the headlines: in houston, texas, a funeral service has been held for george floyd, whose killing by police in minneapolis triggered anti—racism protests around the world. the eulogy from the civil rights leader al sharpton included an impassioned plea for police reform and justice. president trump chose the same day to promote a conspiracy theory that suggests a man pushed over by police during protests in buffalo last week was an extremist provocateur. the victim struck his head and is still critically ill. his lawyer says the family are at a loss as to why mr trump made "a dark, dangerous and untrue accusation. " there've been more demonstrations triggered by george floyd's death across the uk. many protesters are turning their attention to public statues depicting slave owners. at oxford university, there've been renewed protests ina long—running campaign for oriel college to remove an image of cecil rhodes.

it's about 2:30am. it's time for tuesday in parliament. hello there and welcome to tuesday in parliament. on this programme, the education secretary faces tough questions in the commons as he confirms that all english primary school children won't go back to class before the summer. why is it that we can turn a blind eye to thousands of demonstrators campaign for pubs and garden centres to open, yet it is so hard to reopen our schools? an snp mp has a bleak assessment of the chances of success in uk—eu trade talks. there is going to be misery heaped on misery as covid and brexit appear like the twin horsemen of the economic apocalypse trampling over any prospect of recovery.

and mps are told how coronavirus has brought hard times for theatres and musicians. the union, we're running out of money. we have £1 million into a hardship fund — that's pretty much gone. but first, the education secretary has confirmed he's dropping plans for all primary school years in england to go back to school before the end of term. ministers were aiming for all primary pupils to spend four weeks in school before the summer break. but the idea is no longer thought feasible and instead heads will be given "flexibility" over whether or not to admit more children. while we are not able to welcome all primary children back for a full month before the summer, we continue to work with at the sector on the next steps where we would like to see schools who have the capacity to bring back more children in those smart class sizes to do so if they are able to do before the summer holidays. we will be working to bring all children back to school in september. i know students who are due to take exams in 2021 will have experienced considerable disruption to their education this year. and we are committed to doing

all we can to minimise the effects of this. exams will take place next year and we are working with ofcom and the exam boards on our approach to this. for weeks, head teachers, education unions, school staff and many parents have warned that the plan to open whole primary schools before the summer was simply impractical while implementing social distancing safely. so, i welcome the secretary's decision to roll back from that today. however i must state my dismay at the way this has been handled. if the government had brought together everyone involved in implementing these plans from the outset and really taken on board what they had to say,

they would not be in this situation of having to roll back at all. what we do recognise is that we do need to be bringing schools back and pupils back into the classroom. if it had been left to the honourable lady, she would not have been bringing children back into the classroom until the national education union said that she was allowed to do so. and while we... while we will continue to work with all, we recognise how important it is, how incredibly important it is to do the best for every single child. why is it that we can turn a blind eye to thousands of demonstrators campaign for pubs and garden centres to open, yet it is so hard to reopen our schools? we know that around 700,000 disadvantaged children are not doing school homework and 700,000 don't have proper access to computers for the internet. so, what is the government doing to help these disadvantaged children learn again and avoid an epidemic

of educational poverty? we are already in the process of rolling out it equipment right across for school estates as well as to those children who are most vulnerable. 100,000 of those laptops have already been distributed to children who are most vulnerable and most disadvantaged. and we took the decision to ensure that they were prioritised over and above schools those children who have social workers. a decade ago, i sat in a cabinet office briefing room discussing the threat of a then—threatened pandemic. and then we were discussing the closure of schools. so, it beggars belief the secretary of state can come to the house today with no clear plan for getting out the laptops which are delayed, that wasn't planned in advance. it's late, secretary of state. he shakes his head, madam deputy speaker, for the record. but they are late. this is already late for vulnerable pupils. and with no clear plan about catch—up, i find myself

