the headlines: scientists at imperial college in london have begun human trials for a vaccine against the coronavirus. they're using an approach that's never been tried before — if it works, a vaccine could be cheaper and easier to manufacture in mass quantities. there are more than a dozen trials under way around the world. new york and the neighbouring states of newjersey and connecticut are introducing a 14—day quarantine for visitors from nine other american states with high rates of infection. new cases of covid—19 in the us have risen to their highest level since april. authorities in germany have reimposed restrictions as new covid hot spots appear, one centred on a meatpacking plant where more than 1,500 workers have tested positive. a mandatory quarantine is in place. it is the first time lockdowns have been reintroduced since restrictions were eased in may. now, it's time for a look back

at the day in parliament. hello again and welcome to wednesday in parliament as borisjohnson is put on the spot over his record. he has been found out. he either dodges the question or he gives dodgy answers. the prime ministerfights back. 7 billion more to help the poorest and neediest families in our country. we're getting on with it, we're making the tough decisions that he still can't make up his mind. also in this programme, the lifting of the ban on weddings prompts nostalgia in the lords. my wife and i delayed our marriage

because the later lord callahan unexpectedly delayed the election in 1978. all that to come and more. but first, 2a hours after announcing the loosening of the lockdown in england, boris johnson returned to the commons to face mps‘ questions. from july 4, the 2—metre social distancing rule is relaxed up to a point and pubs and hairdressers can open with precautions. the labour leader has been broadly supportive of the lockdown lifting plan, but sir keir starmer warned that if it was to succeed, it needed an effective system to track those with the virus. i do recognise the hard work that's gone into this. but if two—thirds of those with covid—19 are not being reached and asked to provide contact details, there's a big problem, isn't there? on the contrary, mr speaker. i think that the right honourable gentleman has been stunned by the success of the test and a trace operation, and contrary to his prognostications

of gloom, it has got up and running i think much faster than the doubters expected. this is a big gap, and the prime minister risks making the mistakes he made at the beginning of the pandemic brushing aside challenges, dashing forward, not estimating properly the risks. if two—thirds of those with covid—19 are not being contacted, that is a big problem. because if we don't get track, trace and isolate properly opening we can't open the economy, cannot prevent infection spreading. what test and trace is doing is contacting the vast majority of those who test positive, and... ..and their own contacts and getting them to self—isolate. and it is a formidable achievement. yesterday, the right honourable gentleman was kind enough actually to say that he supported our policy and our programme. i seem to remember him saying that loud and clear. today, as i say i understand

the constraints of the profession in which he used to work, yesterday, he seems to be yo—yoing back into a position of opposition. which is it? is he supporting what we are doing or against it? i do support the next stage of the operation, but the prime minister is wrong to reject challenge. 65,000 people have lost their lives because of covid—i9. the prime minister welcomes challenge that could save lives rather than complaining about it. keir starmer asked about the promised contact tracing mobile phone app. up until last week, the government maintained that the app was critical in a number of their slides. but at the weekend, the health secretary downplayed the app, saying it was only ever additional support. so which is it? critical or not? mr speaker, i wonder whether the right honourable gentleman can name a single country in the world that has a functional contact tracing app,

because there isn't one. the labour leader said germany had one, but ministers said england's wouldn't be ready until the winter. we have spent 12 million on this. other countries are ahead of us. when are we going to have a working app? i'm afraid he is completely wrong. no country in the world has a working contact tracing app, and i've always been clear, we've always been clear that the app would be the icing on the cake. if we can get it to work, it would be a fine thing, but there isn't one anywhere in the world so far. mr speaker, there's a theme to these exchanges. last week i asked the prime minister about two claims of child poverty. he said absolute child poverty and relative child poverty have both declined under this government. on monday, under the officer the children's commissioner ruled that that was mostly false. the prime minister also said it were 4,000 fewer families living in poverty now

than there were in 2010. on monday, the officer ruled that was simply false. he has been found out. he either dodges the question or he gives dodgy answers. mr speaker, no more witnesses, i rest my case. will the prime minister to the decent thing and correct the record in relation to child poverty? mr speaker, i am happy to point out to the — to my learned friend that actually there — there are 100,000 fewer children, 500,000 children below the thresholds of low income and material deprivation. this government, as he knows, is massively increasing universal credit, 7 billion more to help the poorest and neediest families in our country. we're getting on with it, we're taking the tough decisions and he still cannot make up his mind, talking about child poverty come the single biggest determinant is whether he or she goes to school. he still won't say whether

