he doesn't support using the twenty—fifth amendment to remove president trump from office for inciting last week's attack on the us capitol. that means the house of representatives is almost certain to hold a vote to impeach the president. president trump has dismissed moves to impeach him for inciting the deadly assault on congress as a witch—hunt. speaking on a visit to the mexican border — he also said there was no danger that his own administration would oust him beforejoe biden took over as president next week. the usjustice department and the fbi have opened criminal investigations into more than 160 individuals for their part in last week's attack the charges are likely to include assault and seditious conspiracy. us military commanders have issued a statement condemning the riots. now on bbc news —

tuesday in parliament. hello there and welcome to tuesday in parliament, as the nhs braces itself for the pandemic to peak next month. that's going to basically mean there's a higher level and a more extended period of pressure on the nhs than we were expecting even just a week ago. the foreign secretary attacks china over human rights, but labour say he's all talk and no action. he briefed the papers that he was planning to announce this today. what has happened to this announcement and who in government has overruled him this time? and a frustrated defence secretary rebuffs calls for the army to get more involved in the covid response. if there was more demand, or indeed an easy way- to deliver the solution to this pandemic, we would have .

been doing that. but first, a warning that the nhs may not face peak demand for its services until next month. that's later than originally expected and a year since the first case of covid was reported here in the uk. with intensive care units already under pressure, as more people have been hospitalised with the disease, the chief executive of nhs providers, which represents nhs trusts in england, said it was now "pretty clear" the covid infection rate "is not going to go down as quickly as it did" during the first lockdown last spring. chris hopson told the health committee that the nhs was now facing "an incredibly serious position". we were hoping for a sharper peak that came sooner and shorter — so, something, for example, where we saw the peak and started to crest it in mid—to—late january. it now looks like the peak for nhs demand may actually now be in february.

now, if that's right, that's going to basically mean there's a higher level and a more extended period of pressure on the nhs than we were expecting even just a week ago, so what we're now doing, because i think it's important to explain what is now happening, is that we are now considering in the nhs a series of emergency contingency arrangements which would maximise the nhs capacity available in the areas under greatest pressure. i think there's a huge focus, rightly, and we've really seen that in the last 48 hours, on compliance with the restrictions on social contact, and that really couldn't be more important. tell me about the impact of morale. how are people feeling? i mean, if people have been expecting things to peak in january and they're not now going to peak perhaps for another month after that, that must be a pretty depressing prospect for the people that you represent. i wouldn't necessarily say a month.

i may say two to three weeks, perhaps, ratherthan... so, ea rly—to—mid february. but the answer is that, when i talk to our trust chief executives, what they say is they're unbelievably grateful for the commitment and the dedication and the professionalism of front line staff, who are having to do extraordinarily difficult things in near impossible circumstances. he said nhs capacity had not kept up with rising demand. so the way we've tried to close that demand/capacity mismatch is we've been asking our staff to work harder and harder and harder, and the reality is that capacity/demand mismatch was already showing up for we went into covid. as you well know, we had some of the lowest performance against the key metrics in the nhs for a generation before we went into covid, and we're now asking staff to kind of go again and go again and go again and do some extraordinary things. and we can't keep trying to run the nhs and close that capacity/demand mismatch by effectively asking our staff to work harder and

harder and harder. chris hopson. at question time, ministers were challenged about the availability of vaccines against the virus. labour said all front line nhs workers to be vaccinated in the next two weeks. our encouragement at the roll—out of the vaccine is, of course... our sense of encouragement is, of course, tempered by our deep alarm at the situation we are in. over 80,000 people have died. 0n current trends, we are likely to see more deaths in this wave than we saw in the first wave. millions still have to go to work and this virus is now more infectious. those still going to work are, of course, nhs staff. the bma say 16,000 of them are off sick with covid. can he go further and faster and ensure that nhs staff, front line staff, receive the vaccination in the next two weeks? and can he provide daily updates on the numbers of nhs staff who have been vaccinated? we do now provide the daily

