tv Wednesday in Parliament BBC News September 10, 2020 2:30am-3:01am BST
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firefighters are battling a new fire on the greek island of lesbos a day after a huge blaze destroyed the moria migrant camp — europe's largest. there's an international effort to help the greek government cope, and a state of emergency has been declared. it's emerged that donald trump deliberately played down the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic because, he says, he didn't want to cause panic. in taped conversations with the journalist bob woodward, for a new book, the president describes the virus as ‘deadly stuff, certainly more serious than seasonal flu.‘ at the time he was saying something very different, repeatedly, in public. the speaker of the us house of representatives has warned the government in london there is absolutely no chance of a trade deal with the uk if boris johnson overrides the good friday agreement that helped bring peace to northern ireland. mrjohnson wants to overturn parts of the brexit deal he negotiated with the eu.
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it is about 2:30am. now on bbc news — wednesday in parliament. hello again, and welcome to wednesday in parliament. as covid cases rise, and the rules tighten, the prime minister looks to the future. the world we want to move to as fast as possible is a world in which we can take, everybody can take enabling tests at the beginning of the day, an antigen test to identify whether or not we have the virus or not. but the labour leader warns too many people can't get tested now. this is basic stuff. people who've got covid symptoms are very anxious about themselves, their children, theirfamilies on what to do. it means they can't go to work, they can't send their children to school — it matters. also in this programme — who's upset the speaker?
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if this minister wants to run this chamber ragged, i can assure you now ‘ i'm sure a u0 every day might just begin to run him ragged! but first, social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in england from monday. the new rules follow a rise in the number of covid cases — more than 8,000 since the weekend. at a news conference in downing street, boris johnson unveiled a new slogan designed to control the spread of the virus. good afternoon... but at prime minister's questions, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, challenged him over the difficulty of getting a test. yesterday, i spoke to a mum who lives in london. she's got a four—year—old daughter who had a very high temperature yesterday morning. she phoned 111 and was told to get a test. she tried to book and was told the nearest one was rumford, that was nine o'clock in the morning. she explored that but there were no tests there. so was then told hayward heath, halfway to brighton. 0n exploration, no tests there.
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by lunch time, this mum was told the nearest place was telford or inverness. borisjohnson said the uk had done more tests than any other country in europe, thanks to the efforts of nhs test and trace. this is an organisation that is working heroically to contain the spread of this disease, and it requires the public to trust this organisation and to participate, mr speaker. yesterday, the right honourable gentleman said it was on the verge of collapse. i think those were ill chosen words. i think he now regrets those words. i think he should reflect and he should take them back. keir starmer. mr speaker, hundreds of families are trying to get a test in the last week and they can't get one. i do acknowledge the number of tests overall, but this is basic stuff. people who've got covid symptoms are very anxious about themselves, their children, their families or what to do.
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it means they can't go to work, they can't send their children to school — it matters. and if they can't get tests, the prime minister needs to take responsibility and not just talk about the future or something else, but address this problem. the prime minister said the government would do more. and the world we want to move to as fast as possible is a world in which we can take, everybody can take enabling tests at the beginning of the day, an antigen test to identify whether or not we have the virus or not — like a pregnancy test within 15 minutes or so — so that we know whether we're able to live our lives as normally as possible. that's the vision that the health secretary and others have been sketching out over the last few days. that's where we intend to get to. mr speaker, we all want test, trace and isolate to succeed. now, i've offered my support before but the prime minister is ignoring a problem. if people are being told to go hundreds of miles, something is wrong. it has got a lot worse in the last week or two, everybody in this house knows it because they've all had constituents telling them. there has been a massive increase in the number of people who need or want tests and particularly people who don't have symptoms,
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and we need — and i hope he agrees — we need to prioritise people such as nhs front line staff, our care workers who urgently need those tests. he accused the labour leader of undermining confidence in the system. what's undermining confidence is families being told to go hundreds of miles and they can't get a test. that's undermining confidence. ijust want it fixed. we don't need to have an argument. what is the problem, accept the problem, tell us what the solution is, and we'll all muck in and try to make it better and tell our constituents. but borisjohnson said growing demand was a result of the success of test and trace. it's hard work. it's hard work, it's a big job and they are doing a fantastic job and i really think what they would like to here is some praise and encouragement and support from the right honourable gentleman. keir starmer. mr speaker why can't we just hear from the prime minister an honest answer? if he stood at despatch box and said, "i know something's gone "wrong in the last couple of weeks, we have been getting hundreds "of examples of people being sent all over the place
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or being told "there is no tests, i've looked into it, "i've worked out what the problem is, here is my plan," people might be reassured. but as ever, he pretends the problem isn't there. borisjohnson said his government was working flat out and getting on with taking the tough decisions. on tuesday, the northern ireland secretary brandon lewes admitted that the government's new bill on the uk's internal market breaks international law by allowing ministers to override part of the brexit divorce deal. the snp have spotted other issues. this legislation breaks international law but it also breaks domestic law. the prime ministerand his friends are parcel of rogues, are creating a rogue state, one where the rule of law does not apply. why does the prime minister think that he and his friends are above the law?
