a cut in us interest rates to fight the coronavirus. the federal reserve brings rates down to a quarter of one per cent, and announces co—ordinated action with other central banks. the news has been welcomed by president trump. the dollar has fallen sharply against the yen, and futures markets are also down. as the death toll across europe rises, spain begins a state of near lockdown the police have been out on the streets encouraging well, indeed, you had to give mps people out and about to return home. quite a stern talking—to at the start of proceedings just but some countries may to make sure it all went smoothly. were there any great sort be turning the corner. of disciplinary eruptions that you had to intervene on? south korea has reported fewer i know at one point, than 100 new coronavirus cases you were hurrying along the leader for the first time in three weeks. of the scottish national party, the country has the highest number ian blackford. of cases in asia after china, with over 8,000 confirmed actually, people were really well behaved yesterday. i was prepared to deal with some disruption, and i was prepared to stop people infections and 75 deaths. intervening or trying to heckle anyone who was speaking, but they were pretty well behaved. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and, yes, i did give a bit of a stern warning to begin with. and a couple of times, ijust looked at certain people who were making a bit of a noise.

but, again, i didn't want to interrupt proceedings. ifind that sometimes, a stern glance or something now it's time for a look back rather more severe than that — but without words and without interruption of the flow of the debate — is the best way to discipline people and to keep order. if the occupant of the chair constantly jumps up at the week in parliament. and shouts "order!" and has discourse with some member of parliament who is behaving very well, well, itjust draws attention to that member of parliament. and if they're not behaving well, they don't deserve to have attention drawn to them. hello and welcome to the week in parliament, and it draws attention to the chair. where the government steps up moves to tackle the coronavirus. well, that's not and the chancellor unveils a £12 billion fund to deal with the fallout. the job of the chair. whether it's millions of pounds the job of the chair is to make or billions of pounds, things run smoothly. whatever it needs, whatever it and it runs more smoothly if you can possibly exert discipline costs, we stand behind our nhs. without making a lot it's going to be much tougher because of the last ten years of deeply damaging of fuss about it. and counterproductive cuts to all of our essential public services. and did you celebrate afterwards? we hear from the first woman to chair the budget statement, and find out how eleanor laing kept rowdy mps in order.

the chancellor's allowed to have a drink of their choice they were pretty well behaved and, on the despatch box when they yes, i did give a bit of a stern warning to begin with. deliver the budget statement. and a couple of times, does the deputy speaker have ijust looked at certain people who were making a bit of a noise. a traditional ceremony afterwards? also on this programme, i think this deputy speaker has the government faces its first rebellion in the commons possibly started a little tradition over its planned use of having a few friends around of chinese tech firm huawei. for a glass after the budget, yes. now, let's take a look at some subpostmasters who say they were wrongly accused of fraud of the other news from westminster. demand a judge—led inquiry the government saw its majority cut into what went wrong. and we drop in on the celebrations to just 2a in the commons as senior to recognise the 100 most influential women at westminster. conservatives rebelled over plans to allow the chinese telecoms company huawei a role in the uk's 56 mobile network. the rebels, led by the former conservative leader sir iain duncan smith, and i do want to celebrate the difficult women, the battle axes and the rebels. but first, boris johnson says tried to make changes to a bill the coronavirus oubreak is the worst public health crisis for a generation — and he's warned that more families will lose loved ones. in the commons so that huawei at a news conference he announced the government would be banned from the project was moving to the next stage from the start of 2023. of its action plan. tory critics say the firm is an arm people with flu—like symptoms — of the chinese state and a risk to uk security — claims it rejects. a fever and persistent cough 7 i worry when we start compromising security. are being asked to isolate at home i worry... for seven days.

school trips abroad are banned. and this is the point but he said schools would not close i want to make. we have no friends — and major sporting events out there any more on this issue, would not be cancelled whether it's the canadians, — for now. the americans, the australians, unsurpisingly, the coronavirus outbreak dominated the new zealanders. the westminster week. and it was top of the chancellor's agenda when rishi sunak they all disagree with us. unveiled his first budget — announcing £12 billion in emergency measures to respond to coronavirus. the minister promised the government would bring in a telecoms safety bill before the summer, plan to develop more diversity of providers and allow greater scrutiny. and over time, our intention our economy is robust, our public finances are sound, is to reduce our reliance our public services on high—risk vendors are well prepared. as this process of market for a period, it is going to be tough. diversification takes place. but i am confident that our economic we want to get to a position where we do not have to use performance will recover. high—risk vendors in our telecoms networks at all. he said there'd be a temporary disruption to the economy, with up to one fifth of the working order! but those pledges didn't sway age population off sir iain duncan smith, work at any one time. who pushed his amendment to a vote. the government won — whatever extra resources but not by much. our nhs needs to cope 38 tory mps went against with coronavirus, it will get. whether it is research the government, including former for a vaccine, recruiting thousands of returning staff cabinet ministers david davis, or supporting our brilliant doctors and nurses, whether it is millions of pounds or billions of pounds, liam fox and sir iain duncan smith. whatever it needs, whatever it at prime minister's questions, jeremy corbyn focused

