesday daytime, a weather front part across scotland could produce some significant totals through tuesday and wednesday, where it is in no hurry to move, so 50—60 millimetres of rain in one or two spots, more widely 30—40. further south, bright sunny spells, a mild day on tuesday. all of those fronts will pull away south on wednesday, and then we are going to move into some properly cold air for the end of the week, overnight frost, and we

will see a decent amount of sunshine, but our daytime high feeling very different to this weekend, where we have had 11 and 12, probably looking at 3—5, if you are lucky, by thursday and friday. this is bbc news, i‘m julian worricker. the headlines at 3. theresa may warns mps — a failure to deliver brexit would be "a catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy." the leader of the opposition, jeremy corbyn, spells out what labour will do if theresa may loses the vote on tuesday. we will table a motion of no confidence in the government at a time of our choosing but it is going to be soon, don‘t worry about that. a bbc investigation reveals gambling addicts were able to sign back into existing online accounts by just making minor changes to their personal details. greater manchester police continue to their investigation into a hit—and—run accident, in which an 11—year—old boy died last night. emergency services continue to battle the snow in europe — with a number of ski resorts and mountain villages having to be evacuated.