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tv   BBC News  BBC News  September 8, 2019 2:00pm-2:30pm BST

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this is bbc news. the headlines at two. after her resignation from the cabinet and the conservative whip, amber rudd attacks borisjohnson‘s handling of brexit. there's not enough work going into actually getting a deal, which is, i think, is not what the prime minister signed up to try to do, and secondly, the expulsion of 21 of my colleagues who are good moderate conservatives. british airways pilots prepare to go on strike — for the first time in the airline's history. another day of anger in hong kong as radical pro—democracy protesters attack a metro station. peace talks between the taliban and the us are called off — president trump blames a deadly attack in the afghan capital, kabul. ships and aircraft evacuate thousands of people from islands in the bahamas worst hit by hurricane dorian. aid agencies say the situation is "desperate".
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and coming up at 2.30 — we'll be taking a look back at the week in parliament. senior ministers have rejected claims by their former cabinet colleague, amber rudd, that securing a new brexit deal is no longer the government's main objective. amber rudd, who resigned last night as work and pensions secretary, said up to 90% of the government's time is now spent preparing for a no deal departure at the end of october. she described the expulsion of 21 conservative mps who oppose no deal as "an assault on decency and democracy". our political correspondent helen catt reports. amber rudd says that when she accepted a post in borisjohnson‘s cabinet she did
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so in good faith, believing he wanted a brexit deal, but since then she had seen little evidence the government was putting in enough preparation to get one. there is this huge machine preparing for no—deal, which is fine. you might expect 50/50 in terms of work but it is 80% of government time going into preparing for no—deal. she now says she will sit as an independent mp instead of a conservative. 21 colleagues were expelled last week. i know i couldn't carry on working at such a high level and see 21 of my colleagues who are good, moderate people, who also want a deal, excluded from it and i needed to move and stand by them. tomorrow, the bill the 21 mps gave up their party careers for becomes law. it says if borisjohnson cannot reach an agreement by the end
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of an eu summit on the 19th of october then he must ask the eu for a further delay to brexit, to january next year. 0pposition parties are sceptical that mrjohnson will try to get a deal. we don't believe we can pin him down and i don't trust him an inch and i don't think anyone does. we have got a prime minister now who says he won't even abide by the law. by the law. i have never heard that before. we are in a situation now where no one can trust while he is in place what will happen. the chancellor sajid javid said the government is in brexit talks and would obey the law, but the uk would still leave the eu on the 31st of october. of course we will obey the law... after that council the prime minister would ask for an extension because that is the law of this country. we will not change our policy. how does this work? it is baffling.
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you say you will obey the law but not do that one thing, it is hard to see how you get out of that. dominic raab has said the government will not test what the law required. will test what the law required. as for boris johnson, he enters yet another crucial week one more mp down, but still insisting brexit will happen next month. this afternoon the lord chancellor, robert buckland, has tweeted quashing any rumours of his future. and helen is with me now. you don't have to be a genius to
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interpret that from making clear the law has to be o weighed but there is the least studied ambiguity over what downing street is going to do next. absolutely, this law the benn bill has it is known is due to get royal assent. that means boris johnson will be forced to ask for an extension and delay to brexit if he hasn't got a brexit deal by 19th 0ctober. hasn't got a brexit deal by 19th october. you heard san sang saying we won't be doing that —— sajid javid but saying we will obey the law, how you square that circle isn't clear. we heard dominic raab this morning the foreign secretary suggesting they would test to the limits what this law requires, so there is some sort, lack of clarity i think about quite how the government intends to address that and to deal with the requirements that law would place on them. this has been a torrid seven day, it doesn't look like it is going to get easier tomorrow. lord young who resigned from the government was on the radio. he said he could only see
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one day out, the withdrawal agreement gets amended by brussels consent, some deal gets cooked up. that goes through the common, even if some tories and the dup won't back it and that is the only way out, otherwise you are heading for a kind of, a situation that can't be resolved nid other way, parliament has narrowed the options for the prime minister. are the opposition that confident? they are in a stra ig htly that confident? they are in a straightly tricky place, they won't be giving boris johnson straightly tricky place, they won't be giving borisjohnson the election he want, they feel they should make him go to the summit and try to get the deal. they say they want to make it impossible for a no—deal brexit to happen, before they will agree to go to the polls so it puts him in a slightly opposition to have opposition parties voting against an election, but they seem to be sticking to that, so it will be interesting to see how it pans out. what do we expect tomorrow, because this is the last day parliament is
