welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america but only on part of the deal and around the globe. negotiated with the eu. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: it comes on the day that brexit was originally supposed 0n the day that britian to have taken place. was meant to leave the eu, mps prepare to vote yet again on the government's brexit deal — but only part of it. tens of thousands of people both labour and northern ireland's are still waiting for help two weeks democratic unionist party have said after cyclone idai devestated large they won't back the deal. a national remembrance service has been held in christchurch parts of southern africa. for the fifty people shot dead in two mosques a fortnight ago. one of the accusers in the sex abuse more than 20,000 people attended the event. case against the r&b singer prime ministerjacinda ardern gave r kelly speaks publicly an address, saying that while new zealand isn't immune to the viruses of hate and fear, for the first time. it could be the nation that discoveres the cure. every time i tried to pick myself up again, i felt like something one of the accusers in the sex abuse on the news brought me back to what i case against r kelly has now spoken thought i swept under the rug. publicly for the first time. lanita carter was once the hairdresser of the r&b star a remembrance service has been held but claims that in 2003 he tried in christchurch in honour to force her into sexual activity. r kelly is currently charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, which he denies. now on bbc news, thursday in parliament.

hello and welcome to thursday in parliament. one more heave. ministers urge mps to back the government. so that we can leave the eu in an orderly way that gives businesses and people of the certainty that they need. another key vote looms but mps still want answers. whether or not the prime minister resigns if she wins tomorrow or whether we have to... she has to get both parts before we see the back of her. also in this programme... should the church of england ban field sports on its land? land leased by the church commissioners and the forestry commission, blood sport exchange for blood money for the church of england. and there's more to pubs than beer.

i'm a non—drinker, but i'm very upset that we are losing the goldsmith arms. all that to come and more. but first... mps are to get another vote on brexit. yes, another one. the house of commons is to sit on friday to discuss and vote on the withdrawal agreement. but this is not the hotly anticipated meaningful vote three. mps won't be voting on the whole of the prime minister's deal, which came in two parts. it's a bit complicated but the government has separated the withdrawal agreement the divorce deal from the political declaration on the future relationship with the eu. the ministers say that after an agreement at last week's eu summit, if mps approve the agreement on friday then brexit will happen on may 22nd. it's not a meaningful vote ratifying the whole deal but does overcome the rule that mps can't vote on the same thing twice in the same session. the motion tabled by the government this afternoon, has been prepared to comply with your

ruling, mr speaker. whilst also reflecting that the european union will only agree to an extension to article 50 until the 22nd of may, if the withdrawal agreement is approved by 11pm on the 29th of march. it's crucial therefore that we make every effort to give effect to the council's decision, and tomorrow motion gives parliament the opportunity to secure that extension. i really do encourage all honourable and right honourable members to support this motion at the house. so that we can leave the eu in an orderly way that gives businesses and the people that certainty that they need. labour said the prime minister had previously linked both parts of her deal. this is no way to run a government.

now, i don't know if the prime minister is going to come back. i don't know if the prime minister is going to come back because she has a duty to tell the truth to the house. she's made it clear on that basis, that the two are linked together. we are now presented with a motion that breaks that link on the face of it, breaks the law. breaks european union law. the attorney general offered some legal advice. mr speaker, may i say that the proposal the government is making, when the house listens to the rationale behind it, when it hears the full context of that, i'm sure of the house will accept. it's not only lawful, and perfectly sensible and designed to give this has an opportunity of availing itself on a right that the european union has given to us to avail ourselves of an extension until may 22. the view of the government is simply that we could not let that time limit expire at 11 o'clock tomorrow without allowing this house

