delhi's toxic smog forces airports to cancel flights — the city's chief minister says the air has become unbearable. now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello and welcome to the week in parliament. it's on. the uk will vote on december the 12th — as borisjohnson argues a general election is the only way to push brexit forward. this endless, wilful, fingers crossed, not me, gulf refusal to deliver on the mandate of the people, and that is, mr speaker, to refresh this parliament and give the people a choice. labour backs a general election

because we want this country to be rid of this reckless and destructive conservative government. the parties begin to set out their stalls. and the lib dem leader says she should be included in any tv debates. will the prime minister commit today to take part in those three—way debates, or is he going to run scared of debating? and tributes tojohn bercow as he retires as speaker. the longest serving woman mp praises him for throwing open the commons to youngsters. there were those who resisted change and said we cannot have all these children here in the house of commons, we've got work to be done. borisjohnson finally got what he wanted. after three failed attempts, the date for the general election has been set for thursday december the 12th. on monday he'd had one last go at getting the election through under the fixed term parliaments act. but although he won the vote, he didn't get the two thirds majority — 434 mps — that he needed.so

on tuesday it was time for a different approach, this time putting through a short bill calliing for an election. this delay is damaging to the national interest because families can't plan, businesses can't plan, and a climate of uncertainty is co—writing trust in politics and beginning to hold everybody back from making vital, everyday decisions. he did get a majority of 30 his deal in principle last week, and the subsequent time of this house had been devoted to the committee and report stage of the house, following the... we would be well on our way to leaving in the middle of november. so, can i say to my right honourable friend, can you find a slightly better basis for fighting this election, when we get to the campaign in due course?

there is only one way now to move this country forward and have a debate and that is to get brexit done and there is only one way to get brexit done, in the face of this unrelenting parliamentary obstructionism. this endless wilful, fingers crossed, not me, guv, refusal to deliver on the mandate of the people, and that is, mr speaker, to refresh this parliament and give the people a choice. labour backs a general election because we want this country to be rid of this reckless and destructive conservative government. at government that has caused more of our children to be living in poverty, more pensioners to be in poverty, and more people to be in in work poverty. i shall be voting against an early election today and encourage as many of my colleagues as possible to defy the threats and blandishments to do so, because the reality is that the uncertainty of the outcome of a general election

most certainly does not take no deal of the table. the honourable member says the snp has tried to obstruct brexit. well, mr speaker, guilty as charged. mps had managed to change the rules for the day so that they could amend the general election bill — and propose allowing eu nationals and 16 and 17 year olds to vote. a move backed by the lib dem leader who pointed to the example in scotland. where you see on polling day at four o'clock in the afternoon, young people from 50 and 68, leaving school, walking down the road, and going en masse to the polling station. and it is a sight to behold, it is a positive step. i have to say, there were many conservative members who were sceptical of this and have come out of the idea after seeing it is a successful change. in the end the amendments to give eu

nationals and 16 and 17 year olds the vote were not selected, and mps voted against a proposal from the snp and the lib dems to have the election a few days earlier on december the 9th. the bill then went off to the lords, where two peers challenged the idea that voters would be put off by the winter weather. it's not the weather all the time of year that is important, it is whether people feel that their votes are going to be important and valued and matter. and the great reforming liberal big government was indeed elected on the 10th of december 1832. a good president. i remind her that i was first elected for the carmarthen constituency for plaid cymru in the last midwinter election we had in february 1974. yes, it was dark, yes, it was wet, and, yes, it was very, very cold. but when the good people of carmarthen saw dozens of young people committed to a cause, knocking three or even

four times on the doors, they realised how much it meant today's young people and they swung our cause. lord wigley. if you wanted to know what arguments the parties were planning to put to voters, there wasn't long to wait. the last prime minister's questions before the election set the scene. the prime minister's planned so that deal with donald trump main means... yet more national health service money being siphoned off into private profit. as in the truth that this government is preparing to sell at our nhs? our health services in more danger than at any other time in its glorious history because of his government, his attitudes, and the trade deals he was to strike.

mr speaker, i do indeed in greed there is a stark choice facing this country at this election and it is between economic catastrophe under the labour party, £196 billion programme taking away money from companies and putting it on a pointless renationalising version, putting it on pensions and businesses, and the highest level in the whole of europe, that is they can economic catastrophe he offers. —— that is the economic catastrophe that he offers. but he also offers a political disaster. this prime minister, extreme brexit will take a wrecking ball to the economy and cost scotland and the united kingdom up to £70 billion a year. scotland and the united kingdom up you know, mr speaker, we can talk about the impact of brexit and they howl and complain because they know the reality is going to damage people's lives.