in complete accord with the honourable members for harlow and east worthing and shoreham in their desire to see a catch—up plan for the very many vulnerable students. can he seriously not give us more information today? there must have been planning. if there hasn't, he's been asleep on the job. well, the honourable lady is inaccurate in the fact that the laptops that we had promised to actually ensure that we get out to children, vulnerable children, those who are facing exams in year ten are actually on schedule. we had said that they would all be distributed by the end ofjune and we are on target to be able to do that. i think it's really important that the secretary of state commits today to a major campaign over the summer for catch—up education for children for an urgent rollout of the laptops that he has promised and finally, and i wish he would address this, the issue about free school meal vouchers carrying on over the summer. please, think again about that callous decision that was made last week. in terms of free school meals, we have never traditionally provided free school meals all the way

through the summer. but what the dwp has been doing is putting an extra £6.5 billion to support those families who are most vulnerable. sadly, not all children in this country have received any online direct teaching at all and many have received very little. and that is because the teaching unions have opposed this practice, often with the support of members opposite. what can we do if the return to school is going to be delayed to ensure that more children can receive direct teaching? we will be assessing out quite clearly to all schools as to where children are not in a position to be able to return to school as to whatever basic minimum curriculum requirements that we will be expecting them to deliver for all children. many people in the bame community living in multi—generational homes aren't planning to send their children to school because they are afraid of them bringing the virus home to their grandparents.

how is the secretary of state going to persuade parents from disadvantaged backgrounds and from the black and minority ethnic community to send their children to school? secretary of state. well, of course the best advert as to why your children should be going back to school is when we see those incredibly powerful images of children returning to school for the first time. the absolute joy you see across their faces, their passion for learning, the fact they are so pleased to see their teachers and their friends once more. gavin williamson. now, the office of the children's commissioner for england expressed serious concerns last month about the treatment of children in custody during the coronavirus pandemic. it said some were spending as little as a0 minutes a day outside their cell due to restrictions intended to prevent the spread of covid—i9. those findings were raised

at question time in the commons. the children's commissioner for england found significant consequences for children's rights, well—being, and long—term outcomes. and she said that family and professional visits were being severely curtailed. as the government prioritises returning children to school, will she give me a date by which she expects all children in custody will have access to education, activities, family, and professional visits? we took those measures to save lives. we were looking at 2,500 to 3,500 deaths across the estate. and so we took drastic action that we considered very carefully which resulted in his right to say, in a severe lockdown. the situation was now improving in youth offender institutions — or yois. time out of cell has increased as the lockdown has continued and children are now being let out between two and 3.5 hours every day. in the secure children's home, there is almost a normal regime with 12—14 hours out of cell.

we publish our national strategy for recovery and visits will be one of the first things — and education — that returns in the children's estate. it is absolutely vital that we have education in a prison. when will the ministry ensures that this happens? and in addition to that when will the ministry ensure that there will be testing available in prisons? two very important points. on education, i completely agree with the honourable lady that it is important to reduce reoffending through education. and as i mentioned we set out our national framework to set out what we can bring back safely and in the youth estate in the first phase we will be bringing back education.

on testing, we already have some testing in prisons of prisoners. testing is available to our staff and we will be rolling out increased testing in prisons as matters progress. questioning then turned to the wider impact of coronavirus on the justice system, with the majority ofjury trials halted. we've harnessed technology to use audio and video in 90% of our hearings and are using video calls and secure mobile phones to keep prisoners in touch with theirfamilies and to maintain order. getting the system fully back up and running is now our priority. a few weeks ago as the lockdown measures were relaxed, jury trials restarted but only at a fraction of the normal rate. we expect the ministry ofjustice to at least note the size of the challenge that it faces. what is the secretary of state's estimate at the total number ofjury trials in the backlog currently waiting to be held? the right honourable gentleman will be glad to know that i continue to look at that on a daily basis. the overall caseload in the crown court is approaching

just over 41,000. before the crisis it was 39,000, so there has been a slight increase. both the lord chiefjustice and i are working together closely in order to scale up capacity to look at court hours and the way the court is set so that we can accommodate jurors and indeed staff and to do whatever it takes notjust to manage that caseload in terms of number but actually bring it down as we go through the year. robert buckland. britain "cannot keep negotiating forever" with the eu over brexit, a minister has insisted. the cabinet office minister penny mordaunt said trade talks with brussels were at a "key stage" and needed to be escalated in the coming weeks. so far, there have been four rounds of negotiations with little progress. but the minister repeatedly ruled out extending the transition period beyond december this year. labour's shadow cabinet office minister wanted the uk and the eu to step up. this was notjust a deal between the uk government and the european union. but through the course