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sitting for several weeks. yes, because of that order to prorogue parliament. we don't foe when that is going to happen but the queen's order states it could be as soon as tomorrow but no later than thursday, so some tomorrow but no later than thursday, so some point in the next four days it is expected parliament will be suspended. tomorrow we have a packed old day in the common, there is no such thing as a quiet monday any more. first off we will see, we expect to see royal aseven, the queen's sign off on that bill, trying to block a no—deal brexit. we will also see that attempt by boris johnson, we are expecting to try and get another early general election, it is expected he will try and do that again through the fixed—term parliaments act. it is expected to failagain, parliaments act. it is expected to fail again, because the opposition parties are saying we won't vote for that. boris johnson parties are saying we won't vote for that. borisjohnson has been writing in the papers saying this is labour's last chance and if it doesn't happen the government will carry on regardless. regardless. he
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is adamant we will leave the eu at the end of the month. thank you. meanwhile, the business secretary, andrea leadsom, has said the conservatives will break convention by fielding a candidate against the commons speaker, john bercow, at the next general election. traditionally, the major parties do not contest the speaker's seat — but mr bercow‘s handling of recent brexit debates has angered ministers. simonjones reports. 0rder! 0rder. in the seat for the crucial vote... the ayes to the right, 327. noes to the left, 299. ..when mps backed the bill aimed at blocking a no—deal brexit at the end of october. butjohn bercow is now underfire from the business secretary. andrea leadsom says that by allowing mps to use a procedure to trigger emergency debate as a means of taking over the timetable, he has permitted a flagrant abuse
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of parliamentary process. in the mail on sunday, the business secretary writes... the speaker is an mp who stands in general elections but is usually unopposed by the major political parties. mrs leadsom is warning that the conservatives will defy convention and field a candidate in his constituency of buckingham in the next vote. there is no love lost between mrs leadsom and mr bercow. last year, he was alleged to have labelled her "stupid", although he said he muttered the word to describe how he felt about the way the government had scheduled commons business. he is yet to comment on the latest criticisms. simon jones, bbc news. the liberal democrats have picked up their third mp in a week. angela smith, who defected from the labour party earlier this year, has left
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the independent group for change to join up withjo swinson‘s party. she described the lib dems as the "strongest party to stop brexit". the labourmp,john mann, says he's stepping down after 18 years in parliament, and has launched a strong attack onjeremy corbyn. in an interview with the sunday times, he accused the labour leader of giving the "green light" to anti—semites in the party. he'll take up the full—time post as the government's anti—semitism tsar. delays are expected on british airways flights later today ahead of a pilots' strike which is due to begin at midnight. the dispute is over pay and conditions. most ba flights taking off from the uk on monday and tuesday have been cancelled. our business correspondent katie prescott has the details. for the first time in the company's history, british airways pilots are refusing to fly. the pilots' union says they accepted pay freezes when ba made losses, and they now want to share in its success. they want to see a greater size of the £2 billion profit
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they want to see a greater slice of the £2 billion profit that ba made last year. pilots have rejected their offer of an 11.5% pay rise over the next three years, and the strike is expected to cost the company £40 million per day. but british airways says it's a generous offer that's been accepted by the rest of staff on the airline. of course, in the middle of all of this are the passengers — 300,000 of them are being affected over the next few days. they were warned about these strikes weeks ago, and the company says that most have been rebooked. but, for many, thatjourney hasn't been smooth. got a text message out of the blue stating that my flight was cancelled, and it didn't give any explanation whatsoever — itjust gave a telephone number to call, which i did do, and couldn't get through on the phone. spent basically all evening... didn't sleep very well because ijust thought my holiday was in ruins. any passengers who are affected by the strikes are entitled to a refund or a rebooking — with british airways or another airline.
