the house of representatives has voted overwhelmingly to condemn president trump's decision to withdraw american forces from north—eastern syria, leaving the kurds to face a turkish invasion. more than 100 republicans voted with the democrats. british and eu negotiators are still trying to hammer out the legal text for a brexit agreement, but say the outlines of a deal have now emerged. eu leaders are meeting later on thursday for a two—day summit. if no extension is agreed the uk is due to leave the eu at the end of october. the leader of the spanish region of catalonia has called for an immediate end to the violent street protests by catalan separatists that have shaken barcelona for a third night. quim torra, who wants independence from spain, said the movement should remain peaceful and there was no excuse for burning cars. you're up—to—date on the headlines.

it's about 2:30am. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. hello again, and welcome to wednesday in parliament. brexit deal or no—deal, mps are told we're leaving the week after next. would you be comfortable with a short technical extension to get it done? no, i think it is important that we leave on the slst of october. where next for immigration policy? a voice of experience speaks. it's possible that the home office has come up with... the best brains have come up with a very good scheme, but i would simply urge the home secretary and the home office to look very carefully at the lessons that have been learned in the past. and gender wars on the committee corridor. the more socialist the country, perhaps the better.

i'm not going to be lectured by a man on the best place to be a woman. i don't think you've got any equity in this. all that to come and more. but first, the last day at westminster before the key european summit in brussels was dominated by speculation about whether a brexit deal might be done and what the stumbling blocks to an agreement might be. negotiations had continued into tuesday night and resumed on wednesday morning. mps, like the rest of us, tried to find out what was going on. members of the brexit committee wanted to know if there was no deal by the weekend, would borisjohnson obey the law, known as the benn act, which would oblige him to ask the eu to delay brexit untiljanuary. can you confirm that if there is no agreement reached which is approved by parliament on saturday, that by the end of the day, the prime minister will write the letter that he is required to send by the european union withdrawal no 2 act? i can confirm as the prime minister

has repeatedly set out that firstly the government will comply with the law, and secondly it will comply with undertakings given to the court in respect of the law. ok, but if the prime minister sends the letter and he's promised to do that, and you confirm that, and if an extension to the 31st of january is offered and he has promised to accept it because that is what the court in scotland was told, can you explain then how the uk is going to leave the eu on the 31st of october because the two things don't square, do they? well, i think, to quote the speaker, we'll cross that bridge in due course, is the way the speaker would put it. i think there's number of variables that apply to what is a complex piece of legislation. but the first way of meeting the test that you set have out through your legislation is to have a deal. and the full effort of government is focused on that. that is why i was in luxembourg yesterday, why the technical team were in discussions past midnight uk

time last night, it's why those discussions are ongoing as we speak. and we are absolutely committed to securing a deal. we think that is in the interests of both sides. the snp thought borisjohnson might have a cunning plan to get around that law. there have been various media reports and one of your fellow ministers, andrea leadsom, has been on television saying there is an intention to send a letter seeking an extension in terms of the benn act and then sending another letter saying that's not really what we want to do, we want something else. i'm sure the attorney general will have advised you that to do that would be to frustrate the purpose of the act and therefore to breach the undertakings given to the court. that's right, isn't it? what i am very clear on as a member of the government is it's my duty to follow the law. and we will do so and the prime minister will stand

by the commitments he has given to the court. so, is there a plan to send two letters? i'm not aware of any such plan. 0k. with the brexit clock ticking, tensions occasionally surfaced among committee members, with tories andrea jenkyns and first craig mackinlay putting the cross into cross—party. i'm just wondering what we're doing here. i mean, you've had the floor now for 20 minutes. i doubt there's any member who'll have the floor for 20 minutes during this discussion this morning. and i would welcome an opportunity for others to speak. yes, others willall go... and you, with respect, are rather biased because you're pushing the benn act through. your comments are noted. a few minutes later, andrea jenkyns did get her say. do you believe the benn act has weakened the negotiating hand of our country? i think it has been unhelpful in negotiations absolutely. but what i think is recognised both in the eu and the uk is the time is now for a deal.

