hospitals across the uk get ready to take delivery of the coronavirus vaccine, with the first jabs set to be given on tuesday. he's played it boldly up there. that could be, that could be magical. thank you. the bbc‘s director general says ‘no—one told the story of golf‘ quite like him. now on bbc news, it's time for the week in parliament. hello and welcome to the week

in parliament, a week when borisjohnson celebrated the arrival of a vaccine, lifted a lockdown and faced as biggest tory rebellion as prime minister. all we need to do now is hold our nerve until these vaccines are indeed in our grasp and are being injected into our arms. a week when the economic crisis deepened with the collapse of debenhams and arcadia. that has put 25,000 jobs at risk and caused huge anxiety to families at the worst possible time. also... advice for tough times. in my day, something bad happened, you stayed home, got drunk and bet on a shoe. i think that is quite a good metaphor for the times we live in. first, borisjohnson has had worst weeks as prime minister, britain's medicine regulator approved a coronavirus vaccine, the first country to do so, the four week nationwide lockdown was lifted and mps approved

new covid rules, are tough and system of regional tiers to replace that lockdown. the ayes to the right 291, the noes to the left 78. so the ayes have it, the ayes have it. but 53 of the 78 mps that voted against the government were conservatives, the snp and liberal democrats did not vote and had labour mps also been told to abstain the government could well have lost. the prime minister himself had opened the six—hour debate on the new rules. this is not another lockdown, nor is this the renewal of existing measures in england. the tiers that i am proposing would mean that from tomorrow everyone in england including those in tier 3 will be free to leave their homes for any reason and when they do they will find the shops open for christmas,

the hairdressers open, the nail bars open, gems, leisure centres, swimming pool open. he was repeatedly interrupted by conservatives unhappy with the new system. more than 55 million people are now living under tier 2 and tier 3 which ban households mixing indoors. we went in in tier1 and came out in tier 2 and pubs and restaurants are in the worst of all worlds, and i wonder if in asking me to support these regulations tonight would hope the prime minister will give to them. does he share my concern that people have just had enough and that the risk of noncompliance is very great and that those who are compliant will then have the added frustration of watching those who will not comply doing whatever they want while they have to sit at home? will he commit to a more local tiering system so that the hard work of my constituents is rewarded? a labour mp said that original

system had been promised. —— a regional system. however, what the powers that be have done is they have placed slough in tier 3 despite the fact that we have been segregated from the wider region and there are areas in neighbouring london and essex with higher covid transmission rates, why does the prime minister hate slough? what have we done that has annoyed him so much? i love slough and i understand what he is saying. i appreciate the feelings of people of injustice and people do feel it. borisjohnson said that in future the government would look at how to reflect the situation on the ground. he ended on an upbeat note. all we need to do now is hold our nerve until these vaccines are indeed in our grasp and being injected into ourarms. i say to the house again, follow the guidance, roll—out mass testing and work to deliver it to the people

of our country and work together to control the virus. sir keir starmer explained labour's decision to abstain. i recognise the need for continuing restrictions and i recognise that the tiers have been toughened as it was obvious that the previous tiers were a one—way street to tier 3. i am far from convinced by what the prime minister has said today. in particular, that economic package is nowhere near sufficient to support the communities most affected. a conservative took issue with that approach. we have choices to control the spas, we can have a lockdown, a tier system or no lockdown where lives like john and ken who we just recently lost in my family to this awful disease have happened. why will the right honourable gentleman of the labour party not support these measures which are saving lives tonight? we have been here before. this is at least plan number five in the first four have not worked.

