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tv   The Week in Parliament  BBC News  September 26, 2020 2:30am-3:01am BST

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us media reports say president trump has decided to nominate the federal appeals court judge amy coney barrett to fill the supreme court seat left vacant by the death of the liberal icon ruth bader ginsburg. the nomination comes weeks before the us presidential celection. the late us supreme courtjustice ruth bader ginsburg has become the first woman in american history to lie in state in the capitol building in washington. she was honoured during a private ceremony that was attended by family members and some officials as well as invited guests. french investigators say seven people have now been arrested in connection with an attack outside the former offices of the satirical magazine charlie hebdo in paris. reports say the prime suspect is an 18—year—old pakistani. now on bbc news: the week in parliament.
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hello, there, and welcome to the week in parliament — our look back at the last few days here at westminster. coming up: the chancellor announces a newjob support scheme with the government paying a share of workers‘ wages. these are radical interventions in the uk labour market — policies we have never tried in this country before. but labour says ministers have lagged behind what's needed. minister, i've called for the introduction of a system of targeted wage support 40 times. also on this programme: tighter restrictions are announced after a spike in coronavirus cases. the government's accused of letting down transgender people. and there's a row over a law aimed at protecting service personnel from vexatious legal claims.
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opposition mps reckon it creates an unequal system. it does away with the idea of equality before the criminal law. but first: the chancellor came to the commons to announce a newjobs support scheme. under the plan, an employee would work one third of their normal hours and get paid for them. the government and the employer will then pay a proportion of the lost hours, so that, in total, around 78% of the full wage is covered. it replaces the job retention orfurlough scheme. many businesses are operating safely and viably, but they now face uncertainty and reduced demand over the winter months. what those businesses need is support to bring people back to work and protect as many viable jobs as we can. to do that, i'm announcing today the newjobs support scheme. the government will directly support the wages of people
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in work — giving businesses who faced depressed demand the option of keeping employees in a job on shorter hours, rather than making them redundant. and he'd extend grants for the self—employed. these are radical interventions in the uk labour market — policies we have never tried in this country before. together, with a jobs retention bonus, the kick—start scheme for young people, tens of billions of pounds ofjob creation schemes, new investment in trading and apprenticeships — we are protecting millions ofjobs and businesses. the chancellor also announced that the deadline for repaying loans taken out through government schemes would be extended, and that businesses would be able to defer vat payments — while vat for the hospitality and tourism sectors remain at 5% until the end of march. and he concluded... the truth is, the responsibility for defeating coronavirus cannot be held
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by government alone. it is a collective responsibility shared by all — because the cost is paid by all. i've called for the introduction of a system of targeted wage supports 40 times. that call has been rebuffed by this government 20 times. it's a relief this government have u—turned now. but she said that delay would have impacted business confidence. now, this government has lagged behind on test, trace and isolate. it's lagged behind on wage support. it's lagged behind on support for those who have to self—isolate. it's lagging behind on green investments, and for these and for other reasons, it looks like our recovery will be lagging behind that of many other countries. there is nothing here, mr speaker, nothing whatsoever for those who have been excluded
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from existing support schemes — the freelancers, the forgotten limited, the paye, the new starters, women in maternity, and all of those who have not a 1p piece from this government for six months. he cannot say he doesn't know this is a problem, although he still refuses to meet with them. how dare he say that these three million people should be left high and dry with nothing? we know that almost 700,000 people lost their jobs between march and july. what is the government doing to support these people, because we have seen the use of food banks, in some cases, triple. and what will the government do to support those who will lose theirjobs and months to come? it is a tragedy that 700,000 people have already lost theirjobs, and many more will. and our focus should be and is on finding them with fresh new opportunities to provide the security that they so desperately need for themselves and theirfamily. a conservative backbencher welcomed many of the measures. but can he remember the mccorba principle, annual income £20, annual expenditure,