i think that was certainly reflected in the discussions i had yesterday is there is a desire to have a deal. a recognition that it is in both sides' interest to do so. and the teams are working extremely hard in order to take that forward. one of the big issues is how northern ireland agrees to new customs arrangements. the stormont assembly hasn't met for more than two years. a dup mp warned that any customs deal that affected northern ireland had to have not only the agreement of the stormont assembly, but also the consent of nationalist and unionist communities. all i really wanted to hear from you today is that the terms of the belfast agreement, which everyone seems to want to defend, will be the terms on which consent for opting into arrangements which diminish the powers of the northern ireland assembly, which will treat northern ireland differently to a certain extent than the rest of the united kingdom, that that consent be sought

on the basis of the agreement. well, as i've underscored and i think the best reference back is to what the prime minister himself wrote, and what the prime minister himself wrote was of our commitment to finding solutions which are compatible with the belfast good friday agreement and the prime minister has been very consistent on that. but stephen barclay rejected a suggestion that brexit could be further delayed. if it does look like we can get a deal in the coming days and it looks like we will need a bit more time to do the legalese around it, would you be comfortable with a short technical extension to get it done? no, i think it is important that we leave on the 31st of october. i think the house has demonstrated through the benn legislation, through the cooper legislation, its ability to legislate in a quick manner.

i think many of these issues have been discussed. i think the one issue that most people don't feel is that the house of commons has discussed brexit or the withdrawal agreement on enough occasions. i think the issues are very well— known to colleagues, and i think the important thing is, and particularly as i say when i listen to the voices of business and also to many constituents and citizens, they want to get brexit done. an on—message stephen barclay. now, the transport secretary has revealed that up to 70% of exporters arriving at ports won't have the correct paperwork if the uk leaves the eu without a deal. the government has made contingency plans under operation yellowhammer

for a no—deal scenario. they include procedures to tackle traffic queues created by delays at ports and plans to divert vehicles to lorry parks. there's also been a campaign to inform hauliers about the documents that they would need. grant shapps updated the transport committee with the most recent figures. the previous set of yellowhammer preparedness had us saying that as low as 15% of people could turn up ready, but it could be as high as 50%. so it's 15—50, and now that's risen to 30—60. so we think the overall impact has been that many more people will now turn up ready with the right paperwork to cross the channel. and just to clarify, this is not an issue of traffic coming in. this is not an issue of imports, because we're not imposing new day one restrictions. so things can flow

into this country. it's obviously an issue of export. as a third country, we would be in a position of needing to have the correct paperwork, for example, to export into france, and it's the french who will be stopping it. the issue is that on the short straits, the dover—calais, that run, it's a closed loop. so if lorries can't get one way, they can't get back again. and that's where the problems would occur. grant shapps's appearance before the committee was his first in his new role. mps were keen to tackle the subject of railways. the introduction of new train timetables by northern in may last year caused chaos. a review called it "a massive failure" of the rail industry that led to severe hardship for commuters across the north of england. grant shapps had news for the committee about the future of the north of england's largest rail commuter service.

if you are on northern, if you're listening to this or watching this and you are a northern passenger, you are probably as frustrated as i was over the 2018 timetable changes on my railway, which is great northern. which is... but with northern, it's failed to recover. and in fact, i can tell you on that basis that i said to the prime minister i want to go back to the theme of getting the trains to run on time. i want to see a recovery in our... i'm not sure it's even a recovery, probably for the first time real punctuality on our trains. so that was a big, big area of concern, and you may have seen recent speculation in the press about the sustainability of the northern franchise. and actually i can tell the committee that i've already actually issued requests

for proposals from both arriva and the operator of last resort because i consider that it cannot continue delivering in the current delivery method. and we know the financial pressures that have been talked about, i think, in recent speculation. do you think, given what you've just told the committee, that northern should have the franchise removed and we should move to the operator of last resort? as you all know, i can't go further in terms of commenting because of the commercial sensitivity and because it's a proper process to go through. but a request for proposals is to kick that process off. i entirely believe that things cannot carry on. as a sort of fellow long—suffering commuter, i entirely believe we cannot carry on just thinking it's ok for trains not to arrive or sunday services not to be in place and so on and so forth. so that simply has to change. so it would be fair to say you're taking it seriously? yeah, absolutely. grant shapps.