i think everybody would forgive the british public for being sceptical about the fifth plan. we recognise the need for continued restrictions but it is not in the national interest to vote these restrictions down today and we will allow the restrictions to pass, but it is another wasted... we accept the case for restrictions and we want a plan that will work and we are on a plan five and it is full of holes! the snp have their own take on the prime minister's difficulties. scotland has passed similar but not identical regulations with a far greater degree of cross—party and intraparty consensus than seems to have been managed here in westminster. the health secretary has been at the centre of the fight against coronavirus. he wound up the debate with an unusually personal speech, focusing on efforts to control the virus in liverpool. my step grandfather, derek, caught covid there and on the 18th

of november he died. in my family, as in so many others, we have lost a loving husband, father, a grandfather to this awful disease. so, from the bottom of my heart, i want to say thank you to everyone in liverpool, for getting this awful virus under control. it is down by four fifths in liverpool, that is what we can do if we work together in the spirit of common humanity. a reflective matt hancock. less than 2a hours later he was back in the commons to mark the regulator's approval of the pfizer beyond act vaccine. this is a monumental step forward. it is no longer if there is going to be a vaccine, it is when. in a battle against the virus, help is on its way. today is a triumph for all those who believe in science, a triumph for ingenuity, a triumph for humanity

and i want to thank everyone who has played their part in this achievement. the team at pfizer, the team of scientists at beyond tech, the volunteers who stepped up and took part in clinical trials and to the mhra themselves that we have a vaccine we could have faith in. we have rightly clapped carers throughout this crisis and i wonder if we should come together and applaud our scientists as well one evening. it is also incumbent upon all of us, of house to reinforce the case that vaccination saves lives and if it helps i will stand alongside the secretary of state, socially distanced of course, on any platform or in any television studio to show that we are united cross—party and promoting vaccination. that news of a vaccine breakthrough also prompted a rare outbreak of consensus at prime minister's questions. i know that the whole house

will want to join me in welcoming the fantastic news that the mhra has formally authorised the pfizer vaccine for covid—i9. it is the production of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get our economy moving again. this pandemic has caused so much grief and so much loss, and we are now a big step closer to the end of the tunnel and like the prime minister can i express my thanks to all the scientists who have worked on this and to everybody who has taken part in the trials. this morning for the first time in months, people have woken up with hope. the approval of the vaccine is the news that we all were waiting for. that consensus did not last. the collapse of debenhams and the arcadia group,

owner of topshop, prompted the labour leader to call for action. the labour leader that has put 25,000 jobs at risk and obviously caused huge anxiety to many families at the worst possible time and threatens to rip the heart out of many high streets in our towns and cities. can the prime minister tell the house what is he going to do now to protect the jobs and the pensions of all those affected by these closures? mr speaker, we are looking at what we can do to protect all the jobs that have been lost across the country and the secretary of state for business, enterprise and skills has written to the insolvency service to look at the conduct of the arcadia directors. borisjohnson said there was also a fund to help high streets. i think it is a bit much that the right honourable gentleman should attack the economic consequences of the fight against coronavirus when last night neither he nor his troops could be bothered to vote for measures, sensible and balanced measures, that would open up the economy

and allow businesses to trade, mr speaker! how can he attack the economic consequences when he will not even support measures to open up the economy? mr speaker, when i abstain, i come to the house and explain. when the prime minister abstains, he runs away to afghanistan! and gives the taxpayer a £20,000 bill. a reference to the vote on the expansion of heathrow airport that borisjohnson once seemed to have deliberately missed. keir starmer said that he should now do more to help the 200,000 shop workers who have lost theirjobs this year. as well as providing emergency support, will the prime minister work with us, with the trade unions and the sector, to finally bring forward a plan to save retailjobs and provide the sector with the much greater support it needs through this crisis? these are real people with realjobs and they are facing the sack. they really need to hear from you.