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thousands of pro—democracy activists have marched to the us consulate in hong kong to urge america to support their bid for political reform. some of them carried the us flag, the stars and stripes, and called for president trump to "liberate" the territory. china claims the united states is orchestrating the protests, which have been going on for three months. 0ur correspondent in hong kong, steve mcdonell, is following developments. today's protest in hong kong threatens to drive something of a diplomatic wedge in between beijing and washington. that is because, in their tens and thousands, demonstrators have come out calling on washington to take a tougher stance on their city. they want congress to pass a bill which would mean that, in order for hong kong to enjoy this special trading status, the special trading privileges from the united states, they would have to pass an annual human rights test. now, this has bipartisan support, so there is some sense that such a bill is going
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to pass in washington. butjust to make sure, in their thousands, activists are marching to the united states consulate. it is somewhat of a risky strategy, because imagine if hong kong does not pass this annual human rights test, and loses it special trading status in north america, it would drive the economy down and that could lead to an even bigger crackdown from beijing. it is something of a risky strategy. however, in the minds of the pro—democracy movement, they believe it is worth leveraging some of this momentum that they have and some of the concern being generated in washington, as people have seen this political crisis and have wondered whether or not the government in hong kong really enjoys the political autonomy it is supposed to have. the other thing we are seeing here today — "five demands, not one less", they are calling out. itjust shows even though carrie lam's administration has now officially canned this much—hated extradition bill, which would have allowed people to be sent to mainland china's courts, controlled by the communist party, that is not enough. they say one is gone, four more to go. if the government in hong kong hoped that by taking the bill off
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the table there would be no more large protests here, as you can see, that is not the case. itjust shows even though carrie lam's administration has now officially canned this much—hated extradition bill, which would have allowed people to be sent to mainland china's courts, controlled by the communist party, that is not enough. they say one is gone, four more to go. if the government in hong kong hoped that by taking the bill off the table there would be no more large protests here, as you can see, that is not the case. president trump says he has called
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off peace negotiations with the taliban after they admitted they were behind a recent attack that killed an american soldier in afghanistan. the bombing on thursday killed 12 people. president trump has been seeking to negotiate a us exit from afghanistan after 18 years of war. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet is in kabul, and gave us this update. what a diplomatic bombshell by president trump. it had been widely anticipated any day he would announce that there was an historic deal between the us and the afghan taliban, which would begin to end america's longest war and put afghanistan on the road to peace. instead, in these extraordinary tweets, that he posted, in what was the middle of the night here in afghanistan, he revealed he had invited taliban leaders and the
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afg ha n invited taliban leaders and the afghan president to his presidential retreat camp david, now it was off, and the nearly year of talks with the taliban, so it is an extraordinary turn of event, president trump cited one attack which killed an american soldier, but afghans are living with almost daily attacks by the taliban, they have welcomed this move saying until the taliban stop this violence there can be no moves towards peace. let me bring you some latest update on this, this reaction from the taliban who according to reuters have said, americans will suffer more than anyone else forkan selling these peace talks. the headlines on bbc news. after her resignation from the cabinet and the conservative whip — amber rudd attacks borisjohnson's handling of brexit.