children should go... i think, mr speaker it's absolutely imfamous to come and say he supports the programme enough to confirm that he wants kids to go to school now. the snp's westminster leader wanted the prime minister to back a scottish business plan. our first minister and our finance secretary have already made a request for more borrowing powers. with the prime minister implement the recommendations of these business leaders and give the scottish parliament the economic powers it needs to fuel a recovery in the wake of the pandemic, or will the prime minister put scotland's economic recovery at risk? well, i respectfully remind the right honourable gentleman that scotland has so far received, as part of our uk campaign against coronavirus, {3.8 billion now in consequentials. the fact that i am sure is seldom off his lips with his own s&p colleagues. we will continue to invest massively in scotland because scotland like the whole of the uk benefits

from being part of the most of the oldest and most successful political partnership anywhere in the world. plaid cymru's westminster leader highlighted outbreaks of the virus at three food factories in wales, leaving workers relying on sick pay that's a fraction of their wages. for any future local lockdown to succeed, people need to be supported. will he now commit to local furlough—like schemes for self—isolated workers? i stress, as i said yesterday, that if we have to move back, and obviously, we don't want to, but if we have to move back to local or indeed national lockdowns, then nobody should be penalised for doing the right thing, so there's her answer. the prime minister. the housing secretary, robertjenrick, has agreed to release documents related to a controversial planning decision after pressure from labour mps. mrjenrick told the commons he would publish all "releva nt" information. the minister approved the westferry printworks housing scheme in east london 12 days before the developer,

the former daily express owner, richard desmond, gave £12,000 to the conservative party. labour says the timing raises "cash for favours" suspicions, but mrjenrick insists he did nothing wrong. at the start of the debate, labour was pushing for a vote to force the release of the paperwork, something the minister had previously refused to do. the westferry case and his secretary of state's role in it has blown up our confidence in the planning system. the only way to put that rate is for the secretary of state to publish the evidence about what really happened. if he's done nothing wrong, then he has got nothing to fear. so i hope he will welcome this opportunity to restore trust in a sector that will be so critical in rebuilding britain after the lockdown. a tory former cabinet minister who had robertjenrick‘s job in the past defended the role of civil servants. would he accept that in my experience, every letter that emanates from the department

goes with the consent of officials. ministers can't write in a personal capacity. my experience of those officials is that they are expert and meticulous, and it's important to reflect that in this debate. would he not agree with me that you don't need a detailed chronology or to go over the books with a fine—tooth comb and they're going to see this is the of sleeves. it brought down a major government, this government committee suggestion of an unfair advantage to donors or supporters is writ large with sleeves and the wheels are coming off of this oven—ready govenment now! i do hope very much that when he makes his comments afterwards, the secretary of state will agree to publish the documentation. because if he is right, it will lay to rest the very concerns that the honourable lady has shared. the minister had a surprise in store. i will be releasing later today all relevant information relating to this planning matter

using the freedom of information act as a benchmark. i recognise that there are higher standards of transparency expected in the judicial planning process, which is why why i will also release discussions and correspondence which the government would not normally release. these documents show that contrary to — in a moment — contrary to the wild accusations and the baseless innuendo propagated by the honourable gentleman opposite, and restated today in a series of totally inaccurate statements and comments, this was a decision taken with an open mind on the merits of the case after a thorough decision—making process. he says that he is pleased to have this debate and he started his speech by saying he's going to release all of these documents.

why today is he releasing these documents? is he releasing them because he's being forced to come here by my honourable friend, if you want to transparency and didn't want this dragged out, he would have done this weeks ago. robertjenrick said the labour mp was "completely incorrect", but opposition mps continued to attack. in any other circumstances, this would already be the difficult territory to try and wriggle off the hook, but the fact that his billion—pound housing development is linked to a tory donor means it stinks to high heavens. the secretary of state should be delivering truly affordable and secure long—term housing, including council housing, not undermining local efforts to address the complex needs of an area with the highest rates of child poverty in the entire country. at the end of the debate, labour's motion calling for the papers to be published was approved without a vote. now, you're watching wednesday in parliament, with me, david cornock. thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can catch up

via the bbc iplayer. the transport secretary has said there could be a memorial to public transport workers who died keeping the system moving during the pandemic. grant shapps was speaking to the commons transport committee, where he faced questions about how the new social distancing rules in england would work on buses and trains, and accusations that ministers should have done more to protect workers. i'm pleased to report a very high level of compliance across the transport sector. i mentioned i've used three trains this morning, and i think on the entire journey, i saw one person on a platform without a face covering. the evidence suggested that there'd been a failure at ministerial level to engage, and one of the reasons for the large number of bus workers in particular who sadly died as a consequence is the lack of concentration.