the opportunity of availing itself of that right. it is perfectly reasonable and is perfectly lawful. and mps questioned whether the government really could do things this way. these are two horns on the same goat. it cannot be divided as the government is seeking to do. this is an extraordinary and unprecedented reverse variant of the commitment given by ministers to this place, and extraordinary and unprecedented reverse of the commitments being made it to this place. it seems as though so often in this whole saga over the last couple of years or so, the government has got itself into a bit of a procedural mess. the sitting tomorrow is all about the latest ways to get the doomed brexit deal through, and they're inviting us to consider

the withdrawal agreement without the political declaration attached. it is a meaningful vote, but it's the sort of schrodinger meaningful vote, both alive and dead at the same time. many people in the gallery today who will be here to see that magnificent historical features of this building, they should pay particular attention to that path withheld the scaffolding, they represent where mps have been banging their heads against a wall for nearly three years now trying to make sense of the chaos that the government has created in this process. some of the points of order that had been made already this evening, suggest that we should be voting on both withdrawal agreement and other parts of the agreement with europe. but europe had made it very clear that they need a position tomorrow on the withdrawal agreement, so let's agree that that's what we need to do tomorrow and i will be here tomorrow to do that so.

and in the end, after much procedural wrangling, mps agreed to meet on friday for another day of debating and voting on brexit. but one mp wondered what it would all mean for theresa may, who has said she'd step down once her deal is approved by parliament. can you clarify perhaps someone on the bench kind, whether or not the prime minister resigns if she wins tomorrow or whether we have to, she has to get both parts before we see that the back of her. i have no knowledge of that matter. which is, on a different pay grade. and there aren't many things above the speaker's pay grade. brexit unsurprisingly took up a large chunk of time at environment questions in the commons. mps were concerned at what would happen to farming and fishing communities if the uk ended up

leaving without a deal. over the years, the face of the fishing industry has changed, it's reflecting in the town of fleetwood because we export 70% of what we land and we import the vast majority of what we consume as a country. so to prevent fish from rotting at the borders, what is that minister's assessment of how tariffs or trade uncertainty could impact the industry after we leave the cfp? the agreement that the prime minister has negotiated allows tariff and quota free access to the european union. we can have the best of both worlds not only one smart full control of the exclusive economics zones with additionalfishing opportunities, but also the opportunity to ensure the excellent produce find a market in europe and beyond. michael gove‘s labour shadow focused on climate change, pressing the government over recent student protests. we've heard that the uk is on track to meet only five out of the 28 targets. this is an environmental

and climate emergency. so, can i ask if the minister and the secretary of state agree with the around 50 councils and thousands of young people who have declared an environment and climate emergency. and will they today, commit to join with labour in declaring a national environment and climate emergency. mr speaker we already are ahead of the game. 25 year environment plan, published last year, strategies and work on the going but we are making significant improvements and improving the natural environment and i generally hope the whole house comes together to make sure they get behind a plan so we can make sure that we do leave the environment in a better state that we inherited it. a labour mp shared a gruesome constituency experience of rural crime. two weeks ago i was meeting with the nationalfarmers union and farmers in the community, and unfortunately on that day one

of them could not attend because the previous night he had 19 ewes slaughtered in his field. i understand we lost 27 ewes, they were slaughtered in the field with entrails left there. it's a growing problem in our communities amongst the farmers, having significant economic impact on them. that's part of the problem down to lack of law enforcement and number of police. could the secretary of state advise me of what i should be saying to farmers in my community and how they should prevent this in the future? i'm grateful to the honourable gentleman for raising the issue, it's a horrific series of crimes he brings once more to our attention. i would hope he and i would be able to talk to local police and crime commissioner in order to make sure they have resources and powers required and if there's anything more required, i will be more than happy to talk to home office colleagues to ensure incidents that were drawn to the attention are not repeated. you're watching thursday in parliament with me, david cornock.

