in the american state of iowa, voters have gathered for caucus meetings to choose a democratic party contender to take on donald trump in november's presidential election. a good performance in iowa can provide important campaign momentum, and it often helps a candidate secure the party's nomination. the chinese health authorities say 64 people have died from the new strain of coronavirus in the past 2a hours, bringing the total number of dead to 425. the latest reported fatalities were all in china's hubei province, which is at the centre of the outbreak. british ministers have announced emergency legislation to end the automatic early release of terror offenders from prison. an islamist extremist stabbed two people in london before being shot dead by police, ten days after being released from prison. two people were killed in a similar attack in december.

now on bbc news: monday in parliament. hello and welcome to monday in parliament. the main news from westminster. the government promises emergency legislation to stop the automatic early release of terror offenders. i want to protect the public, the people of streatham and the people of all our communities in our country. as the risk of coronavirus to the uk is raised to moderate, politicians unite against racism towards chinese people. wrongly attributed videos showing wild animals being eaten and crass cartoons in the evening standard. indeed, the french media are digging up old racist tropes as well. and anger over moves by borisjohnson‘s press officers to pick and choose which journalists

can attend briefings. lobbyjournalists‘ access to government is vital for a functioning and healthy democracy, and this latest deterioration in relations between the government and the lobby is deeply concerning. but first, on sunday afternoon a man and a woman were stabbed in streatham, in south london, in what police have called an islamist—related terrorist incident. sudesh amman, aged 20, was shot dead by armed officers who had been following him on foot. in december 2018, amman was imprisoned for three years and four months for terror offences. he was automatically released from jail a week ago after serving half of his sentence. the justice secretary, robert buckland, said the parole board hadn't been involved in his release. the law required automatic unconditional release at the halfway point. amman was being followed by armed police officers when he made his attack, and they immediately

shot him dead before he could harm any others. they stepped in despite the fact that he appeared to be wearing an explosive device, which has now been confirmed as fake. a female member of the public in her 20s was hurt by broken glass as shots were fired to end the threat. she remains in hospital, as does the male victim, who is in his 40s. i am pleased to say that he is now recovering after initially fighting for his life. the other female victim, who is in her 50s, has since been discharged. our thoughts are with them all. and he said the incident made the case for immediate action. we will therefore introduce emergency legislation to ensure an end to terrorist offenders getting released automatically with no check or review having served half their sentence.

the underlying principle must be that offenders will no longer be released early automatically and that anyone released before the end of their sentence will be dependent on a risk assessment by the parole board. we face an unprecedented situation of severe gravity and, as such, it demands that the government responds immediately, and that this legislation will therefore also apply to serving prisoners. the first responsibility of a government is to keep their citizens safe. tragically, cuts over the past decade across ourjustice system — to the police, prisons, probation and the crown prosecution service — have left our communities less safe. that is why ourjustice system is in a state of crisis. we will look at the proposals referred to in the secretary of state's statement, because our priority must be to keep the public safe. but to be clear, the government

cannot use sentencing as a way of distracting from their record of bringing the criminaljustice system to breaking point. the local mp said the people of streatham were shaken by what had happened. the minister says that we are at the forefront of tackling terrorism and that we have robust measures in place, but those measures did not prevent what happened in my constituency yesterday. although i note what he says about automatic release, the people of streatham cannot fathom a situation in which somebody so dangerous who has to be under surveillance immediately after leaving prison is allowed to leave. will the minister assure me, and assure the people of streatham, that there is no circumstance, no measure that could have been taken, that would have stopped this individual from being released from prison? i can assure her that the law had to apply in this case. this is the law that had been changed in the criminaljustice act

2003, which allowed automatic early release, and which meant that the parole board was not involved. there was no risk assessment as a prerequisite of release and therefore the automatic element of it meant that the particular situation that she described so well applied. it is something that i do not accept, which is why i have announced today that i will act and will deal with it in the form of emergency legislation, because i want to protect the public, the people of streatham and the people of all our communities in our country. sentencing is only a small part of the answer to terrorism, and what happens during the sentence is what matters. to date, deradicalisation and disengagement programmes have been largely unfunded and poorly executed. those are not my views, but the views of nazir afzal, the former chief crown prosecutor for the north—west of england, an experienced lawyer and a prosecutor worth listening to.

