courage and sacrifice of those who died in the d—day landings. she was joined by 16 world leaders to commemorate the 75th anniversary of history's largest combined land, air and naval operation. in the sudanese capital khartoum, opposition activists say dozens of bodies have been pulled from the river nile, as the military cracks down on pro—democracy protesters. activists have rejected an offer of talks from the ruling military council, saying they cannot be trusted. president trump says not nearly enough progress has been made in talks with mexico to avert his threat to impose new trade tariffs on monday. the us is insisting on immediate measures to reduce the flow of migrants travelling through mexico to the us border.

you are up—to—date on the headlines. time for wednesday in my parliament. hello there, and welcome to wednesday in parliament, where labour fears a post—brexit us trade deal could put the nhs up for sale. will the tory party give us companies access to the nhs? yes or no? but thersa may's deputy reckons that's scaremongering. when it comes to trade negotiations, the nhs is not and will not be up for sale. also on the programme: labour challenges the government over a recent report on the benefits of sure start centres for young children. there is a clear lesson here for government — investment in early intervention saves money later on. and in these divided times, there's a little love

in the house of lords. i agree with the noble lord, lord tenant. laughter. well, there's a first time for everything. but first: veterans and world leadersjoined an hour—long ceremony in portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the d—day landings. when i attended the commemoration... the queen addressed the service on southsea common, thanking veterans for their "heroism, courage, and sacrifice". our sons... the us president, donald trump — on the final day of his state visit to the uk — also spoke at the event, reading a prayer. my thoughts... while theresa may read a letter from a serviceman to his wife, written just two days before the d—day landings. the commemorations in portsmouth meant theresa may wasn't in westminster for her weekly round of pmqs, and so her senior minister, david lidington, filled in. he began by paying tribute to those involved in the d—day landings.

and i'm sure that members right across the house will want tojoin me in paying tribute to the sacrifice of those who fought to secure the liberty and peace that we enjoy today, and for the courage that made possible then the restoration of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law to our continent of europe. previously, the shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry has filled in forjeremy corbyn — but this time it was another labour frontbencher — rebecca long—bailey. and she too paid tribute to those who'd taken part in d—day. we must never forget the extraordinary sacrifices of all those who landed that day in normandy, and the achievements of our servicemen and women who came together to fight fascism and protect our freedom. she then turned to donald trump's visit and speculation about whether access to the nhs would have to be part of any trade

deal with the us after brexit. yesterday, the prime minister had to repeat to donald trump a journalist's question about whether the nhs is on the table as part of a us trade deal. given the prime minister was silent on the matter, perhaps the right honourable gentleman could clarify the government's position? will the tory party give us companies access to the nhs — yes or no? david lidington began his reply by speculating that he was not facing emily thornberry after her comments that labour should have been clearer about its brexit policy going into the european elections. i welcome the honourable lady, i feel slightly sorry for the right honourable lady, the member for islington south, who i'm used jousting with, who seems to have been dispatched to internal exile somewhere else along the front bench. laughter. that's just my...

the honourable lady perhaps needs to watch out because i think there's a lesson there that anybody at the despatch box who outshines the dear leader risks being... laughter. risks being airbrushed out of the politburo history at the earliest opportunity. laughter. as for the nhs... my right honourable friend the prime minister has been very clear. and she spoke for everyone in the government and on this side of the house — when it comes to trade negotiations, the nhs is not and will not be up for sale. rebecca long—bailey turned to climate change. three current cabinet members have denied the scientific consensus on climate change, and several of those standing in the tory leadership contest have close links with organisations and individuals promoting climate denial. mr speaker, it does not bode well. figures released in april showed that the uk is set