don't forget that if you miss our daily round up orjust want to watch this one again you can find us on the bbc iplayer. labour demanded an urgent update on the government's progress in supporting disabled people into work. the shadow disabilities minister, marsha de cordova quoted from a new national audit office report. this warned that the disability employment gap between people in and out of work remained persistently high and questioned the validity of a government target to get a million more disabled people into work by 2027. between 2013 and 2018 disability employment is raised by 930,000, but there's more to deliver on the commitment set out in the improving lives paper. as the secretary of state announced earlier we will review the goal

of1 million more people in work by 2027 to see if they can be made even more ambitious. we know that tailored support and tackling the misconceptions and various people and they face are effective in getting disabled people into work. and our initiatives give claimants the opportunity to access personalised support to help them move closer to work and help achieve cultural change including disability confidence game —— scheme supporting employers to provide job opportunities. a damning report was published evaluating government progress in supporting disabled people into employment. they concluded two years into the government's work health and disability strategy, the dwp lacks any clear measures or implementation plan to promote the employment of disabled people. the report found that the number of disabled people out of work has remained stagnant at 3.7 million for the last five years, highlighting that the increased number of disabled people has not been matched by a decrease

in the number of disabled people that are actually out of work. the report also found that the government has yet to evaluate the effectiveness of the employment support programme and indeed the head of the mao himself that the government has yet to make a significant event in the number of disabled people out of work. disability employment gap has stayed at little about 30% and the last two years. i don't recognise much of what the shadow minister says because there are 930,000 more people at work over the last five years, this is real people having the opportunity to work, it's record numbers. over 400,000 workers, disabled people a year move into work. when a charity surveyed disabled people, only 20% received support from access to work and the vast majority had to wait more than three months for the application to be approved.

what is he doing to ensure everyone is aware of access to work support available and they can get that support promptly? a constituent was offered a role at the hospital but however in the email was not made clear the offer was conditional upon risk assessment and subsequently retracted. the offer was retracted. to me this is outrageous, risk assessment identified a number of risks that could have been mitigated against, can my honourable friend explain the role that disabled employees can play in the workplace so they don't have this outrageous discrimination for someone who is deaf and had an offer and was taken back away. while i enjoyed the debate over the years, minister knows it should not be him this morning, it should be a new dedicated disability minister. that should be there. the fact that the prime minister has not bothered to replace hand in nearly two weeks is shameful

of a tory government that's collapsed into crisis and chaos, they are so with brexit for their folly that they are completely ignoring the dayjob and is costing the country dearly. i would like to reassure him, i'm very happy to be here answering this question. i'm passionate about this role and as i say, my work in this area but that's part of minister and today is very much guided by meeting particularly young disabled people and their families. and the real passion and determination that they can have the same opportunities as others. in some cases it's full—time some cases that can be as little as one houra month, but forthem, that is life changing and this government is committed. the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has been accused of presiding over "horrifying" levels of poverty. she made a statement to the commons on government poverty statistics which had just been published. these numbers showed that between 2016 and 17, and 17—18, relative poverty after housing costs has decreased by one percentage point,

and absolute poverty after housing costs is unchanged in percentage terms and absolute poverty and relative poverty before housing costs have increased by 1%. no one in government wants to see poverty rise. after all, mr speaker, we came into politics to help people plot a path to a better life. this has driven me, since i entered this place in 2010, in the midst of a national economic crisis, because i know it's vital that government supports its citizens and provides them with the opportunities they need to succeed. today's figures are truly shocking, they highlight the devastating impact of austerity on families across the country and it's a national scandal that 14 million people including 4.1 million children, are living in poverty in one of the richest countries in the world. these figure should put a rocket under the discussions she's having with the chancellor ahead of the spending review. work should be a route out of poverty but currently isn't.

so does can she see, what does she see as being her key anti— poverty policy. what's her anti—poverty target for this next year, will we know brexit, whatever type of brexit occurs, will harm family budgets and affect living standards. isn't the omission from this statement today is that we live in a country where people are cold and hungry and pushed into destitution? she and i were in this house when the conservatives repealed the child poverty act. she and i were in this house when george osborne announced a £12 billion worth of welfare cuts that have not been restored, so she can be disappointed, but she cannot be surprised that child poverty is up by 200,000. with 65% of children and single—parent families in poverty. amber rudd has ditched plans to extend a benefits cap on families with more than two children. she was told to scrap the two child altogether.

