the latest headlines: scientists are warning that global warming may be about to hit a tipping point — a level of temperature rise that could bring rapid and far—reaching changes for our planet. they say without immediate and drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the world faces unprecedented extremes of weather, including floods, drought and wildfires. president trump has claimed he expects to be able to announce within days that all of the territory once held by the so—called islamic state extremist group in iraq and syria has been reta ken. us military and intelligence officials say is could stage a comeback, though, if the campaign against them isn't sustained. the leader of the taliban's peace negotiations with the us has told the bbc his group is not interested in taking the country by force, but he's warned they won't agree to a ceasefire until all foreign forces are withdrawn from afghanistan. it's about 2:30am. you're up to date.

time now for wednesday in parliament. hello again, and welcome to wednesday in parliament. seven weeks to go until brexit, or are there? the sensible cautious thing to do, at this late stage, is to seek a temporary extension of article 50. but the government says no, we're leaving next month. it would simply defer the further need for this house, and including the opposition front bench, to face up to some difficult decisions. an mp hits out at the lack of progress on a child sex abuse inquiry. a slow—motion gravy train for solicitors, expensive people fussing over logos and letterheads, sending a message that getting

to the bottom of exactly what happened in telford is not a matter of urgency. and ministers promise to do more to make the internet safer. all that to come and more. but first: as usual, noon on wednesdays means prime minister's questions. although this time without the prime minister, theresa may was in northern ireland, meeting political leaders there. the cabinet office minister david lidington stood in for her. and that meant no leader of the opposition either. the part ofjeremy corbyn was played by the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry. i'm so glad to renew my acquaintance with the minister for the cabinet office, or as the newspapers always call him, effectively the deputy prime minister, surely the only occasion these days when the words "prime minister" and "effective" are used in the same sentence. laughter thejoking done, she said she wanted a grown up on the government's brexit plan.

if the reading is correct that this is not a fresh meaningful vote on that withdrawal agreement next week, and that is correct, when will the vote take place? i think that my right honourable friend, the prime minister, was clear on this at the despatch box last week. she said that the meaningful vote itself would be brought back as soon as possible, and if it were not possible, if it were not possible to bring the meaningful vote back by the 13th next wednesday, the government would then make a statement and would then table a motion for debate the next day. which happens to be valentine's day, imagine the headlines. but emily thornberry was dismissive of the prime minister's chances of securing major changes to her brexit deal. she called for britain's departure from the eu to be delayed. so does the minister not agree that the sensible, cautious thing to do, at this late stage, is to seek a temporary extension of article 50, so that we had time to see where the negotiations

succeed or if they do not, to pursue a different plan? it is the problem with the proposition that the right honourable lady puts forward, is that it would simply defer the need for this house, and including the opposition front bench, to face up to some difficult decisions. emily thornberry said the only solution that would work would be a full customs union with the eu. plan a has been resoundingly rejected by parliament, plan b was ruled out by the eu months ago, and the government is in danger of sleepwalking the country towards leaving with no plan and no deal at all. so with just over 50 days to go, can i give the minister a final opportunity to tell us whether there is a better plan than this, or for goodness's sake, will they let parliament

take charge instead? mr speaker, as i said earlier, the prime minister will be reporting back to this house next week, following her discussions in brussels and elsewhere, but i have to say to the right honourable lady, the two—year deadline, the 29th of march deadline, stems from european law and the wording of article 50, which lays down the two years. the right honourable lady, as i recall, voted in favour of triggering article 50. now, perhaps it is, perhaps, mr speaker, it was one of those votes where she was present but not involved. butl... i have to say to her and to her front bench, that if they are worried about no deal, they have to vote for a deal, and every time they bet against a deal, the risk of no deal becomes greater,

and it really is time for the opposition front bench, for once, to put the national interest first, do the right thing and vote for a deal. i listened very carefully to the exchange between my right honourable friend and the right honourable lady, the shadow foreign secretary, on the subject of the arrangement for brexit, and i have to say, i formed the impression they were trying to find detailed points upon which they could disagree, and if it was left to them, they would take about five minutes to agree on a proposal, which would take us smoothly through march 29 into proper negotiations. but some brexiteers fear the government's going soft on the most controversial part of the prime minister's brexit plan, the insurance policy to keep the irish border open. the amendment said, and requires the northern ireland backstop

to be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border. as the government voted for it, can he confirm that is still their policy, and if not, which bit of "replaced" is not clear? the motion of course also said that is subject to those changes, i bet those who voted for the motion would be willing to accept the withdrawal agreement. well, after two days in northern ireland, the prime minister will spend thursday in brussels in the hope of renegotiating her brexit deal. but what sort of reception can she expect there? the president of the european council, donald tusk, made some unflattering remarks about brexit supporters and theirforward planning — or lack of it. it wasn't long before his comments reached the commons. since the prime minister's questions has begun, the president of the european