to miss its own carbon budgets by an ever—widening margin. would the right honourable gentleman like to explain why the government is off—track to meeting its own targets? we generate now a record amount of electricity from renewable energy sources, and we have just gone through the longest period in our history without relying on electricity generated from coal. that stands rather starkly against what appears to be the labour party's declared policy, which is to reopen the coal mines but not actually to burn the coal that they mine. the snp's kirsty blackman, who was filling in for her westminster leader, ian blackford, also raised the nhs. yesterday, donald trump said that the nhs was on the table in the trade talks with the uk. today, he says he's not so sure. this is someone who doesn't even

believe in climate change — a president who simply cannot be trusted. why then is the uk government so obsessed with pursuing a trade deal that puts scotland's nhs at risk? mr speaker, the government is not putting the nhs at risk in scotland or anywhere else, and the prime minister has made that very clear indeed. what i fear is putting at risk standards in the nhs of scotland is the snp's obsession with constitutional matters and the referendum, rather than focusing on the delivery of public services! i guess when donald trump's visit was thought up months ago, the plan was for the uk to have left the eu by then? "take back control," they said. but what we saw this week was a vision of things to come. of razzle—dazzle concealing

the reality of sovereignty reduced to sycophancy. 68% of welsh exports, mr speaker, go to the eu. only 14% of welsh exports goes to the us. post—brexit, the british government will have to choose which deal to strike. which would he prioritise? mr speaker, if the honourable lady had been studying the various publications from the government, she will have seen that our objective is to have a very close, deep future partnership on trade and other matters with our neighbours in the european union — while at the same time, having the freedom to pursue trade deals with the other parts of the world, including with the united states, amongst one. and ijust do ask the honourable lady to just pause before condemning the state visit by the elected head of state and government

of our staunchest ally at a time when we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the d—day landings, and trying to criticise that for political purposes? david lidington. labour has challenged the government over a report that said sure start centres brought "big benefits for children's health" — significantly cutting the incidence of under—ii‘s going to hospital. masterminded by then—labour chancellor gordon brown in the late 1990s, the centres aimed to give children "the best possible start in life" through childcare, early education, health, and family support. but a recent report by the thinktank the institute for fiscal studies said funding had been cut by two—thirds, and hundreds of centres had been closed. a labour mp accused ministers of allowing the scheme to "wither on the vine". there is a clear lesson here for government — investment in early intervention saves money later on. closing sure start centres is a false economy.

so i ask the minister — will she use this report as ammunition with the tory leadership contenders in the treasury of the head of the spending review for a new commitment to revitalise sure start? the decimation of sure start has been a travesty, and flies in the face of all the evidence that early intervention is key to tackling the disadvantaged. this must be reversed. the minister agreed that early intervention was important. in the first paragraph of the executive summary, the report makes clear that the uk is now one of the highest spenders on the under fives in europe — those are oecd figures from 2014. what matters is to havea universal offer, but it is also about the way services are delivered. that's not necessarily always the most effective through centres. they definitely have their role, but it is about services and making sure that we get the services to those who need it the most. put simply, mr speaker,

thousands of children are ending up in hospital because of cuts to sure starts. sure start was the jewel in the crown of the labour government, and politicians, policymakers, and the public have long understood its benefits. even back in 2010, the party opposite pledged to recruit 4,200 sure start health visitors for exactly this reason. mr speaker, that was a conservative election manifesto promise, but what is the reality? two—thirds cut in funding, and over 1,000 sure start and children centres lost since 2010. the minister warned against a "dogmatic" focus on sure start. public health england are currently looking at the healthy child programme, which is ten years old — and they want to modernise it, focusing on the first 1,000 days — i think the honourable lady has also been involved with this. looking at the team around the child — this is for solutions for making sure that vulnerable children

and families get the help they need means that you do need to have universal reach, and then targeted response where it's needed most. it is both tragic and expensive to reduce funding for sure start centres, leading then to the need for much more drastic and tragic intervention later on. we can build children's sure start centres in his constituency, which he talks about being very rural. but actually, what has always mattered to me, and i'm a former public health minister — what about the families who don't go there? in essex, we have an extraordinary family hub which the children's minister has visited, that is a one—stop shop for mentoring, for health support, education support, and counselling services. 0ur manifesto commitment was to have family hubs across the country. will my honourable friend commit to having family hubs and roll them out across the united kingdom?