the prime minister said the government was supporting every job before again turning defence into attack. when it came to protecting the people of this country from coronavirus at this critical moment he told his troops to abstain, mr speaker! captain hindsight is rising rapidly up the ranks and has become general indecision. the snp leader called for more help for self employed people who have fallen through the covid support gap. we are now a little over three weeks from christmas and these people need help. will the prime minister commit to looking again at the support package for the excluded to ensure that no one but no one is left behind? i know there are hard to reach people but they are also supported with the increases in universal credit and the many other means of support that are currently on offer, mr speaker, and i think when you look at the overall level of support, this government has given to people across the country,

it compares favourably with any other government around the world. the prime minister. is it a bold new green future forfarming opposed brexit or the end of the family farm? the environment secretary george eustace outlined what is said to be the most significant change to farming policy in england for more than 50 years. the common agricultural policy is no more, subsidies will be phased out over seven years and replaced with payments to protect the environment. direct payments to farmers will be halved within three years, with the money saved to put towards a scheme to reward farmers for sustainable farming practices and creating new habitats. we know that this policy marks a significant change and i am also conscious of the fact that many farm enterprises are dependent on the area based subsidy payments to generate a profit and that without it some mightjudge they would not be profitable. so we have created a seven—year transition period.

we want this to be an evolution, not an overnight revolution. labour weren't persuaded. strip away the green coating on these proposals are a full throttle attack on english family farms. english because scotland, welsh and northern ireland farmers are going in a different direction by maintaining support for small farmers for longer. under these proposals, many small farmers will lose up to half their current support payments within just three years, leaving many financially unviable. the landscape of the lake district and the yorkshire dales is shaped by centuries of family farming. by accident the government could undo all of that in a few short years, even months. george eustice told him what was wrong with the current basic payment scheme, or bps. the bps payment has inflated land rates and input costs, prevented people from retiring and also prevented new entrants from getting onto the land. that is why i believe there is a better way to pay and reward farmers in future. george eustice.

time for a quick look at some other stories from the world of westminster. mps have given initial approval to a bill which stops telecoms equipment from the chinese firm huawei being installed in the uk's 5g mobile network from september. sooner than expected. it follows concerns over the firm's security and links to the chinese state, something huawei denies. the culture secretary told the commons the telecoms bill had broader aims. the point of this bill isn'tjust to tackle one high—risk offender. it raises the security bar across the board and it protects us against a whole range of threats. according to the national cybersecurity centre, the past two years have seen malicious cyber activity from russia and china as well as north korea and iranian actors. on world aids day, december the 1st, the government welcomed a report from the hiv commission that recommends ministers introduce testing for hiv whenever blood is taken.

the aim is to normalise testing and stop transmission. the news emerged during question time in the lords. will the government move to introduce a system of opt—out testing so that all people, including men and women from black and minority ethnic communities, can know their status and we can get sooner to the point where they can get treatment and stop transmission? we have learned a lot during the covid pandemic about opt—out testing. it is something i completely understand the value of and i will be taking that recommendation to the department to look at it very closely indeed. you the government has rejected calls to hold a public inquiry to probe state collusion in one of the most notorious murderers of the troubles in northern ireland. the killing in 1989 of the solicitor pat finucane. he was shot by paramilitaries from the ulster defence association. the decision comes after a long campaign and a supreme court ruling on the need for an independent investigation of the killing.

the northern ireland secretary's decision has infuriated the finucane family and campaigners. this case, it has to be said, is sadlyjust one example of the violence and tragedy experienced by so many individuals and families across northern ireland, the rest of the united kingdom and, indeed, ireland during the troubles. that is why we as a government remain committed to dealing with the legacy of the past in its entirety. the british state murdered pat finucane and the secretary of state has failed miserably to do right by his family today. does he realise that he is sending out a very clear message to all victims, and the message is this... if you want the truth about what happened to your loved ones, don't come looking for it here. clothing and beauty firms have insisted that they don't photoshop their advertising material, telling mps that grey hairs, scars and spots were all included. they were giving evidence to an inquiry into body image.

the equalities committee is investigating whether advertisements containing images of beautiful, well—groomed and happy people can undermine people's self—confidence. we absolutely do not alter or retouch body image, skin tone, etc. we are allowed to retouch certain flyaway hairs or something like that but we follow the guidelines, which i believe are very comprehensive. caroline o'neill. the labour—run welsh government has introduced tough new nationwide covid restrictions. pubs have been banned from selling alcohol and ordered to shut at six o'clock in an attempt to contain the virus. but during first minister's questions in the senedd, the welsh conservative leader warned of the possible economic consequences. here in wales, a pub will be open but won't be allowed to sell any alcohol, whether it is in cardiff or conwy. and do you expect these businesses to survive on pop and pork scratchings?

