this is bbc news, the headlines: on the eve of his inauguration, us president—electjoe biden has led a powerful tribute to the a00,000—plus americans lost to the coronavirus, as he arrived in washington. with vice president elect kamala harris also attending the memorial, mr biden said the united states must heal as a nation. president trump has released a farewell video on his last day in office — and wished luck to his successorjoe biden. however, he did not name the president elect. mr trump also said he was proud of what has been achieved over the past four years. the top senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell, has directly blamed donald trump for the riot at the us capitol two weeks ago. mr mcconnell said the mob was "fed lies" and "provoked by the president". mr mcconnell�*s remarks could have serious implications for mr trump when he faces his impeachment trial. now it's time for a look back

at the day in parliament. hello, and welcome to tuesday in parliament. coming up in the next half hour: the government faces its second commons rebellion in two days — this time, over whether the uk should do trade with countries that commit genocide. genocide tries to do something that no other crime attempts. it tries to end history. mps hear about the impact of coronavirus on the justice, probation, and prison systems. over three quarters of prisoners told us they were unlocked for less than two hours a day, often sharing a cell in cramped conditions with unscreened toilets and poor ventilation. and a call for ministers to fix a problem that means more red tape for touring musicians. when musicians and creative peoples tour, they don't justi

power up an economy that's massively important to us. i they represent us all on the global stage. i but first: for the second day running, the government was under pressure to change policy from its own mps. in the commons, rebel tories wanted to allow parliament to end or suspend trade deals with countries responsible for genocide. undertheir plan, uk high courts would be able to rule if a country is committing genocide. after any such ruling, mps and peers would then be able to debate halting or stopping trade deals with that country. well, the mps' amendment to the trade bill is a watered—down version of an earlier proposal from lord alton in the house of lords — which would force the government to revoke any free trade agreement with any country found guilty of genocide. we do take the situation in xinjiang and other allegations of serious human rights abuse extremely seriously. but we also have to think about what we're dealing with here with international treaties, and the appropriate role of the high court

in international treaties. we have tabled an amendment, a compromised amendment, which takes into account all the concerns the government has presented under lord alton's amendment, and makes it very clear the separations of powers. and fundamentally, parliament opines, ministers decide. so what is the minister's objection to the compromised amendment tabled by myself and my colleagues today? well, madame deputy speaker, i'll have to have a look at the amendment that she's tabled. my role here is to speak about the amendment that is in front of us — the amendment coming from the other place in the name of lord alton. so these measures, taken together — of course, yeah. i'm grateful for that, . and actually, i gave that amendment to the foreign secretary and his team - on wednesday last week.

it is on the order paper today, with respect. i it's not a case of, - will he have a look at it — he must have a view about it, surely, because it's there. . well, madame deputy speaker, i listen to what my right honourable friend says, and i note what he says. and what i will say is the government is open for further discussions on these matters. because nobody denies the importance and seriousness of the situation in xinjiang. given that the united kingdom, now that we're out of the eu, wants to stand on the world stage as a global leader — what objections does he have to putting in the law of this country, that we will not tolerate trade deals with countries who abuse their population by engaging in genocide? the minister repeated the amendment from the lords would not be the right way forward. labour turned to the situation in china.

it is understandable and right that many members today will focus their contributions on the situation in china and the plight of the uighur people. and we have all read with horror the first—hand accounts of torture and extrajudicial killings, mass incarceration in detention camps, forced sterilization and abortions, servitude and slave labor. it shames the world that this is happening in our lifetime, it disgraces the government of china, and it is absolutely right that if a uk trade deal with beijing is proposed or agreed, that representatives of the uighurs community should be able to seek a ruling from a high court that the crimes they are facing in china meet the criteria for a charge of genocide, in turn requiring the uk government to consider revoking that trade deal. there are some serious concerns about this amendment as it stands — not least allowing the english high court to determine what is and what is not genocide. but the principle of revoking a trade deal with a state committing such heinous crimes, i think, is beyond reproach. i think that trade policy should be conducted i via the elected government through parliament. -

i, along with many members on the side of the house, . voted to leave the european union to take back control. i i don't want to take back- control from unelected judges in europe and give . more power tojudges in the united kingdom, . however high the esteem in which they are held. i want the decisions - about the ethical nature of our policy to be - decided in parliament by elected parliamentarians. i believe this amendment will, firstly, send a clear signal about the absolute basic threshold that must be crossed before we strike trade deals around the world, about the sorts of people, countries, and regimes that we will do business with. and not being a genocidal state should be the absolute minimum requirement that all of us in this house should be able to sign up to. genocide tries to do something that no other crime attempts. it tries to end history.

