tv Tuesday in Parliament BBC News April 24, 2019 2:30am-3:01am BST
2:30 am
sri lanka's president says he will replace the heads of the police and security forces after criticism that more could have been done to prevent sunday's deadly terrorist attacks. in a televised address president sirisena admitted that security officials did not share with him the intelligence report warning about a threat to churches at easter. the first burials of those killed in the suicide bombings have taken place as officials say the number of people killed stands at 321. among them are many children. north korean leader kimjong—un has set off for his first summit with russian president vladimir putin. the two will meet in the russian city of vladivostok just over 100 kilometres from the border with north korea. it's thought president putin will focus on curbing his neighbour's nuclear ambitions. it's clear messages also being sent to president trump in washington where talks between the two broke down in hanoi.
2:31 am
you are up—to—date with the headlines. now it is time for tuesday and parliament. —— in parliament. hello and welcome to the programme. mps return from their easter break and condemn the killings of more than 300 people in churches and hotels in sri lanka. our response must be to deny the perpetrator is the satisfaction of dividing us. —— perpatrators. as a teenager climate activists comes to westminster a former labour leader urges the government to do more to tackle global warming. the right response to rebellion on our streets is to produce a revolution in climate leadership and the time for action is now. and there's condemnation of the new ira after it admits
2:32 am
and apologises for the death of northern ireland journalist, lyra mckee. sorry is nowhere near good enough, sorry does not bring back lyra or ease the suffering of her partner, friends and family. the commons on its first day back after its easter break held a minute's silence for the people killed and injured in the sri lanka bombings at the weekend. it came as the first mass funeral was held and as the country marked an official day of mourning for the victims. in respectful memory of the 321 people slaughtered in the appalling easter sunday terrorist attack in sri lanka, including eight british citizens, and of the approximately 500 people wounded in those attacks i propose that we now hold a one—minute silence.
2:33 am
afterwards the foreign secretary made a statement updating mps on the latest information about the attacks which targetted churches and tourist hotels. at least eight uk citizens were among the victims. jeremy hunt said the sheer brutality of the bombings "was stark". these attacks were a primitive and vile attempt to sow division between people of different faiths. religious tensions have caused some of the bloodiest battles in human history. it is sombre and sobering that even in the 21st century attempts continue to set believers of different religions against each other. 0ur response must be to deny the perpetrators the satisfaction of dividing us by being united in our condemnation and united in our support for
2:34 am
religious tolerance. surely one of humanity's greatest achievements. there is no religion on this earth which teaches the way to salvation is blowing up innocent children or shooting people at prayer. we must also not make the mistake of saying that one act of evil begets another. we should call it out for what it is, an act born of pure, vicious, mind—polluting hatred perpetuated by sickening, despicable individuals who don't worship god, they worship death. whose only religion is hate and whose fellow believers in hatred and death must be wiped from the face of our earth. savage acts of terrorism do not discriminate by age but they do not discriminate by faith either. and these attempts to sow division
2:35 am
through violence at easter of alltimes, should be met with a response of peace and solidarity. 0ur message is that barbarism strengthens our belief in our common humanity regardless of faith, background or ethnicity. this was a heartbreaking attack on sri lanka, on christians and peace—loving people everywhere and we stand with sri lanka. does the foreign secretary agree we face a real threat from those who seek to divide us, to drive our world towards conflict, where far—right nationalism and pseudo—religious extremism feed off one another in an independent, destructive cycle and we need to stand up and challenge that heat and the best way to do that is to stand together with love. the best way to protect the christian community or any community in the future is to ensure that the rule of law is everywhere. that the best of intelligence is shared around the world. and an understanding that an attack on one is an attack
2:36 am
on all and it becomes universal because there is no hierarchy in terms of victimhood. this is so sad for sri lanka, it takes us back to the dark old days that my right honourable friend has spoken about and these are such cold, calculated attacks that it really does make us all think about the character, the thought process of those involved, or dare i say the lack of thought at all. and to attack christians on easter sunday is nothing short of barbaric. on this day and every day in future we stand shoulder to shoulder with all of those who stand for the right of all god's children to freely practice their religion in safety and peace in the face of such barbaric hatred. the right honourable gentleman spoke incredibly powerfully and i absolutely agree with him.