isn't the truth is that the prime minister is willing to throw scotland under his big red bus to deliver his brexit? no matter what the cost. we are coming to the close of nine years of tory misrule, misinformation, and broken promises. in wales, we have a simple choice, we can back our country by backing plaid cymru or be letting down once again by one of these deeply divided westminster parties who offer nothing but more brexit chaos. the most important point that she might bear in mind is that her constituents, the people of wales, noted to leave the european union. the lib dem leader challenged him over any televised election debates, arguing she should be included. people deserve to hear from a leader who wants to stop brexit and build a betterfuture. so, will the prime minister commit today to take part in those three—way debates,

or is he going to run scared of debating? i think the people of this country won their promises kept. i'm not disposed to believe in the promises of the liberal democrats when the leaflet in london say they want to revoke the result of the referendum, daily leaflets in the south—west of the country don't mention brexit et al.. that is the liberal... of the country don't mention brexit at all.. that is the liberal... what they stand for, that is a bunch of hypocrites, lot of them. they stand for nothing but a policy of dither and delay. borisjohnson. the election is set for december the 12th, but what happens when mps return to wesminter? they're expected to come back on december the 16th. but what then? a question i put to alice lilly from the institute for government. there are three things that really has to happen before mps can get down to business. the first of those is that they need to elect a speaker.

slightly unusually, we are going to see the election of a speaker before the general election so we would assume that when parliament returns after the election, we willjust see them vote to re—elect the incumbent speaker. so, that takes place very quickly. so that could be a quick process? yes, absolutely. emotion would be moved, simply saying, asking mps a motion would be moved, simply saying, asking mps to agree to the election of the incumbent. that could happen quickly. if not, the process could take up to a day of parliament time. that is the first thing. after that, mps and peers have to be sworn in, usually that takes around two to three days to accomplish because they are so many. again, that is something that potentially could happen much quicker if possible but everyone in the house would have to agree. and the third thing is we need

the state opening of parliament, and again they would be all sorts of questions there about whether a full queen's speech would happen and if so, how and when that might happen. and that would partly depend, of course, on the queens availability. we are used to seeing the queen's speech with a full coach and horses and the queen arriving in all the pomp and ceremony but it is not to be like that, does it? no, it doesn't. it can be much more stripped back. back in 2017, after the election, we saw quite a pared down queen's speech with much less ceremony and pageantry. but it is also possible for parliament to be opened without the queen attending in person. people called the commissioners are able to do that. so that perhaps could be an option the government might choose. of course, this depends on who the government is. if we continue with the same prime minister and the same government as we currently have, they might feel that they had a queen's speech fairly recently, perhaps they don't have a huge new agenda to set out, everywhere

to see somebody else in government, and somebody else holding the keys to downing street, they may well want to set out what they're big, domestic agenda is. it is entirely possible we could have a queen's speech before christmas? it tends to take place around seven to ten days within a general election, these things can be expedited but only if there is the political will to do so, and of course at the moment that cannot necessarily be guaranteed. so we'd have a christmas break and mps would come back. they have a lengthy debate on a queen's speech but is there a set number of days for that debate when it has to happen? this certainly rules for when the queen speech will be held and those votes take place over at least two days, but if the government and mps were willing to try to change that

then it might be that they could to make some kind of change to the commons rules temporarily in order to condense things. if you are a government that wanted the uk to leave the european union on the 31st of january i was still lived if you are a government that wanted the uk to leave the european union on the 31st of january that would still leave you with a very tight timetable to get that through parliament. yes and of course there would have to start again with the withdrawal agreement bill. so if the government that we currently have is returned following the election don't have to begin with first reading and second reading again and even if they were to condense the ceremonies that happen at the beginning of a new session of parliament and get agreement on that they are still leaving themselves relatively little time and particularly during around christmas we might start to see late sittings and begin settings that's not necessarily going to be popular with mps. obviously this all depends on the government getting in that

wants to leave the eu on the 31st of january. if labour gets in the power it's a different scenario because they have said it will go back to the eu and renegotiate, but what if we have a hung parliament or coalition. everything then becomes much less clear and what that means is things will take more time, and then it will really be a waiting game for everybody to see government can be formed whether that government can commands that confidence of the house. we will wait to see what happens. for now alice lily from the institute for government, thank you very much for coming in the programme. now let's take a look at some other news from around westminster. mps and peers had their first chance to debate the initial report on the grenfell tower fire. 72 people died as a result of the fire on the 14th ofjune 2017. the report concluded that the tower did not comply with building regulations and criticised the handling of the blaze by the london fire brigade. in the commons, mps stood for a minute's silence to reflect on the tragedy and the loss of life.