it actually tries to remove an entire people, an entire culture, an entire part of our world from the planet, and pretend it never happened. it's an erasure of life unlike every other crime. the world is watching us, and we have a choice. - to make a bold, confident - statement about our fundamental commitment to human rights, or accept this government's . buckaneering approach to trade where effective scrutiny, - rights, and freedoms - are trumped in the name of self interest. if the government believes that this is still an unacceptable derogation of power, then what is the alternative and what are the government's objections? if we don't pass the amendment today, we will be outsourcing all future decisions on genocide to russia and china. look at it from our point of view. some people around the world think our human rights record, for instance, in ireland is not that great. what would we think if we were going to do a trade

deal with somebody, and then some group could take us to court in, say, japan? would we ever turn up in some japanese court to defend our position? no, we would think it would be a fundamental denial of the supremacy of this parliament. well, in the end, the rebel tory amendment wasn't selected to be voted on, and mps rejected lord alton's tougher amendment — calling for a ruling of genocide to mean trade deals were revoked — byjust 11 votes. the bill now goes back to the house of lords. the ayes to the right — 319. the noes to the left — 308. mps have been told that the pandemic has led to such a backlog in the courts system in england and wales that some crimes from last year won't come to trial until 2022. four criminal justice watchdogs joined forces to report on the impact of coronavirus on courts, prisons, and the probation system. they gave evidence to the justice committee. court service figures show that

waiting times for crown courts have increased 25% since last year, and they've increased 35% for defendants entering a not—guilty plea. so we're now seeing cases being listed well into 2022 now. the long—term impacts of the pandemic could be profound and will last well beyond the pandemic, with victims and witnesses having to wait longer to be heard, and prisoners having to face far longer on remand as they await trial or sentencing. and we say this will have serious ripple effects across every agency which will have to be dealt with to ensure fairjustice for victims and for defendants, as well. the court delays have also affected the crown prosecution service. what a backlog means for the cps is a very large increase in the amount of live cases that each individual has to deal with. these are not cases that, once they're looked at, they can be put aside until they're listed for trial. it doesn't happen that way. they have asked for recently—retired prosecutors to come back to help on this backlog.

and the pressure this time around on them is very high, and it is having a toll on their well—being and mental health. the police watchdog thought officers faced their own lockdown challenges. the first version of- the statutory instrument containing the lockdownl restrictions was, i recall, about 25 pages. it is now 148 pages long. i've read it all, i understand it, but i'm a lawyer. - how is the ordinary copper. going to be able to do that? and the answer is, the ordinary copper will not read _ a statutory instrument. but they need good quality guidance. . mistakes have been made, we've seen drones in derbyshire, - we've seen a few ladies outside taking exercise in a perfectly. safe way who were - challenged and fined — although the fines were withdrawn. i

the prisons watchdog painted a grim picture. in our surveys between april and december, over three quarters of prisoners told us they were unlocked for less than two hours a day, often sharing a cell in cramped conditions with unscreened toilets and poor ventilation. the youth custody service aims to allow children at least five hours out of their cells each day. when we visited rainesbrooke secure training center in october and early december, we saw that new arrivals were being locked up for very long periods of time — 23—and—a—half hours a day — and in one case, there was a girl we could find no record of her coming out of her room for over two days. the results of a survey based on six prisons is about to be published. what we found is a deep malaise amongst a population that is currently bored, frustrated. some prisoners are turning to drugs to cope, and many have told us that their mental health is suffering. they're feeling helpless

and without hope, often unable to make progress with the sentence or to get education, training, or rehabilitative work that will help them to settle when they get out. prisoners frequently describe themselves as feeling like caged animals. for one committee member, it added up to an "extremely concerning" picture. i wonder if you might tell us whether or not you think the recovery arrangements set in place will be adequate, and to what extent you believe the consequences of this pandemic will be with us for a very, very many years to come? we don't know what will happen. if there are further lockdowns, i if there are further variationsl on the virus, it may well be that the backlog will get. bigger and bigger. it may well be at that stage - the government may have to make some deeply unpalatable - decisions as to how they might deal with that. i mean, there are — - potentially you could remove the right to elect trial, - you could keep more cases