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0n the contrary, mr speaker. this uk internal market bill is about protecting jobs, protecting growth, ensuring the fluidity and safety of our uk internal market, and prosperity throughout the united kingdom and it should be welcomed i believe in scotland, in northern ireland, in wales and throughout the whole country. ian blackford was so unhappy with the prime minister's response he used an unparliamentary word which the speaker heard. i am sure that the leader of the snp would like to withdraw that last comment of him being a "liar", no honourable member will do that. would you please withdraw it? mr speaker, i must say... i don't need... it is on the face of the bill that the government of the uk is going to trample over devolution. that is not a lie. mr blackford, you're a great member of this house, you do the right things by this house, and i have accepted that you have withdrawn it.
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a lib dem mp pursued the argument in a different way. the prime minister may be aware that there are some scottish nationalists who want scotland to follow the example of catalonia and to have an independence referendum. now, i oppose that because it would be illegal. if the prime minister thinks it's acceptable for his government to ignore international law, on what basis would he oppose it? i have a great respect for the right honourable gentleman and let me just say this because the leader of the opposition in my view neglected to raise this important subject. myjob is to uphold the integrity of the uk but also to protect the northern irish peace process and the good friday agreement. and to do that, we need a legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations of the protocol which could lead to a border down the irish sea in a way that i believe, and i think members around the house believe, would be prejudicial to the interests of the good friday agreement
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and prejudicial to the interests of peace in our country, and that has to be our priority. borisjohnson. and those sheaves of wheat worn by mps, in case you were wondering, were to support back british farming day. the changes to the coronavirus rules in england were announced in a statement to the media on tuesday night and confirmed by borisjohnson at a downing street news conference after prime minister's questions. the government's approach upset some of its own mps and the commons speaker. had the secretary of state for health given notice of the government's intention to further restrict our liberty to meet with one another in his statement yesterday, at least some of us would have been able to question him about it. what remedy is there for those of us who enthusiastically support the prime minister but nevertheless want to restrain the government's ability to govern by
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order without debate? the speaker, sir lindsay hoyle, was sympathetic and angry, especially with the health secretary, matt hancock. it's really not good enough for the government to make decisions of this kind in the way which shows insufficient regard of the importance of major policy announcements being made first to this house and to members of this house wherever possible. can i say to him i have already sent a letter to the secretary of state, i think the total disregard for this chamber is not acceptable. i know the prime minister is a member of parliament as well and he will ensure that statements should be made here first, especially as this particular secretary of state requests statements and then to ignore the major fact that he wanted to put to the country not before this house is not acceptable and i hope he will apologise to members.
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there was no reason why the secretary of state could not have told the house yesterday this was the government's plans. has he given you notice that he is coming to the house to update mp5 on this change in policy or should we assume that ministers don't know what we're doing from one day to the next? the speaker thought he had a point and threatened matt hancock with having to answer regular urgent questions or uqs. somebody decided to tell the media rather than telling this house and what i would say is that i expect that secretary of state to apologise to members and make sure that this chamber knows first whether he was fully aware, fully aware of what was going to be said later. and let me say. if this minister wants to run this chamber ragged, i can assure you now ‘ i'm sure a u0 every day might just begin to run him ragged! a rather cross sir lindsay hoyle marking matt hancock's card. don't be surprised if the health secretary makes another commons appearance soon.
