the british prime minister's closest aide dominic cummings is facing further allegations that he breached lockdown rules. earlier, he and the government insisted he'd acted " reasonably and legally" by driving from london to county durham in march while his wife had coronavirus so his family could help with child care. the taliban in afghanistan have declared a ceasefire for the three days of the muslim festival of eid. the militant group had stepped up its attacks in recent weeks but now says they will restrict themselves to defensive operations. the afghan president has ordered the army to respect the truce. funerals have been taking place in pakistan for some of the victims of friday's plane crash in karachi, in which 97 people died. the government has launched an official inquiry, but the pakistan pilots‘ association says it has "no faith" in the official investigation. now on bbc news, the week in parliament.

hello there, and welcome to the week in parliament. on this programme — labour says there's been no tracking and tracing of coronavirus in the uk for months. for ten weeks, there's been no tracing, unlike germany and south korea. and tracing is critical. but the prime minister promises the uk will have a world class track—and—trace system. and, yes, it will be in place — it will be in place byjune 1st. the immigration bill bringing in a points—based system passes its first parliamentary hurdle. scotland's first minister sets out her plans to ease the lockdown. and how about this as an idea to lift the spirits when the crisis is finally over? we could possibly have a bank

holiday in october, because the industry has sort of lost the benefit of the two main bank holidays. but first, the government faced criticism from senior figures in the care sector of its handling of coronavirus. giving evidence to the health and social care committee, the head of the organisation representing care homes said elderly people should have been prioritised from the beginning of the crisis. the chair of the committee asked about a government ambition to move to routine testing of front line care and nhs staff. have you had any indication or sense that this is going to start anytime soon? well, i mean, we've had the announcements, but so often the announcements, there's a time delay before delivery. so, ithink, you know, the intention is there but also i want to say that it would be very helpful to have both testing and track—and—trace in place, because i think that could be a game—changer as well in this. so, i think the short answer, chair, is we had the announcement but what we haven't had is the delivery,

and we're not really clear when that's going to arrive. professor martin green. and those comments on routine coronavirus testing in care homes were seized on by the labour leader sir keir starmer at prime minister's questions the next day. official figures suggest more than 11,500 people have died from the infection in care homes across the uk since the start of the pandemic, so sir keir starmer wanted a straight answer — when would routine testing start? the chief executive of care england, who knows what he's talking about, gave evidence yesterday that it hasn't. if the prime minister is disputing the evidence of the select committee, that's his own business. order, order! secretary of state for health, i don't mind you advising the prime minister, but you don't need to advise the opposition during this. sorry, do you want to leave the chamber? we're at maximum numbers. if you want to give way to somebody else, i'm more than happy. keir starmer.

mr speaker, to assure the prime minister, i'm not expressing my own view, i'm putting to him the evidence of experts to the committees yesterday. we have a growing confidence that we will have a test, track—and—trace operation that will be world—beating and, yes, it will be in place — it will be in place byjune ist. the snp‘s westminster leaderjoined calls to exempt more key workers from abroad from having to pay a surcharge to use the health service. people migrating to these nations and choosing to work in our nhs and our care sector must have this government's cruel nhs surcharge removed, and removed immediately. will the prime minister make that pledge today, or will he clap on thursday, hoping that no—one really notices that he's giving with one hand and raking it in with the other? well, boris johnson didn't answer that directly, but he had earlier been asked a similar question by keir starmer and told him that changing the system would leave a hole

in the nhs budget. like him, i've been the personal beneficiary of people, or carers who've come from abroad and frankly saved my life, so i know exactly the importance of what he's talking about. on the other hand, we must look at the reality that this is a great national service, it's a national institution, and it needs funding. and those contributions actually help us to raise about £900 million. and it's very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources, so with great respect to the point that he makes, i do think that that is the right way forward. but on thursday afternoon, just 28 hours after those exchanges, it emerged that the prime minister had changed his mind. number ten said borisjohnson had asked the home office and the department for health and social care to remove health service and care workers from the nhs surcharge as soon as possible. now to brexit, swept off the front pages in recent weeks by the coronavirus crisis.