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£19, result, happiness. annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure £20 and sixpence, result, misery. what can he say to my constituents who ask, "how we are going to pay for this enormous bill? " and how can he ensure that we provide value for money for the taxpayer? she's absolutely right. as we move our way through this crisis, the nature of our response has to change. it is simply not sustainable or affordable to continue to provide the level of support that we did at the beginning of this crisis. that's why our support is now more targeted and focused on where it could make the most difference. well, pressure on the government to do more to help workers had been steadily growing, even before the prime minister announced the tightening of restrictions on tuesday. good evening, the struggle against... millions tuned in to the prime minister's address to the nation, where he explained why he was bringing in tougher rules — encouraging people to work from home, extending the wearing of face masks,
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shutting pubs early, and toughening up the penalties for non—compliance. the labour leader said he supported the measures, but there were still problems with the testing system. the reality is, losing control of testing is a major reason why the prime minister is losing control of this virus. as a result, as a result, he's phasing in health measures — restrictions we do support — but at the same time, he's phasing out economic support. health measures and economic measures are now dangerously out of sync. the cbi, the tuc and trade unions, the federation for small businesses, the british chamber of commerce, the governor of the bank of england, they are all calling on the prime minister to stop and rethink. support the businesses affected, don't withdraw furlough. we have been saying it for months. when is the prime minister finally going to act? these are indeed tough times, and i have no doubt that many businesses, many employees are feeling a great deal
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of anxiety and uncertainty, and we will do our level best to protect them throughout this period. but we will get through this, mr speaker, by precisely the methods that we have outlined and that were agreed upon in this house yesterday. and i may say that i think that what the reality of the opposition position has been exposed. the cat's out of the bag, mr speaker, because it was his shadow education secretary who said of the present crisis, "don't let a good crisis go to waste." that's the real approach of the labour party, mr speaker! seeking to create political opportunity out of a crisis. the snp‘s westminster leader called for an immediate extension of what he called the "vital and life saving" furlough scheme. mr speaker, the first steps to any recovery is admitting that there is a problem. even the governor of the bank of england is telling the prime minister to stop and rethink. the solution for millions of people right now is an extension, an extension, prime minister,
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of the furlough scheme beyond october. the alternative is putting 61,000 jobs in scotland at risk. yesterday, the only reassurance the prime minister gave those scottish workers was saying that he would throw his arms around them. prime minister, i can tell you the last thing those 61,000 scots are looking for is a hug from you. we will continue to provide the best support we can possibly give to keep people, get people — and newjobs are being created, mr speaker — get people into work while suppressing the virus. i know that he may not know it, and i can imagine that he doesn't want a hug for me, but that was a metaphor, mr speaker. what. . . perhaps, it's physically incarnated by the £12.7 billion of consequentials that we are seeing come from the uk exchequer to support people across the whole of our country. borisjohnson. meanwhile, in holyrood,
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scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, announced a tightening of restrictions with a ban on visiting other people's homes. the measure was already in place in glasgow and some neighbouring areas. but she said it would be rolled out across the country in an attempt to get the virus under control again before winter. one of the reasons we have decided to do this is that our early data suggests that this restriction is starting to slow the increase of cases in the west of scotland. so if we take the difficult decision to extend it nationwide now in early and preventative way, we hope it will help to bring the r number down and the virus back under control. let's pull together, let's keep going, try to keep smiling, keep hoping and keep looking out for each other. be strong, be kind and let's continue to act out of love and solidarity. i will never be able to thank all of you enough for the sacrifices you've made so far. and i am sorry to have to ask for more,
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but if we stick with it and if we stick together, i do know we will get through this. but within days, a major outbreak of covid—19 at glasgow university led to 124 students testing positive with 600 people self—isolating. it was one of several outbreaks at scottish universities. at first minister's questions, opposition msps wanted to know what was being done. it's clear from the figures emerging this week that an increase in infection rates is being driven from within the student population. in glasgow, around half of all cases that have been identified have been identified within the university. there is a clear concern that it could spread, particularly given the number of students that travel into uni from neighbouring areas and then return home. the first minister has previously accepted the need for routine testing across care homes. will she now examine the case for such routine testing across scotland's university campuses? we have got to be very careful that we do not allow routine testing to be seen as