the first minister said welsh businesses would receive more generous help than those elsewhere in the uk. but mark drakeford was barracked by a former tory leader after quoting michael gove on the dangers of the nhs being overwhelmed. unless... this is the question from the party's reader. you don't need to be pointing fingers. i don't want fingers pointed, please, in this chamber. first minister to continue, please. the balance we strike is always between saving people's lives and attending to their livelihoods. and that is the balance that we have struck in the package that we have announced over the weekend and then on monday. plaid cymru said people didn't understand the logic. how can four people from four different households having coffee together be safer than two people from the same household having a pint? why is alcoholic mulled wine served in the open air in a christmas market a danger? this lack of logic risks

undermining adherence overall and there is a danger then that more people will be going into each other's homes as a result. there is no getting away from the fact that in the complex systems that we have to implement, there are always marginal things that can be pointed out and people can say, why is this allowed when that's not allowed? why can't i do this when the evidence for this is that it is safe? those anomalies are just unavoidable. mark drakeford. borisjohnson has warned of the immense logistical challenges in distributing the new vaccine, particularly to care homes. an issue also highlighted by the conservatives' leader in the scottish parliament. residents and their families have suffered enough through this pandemic and the possibility that the promised vaccines could now be delayed is yet another blow. so what now is the plan for scotland's care home residents, who were promised that they would be first in the queue to receive this vaccine? if, for the first period, it is difficult to get

the vaccine to care homes, obviously we will use these supplies for nhs and staff who work in care homes, even though this may not be possible for this vaccine to be moved to care homes immediately, i remain hopeful, based on the discussions that have happened to date, that that will become possible at an early stage after we start receiving those supplies, and i hope we will have greater clarity on that in the days to come. but just to be very clear, this is not something that is unique to scotland's vaccination programme. this is an issue that all four nations across the uk have to contend with. we all appreciate that the practicalities of the pfizer vaccine make the logistics especially challenging. but the government must have been working on this vaccination plan for months. the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation believed care home residents should be vaccinated and vaccinated first as a matter of priority. we realise that this is difficult.

but will the first minister commit to a priority programme vaccination for all care home staff and care home residents and their relatives? the first minister said her officials were talking to the regulator... to look at how we get this vaccine from the deployment centres and the ultra—low temperature fridges they have to be stored in to the care homes where they are needed. i cannot say definitively right now when exactly that will happen but i am reasonably confident that we will find a way of doing that, and even if that is not immediate as of next tuesday, when the programme starts, that that will be, i hope, much sooner rather than later. nicola sturgeon. northern ireland remains in a two—week circuit breaker lockdown that is due to end at midnight next thursday. at stormont there was concern about what the covid restrictions might mean for one key worker who is normally rather busy at this time of year. can i ask the deputy first minister on behalf of younger and some other constituents to confirm

that the executive guidelines will allow santa claus insofar as possible to deliver some presents to children this christmas? i think it is an excellent question and i'm quite sure that all the little boys and girls out there who are really wanting to know the answer to that, so i can confirm that the elves have confirmed to the executive that santa is getting ready. that dancer, prancer and rudolph are ready to go. that the presents are packed and that santa will be here, but they have also said that all the boys and girls need to be very, very good because 25 more sleeps and then santa is going to be here. michelle o'neill with a message of hope and a warning. now to the world's longest soap opera. not the houses of parliament, but coronation street, which is 60 years old this month. the itv drama set in fictional weatherfield has lasted more than 10,000 episodes. a labour mp who once drank in the rovers return as a cast member led a debate