it is, sadly, the case that, to my knowledge, 5a transport workers have died with covid, and i pay huge respects to each and every one of them. i've spoken to the union and others about doing something, in the slightly longer term, to commemorate the transport workers‘ extraordinary input and effort to assisting the country at this time, perhaps with some sort of commemoration or memorial, and perhaps even at victoria station, where, sadly, belly mujinga worked but sadly died. and we don't know whether it's connected to that incident, but nonetheless i think it might be an appropriate location to remember all transport workers during this crisis. during the lockdown, the government stepped in to keep

rail companies afloat as passenger numbers collapsed, but would that emergency aid continue after september? the transport secretary said the fact the government was now bankrolling the railways meant it was easier in some ways to move to a new, simpler, less fragmented system. a railway, which is brought back together a lot more, which has a central guiding mind — or as the media always call it, a fat controller — in charge that you end up not in the situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing and "if the bird that hits the overhead line and brings it down is larger than a pheasant, it's network rail‘s problem. if it's smaller, it's the train operating company's problem," and all these weird kind of outcomes, and instead runs a system which is a bit more like the way that transport for london actually contracts other operators to run london 0verg round lines. we know that road traffic levels have already increased to 70% of pre—lockdown levels. are you concerned that there's a potential for long—term behavioural change, as people avoid public transport and choose to drive instead, and actually, that we might exceed 100% of pre—lockdown traffic

levels quite quickly? yes, it's an excellent question. i do think we have to be very conscious of this point. i mean, after all, we are quite literally signalling to people avoid public transport, which, as i've been saying through this crisis, must make me the first transport secretary in history to actively discourage people from using the system that we put so much time and attention into building. and one of the options, it should be said, after walking or cycling, is indeed to drive — because right now, it prevents the overcrowding on the public transport system that we're working so hard to protect. and as you rightly say, that means that the projection this week is hovering around the 70% of previous traffic on the roads levels — not, i think, as an indication that we are 70% of people travelling again but rather that there's a transfer from public transport onto the roads, so of course it must be a concern that we don't end up

bedding in long—term changes of the wrong type in that process. we're already seeing some hostility among drivers towards the space that's being given over to cycling, and surely that's something you're not happy about. we saw an extraordinary 100% increase in the number of people cycling during the week, during the height of the lockdown, and a 200% increase at some of the weekends. and i think your question's very wise, cos the trick is to keep this going and notjust make it a "remember the lockdown? remember when everyone cycled?" and those bikes have gone away again. grant shapps. the house of lords has voted for more of the fish caught by british trawlers to be landed by law in uk ports. the move was one of a series of defeats for the government on its fisheries bill.

labour said the country's often—deprived coastal communities were crying out for more investment. landing at least 65% of fish caught by british boats in uk ports could mean a renaissance for those communities. we know that for every job created at sea, as many as ten times as many are created on land. it would create new local markets in many of the rundown ports and harbours, hopefully tourism and processing work would follow, and the policy would facilitate new investment and innovation. it would also encourage greater self—sufficiency in uk—caught fish being consumed in the uk. but the government said ladyjones‘s amendment would impose a uk—wide fisheries policy on devolved governments in belfast, cardiff and edinburgh. ministers are expected to reverse the defeat when the fisheries bill goes to the commons. in scotland, the first minister, nicola sturgeon has been setting out plans for the lifting of some lockdown restrictions. people will be allowed to meet up with two other households indoors

from 10 july and pubs and restaurants can re—open from 15july, as can hairdressers and barbers. ms sturgeon said the move was possible thanks to the "real sustained progress" made in suppressing the coronavirus. presiding officer, our challenge, which is not an easy one, is to manage all of this change while keeping this virus firmly under control. if at any stage there appears to be a risk of its resurgence, our path out of lockdown will be halted and we may even have to go backwards. to avoid that, we must get as close as possible to elimination of the virus now and build confidence in our ability to control it in future, through surveillance, testing, contact tracing and, where necessary, targeted suppression measures. but the scottish tory leader warned about the crisis facing tourism, quoting a hotel chief executive. what is gut—wrenching is the thought of losing that

and customers leaving scotland and going to other countries. england and ireland are ahead of us. we need to put the message out right now that scotland is open for tourists. does the first minister not see that leaving all this to a possible reopening onjuly 15 is too little, too late? and the greens asked for a job guarantee scheme. first minister, half of working scots are concerned about losing their jobs. thousands already have. and with the tourist season shrinking, pubs and many shops still closed, new employment opportunities are scarce. alison johnstone. now, the two metre social distancing rule may be about to be scrapped in england, but in other parts of the uk, it's still very much in place. wales‘s first minister gave an update to a virtual meeting of the senedd. in wales, the message remains, "stay two metres apart." that is the safe way to behave. the science we have seen and the science from sage says that if you half the distance, the risk increases somewhere between two and five times greater than if you stay at a two metre distance. if it is possible, always using public health as our primary test to reduce the two metre rule