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some kind of "pass" out of all the other obligations, because as i say, when people who don't have symptoms are being tested, there is a real risk of false assurance coming from negative tests. is this what you expected to happen when you gave the go—ahead to students returning to universities this academic year? i suspect if we'd be in the position where we said, no students are to be at university, richard leonard perfectly legitimately might be standing up here appear today saying, "what are we going to do to get education back to young people? " so, we have got to find the right, safe balance to have as much education for our young people while keeping them safe and minimising the risk. many of these students will be first—year students, away from home for the first time, excited about their new life at university. and it is heartbreaking that they are now cooped up and coping with this new anxiety. they need their universities and the government to make sure that they get the support that they need. first minister's questions in wales came before the announcement
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of the tightening of restrictions there. as in england, pubs, cafes, and restaurants have been ordered to close at 10pm. but additionally, people have been urged only to travel if it's essential. at first minister's questions, mark drakeford was asked about comments from his health minister vaughan gething. a conservative was clearly concerned by what she'd heard him say on the itv wales programme sharp end. the health minister said that he would not rule it out for making it compulsory for people to have a covid—19 vaccine if and when one becomes available. now, that's compulsory vaccines, first minister. did you know that he was going to say this, or was that another piece of information that the health minister's kept from you? the health minister was asked a hypothetical question, would he rule something out? he simply said that he wouldn't. it went no further than that. there is no implication what he said, that he had made a decision of any sort. and in this context, in the context of coronavirus
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when so much is unknown and when the stakes are so high, to have ruled out something at this stage, i think, would not have been a responsible thing to have done. i think he was absolutely right in the answer that he gave. can he say whether he agrees with what the opposition parties in westminster have been saying — that while the uk health minister has emphasised a lack of public adherence to the rules in getting us to this point, it's also true that there have been some policy mistakes which have contributed to getting to this position? across wales, i think the majority of people continue to very carefully and very scrupulously observe the rules. they want to do the right thing, and they want to know what the right thing is to do. there is a small minority of people who somehow took the message for the summer, when we were reducing restrictions, that coronavirus was over. those are the people that we have to convince that they need to go back
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to observing all the things that they were doing earlier in the summer, and that will mean that the effort across wales will be strengthened again. you're watching the week in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. don't forget, you can get a full round—up of the day at westminster every weeknight at 11pm on bbc parliament, or search for "parliament" on the bbc iplayer. mps have accused the government of letting down transgender people, after it rejected calls for them to be able to self—identify their gender and change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis. after a review of the "bureaucratic and intrusive" hurdles faced by trans people, the equalities minister promised instead to make the process of changing your legal sex "kinder and more straightforward". we've looked carefully at the issues raised in the consultation, including potential changes to the gender
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recognition act 2004. it is the government's view that the balance struck in this legislation is correct, and that there are proper checks and balances in the system, and also support for people who want to change their legal sex. we will make the gender recognition certificate process kinder and more straightforward. we will cut bureaucracy by enabling applications via gov.uk, and we will also reduce the fee from £140 to a nominal amount. does my right honourable friend understand the crushing disappointment of transpeople with the content of her statement on tuesday, when set against the consultation upon which it is based? does she appreciate that trans people cannot discern any strong or coherent reason for this screeching change of direction? they are aware of the fear being used against them and fears void of evidence to sustain them. does she understand the anger at the prospect of receiving their fundamental rights
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being snatched away? trans people face daily discrimination, and the average wait for a first appointment with a gender clinic is 18 months. so it is vital that steps are taken to tackle discrimination and provide the services and the support that people need. i feel where we have got to is the right place that maintains the rights of transgender people, improves the process to make it kinder and more straightforward — at the same time as protecting single—sex spaces. liz truss. now, let's take a look at some other news in brief. the former prime minister, theresa may, said she couldn't support a bill that gives the government the power to break international law. the uk internal market bill is designed to enable goods and services to flow freely across england, scotland, wales, and northern ireland when the uk leaves the eu's single market and customs union onjanuary 1.