on the government's policies relating to women. child tax credits for new claimants costs, we stand behind our nhs. are now capped at two children, but mothers who have a third child he said statutory sick pay would be as a result of rape can be exempted. available for people who self the labour leader pointed out isolated and he'd make it easier for those who were self that meant providing evidence. employed or in the gig why does he think it's right that economy to access benefits. the government would foot 200 mothers have to prove the statutory sick pay bill to the government their child for the smallest firms. was conceived as a result of being raped so they can keep their child tax credits? on his point about the recipients of benefit, it is obviously... and there'd be a tax break he calls attention to an injustice, for small businesses too. and we will do everything responding, jeremy corbyn said the chancellor showed "brass neck" that we can to rectify it. boasting that measures to deal with coronavirus were only possible people convicted of theft and false because of his party's management of the economy. accounting over a post office it we have to be straight with people, there's going to be much tougher failure have demanded a judge—led because of the last ten years inquiry into the scandal. of deeply damaging and counterproductive cuts to all of our they blame faults with the post office's horizon accounting system for the discrepancies. essential public services. more than 500 workers recently won we are going into this crisis an out—of—court settlement with our public services from the post office. on their knees and as today's figures confirm, with 0ne described what happened a fundamentally weak economy,

which is now flatlining with zero when she was questioned growth, even before about a £36,000 loss supposedly due to missing stamps. i gave them all my bank account the impact of coronavirus. details, i gave them everything, because i had nothing to hide. i hadn't actually done anything jeremy corbyn. wrong, ijust didn't know but of course there why it had happened. was more to the budget than tackling corona virus. turning to other measures rishi sunak said he'd fulfill they then allowed me to sell a manifesto promise to raise the post office so that the level at which people began i could pay them the £26,000. paying national insurance. and as soon as i paid the post wages up, national insurance cut, the tampon tax abolished, office, they took all the money, spirit duty frozen, beer duty frozen, wine and cider duty frozen, so we couldn't even move we promised a cut tax into another house. in the cost—of—living and we got it done. we had to move in with my son. he announced 22 billion pounds a i had to go through trial year for research and development — because i pleaded not guilty. and then all through the court, a new plastic packaging tax, it was never, "what could've money to tackle flooding and remove happened to the money?" combustible cladding. there'd be 50 million pounds to fix potholes and more money for broadband, railways and roads. it wasjust, "what have and he finished with this. you done with the money?" and then i was found guilty of stealing the money — from my signature on the paperwork, on the till receipt —

building roads, building railways, building colleges, building houses, building our union. and then i was sentenced to a budget that delivers on our promises, a people's budget six months in holloway prison. from the people's government and i commend it to this house. jeremy corbyn said the budget didn't mps have given initial approval to a bill aimed at keeping down the cost of school uniforms. "come close" to delivering research by the children's society on the government's election promises to working—class suggests that more than half communities. of primary school parents and two—thirds of secondary school parents have to buy two or more items from a specific shop, the government's boast of the biggest investment pushing up costs. since the 19505 is frankly a sleight—of— hand. specialist uniform sellers argue it is in fact only the biggest they provide good value for clothes worn on about 195 days a year. since they've began their slash and burn assault on our services, economic infrastructure and living standards in 2010. and having ruthlessly forced down the living standards and life the march towards "if a child wears chances of millions of our people it, brand it with an embroidered for a decade, the talk of leveling up is a crueljoke. logo" must end, to drive down costs and make uniforms genuinely inclusive. i attended an open day with my son. we were going around local comprehensive schools and i sat down to hear the headmaster's speech. in front of me, another mum sat down. and she picked up the information he said the government about the school. had shown complacency i saw her picking up the uniform about the climate emergency. and he concluded. the conservative party, list, looking down it,