2:37 am
sadly i doubt we will ever defeat the ideology of hatred because it's a persistent feature of human existence, but whichever guise it emerges we must be ready to stand up and fight it. the day began with a teenage environmental activist urging british politicians to "listen to the scientists" on climate change. swedish teenager greta thunberg who inspired the school climate strikes movement, met mps and party leaders. the meeting came after protest group extinction rebellion, continued its climate change demonstrations. activists took over part of the natural history museum at the weekend with around 100 of them lying down under the blue whale skeleton. more than 1,000 people have been arrested since the protests began in central london a week ago. the former labour leader ed miliband was asking an urgent question about the situation but the speaker began the session by welcoming greta to the public gallery.
2:38 am
i hope on behalf of all colleagues across the house to welcome greta thunberg who is with us today, enthusiastic and dedicated environmental campaigner. applause i think across the house we all believe in encouraging young people to stand up and speak up and say what they think and make their concerns known. so it was a pleasure for me amongst other colleagues to welcome greta this morning, greta, it was a pleasure to meet you and i hope you enjoy listening to the exchanges. the question is not why act, but how fast can we act? we understand the scientific evidence base, the motivation and the commitment that is driving people out right across the world to make their views known. but i worry, mr speaker, that many of the messages we here ignore the progress which is being made and as such make people fearful
2:39 am
for the future rather than hopeful. she listed the action the government was taking, including being the first country in the world to pass a climate change act. we've made huge progress on plastics—free activity, we have renewables last month contributing over 40% of our electricity supply, we have had our longest ever period of no coal contributing to energy in the uk just this last weekend. she added that while the protests had been good—natu red, they had caused disruption for londoners. the mp who'd asked the question wanted more action. the truth is the planet is warming far faster than we are acting and we have been warned by the scientists, it will get far worse if we do not act with much greater urgency. he urged the minister to declare a climate emergency and he concluded... greta, who is with us today in the public gallery said this,
2:40 am
"i want you to act as you would in a crisis, i want you to act as if our house is on fire because it is." mr speaker, she is right. if we do not act, people will see in the future you knew the facts but you did not care enough. we will be known as the generation with the knowledge of what was to come but without the will or imagination to prevent it. we will be condemned and rightly so. the right response to rebellion on our streets is to produce a revolution in climate leadership and the time for action is no. he asked about declaring a climate emergency, the thing is mr speaker, i don't know what that would entail. i could stand here and say i believe there is a climate emergency, he could say that and many of our local councils have done that including my own, but the question is what are you going to do about it? it's the easiest thing in the world for a politician to stand up and say i am going to do this and set these targets knowing i will be dead and buried before those targets have to be met.