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you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. shortly after prime minister's questions, that controversial legislation that modifies the brexit withdrawal agreement was introduced in the commons. united kingdom internal market bill. second reading, what day? tomorrow. at scottish questions, it was clear labour share the snp's doubts about the impact of a bill designed to cover post brexit trade within the uk. this would mean remaining on the withdrawal agreement, an agreement the prime minister himself negotiated, brought to this house, voted for, ratified and campaigned under the general election. this reckless move reignite the prospect of us crashing out of the european union with no—deal. the prime minister promised the british people an oven ready deal, thatt now looks like an oven ready no—deal. the secretary of state himself has said previously that a no—deal 0utcome would create damaging uncertainty for the country and that he would never vote for anything that threatened or undermined the integrity of our
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united kingdom. so does he think that reneging on an international treaty, breaking a promise on a deal and putting no—dealfirmly back on the table strengthens or weakens the union? first of all, i would like to congratulate the honourable gentleman and his partner on the birth of their baby daughter. here, here! that's why he's currently on paternity leave. as to his question, the scottish secretary insisted the government wanted a deal. we are in serious negotiations again this week because we want to get a deal, and that is our intention. the withdrawal agreement was written on the basis that subsequent agreements could be reached through the joint committee. and that joint committee process is ongoing, and we are committed to it,
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but in the event that it can't deal with any adverse implications for the good friday agreement, it's important that we have a position that creates a safety net to uphold our commitments to the members of northern ireland. i'm very grateful to the secretary of state for his kind words, and if his government could legislate for a minimum of six weeks for new parents, i would certainly be the first person in the aisle lobby to support him. his government colleague, his conservative colleague and prominent constitutional expert, adam tompkins msp has now resigned the most senior government lawyers, and many of his own back benches disagree with him. he must surely realise that the uk's government recklessness only benefits those who want to break up the uk. the snp said the internal market bill would enable the westminster government to legislate on devolved issues. minister, am i correct in my understanding that when his government says they are "strengthening the union", what they really mean is dismantling devolution? absolutely not, we are strengthening devolution. we are bringing a power surge to scotland, more than 100 new powers. we are not taking a single power away.
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alisterjack. a customs expert has told mps he fears lorries could be turned around at calais and sent back to the uk at the end of the brexit transition period. the uk has formally left the eu, but the rules over trade remain unchanged until the end of the year. witnesses to a commons committee warned many businesses weren't ready and there weren't enough customs agents to process the paperwork. the biggest absolute fear is that a truck is sent to calais and they send it back. i mean, that is a genuine fear — that if the paperwork is validated whilst the vehicle is crossing the channel and that validation fails because the transit information is not properly authenticated or there aren't any documents, or the entry is not lodged in france, it's coming back. and i just think that the fear is that the daily mail headline of, "we sent our goods to europe and they sent them back," is looming.