i thank my right honourable friend and congratulate essex on the work they're doing with their family hubs. i think the point that he makes is important — it's not just about one—stop shops, but making sure — and for some families who never go near family hubs or children centres, it's making sure we can deliver services within their own homes. ann milton. now labour has accused the health secretary matt hancock of neglecting his dayjob to play "tory leadership games". the comments came during a debate about the interim nhs people plan which aims to address a crisis in recruitment. critically the plan calls for all nhs organisations to set out how they would ensure the nhs is the best place to work. and the recently—appointed chief people officer for the nhs will play a vital role in supporting the nhs to do this. with the interim people plan set out a number of practical steps to increase the number of supply

of clinical staff. this includes an extra 5,000 additional clinical places for nurse training places by september 2019, and commits to a further expansion of medical school places. the urgent question had been asked by the shadow health secretary. it's a pleasure as always to see the minister of state, but the secretary of state should be doing his dayjob and be here answering questions about the health service, not playing his tory leadership games. but anyway, mr speaker — our nhs is struggling with vacancies of 100,000. 0ur nhs staff are the very best in the world, and none of them want to be part of a trade deal with the americans, of course. but they are working under immense pressure because of these chronic shortages. shortages put patient care at risk, and it means standards of care are falling. it means our constituents wait longer to get a gp appointment because we've lost 1,000 gps. it means women are turned away from maternity units because we're short of 3,500 midwives. it means cancer diagnoses are delayed because of shortages in the cancer workforce.

he will have seen the chief secretary's comments yesterday at his select committee saying that a spending review is now unlikely for 2020—21. that means new funding for training, new funding for health education england, and new funding for capital investment for public health and social care won't come on the stream until 2021 — two years away. 52,000 more clinical staff in the last nine years, almost 16,500 more doctors, and over 17,000 more desks on our wards. he laid out a list of promises he would like to see, but with little detail and no means to pay for them. i welcome the nhs interim people plan because workforce is the greatest challenge across all four health services. but the 41,000 nursing vacancies in nhs england are simply a patient

safety issue and cannot be parked on some shelf or in the long grass. it identifies the removal of the nursing bursary and the imposition of student fees for an over 30% drop in new student nurses. so will he commit to reestablishing, this as scotland did, in preserving the bursary and free tuition? because our nursing vacancy rate is less than half that rate. i want to point out yet again, as i said the beginning — we are increasing applications, making sure that there are 5,000 extra clinical placements available, which is a 25% increase on last year. so far from complacent about the number of nursing applicants — we're looking to ensure that more nurses can be trained in this country beyond the 35,000 that are being trained at the moment. will the minister confirm that in the finalizing the people plan, serious consideration will be given to the immigration rules that will apply to recruitment

after we leave the european union? about one in 20 of the whole staff of the nhs at the moment are citizens of the european union, and it would make no sense at all to put new restrictions of any kind in the face of people coming from the european union who want to make a valuable contribution to our health service. in nottingham, we used to run recruitment campaigns in romania for nurses. and we're a long way away from being in in any way being able to put restrictions on all staff coming any part of the continent. my right honourable friend, the father of the house, is completely correct. we welcome, we value, and we want to make sure it is clear that eu nationals who work in the nhs — and there are over 63,000 of them — are valued and make a huge contribution to our

national health service. he will also probably be aware that my right honourable friend, the secretary of state, and the home secretary are in continuing negotiations to make sure there is no change to that position. you're watching wednesday in parliament, with me alicia mccarthy. don't forget, you can follow me on twitter at @bbcalicia. and you can find any of our programmes by going to the bbc iplayer and searching for "parliament". the business minister kelly tolhurst says she refuses to be "gung ho" about changing the fire regulations for furniture. she was speaking to the environmental audit committee, which is investigating toxic chemicals in everyday life. the mps are concerned about the use of flame retardants in sofas and mattresses. some scientists argue that once a fire is fully developed the chemicals can actually make the smoke more toxic. the labour chair of the committee wondered why the government hadn't changed the rules.