2:41 am
the responsible thing to do is to say the legislation in place as he did to bind every successive minister who comes along to meet those budgets or explain why and to hold every future government's feet to the fire. we are on track for catastrophic levels of global warming it in the uk we pride ourselves on the 40% reductions in emissions we see we have achieved below 1990 levels whilst achieving the 72% increase in gdp. but the truth is out there. schoolchildren are teaching it to us. those figures do not include aviation or shipping emissions. they do not include our imports or exports and they have largely come from the clean power directive in the european union which forced us to announce an end to coal—fired power station. the minister say she does not know what a climate emergency looks like, can i start by saying it looks like doing what is scientifically
2:42 am
necessary, notjust what is deemed politically possible at the time. the minister asked what would be the point of declaring a climate change emergency it is because it is an emergency, it's an emergency right now across the world, glaciers are melting, seas are rising across the world and the honourable member knows this, so ijust don't understand and i don't think the people watching will understand, i don't think my constituents understand what is stopping her from declaring a climate change emergency and then treating the problem as an emergency. let me try and help the honourable lady and her constituents, i don't see the point of saying anything unless we have actions to solve the problem. we have a massive growing problem with our global emissions. we have a massive problem affecting the balance of our economy, we are leading the world in this country in trying to solve this problem and accept we need to go further and faster
2:43 am
but i want to focus on actions rather than standing here rather than seeing i have said a few things, job done. will the minister remind the house what is our global emissions total compared to that of china? we know what would happen to the extinction rebellion demonstration in tiananmen square, so we want to make a real difference, what practical steps are we doing internationally to encourage china, the usa and india to take real action. the honourable gentleman is right to point out we are only 3% of the world's land area and rank 17th in emissions but if you will forgive me it's a bit of a false choice because much of our growth and prosperity has been caused by putting the c02 up there in the first place and i think it's unfair to see two countries they cannot enjoy a future growth
2:44 am
rate and mostly are prepared to grow their standard of living. the point is we have to work together. i pay tribute to what many of the activists in china and india were some of the most rapid investments in electric vehicles and renewable energy are happening and that's the reason solar panel prices have dropped over 80% in the uk meaning we no longer need to subsidise them because of the investment other countries are making. many citizens and workers who have had their lives disrupted over the last week as a result of protesters, some of whom flew thousands of miles in c02—emitting aeroplanes to cause roadblocks which lead to more c02 emissions and then threatened to disrupt the easter holidays of many hard—working families. could the minister tell us, why were police actions which have been used against disruptive protests in london on previous occasions not used on this occasion? clare perry said that was a strong point and she said there had been a little bit of "nervousness" to start with led by the mayor of london, sadiq khan, who hadn't realised millions
2:45 am
of people's lives were been disrupted, but she went on to praise the met police saying they had provided a measured response. you're watching tuesday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy, as mps return from their easter break. there was condemnation across the commons following the death of northern ireland journalist lyra mckee. the 29—year—old was shot in the head on thursday night while observing rioting in londonderry‘s creggan estate. the organisation known as the new ira has said it was behind the shooting and has offered what it's called a full and sincere apologies. the northern ireland secretary set out what had happened that night she said police had been carrying out searches, in londonderry looking for firearms and explosives. while the searches were being carried out a crowd gathered, three vehicles were hijacked, and set alight. the police came under attack with up to 50 petrol bombs thrown at police lines. during the disorder a gunman fired
2:46 am
a number of shots in the direction of police wounding lyra mckee. showing incredible bravery while still under attack, officers attended two lyra whilst she was transported to hospital in a police vehicle. tragically neither those on the scene nor medical staff are able to save her. this was a young woman with so much hope and so much to offer, unlike those who it remains the case across northern ireland at small numbers of dissident republican terrorist intent on killing. but what we've seen in the days since the death of lyra mckee is that the communities they claim to represent and seek to control do not want them. they want peace, prosperity and progress and want no part of the sort of mindset which leaves the death of a woman simply doing herjob. to those responsible for this act of terrorism we say we have heard your excuses