statistics on the roll—out of the vaccine, and we'll provide more data as the system matures and as the roll—out advances. he's absolutely right, mr speaker, to raise the challenges that the nhs is facing today, and it's very important that whilst the roll—out of the vaccine is proceeding well and we are on track to hit the targets that we have set, we must also stress to everybody the importance of following the rules which are in place in order to control this virus and reduce the pressures on the nhs, which are very considerable at this moment. the snp wanted to know how ministers would ensure that everyone could get a jab. as the secretary of state highlighted earlier, - primary care networks will play a major role in rolling out - the vaccine in england, - but we've heard previously

from mps that not all areas i are covered by such networks, so how does he plan to avoid i a postcode lottery and ensure into vulnerable ethnic- or deprived communities? mr speaker, 99% of gp surgeries are members of primary care networks. the very, very small minority that aren't are being dealt with, to ensure that we have the fair access to vaccines, as she says, and of course they will be covered by invitations to the large vaccination sites as well. in addition, in the second part of the question, i agree very strongly with her that it's vital that we reach into and support those communities who may be more distant and harder to reach, both geographically and, in some cases, culturally. the nhs is very well—placed

to do that and is one of the most trusted public services in support of encouraging all those from all backgrounds to take the jab. and pharmacists, too, will play a vital role in this outreach programme. can i congratulate my right honourable friend on the speed of the vaccine roll—out, and in particular his foresight in setting out the vaccines task force as far back as last april, which has made it possible? and a personal thanks from my mum, who is getting her vaccine tomorrow at epsom racecourse. however, understandably, public expectations as to how quickly they're going to get their vaccine are now running well ahead of the system's ability to deliver, in particular causing floods of calls to gp surgeries who are already very busy, so what can we do to set expectations amongst the public that getting to population—level immunity will be a marathon and not a sprint?

well, that's right, mr speaker. the chair of the select committee is wise to say that this will be a marathon, not a sprint. we have now, as of the early hours of this morning, vaccinated 39.9% of the over—80—year—olds in england. and we will reach all over—80—year—olds and ensure that they have the offer of a vaccine over the coming weeks and we'll reach all of the top four priority groups by the 15th of february. we are on track, and i'm confident that we'll deliver that. but the other message that maybe he will help all of us to pass on to his constituents, including his mum, is that the nhs will get in contact with you and offer you an appointment, and that is the best and fairest way that we can get

this roll—out happening. matt hancock. in wales, the first minister, labour's mark drakeford, has also faced questions about the roll—out of the vaccine and a call to sack his health minister. concerns that wales has been slower to vaccinate its vulnerable people than other uk nations were raised at the senedd during first minister's questions. what evaluation has the first minister made of the welsh government's response to the covid—i9 pandemic? throughout this unprecedented crisis, the welsh government has acted to save lives and livelihoods. we continue to monitor and review the actions we take to keep wales safe, in line with the latest clinical and scientific advice. thanks for that response. we have had a lower vaccination rate than the other parts of the uk so far. the rate in england is about 3.5% of the population, while in wales, it has been 2.7%. although you have tried to play down this difference,

it does amount to an extra 25,000 people who could have been vaccinated in wales if you and your health minister had been on the ball. given that your health minister has not even set foot in an nhs hospital in recent months, because he is worried that he will be getting in the way, does he now need to resign so that he isn't getting in the way of vaccinating more people? and do we need to adopt a uk—led approach to vaccinations? no. first minister, the welsh - government's vaccine strategy has confirmed that 280,000 doses of the pfizer vaccine . and 47,000 of the _ oxford—astrazeneca vaccine have now been received here - in wales, and yet we know that only around 91,000 doses have been administered. i and we know, as of yesterday, l 2.7% of the population of wales has been vaccinated, - compared to 3% in scotland and 3.5% in england. can you explain to the people of wales why the roll—out - of the vaccine has fallen behind other uk nations to date?

and can you tell us why you believe this is not i a sprint, given that this is a race to actually - beat the virus? well, he's right that the race is against the virus, not against any other part of the united kingdom. that race will be run not over a week but over months and months ahead. we will still be vaccinating people here in wales well into the final months of this calendar year. and what i was trying to explain to people is that that will have to be a sustained effort, not something that isjust over and done with in a few days or a week. we are going to have to gear up to make sure that we are flat out, right across the system, to vaccinate the maximum number of people as quickly and as safely as possible. mark drakeford. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock.