council has said that there is a special place in hell reserved for brexiteers. idon‘t not recall, sir, any president of the european council insulting members of this gouse and government, and the british people in such a way, how does he respond to such an outrageous insult? i'm not responsible for the statement said the president

of european council, and i did not now, i was not hitherto conscious, that the honourable gentleman was notably sensitive. that he was in any sense a delicate flower, and that he was capable of being a quickly and severely injured soul by virtue of the ad hominem remarks of others. can i respectfully suggest to you, mr speaker, you respectfully suggested the right honourable member that he wishes to go beyond the headlines of the bbc in the future, what the european council president actually said is and i quote, "there is a special place in hell for those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan and how to carry it out safely." so perhaps, of... well, mr speaker, sometimes the truth hurts, doesn't it? well, to be frank, as speaker, i don't really mind what it is that the president of the european council has said, because is isn't a matter that concerns me. an unconcerned john bercow. the business secretary greg clark has warned against a "last minute" brexit deal. appearing before the committee which scrutinises his department, mr clark said for many businesses, "the last minute is fast approaching

over the next few days". he was answering questions from mps who told him they'd recently met the society of motor manufacturers and traders. they pointed out that it takes six weeks for a vehicle to come from japan to the uk. that's 42 days and we've got 51 days before we leave, so cars that they will be sold in the uk market, are on the dockside ready to be loaded onto ships now, isn't that an extraordinary state of affairs that those manufacturers in overseas countries, will not know what the regime for the sale of those products will be when they get here? greg clark said it was the same for exporters sending goods to the far east, that could take six weeks to get there. perfectly reasonably,

exporters need to know or at least it's important i should know, the terms on which if they are going to japan or korea, for example, they should be admitted tariffs or will they be subject to origin checks that no longer be met. it's one of the reasons why i have been very outspoken in saying that we should not regard the 29th of march or the 28th of march as the time that we should be prepared to take to conclude a deal. people often say these things are done last minute, the last minute for important exporters is fast approaching over the next few days and weeks. small number of weeks. small number of days or weeks, when is the deadline? for example, despite the furthest from here, tojapan, i'm told this takes about six weeks. so you're saying in nine days's time. february. so nine days's time will be 42 days to go, so that's next friday. yes.

what's her message to someone when deciding whether to send how many billions of pounds of equipment to our car manufacturers, leaving a port injapan or australia or korea, what are they are supposed to do? leave on a wing and a prayer? because they won't know what the trading arrangement will be in place when their ships are in the middle of an ocean. you know that the information that i have is the same you have. but you are business secretary, what are you saying to businesses that are getting supplies from japan or korea or wherever, could be going out there, how are they supposed to know on what basis they are trading if essentially six weeks away, and they have to know, not on the 29th of march, i can't remember the date, next friday? they have to know by next friday, otherwise, they're sailing without any clue as to what tariff or,

isn't that the case? i'm describing the reality, which is we do not know for sure in those circumstances, though indeed, what i say to them, as i said to this committee and i've urged this committee to make the case for coming to a resolution. but it's a week on friday. absolutely. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. don't forget that if you miss one of our daily programmes or you just want to watch this one again, and again, you can catch up via the bbc iplayer. the mp for telford, lucy allan, has accused her local council of a "shocking lack of urgency" in setting up an inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the town. telford and wrekin council agreed to commission an investigation last march. ms allan, a conservative, said it had, so far, failed to appoint a chair and she called the process "a slow—motion gravy train for solicitors".

the campaign for an inquiry was eventually successful because courageous victims were willing to speak out and come forward, and i salute them for their bravery. they spoke to a determined female journalist, geraldine mckelvie, who carried out a tireless 18—month investigation and who finally, in february 2018, put the shocking scale of the problem in telford into the public domain for the very first time. the purpose of the inquiry was to hold those in authority to account. the purpose was to give answers to survivors and their families, to give our community reassurance that lessons have been learned and that everything was being done to ensure our young people were not at risk. she said she wanted the community to know she had a "sense of duty" to make the inquiry happen. we are one year on from when the council finally agreed that they would commission an inquiry. one year. and this was a battle that was fought since 2016.

and where is it that we've had progress? well, i'll tell you, mr stringer. the partner in this top firm of solicitors is now able to share a logo, a logo for the inquiry, and is concerning themselves with typeface and colour. and in this year, they have come up with an inquiry name. this inquiry was meant to be for the survivors. it was meant to be for our community. it was meant to provide assurances to our young people, to heal, to restore and, yes, it was about accountability of those in authority. and instead, we see a slow—motion gravy train for solicitors, expensive people fussing over logos and letterheads, sending a message that getting to the bottom of what happened in telford is just not a matter of urgency. it is in the interest of all concerned in telford that the inquiry is set up in a transparent manner which meets the needs of survivors.