2:47 am
and your hollow apologies. no one buys it. this was no accident. there is nothing that can justify this murderous act and you are being called out for what you really are. the young woman who most certainly was the child of a peace agreement was a young woman who lived her life in the way she chose to love it, campaigned for the things she believed in and we should remember that bright spark and not simply remember the way in which that spark left the world. but there is no contradiction between lyra and the values she stood for and the values of those who chose to take her life because those are the starkest contrast. who represented the modern city? and i think it was lyra mckee, not the gunmen who mowed her down. the new ira have admitted the responsibility, said
2:48 am
at an accident and apologised to her friends and family but 'sorry' is nowhere near good enough, it does not bring back lyra or ease the suffering of her partner and her friends and family. it does not alleviate the concerns of communities across northern ireland of a step backwards to a past they hoped to forget. and he quoted lyra's own words. we were destined never to witness the horrors of war but witnessed the spoils of peace, the spoils just never seemed to reach us. let us ensure she is the last to suffer. it has brought a palpable sense of real grief, shock and anger across the community that a young lady who had so much to offer, lyra mckee, was struck down in such circumstances and the appalling statement by those responsible saying it was some kind of accident as if it was ok to murder police officers, these are people going about, journalists and police officers going about their proper business on behalf of us
2:49 am
all and they deserve all of our thanks and gratitude and can she be assured that all the political parties of northern ireland and all of the community across the border are united in their determination that they will move northern ireland forward and never return to the terrible types of incidents we've seen in such a scale. could i extend our deepest sympathy to her family, herfriends, her colleagues who have spoken so movingly about their work as journalists. and especially to her partner whom she loved deeply and who loved her deeply and they should have been able to have grown old together. their lives are forever changed and there will always be a gap at the table that no one else can fill. however i have to say i found the apology offered today by the new ira nauseating, nauseating. they cannot undo the grief, the heartache, the pain
2:50 am
and the suffering to lyra's family friends and partners. thejustice secretary, david gauke, has defended his plan to overhaul divorce laws in england and wales so couples can split faster and, it is hoped, with less acrimony. under current rules, one spouse has to allege adultery or unreasonable behaviour by the other for divorce proceedings to start straight away. in future, they will only have to state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. but not everyone is a fan of the proposals — a conservative used some fairly fruity language to sum up his opposition. having pissed off half our supporters by botching brexit, why are we no irritatingly other half with an extreme social agenda? every single study of the harbord law reform shows its deeper, vulnerable dispossessed children who suffer most from divorce were my right honourable friend at least accept this and if you make something easier it happens more often?
2:51 am
the evidence in terms of no—fault divorce is that in a steady state there is not a higher rate of divorce than otherwise, it also is the case that the current fault—based approach does result in divorces which are going to happen anyway being more acrimonious than they would otherwise be and that is why i believe it's right we make this reform. i welcome the fact there has been a published family impact test, but what is the justification for the cherry picking, not just public opinion which according to its own consultation responses is 80% against these proposed changes, but also by being selected on the evidence it relies on by seeming to ignore evidence that there will be an immediate spike in divorce rates that will impact negatively on the families involved?
2:52 am
well, i do have to disagree with my honourable friend on this, there is a surge of submissions in the last couple of weeks but the fact is that a yougov poll on the day the proposals were set out and we have had support from the law society the family law association, the marriage foundation and also relate and the national family mediation, this is a reform that i believe will help families and ensure the divorce process is less acrimonious. a government minister has admitted that the treatment of patients who believe they suffered deformities as a result of a pregnancy drug has been "entirely unsatisfactory." primodos was prescribed to more than a million women between 1953 and 1975.