of the election, it was the basis of a deal with the british people. we urge both sides to redouble efforts over the next few days and weeks to ensure progress is made by the end of this month, so the government can honour its commitment to ensuring a good dealfor britain by the end of this year. she makes, at the start of her intervention, a powerful argument for not extending the transition period. if we've learned anything over the last few years, it's that all that would do would be to extend the negotiation, and i agree with her that business and our citizens across the eu, and actually around the rest of the world who we also are focused on trade negotiations with, they want to have certainty about the future and so we must press on with that. and that is one of the many reasons why we will not extend the transition period. there's going to be misery heaped on misery as covid and brexit appear like the twin horsemen of the economic apocalypse, trampling over any prospect of recovery.

and whose fault is going to be? obviously them. nothing to do with us, guv, it's all these nasty, invidious europeans! how dare they hold this government to the commitments they've already given in good faith, these fiendish europeans asking us to deliver on what we've already agreed to. meanwhile in the lords, the minister explained exactly where the sticking points were. the talks covered trade and goods and services, fisheries, law enforcement and criminaljustice and other issues which both sides engaged in constructively. there was, however, no movement on the most difficult areas, where differences of principle are at their most acute — notably fisheries, government arrangements and the so—called level playing field. this was a vital round of talks, but there's been little sign of movement, as the minister'sjust said, towards agreement. so could the noble lord the minister explain why the government only expects the eu to compromise in order to reach a deal

without being willing to do so itself? our position does need to be understood. we will not agree to any of the eu's demands for us to give up our rights as an independent state. the conservative party has long regarded itself, justifiably or not, as the party that looks after business, so can the noble lord the minister tell us why this conservative government is so apparently casual about the prospect of a no—deal crash out on december the 315t? why is ideology trumping pragmatism? there is no crash out no—deal. we will either leave the eu at the end of the year, with a canada—style arrangement or with an australia—style arrangement. given that the eu appears determined to bind the uk into the common fisheries policy and its own rules and standards, does the minister not agree that there would actually be negotiating advantage in not

reaching an agreement before the end of the transition period, so that the eu would be forced to accept the reality of the uk as an independent and sovereign state ? as the eu grasps that we will not extend the transition period, will they not recognise that it is very much in their own economic interest to set aside ideology and make a free—trade deal? in any case, isn't it absolutely in our interest not to be tied into contributing billions to the commission's new budget and subsidizing a eurozone economy that was in dire trouble before the pandemic? my lords, i try not to criticise any aspect of the european union from this despatch box, but that apart, i agree with what the noble lord hasjust said. lord true. you're watching tuesday

in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. and don't forget, you can follow me on twitter — @bbcalicia. the counter—terrorism and sentencing bill cleared its first commons hurdle. the justice secretary said the proposed new law would ensure terrorists "serve sentences that properly reflect the harm that they cause". the bill was prompted by two recent terror attacks in london — one in streatham at the start of this year, where two people were stabbed, and the other at the fishmongers hall in november 2019, where three people were injured and cambridge university graduates jack merritt and saskia jones were killed. in both cases, the attack was committed by a known terrorist offender who'd been automatically released from custody halfway through their sentences. thejustice secretary described them as "brutal attacks" on innocent people going about their day—to—day lives. and those incidents drove home some hard truths about our approach

to managing terrorists in the justice system, with each committed by an offender who had been released automatically halfway through their sentence, with no involvement from the parole board. madam deputy speaker, we cannot allow that to happen again. the bill aims to ensure serious and dangerous terrorism offenders spend longer in custody without the possibility of early release. the shadowjustice secretary said labour wouldn't oppose the bill, but he was concerned that there was no real commitment to try to deradicalise offenders. some members of this house may be sceptical over whether it's possible to deradicalise terrorist offenders, but on this side of the house, we believe that we have a duty to try — even if not for the sake of the offenders, for the sake of the public we must protect. because even with the extensions to sentences this bill proposes, terrorist offenders will be released at some point from our prisons, and there is little use in increasing sentences