still to come, how covid—safe is the house of lords? british firms doing business in china will face fines if they don't do enough to show their products are not linked to forced labour in the country's xinjiang province. there's growing evidence that more than a million uighur muslims are being held in forced labour camps. the foreign secretary said businesses must make sure products from the camps were not ending up on british shelves. mps welcomed the measures, but some demanded dominic raab went further. he began by describing the situation in xinjiang. internment camps, arbitrary detention, political re—education, forced labour, torture and forced sterilisation, all on an industrial scale. it is truly horrific. barbarism we had hoped lost to another era being practised today as we speak in one

of the leading members of the international community. mr speaker, we have a moral duty to respond. this package put together will help make sure that no british organisations, government or private sector, deliberately or inadvertently are profiting from or contributing to human rights violations against the uighurs or other minorities in xinjiang. labour accused him of tinkering around the edges. the government had trailed long—awaited sanctions in the media on officials responsible for appalling human rights abuses in xinjiang. we have waited months. he briefed the papers that he was planning to announce this today. what has happened to this announcement? and who in government has overruled him this time? the strengths of his words are once again not matched by the strength of his actions, and i'm sorry to say that that will be noticed loud and clear in beijing.

what's happening in xinjiang is the tragic reality— of state—sanctioned islamophobia. - leaders within the muslim - community in luton north have expressed to me their horror- at seeing this government stand idly by while these human . rights abuses are carried out, including reports of forced - sterilisation of uighur women, which is expressly forbidden under article 2d of the un l convention 0n genocide. i've asked before, i'llask- again — will the uk government now introduce, not just talk about sanctions to addressl these gross human rights abuses imposed on the uighur people? i cracking down on businesses and their supply chains is vitally important. however, in this week of the holocaust memorial, surely magnitsky sanctions should have been in this list. i happen to believe that my right honourable friend wants this to happen, so i wonder who it is in government that is blocking this. he can perhaps whisper it in this chamber to me. i promise him i won't tell anybody else outside.

the foreign secretary said he hadn't ruled out imposing direct sanctions on the officials responsible. i'm very happy to talk to him about the issue of genocide. he will know that my father fled the holocaust. i couldn't take it more seriously. 0n the one hand, my right honourable friend talks - about the high levell of the violent crimes being committed, in particular my right honourable friend - mentioned birth control| and forced sterilisation, which are markers of genocide. so i am confused why- the foreign secretary can't just call this crime - what it is and ensure that britain is not - complicit to genocide. doesn't the uk have a responsibility in line with its obligations under the genocide convention to find alternative routes to make the legal determination? i strongly welcome these measures. l but will he go further bot just in calling out this persecution at the un as genocide - and invoking the magnitsky sanctions as colleagues have suggested, but follow - the example of congress - in passing a reciprocal access bill, as i have on the order-

paper with my tibet reciprocal access bill, to prevent chinese officials travelling to the uk i if uk and western human rights inspectors are denied access . to factories and business in xinjiang and tibet, - for example, to verify these i new measures he's announced today. he knows, he's an expert in this, the challenges in controlling and carrying an international coalition to advance those goals. i think he's right to say that scrutiny and accountability is absolutely key. that's why we want to see authorities of a third party like the un human rights commission have access to xinjiang. the foreign secretary must go further than today's announcements. uighurs aren't being persecuted for what they pick, but for who they are. as with the tibetans, does he support their right to the self—determination that they seek? we certainly want to see

the human rights, the freedoms, the basic liberties of the people of tibet, the people of hong kong and the people of xinjiang respected. we're taking a series of measures. we're at the vanguard internationally in the measures that we've taken. it is important to try and keep clusters of like—minded partners with us to have the maximum effect to precisely provide redress and accountability for the violations of human rights that he and i rightly deplore. dominic raab. back to the pandemic now, and the role of the armed forces in the uk's response to it. the defence secretary told mps that almost 5,000 personnel have been deployed on tasks as varied as testing for the virus in schools or driving ambulances and oxygen tankers. almost 10,000 more are held at "high readiness" and available to respond rapidly to increasing demand. but some mps thought they should've been more involved in tackling the pandemic.