peers wanted to know if customs posts would be established at ports and airports in northern ireland from january and how, if that were the case, it was compatible with "repeated assurances from ministers" that goods moving from northern ireland would have free and unfettered access to uk markets. my prime minister said there will be no forms, no checks, no barriers of any kind. you will have unfettered access. my lords, i simply ask the noble lord, the minister, what is the truth? the prime minister said that if there was any forms of any kind, if someone asked you to fill in the forms, tell them to ring up the prime minister and i will direct them to throw that form in the bin. he was referring to customs and tariffs. on that point, can i ask him if somebody does what the prime minister says and tears up the form and puts it in the bin, what number should they call to speak to the prime minister? well, peers didn't have long to wait for an answer to those questions.

on wednesday, the government confirmed that there will be new checks on some goods entering northern ireland from the rest of the uk as part of the brexit deal. the cabinet office minister michael gove told mps northern ireland's ports would be developed to carry out checks on animals and food products. the province will continue to follow some eu rules after the brexit transition period ends on december 31st, but mr gove said there would be no "new" customs infrastructure. we acknowledge, however — as we've always done — that on agrifood and live animal movements, it makes sense to protect supply chains and the disease—free status of the island of ireland, as has been the case since the 19th century. that will mean some expansion of existing infrastructure to provide for some additional new processes for the agriculture and food sector. but these processes will build on what already happens at ports like belfast. will my right honourable friend confirm that as from the ist of january 2021, that northern ireland, i.e., a part of the united kingdom, will be required to abide by eu

regulations on certain goods until at least 2024, and potentially indefinitely? it is the case that there will be eu regulations, aspects that will apply in northern ireland to 202k. but of course, she draws attention to a very important point, which is that if the workings of the protocol are viewed by the people and the parties of northern ireland as onerous, too much, intrusive and unacceptable, then they have the opportunity to vote them down in 202a. michael gove. meanwhile, measures to create a trade policy independent from the eu came a step closer when the trade bill passed its second reading in the commons. the legislation replaces trade agreements the uk had as an eu member state. as we recover from the economic shock of the coronavirus crisis, providing certainty and predictability in our trading arrangements will be vital

to securing the interest of businesses and consumers. we will unleash the potential and level up every region and nation of our united kingdom. now is the time for this house to speak out against protectionism. it is time for us to embrace the opportunities that free trade and an export—led recovery will bring. but labour said the bill was a missed opportunity. instead of a bold strategic vision for the future of our trade policy, we have a stopgap piece of legislation that even ministers are trying to talk down. instead of putting issues like climate change and human rights at the heart of our trade policy, they have been ignored or consciously dropped. instead of opening our trade policy to the expertise of others, the government is denying them even a seat at the table. and instead of restoring parliament's sovereignty over trade policy, this bill leaves mps even more powerless than before.

emily thornberry. and another key piece of government legislation also cleared its first commons hurdle. the immigration bill ends the free movement of eu nationals at the end of this year. the aim is to introduce a system whereby would—be migrants to the uk will need a certain number of points — such as for skills, education and salary — before they‘ re allowed to come to work. the home secretary said the bill would give people what they called for when they voted for brexit. the bill before us today will play a vital role in our recovery plans for the future. it will end free movement and pave the way for our new points—based immigration system — a firmer, fairer and simpler system that will attract the people we need to drive our country forward through the recovery stage of coronavirus, laying the foundation for a high—wage, high—skill, productive economy. labour focused on the proposals to bring in a salary threshold and how that might affect health and care workers.

in the midst of this crisis, the government is putting forward an immigration system containing a salary threshold of £25,600 that sends a signal and tells people that anyone earning less than that is unskilled and unwelcome in our country. we know that one in six of those brave care workers on the front line of the battle against coronavirus are non—uk nationals. i commend the home secretary for her commitment to extend visas for doctors and nurses, but what of care workers? are they to be the cinderella service, forgotten once again? and what of ancillary staff in our hospitals, so crucial in a war against a virus where repeated deep cleaning is an absolute imperative? we cannot open hospitals if we cannot clean the loos. i'm afraid to say this is a dreadful bill, one which will destroy opportunity for future generations and will split even more families apart. it's a bill that will result in many thousands of eu nationals

