the pfizer biontech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. it paves the way for approval by the us food and drug administration. the us hopes to have around a0 million doses of the vaccine ready by the end of the year. britain's prime minister has issued a warning that leaving the eu's single market and customs union, without a trade deal, is now a strong possibility. borisjohnson, said the eu's current offer was unacceptable because it would keep the uk locked into its legal system. talks will continue with the eu until sunday. the british actress dame barbara windsor, best known for her roles in the carry on films, has died aged 83. she later successfully crossed the generational divide, and becamejust as revered for her role as peggy mitchell, the queen vic's landlady, in the bbc soap eastenders. she was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease six years ago. now on bbc news,

the week in parliament. hello, and welcome to the week parliament. ahead of last—minute talks to get a brexit radio, the labor leader reckons boris johnson brexit radio, the labor leader reckons borisjohnson is between a rock and a hard place. his absolutely did the ring between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. but the prime minister thinks labor's position isn't clear. if he can't say whether he would vote for our deal, yes or no, then i am afraid mr he simply cannot attack the government's position. is the first patients in the uk are vaccinated against covid—19, one mp is looking to the future. how many of those of us who are healthy,

under 50 —year—olds might be vaccinated by the school summer holidays? and muzic mater nile rogersjoins calls for holidays? and muzic mater nile rogers joins calls for artist to be paid more fairly for songs streamed online. let's pay these people what they should have been making all along and we are going to be one happy family, bingo and done. but first, the parliamentary week started to a close with no—one knowing or the uk were going to reach a post brexit trade deal. boris johnsonjetted to post brexit trade deal. boris johnson jetted to brussels for a meeting with ursula von der leyen. the pair had agreed to talk over dinner after negotiations between officials endedin negotiations between officials ended in deadlock and with time fast running out to reach a deal before the 31st of december when the uk stops following eu trading rules. before setting off, boris johnson took his weekly round of prime minister's' questions and explained the sticking points copy ourfriends, and explained the sticking points copy our friends, are currently insisting that they

passed a new law in the future, with which we in this country do not comply or don't follow suit, then they will be —— wa nted suit, then they will be —— wanted the automatic right to punish us and retaliate. and secondly they are saying that the uk should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters, and i don't believe, mr speaker, that those items that any prime minister of this country should accept. but whatever terms the uk ended up but whatever terms the uk ended up with... i have absolutely no doubt that from january the first, this country is going to prosper mightily, mr speaker. the labor leader sir keir starmer was taking part via video link, self—isolating after a staff member tested positive for covid—i9. after a staff member tested positive for covid-19. his absolutely stuck. this is the truth of it. his absolutely stuck and that the ring between the deal he knows that we need

and the compromise he knows his back benches won't let him do. mr speaker, i'd genuinely hope this is the usual premise to's bluster and that like one of his newspaper columns, a deal arrives at the last minute. his newspaper columns, a deal arrives at the last minutelj think it is a bit much of the leader of the opposition to criticise the government for the failure to come up with a policy on brexit, when he can't even, and a bit much to attack those consequences of coming out on australian terms when he can't even say whether he would vote for that deal, yes or no. mr speaker, the prime minister asked me how i would vote on a deal that he hasn't even secured. secure the deal, prime minister. you promised it, but ican minister. you promised it, but i can say this, mr speaker, if there is a deal, and i hope there is a deal, and i hope there is a deal, and i hope there is a deal, then my party will vote in that national interest, not on party political lines, as he is doing. because of its history and land border with the

european union, northern ireland has been made a special case and will remain in greater alignment with the eu. and now there has been an extra agreement to make sure that goods can also still flow smoothly between northern ireland and the rest of the uk, at least in the short term. the smp's with ms alida said that government ministers had described that as the best of both worlds. what is good for northern ireland, mr speaker, is surely good enough scotland. why is scotland being shafted by this doubledealing 7 why is scotland being shafted by this doubledealing? can the prime minister explained to scottish businesses why this is fair? mr speaker, scottish businesses why this is fair? mrspeaker, in scottish businesses why this is fair? mr speaker, in common with the whole of the rest of the united kingdom, scotland will benefit from, and substantial access of devolved powers for scotland, and will benefit from the regaining of money, borders and laws and, as i never tire of telling my