we might not be on the front line of this particular fight, but we are with them in the trenches. and since last year, in increasing numbers. in fact, defence�*s contribution to the covid response now represents the most significant domestic resilience operation in peacetime. and more personnel are committed on uk resilience tasks today than at any time since the pandemic. as is well—known, the uk armed forces have helped build nightingale hospitals around the country and distributed vital ppe, delivering more than 6 million items to hospitals and clocking up enough miles to circumnavigate the world ten times. i know some colleagues are keen to see the armed forces take a more leading role, but i should make clear that our constitution quite rightly ensures that our military responds to civilian requests for assistance. the act in support of the civilian authorities, but are always ready to consider what more they can do to provide that support. together, we will do our bit to beat this deadly disease and help our nation get back to normality. his labour shadow agreed, up to a point. the military is an essential element of our british national resilience. and people can see this more

clearly now than perhaps at any time since the end of national service. so i trust this will reinforce public support for our armed forces and help redefine a closer relationship between the military and civilian society. but i sense a frustration from the secretary of state in this statement. the government has been too slow to act at every stage of this pandemic and to slow to make the fullest use of the armed forces, as i and others on all sides of this house have argued since the summer. the snp also praised the army's efforts. can i start with vaccinations? could he perhaps update - the house exactly where those in defence who are working on covid stand in terms- of the queue, if i can put it like that, for receiving - vaccinations? would he be able to give us- an idea of how many have been vaccinated themselvesj

so far up to this point? none of our defence personnel have received a vaccination. they're not in the priority groups one to four. however, we are, as we speak, working through a very... working out what key cohorts should be vaccinated in order to preserve and underline the nation's defence. so, obviously they will get priority, but i expect them to be a small group at first. this is undoubtedly the greatest national emergency of my lifetime, and yet only a small fraction of the available military capacity has been called upon by the rest of the government. that's despite the fact that the test and trace operations have been indifferent in their performance and the vaccine programme seems to be dependent almost entirely on civilian capability that's tested every winter in the best of circumstances. why does my right honourable friend think the government, perhaps the rest of the government, is so confident that civilian organisations are capable of delivering these incredible tasks of such

scale and magnitude, importance and urgency without significantly more military capacity? i understand what the honourable friend is saying, but, look, fundamentally the armed forces has been making a difference. if there was more demand or indeed an easy way to deliver the solution to this pandemic, we would have been doing that. and also it is not the case that when we talk about numbers of the armed forces that they are sitting around not doing anything until they're called. ben wallace said every clinician serving as a regular in the armed forces was currently deployed in the nhs across the uk. now, over in the house of lords, a health minister has rejected suggestions that a delay in giving people a second dose of coronavirus vaccine is an "experiment" and a "gamble". the government has decided to

give both parts of the oxford and pfizer vaccines 12 weeks apart, instead of the initial plan to leave just 21 days between jabs. a labour peer has threatened the government with legal action over the delay. but the uk's chief medical officers have said it will mean more people getting the first jab, which they say is "preferable". based on the data submitted from extensive clinical trials, it's very clear — single dose gives very high protection from the virus ten days after the first dose. the second vaccine dose is important to sustain that protection and extend its duration. of course it makes sense to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible to protect their lives and to safeguard the nhs, which is why we take the approach we have. in delaying the second dose, the whole country is being treated as an experiment. pfizer has said that the trial of the vaccine was on participants who received the second dose within 3—4 weeks. there is no data, they said, to demonstrate the protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days. no other country is doing it. the uk's taking a gamble that risks fostering vaccine—resistant