the council have rightly commissioned an independent body to oversee this process. and appointing the right chair will be key to the inquiry's success. and i agree with my honourable friend. this is something that, in my mind, should now be prioritised. i can also understand my honourable friend's concern that costs associated with the inquiry appear to be rising, and the council should be held to account for this as appropriate. and then the final thing to say is that the council have committed to this independent inquiry, and so now they need to properly and expeditiously deliver on it and provide answers and justice for the survivors. the government says it's considering changing the law to tackle abuse on the internet. a minister told the lords that although online anonymity was an important part of a free and open internet, being anonymous did not give anyone the right to abuse others. labour, which wants to see a new regulator with the power to break up tech firms that fail

to curb harmful content, said platforms hosting abusive comments hadn't done enough to tackle it. does the noble lord accept and understand the huge concern from law—abiding citizens that people are hiding behind anonymous accounts, making threats to kill, to rape, to assault, to abuse, to bully, use racist, anti—semitic and islamophobic language? and the platforms that host these people have just done nowhere near enough to deal with this problem. and if they won't get their own house in order, then the government must make them through legislation. and would he impress upon his colleagues in government that the forthcoming white paper must make that clear to them? i'm very happy to be able to agree with the noble lord. and let's be clear. when abuse exceeds the threshold and moves into criminality, in the majority of cases, so—called anonymous perpetrators

are actually traceable. and so they can be prosecuted according to the law. now, i absolutely do recognise the public disquiet about this, and we're considering what more can be done, as the noble lord said, both with non—legislative means but also, when required, we will consider legislation. and there will be legislation. we are going to consider what to do about anonymous abuse specifically, and we will address it in the online harms white paper, which is, as i said, due out this winter. my lords, does my noble friend recall that we got a dramatic improvement in attitudes towards health and safety when we made the directors of the company personally liable for that? should we not do the same for these people who are providing internet services? well, one of the things we are considering is a duty of care, and that may include

holding directors personally responsible. we haven't decided that yet. but that's certainly an idea that is worth considering. this is a world where no one seems to take accountability or responsibility for what is said at all, and while we may argue amongst ourselves about what to do about it, can i urge the minister and those who are drawing up the white paper to start with the simple but powerful principle of transparency? we should not allow people to hide behind the veil of anonymity. well, i think sometimes, as i said before, anonymity is the right thing to do. but i take on board what my noble friend says. we definitely believe that tech companies and social media companies need to take more responsibility. now back to brexit, and the international trade secretary

has said he does not support the idea of slashing tariffs or duties on all goods imported into the uk to zero if the country leaves the european union without a deal. appearing before the international trade committee, liam fox said no decision had yet been made, but the risk tojobs in britain of "unilateral liberalisation" were well understood. his comments follow warnings from a series of business sectors — among them, farming and ceramics — about the potential impact of doing away with import duties. a labour committee member wanted mr fox to clarify the government's position after reports that it could introduce zero tariffs. one suggestion is that there is a plan to have a policy of unilateral tariff removal, possibly taking a power in the trade bill for the secretary of state to be able to do that. you can rule out today for us, that is not the government's plan. that's not your preference. well, the government hasn't taken any decision yet on what we would want to have in day

one tariffs in the event of no—deal. but you can rule out unilateral tariff removal? well, it's the government... and it's not a decision that i take. that's a collective decision across government. such a move was an option, but liam fox said that would have an impact on businesses. that would certainly expose the uk to sudden competition in sectors to which it's not currently. it would also erode preferences for developing countries, because they would lose the ability to take advantage that's conferred by lower tariffs. going to zero would lose that. there would be preferential erosion. i've never advocated personally for liberalization, because of those very reasons. —— liberalisation. minette batters, who's the president of the national farmers union, she said that unilateral tariff reduction would absolutely savage the domestic farming sector. representing a largely

agricultural seat myself, i am very well aware of the impact that zero tariffs would have on our agricultural sector. but you can't rule it out, that possibility... it's still a possibility... you're asking me to give an assurance that i cannot give, because it's not my decision to take alone. would it be a decision that i would take? that is not something that, in any way, shape or form, that i would suggest. we're 51 days to go to brexit. there seems to be a philosophical rumination within the government that tariffs may or may not go. there's no hard and fast line that's giving 3.2 million people... the 2.7 million in manufacturing, the half—million in farming, the 8,000 in ceramics, there's nothing they can clutch to. there's no security they can hold onto listening to you this morning, secretary of state. the government will make a decision shortly, and we will publish those terms shortly. but this is uncertainty. you've got 51 days to go and you're leaving 3.2 million people with a question mark over theirjobs because you might do something to the tariffs currently protecting theirjobs. wr'll take the decision shortly, and we want to make sure

that we take that decision with the maximal information in front of us. —— we'll. questioning then turned to the date of brexit. can you give a guarantee to the committee that we're leaving at 11pm on march 29? prime minister made it very clear yesterday to cabinet that the focus is on leaving on the 29th of march, and we will do whatever is required for us to achieve that. from 100% to zero, 50—50, all that kind of stuff... go on, what do you make? what do you make? 100%? is march 29 the day we're leaving? march 29 is the date in law that we're leaving. you don't see any room for manoeuvre on that? well, i mean, i've been asked this question... i'm not sure it gets us very far. but that's the aim of the government, to leave on the 29th of march. yes, there's a lot of legislation we have to get through, but we can have more committees and we can have more days if necessary. that's what i would prefer. liam fox.