many who live together died together. husbands and wives, parents and children were found in each other‘s arms. it is still the case that there are men, women and children up and down the country sleeping tonight in buildings with that cladding. gre nfell tower would not have happened, mr speicher, gre nfell tower would not have happened, mr speaker, to wealthy londoners. it happens to poor and mainly migrant londoners. i think one of the most shocking features that has come out from consideration of what happened to grenfell tower is this issue of the way in which those people had been genuinely raising matters about safety and felt that those matters and in some cases they were just completely ignored.

one of the worst of many disappointments was naming of the firefighters we've been talking about already who risk their lives in that bonfire made by corporate greed and the distain and complacency of politicians over many years. what do we know about the science of ageing? the lords science and technology committee has begun an inquiry and heard first about the impact of the multiple medications many older people are taking. most of the patients i see now are on ten, 15, 23 drugs. that's a huge number of drugs to be able to take let alone to be able to remember to take them. and those drugs are used in conventional doses and contested in younger populations who have exclusion criteria for trials and tests and people who don't have the multiple diseases. the use the drug and the dose that is licensed at the moment we are often poisoning the elderly because of the dosage we are using. mps demanded legislation to increase prison sentences for animal cruelty be brought in before the election.

the legislation has passed its first parliamentary hurdle, but looks set to run out of time before the end of the session on tuesday. this cross party agreement for this bill. it is a short bill which she knows i have the permission of the secretary of state here to say this, we support this bill, we can crack on. it could be done and on the statute before dissolution, or would she do this even at this late stage? put it on the order paper for monday or tuesday. i can reassure her that a conservative government will put this bill on the order paper very soon after we are reelected to serve this country. mps have approved a bill allowing civil servants in northern ireland to continue spending money — in the absence of devolved government. power sharing between the parties in the stormont assembly broke down in january 2017. because there's no executive in belfast to make decisions westminster has to step in. there was a fond farewell to the speaker's chaplin,

rose hudson wilkin, who's been appointed bishop of dover. the shadow leader of the commons made a tearful tribute. we know you will go on to greater things. and are proud to have crossed paths with you. a true pilgrim's progress. from jamaica to canterbury, as aretha franklin would say, respect. mps approved the suspension of labour mp, keith vaz from parliament for six months. it follows newspaper revelations in 2016. a report by the commons standards committee said he'd "disregarded" the law by "expressing a willingness" to help buy cocaine for male prostitutes and there was "compelling evidence" he had paid for sex. it recommended keith vaz‘s suspension after he was "evasive and unhelpful" during the investigation. keith vaz himself hasn't commented on the accusations — saying he's receiving treatment for a serious mental health condition.

but the debate on the report quickly turned into an angry exchange between the conservative who'd made the original complaint to the committee and the speaker, john bercow. i do, in all sincerity and kindness say to the honourable gentlemen, show so antenna, man, for the will of the house and show some sensitivity. you have made your point in making a complaint, which the honourable gentlemen had every right to do, and the committee has determined the matter. it would be, i think, seemly of the honourable gentlemen would speedily brought his speech to a conclusion. thank you once again for more help and advice mr speaker. the honourable gentlemen to resume his seat. it is not help and advice. i'm telling the honourable gentlemen with the position is, don't mix it with the chair. you've got a couple more sentences to utter, you will do so.

if you want to dilate at length you will not. mr speaker, i will bring my remarks to a conclusion, but it is clear to me, and it will be clear to the public, that to the end of your tenure in your chair you are defending the indefensible and you're very close relationship with the honourable member in question. the house can come to its own conclusions. the standards committee has come to it. their own conclusions, and mr speaker the public will come to theirs. andrew bridgen and john bercow. not all mps have such a testy relationship with the speaker — many had warm words as he prepared to retire after a decade in the chair. borisjohnson led tributes on wednesday. you've done more than anyone since stephen hawking to stretch time in this particular session. laughter. as we come to what must be the longest retirement

since frank sinatra, mr speaker, i'm sure the whole house willjoin me in saying we hope you enjoy your retirement the same thing you have prescribed to the rest of us. the labour leader listed some ofjohn bercow‘s achievements. that's expanded the use of urgent questions which has been overwhelmingly popular with government ministers, opened up the number of emergency debates which is even more popular with even more ministers. you have stood up for parliament when it has to be stood up for, i think we think you for that. and those tributes continued for several hours the next day — the longest—serving woman mp said john bercow had opened up the house to young people. everybody recognises a thoroughly good thing, but you had to fight for that. because there were those that resisted change and said we cannot

have all of these children here in the house of commons, we've got work to be done. and you relentlessly and in a principled way pushed for it, and i thank you for that. a veteran tory had an anecdote. i was at a primary school, you always get the difficult questions there and i was asked, what is the rudest thing anyone has ever set you in politics? i thought for a bit and said you know it's when someone came up to me in the street and said good morning, mr bercow. alan duncan. the new speaker will be chosen on monday, here's gary connor with a look at the candidates. there were nine mps talking the first concert of sir henry with a true saying he left cross party support. chris bryant, labour is a former