whatever they say, will never stand up for working—class communities. turning to her son and saying, "we can't go here," and they left. the minister backed the bill. the cost of the school uniform must they will always, always, put the interests of their not be a barrier to parents choosing wealthy friends first. a particular school for their child the reality of today's announcement, orfor a child attending it will become clear, and the hard sell and the spin a particular school. school uniforms must not be will fade away in this unreasonably priced and schools must budget will then be seen not disregard the importance to be a lost opportunity. of achieving value for money for parents. a failure of ambition and a bitter disappointment to all of those people who had been to mark international women's day, promised so much. the house magazine drew up a list of of 100 leading women at westminster and threw a party to celebrate them. the snp leader at westminster, said that after the cornonavirus we sent gary connor along. outbreak more help would be needed for the tourism industry. a burst of mozart to help toast 100 the snp is advocating a package of measures, influential women in westminster. including a temporary drop in the vat rate to 5% to help businesses reduce their costs. this is the inaugural women in westminster celebration, to coincide with international women's day. many of the businesses in my part it's great to be surrounded by so many inspirational women of the world in the highlands and i hope that those who are not of scotland follow a period over

on it this year will really the winter that is notjust an issue up their game and get completely competitive in the way that they're going to see a reduction in business, that men would. in some cases, they are going to be desperately short of cash coming through the door. the women in politics that stick with me most are the people who were prepared to be different a former prime minister and say things that were different, wondered if the chancellor had been too generous. whether that was barbara castle — while spending a lot of money may be a great labour politician who fought popular and it may seem against the status quo — the natural thing to do, there is of course that necessity or indeed mrs thatcher, of having a realistic assessment of the longer term impact of those and i do want to celebrate the difficult women, decisions, the longer term the battle axes and the rebels. consequences and the necessity to ensure that we have that restraint and caution that enables us to make the public finances among others in the 100, continue to be strong the current mother of the house. into the future. the man who quit as chancellor last the country at work is made up month praised his successor. he had only four weeks to write this budget and he has of women and men at work, risen to the challenge. and parliament is no different, so it's important to normalise that and make sure that it's no longer a gentleman's club run by an old boy's network but although i do recognise much of it, women are expecting an equal say. and a certain former prime minister. first of all, in terms it is different in one of front line politics, it's partly about showing other women who are in front line politics. and therefore people can significant respect,

there has been a dramatic change, look at us and say, "yeah, as he set out in the global economy. that's something i can do." this means that we have to, sadly, of course, at the 2019 of course, face these challenges as a nation. election, a number of women therefore, he has been absolutely right to focus his attention stepped down — and some women have on the threat posed had really bad experiences by the coronavirus. from harassment and bullying online the budget‘s environmental impact divided opinion. — and that's an issue i think there's been plenty of green we need to be very well aware of. rhetoric for sure, but the truth of these decisions continue to drive the climate emergency. we have different views we have a freeze on the fossil fuel and different opinions in politics, duty, freezing the fuel duty, but we should respect each other‘s over 20 billion in new roads compared tojusti billion on green use and have just a proper transport and no commitment to removing the climate destroying debate about them. duties to maximise the economic so, what advice would mrs may give an aspiring female politician? well, first of all, i would say, do it because it's recovery of fossil fuels. the bestjob in the world. i think it's the best job in the world. would he not actually agree that secondly, persevere. it can be difficult. it isn'tjust an automatic thing when it comes to showing how muddled that you get into parliament. he is on green issues, this chancellor is you have to really work at it. absolutely getting it done? and thirdly, be yourself. theresa may. now, how about a burst of baroque we can't on one hand say and a look at how power shifted from royalty to parliament that we want to protect jobs, in that era? we want to keep people's standard tate britain is hosting the first—ever exhibition of living up, we want to keep of baroque culture in britain, from the restoration people's costs of living down, of charles ii to want to give people freedom to go the reign of queen anne. on their holidays and at the same selina seth reports. time say, but let's absorb ourselves in this carbon obsession pomp and changing circumstance.

british baroque shows the shift which affects all of those things. in powerfrom monarchs to politicians in the later stuart era, from the magnificence but the lib dems were disappointed. of monarchy restored — the government tried to pretend that this is a budget that's albeit with limited powers — going to take action on climate change. let's look at it. and the royal favourites to a fuel duty freeze again, the rise of the party politician £27 billion 4000 miles of road, and new artistic patrons. that doesn't sound like a green transport policy to me, mr deputy speaker and then they announce, as if it's going to make a difference, £1 billion here's the commons speakerjohn on green transport measures. smith, who hired the court artist this is completely absurd. godfrey kneller for this portrait. it's a magnificent portrait for the pomp and display, sir ed davey. probably commissioned by smith rishi sunak hasn't himself in order to commemorate his role in the negotiation of the union of england and scotland. been in thejob long. he's holding in his hand a scroll marked "the union act", so it's obvious what the whole portrait is about. but what's it like to step in and deliver a budget on the day itself? you have the gold of the mace to one side, and all the light kate forbes did just that after the scottish finance minister is concentrated on the gold embroidery on his cloak, derek mackay quit over online his face and also the act of union. messages he'd sent to a 16—year—old boy.