as we saw earlier, pmqs was dominated — perhaps inevitably — by brexit. but away from debates over customs unions, backstops and all the other brexitjargon, the leaders of the liberal democrats and the snp chose to highlight domestic issues. the minister will recall that my colleagues and i in the coalition introduced the naming and shaming of companies which failed to pay the minimum wage. this practise has ceased since last summer, apparently because civil servants are tied up on brexit duties. what does this tell us about the government's new—found enthusiasm for labour rights, and when will these lists be published? well, iwould have hoped that the right honourable gentleman would have acknowledged that the government has continued to take forward and strengthen further the policies on national living wage that we did work together on during the coalition days, but i will look into the point that he's made, discuss it with my right honourable

friend, the secretary of state for industry, and perhaps drop him a note to say what we've concluded from that. mr speaker, with scottish pensioners being short—changed by the uk government, the minister must agree that the only way to end pensioner poverty in scotland is to put fairness back into our pension system and to give older people the dignity that they deserve in retirements. it is a pension reform that is to be taken by the scottish government and an independent scotland... mr speaker, the right honourable gentleman's got some nerve here. he knows... he knows that it is in the power of the scottish government, under devolution legislation, to top up social security benefits if they choose to do so. a point strongly disputed by the snp, as pensions

are reserved to westminster. finally, some advice from a former first sea lord and security minister on what to do when things go wrong in government. who on earth is co—ordinating this? in the navy, we have a nice tradition where occasionally, we shoot a senior officer to encourage the others... laughter. it seemed to me that this might be a perfect candidate for the case. admiral lord west. don't try that at home. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow. but from me, david cornock, goodbye. good morning.

in simple terms today's weather story is one of showers, however we have strong winds across the uk first thing. for the morning rush hour the core of the strongest winds will be across south—east england, the midlands and east anglia. the worst out of the way by then hopefully for the south—west of england and wales but we could see gusts 50 or 60 miles an hourfurther east. notice the gusts are light of further north, they are the figures in the black circles. there will be snow across scotland. that could make for tricky conditions. we need to watch the back edge of the rain. it could bring snow across the pennines, a covering of a couple of centimetres. the whole system is set to roll off into the north sea through the day. come the afternoon there is a lot of sunshine around, mild in the south. they will be showers packing into the north—west.

through the evening, eastern areas remain fine. through the evening, eastern areas remainfine. in through the evening, eastern areas remain fine. in the west, the cloud sta rts remain fine. in the west, the cloud starts to build, the rain arrives. quite chilly in north—east scotland. frost here, perhaps ice as the system frost here, perhaps ice as the syste m ru ns frost here, perhaps ice as the system runs into the cold air and a crosscou rt system runs into the cold air and a crosscourt ground. there will be snow for a time. elsewhere a milder story by the time we move into the small hours of friday. because this area of low pressure is barrelling in from the atlantic. it is a deep low. the isobars are closely packed and the winds are the defining feature of the weather story for friday and into saturday once again. if anything the risk of destructive winds is more widespread from anytime midday friday on into saturday, covering all but potentially the far north of scotland. the rain should whip across england and wales fairly quickly. they will be sunshine following on behind it by friday afternoon. and it is a mild story. for scotland the rain keeps swirling around the low centre so the totals could really add up by the time we

get on into saturday. the low also keeps the winds strong for the first half of the weekend, so again potentially problematic especially if you have plans to travel. northern ireland, scotland, northern england getting rain on saturday and thenit england getting rain on saturday and then it is eyes to the south on into sunday for the chance of heavy rain pushing into southern areas for the second half of the weekend. a very warm welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the most alarming warning yet on climate change. scientists say the world is on the verge of a tipping point, with hotter temperatures triggering unprecedented extremes of weather. after sweeping gains against the so—called is militants in syria and iraq, donald trump claims total defeat is just days away. it should be formally announced some time, probably next week, that we will have 100% of the caliphate. the taliban claim to the bbc they don't want to take afghanistan by force, but they won't

give up their weapons until foreign troops leave. and victims of venezuela's collapsing health service. we meet the patients hardest hit by the economic and political crisis.