for terrorists if we are to release them just a few years later, still committed to their hateful ideology, still determined to reap havoc. the costs of extensive post—release surveillance far outweigh the costs of adequate funding for preventative measures and deradicalisation. and she wanted reassurances... that this bill won't turn out to be counterproductive by leading to less parole, less offender management and less incentives to behave well during a sentence and to attempt deradicalisation. joanna cherry. in stormont, there were questions for thejustice minister over the police response to recent anti—racism protests in northern ireland. the demonstrations followed the death of george floyd in minneapolis. thejustice minister explained what the situation was when it came to protests and policing.

regulation 6 places restrictions on gatherings in a public place during this emergency period and provides the police with powers to take enforcement action where there has been a breach of these restrictions. decisions on what enforcement action should be taken are a matter for the police, based on their operational assessment. but the chair of the justice committee argued the credibility of lockdown regulations has been undermined by police inaction. any mass gathering, deputy speaker, was facilitated by the police service on the 3rd ofjune, with follow—up comments that it was proportionate. any wonder there was then further protests on the saturday in londonderry and in belfast? these regulations, by not being enforced and by not being placed, have been undermined their credibility, and the public are then left to take decisions by exercising their own best judgement, which is going to be the way forward in the future. naomi long said many of the exceptions that had been

applied to the coronavirus regulations had been requested and pre—emptively announced by one of paul girvan‘s dup colleagues, edwin poots. and therefore, it would be fair to say that, having requested that people have more freedom to move, more freedom to travel, more exceptions to the reasons not to, it therefore was always going to become more difficult for the police to enforce those regulations. and if he chooses to liaise with his executive colleagues, they will make him well aware that i raised those concerns at that time and i have continued to raise them since. the key to this is this. we can't expect the police to adopt one approach to a gathering or a funeral or procession which we disagree with and then ignore another funeral or a gathering or a procession which we might have sympathy with. the key is that the police have to approach this with a common approach, that they have to be fair, they have to be transparent in what they are doing.

back at westminster, mps heard that seven out of ten theatres could go bust before the end of the year unless they get more help to weather the covid—19 crisis. it was just one of the stark warnings from the creative industries to the digital, culture, media and sport committee about the health of arts and music in lockdown. they argued that more help from the treasury was needed if the sector was to survive. we've seen today that the burnley hippodrome has started laying off staff. and there's been a number of theatres across the country, places such as southampton and leicester, that have closed their doors — perhaps forever. by this time next year, how many theatres do you think we could end up losing as a result of this pandemic? well, thank you. as you rightly point out, we are at the start, potentially, of a very worrying time for this sector in which we lead the world. our latest survey told us that 70%

of theatres or production companies — both — would run out of cash, go out of business by the end of this year. so will venues be able to stay afloat if they re—open with social distancing in place? one of the key issues that's been raised with me is the issue of social distancing. and the fact that two metres social distancing means that theatres would have to run at sort of 20% capacity in some instances. one metre, it's 60—70% capacity, potentially. what are your thoughts on that? is it a game—changer, one metre over two metres? two metres gives us an average seating capacity of around 20%. it actually ranges from something 12 or 13%, up into the 25—26%. it's entirely dependent on the age of the building, how many aisles there are, how many access points there are. one metre, most of the estimates are that that goes up to somewhere to 30 to 35% capacity, so i'm afraid nowhere near the 60 or 65%. and the main reason for that is in a fixed auditorium, with seating, you have to leave every row free at one metre social distancing.