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the government's already made a concession to its backbenchers so mps get a vote before borisjohnson could use the powers, which change aspects of the brexit divorce deal agreed with the eu last year. but theresa may wasn't satisfied. the government is acting recklessly and irresponsibly with no thought to the long—term impact on the standing of the united kingdom in the world. this will lead to untold damage to the united kingdom's reputation. it puts the future of the united kingdom at risk. and, as a result, with regret, i have to tell the minister, i cannot support this bill. the attack at fishmongers' hall in london at the end of 2019 left two people dead — stabbed to death by a man who'd been released halfway through a sentence for terrorism. as part of its response, the government introduced
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the counter—terrorism and sentencing bill, which brings in a minimum 14—year jail term for the most dangerous terrorist offenders. those who commit serious acts of terror must face sentences which match the severity of their crimes. labour turned to what was not in the bill — deradicalisation. the failure properly to address the issue of deradicalisation measures in prison will haunt this country for generations as we establish academies of terrorisms. a former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation said radicalisation had been "rampant" in the prison where the fishmongers' hall attacker had been held. within the prison, sharia courts, which meted out punishments including floggings, inside the prison, known to the prison staff. those are facts, my lords. the government says that in the worst case scenario, 7,000 lorries could be stuck in kent after the end of the year when the uk leaves the single market and customs union. imports and exports could be disrupted in january, with delays of as much as two days on routes between dover and calais, because half of freight trucks travelling to the eu may not be ready
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for new border controls. a cabinet office minister said it was vital businesses were prepared, whether or not the uk gets a free trade deal with the eu. today, we're publishing our reasonable worst—case scenario planning assumptions, indicating what could happen if we don't all secure improved preparedness. i should stress that this is not a prediction or a forecast. it's just a prudent exercise in setting up what could in the worst circumstances occur if we don't improve preparedness. 7,000 hgv lorries parked end—to—end would stretch from this building to dover. that's the scale of the problem the secretary of state is setting out. where are the extra 29 lorry parks going to be? but the prospect of 7,000 trucks queuing to cross the channel will send a chill through my constituents, because we know what effect that has on all the roads in kent — and it's disastrous. what does the honourable gentlemen say to those
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who voted for his government on the basis that it had an "oven—ready" brexit and now feel utterly betrayed? well, i haven't let anyone in that position. and the truth is that, of course, we left onjanuary 31. the video—sharing app tiktok says it wants to work with other social media platforms to remove material which promotes suicide. a senior executive was asked about a recent incident, when footage of a man taking his own life was loaded onto the service. and what we are proposing is that, in the same way these companies already work together around heinous imagery with organisations, and the way we already work together around terrorist—related content, we should now establish a partnership around dealing with this type of content. the agriculture bill was picked over in the lords, where it suffered half a dozen defeats. amongst them, a demand from peers that the government introduce a compliance badge to confirm that food meets uk standards, so consumers could avoid products from overseas with lower
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environmental and animal welfare rules — such as chlorine—washed chicken and hormone—treated beef. at the very start of this bill, i said to the minister, "you have actually managed" — not him personally — "the government has actually managed to unite the national farmers' union, greenpeace, consumer organisations, supermarkets, the green party, and the great british public." and i said, "then that probably means that the government's got it wrong. none of the 20 continuity trade agreements which have been signed to date would undermine domestic standards. this demonstrates the government's commitment that we will not compromise on our high standards in trade agreements. and he said he hoped, when all the trade deals had been signed, peers would tell him how their fears had been allayed. but they weren't allayed for now, and the government was defeated in that vote, with the lords backing the call for a standards compliance badge by 307 votes to 212. now, there were angry words in the commons over a bill designed to provide greater legal protections to armed forces personnel
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serving on military operations overseas. ministers argue it will protect them from "vexatious claims and endless investigations," and limit false and historical allegations by introducing a presumption against prosecution — making it exceptional for armed forces personnel to be prosecuted five years or more after an incident. but campaigners and some senior military figures have warned that the legislation will create a presumption against prosecution for torture and other serious crimes — except rape and sexual violence. this bill is not an amnesty, a statute of limitation, or decriminalisation of erroneous acts. we will continue to protect the independence of our prosecutors and our police, and we will investigate and, if necessary, prosecute service personnel who break the law. but what we will not accept is the vexatious handing of veterans and our armed forces by ambulance—chasing lawyers motivated not by the search for justice, but for their own crude,
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financial enrichment. this is the government of great britain, bringing in a legal presumption against prosecution for torture, for war crimes, for crimes against humanity. this is the government of great britain saying sexual crimes are so serious, they'll be excluded from this presumption, but placing crimes outlawed by the geneva convention on a less serious level and downgraded. our unequivocal commitment to upholding international law that we in britain ourselves, after the second world war, helped to establish. i will indeed. what is appalling, madame deputy speaker, is the strawman being put up time and time again by a labour party half—funded by these ambulance—chasing lawyers! there were shouts from both sides, and the deputy speaker stepped in to calm things down, before ben wallace
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could continue. much of the mess we are having to come and clean up today is because of your illegal wars, your events in the past, and the way you have run this, these — the safety for our forces! and to put up straw men and make wild allegations that are wholly inaccurate and disputed by much more learned people than him, i think is a disservice to our troops, and is all about making an excuse for not supporting this bill! what it does is it creates a presumption against prosecution for a class of defendants, placing one group above the other in the eyes of the law. and will he agree with me that that is unprecedented in our domestic legal systems in england and wales, or the separate and independent jurisdiction of scotland? that's unprecedented, that's what's objectionable about this bill. it does away with the idea of equality before criminal law. by putting barriers in the way of prosecution, then actually, you do no favours to those who are accused of criminal acts in the first place.
