this is bbc news, the headlines: the world health organization is warning that the spread of covid—19 is still accelerating, despite progress being made in some countries. the head of the agency says the panemic is not even close to being over, adding that the worst may still be yet to come. the us supreme court has overturned a controversial anti—abortion law in louisiana. the court found the law would have restricted the number of abortion providers in the state. it upholds a precedent set by the court four years ago regarding a similar law in texas. a ferry has capsized in bangladesh killing at least 32 people. many others are still missing. the ferry overturned after colliding with another boat on one of the main river ports connecting to the capital dhaka. one man was rescued more than 12 hours after the boat sank.

now on bbc news — the week in parliament hello again and welcome to the week in parliament. lifting the lockdown across the uk — boris johnson relaxes england's covid—19 rules... today, we can say that our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end. ..but can we trust the prime minister? he's been found out. he either dodges the question or he gives dodgy answers. and what's it like being a care worker during a pandemic? mps try to find out. do you feel valued for what you do? no. not...

i feel valued by the company that i work for. i don't feel valued by members of the public. all that to come and more from the uk's four parliaments after a week dominated by the prime minister's announcement of a major relaxation of the coronavirus restrictions in england. pubs, restaurants and hotels can re—open from the 4th of july, with restrictions. so can places of worship, playgrounds, cinemas, libraries, theme parks and hairdressers. small weddings are back. but gyms, nightclubs and swimming pools remain closed, and there's still no cricket. borisjohnson said the progress made tackling the virus meant it was also safe to relax the two metre social distancing rule, up to a point. where it is possible to keep two metres apart, people should. but where it is not, we will advise people to keep a social distance of one metre plus — meaning they should remain one metre apart, while taking mitigations to reduce the risk of transmission.

he said his government's principle was to trust the british public to use their common sense. from now on, we will ask people to follow guidance on social contact instead of legislation. in that spirit, we advise that from the 4th ofjuly, two households of any size should be able to meet in any setting, inside or out. that does not mean they must always be the same two households. it will be possible, for instance, to meet one set of grandparents one weekend, the others at the following weekend. today, we can say that our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end and life is returning to our streets and to our shops, the bustle is starting to come back, and a new, but cautious

optimism is palpable. but i must say to the house it would be all too easy for that frost to return, and that is why we will continue to trust in the common sense and the community spirit of the british people to follow this guidance, to carry us through and to see us to victory over this virus and i commend, mr speaker, this statement to the house. from the opposition, a guarded welcome. we will, of course, scrutinise the details of this announcement. we will study the guidance, and there are obviously a number of questions that need to be answered, but overall, i welcome this statement. i believe the government is trying to do the right thing and in that, we will support them. and the snp warned that other countries were now experiencing a second wave. a similar experience here would amount to notjust

a health disaster, but an economic disaster. it would wipe out all of the hard—won progress, all the self—sacrifice over recent months. it is vital that our collective efforts remain focused on preventing the disaster of a second spike. 2a hours after his lockdown statement, borisjohnson returned to face mps for prime minister's questions and sir keir starmer returned to ask his promised questions about the performance of the nhs system to track those with the virus. 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 running, we cannot open the economy, we cannot prevent infection spreading. borisjohnson said nhs test and trace was contacting the vast majority of those who tested positive. and it is a formidable achievement,

mr speaker, and yesterday, the right honourable gentleman was kind enough actually to say that he supported our policy and supported our programme. i seem to remember him saying that loud and clear yesterday. today — and as i say i understand the constraints of the profession in which he used to work, i know how it works. yesterday, he seemed to be yo—yoing back into a position of opposition. which is it? is he supporting what we are doing, or is he against it? keir starmer said their exchanges were following a pattern. a week earlier, the two leaders had clashed over child poverty, with the prime minister accused of getting his numbers wrong. he's 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 do the decent thing and correct the record in relation to child poverty? mr speaker, i'm happy to point out to my learned friend that actually there are 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty, 500,000 children falling below thresholds of low income and material deprivation.

this government, as he knows, is massively increasing universal credit — seven 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... the prime minister. the lockdown is gradually being lifted in other parts of the uk too — although in scotland and wales, the two metre rule remains. in wales, the message remains — stay two metres apart, that is the safe way to behave. the science we have seen is the science from sage, saying that if you halve the distance, the risk increases somewhere between two and five times greater than if you stay at a two metre distance. in scotland, people will be allowed to meet up with two other households indoors from the 10th ofjuly and pubs and restaurants can re—open

from the 15th of july. the first minister said the move was possible thanks to the "real, sustained progress" made in suppressing 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. in fact, 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. nicola sturgeon. the home secretary priti patel has promised to implement the recommendations of a review into the windrush scandal in full. she made a commons statement to mark windrush day 72 years after the empire windrush arrived at tilbury docks in essex, carrying people from the caribbean who would make new lives here.