losing their rights in this country and will extend the hostile environment even further. it does not guarantee the rights of british citizens to live, work and study in eu member states. nor does it fully guarantee the rights of uk citizens already living across the eu. and while i'm disappointed and frustrated that the government refuses to respect the rights of eu citizens who contribute to this country, ifind it beyond comprehension that they do not recognise the need to protect the rights of our citizens, either. a conservative recognised immigration had been a factor in the brexit vote. today, we can put the dilly—dally, dither and delay to an end. i understand there are some concerned about what they see as a bizarre concept — the end of free movement. to me, it's rather simple. a uk immigration system developed by uk elected government —

a system that serves our national interest, determined by the needs of our economy, a system that treats immigrants from every corner of the globe on the same basis. matt vickers. now, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the uk jumped to just over 2 million in april — the first full month of the coronavirus lockdown. the figures came from the office for national statistics on tuesday. by coincidence, the chancellor rishi sunak was in front of the lords economic affairs committee and its chair got straight to the point. what do you anticipate the level of unemployment will be in the fourth quarter of this year? i don't have a precise estimate. there are a range that are out there from the bank of england and the obr. most of them point to around a double—digit percentage unemployment rate. obviously, the numbers you would have seen today showjust under a million new claims in the last month, over 800,000, taking total number of claims to two million. i think the obr estimate had that

tapping out at about three million. obviously, the impact will be severe. there will be more hardship to come. this lockdown is having a very significant impact on our economy. we are likely to face a severe recession, the likes of which we haven't seen, and of course, that will have an impact on employment. do you accept that the length and depth of that recession you refer to will be very much related to the length of the lockdown? i think there's also two things to distinguish. one is the immediacy of the economic impact, the depth of the recession. the question that occupies my mind and indeed long—term is probably more relevant is, what degree of long—term scarring is there on the economy as a result of this recession? what is the depth, what is the loss in productive capacity? becauswe ultimately, once we recover from this crisis — by nature, i believe it will be

temporary, of course. we will suppress the virus, we will progressively now lift the restrictions. the question is, what do we return to? and the question there, the jury is out. first minister nicola sturgeon has set out how lockdown restrictions will be eased in scotland. she said schools would start preparing next month to reopen from august 11. some outdoor activities would be allowed from thursday, including opening gardening centres and waste and recycling sites. it would also be possible to meet people from other households, but only outdoors and in small numbers. the first minister said that businesses would reopen as part of a four—phase easing of the lockdown, which would only continue if the spread of the virus was being controlled. we view them as a proportionate and suitably cautious set of first steps and i hope that they will bring some improvement to people's well—being and quality of life, start to get our economy moving again and start to steer us safely

towards a new normality. she said the timing of moving between different phases would depend on everyone. we must continue, all of us, to recognise that every single decision we take as individuals has an impact on others and our collective well—being. does the first minister accept that for the parliament and public to have confidence and for scotland to feel safe as we come out of lockdown, it's essential that the infrastructure for testing and tracing — or test and protect — is in place? i want to align our lifting of lockdown measures with our ability to implement a substantial significant test and protect operation, and we will be able to do that from the end of next week in every health board area in the country. we need three guarantees. first, the government should publish the evidence behind the decisions it has taken and it will take in the future. second, we need to see maximum testing capacity and a test, trace and isolate system

that is fully working and universally rolled out. and thirdly, the government's strategy must be flexible and able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. can the first minister give us these guarantees? first minister. yes, i think i can in broad terms. but obviously, the detail of that will be scrutinised on and developed in the weeks to come. a green msp raised newspaper pictures of sunbathers on an edinburgh beach flouting the current lockdown rules. does the first minister agree, particularly given the scenes in portobello, in my own city of edinburgh, yesterday that the lockdown is getting harder to sustain? when i saw the pictures of portobello beach yesterday, i almost felt like crying to some extent because i know why people felt the need to do that and i completely sympathise. but every time we have people getting together in ways that

provide opportunities for this virus, we risk the progress we have made together, so i appeal to people to stick with these restrictions for a bit longer so that we can much more quickly work through these phases and get back to the normality all of us badly crave. meanwhile in wales, there were questions for the first minister about his government's road map out of lockdown. mark drakeford described it as a "traffic light system", but it had come with no dates attached. is this road map the best hope the welsh government can actually offer the people of wales and when can we expect to see some timescales alongside your exit strategy? on timescales, let me say, as i've said before and i've been asked, there is a genuine debate to be had as to whether timescales are a helpful way of setting out the future. in the end, we thought that it was more of a distraction then a concentration on the matters that really deserve our attention. —— than a concentration on the matters that really