forms of the virus. can i reassure the noble baroness that there is data? it is published on the internet. i tweeted a copy of it late last night, and i would really welcome... i would really invite her to have a good close look at it because it is absolutely categoric. 0ne dose is enough. my 84—year—old husband received his pfizer vaccine before _ christmas. his second one lasti week was cancelled. but is there any guarantee that when the second jab comes, i it will be the pfizer vaccine? as i understand, there's been no research on mixing - and matching these vaccines. and is there any way - at that three—month point that the level of - immunity can be tested? some of the immune response

comes from antibodies which can be tested, but some of them are from t cells, which are very difficult to test. so it isn't possible to say categorically whether someone is immune. but we have looked at ways in which we can measure and perhaps understand more about the body's immune response in order to develop our understanding in this area. lord bethell, who a short time later had a warning for his older colleagues tempted to return to the lords after being vaccinated against covid—19. he was responding to a question from a former lord speaker. everyone i know who's received the vaccine and been delighted to do so and impressed by the efficiency of the nhs is now talking about meeting their pfizered friends, seeing grandchildren, returning to volunteering, returning to your lordship's house. does the minister acknowledge that there will need to be cogent and clearly communicated advice for those who have been vaccinated, many of whom have been in virtual isolation for nearly a year?

it is possible, although not proven at the moment, it is possible that those who are themselves immune are not sterile, are vectors of infection, and were they for instance to return to this chamber, they would potentially infect those of us like the noble lord, my noble friend lord parkinson, who's extremely young and is not qualifying for the vaccine anytime soon and could catch it off an octogenarian noble lord in an instant. the "extremely young" lord parkinson is 38 years old. well, this is the house of lords after all. and that was tuesday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for wednesday in parliament, when the prime minister will face questions from mps. until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now.

hello there. the weather really can't make up its mind this week. one day, it is going to be cold and bright. the next day, cloudier and milder, with outbreaks of rain. wednesday and thursday, both look pretty wet, in fact, some pretty heavy rain around and some wintriness over the high ground as we'll start to see a bit of a battle of the air masses. this wedge of milder air slowly pushing up against the cold air across the eastern side of the country through wednesday means we could start off with an ice risk, with freezing rain across western scotland, north—west england for a time on wednesday morning. a bright and cold start across northern and eastern areas, but soon the clouds will build in here as the rain out west starts to very slowly push its way eastward, some snow developing over the pennines and the higher ground of scotland. some heavy rain for northern ireland, that rain stretching down towards central and eastern parts of england. further south and west though, it's going to be pretty mild. double figure values here, much colder further north and east and it will feel quite grim with a mixture of rain, sleet and snow.

wednesday night looks very wet, some heavy rain around, a risk of localised flooding in place. further snow over the high ground of northern england and into scotland. it's here where it's going to be cold once again. further south and west, though, less cold — those values no lower than around seven to nine degrees. now, as we head into thursday, we've still got those weather fronts with us, almost stalled across the country, and they'll very slowly move their way south—eastwards. this ridge of high pressure will build into the west. that'll start to drive things out across western areas on thursday. so, a drier picture from northern ireland, some sunshine, one or two showers. much of britain is going to be a cloudy and a very wet day. again, heavy rain around, snow on the pennines and on the higher ground of scotland, turning a little bit drier across western areas as that ridge of high pressure moves in. again, the temperature contrast, cold in the north and east verses milder in the south and west. and through thursday night, eventually the rain begins to fizzle out and the hill snow turns a bit dry, leaving a legacy of some cloud. some mist and fog around as the winds fall lighter under this ridge of high pressure, which will bring a fine

and settled day on friday, but then rain will push in to the north—west of the country later on friday. and then for the weekend, low pressure takes control, so it will be turning wetter and windier. so, largely dry and cool for many of us on friday, a bit of rain pushing into northern ireland and scotland, then it's unsettled into the weekend with wet and windier weather moving in.

a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: making history — congress debates whether donald trump should be removed from office. this is the scene live in the capitol. the fbi and justice department have now said hundreds of trump supporters will face charges for last week's violent attack on the us capitol. continuing the fight against coronavirus, indonesia begins its vaccination programme. malaysia introduces a state of emergency. and after one of the bloodiest campaigns in history, uganda is only days away from its presidential election.