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it's a matter of time, really. the tools are there to kind of get it right, the car park in kent is because we haven't got it right. it is of our making, if you like, that if something arrives in kent and it's not prepared, it's because we haven't prepared it. it's nothing to do with the eu. this is our problem to solve and it's always been our problem to solve. some of the fundamental things that need to change, and some of the things that need to be invested in are simply not happening fast enough. if we go back to the primary point, which is about customers and having the number of customers and customs agents available to deal with the increased numbers of declarations — some 200 million additional declarations on top of the 50 million that are done for the rest of the world at the moment. we are a long way off being able to recruit those customs agents. and i think the other thing is when we go back to the thing about time, is it takes a significant amount of time
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to train and prepare, you know, these individuals. it can take, you know, 6—12 months just to familiarise yourself, but probably three years to really understand how the process works end to end. you know, we have got 81 working days between now and the end of the year. richard burnett. now, even when the number of asylum applications in the uk plummeted nationally, during the pandemic, it was still rising in kent — where the fall in traffic through the channel tunnel and ferries led to a sharp rise in asylum seekers risking their lives by crossing the channel in small boats. the home affairs committee has been hearing how social services in kent has been coping particularly with the numbers of children arriving there as asylum seekers. many of those reflections on why we've seen the pattern change and anything that you are picking up from those who have been working with young, unaccompanied asylum—seekers in terms of their reasons or their experiences about why we have seen this pattern change
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and more people coming via the small, the dangerous small boats. mrgough? i think the first thing was that many of the other options — certainly during lockdown — those were, in effect, shutdown or certainly significantly reduced, and that was a big part of it. i think there was then a stage in which the process to some extent fed on itself. so, the small boat group was clearly highly publicised, it became known that this was an effective route, and so what we saw was, from our point of view, numbers increasing. also interestingly, a greater diversification in terms of countries of origin. so if you were to go back a few months, say the spring, early spring of this year, then certainly our experience in kent was that the overwhelming bulk of people
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who came into our care where iranian, iraqi, usually in both cases very often of kurdish background, from afghanistan. the majority of unaccompanied asylum—seekers that have come in in the last few years have been 16—17—year—old males, and so the pressures have been on the leaving care services and supporting those young people in terms of further education. the emotional health and well— being support that they may well need, roger spoke earlier about that, but what certainly in my authority we found over the last few years that, actually, we have seen more of those unaccompanied asylum—seekers coming, you know, having a higher level of trauma because of the journeys that they've ta ken. if a child does come into your care and then does eventually get asylum,
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how likely are they later on to be allowed to bring other family members into this country? ithink...to be honest, i don't know. i've not seen any figures on that, but clearly there may be — that may well arise. what i would say, amongst those who arrive at the moment, we see very few who are linking to existing family networks within the country. in this country, if we had a lot of unaccompanied minors left to their own devices in it really dangerous circumstances, we would have no compunction, those children would be taken into care and supported in whatever way, and certainly in a way that is not happening around calais for whatever reason. we have a system in this country where we don't let young people live and to be
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destitute, we take them into care, and it's a system that operates well, but it's a system that needs to operate well across the country, but i absolutely agree with you, we have very clear laws here and we operate them. labour has said what it calls the "job crisis" will intensify if the government doesn't extend the furlough scheme which is due to end in october. in a debate initiated by her party, the shadow chancellor called on ministers to show humility and flexibility. the chancellor's ploughing ahead with its "one size fits all" withdrawal of the income support schemes, pulling the rug from under thousands of businesses and millions of workers all at the same time irrespective of their situation. and he's doing so without any analysis, it appears, of the impact of this withdrawal on unemployment levels and the enormous long—term costs of so many people being driven out of work. you say you want to extend the furlough scheme, but the key question is how long for?
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we're ending it the end of october, rishi sunak said when he was going to announce it that actually, it should be november. . . it's november, then it's december. you want to set a specific scheme, but when does it end? the end of the crisis is what some of your colleagues have said, is that when the virus is eradicated? what is the solution? anneliese dodds explained her thinking. across the economy as a whole, around one in ten workers are still furloughed. for the transport sector, it's closer to one in five, for arts and entertainment, it's one in two, yet, the chancellor is stubbornly insisting on treating every part of the economy as if it's in exactly the same situation. and in doing so, putting the recovery and millions of people's livlihoods at risk. a targeted extension of government wage support will enable short hours working does not mean extending support for everyone forever. it means targeting it to where it's needed most. responding, the minister had a new measure up his sleeve.
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the government will provide direct cash grants to businesses that have been ordered to close. closed businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or less will receive a cash grants of £1000 for each three week period they are closed. for closed businesses with a rateable value higher than £51,000, the grant will be £1500. he wondered how a sector specific continuation of the scheme could work. which sectors would you not provide support for? secondly, what would you do about the supply chains of those sectors on furlough — which can reach across the whole economy? and third, most services have accepted that furlough cannot last forever, so how long would you extend the furlough for? the snp favoured sectoral support too. those sectors for furlough
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take—up have been high are not suddenly going to be able to return to pre—covid business, and there is a real argument for sectoral extensions if the government won't consider a wholesale extension. these businesses and organisations abilities to generate income will continue to be hampered for than needs of public health restrictions. the current support scheme was intended as a bridge over the deepest chasm of this crisis. it is one which, so far, offers us no destination. if the government has a strategy for the journey, this would be the time to tell us. where will those nearly 7 million people be when the bridge comes to an end? at the moment, i fear the answer is high and dry. christine jardine. a peer who swapped the ministry of sound nightclub for the ministry of health has appealed to the organisers of raves to stop holding illegal dance parties. lord bethell said they were now "a massive public health disaster". many law—abiding people are offended by the organisation of raves and blatant contemption of numbers and social distancing rules.