deserve our attention. why should people in wales be subject to the most extraordinary, intrusive and prescriptive restrictions on their freedom if they are not necessary? many who had not before understood the scope of devolved powers don't now like the answer. it's because of devolution. mark dra keford accepted extraordinary powers were being used. i agree with what he has said about devolution being brought home 20 years, and i doubt that it is true that in wales, people aren't aware of devolution. it is certainly true of people outside wales and in london appear to have woken up from a 20—year sleep. local authorities in northern ireland are to get access tojust over £20 million in emergency covid—19 funding from the executive. councils are still carrying out essential work but have lost income from sectors like

leisure and tourism. the new funding will help cover costs between now and the end ofjune. northern ireland's communities minister said the executive had agreed to an "immediate intervention" to avoid a cash crisis. the losses sustained to date are such a magnitude that councils will soon be unable to meet their financial liabilities. the executive again yesterday agreed to make funding available of £20.3 million to my department, for local councils to alleviate these financial pressures. this intervention will provide relief to our local councils, to protect the delivery of front line services during this crisis and ensure the councils are ready to play their role in our post—pandemic recovery plans. will primary schools in england be reopening for some pupils from 1june? schools are looking at ways to enforce social distancing and make sure it's safe for youngsters and teachers.

but at least 11 councils in england have expressed concerns about the plan, and the teaching union, the nasuwt, said it remained "unconvinced" reopening schools was "appropriate or practicable". peers were told that certain year groups would be expected to go back, providing the government's five tests on easing lockdown restrictions were met. well, labourfocused on the spread — or r value — of the virus. the minister will have seen today that various local authorities across england are advising schools not to open schools in their areas. with public health england having said r values vary across different regions, it's difficult to understand the logic of the government's decision that schools should reopen nationwide 1june. can the noble baroness the minister reveal to the noble lords what the scientific evidence says about re—opening schools in communities which have an r value which is closer to one in the average? the r rate is not actually broken down regionally. it is not published in that form.

it's a uk wide estimate range that's published each week. the individual modelling groups include epidemiological information on the intensive care unit rates of admissions, death rates and the rates of hospital admissions. so it is an average value that can vary across communities, but it is not published on a regional basis. what are you going to do when lockdown is finally over? top of many people's list, no doubt, is a holiday. the covid—19 shutdown has had a massive impact on the tourism industry. despite the sunny spring weather, beaches have been deserted. popular beauty spots have been, for the most part, empty. hotels up and down the uk are shut, along with campsites, b&bs and holiday homes, all of which has left businesses locked up and facing a shaky financial future. the digital, culture, media and sport committee heard from a wide range of tourism organisations about the effects on them. in your written submission to the committee, you said that you thought the cost impact

of covid—19 on your sector could range from £8 billion to £22 billion. that's quite a range. does the fact that we're now talking about a 14—day quarantine and we have a stubbornly high r in certain parts of the country, does that mean that you're likely to be toward the top end of that expectation in terms of the cost of covid—19 on your sector? yes, indeed. every time we do the modelling, the figures get worse. i think the worrying thing we see is the lack of confidence in the british public about travelling, so that 74% of people who have a holiday booked forjuly and september think that holiday won't take place. she had a suggestion that could help the industry. we could possibly have a bank holiday in october because the industry has sort of lost the benefit of the two may bank holidays. i think that's an idea that is being considered,

have an october bank holiday around half—term. because what we're going to need to do is notjust generate income injuly and august but, really, extend the season. coastal tourism has also been hard—hit. the key for us, really, is that we believe the coast will take a three—year recovery period before it's back to pre—covid—19 levels, and what we would like to see is a collaborative approach across all stakeholders to build back better. now is our opportunity to really tackle seasonality on the coast. many businesses, over 20%, are looking at how they extend their opening this year so that they can claw— back some of their lost revenue. the national trust told the committee it had closed all its buildings, gardens and car parks and had stopped all non—essential projects. we will need to review oui’ human resource. we have a lot ofjobs that people simply won't be doing for the next nine months, so we're in the process of reviewing that at the moment.