you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. still to come: borisjohnson calls them "uncooperative crusties", but are the police right to ban climate change protesters? theresa may has criticised boris johnson's plans for a new immigration policy. the former prime minister warned that the proposed points—based system could be open to abuse. she was speaking during a third day of debate on the queen's speech that set out the government's programme. the debate was opened by the home secretary, priti patel, who told mps that keeping people safe was at the heart of the government's agenda. the people of our united kingdom need to know that day and night, no matter what the crime, the police and the security services have the power and the resources they need to ensure that criminals are brought to justice.

they want to be reassured that we are working to tackle the senseless and sickening violence which has destroyed lives on our streets and in people's homes. and that serious criminality will lead to the tough sentences and justice for the victims of crime. in the nine years that i sat with her on those benches, the very determined policy of the conservative party was to reduce the prison population by the careful introduction of all manner of sentences and indeed the support of suspended sentences which have great power. isn't the real way to help our police is to ensure we have a criminaljustice service that is fit for purpose? it needs our courts to be able to hear trials quickly. and at the moment, there are two years of delay in most cases. i thank the right honourable lady for her intervention. she will of course recognise it through the legislative programme to this queen's speech, there are greater investments

in the justice system and with that, of course, this will address the whole issue in terms of the time it takes to prosecute cases and to bring aboutjustice for victims and i think the whole house will welcome the investment that is now being put forward by the government. but according to labour, you can't trust a tory with the public services. we know what she herself thinks of the working people of britain from her own book, britannia unchained, "the worst idlers in the world", she called us, mr speaker, and this government has cut every bit of support for ordinary working people while shoveling endless sums to big business, the banks and the billionaires. the simple truth is that they are the party for the tax dodgers not the taxpayers. they are not standing up to the elite, mr speaker, they are the elites! the home secretary objected and called for a retraction. the honourable lady has referred to something that she claims i have written in a book and those are not my words and i would

like that corrected. well, it is incumbent upon each member to take responsibility for the veracity of what he or she says in the chamber. if a member feels that an error has been made, it is responsibility of that member to withdraw. mr speaker, i think everybodyjust heard what the home secretary said but the truth is my understanding is that she is part of that book and the author of that book so therefore, if she want to distance herself from those words, mr speaker, that's for her to do that. the next speaker was a familiar one, a former home secretary and, of course, an ex—pm. theresa may said there were many "excellent" bills in the queen's speech, but she was concerned about plans for a new immigration system. i note that there been many references recently to a point based system of immigration. in 2010 when i became home secretary, one of the challenges i faced was dealing with the abuse that had arisen in the immigration system. largely enabled by the labour party's points—based immigration system. so it's possible that the home

office has come up with, best brains have come up with a very good scheme. but i would simply urge the home secretary in the home office to look very carefully at the lessons that have been learned in the past in relation to points—based systems, which in themselves are not an answer to controlling immigration and can allow abuse to take place. the snp said there were "significa nt" problems with the current immigration system for example, visitors' visas. i have so many people because visitors visas cannot be appealed, people apply for visitor visas, they fill out the forms diligently and correctly, only to find them refused because the home office officials can't distinguish between opening and closing balance of a bank account. 0r because they used the wrong means of using the foreign exchange to calculate a currency or because they don't believe that somebody who has been to visit half a dozen times before is going to go back to their country. all they want to do is come

and visit somebody and whether it's to see a mum whose child is dying, whether it is to see an elderly relative or something just to come and visit. alison thewliss. and the queen's speech debate continues on thursday. back to the committee corridor now, it was that sort of day, and the international trade secretary liz truss has dismissed as "defeatist" suggestions that it'll be challenging to strike up free—trade deals with the us after brexit. liz truss told mps on the international trade committee that britain would be leading the way on freeing up trade and fending off protectionist tendencies. in terms of world trade volumes, we seen almost a 5% reduction since the middle of last year, which is an enormous change by historic and global standards. do you think brexit is going to be a good thing in terms of increasing the volume of trade or a very bad thing where we have more or less? so i think it's going to be a good thing. i am very worried about the growing protectionism across the world.