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because there is no line ever drawn underneath it for them. we cannot have any command hesitate to be carrying out his or her legitimate orders, and we cannot have any soldier hesitate in the heat of battle. the men and women of our armed forces still promise to give everything, even unto death. now that is not something any other employer asks of their team or their staff. former soldier — and now chair of the foreign affairs committee — tom tugendhat. and that's it from me for now. but dojoin david cornock on bbc parliament on monday night at 11pm for a full round—up of the day here at westminster. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.
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hello. the last weekend of september won't be a particularly warm one, but for much of the uk, it'll be dry, there'll be some occasional sunshine. but there is one significant fly in the ointment — this area of low pressure which has pounded parts of eastern england, especially norfolk, with wind and rain to end the week. it will still be close by over the weekend, it will still be windy and still a chance of seeing a bit of rain. it'll be cloudier compared with elsewhere. so, this is how the weekend is shaping up, on the chilly side. some sunshine, but those strong winds particularly across parts of eastern england. they'll still be there as we start saturday. still with some outbreaks of rain lincolnshire into east anglia. elsewhere, clear, chillier, maybe a touch of frost to start the day in parts of scotland, northern england and northern ireland. but across much of the uk, well, winds are reasonably light in comparison compared to eastern england. there'll be some sunshine. the cloud, though, across eastern england delivering some showery outbreaks of rain at times, especially the further east you are. and temperatures, well,
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mid to low teens, just maybe a few spots along the south coast reaching as high as 16 degrees celsius. the white arrows are the average speeds here. of course, they are higher the further east you are. we'll turn the arrows black and look at wind gusts, and 50—60 mph right along the coastline, just maybe easing a little later in the day, but make no mistake — these will still be strong winds with big waves and again cloud with some outbreaks of rain. and there'll be more cloud generally across central and eastern parts of england on through saturday night into sunday. could see a bit of drizzle, maybe south—east england, out of that. where you're clear, it'll be chilly again, and again parts of northern ireland, scotland and northern england will get close to freezing or a touch of frost as we start sunday. but again with some sunshine to follow. on sunday, we'll keep a fair amount of cloud across the midlands, across the eastern side of england, you could see a few spots of light rain. there's still a noticeable wind right along that coast in particular, just not as strong as it's been. the lighter winds elsewhere, you get to see a bit of sunshine, maybe turning hazy later in northern ireland. the temperature may be a degree or so higher. but as winds turn
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south—westerly into the start of next week, it will turn a bit milder. a bit of rain heading to northern ireland on monday, and further spells of wind and rain across the uk coming our way from midweek.
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welcome to bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: us media are reporting that donald trump has decided to nominate federaljudge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. but the president remains tight—lipped. so that decision will be made — it is made in my own mind, but we will be announcing it tomorrow at five o'clock at the white house. the nominee will fill the seat made vacant by the death ofjustice ruth bader ginsburg, who's become the first woman in american history to lie in state in the capitol building in washington. two people have been wounded in a knife attack outside the former offices of the french satirical magazine charlie hebdo. tributes have been paid to a british police officer

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