he says that this has happened as a direct consequence of the decision by successive tory governments to cut funding to probation and other rehabilitation programmes. the root of this often lies in radicalisation at schools, colleges and universities. i know we have the prevent programme, but what assessment has he made of that programme, and are there any plans to strengthen it in our education system? he will be reassured that the prevent programme is under constant examination and review. the nature of the threat continues to change, and in this case and at fishmongers hall we see individuals arming themselves with knives in a very random way. that is a new aspect of behaviour that we need to understand fully. the short answer is yes, we will continue to redouble our efforts to make sure that we reach all those young people who are particularly vulnerable

to this type of exploitation, and of being sucked into extremism and worse. robert buckland. borisjohnson has set out his vision for a trade deal with the eu, saying there is "no need" for the uk to follow brussels' rules. at a speech in london, the prime minister called for a canada—style free trade agreement which would mean no import tariffs on most goods traded between the uk and the eu. but the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, offered a contrasting view. in a canada—style scenario, he said, all uk goods entering the eu would need to comply with its rules and standards. in the commons, mps got the chance to ask the foreign secretary about the uk's negotiating position. the most important thing about 2020 is that having left the eu at the start of it, at the end of it we will fully and with complete certainty regain complete economic and political independence.

that's when the transition period ends and it will not be extended. we will have a new relationship with the eu as sovereign equals based on free trade. between now and the end of the year we will work with the eu to negotiate a free—trade agreement drawing on other recent agreements like the one between the eu and canada. but the opposition parties had concerns. is that new relationship going to be determined by the economic interests of our country or by the ideological commitment to break with the european social model that drove so many of the brexit enthusiasts? i was sorry to see that today's statement suggests and the prime minister's comments over the weekend suggest that ideology has trumped common sense. there are difficult decisions that lie ahead for our country.

and if the government is serious about bringing the people together, we need reassurance that they will conduct the next stage of negotiations in an open and accountable way. he said the uk would look forward with confidence, it was signalled to future partners that we were outward facing. may i disagree? i think all the plans risk making the uk a smaller, insular and more isolated place. he spoke about a truly global britain and being the best possible allies with the eu. i feel that was contradicted by what the prime minister said in his written statement today, that there would not be any regulatory alignment, any at all. the prime minister'sposition did receive firm support from some on the conservative benches. the eu has misjudged the metal of this government in thinking we will give away our fish again and accept all their laws in return for a free—trade agreement they need more than us.

i congratulate him on his statement on site no more concessions. a labour mp wanted an assurance. will the secretary of state undertake that there was industrial organisations and the union to represent the workers concerned will be fully engaged by the government, not least because if they do get it wrong and there was a real risk of that, tens of thousands of workers will pay the price? there was also concern about the financial sector. given that 10p in every pound this government spends comes from the financial services sector, will he ensure that the sector is a key priority in trade negotiations? i thank my honourable friend, financial services are a critical part of the uk economic and in the political declaration arrangements are envisaged to make

sure we can strengthen financial services, in the uk and into the european union. someone who knows a bit about negotiating with the eu had a question. the statement made only a passing reference to the agreement on internal security into the future. i don't expect the government to publish its full negotiating mandate but will it make clear its intentions for that treaty in regard to key instruments that keep us safe? she will now there are difficulties in negotiating with the eu because they claim some access to some instruments is conditional on accepting free movement and she will agree we must bring an end to free movement but whether it's on data sharing, extradition, our relationship is an important element of lot cooperation and we look forward to securing good relations with the eu. staying with britain's future

relations with the eu, the issue in the house of lords was how many people would be coming to the uk to work? the president of the research organisation migration watch lord green claimed that if the recomendations made last week by the government's advisers on migration were put into effect it would have a profound effect on the workforce. i do speak for 30 million uk adults who wish to see immigration reduced. my lords... well, read it, it's all on our website. my lords, last week the migration advisory committee made some recommendations that would, on their own admission, result in 16 millionjobs becoming open to worldwide competition. clearly, a rapid increase in immigration is a considerable risk, as indeed has happened on a number of occasions. so will the government, as a precaution, take powers to introduce a cap should

that prove necessary? well, my lords, given that we will be introducing a new points—based immigration system and of course we will have the immigration social security coordination bill later on this year, as the noble lord will know, i will keep reviewing the legislation having introduced it and it will be something that is top of the government's mind when it is looking at its overall priority of bringing the numbers down. lady lister asked about the effect on social care if lower wage workers were prevented from working in the uk. there is very real concern in the care sector, alongside that in the health sector, that it could cause real problems if the noble lord's aim of reducing net migration was achieved in that sector.

i think it is fair to say that what this government wants is to import skills needed for the gaps in the market and is why we are looking to reduce low skilled migration overall, but introducing a points—based system focused on skills and talents and that combination will hopefully mean that overall numbers will come down. lord rosser was interested in what the government's actual policy had been over the last ten years. the only reason the net migration figure has not been much lower than it has been since 2010 has been a government policy, many would say a correct policy, not to reduce net migration from non—eu countries over which it does have control and which has been higher than net migration from eu countries. will the government also confirm that the only reason that net

migration might not be lower in the future than now is exactly the same reason as has applied to net migration over the last decade, namely a de facto government policy decision that it would not be in britain's interests to go down that road. what the government is absolutely clear about is that we want the brightest and best to come and work and live in this country and that following our exit from the european union, non—eu citizens will be treated just the same as eu citizens. lady williams. you're watching monday in parliament with me, kristiina cooper. the health secretary, has warned that the new coronavirus that began in the city of wuhan in china will be around "for some months to come".