i'm extremely concerned about the tit—for—tat tariff battles that we are seeing. she said the uk, after brexit, would be an important voice for international trade. i think we are more of a free trading nation than some of the eu's tendencies are and i think we can be a positive voice in that debate. do you not worry that frankly it seems i think to many people, businesses and citizens implausible for us to be arguing that we are going to increase trade and we are going to be a more free trading nation in an era in which we have got this enormous downturn in global volumes of trade and we've got a new era protectionism that appeals to be biting across the world. you began your remarks here today saying you've had to make repeated pleas to our american counterparts not to introduce punitive tariffs on british goods. most people i thinkjust cannot believe what you're saying. do you not worry that it just sounds incredible?

at the same time, as we are facing increased protectionist noises right across the world, we are seeing new free trading agreements being struck. i think one of the motivations for brexit was being more open to the rest of the world. and that... having this deal where we are able to have our own independent rules and regulations, where we are able to have our own independent trade policy, is part of that agenda. becoming more open to the rest of the world. liz truss, who is also minister for women and equalities, rejected studies suggesting that women could be worse off after brexit. women's rights in britain and being a woman in britain is better than pretty much anywhere else in the world. we don't become a more successful country by becoming less productive or giving our

people less opportunity. that'sjust nonsense and it's not what our vision is. frankly, the fastest way to cause an economic crash in this country would be to elect a government who are proposing marxist solutions, ie the current leader of the labour party. as a matter of fact, it is not the best place to be, it is the 13th best and was upended by the socialist sweden, denmark and norway according to business insider. iam not i am not going to be lectured — i'm not going to be lectured by a man on the best place to be a woman. the united states ranks at 16th. the more socialistic country, then perhaps the better. i don't think you've got any equity in this. this is what we are told, don't shoot the messenger, please. angus brendan macneil.

climate change activists are trying to get a london—wide ban on their protests overturned. the extinction rebellion group is seeking a judicial review of the ban, which was introduced after a week of protests in the city. the metropolitan police began clearing protesters on monday. the force said it decided to impose the rules after "continued breaches" of conditions which limited the demonstrations to trafalgar square. in the house of lords, the ban was both welcomed and criticised. could i ask the minister whether she thinks that the matter of citizens right to having a voice is a question of democracy? and given that, does she think that actually a blanket ban across the whole of london for an indefinite period is a proportionate response, which is what is required by the act? today, of course, the minister will know that a judicial review proceedings have been started. but can she undertake that whatever the outcome of that review some of the government will give further guidance on what the word proportionate means?

my lords, the word "proportionate" is long—established in the law and the noble lady asks is it democratic to have a citizen's voice, well of course it's democratic to have a citizen's voice. it disrupts the lives of others to have public disorder and we have seen this for the last couple of weeks where it has been impossible to get around the centre of london. police have the powers to ban a protest of the public order act of 1986. if "there is a belief that it may cause serious disruption to the life of the community." of course, the decision has to proportionate. and clearly the view as to what constitutes a serious disruption is somewhat subjective. in the light of that subjectivity, it's surprising the mayor of london was apparently not made aware the police were going to impose this ban. in view of responsibility the mayor has for the metropolitan police and the fact that many would

regard this as a ban on freedom of speech in the right of peaceful and the potential thin edge of the wedge. he asked what constitutes serious disruption might be subjective but nobody could have actually gone around london the last two weeks could argue that this was not serious disruption. to london. my lords. both the liberal party and labour party, when it comes down to it are not prepared to stand up for hard—working people in this country going about their business, and indeed, are prepared to support tactics which have nothing to do with free speech, which have resulted in huge congestion, pollution and the very things that some of the protesters said that they are concerned about. and is it not a disgrace that the mayor of london is not prepared to support the police in carrying out their duties? well, i think i have to agree with my friend on all counts there. and that point about hard—working

people, i saw the protesters be described last week as "glastonbury meets waitrose" some of people i think who do not know what it is like to have to use the tube because you simply cannot use the bus. and it does affect people in their pockets, particularly the hard—working people of london. these are difficult judgements and on the last occassion on the classification of the essential rebellion cured of their process, the police are criticised for failing to take action. and here we see them criticised perhaps for taking too much was or is a difficult position to land fairly. but surely when we have got the threat of airports being closed and when the tube system being shut down this is a serious matter for london as it is for the country generally for some and perhaps of this power on this occasion is a reasonable response.

