thousands of people have paid their last respects to george floyd, the man whose killing in the us has sparked protests for racial justice around the world. the police officer accused of his murder has appeared in court for the first time via video link. the judge set derek chauvin‘s bail at more than $1 million. democrats in the us congress have set out a series of proposals on police reform. senior leaders also knelt in silence for nearly nine minutes — the length of time a police officer put his knee on mr floyd's neck before he died. lawyers representing prince andrew claim he has repeatedly offered to speak to us authorities investigating his former friend, jeffrey epstein, a sex offender who killed himself injail. a spokesman said he was disappointed that a formal request had been made to interview the prince.

it's about 2:30am. you are up—to—date on the headlines. now it's time for a look back at the day in parliament. hello there, and welcome to monday in parliament. the home secretary condemns the weekend's violence at anti—racism demonstrations. opposition mps urge her to recognise the reality of life in the uk. does the home secretary recognise that there's structural inequality, discrimination and racism in our country? priti patel says if mps don't think she understands, then it must have been... a very different home secretary who was racially abused in the streets or even advised to drop her surname and use her husband's in order to advance her career. england's health secretary tries to reassure the commons about levels of covid infection.

and the leader of the house says he's looking at allowing more mps to stay away from westminster. the opposition reckons turning up to parliament makes them potential covid—spreaders. take the virus from here to our constituency to our constituencies to here and drop it off with various people along the way. but first, the government says 100,000 anti—racism demonstrators took to the streets over the weekend in more than 200 protests across the uk. they'd been sparked by the death of george floyd, killed by a police officer in the united states. one of the biggest gatherings was in london, where police said that following a "predominantly peaceful protest", officers faced "scenes of violence and disorder" which were "entirely unacceptable". in bristol, police confirmed there would be an investigation into "criminal damage" after a statue of edward colston, a prominent 17th century slave trader, was ripped down by protesters and thrown into the docks.

the tearing down of the memorial and the attacks on police were strongly condemned by the home secretary, priti patel, in the commons. some protesters regrettably turned to violent and abusive behaviour at the weekend. this hooliganism is utterly indefensible. there is no justification for it. there is no excuse for pelting flares at brave officers, throwing bikes at police horses. attempting to disrespect the cenotaph or vandalising the statute of winston churchill, one of the greatest protectors of our freedoms who has ever lived. it is not for mobs to tear down statues and cause criminal damage in our streets, and it is not acceptable for black officers to be racially abused by police officers for doing theirjobs. hear, hear! does the home secretary understand the anger and frustration felt by so many people?

does the home secretary recognise that this protest is being led by young people? does the home secretary acknowledge that there is structural inequality, racism and division in our country? does the home secretary recognise that people want to see action from this government? my son turned three yesterday. i do not want to have to wait until he's a teenager before we see changes in this country. i'm really saddened that the honourable lady has effectively said that this government doesn't understand racial inequality. on that basis, madame deputy speaker, it must have been a very different home secretary who as a child was frequently called a "paki" on the playground. a very different home secretary that was racially abused in the streets or advised to drop her surname and use her husband's in order to advance her career. a different home secretary recently characterised that,

if madame deputy speaker i may say so, in the guardian newspaper as, "a fat cow with the ring through its nose", something not only racist but offensive both culturally and religiously. this is hardly an example of respect, equality, tolerance, or fairness. so when it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance or social justice, i will not take lectures from the other side of the house. a lib dem argued the answer to the weekend's violence was not to "ramp up the rhetoric" or put more police into the fray. it's to look at the systemic injustice that there is in this country, to invest in social programmes, to invest in tackling that. i would not suggest for a minute that the home secretary does not understand racism. but i would ask her to rethink the government's strategy in dealing with the injustice that we have in society today. to show that black lives really matter we must examine the deeds of the past, so will

the home secretary now commit to removing statues of slave traders from public places of honour? priti patel said there were processes that should be followed to bring about that change, but other mps pressed the point. will the home secretary agree with me that the government should remove statues of british figures involved in the slave trade? further, will she agree with me that the lives of black people who have died following contact with police like sarah reed and rashan charles are worth more than any statue? the honourable lady will be well aware and perhaps she would like to lobby local authorities across the country to bring about the changes to statues. and i noticed the honourable lady celebrated the violence of criminal scenes that we saw across the weekend. i thought the politics of protest and placards had left the labour party with the departure of the right honourable member from islington north.