friend, in spite of all his jeering, scotland will take back control of colossal quantities of fish, which i think is something that the people of scotland deserve to be able to exploit for the advantage of those communities. borisjohnson. with that session over, boris johnson headed to brussels to meet ursula von der leyen. but after a three—hour dinner, number ten said very large gaps remained between the uk and the eu. and ursula von der leyen said the two sides were still far apart. next morning, a treasury minister answered an urgent question on the trade talks. we are working tirelessly to get a deal, but we cannot accept a deal, but we cannot accept a deal at any cost. we cannot accept a deal that would compromise the control of our money, oui’ compromise the control of our money, our laws, borders and oui’ money, our laws, borders and ourfish. the money, our laws, borders and our fish. the country was hoping for a breakthrough last night, yet, there was none. there is a sense of huge dismay, as we all wanted to

hear significant progress. but we heard more about the para meters we heard more about the parameters to's meal then we did about his deal. esther baker, on sunday we will have just 18 days to go until the end of the transition period, how has it come to this? and calling urgent questions or asking other questions on the floor of the house, with the express permission of trying to undermine our negotiating position by pretending we are not ready for any outcome that these negotiations might yield, i think, is not helping secure the outcome we all want, and it is certainly not in the interests of the country. they made themselves hostages to their own brexit right—wing. any compromise will now be interpreted as a sell—out to them and they have only got themselves to blame with the appalling language and their demonisation of the eu as some sort of cartoon villains. we need some sort of reassurance that if by sunday there is not

in agreement, that the government will not give up on trying to reach a trade deal with the european union, that does not see us crash out on the first of january does not see us crash out on the first ofjanuary with all the first ofjanuary with all the catastrophic effect that could have for our local businesses and for the economy. clearly, we have prepared for every eventuality and we have a phased approach to the border, we have many pots of work going on into the new year to ensure that there are not those close edges that she refers to. on tuesday, a 90—year—old woman from coventry became the first person in the world to receive a clinically authorised vaccine against coronavirus. margaret keenan said she had spent most of the year self—isolating and was looking forward to seeing family and friends. and the commons, the health secretary told mps it was a momentous day. this simple act of vaccination is a tribute to scientific endeavour, to human

ingenuity, and to the hard work of so many people. today marks the start of the fightback against our common the start of the fightback against oui’ common enemy, coronavirus, and while today is a day to celebrate, there is much work to be done. the pictures today of 90—year—old margaret keenan receiving her vaccine, the nurse, originally from the philippines, is a wonderful moment, bringing home to all of us that there is no light at the end of this very long tunnel and we are all beaming with pride for our nhs today. and he asked what could be done to target anti—vaccination campaign, a point picked up by the smp. recent studies have shown as few as 54% of the uk population are certain to have the vaccination. there is a clear need to counter misinformation, whether it be online scare stories or nonsense, so what extra steps for the minister ta ke extra steps for the minister take to ensure public trust in the vaccine's safety and

effectiveness and encourage take—up. effectiveness and encourage take-up. i agree strongly with him and in fact the memberfor the front bench opposite also raised at this point and i didn't answer it so i shudder now. countering this information is best done with positive information and explaining objectively why the vaccine is safe and how it is safe, and i think the thing that we can all do in this houseis that we can all do in this house is positively talked about the benefits of the vaccine for keeping you safe and keeping your community safe. could the secretary of state say whether he still thinks it's feasible that the most vulnerable will be vaccinated by the spring and how many of those of us who are healthy under 50 —year—olds might be vaccinated by the school summer holidays?” understand why the honourable lady and many of us want to know the answer to the speed of the rollout, because we are reliant on the manufacturing

process , reliant on the manufacturing process, which is a difficult challenge, we cannot put figures on wind that rollout will be. matt hancock. meanwhile, nicola sturgeon announced that 11 areas living under tough coronavirus restrictions were being downgraded. it means that nonessential shops and other businesses across much of western and central scotland could reopen. meanwhile, the education minister announced that next year's higher and advanced higher exams have been cancelled with teacher assessments being used instead. the question is less whether we can hold the exams safely in the spring and whether we can do so warily. there is no getting around the fact that a significant percentage of our poorest pupils have lost significantly more teaching time than other people's. the statement today is far from one that makes good on promises and is instead an admission of complete failure because we we re complete failure because we were told in october that cancelling national exams would

save the hired. we were told it was the safety exams that sat at the heart of decision—making. we were told that home learning was delivering for every pupil in every part of scotland. we were told it would not be teachers who would bear the brunt of the assessment workload. following the controversy of moderation in 2020 will the cabinet secretary commit to publishing whatever system is used for verifying in a repeatable and transparent methodology? don sweeney said that material that had been published alongside his statement would explain clearly the approach that would be taken. later in the week at first minister's questions, nicola sturgeon was asked what the impact on the health services would be without a deal? a no-deal brexit could lead to an inability to deliver safe and effective care and other boards are warning of disruption and medicine supply, workforce shortages and of