i declare an interest as the major litigant in the case that has come to court today challenging the mets application of section 1a powers over the whole of london. and ijust would like to ask the noble lady, minister, surely it would be cheaper for the government to start a deal with climate change than to try to suppress protests? i think we're talking about two entirely different things. because nobody, nobody disputes the right to protest. everyone is well educated on some of the climactic changes that have been taken place in front of us. this is about bringing a capital city to a standstill. lady williams, who knows her waitrose from her glastonbury. that's it from wednesday in parliament. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for the latest from the commons and the lords. until then, bye for now.

hello, good morning. wednesday started on a dull and damp note for many parts of the country. once that rain cleared away, though, we did see some sunshine. a chance to dry off, though, although a lot of the ground is still saturated, and there are a couple of flood warnings still out there. but following the sunshine, the clearer skies have meant it's turned quite chilly, particularly for the eastern side of the uk. where we had that cloud earlier on, we've now got the clearer skies, but looking out to the west, you can see that swirl of cloud there. it's producing showers or longer spells of rain. it marks the position of what is at the moment quite a deep area of low pressure. that's drifting towards the uk, already arriving in western areas. further east, though, with those clearer skies, temperatures may be low enough in eastern scotland to give us a touch of frost. further west, it will be milder, but you've already got a few showers. the breeze is picking up, and we'll see more and more showers arriving across the western side

of the uk, blown in by some strong and blustery winds, which will also push the showers through the english channel and then move them inland, into the south—east of england and the midlands. but i think, for north—east england and north—east scotland, it should be largely dry. should be some decent sunshine. a much better day in north—east scotland than it was on wednesday. 13—15 degrees, that's near normal for this time of the year. so, through thursday, increasing numbers of showers. those showers will continue during thursday evening and thursday night, some of them heavy, accompanied by some rather blustery winds, which will keep the temperatures a bit higher. it should be a milder night, typically 6—8 degrees. we may stay in double figures across more southern parts of england. more sunshine and showers to come on friday. a good deal of them around coastal areas to begin with, but we'll see them developing inland, and some fairly frequent showers getting blown in on the strongest of the winds in the south—west of england and wales. 12—15 degrees, so those numbers at the moment not really changing a great deal. let's head into the weekend, and remember, at the moment, low pressure is about here. but, as we move into the weekend, the low pressure is moving right

across into the uk. it's not as deep an area of low pressure, but it will continue to bring sunshine and showers or longer spells of rain. longer spells of rain certainly blown in across scotland. the bulk of the showers further south, around coastal areas, developing inland, and with the low pressure right over england and wales, some slow—moving heavy and thundery downpours possible. quite windy and feeling cooler, i think, for northern scotland and for northern ireland. to bring sunshine and showers or longer spells of rain. longer spells of rain certainly blown in across scotland. the highest temperatures in the south—east of england. so a lot of showers to come on saturday. through sunday, the showers become fewer. but, with that northerly breeze, it will turn a little bit cooler. for many of us, though, the start of next week should be dry, with some sunshine.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: details emerge of a threatening letter president trump sent to his turkish counterpart, as the us house of representatives votes overwhelmingly to condemn his decision to pull american forces from northern syria. meanwhile, the fighting in syria continues. russian and syrian government forces have advanced into positions once held by the american forces. frantic efforts are still underway to reach a last—minute brexit deal on the eve of a eu summit in brussels. the pro—independence leader of catalonia condemns violent protests by fellow separatists that have rocked the spanish region for a third night in a row.