2:53 am
campaigners claim is caused birth defects. the hormone drug test was withdrawn in 1978 for safety reasons. a new study has linked it to babies being born with malformations, but manufacturers insist there is no evidence. a labour mp said she believed there was considerable evidence that the drug caused miscarriages, still births or babies born with deformities. she was worried about the scientific review currently underway. members from across this house have urged ministers to look at our concerns on the methodology, the independence of the panel members and the conclusions of the report. and in each and every occasion oui’ concerns have been dismissed. the health minister said there clearly needed to be confidence in the outcome of the review. and she recognised that there had been problems. the way the regulatory system has dealt with these concerns has felt very inhumane, very process driven,
2:54 am
extremely insensitive to patients and i think the importance of being properly responsible to issues of patient safety is must be improved. the minister said further evidence must be considered when it became available. the information commissioner has told mps she's "surprised and disappointed" that the government's plans to tackle what are known as online harms don't include measures to deal with interference in elections and problems with political advertising. last month, ministers published a document setting out a new framework designed to keep uk users safer online. elizabeth denham was asked about the white paper by mps on the digital, culture, media and sport committee. it's a huge step forward in the route map to identify harms online, but i was surprised and disappointed that there wasn't
2:55 am
more focus on what i think is huge societal harm around electrical interference and the need for more transparency in political advertising. she was concerned the government hadn't done a comprehensive examination of political advertising and the regulation that's needed. i can understand that mps are hearing from their constituency about safety online for kids, about cyber bullying, about terrorism, extremism online, but i think this issue, electoral interference and the fact that campaigns are no 365 days a year and there's many parties involved that are not necessarily overseen by the electoral commission. i was wondering if there is a sophisticated way of being able to identify whether any of this dodgy activity actually works because there's quite a lot of evidence i would suggest as somebody who has witnessed it first—hand that it does not make
2:56 am
much difference and most see through it. i think the real question is how do we fix the environment and the regulation around electrical interference and political advertising so that when these tools get more sophisticated, and the well, and we do need rules around them, when they get more sophisticated we can be sure they are going to work. and that's it from me for now, and if you're wondering where the lords are never fear peers will be back from their easter recess on wednesday and over in the commons theresa may will face mps for prime minister's questions. but for now from me, goodbye.
2:57 am
there is a change on the way, it's certainly going to feel a lot cooler, but not really until the end of the week. today, wednesday, it's actually not going to be too bad. temperatures could still get up to around 20 degrees but some of us will need our brollies. there are showers on the way, there could be some thunderstorms too. a lot of cloud on the satellite image, these are weather fronts, they are heading in our direction and for the rest of the week, we will see a succession of weather fronts approaching us and those will be giving showers. we can still see quite a lot of orange and yellow, that is basically the temperature of the atmosphere. it's what we call the air mass. some warmth there but the colder current of air across the north atlantic, that won't reach us until probably friday, that's when we will really notice the temperatures tumbling. here's first thing in the morning on wednesday, temperatures of ten in the south, six in the north. showers going right from the word go
2:58 am
across cornwall and devon. much of the west country into wales as well. some just about nudging into the midlands by around lunchtime. but by two or three in the afternoon, notice that the south coast is actually clear of the showers so the sun may come out again. quite a changeable day from showers, back to sunshine. those showers will continue to drift northwards into the lake district, eventually later on in the afternoon. those temperatures still managing to get up to around 20 degrees but where you have the cloud and the showers, it's going to feel quite a bit cooler. maybe around 1a or 15 degrees. you can see those blobs of blue, the showers move northwards as we head into wednesday evening. eventually, that warmth or what is left of it will waft away towards the east and this colder air will reach us. thursday and friday, that's where we see those temperatures tumbling away. here is thursday, again showers in the forecast, a little bit more widespread, and some of us that didn't
2:59 am
have the showers on wednesday may get them on thursday. temperatures only 13, 1a, 15 degrees. throughout the country, whether you're in the south or the north, may be some sunshine thrown in there. here is friday's weather forecast. breezy as well, showers, could be the odd crack of thunder as well, really feeling quite cool, i suspect by the time we get to the weekend some northern areas might be struggling to even make double figures. the outlook into saturday and sunday is a showery one. temperatures in the south of around 12—14 degrees. maybe 10 or 11 in the north.
3:00 am
welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: sri lanka's president admits he wasn't told of prior intelligence on the easter day attacks and promises a shake—up of security services. the grieving say goodbye, at the first funerals. dozens of children are confirmed among the 321 dead. translation: i didn't expect they would die. i'll never see them again. i can't have children like them anymore. in other news: he's packed up and on his way, the north korean leader kim jong—un sets off to russia for his first summit with president putin. one man, one vote, one trip through lion—infested jungle.
39 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
BBC News Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on