in a statement to mps, matthew hancock also said the risk of infection in the uk had been raised from low to moderate. he said the government was taking "a belt and braces approach" that would prioritise public protection. there have been two confirmed cases in britain so far. so far more than 17,000 cases have been diagnosed on mainland china, with 185 cases in other countries. currently the number of cases are doubling around every five days and it's clear the virus will be with us for at least some months to come. this is a marathon, not a sprint. 0n existing evidence, most cases are mild and most people recover. nevertheless, anyone who has travelled from wuhan or hubei province in the last 1a days should immediately contact the nhs111 to inform them of recent travel, should stay indoors and avoid contact with other people, just as they would with the flu, even if there are no symptoms. anyone who has travelled to the uk from mainland china in the last 1a days and is experiencing a cough

or fever or shortness of breath should self isolate and call nhs111 even if symptoms are mild. the uk, he said, had become one of the first countries in the world to develop a test for the virus. and today i am making £20 million available to the coalition for epidemic preparedness innovations to speed up the development of a vaccine. i can also announce that public health england has sequenced the viral genome from the first two positive cases in the uk and today is making that sequence available to the scientific community. theirfindings suggest that the virus has not evolved in the last month. we have also launched a public information campaign, setting out how every member of the public, including members of this house, can help by taking simple steps

to minimise the risk to themselves and their families. washing hands, using tissues when you sneeze, just as you would with flu. i agree with him we must remain vigilant and alert, not to succumb to alarmism or scaremongering. as things stand, this virus has around 2% mortality rate, significant certainly, but as he says most people will recover. the shadow health secretary was concerned about the reaction of some people to the epidemic. i am sure the secretary of state would agree with me that we should have no truck with the racism and insensitivity shown towards chinese and east asian people that we have sadly seen in some quarters. wrongly attributed videos showing wild animals being eaten, crass cartoons in the evening standard, indeed the french media digging up old racist tropes as well. none of these attempts to dehumanise an entire ethnicity should be allowed to prevail.

i entirely agree with him and perhaps should have put that in my initial statement. the rejection that this whole house demonstrates to racism and insensitivity towards the chinese community here, or indeed visitors here of chinese origin, because that will not help us tackle this disease. we will do everything we can to tackle this disease, but racism will not help anybody. so i share entirely the comments that he made. can my right honourable friend point people to a resource that people could look up what symptoms they might have and what symptoms are indicative of the coronavirus and what indeed they might do if they think they are infected? yes, the first thing that people can do is ring 111, or to look on the public health england website and indeed the nhs website which has links up. the critical thing that they should not do is go to a&e or go

to their gp without calling 111 first, because then they may inadvertently contribute to the spread of the virus rather than contain it. matt hancock. conservative mps have been keeping up the pressure on the ministry of defence to protect servicemen and women from so—called vexatious legal cases. the defence secretary, ben wallace, promised to take action very soon. he pointed out that all the current defence ministers had served in the armed forces and felt the issue personally. following their many years of service to our nation i want them to feel safe, i want them to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that they will not be hounded and harassed by vexatious litigation for decades to come. my question to the minister is how soon will our veterans be able to stand at ease? mr speaker, as her majesty said in her gracious speech,

the government will be shortly introducing a legislative package to ensure our service personnel and veterans have access to the legal protections they deserve. this builds on the consultation held over last summer on proposed legal protections, measures for armed forces personnel and veterans in operations outside the uk. we expect these measures to be brought forward very soon. his colleague was also tackled on the issue. given that the prime minister stood for the leadership of the conservative party, said very clearly in writing in the sun that he would legislate to protect veterans, including veterans from vexatious prosecution, can the minister absolutely reiterate that promise today and assure all of us that we will defend those who defend it as. that we will defend those who defended us. no government in history has done more to talk about, or try and deliver protection for our service men and women from vexatious claims and inquests and this government is committed to resolving this issue. the prime minister has promised to do so and you have heard

from the secretary of state this afternoon that it will be done in 100 days. later it was raised with the defence secretary again. would my right honourable friend agree with me that after facing implacable foes armed with guns and rpgs, it is entirely wrong that our service personnel come home only to face foes armed with subpoenas and llbs. can he reiterate the government's reassurance that they will not proceed with historic convictions were no new evidence is found. can i assure my honourable friend of the importers that we attach to this area and the stress that it was members to this area and the stress that it puts members of the armed forces under. i think it is the first time in my living memory that the whole of the front bench today, all of us serve on operations and were members of the regular armed forces. i can't remember that probably in my lifetime. that is why we feel it personally as well as the government does as well and we are determined to deal with this vexatious issue against our armed forces and that is why we will bring measures in the next 100 days. ben wallace. and finally, relations between boris johnson's communications team and political journalists based at westminster