vulnerable patients abroad being forced to travel home. and we don't even know if this could be a deal and if there is a deal it will be barebones and minimalist and will do damage to the scottish economy and to out to the scottish economy and to our societies, sol to the scottish economy and to our societies, so i am deeply, deeply concerned about that. and in terms of the specifics of patrick harvey's questions, i can't stand here and given of the literature and that there will be no impact on the economy, on society, and even on the health service, if there isa on the health service, if there is a no—deal brexit at the end of the sea what they can give an assurance of is that the scottish government is doing everything within our powers to try to minimise mitigate against that impact. nicola sturgeon. meanwhile, the first minister of wales hinted at fresh restrictions there after christmas. whale has already had a so—called firebreak lockdown in october, and recently banned pubs from selling alcohol stopping the conservative leader wondered if measures were working. we that infection rates in wales are

70% higher than when we entered the firebreak in october and rates have increased by 82% since the end of the firebreak lockdown stopping the fact is that there are now more than 1800 coronavirus related patients in hospitals across wales which is the highest number since the pandemic began and it shows that something has seriously gone wrong. will the first minister confirm exactly what further measures are now being considered, and as the welsh government looking at further restrictions before the christmas period restrictions, or is the intention to bring and further measures post smith? all those facts and figures that the leader of the opposition began with other facts and figures that i've put to him last week when he refused to support the measures we took in relation to hospitality, measures which, this week, i think nobody could possibly deny were right and necessary. now,

possibly deny were right and necessary. now, we possibly deny were right and necessary. now, we need to give those measures an opportunity to make a difference. so he didn't think that he new rules this side of christmas but a relaxation of the rules over the festive season would lead toa the festive season would lead to a rise in numbers. and that means that every responsible government has to think about the measures that might be neededin the measures that might be needed in order to protect the health service who can go on doing everything else. it's the most pressurised moment in any year and to prevent avoidable deaths. at the top of the programme you would have had the snp leader at westminster calling for the same deal with scotla nd calling for the same deal with scotland as has been struck with the eu for northern ireland. the agreement reached in the week insured can still flow smoothly between northern ireland and the uk, at least in the short—term. in the commons the short—term. in the commons the cabinet office minister set up the cabinet office minister set up details. i'm pleased to say that under the agreement we have reached northern ireland businesses selling to consumers or using goods in northern ireland will be free of all tariffs. whether that is

missing cars from sunderland or inaudible and internal uk trade will be protected as we promised, whether we have a free trade agreement with the eu or not. we have got a grace period for supermarkets to update their procedures and our agreement also prevents any disruption at the end of the transmission period on movement of chilled meats, british sausages will continue to make their way to belfast and on then in the new year. ours is a great country, and labour wants to see a good life all of our people. but as great as our country is, it cannot afford to be afflicted by government incompetence. every price rise, every traffic jam, every lost contract and every redundancy caused by this government's mistakes and poor planning holds our great country back. next year must be a year of rebuilding and recovering from covid—19. not dealing with the fallout of reckless decision—making, tariffs or incompetence. we welcome the

changes which were made today, nevertheless the real test will be in how these measures work on the ground, rather than the spend to get house. -- the spin. we welcome the details of the businesses have sought anxiously all year and we clearly anticipate a wider trade deal might finally allow us to enjoy the conditions that we currently enjoy. mps representing other parts of the uk seemed envious of the deal secured. we would give our right arm for access to the eu single market, unfettered access, single market, unfettered a ccess , a cross single market, unfettered access, across the rest of the uk market. from the first of january onwards if the eu was a business owner primarily exporting to the eu would you prefer to be located in northern ireland or wales? that is the most difficult question i ever faced in this is the most difficult question lever faced in this house. is the most difficult question i ever faced in this house. and it was when he diplomatically decided not to answer, insisting he loved both northern ireland and wales. now, that agreement with the european union in regard to northern ireland meant the government could drop controversial clauses to the uk internal market bill. it had