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what assesment has the government made with the use of intelligence by police in order to stop people from travelling long distances to attend such illegal gatherings? my lords, i used to organise raves, i used to love raves, but i implore all of those who organise raves to stop because you are creating a massive public health disaster. fines have been put in place, we will come after you, but please, look into your conscience, stop the raves, protect lives. is there a case, at least, for us to consider focusing more on mortality rates rather than simply infection rates and finding better ways of identifying and protecting the vulnerable, the truly vulnerable while allowing the rest of society to sensibly get on with their lives as best they can in the circumstances before the costs of trying to protect everyone become both economically and politically unsustainable. he alludes to a hope that i'm
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afraid cannot be borne out in practice. because we have seen in country after country that with prevalence follows hospitalization and mortality as night follows day. and there is a immediate and strong connection between the rise of mortality and the rate of prevalence in the country as a whole. children see their parents, parents see the grandparents, and if we really want to protect all of those in society, then we have to lean into the disease at every level. and that sober warning from lord bethell ends wednesday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for the highlights from the week in parliament. until then, bye for now.
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hello. for many, wednesday was a reasonable day but for some, this was the scene and st ives round about the sort of the lunch time period, it was not just as sparkly as it might‘ve been. that is because there was quite a mild flow coming in from the atlantic, and you have the weather front just to thicken up the clouds there to be enough of a spot of rain. now, thankfully, that front moves away, and thursday, after a fairly cool start — and we haven't seen that for a wee while — that is looking like a half reasonable day. it does turns a wee bit cloudier later, as you will see, but for many, certainly across the greater part of england and wales, eastern side of scotland, it is a get—out and get—on with it sort of day. best of the sunshine perhaps early in the morning, through eastern scotland, certainly through eastern and southern parts of england too. northern ireland, always really rather cloudy throughout the day. it may, come the afternoon, just see a passing shower, but the obvious place where the weather really changes, is across the north
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and west of scotland. and it's notjust as warm as we've had it of late for sure. tops round about 19 or 20. and through the evening and overnight, the rainjust keeps on coming, into this north—western quarter of scotland. not a cold night here but, further south, if your skies stay clear for any length of time, you could be down into single figures. so what happens to the front on friday? well, it s a real player all over the northern half of the british isles. the isobars quite tightly packed. it's an unfortunate mix, to say the least, of pretty wet and windy weather. the front eventually staggers its way through scotland, through northern ireland, and the remnants of that rain move down to the north of england and the north of wales. further south, it's never a bother — 20 degrees is the high. and eventually, after that wet and windy start, things brighten up across scotland and northern ireland, to finish off the day. but that is not the end of the wet story for northern areas because the weekend sees, not one, but in fact a couple of pulses of really quite wet weather piling into the north and west of scotland and, at times, though northern ireland as well. the remnants on friday's weather, well, that'sjust
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a band of cloud pulling down towards the south and, again, much of england and wales in for a pretty dry day on saturday. again, if you've got plans for the outdoors, the weather won't get in the way. that won't be the case though for northern ireland and scotland, where saturday night is a really wet one, and quite widely and, come sunday, we are still talking about more rain coming into the western side of scotland, northern ireland but, further south, at this stage, things really are beginning to warm up quite nicely. take care. bye— bye.
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welcome to bbc news — my name's mike embley. our top stories: a second fire breaks out a camp in lesbos as greek officials blame migrants for the blaze that's left thousands homeless. donald trump is accused of deliberately downplaying the dangers of coronavirus. he says he didn't want to panic the american people. and i don't want people to be frightened, i don't want to create panic as you say. the us speaker of the house warns britain there'll be no trade deal if the uk undermines the good friday agreement. and san francisco glows orange as devastating wildfires rage across the western united states.
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