by exception, then we will see what we are able to do in wales. but we will do it by looking at the evidence first and making the decision second — not making the decision, and then looking for the evidence. the welsh tory leader ignored that dig at borisjohnson‘s government to ask for extra help for some of wales‘s key industries. the tourism and hospitality industry needs clarity, in my view in the form of a detailed strategy both for the short term and indeed the longer term, a strategy that clearly marks the welsh government's intentions and its timescales, funding allocations and support to ensure businesses can remain viable. plaid cymru said wales was facing three crises — in health, the economy and the environment. planting trees could help prevent

flooding, and the welsh government had set ambitious targets. this target was dropped to 2,000 hectares. in the last five years, the welsh government has achieved an average ofjust 300 hectares a year. and in the 12 months up until march this year, it achieved just 80 — 4% of the target. first minister, where's the urgency in the climate emergency? i agree with the member that the extent of woodland creation in wales last year was not good enough. it's important to say that, as well as new woodland creation, an enormous effort goes into the restocking of woodland. and, in fact, we planted more trees in restocking woodland last year than we did the year before, but new woodland creation was not where we would want it to be. the wedding season could be back with a vengeance in england after the government announced that the ban on forming civil partnerships and getting married is being lifted next month. however, all singing, all dancing

parties won't be allowed, there'll be a limit of 30 guests at ceremonies and venues will have to operate social distancing policies. in the house of lords, there were some ideas for clearing a possible backlog. i have a young friend for whom the cancellation of her wedding and the subsequent negotiations were a nightmare. that must‘ve been true of thousands of others. i appreciate, of course, the decisions that had to be taken but can't help but feel there was a failure to be creative in allowing vicars and registrars to marry people in private gardens and so on. but, my lords, there's a much broader question of costs of weddings, arising from the law not permitting marriages at home, unlike, for example, in the us. can the minister say when the government will, in these challenging times, make it easier and cheaper for people to marry at home or a place of their choice, especially to clear the backlog and let the people affected get on with their lives?

i don't want to add to my reputation for eccentricity by admitting that my wife and i delayed our marriage because the late lord callaghan unexpectedly delayed the election in 1978, so i fully understand the frustrations that many young couples face. the noble baroness asks a wider point. again, venues, so far as weddings are concerned, are governed in legislation and this is not currently on the government's agenda to alter it. but what if some couples don't want socially distant weddings? i understand that 80% of weddings are civil rather than religious ceremonies. what advice can the government give to wedding venues who are faced with an avalanche of postponements and cancellation demands from couples who, on the one hand, are not prepared to compromise on the format — with regards to social distancing and facemasks, etc — and yet on the other have been led to believe by the cma that they will get all their money back if they cancel their weddings?

i'm afraid the position must remain that venue managers themselves will have discretion over when they consider it safe to open, and also the officiant at a wedding, whether in a church or a secular setting, needs to be content also that it's safe to proceed. and a bishop wondered if weddings might be missing something. my lords, it is with great delight that we received news yesterday that weddings will once again be permitted. this will be an enormous joy to many couples and families all across england. as the noble lord the minister will know, hymns are most often a focal point of a wedding service. and given yesterday's announcement about live performances, can the minister give us any more detailed guidance about singing in churches, both choral and congregational? now, my lords, i do very much understand the point that the right reverend makes, but the scientific advice at

the moment in relation to singing — not only in relation to churches, i may say — is that singing in public spaces, because of its impact, does carry the risk of spreading covid, so the scientific advice in relation to singing generally is that it should be avoided in all public spaces. lord true, who may not get invited to too many weddings this summer. that was wednesday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for the week in parliament. until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now.

hello. yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. 32.6dc recorded at london heathrow. it is possible though that today will be possible —— hotter still, not a topic humid, it hit 33 somewhere to the west of london or in parts of east anglia or the midlands. the heat is more widespread across uk today. scotland and northern ireland have lagged behind with the hotter in from the southin behind with the hotter in from the south in recent days. as you can see, that amber colour makes its way in here for this afternoon. we will see outer temperatures speaking for the week across northern ireland and scotland. 30 degrees possible through the central islands of scotland. mid—20s will northern ireland. to store the north—west of scotland, a sign of things to come with thunderstorms around. elsewhere, faultless blue skies and sunshine and up those temperatures 90, sunshine and up those temperatures go, into the low 30s across a good pa rt go, into the low 30s across a good part of england wales. 0f

go, into the low 30s across a good part of england wales. of course when it averages get that high it can only go one way. thunderstorms will and our week. —— end.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: imposing new restrictions: new york and two other states clamp down on travellers from the us where infection rates are surging. inside the race for a vaccine: we are with the team at imperial college, london, using a revolutionary new approach to combat covid—19. it means that we can make the equivalent of 2 million doses in the volume of a litre. imagine a litre bottle of lemonade — that would have 2 million doses in it. three suspects arrested after the killing of black jogger ahmaud arbery are indicted on murder charges. in moscow, a show of military power on victory day with president putin about to ask the nation for a further term in office.