put in sections allowing ministers to brake parts of the brexit divorce deal, agreed with the eu last year. ministers said they were a safety net to ensure the free flow of goods to and from northern ireland in all circumstances. cue around between the two houses of parliament with peers taking the clauses up and the commons putting them back, pinning the bill back to the lords where, after that agreement with the eu, the government formally withdrew them. we thought these measures to guard against the possibility of not reaching agreement with the eu in the joint committee. as we have now reached agreement with the eu, iam reached agreement with the eu, i am pleased to say the clauses that provided for the safety net are no longer needed. the government's climbdown was widely welcomed. i would still like to think that the government has recognised the strength of feeling throughout this house across all parties and none, not least some of the giants of their own party in

this house, that those clauses simply would not do. but that was not the end of the story with opposition parties saying the bill was also a westminster power grab. he has voted to give governments in wales, scotla nd give governments in wales, scotland and northern ireland a bigger voice on rules that decide trade across the uk, and sent the bill back to the commons. this is absolutely critical in the kind of country we wa nt critical in the kind of country we want to build post— brexit. we wa nt we want to build post— brexit. we want a functioning uk internal market. but we believe this can be achieved in a way that upholds high standards, and allows devolved governments to both have a voice in setting those standards and make choices in devolved areas appropriate for each nation. scotland's parliament, the voice of the democratically elected voice of scotland's people, has voted against this bill by a margin of 90 — 28 msps. so whatl bill by a margin of 90 — 28 msps. so what i say to the minister is we are sick to the

back teeth of your disingenuous work, saying you listen to the scottish government. listening is not enough. you have to have respect for the democratic voice of scotland! and he says wales will be consulted, what we hear is content. we have and continue to be reasonable in discussions on this bill and since monday we have had a lot of positive movement and agreement and we welcome back but ultimately government needs to balance this with a need to deliver a bell. it provides a certainty that businesses want and need and invest and create jobs. mps then voted to overturn changes to the bill made by peers so the uk internal market bill will go back to the house of lords again on monday. now, let's ta ke again on monday. now, let's take a look at some other news in brief. the government faced calls to do more following the sentencing of three pro—democracy activists in hong kong. and a warning here the following pictures contain flashing images. joshua wong,

agnes chow and ivan lam were sentenced earlier this month for their involvement in mass protests. the trio, all in their 20s, were convicted of an authorised assembly. these are not just breaches of authorised assembly. these are notjust breaches of human rights somewhere in the world of which we know nothing, these are direct breaches of a sino british agreement and direct infringement of personal rights which the uk's guarantor of until 2047. we need far more action than we have seen. a report into failings in maternity services in shropshire have described how some mothers were blamed for their babies deaths. the enquiry into services at the shrewsbury and telford hospital nhs trust found a higher than average number of women died in labour or shortly afterwards. the former health secretary, who ordered the report, described excruciatingly traumatic births which would never have happened if the mother's wishes have been listened to. it is time to stamp out the normal birth

ideology. which says that there can bea ideology. which says that there can be a debate or compromise about the total importance of a ba by‘s safety about the total importance of a baby's safety which should a lwa ys baby's safety which should always be paramount. and the decisions on it should also —— a lwa ys decisions on it should also —— always be taken in consultation with the mother. this report said that they have the clear impression that there was a culture within the trust to keep c—sections low. that needs to stop, not to that frisbee and telford but everywhere throughout the nhs and the biggest mistake in interpreting this report would be to think that will happen at frisbee and telford is a one off. it way monopoly and we must not assume it is. -- it monopoly and we must not assume it is. —— it may well not be. the house of lords agreed to suspend more beginners after bullying and harassment claims. it follows allegations that he used homophobic and offensive language. lord beginners deny the accusations and call the report by the lord's conduct committee ridiculous. we identified on lord beginners‘s

pa rt identified on lord beginners‘s part both in absence of any remorse and a complete lack of insight into the impact of his behaviour on particular victims of such behaviour. —— mcguinness. he portrayed himself before us as a victim ofa himself before us as a victim of a conspiracy by people who disapproved his views and insisted that for all of his conduct had been provoked, he continued to refer to the claimants ina continued to refer to the claimants in a dis— obliging and sometimes offensive manner and sometimes offensive manner and he said he was not in fact minded to accept either training course or suspension. scientists have taken a step towards producing a low—cost vaccine for malaria. final stage human trials are due to begin in several african countries. the disease kills around 400,000 people a year, mainly children. he is want to be sure that uk funding will not be affected by cuts in the overseas aid budget. the minister except he has taken more than four decades to recover the ground lost since the 1970s when anti— malaria