given the protests may cause a second wave, does the home secretary agree that it is time to give the police greater powers to control demonstrations and marchers where police commanders believe there is serious risk to public health among public order, and to property? priti patel said the weekend had shown that the protests were a threat to public health. well, earlier, peers had asked what action the government was taking to look at its policies following george floyd's death. my lords, no—one needs to tell me that black lives matters. this is an everyday occurrence and is part of our lives. what will her majesty's government do to make sure that black lives matter in policies going forward in the uk? we are committed to tackling racism and levelling up and that means unleashing potential and opportunity for all. this is a world—first for publishing data on ethnicity and working across whitehall and local authorities to ensure that all of our interventions are properly considered to ensure that black lives matter in everything we do. the appalling death of george floyd

in minneapolis at the hands of a policeman who has now been charged with murder cannot be used as an excuse for illegal and violent behaviour here the uk, i'ioi’ understandable strong feelings in the uk about racism and discrimination. will my honourable friend show that no amount of animus... that police officers will not be... 0r other illegal acts in bristol or elsewhere are identified and prosecuted? the violence and criminal behaviour is never acceptable, particularly against the police who are working in very difficult circumstances. i recognise the strength and feeling, but protest should be peaceful so as not to undermine the cause with all of those are marching for. and it is absolutely essential that those who do perpetrate criminal acts face justice. 50 years ago i was stopped in my car and aggressively questioned by the police. my three brothers have all been

stopped and searched aggressively. 20 years ago my 16—year—old nephew stopped, thrown in a police van and badly beaten and falsely charged. going into 2020 during lockdown we saw excessive force used on a black man who was tased in front of his toddler. today protests have shown that we are at a tipping point. so what action is the government planning especially for education to reassure the black community, including children, that their lives matter? 0n stop—and—search, the government is clear that no—one should be stopped and searched based on their race or ethnicity and we are working with the college of policing to update guidance on community engagement and scrutiny over the use of stop—and—search powers. these young people are yet again having a protest indignities and injustice suffered by their parents and grandparents that remain unaddressed. which represents an abject failure for the rest of us. have they made representations to the american government?

had they called in the us ambassador? and has any member of the government spoken clearly, palpably, addressing non—white people, bame people in this country to say how we feel and hurt? at senior levels our embassy in washington never has concerns with the state department. we have also seen statements from the us ambassaodr here in the uk and both the prime minister and foreign secretary both in their places and in the media have been very clear in their stance on this issue. lady sugg. the health secretary for england has tried to reassure mps that coronavirus reproduction — the r number — is below one everywhere in england, despite reports that it had risen above that level in some parts of the country. the r number shows how many people each infected person passes the virus on to. if it's below one, it means the virus is receding. but some mps weren't satisfied. labour's shadow health secretary accused the government of "throwing

caution to the wind". he set out figures from public health england. the r value according to the phe cambridge model is close to one in many regions, and is at or above one in the north—west and the south—west. and the modellers from that model warn that this may result in the "decline of the national death rate being arrested by mid—june". matt hancock said the government was listening to its scientific advisory group, sage. he surely understands that the way that you get the best advice is looking at all different models, rather thanjust one. and i mentioned one other survey which is actually based on data, rather than modelling, the 0ns survey, and i also told them already that the sage view taking into account all of the evidence — which is that r is below one in each region. the r number is close to one across england and may even be

above that in some areas. as the r number reflects lockdown changes made a couple weeks ago, does the secretary of state not accept the need to assess the impact of sending people back to work and school before making further changes to lockdown? in the north—west, there are some calculations of the r rate that have it above one. many of my constituents are very worried about this yet the government is accelerating plans to end the lockdown more quickly than it announced that it would. why? thank you very much. we are continuing with the plan that we have, which is cautious and takes a safety first approach and based on all of the information notjust as she quite rightly pointed out, just one of part of the information.

what advice is he receiving from behavioural experts on the viability and sustainably of the of localised lockdowns? it is a challenging thing to set the country one way and then to watch and dial it back again. well, of course it is important to ensure people are fully informed of the reasons why we may need to take action in a particular local area and that is a very important part of the consideration and making sure that local bodies like local directors of public health are fully engaged, and that is an important way of doing that. local directors of public health, the comprehensive, granulated data in order to do theirjob. currently, there are holes in the data which they receive, in particular on testing, in order to then follow through and conduct tracing.