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british airways pilots prepare to go on strike — for the first time in the airline's history. another day of anger in hong kong as radical pro—democracy protesters attack a metro station. the tuc‘s annual congress begins today in brighton, with government funding, wages and job security high on the agenda. last week the chancellor announced an end to austerity with an additional £13.8 billion of investment in areas including health, education and the police. however, a tuc report out today claims that local government will faces a £25 billion funding gap by 2025. duncan kennedy is at the conference. afternoon duncan. good afternoon. welcome to the 151st tuc conference, we are here in a sunny brighton today at the start of four days of debate, an organise that sees itself as increasingly relevant. representing now 48 unions, and 5.5 million worker, now, although we do
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have four days of debate ahead, they are likely to be dominated by the whole brexit issue, but where does the tuc stand on this? are they in lock step with the rest of the labour movement? the liberal democrats, the conservative party defectors ? democrats, the conservative party defectors? let us find out with the general secretary of the tuc. frances 0'grady. thank you for your time. cani frances 0'grady. thank you for your time. can i get your reaction to the decision by amber rudd to quit the cabinet and leave the tory whip, what do row think is behind that, do you week that? it is more proof we can't trust boris johnson, and you week that? it is more proof we can't trust borisjohnson, and more reasons why we should all hold our nerves and get no—deal taken off the table. what amber rudd said, what is clear, £2 billion has been spent on preparing for no—deal, money that could have gone into the nhs, but what is clear is there hasn't been any serious negotiation to get a deal with the eu. that is what everybody should want to see, so, worrying times. you have supported
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the move by mps to block boris johnson from leaving without a no—deal. six in ten of your members, union members voted to remain, but fourin union members voted to remain, but four in ten did vote to leave, in the referendum, that is quite a lot of people, 52% of those who voted in the referendum, voted to leave. many of those preferring to come out without a deal. do you really represent your members if you have a large albeit minority opposed to your position? we have managed to bring everybody together round what should matter, what really matters to working people. we want a deal a brexit deal, an outcome that protects people's jobs, brexit deal, an outcome that protects people'sjobs, their rights and works and protects the goof agreement. that will is something we can all agree on, if government took that as its starting point instead of the macho threatening that is not getting anywhere, we could come up
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with an agreement that would work for everybody. but for many labour supporters who might be union members they can see an ideal world straightaway leaving the eu, go for other regulations to govern our economy that would protect those job, why do we have to do it this way when they voted to leave on 31st october? the government's owned a vice admits there wouldn't be bumps along the road there would be earthquakes in terms ofjobs, we know up to 500,000 jobs could go, we know up to 500,000 jobs could go, we know that prices would go up in the shop, it would be more difficult to get medicines through, if we are getting delays at port, every minute of delay pushes the cost up and makes life more difficult for people here. it seems to me none of us want that, no—deal would be a disaster for us and it is an empty threat, for us and it is an empty threat, for sure it would hurt the eu, but it would hurt us a lot more. briefly you mentioned a list about fuel prices going up, less money for the nhs, medical shortages for cancer
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patient, could you not be accused of indulining in your own project fear. this is project real. we have real people on the end of these decisions and they are fed up being used as pawned in a political game. this is too important, and frankly boris johnson isn't above the law, none of us are johnson isn't above the law, none of us are above the law. he should respect it like everybody else. take no—deal off the table and concentrate on getting a deal with brussels. thank you very much for your time. the brexit debate here at the tuc begins later on this afternoon, there will be big beasts from the labour party itself. keir starmer the shadow brexit secretary and jeremy corbyn will address the conference this week, which as i said is almost certainly going to be dominated by brexit. hard to imagine it won't be. thank you duncan.
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ships and aircraft are helping to move thousands of people from the islands in the bahamas worst hit by hurricane dorian. 0ne cruise ship with more than a thousand evacuees has arrived in florida. aid agencies say the situation on great abaco island is desperate, with residents unable to find food or clean water. at the moment, the death toll in the bahama is 43 — but is expected to increase with hundreds still missing. earlier i spoke to darren tosh, the executive director at samaritan's purse — a christian humanitarian aid organization that has airlifted an emergency field hospital and a medical team to the bahamas. we have been airlifting supplies into the bahamas, we have been able to deliver at least five rotations of leaf, there is 30 tonnes of shelter supplies that are in country, desam anisation units essential for getting freshwater to people. the situation on the ground requires that we end up getting into shelter and with freshwater. equally we have been working with the ministry of health and the world health organization to be delivering an emergency field hospital, and the
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field hospital is up and run today. we can report that i can take up to 100 patients a day, with a delivery unit as well. on grand bah haar ma island this field hospital is providing essential care for those rescued who need recovery, so our tea m rescued who need recovery, so our team is active and trying to do our best to be able to get relief supplies into the remote area, the situation is tough, we are having to use barges an our helicopter to be delivering into the most remote areas to ensure people are getting life—saving supplies. a bomb has been found close to the border in northern ireland. the police service of northern ireland say the improvised device was discovered near the police station in strabane in county tyrone. it was found during a security alert which began yesterday morning. the chief constable of the psni, simon byrne, said it was a callous attempt to kill or maim police officers. a man has been arrested under terrorism legislation.