well, the new scottish finance minister was in westminster this week, and daniel brittain asked her when she knew she was going to be and then, there's this. delivering the snp‘s budget. i got ultimate confirmation at 7am it's an enormous portrait on the budget day and i tell you, which actually shows the collected leadership of the whig party my thoughts were the stakes are high in the reign of queen anne. they better get this right. so i spent the next seven hours it's the only known group portrait of the whigs done, probably in a bit of a budget so it's really quite significant. bunker, making sure my head was wrapped around every line it's also painted on the most of the budget and i was ready enormous scale, one of the most to go out and presented. ambitious group portraits painted in the entire period. and bo you feeling then? it's actually an advertisement of whig foreign policy you looked very confident. against tory calls for peace. it may date from the 1700s, but some aspects of political life haven't changed. it must have been painted before the summer of that year, when the individuals represented started being ejected from the ministry. my hands were quite clammy, i did not go for a glass of water and, of course, in october that year — october 1710 — for fear that it might fall. but it is a key political event was the great electoral victory of the tories. in the parliamentary calendar tabitha barber. and that exhibition and i was not anticipating other part is going any easier on me is on at london's tate britain until 19 april. because i had just been thrown in at the deep end and that's it from me for now, and with the press and the gallery, but dojoin us on bbc parliament they're looking for the slightest on monday night at 11pm

hint of nervousness or fear. for our daily roundup so i knew i had to perform of life here at westminster. at a new add to appear confident but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. irrespective of how i really felt. how much did you actually know about the budget beforehand? or were you aware of every aspect? i was not aware is that of much as i was in previous years, but in the legislation business rates, going to the parliament at 6pm the night before. i was also to put my feet up a little bit on wednesday night but little did i know, the following day i would have even bigger task to do. so this year was slightly different than the previous years and it really was an exercise some good news on the weather front. in going from scratch to figuring out everything about the budget. monday is expected to be quite a sunny day across most of the uk. the weather front pushed away towards the east as this area, this gap in the east as this area, this gap in the cloud. high—pressure bills in from the azores. it is going to be you got some very good write ups in the papers, nippy, widespread frost first thing in the morning on monday. let's have but the financial times had a mini profile, formidable or some the words used. a look at these temperatures. in it must be nice to read. some parts of northern scotland, is i have come from nowhere because i literally had a matter as low as four degrees but close to

of hours to step up to the big job and inevitably, there -2 in as low as four degrees but close to —2 in the lowlands. cardiff around will be some phrase, some kind of nation and i have freezing and in plymouth a real nip to take the good with the bad, in the airwith but myjob is to try and manage freezing and in plymouth a real nip in the air with the exception of a scotland's finance competently few areas of cloud, a dry day for and deliver balanced budgets and that is ultimately my focus. england and wales. you cannot miss inevitably, there will be a vacancy this, the next weatherfront of the top one day, fancy it? not at the moment, certainly. bringing rain to northern ireland and western parts of scotland later on monday afternoon but the vast majority will have a fine, sunny day. this is tuesday is whether let me get my feet under brokers and a weather front slicing the table with this newjob, 00:13:31,625 --> 2147483051:43:30,527 the more i see, the less attractive 2147483051:43:30,527 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 a proposition it is. the uk in half between the high and the uk in half between the high and the south and the low pressure into the south and the low pressure into the north. what does it mean? it means more cloud around on tuesday. in fact, many western and northern areas will be pretty cloudy stop we areas will be pretty cloudy stop we are expecting heavy rain pushing in two northern ireland and again western parts of scotland these are south—westerly winds so temperatures really picking up. mid teens quite widely across england. those conditions will continue through the

course of tuesday and into wednesday, meaning these are south—westerly winds will persist. a fair bit of cloud, some rain around as well. a different story in scotland. the wind direction is more ofa scotland. the wind direction is more of a west north—westerly, a colder source so temperatures will be lower. 7— eight celsius, whereas anything south, with the south—westerly flow of air, around 16 degrees. thursday into friday, a bit of a question mark exactly what the weather is going to do. the thinking is weather front across parts of south of the uk and that means thursday and friday we could catch some rain particularly across southern parts of the uk and then it will probably dry out come the weekend. that's it.

welcome to bbc news — i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: the us federal reserve has cut interest rates for a second time in a fortnight to protect the us economy from the worst consequences of the cornavirus pandemic. we'll have the latest on how asian markets are reacting to the decision and the impact the virus is having on the global economy.

as the death tolljumps in france, italy and spain, we report from madrid, on the huge pressures on hospitals and medical workers translation: you go home and you cannot kiss your child or your husband or get too close, you cannot talk to your friends.