so when, not "soon", but when will they actually received that comprehensive data ? together with the local r value in order than to keep our community safe? the thing is mr speaker, they get data now, we want them to get better data, we will keep improving the data flows and it is as simple as that. what hope can you give the millions of grandparents in this country that they too may soon be able to play a full role and their grandchildren's lives, particularly those engaged in child care to enable parents to go to work? my own children saw their grandmother at a social distance outdoors appropriately, rigorously according to the rules for the first time this weekend and it was a realjoy. and with my honourable friend and you no doubt mr speaker and everybody else in this house in wanting to see a restoration of that basic human yearning. matt hancock. now, the leader of the commons has hinted at a further concession to mps angered by the ending of the hybrid chamber. at the peak of the coronavirus, members of the commons had taken part in debates and voted online, but jacob rees—mogg asked them to return to westminster, arguing legislation was being held up by remote working.

after an outcry from members, the government offered a concession that some would be able to continue taking part in bits of parliamentary business by video link and be able to vote by proxy. a lib dem called an emergency debate and urged the government to go further. it is good and i commend the government for their movement in the least of restoring virtual per dissipation by video link that we have seen now operating again thankfully. but the position with regard to divisions is an important one and it runs right to the heart of this question of equality. if you are somebody who has an underlying health condition, so you yourself are not able to attend then you are allowed to nominate a proxy. if however you are somebody who is a camera for or simply lives with another person in that position, then you are equally unable to attend here and i have not

heard anybody challenge them but... allow people who have come take part because they are shielding or because they are helping to shield relatives to be able to vote and yes they will not get a full dissipation, that will be reserved for here but at least they will not be denied their vote. this is not about the process of government or a debate or scrutiny. important though is about public health. we are in the middle ofa pandemic and we are having to travel from nearby or far away and come in contact with members of the public potentially taking the virus from here to our constituencies or our constituencies to hear and drop it off with various people along the way. it is incredibly important that those who cannot be here must be allowed to vote and they must be

allowed to take part in must be allowed to have their voice heard and must be allowed to represent their constituents. they were elected in the same way that those of us who can be here physically were and they need to be heard. jacob rees—mogg suggested further change was on the way. the house last week unanimously agreed to make this available to members who are unable to attend to wes with her because they themselves are at high risk from coronavirus for reasons that they are either actually vulnerable or clinically vulnerable. in making judgement of this kind i have saw a balance to complete the priorities of this place and which look to parliament as a whole as i maintained throughout the government is listening to members across the house and i am and i hope this will please the honourable gentleman in the right honourable gentleman that i am giving thought to bring forward a motion that extends proxy voting beyond what has already been agreed by the house to include members that are more widely affected by the pandemic. jacob rees—mogg. you're watching monday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. mps have claimed that the government policy to deny welfare benefits to some migrants living in the uk

discriminates against people from black and minority ethnic communities. but answering questions in the commons, the home secretary denied that the policy known as "no recourse to public funds" was racial discrimination and said there were other ways of helping people in need. the homes are terry does not get it. people who work here pay taxes here for years and are being denied support and are falling to the institution. people who have lost theirjobs or seen their incomes slashed can be excluded from the very protections the home secretary sites. so given this rule disproportionately impact people in our black and minority ethnic communities, the hardest,

will the home secretary now suspend the no recourse or public funds rule for the duration of the pandemic. i think the right honourable settlement for his question and its comments. the answer is no, local authorities have provided a basic city net and that is through significant financial provisions introduced by the government and a range of measures to support those people who have been working and because of coronavirus and because this national health pandemic from a situation we find ourselves in, we will support people with no recourse public funds. labour said the government had written to councils asking them to help people with no recourse to public funds and that borisjohnson had told mps people who lived and worked in the uk should have support. it was of the government has understood that in rpf is counter productive to the pandemic in principle but the lack of clarity from the home of us on this in practice many people are still facing destitution. with this in mind will the home secretary look again at the spirit of the prime minister's comments to the liaison committee and outline how they intend

to support those families? i think it's important to place on record that of course this is not just the home office, work across government and all of the department of local government and communities are central to this. and in terms of the resources that have been provided, practical support such as rent protection and the coronavirus job retention scheme apply to those under the no recourse conditions. the black lives matter movement and public health england's covid—19 review of disparities have a lot suffered by black and minority at the people in our society. does the home secretary accept that the no recourse policy disproportionately affects people from bame community. and if she does why not push were to be suspended as a concrete