it does look like your department is the prisoner of corporate lobbying. well, i would say not to because in the time that i have been the minister, which is ten months, i have not spoken to any corporate around this particular work which is firmly falling under me. when the paper was on your desk, wasn't it a matter of urgency? i think it is a matter of urgency but quite rightly i would have questions that i would like to think about things. when you're dealing with a piece of regulation that is so important to the safety of individuals in their homes, it's not something that i would be prepared to take lightly. therefore it is complex, it's not straightforward, there's no consensus, there's a range of views. so when i take a decision after make sure that i am confident and happy with that. how do you feel about organic phosphates being in baby mattresses?

so these are the same chemical structures in terms of their class of chemicals but they are very different in terms of their potency in a way that you are thinking about in terms of the inhibition under agents versus those in furnishings. so saying they are safer you don't know? i am saying there is way lower toxicity. but you cannot say that they are no risk, can you? you can never said anything is not toxic, the oxygen in this room is the example i would give you. if you increase the concentration fivefold it will cause great harm. the safety factors that we apply to these materials are orders of magnitude greater than that.

a suggestion by the housing secretary that people should be able to use their pension savings to get onto the housing ladder has been criticised in the lords, with a pensions minister suggesting the idea shouldn't be given "oxygen". in a speech, james brokenshire said people who had saved into occupational schemes should be free to spend the proceeds — when they wished — on theirfirst home. confirming he wouldn't be standing in the tory leadership election, mr brokenshire set out what he described as "personal" ideas he hoped the next prime minister would adopt. but peers were unimpressed. when i read about this proposal, i just thought it was ill—thought out and damaging. does the noble lady agree with me that people need to carefully plan for their retirement and make sure they have adequate income? and if his idea ever came to fruition, it would likely both push up house prices and leave people worse off? i entirely agree with the noble lord

that we have to think with care about how we encourage and support people to save it for the long term and return for their retirement. automatic enrolment has already reversed the decline in workplace pension saving seen in decade prior to its introduction and the number of first—time buyers in homes is at its highest level in 11 years. my noble friend may not agree that the problem in the housing market is not money, but a shortage of houses. and if we do anything at all to put more money into a market before we have dealt with the problems of planning consent and got the houses built, we can only inflate the price of houses even more. i do agree that, and i'm sorry i am not the housing minister answering this question, but i do believe it is important that we are committed to ensuring

that the housing market works for everyone. and of course, there is more to do, and that's what we have announced an extra £17 billion in funding for help to buy since 2017, and reform is the 80% of first—time buyers will not pay tax. but we are absolutely on a track that does not mean that increase in the house prices — the important thing is that we focus on supporting first—time buyers and the number of first—time buyers is that an 11—year annual high. i agree with the noble lord. hear, hear! well, there is a first time for everything. when i read this, like my noble friend, i initially wondered. the minister in charge of housing has a wheeze which is that young people should raid their pension pots to fund the deposit a new houses.