funding dried up and that we must not allow this to happen ain? must not allow this to happen again? finally, the front man of schick, not rogers, says that streaming platforms should be paying musicians more for their work. he was appearing by video link in front of the digital culture media and sport committee which is looking into the economics of music streaming. before speaking to him, the committee spoke to two other musicians and asked if payments for streaming were cloa ked payments for streaming were cloaked in mystery. any songwriter will know that when they get their prs statement and see the streaming income, it is all 0.000 three, or 0.0005 for that and in different countries, it is different countries, it is different amounts. we don't know the rates for each country because of the nda is between the streaming platforms and the publishers and labels. nda is being nondisclosure agreements. eight out of ten songwriter is

in less than £200 a year from streaming so we have a big problem here. there are people with vested interest in the syste m with vested interest in the system opaque and sort of unintelligible as possible because if you don't know what to ask for the new don't know how much you are entitled to. we would never have a kate bush or david bowie in today's music ecology because it is risk averse and there are people making those sorts of investments and for an independently minded artist like that, you are making songs for playlist. you are making songs for a very narrow sonic wall. you are not thought of making incredible music risks that david bowie or rod stewart or someone may have taken. the committee also heard from singer songwriter and producer not rogers. the only time that we get to see if things are the way they should be is going in and audit —— nile rogers. and every single time and i'm not making this up for dramatic purposes or comedic purposes — but every single time i have ordered a label, i have found money and sometimes, it is

staggering, the amount of money, and that is because of the way that the system was designed right from the beginning. let's go into a room, have an organisation that represents song writers and artists at the table and said look, love you guys. we're in business together for the rest our lives. to make it right. let's make it fair now. because your stockholders and shareholders are going to be thrilled because you are getting ready to experience explosive growth in the next few years. let's pay these people what they should have been making all along and we're going to be one big happy family. go! and done! nile rogers there. and that is it for me for another week but do join me on bbc parliament on monday night at 11pm for the latest is from westminster as mps grapple with our post— brexit future. but for now, from me alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello again.

although skies across the uk on thursday were almost uniformly grey and drab, skies like these overhead in llangollen were pretty commonplace across the country. there were, however, big temperature contrasts from place to place. in the west, we had some milder atlantic air moving in, whereas across central and eastern england, along with the whole of scotland, we had much colder continental air. in the west, temperatures reached double figures — it was actually quite mild, 10 or 11 celsius — but across central and eastern england and scotland, temperatures were more typically around 5 or 6 celsius. we only managed to get 4 in dalwhinnie in the highlands of scotland, so there were some big contrasts. those contrasts were driven, really, by this weather front that's been bringing rain eastwards over recent hours. and it's, as well, been one of those nights where the milder air has been pushing in. temperatures for some have actually been rising throughout the night as well. so for most of us, friday will get off to a relatively mild note but across eastern england, eastern scotland, there will still be some rain around. in fact, the rain will linger in aberdeenshire pretty much

all day, bringing a risk of some localised flooding. but i suspect there will, for a time in the morning, be some low cloud for north—east england and eastern scotland with some hill fog patches around. now, the skies do try to brighten up from the west but there will be plenty of showers coming through later on in the day. that milder air pushing into pretty much all of the uk, though, as we head towards the afternoon, so temperatures will be lifting across those central and eastern areas. the weekend, well, we've still got low pressure loitering on the weather charts. that will continue to bring some rain for a time across scotland. the rain quite slow to ease across eastern areas of england — none of it particularly heavy, mind you — but later in the day, we'll start to see a ridge of high pressure building in from the west and that means that we should see more in the way of sunshine for northern ireland, for wales, for western and central southern areas of england. now, that sunshine isn't going to hang around too long because the ridge is going to move away to be replaced by the second half of this weekend by low pressure. that low pressure will be bringing south—westerly winds, so again, we should see some milder air sloshing its way

in across the uk. now, sunday promises to be quite a windy day. we may well even have gales for a time around some of our western coasts. there will certainly be a lot of rain around as well and even as the rain clears, showers will follow on. temperatures, though, on the mild side, reaching a high towards the south—west of 13 degrees. that's your latest weather.

welcome to bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories: a panel of us experts recommends that the szier covid—19 vaccine be given approvalfor use. the fda normally follows their advice. a stark warning from britain's prime minister — borisjohnson says there's a strong possibility that the uk will fail to strike a post—brexit trade deal with the european union. i stand ready to talk to anybody, our friends and partners in the eu, whenever they want. at the moment, i have to tell you, in all candour, the treaty is not there yet. pushing at the poorest further into poverty, how coronaviruses hitting those already struggling making a hard situation even