but thousands of people who came to the uk from commonwealth countries between 19118 and 1971 were wrongly told they were in britain illegally. wendy williams, an inspector of constabulary, carried out a review into the episode, making 30 recommendations, including the appointment of a migrants commissioner. mps were angry about the slow rate of compensation payments. priti patel said the victims had suffered "unspea kable injustices". the review itself was damning about the conduct of the home office and unequivocal about the ignorance and institutional thoughtlessness towards the race and the history of the windrush generation by the department. i was clear when wendy williams published her lessons learned review that i would listen and i would act. i have heard what she has said and i will be accepting

the recommendations she has made in full. the government's windrush compensation scheme managed to compensate just 60 people in its first year of operation. the home secretary talked about more progress today, but she must know that that rate of progress isjust too slow, given the number of years that have elapsed since this scandal first came to light and already, this scheme has been in operation for over a year. i agree. the payments and the way in which payments have been made have been far too slow — i'm not apologising for that at all. i have outlined, mr deputy speaker, in my statement that it is right that we treat each individual with the respect and the dignity that they deserve. these are complicated cases. the snp said the windrush scandal was a direct result of the government's hostile environment policy. i'm concerned, mr deputy speaker, that in today's statement, the home secretary does not unequivocally commit to the sort of root—and— branch review

of the hostile environment policy recommended by the lessons learned review. it is all very well to agree that black lives matter, but actions speak louder than words. the root causes can be traced back to legislation from the 1960s and ‘80s, much of which is complex. but of course, i appreciate the honourable lady has not fully read the report and has quoted selectively and as i said, i will come back to the house before the summer recess to discuss the specifics as to how we will be implementing... answer my questions! as i've said, mr deputy speaker, i will be returning back to the house to outline how we will be implementing the recommendations from the lessons learned review. of the mere 1,275 people who have claimed compensation thus far, only 60 payments have been made! and 529 people have had to wait for more than a year!

so does the home secretary concede that this just about neatly sums up the attitude of this government and the contempt in which it holds long—suffering individuals? and just like with the hapless victims of the deadly grenfell fire tragedy, this callous government has no intention whatsoever of delivering full, proper and timely justice for those who have been so unconscionably wronged! i hope the honourable gentleman, having listened to my statement, understands the complexities around individual cases and how we are working to get justice and provide compensation for individuals. that approach is the right approach, that approach has been based upon stakeholder engagement with the victims of the windrush generation itself. that is the right approach going forward, and i am very sorry that the honourable gentleman has chosen to politicize this in such an unhelpful and unconstructive way. that was the home secretary's second

commons statement of the week. on monday, priti patel came to update mps on a suspected terror attack that killed three men in reading. the killing of david wails, joe ritchie—bennett and james furlong in a knife attack at a park prompted tributes to those who died and questions about counter—terror operations. the local mp spoke movingly about the impact on the town. mr speaker, reading is a friendly and peaceful town with a diverse and tolerant community and this whole incident is completely unknown to us. it's something which has never occurred before in our community and, as such, is deeply upsetting. i'm very proud by the way that our community is pulling together at this difficult time and the way in which local people have been supporting one another. we can and we will come through this difficult time. thank you, mr speaker. hear, hear! there were also tributes to an mp‘s researcher who found himself at the scene.

mr speaker, i would like to pay particular tribute to james antell, a member of my own staff who not only used his own shirt to stem the bleeding of one victim, but continued resuscitation on a second victim until the paramedics arrived. recent protests on the streets of westminster have highlighted concerns about war memorials such as the cenotaph. a conservative, jonathan gullis, is proposing a new law to protect war memorials from desecration, with higher penalties for offenders. ministers have promised to look at the issue. let us not forget the sacrifice and bravery of those who paid the ultimate price — young men and women who gave up their futures, their loves, their lives and their dreams to ensure the freedoms they once knew were protected from tyranny for us, the unborn generations who sit idly by as monuments dedicated to their eternal memory are desecrated. i will not sit idly by, and nor will i be silenced. it's more than six months since the general election, but some mps have yet