—— on new houses. i can see immediately three things wrong with this, one of them, most young people do not have enough money to put a deposit on a flight to rent, not enough left over for fish and chips left after. they have enough money should stay there otherwise don't have anything to retire on and third, as my new friend the noble lord points out it would drive up housing. given all of that in the dwp has had a multi—million pound advertising campaign to encourage younger people to save what is going to happen? my lords, i am very grateful that the noble baroness upset has formed a new friendship over this topical question. could i say, in short that our focus in the department for work and pensions is ensuring that we support young people in every way we can to save her for the long term, to save for their retirement and their security have

to say to the noble lords opposite if they feel is ideal perhaps it's not right that we should be giving so much oxygen to this idea in the house of lords. finally, back to that visit by donald trump. one of the highlights of his trip was a state banquet on monday night, but mps on the scottish affairs committee had heard a rumour he'd also had a chat with the environment secretary, michael gove. the meeting you had i think today, was it was with president trump? i did not see him today. you didn't see him? i saw him on monday evening. i saw him on monday evening, and of course every time he comes he just of the road for my mum and dad. not that they know. but, no, i had the opportunity to say a few words to the president on monday night, and i was — as you may know these occasions require people to wear evening dress, and i had the opportunity to wear a kilt.

and it was very interesting that my wife was talking to the first lady, who was very taken with that, and i think that the president may well be placing an order for a dress of tartan. that's another example of a successful trading relationship within the uk and america. michael gove, with fashion tips for the us president! and that's it from me for now but do join me at the same time tomorrow when among other things we'll have questions to the international trade secretary, liam fox and the lords debate government plans to support victims of domestic abuse. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello there.

it's been a really wet period for northern ireland. the best part of a month's rainfall has fallen in a day, that's nearly 50 millimetres of rain. fortunately, it doesn't look as wet through the day ahead but there will be showers around, notjust in northern ireland, but elsewhere. at the moment, we're sandwiched between these two areas of low pressure. this one has taken precedent. and through the night that's brought some intense storms across the low countries which have been making their way northwards through the night across the southern north sea, just flirting with english coastlines. so don't be surprised if you see some lightening here and even catch some rain. but elsewhere, a little bit of dawn fog and a cool start with temperatures in single figures. given it'sjune, i think it will feel quite fresh this morning. but otherwise, some sunshine. before this rain makes its way into northern scotland,

still potentially intense and heavy and for the northern isles, a wet day. but for northern ireland, near the area of low pressure, not as wet as it was yesterday, but with some slow—moving and heavy showers it's just persistent, heavy rain for the northern isles. we could see 15—20 millimetres of rain falling here through the day. heavy showers following on behind. and elsewhere across england and wales, i wouldn't like to rule them out anywhere, there could be a rumble of thunder but it doesn't look as wet or as cloudy in southern and eastern areas as it was yesterday evening. so some stronger sunshine around. but almost the calm before the storm after the thunderstorms, we've got this more dominant area of low pressure bringing, we think, some disruption to iberia and the low countries, france in particular. it has been named as storm miguel. it's expected — so we're keeping a watch and brief — but it's expected to bring some very wet and windy weather towards out shores on friday. so it's heavy, driving rain, only slowly moving northwards, as it brightens there will be heavy thunderstorms following, so even though it's relatively warm air coming from the south, it won't feel that way with driving wind and rain.

it does, however, look drier for northern scotland and quite warm in the north—west highlands, we could see 20 degrees. but by saturday, that low pressure‘s bringing the wind and the rain to the north. further south, by the time we get to sunday it's a day of sunny spells and showers. now saturday, let's put some more detail on that. you can it's thoroughly wet for some parts of england and scotland. northern ireland, heavy, slow—moving showers. still a few showers in the south and breezy, so it won't feel the 18 or 19 that we might see but it will be gradually drying up. sunday looks as if the winds ease, the rains pulling away, but there'll still be plenty of showers around. so, not ideal but it does look like at the moment look like the drier, slightly warmer day of the weekend. as ever, there's more on the website.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: commemorations mark the 75th anniversary of d—day, which helped liberate europe from the nazis. 75 years ago, hundreds of thousands of young soldiers, sailors and airmen left these shores in the cause of freedom. more than 300 veterans were there, most in their 90s, to remember one of the biggest military operations in history. i was terrified, i think everyone was. you don't show it, but it's there. i'm honoured to be stood here today in front of so many other veterans.