we're not anticipating another three months‘ closure — but if we have a second wave and we had to close completely, that would be deeply, deeply concerning. and what we're watching very carefully, as you would expect, is the decline in membership. we were losing, certainly in the first month, the rate of members four times the normal rate — and, of course, we cannot replenish our members because our properties are not open. so it's the membership base we're watching very closely — because once that declines, it's incredibly hard to build it up again. there's been a lot of messaging that's gone on from councillors and members of parliament — to stay away. understandably so, it was the lockdown rules, etc. but as we move out of that, is there any chance that that sort of messaging has had a more long—term effect, could make people nervous or feel as if they are not that welcome? we have had vigilantes. we have holiday parks accommodating

nhs key workers when we could. we've had vigilantes checking up and reporting them to the police. "who are at these people on your holiday park?" that negative anti—feeling is going to be an issue. at the same time, there was something very, very similar after foot—in—mouth. people did not want tourists in the countryside because we had to protect farmers, but it settled down within a fortnight. if we don't get a second wave, things settle down, people will get used to having their tourists back. and if they don't have them back, they won't have the village shop or the garage — the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker — because the tourists are sustaining all the local businesses when you have a tiny local community that's unable to do so. it is all part of it. we re integrated in our rural and coastal communities. so we're hoping that it will be seen, but there is a real challenge there at the moment. and that's it from me for now. parliament is taking a break for a week, so we'll be back when mps and peers return on 2june. but until then, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.

hello there. we saw gale force winds across the north and the west of the uk today. lots of showers rattling through across england and wales, though. much of england and wales did stay dry, with plenty of sunshine. most of the rain was in western scotland — it was extremely wet, with over three inches falling on saturday. sunday, less windy, a lot of cloud around in the morning thanks to this weather front bringing outbreaks of rain to the north—west of the country. but high pressure will continue to build in across the south, so that will turn things dry as we head through sunday afternoon. we start the day off, though, with temperatures in double figures for most. that's because we'll start with quite a bit of cloud cover around, and still a fair old breeze out there. it will be quite wet, western scotland in towards north—west england initially, and it looks

like the cloud will tend to break up with increasing amounts of sunshine, especially across england and wales, and into the afternoon across northern ireland. these are the mean wind speeds, so you can see quite fresh out there but nothing as strong as what we had on saturday. with slightly lighter winds, more sunshine again in the south, temperatures will creep up to around 22, maybe 23 degrees in the south. high teens further north. on sunday night, the winds turn lighter still. as high pressure builds in, it'll turn drier with lengthy clear skies, a bit of cloud in the far north of scotland. under those clear skies with very light winds, temperatures could drop into single figures for many northern and western areas. one or two spots in the east seeing 10/11 degrees. on into monday, then, a bank holiday monday — high pressure with much of england and wales. we've got these weather fronts just flirting with the north—west corner of the country. that will tend to bring in thicker cloud. there will be a stronger breeze for western parts of northern ireland, western scotland and outbreaks of rain. much of scotland, though, england and wales will be dry, plenty of sunshine. light winds. it's going to feel much warmer for all, especially in the south—east, where we could make 25 or even 26 degrees into the afternoon. as we move out of monday into tuesday, we start to these

weather fronts move a little bit further south—eastwards. a very weak feature, but it could introduce more cloud, i think, to parts of england and wales as we go through the day. sunshine making a return to the north and west of the country, but there will still be some glimmers of brightness further south too, and that'll help push temperatures up to around the mid—20s celsius again, as it is a warmer air mass. highs of around 16 or 17 in the north. we will see a bit more cloud at times and the odd spot of rain as we continue to move through the week for scotland and northern ireland. for england and wales, though, with the high pressure dominating, it's going to be warm and sunny.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with sima kotecha and rogerjohnson. our headlines today: a defiant response from downing street over new allegations that the prime minister's chief aide breached lockdown rules. fresh reports claim dominic cummings made more than one trip from london to durham during the lockdown. the government says the allegations are false. a new test—and—trace system to track coronavirus cases is set to launch at the end of the week. as the us gets close to 100,000 deaths from covid—19, the new york times fills its front page with the names and details of victims. good morning. a boost for project restart in the latest round of premier league testing. just two new cases of the virus have been found,