to make their first speech in the commons. a conservative, mark eastwood, who won the seat of dewsbury from labour, used his maiden speech to pay tribute to his mother. at the age of three, i was abandoned by my father, forcing me and my mother to move to a council estate in thornhill lees, dewsbury, and the wilton estate in batley. at first, it was a real struggle for my mother, raising a child as a lone parent while working shifts at batley hospital and, eventually, the then newly opened dewsbury hospital. there are significant challenges facing any single mother when raising a child, let alone one as difficult as me. mps — well, those who can — have returned to westminster, and holyrood and stormont are meeting physically. but the senedd in cardiff remains the only uk parliament to sit only virtually, despite the protests of one ms, neil mcevoy, of the welsh national party,

who was logged out after a brief chamber sit—in on wednesday. i am aware that one member is in the chamber and filming himself and broadcasting to that point on social media. i will ask for that member to be removed now from the virtual parliament and we will be closing the chamber in due course. my advice to mr mcavoy is not to play games with your parliament. elinjones, with a fleeting appearance by neil mcevoy there. now, more than 18 months ago, the retired judge dame laura cox found that bullying and sexual harassment have long been tolerated and concealed at westminster. mps have now agreed to set up an independent disciplinary panel to deal with claims of wrongdoing. the leader of the commons, jacob rees—mogg, said that the behaviour of some mps has

"disgraced and shamed" parliamentary democracy. i've had people come to see me who have been treated in a way that makes my skin crawl, that you cannot believe that senior people would have behaved to people subordinate to them in such a way in any workplace — let alone in the house of commons, which ought to be a model of good behaviour — and that's why we have to have the counterbalancing bit, that we can't give mps an opportunity to delve into the personal details of a case, and try it effectively a second time. there were fears that allowing mps to debate the independent panel's findings in the commons could give members a platform to blacken their accuser‘s name. labour's shadow leader of the commons had also been contacted by a victim.

what the complainant said was, "i do not want the serious case..." and i won't say what it is, but it is very serious. "..being debated, of being named, of being called a liar or slandered." and where complainants feel that if the report is debated and that will take place, they will not come forward because they are too scared. but a conservative thought voters should decide an mp‘s fate. there is a very fundamental difference between members of parliament and all other staff members. it's that we are elected by the people and we are responsible to the people. and the people must have the final say, whether we come here in the first place or when we leave or how we leave, and that's very important. however distinguished an independent panel is, only the people have the final say. does any honourable member honestly, in this house, think that their constituents will complain when this house takes action against something that is abhorrent enough to mean expulsion from this house?

good luck selling that on the doorstep! "i've been found completely wanting, but you've certainly voted for me, "so you should carry on getting your say." it is a nonsense and it's not what our constituents are calling for. no constituent will have been in touch with anyone in this house saying, "do you know what? "i really want my right to keep my slightly wrong "mp in place." not a single one. and in the end, mps did vote to block all commons debates on complaints. now, the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on how we care for older people in care homes. and the weekly clap for carers also highlighted the work of those who care for vulnerable people — either in institutions or in their own home. mps on the health and social care committee took evidence from care workers, who told them they felt undervalued, poorly paid and demoralised. do you feel valued for what you do? no. not...

i feel valued by the company that i work for. i don't feel valued by members of the public. especially since covid, it's been tough. we get tutted at because we're in uniform out in the street because people are telling us we shouldn't have our uniforms on, but they don't understand what a domiciliary care worker does, that we go to people's houses, we work in our uniforms and we keep those uniforms on throughout the day in everybody's house. we can't change. i was pulled over on my way into work and told i wasn't a key worker because they didn't recognise the role of a registered manager. and that's really sad, and we just need to really get the message out there that this sector does do quite a lot to support the wider system and it needs to be that we have that recognition. at the weekend, there was this amazing sign in a shop window saying, "30% off for all nhs employees." well, i think that's really demoralising for them because they're making the same effort, they're doing the same work. there was people here that

worked 14—hour days, went to the shops at the end of the evening, trying to provide for their family, but weren't given the opportunity to cut the line just because they didn't wear an nhs badge. turnover of staff among care home workers and home care workers can be more than 40% a year. how much is pay a factor in terms of recruitment and retention of staff? it's a big factor. i'm sure marlene will agree. and that is based on the funding for these beds, because the majority of them are funded by the local authority or ccgs. ccgs — or clinical commissioning groups. sue ann balcombe said what her home was paid defined what she could pay her staff. we aren't able to pay a london living wage, we're only able to pay

them a minimum wage, and it would be something that we'd consider if the funding was there for that to happen. the mps were told that people did not understand the complexity of what care workers were asked to do, especially in response to coronavirus. they're having to make critical judgements about people's medical condition, they were being asked to support nursing tasks, which had previously been done by primary care. and alongside that, they were then not getting recognition about what they were doing, and i think that's had an impact on morale. i think the clap for the carers, some of the aspects of key worker recognition was great, but we had similar stories to marlene and sue ann. we had people being told they weren't important, they weren't key workers. raina summerson. in northern ireland,