on corrie‘s diamond jubilee. tracy brabin found herself among fans. those famous cobbles have been the stage to storylines that have gripped our country. we have cried together, gasped together, laughed together and learned together. iconic storylines that caused the nation to take a breather from their busy lives, make a cuppa and pop corrie on the telly. and during the last few months of pain and frustration there will have been many times when i'm sure many of us would have found familiarity and comfort in these words from the legendary blanche, written by my good friend, damon rochford. she says, "in my day if summat bad happened, you stayed home, got drunk and bit on a shoe." i think that's quite a good metaphor for the times we live in. there was a bit of competition and the speaker was mature over who was the biggest corrie super fan. i grew up in the 1960s watching coronation street on the huge tv

we had in the corner. small screen but a big tv. a all in black and white. laying on the floor, the haunting melody on a monday and wednesday. my father would close the shop early in order that he could watch coronation street early because he loved it so much. at home i have got the tray from newton and ridley that was off the set of coronation street. both myself and mr evans were on the politics show and we had to guess so many questions. guess who won? i got the tray! another shopkeeper‘s child, margaret thatcher, also visited the corrie set during her downing street years. and she was particularly keen to visit alf roberts' cornershop because, of course, her own father was alfred roberts, who ran the grocer‘s shop in grantham. but she arrived on set and was very upset to see that alf roberts' cornershop had the sign "licensed to sell alcohol".

and she said that certainly this would never have been allowed in her own father's shop, who would not have dreamt of selling alcohol! john whittingdale, culture minister and former aide to margaret thatcher. that was the week in parliament. thank you for watching. i hope you canjoin us on bbc parliament at 11 o'clock on monday evening for the latest from the commons and lords. until then, as they say in weatherfield — "ta—ra, chuck". hello. pa rt part two of the weekend has been cold, some dense fog patches, best parts of northern ireland and west anglia, it has felt very cold. it is

going to stay cold during the week, mainly dry and grey foggy weather for a time mainly dry and grey foggy weather fora time and mainly dry and grey foggy weather for a time and then from tuesday onwards, we will see low pressure moving in and turning and settled for some of us. we have a very slightair for some of us. we have a very slight airflow for some of us. we have a very slight air flow across the uk for sunday, which is why the air is very stagnant, sunday, which is why the air is very stag na nt, lots sunday, which is why the air is very stagnant, lots of fog and misty murkiness hanging around. it is cold, the blue colours indicating that cold air mass stuck on top of the uk. as we close the day out, it is going to be a cold one with sunshine around but for the cloud as well. overnight, one ortwo sunshine around but for the cloud as well. overnight, one or two showers on coastal areas of north—east scotla nd on coastal areas of north—east scotland and western wales, down towards the south—west as well. it is going to be dry for much of us with clear spells. sam frost, fog and ice will form by the end of the night. in between weather systems for monday with barely any wins, and others like airflow for much of the country. where we get the fog

through the morning, particularly the midlands into the south—east, the midlands into the south—east, the central belt of scotland and northern ireland, it could hang around all day. some are low cloud around. limited spells of brightness. low pressure moving and of the north sea to easter in scotla nd of the north sea to easter in scotland and england, the wind is picking up. a cold day for all, even colder than the values where it suggests the fog lingers. monday night, the area of low pressure moving into scotland, some snow on the hills. the winds will pick up as well. more isobars on the chart. it is going to affect the northern half of the country on tuesday. cloudy skies, windy conditions. heavy across scotland, some sleet on the lower levels. southern england into the south—east that could escape and stay dry. a little bit of sunshine. it is going to feel cold, 4—7 . drier through wednesday and thursday for much of the country, but it stays cold, rather grey. signs of

turning left cold by the end of the week as the weather systems try to make inroads which could bring outbreaks of rain.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines from the uk and around the world. the uk's chief negotiator is back in brussels to resume brexit talks, with time running out to do a deal. we're going to see what happens in negotiations today and we will be looking forward to meeting our european colleagues later on this afternoon. hospitals across the uk get ready to take delivery of the coronavirus vaccine — with the first jabs set to be given on tuesday. he's played it boldly up there. that could be, that could be magical. thank you. peter alliss there, the voice of golf, who's died aged 89. and — coronavirus stops play — as positive tests in england's hotel