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controversial local elections are under way in moscow and other russian towns and cities. earlier president putin cast his vote in the capital. the vote follows some of the biggest protests seen in years in moscow against the exclusion of many opposition candidates wanting to stand in the poll. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford is at an election booth in the capital. voting is under way at this polling station in moscow. a theatre in the city centre that has been converted for this local election. the turnout has been fairly slow. a trickle of people this morning. this entire local election doesn't normally attract much attention but this year it has been different. that is because there had been mass protests because of the elections over the past few weeks. a summer of discontent, some people have been calling it. the biggest protests that russia has seen in years. that is because real, genuine opposition candidates were excluded from registration. they were not allowed to run for this parliament. so whilst the ballot papers and signs and posters like this at all the polling stations show the candidates, the opposition say there is no real choice.
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the key opposition figure here in russia has called for smart voting, for people to vote for the candidate most likely to oust or to beat their candidate from the ruling party, united russia. the question is, how effective that can be? some people simply can't vote for a communist or a nationalist. the authorities are doing everything they possibly can to make this an election that brings people to the polls and to make it as fun as possible, with activities here for all the family, from balloon twisting to face painting. 0ur moscow correspondent. pope francis has warned that the future of the planet
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is under threat from deforestation. he was speaking on the island of madagascar, as part of his african tour. 0ur religion editor, martin bashir, reports. pope francis was greeted with a military guard of honour as he landed in madagascar, the second stop on his visit to three african nations. in a country where 40% of forests have disappeared in the last 60 years, he warned against rampant exploitation, some of which he said was illegal. translation: the deterioration of that biodiversity compromises the future of the country and of the earth, our common home. as you know, the last forests are menaced by fires, poaching, and the unrestricted cutting down of valuable woodlands. plant and animal biodiversity is endangered by contraband and illegal exportation. at a youth vigil on saturday evening, he focused his attention on the human capital of the country, encouraging young catholics
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to turn away from apathy and towards service. the pope's visit here will conclude later this morning as he presides at a special open air mass, which is expected to attract more than 800,000 people. martin bashir, bbc news, madagascar. sir mo farah has become the first athlete to win the great north run for a sixth consecutive time. he beat off compeitition from tamarit tola of ethiopia to win the race in 59 minutes and seven seconds — his fastest ever time at the great north run and his fastest half marathon. i have enjoyed obviously finishing off the great north run but last couple of years it has been, you know, middle of the marathon preparation so i have five weeks to chicago, it was good to test myself, iam sure chicago, it was good to test myself, i am sure we will have a chat with gary a i am sure we will have a chat with garya go i am sure we will have a chat with gary a go through a few more things but i think things are looking good. soiam but i think things are looking good. so i am happy with a win today.
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gl who will have to run the furthest to find the sunshine today darren? probably you and i because we are stuck in the studio. there is is a lot of sunshine, perfect weather for the great north run earlier on as we saw there. there is some cloud round, it is spilling more into northern ireland, and western scotland, so perhaps the cloud will bring some drizzle. it will be dry with sunny spells, warm in the sunshine but chilly when the cloud comes over, temperatures 16-18. the the cloud comes over, temperatures 16—18. the weather will change, we have rain lurking in the north—west. that will push further across scotland, into northern ireland, heavy rain, and that will work into wales, western england but with a lot of cloud tonight, it won't be as cold as last night. for eastern
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parts of england we will find patchy rain, there will be a lot of cloud tomorrow, outbreaks of rain, through the afternoon northern areas sees the afternoon northern areas sees the rain east easing offer and it may brighten up a touch. the worst of the rain will continue across wales and south—west. a chilly day with that cloud round, temperatures typically only 14 or 15 degrees. hello this is bbc news, the headlines. after her resignation from the cabinet and the conservative whip — amber rudd attacks borisjohnson's handling of brexit. there's not enough work going into actually getting a deal,
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which is, i think, is not what the prime minister signed up to try to do, and secondly, the expulsion of 21 of my colleagues who are good moderate conservatives. british airways pilots prepare to go on strike — for the first time in the airline's history. another day of anger in hong kong as radical pro—democracy protesters attack a metro station. peace talks between the taliban and the us are called off — president trump blames a deadly attack in the afghan capital, kabul. ships and aircraft evacuate thousands of people from islands in the bahamas worst hit by hurricane dorian — aid agencies say the situation is ‘desperate'. now on bbc news — let's take a look back at the week in parliament.

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