an independent review into mass resignations at the watchdog which oversees care homes is to be carried out. nine board members resigned after claiming they were not consulted on key decisions taken during the pandemic, when inspections at care homes have been reduced. their departure prompted an urgent question to the health minister at stormont. given your press statement over the last 2a hours, you said that you wished that the board members had approached you and raised the issues so you could resolve them. and now we know that e—mails were coming forward from the former chair and the interim chief executive to your chief medical officer and permanent secretary as far back as the end of april. when did you become aware and what have you done in that time period to try and resolve the issues? i thank the member for her point. i was made aware in early may that there were tensions between the executive and the board of rqia. i wasn't aware that it was to the extent that it is, neither do i think is the chief medical officer or the permanent secretary within the department, so when their resignations did come through, they did come as a surprise. robin swann. now, the return of the wedding season — up to a point — has prompted great excitement in some quarters, even the odd purchase of a hat, although possibly not in one minister's household.

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. lord true, the last of the great romantics, although he and lady true have been married for more than a0 years. the resumption of weddings is certainly good news for the church of england, but not necessarily for choirs. 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. the sadness at the singing ban is widely shared. a conservative mp feared it might deter otherwise regular churchgoers. i used to enjoy a hymn sandwich before this interdict, but i've broken the habit. how is he going to lure us back if we're not allowed to sing? can i suggest, as a minimum, shorter services, even shorter sermons, some comfortable words from the book of common prayer and an end to prating prelates? well, andrew selous,

sing to that one! indeed, mr speaker. but what i would say to my right honourable friend is that i hope he's taken part in some of the uplifting online worship and services that have been available to him during lockdown, and i would say to him that it's the warmth of the welcome, the opportunity for fellowship and the chance to grow in faith through proud worship and the revelation of god's word that will prove an irresistible temptation to my right honourable friend to return. andrew selous — skilfully negotiating that challenge about shorter sermons and prating prelates. well, that was the week in parliament. thank you for watching. alicia mccarthy will be back on bbc parliament at 11pm on monday evening with the latest from the commons and the lords. but from me, david cornock, bye for now.

hello there. a slow—moving area of low pressure has been responsible for the unsettled weather during the weekend and indeed for monday. it has brought strong winds and quite a lot of rain across areas, particularly across cumbria. now for tuesday, it looks like we will see further rain at times but it won't be quite as windy is what we've see in the last few days, and that is because our area of low pressure is pushing off into scandinavia. less isobars in the charts, but we still have a tangle of weather fronts. that's going to bring outbreaks of rain at times. one of them will be bringing rain to southern counties of england and the channel islands through the day.

another one will be bringing some down weather to northern ireland. but we should see a bit of brightness breaking through the cloud for eastern england, and especially across scotland. but when the sunshine comes out, temperatures lift. this is where we're likely to see some heavy showers, perhaps even some thunderstorms. mid to high teens celsius in the north. perhaps a little bit warmer in the south, with the high teens, low 20s — that is because the winds will be lighter. further south, we should see a bit of sunshine, breaking through the cloud, although it is going to be a largely cloudy day for most, but if that happens then we could see some heavy showers or thunderstorms being sparked off here. temperatures lift up to around 20 or 21 degrees, but low teens in the north. thursday, similar story. it remains quite cool across the north of the uk. variable cloud but quite a lot of dry weather in the north. for central and southern parts of england and wales again could see some heavy showers

and thunderstorms developing. temperatures reaching highs of 19—21 celsius. so the lighter winds on thursday clear away, thanks to that ridge, and then we see low pressure move in for friday, and that's going to bring a spell of wet and windy weather and then, as we head on into the weekend, we hold onto this atlantic influence. lots of weather fronts and lots of isobars. it will remain breezy, rather cool for the time of year, with outbreaks of rain. some of it will be heavy at times, mainly affecting northern and western areas, and it will remain on the windy side, too.

welcome to bbc news — i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: the who warns that the spread of covid is still accelerating, saying the worst is still to come. pro—choice campaigners celebrate as the us supreme court rules against a law in lousiana making it harder to get an abortion. a ferry capsizes in bangladesh killing 32 people following a collision at a river port in dhaka. and there's a new push to allow athletes to protest at the olympics. the gold medallist involved in the most famous olympic protest of all gives his view. so the other younger athletes can move forward and won't be afraid to talk, won't be afraid to ta ke afraid to talk, won't be afraid to take a stand and move

forward.