step towards tackling the inequalities which so appalled many of our constituents? there are number of points i would like to make to the honourable lady. first of the government publishes report last week into the impact of coronavirus on black, asian, minority ethnic communities and the findings are indeed shocking. and it is right the government invest time and resources with the equalities minister in particular to look at the measures that can be brought in place. now this policy of no recourse to public funds is one of many policies and it is right that we look at all policies that affect all communities in the... this means a mother unable to buy food or nappies for her baby,

a british citizen in the middle of a pandemic with no public health available, does the bame know that and does she care? she is completely wrong and her categorisation. first of all, public health measures are available right now in addition to the fact this is a public health emergency so it is run in the way he she has done. priti patel. scores ofjournalists have been caught up in the police response to the protests across the united states sparked by the death of george floyd, according to media reports. it has led to accusations that police have been targeting journalists trying to report on the protests. at question time in the lords, concern for the safety of reporters and media workers was raised by the conservative peer lord black, a deputy chairman of the telegraph media group. across the world from mexico to beijing, attacks onjournalists are reaching an unprecedented level. in many cases these are the disgraceful action of the white house against journalists in the us and many other

countries, 64 reporting are using covid—19 to use criminal sanctions against her little so does my noble friend agreed that there is now urgent that there is co—ordinated international action to make sure thatjournalists proper legal protection and for the media freedom coalition which you government helped establish which now seems to be acting forcefully without delay due to the propagation of our national action plan? i don't agree with the premise it has been missing in action as it has been quite active in indeed my noble friend had discussions on the issue of world media freedom back on the third of may with the german, french and dutch counterparts and continue to work very closely with our key partner on that initiative which is canada and my noble friend will also be aware of the vital work being done by the independent high—level of legal experts on media freedom which is convened by the envoy and lord newberger. they are doing some very important

work indeed and it produced a first a bill introducing "no fault" divorces in england and wales has moved a step forward. currently, in order to start divorce proceedings immediately, one spouse has to allege adultery, unreasonable behaviour or desertion has taken place. under the proposed law, they will only have to state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. the bill is opposed by some conservatives, but the minister set out why the change was needed. i think it is our responsibility to in the legal process try and reduce conflict because conflict leads to emotional difficulty and it can lead to damage and it can lead to really serious consequences and not just for the adults in their relationship but let's face it the children. the acid test is as a result of this legislation will there be more

divorces or fewer? and it is my contention that if you make thing easier people or more of you to do it. as someone who is very tragically going through a divorce process and asked someone who has had to put blame on my partner when actually i would've preferred to have had a no—fault divorce, this legislation would allow the burden of guilt to not be applied to one person or the other. labour welcomes this bill that offers a common—sense approach that continues respect the institution of marriage and civil partnerships but avoids unnecessary antagonism and cost people dealing with often incredibly difficult times in their lives. it was 30 years ago now that i studied evelyn waugh's a handful of dust at a level english and the secretary of state might recall in that case in the novel the character tony is forced to spend a platonic weekend in brighton with the sex worker in order to fake evidence to allow his divorce. that of course was set in the early

period of the 20th century. it is surprising that he has taken us that long to update these laws. and later, that bill passed its first hurdle in the commons and will now go for detailed scrutiny. and that's it from me for today, but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another round—up of the day here at westminster. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.

hello again. tuesday is going to start up and quite a quiet note, a lot of dry weather around however through the day, we will see this area of low pressure start to increase the weather more, outbreaks of rain spreading into the north—west of the country sober many of us, it's a dry and bright start to the day, quite of the cloud around that some spells of sunshine. later on, we will see reina ride across scotland and northern ireland but at the same time as we head into the early afternoon we may well see it few showers form particularly across parts of northern england, down the pennines, perhaps into them middle of an england in central and southern nguyen. don't be surprised if you see the odd shower in the early afternoon. the top temperature, around 19. that same area of low pressure on wednesdays with us but this time it is such right over the top of the uk and that means wednesday looks like being a cloudy day with fairly prolonged outbreaks of rain. some of it could be quite heavy at cross

western areas and around about 18 degrees, unsettled really through the rest of the week.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name's mike embley. paying their respects — thousands of mourners file past the casket of george floyd in his home town of houston. the us economy has officially gone into recession, but stocks are surging with the nasdaq hitting a record high. prince andrew is embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with american prosecutors investigating his friend, the late jeffrey epstein. and hong kong marks one year since protests began against a controversial extradition bill. we'll look at what — if anything — has changed. and royal ballet dancers make a special video to raise funds for artists struggling through the pandemic.