so they go bust? is that right? you know, there are many options, aren't there? one, some form of subsidy to enable them to do some form of activity. and remember, theatres do work on stages, but a few do community and outreach work as well, which it has in the main stopped at the moment, which is incredibly important for the kind of social welfare of the country as well. and there are some digital things happening, but that's not a long—term business model. the money flowing in from that is relatively low. or, as you would have seen... and you started with burnley hippodrome — lots of theatres are making hard decisions now in order to preserve enough reserves so that they can come back when social distancing in an auditorium is no longer needed. the situation seems bleak for musicians too. well, i mean, all the work — and i'm talking about live work, studio work, orchestras, everything — just fell off a cliff. he said some musicians did not qualify for

government support schemes. and even hardship funds were struggling. there was a news item today on the bbc about help musicians uk, who have been really bailing members out and musicians out who are in dire need of finance, but they're running out of money. the union, we're running out of money. we've put £1 million into a hardship fund — that's pretty much gone. we really need a cultural fund set up, as they've done in germany, new zealand, lots of other countries, where they've stepped in and said, "this is really important. we need to maintain this." later, the minister was sympathetic. i'm not prepared to sit by and watch parts of this sector disappear unless we've put up a really, really strong fight to protect them. but is the treasury willing to stand by? i mean, i read with interest oliver dowden, the secretary of state's interview with the evening standard, in which he was asked, "do you think the treasury gets the creative sector?"

he didn't actually answer the question, so i'm asking you, does the treasury get the creative sector? i have to say, we have had very positive conversations with the treasury and extremely positive conversations with number 10 so far. there have been some excellent suggestions and we're threshing out with the treasury right now which will work, which can be delivered at pace, which can be delivered without massive overhead. you heard about the idea about the government acting as a kind of financial backer almost, a producer, rather than bailouts. you've heard about tax breaks, tax reliefs and, of course, the normal ideas around grants as well are things we're looking at. caroline dinenage. and that's it from me for another day in parliament, but do join me at the same time tomorrow for, among other things, the highlights from prime minister's questions. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.

hello there. we'll take a look at the uk unsettled weather picture injust a moment, but first of all, one place that has seen some very high temperatures over the last 2a hours is the arctic circle, where temperatures reached 30 degree celsius on tuesday. amazing to think temperatures can get that high that far north, but they do from time to time. that, though, could be a newjune record for that particular area. looking at our weather picture, it is unsettled. we saw rain gathering across the north—west of the uk yesterday, and that was associated with an area of low pressure, and that low pressure is moving right over the heart of the united kingdom for today. so we are looking at an unsettled day. often it's going to be cloudy, often we're looking at spells of rain, that could be quite lengthy spells of rain and, at times, pretty heavy as well. perhaps some of the heaviest bursts of rain working across the western side of the countries, so wales, maybe north—west england. there will be some areas that don't see too much in the way of rain. but i think they are going to be the lucky few. for most of us, it stays pretty wet.

temperatures between 1a and around 18 degrees for most of us. now, once that area of rain has moved south, you might think, "phew, we got rid of it," but, no, this particular area of low pressure is going to deepen and spin back northwards. all said and done, we'll be seeing the low influence our weather for the next six days, so we better get used to it, i suppose. on thursday, we have further outbreaks of rain, moving in across parts of england and wales. some of the heaviest falls of rain could be working in across parts of north—east england. it looks like it could turn very wet here for a time. and increasingly, ithink, as we go on through the next few days, when the rain does come along, it's got a tendency to become quite heavy. thursday is going to be a windier day, and it's going to start to feel a little bit more humid as well. now, for friday, we've got further bands of rain pushing their way northwards. probably the heaviest coming into southern parts of england and southern wales. a real chance of some thundery downpours here, might even see some localised surface water flooding for a time.

generally, the less rainy weather will be across the north—west of the country, but nowhere is immune from seeing an odd downpour. and that trend continues on into the weekend as well. for saturday, it's a day of sunshine and heavy thundery showers. those showers could be quite intense. perhaps some of the heaviest of them towards wales and parts of south—west england. it's a humid day, temperatures are rising. we're looking at highs up to 24. but it is going to stay unsettled.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: the funeral of george floyd, whose death in police custody caused global outrage, hears impassioned pleas for racialjustice. until we know the price for black life is the same as the price for white life, we're going to keep coming back to these situations over and over again. many of the largest anti—racism protests have been in the us capital. we speak to the mayor of washington, dc about her relationship with the white house. that we think the actions we just egregious. president trump provokes criticism by accusing