families of religious faith and families of ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by the two top limit and she set a 2—tier system, and unacceptable unjustifiable 2—tier system for families in this country. and women will still have to prove that they've had their child as a result of rape. why did she think this is acceptable? mr speaker, the honourable lady has raised this with me many times and i would repeat to her that i do think the system is the right system. she has to also think of the people on low wages whoo pay taxes and it will say to us and i know as an had people say to me and expect there have been others as well, we'll have to plan for their third child or fourth child and work out whether they have the funds to do so. and i think it's right that people

who are on benefits have to make the same assessment as well for the families. amber rudd. the death toll from cyclone idai, which tore through south eastern africa more than a week ago, has continued to rise amid reports of the first cases of cholera. the storm devastated large swathes of mozambique, zimbabwe, and malawi. in the lords, an international development minister warned that the scale of the international response to the disaster was not reaching the level of the crisis. would the minister agreed that the scale and effect of this disaster is devastating and still unfolding with what he said to 200 million people. they need of urgent humanitarian assistance. the right of another secondary emergency from diseases like cholera and malaria. could he tell the house of the apartments long—term plan to help countries recover and also what the government is doing to encourage other countries to match this countries generosity both private and public.

can i also pay tribute to the noble baroness's work with the emergency committee, the amount of money raised is phenomenal, 21 million — the generosity of the british people. the uk's contribution is from this is way ahead of any other country, the next nearest is 22 million. united states 10.8, then you have germany at 3.5. therefore, rightly, the secretary of state for national development in africa high emphasis on getting other countries to get them to realise the severity of the situation faced by these people.

after that last significant flooding, i was stuck at that time by the fact that there were not even preparations in place to avoid that as an catastrophe affecting so many communities for future. will the government as part of these international discussions as well as our own one, look to in both malawi and mozambique in particular, look to build better disaster resilience facilities and mechanisms for the future including early warning systems and construction of homes and facilities that can withstand some of these extreme weather events. absolutely, i'm happy to give that commitment, the met office has significant relationship and mozambique and as far as i often we have commitment already on the ground they are from previous incidents, of providing resilient support, there is 150 million different packages of programmes, supporting building resilience and will be building that up further as we move to the un climate summit which will be in september. as we are sharing office of the commonwealth, would my noble friend encourage

government to encourage the richer commonwealth countries to work very closely together now, and rally around to help a stricken member of the family. i'm happy to do that in relation to mozambique and malawi, canada has contributed some 2 million but clearly the scale and response internationally is not meeting the level of the crisis we had seen on the ground. lord bates. the church of england is being urged to ban blood sports on land it owns. a labour mp raised the issue during questions to the church commissioners.

bishop wood is being used for shooting, land at leased. and accepts blood money for the church of england, what steps will the commissioner take for blood sport across the estate. mr speaker, i know that the honourable lady wrote to the church commissioners and they replied to her on the 6th of march, this is a long—established practise by the forestry commission who are the tenants of the line that she is referring to. they do inform people locally when it's taking place but i can make additional inquiries on her behalf the trade commission does not have a wide—ranging policy and shooting, the majority of cases shooting rights are contained within farm tenancies, many of which are lifetime tendencies. you and i know this responsibility on those who lease land from churches that that line that they have a responsibility to control pests, whatever it may be, this responsibility on the leasee to do that. does the honourable lady agree that when it comes to the tenancy agreements, those rights and a pest controls have to be enforced? without doubt, mr speaker, the honourable gentleman is right,

the church commissioners have to have that responsibility that that terms of any tenancy confirmed with, but to be perfectly clear about that time of the conservation, the church of england is strongly committed to conservation especially in its own green spaces and i'm sure we all remember that campaigns ought to provide a haven for hedgehog and tray charts for example, and trenches commitment meant to work with natural england on that conservation. conservation is at our heart. dame caroline spelman. mps have called for lower taxes on pubs, brewers, and beers to help keep pubs open. the appeal came from the chair of the all party parliamentary group on beer, which you may not be shocked to learn is the largest group of its kind at westminster. when we last debated, on beer in october 2017, i said there was 75 pubs in my constituency.