church of england vicar who wants to be an umpire, not a player in the parliamentary game. harriet harman is the mother of the house of commons, and twice labour's acting leader. she plans a great reform agenda if she wins. labour's meghan hillier chairs this committee since 2017, and wants to repair what she calls reputational damage to parliament. so lindsay hoyle is the most experienced. he has been the senior deputy speaker since 2010. damn eleanor lange is another deputy speaker after a promotion. if she gets the top job she will work to restore trust in our democracy. sir edward lee has been a conservative backbencher since 1983 and would be a traditional speaker who does not speak too much.

under that ireland mr until last year and says the speaker he will not make up parliamentary procedure. and finally dame rosie winterton, a deputy speaker sincejune 2017, and a former labour chief weapon. she will adjudicate other than dictate. gary conor. well who better to ask about the challenges facing the new speaker than dr ruth fox from the hansard society. i think the next speaker is certainly, in terms of how they are running what they are saying in the hustings events that have been taking place in the run—up to the election i think they are likely to promote themselves more as umpires rather than players, and certainly a lot of criticism of the speaker and his creativity and innovation. a number of the runners in this race are saying that they will stick more to the rules and not be loading the dice in favour of one side or the other.

however, the candidates, if they get the job are going to have to deal with the political context in which this speaker has found himself. so they may have to deal with a hung parliament. they will still have to deal with parties that are quite fragmented. it may have to deal with these in peace they have to take account of in these decisions that they make and so they could still face some of the same challenges. dr ruth fox from the hansa rd society. and if you're gripped by the speaker's election why not join us on bbc parliament on monday afternoon from 2:15. in a special programme you can follow all the news and views as the election unfolds through successive ballots until we end up with the name of the next occupant of the big chair. daniel brittain will be here with special guests and i'll be bringing you updates from pa rliament‘s central lobby as the voting gets under way. so dojoin us from a quarter past two on monday. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.

good afternoon. we had strong winds and heavy rain across many parts of the country yesterday. today is generally a quiet day weather—wise, if you blustery showers around but some sunshine too. this is the picture in twickenham, we had torrential showers and now this beautiful light shining on these autumn colours. for the rest of today, lighter winds than yesterday. a bit of sunshine through the next few hours. blustery showers, especially in the far south—west of england. this weather front approaching, and in eastern scotland, showers rotating around this slow area moving pressure. it's been here a few days and isn't going anywhere in a hurry. not dry

everywhere, sunshine in the midlands, northern ireland, and to the south—east of england. this patches of rain across scotland, breezy in the north, breezy to the south—west of england. we do have these showers too. temperatures reasonably mild, 11—15d. sunny skies. it will turn colder through the week. into the evening, showers in the south—west pushing northwards across england and wales. the odd bit of thunder here. more rain in eastern and north—eastern scotland, up eastern and north—eastern scotland, up towards the shetlands, clearer skies. it will be frost free, with temperatures of 5—9d. tomorrow's weather still dominated by the slow—moving area of low pressure. further showers and weather fronts rotating around the slow pressure. persistent rain in eastern scotland, with rainfall totals meaning several days of rain. elsewhere away from scotland, sunny spells and showers.

most of them in southern and south—west england. the odd bit of thunder possible. 10—13d, cooler thanit thunder possible. 10—13d, cooler than it has been through the weekend. that trend continues on into tuesday, more of a northerly influence. winter coming in from the north, cooler air.. influence. winter coming in from the north, coolerair.. further influence. winter coming in from the north, cooler air.. further south, we hold on to milder conditions. sevenin we hold on to milder conditions. seven in aberdeen. some showers on tuesday, in eastern england in particular. these blue colours are the colder air, shifting southwards. it moves across the country as we move into wednesday. wednesday morning likely to start with frost and fog patches.. it is a fairly u nsettled and fog patches.. it is a fairly unsettled picture through much of the week. sunny spells, some showers. watch out for this mist and fog patches as temperatures are on the dip through the middle of the week.

this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 3pm: the brexit party leader, nigel farage, says he won't be a candidate in next month's general election. do i find a seat, try and get myself into parliament, or do i serve the cause better traversing the length and the breadth of the united kingdom, supporting 600 candidates? i've decided that the latter is the right one. ministers confirm that the benefits freeze introduced by the conservatives three years ago will end next april. income tax will rise for the top 5 per cent of earners and corporation tax will increase, under a labour government, according to shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell. the uk vietnamese community comes togetherfor a vigil