seem to have deteriorated further. some journalists arriving at downing street for a briefing were told they hadn't been invited and would therefore have to leave the building. after some reportedly colourful exchanges, thejournalists, including those on the approved list, walked out. the incident was raised in the commons by labour's tracy brabin. i am seeking your advice on an urgent and important matter. this afternoon, accredited lobby journalists based here in the house of commons were denied access to an important briefing with david frost, the prime minister's europe adviser on post—brexit trade plans. david frost is a civil servant and therefore his briefing on the most prominent issue of the day is supposed to be neutral and not political. the issue of post—brexit trade plans is one of great public concern, and access to a high—level briefing should not be hand—picked by government political advisers.

the exclusion of some publications led to every major national broadcaster and newspaper walking out. i know that all members of this house will agree that lobby journalists‘ access to government is vital for a functioning and healthy democracy, and this latest deterioration in relations between the government and the lobby is deeply concerning. members are also aware, madam deputy speaker, of your commitment to improving the culture in this place, and pass—holding lobby journalists are part of our community. therefore, what advice can you offer me as to how members might be able to formally raise this issue with the government and ensure that this does not become commonplace? i thank the honourable lady for her point of order and for giving me notice that she wished to raise it. of course i agree with her, as everyone will, that accredited lobbyjournalists are indeed part of our parliamentary community and so of course must be,

should be and normally are treated with respect, and, indeed, within the behaviour code that we all apply, or should apply, to each other. the responsibilities of the chair do not extend to the specific matter that she raises, so i can give no further answer, but i am quite sure that she will find a way of bringing her concerns to the attention of the government in some other way. if she has any difficulty in doing so, she should please ask for further advice and i will be happy to help. well, that's it from monday in parliament so time for me to walk out. alicia mccarthy will be here for the rest of the week. but from me, kristiina cooper, goodbye.

hello. we've got some fairly chilly and windy conditions out there at the moment. with low pressure very much in charge of the weather at the moment, it is an unsettled story. quite lively weather, in fact. early tuesday, we're likely to see a bit of travel disruption, particularly for scotland and northern england, with a combination of some severe gales and also some icy stretches, and wintry showers around too. now, we've got an area of low pressure that's moving south through the north sea. quite a lot of isobars on the map, so it is going to be a windy picture first thing tuesday morning, and quite a chilly morning too. temperatures just about above freezing for most of us, but a little below freezing, i think, in the countryside first thing. and if we take a look at the wind gusts we're likely to see tuesday morning, up to around about 40—50 mph quite widely across much of scotland, perhaps even 55 mph across the pennines. windy too for northern ireland, down towards the midlands, and even along the south coast we could see gusts of wind reaching around 45 mph. so tuesday, blustery showers really wherever you are, also a bit

of sunshine on offer. but do watch out for those icy stretches first thing, particularly across the pennines, southern uplands, and highland scotland as well. most of the showers should gradually ease away, though, through the day on tuesday, so it will be a gradually improving picture. some sunshine developing, a bit of patchy cloud here and there, and those strong, gusty winds slowly starting to ease on into the afternoon. but temperatures only around about 8—10 degrees, and with the wind chill, with a brisk northerly wind, it will feel a little bit colder than that. and then, as we move through tuesday night and then on into wednesday, eventually we'll start to see this area of high pressure building in from the west, so that will quieten things down. we're going to be seeing largely dry, clear conditions through tuesday evening and overnight into wednesday as well. perhaps a little bit more cloud across the north and west of scotland, with a few showers here. elsewhere, clear spells, a few mist and fog patches, and a touch of frost. so first thing wednesday, temperatures quite widely down to around about freezing, perhaps a degree or two above in the more urban spots,

but a chilly morning first thing wednesday. a little bit of mist and fog around, especially further south across england and wales. that should lift into low cloud, but more sunshine developing during the afternoon. a little bit cloudier across the north—west of scotland. fairly cool temperatures, somewhere between about 7—9 degrees for most of us. looking ahead towards the end of the working week, that area of high pressure stays with us, so not only dry on wednesday, but also for thursday and into friday too, with a bit of sunshine. but also look out for frost, mist and fog. and then, as we look towards the weekend, well, late on friday into saturday, the first weather front moves across the uk, bringing outbreaks of rain at times. so it's a fairly unsettled story as we look towards the weekend. particularly by sunday, things turn wet and windy once again. bye for now.

i'm live at the iowa caucuses where democrats have undergone their first test to see who is going to be the nominee to unseat donald trump. the chinese health authorities say 64 and remembering the bushfire victim, as parliament falls silent, criticism of scott morrison's handling of the crisis