now there's only 73 pubs. that despite my very best efforts. a decline... please. i'm grateful to inform forgiving way, would he agree with me he talks about disappearing pubs, you don't have to be a drink or two and file the benefits of, i'm a non—drinker, but i was upset we are losing the goldsmith arms, it's been there since 1826 when it was a coaching and, 2001 had signed the petition fails under government here, often people are planning are in conflict. 0ne mp recalled his amateur dramatic days. a scotsman walks into a pub. if i got back to days at pubs,

thursday night we went to one particular famous one and the barman at 11 would say "well, well, everyone, we need to lock the door," and he turned the key and a massive great door shut the door, carry on pouring pints. i turned to a new member of the cast beside me at the bar and i said goodness, you think bobbies would come knocking on the door tonight and he laughed and said i'm off duty police sergeant. which caused a slight reaction around the bar and then the boys further down the bar said that's nothing i'm an honorary sheriff substitute. and it's goodnight from him. and from me. thank you for watching thursday in parliament. i do hope you canjoin me at eleven o'clock on friday night for the week in parliament. bye for now.

hello. plenty of dry weather on the way through friday, lasting into the weekend as well. but there is another weather change taking place. now, this weather front will give a bit of rain to northern scotland on through friday. not very much as it moves south over the weekend. but that other weather change on the way, behind that weather front, there will be cooler air arriving. this is how we start friday. and it's cold enough for a touch of frost in parts of england and wales. some fog patches too, more especially towards wales and western england, gradually clearing during the morning. and then sunny spells on a fine day. more cloud for northern ireland, across much of scotland as well. and it's breezy with the rain still there for the northern and western isles, parts of the north north—west of the mainland of scotland on through the day. so with the cloud here, temperatures have come down a bit compared to what we had on thursday. for england and wales it'll feel warm in the sunny spells, maybe 18 degrees in south—east england. let's take a look at things through friday night and into saturday morning. remember that weather front is still here, edging very slowly further

south through scotland, a little snow to the higher hills. to the south of that it remains dry. and again, especially for parts of england and wales, a few fog patches developing, it will be cold enough for a touch of frost in a few spots as saturday begins. that takes us onto the weekend. there is a weak weather front moving south. barely any wet weather associated with it, so many places will be dry. but, again, the more significant aspect of that weather front is the change to cooler conditions. so here it comes. the cooler air will very slowly percolate southwards on through saturday and eventually we will all be in the cooler air into sunday. and for some of us it will be quite a drop in temperatures. but again, coming with plenty of dry weather. here is the weather front on saturday. it's an area of cloud and not much else. we could see a little bit of light rain pushing into parts of england and wales. see a few wintry showers running through parts of northern scotland, may see a bit of snow into shetland from that as the colder air moves in. but still south of our weather front some warmth, southern parts of wales across southern england into east anglia, some spots into the high teens. but notice barely double figures behind our weather front. now, as we look at the picture

for sunday, here's the front edging again a little further southwards. but it's high pressure that's building back in behind it, that's why it is still essentially settled. but of course that will bring some cloud, that weather front moving south, with the odd spot of light rain, nothing more than that. elsewhere, some clear weather to begin with. some cloud building, but most places are staying dry. and there could well see some rain, rather than snow, then pushing back in towards shetland as the day goes on. and for all of us at this stage those temperatures have come down. that's your forecast.