in the magistrates' court, - you could look at alternatives tojury trial. all of these have been raised in the past. - kevin mcginty. the first minister of wales has come under pressure over the speed of the coronavirus vaccine roll—out, following comments he made that the supply had to last until february to prevent "vaccinators standing around with nothing to do". following mark drakeford's comments on bbc radio 4's today programme, the welsh government had said the reason for spacing out vaccine supply was to avoid wastage. the conservatives pounced on his remarks. if it's your policy to get the vaccines into people's arms as quickly as possible, why on earth did you actually say that you wanted to roll out the vaccines over a period of time? because that is just a confusing message. and whilst the welsh government may be happy with its go—slow approach, the people of wales are farfrom happy — they want to see action and they want to see it now. in the meantime, people across wales are being held

prisoner to this virus. people can't meet up with their loved ones, children are without face—to—face learning, and parents are struggling to manage the competing demands of working from home and home schooling their children. the welsh government's slow progress in vaccinating people just increases people's frustration and anger at a time when the welsh government should be providing them with hope and doing everything possible to expedite its vaccine delivery. the policy of the welsh government is to vaccinate as many people in wales as quickly and as safely as possible. that is how we've had 162,000 people vaccinated already here in wales. that's why the pace of vaccination will accelerate again this week. we've had 25,000 doses of the oxford vaccine available to us over each of the last two weeks. we expect to have 80,000 doses available to us this week, and we will use all of them.

plaid cymru asked about the different vaccination rate compared to england or northern ireland. my own elderly parents ask me — because they're in the _ position, they haven't| had a date at all, both are in their80s. my father, an 85—year—old ex—miner, has copd, he'sj in a clinically vulnerable - group — and yet he's had no communication yet to explain to him when he will get- a vaccination. we have family, like . many people in wales, across different parts - of the uk — many of them have been vaccinated, and they've had a date for a vaccination. i so what explains the gap? because it's important for us to know, because if there's i a problem there, - then we can solve it! the figures of what happens elsewhere in the united kingdom, what happens in wales will, as i say, change week by week. what we are focused on is making the fastest and most efficient use of every drop of vaccine that comes here in wales.

mark drakeford. meanwhile in the scottish parliament, nicola sturgeon announced that the lockdown was to be extended. most schools and nurseries will remain shut until the middle of next month. the first minister said there were some encouraging signs, but it was too soon to ease restrictions. we cannot afford to see the rate of infection start to rise again — which, from such a high baseline, it could all too easily do if we start to interact more with each other than we are doing right now. so it is for all these reasons that the cabinet decided this morning to maintain the restrictions which are currently in place. that means that the lockdown restrictions, including the strict stay—at—home requirement, will remain in place across mainland scotland and some island communities until at least the middle of february. you're watching tuesday in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. although the world's focus has been on coronavirus over

the past year, climate change is still a more profound global challenge. later this year, the uk is due to host cop26, the annual united nations summit about climate change and how to tackle it. the get—together in glasgow in november will be the biggest summit the uk has ever held. so, mps wanted a progress report from the two cabinet ministers responsible. can you give us some reassurance that you will have the resources at your disposal to be able to do, in what is now only a few months, what it took other governments who hosted cops before many years to pull together? we have engaged with 126 governments, if i'm right, and we will continue to make an effort. so, i'm also very keen that we involve as many cabinet colleagues in this agenda as well going forward, and there's a lot of enthusiasm for this. so, i am confident that we will have the support and the resources in government, and i think, as you will have heard from the liaison committee, the prime minister is

completely behind this agenda as well. so, i guess go back- to when the government first announced a hold on the . presidency, do you believe the government fully understood what this would mean _ and what it would entail? everything i've seen since i came into this role, obviously, from february of last year is that absolutely, i think the government very clearly understood what cop was all about. i mean, the uk government's attended all the previous cops. but does the uk practise what it preaches? there's some topical news at the moment about the decision to grant a new coal mine in cumbria. have you had any discussions with mhclg? because, surely, this isn't the right thing for our country in the context of the discussion today.

i think you're right, there is a slight tension between the decision to open this mine and our avowed intention to take coal off the gas grid. i'lljust say a couple of things about this. obviously, there are two types of coal we're talking about. in terms of thermal coal, which is burnt for electricity generation, we want to take that off the grid by 2025 and we look to do so by 2024, so it's a rare example of a government target actually being reached ahead of time, as it were. the coking coal, which is used in industrial processes, is a different issue, and there was a debate, i can be frank about that. there was a debate in the government about what we could do about this, but, as you will know, mrjones, this was a local decision. this was a local planning decision, and the argument i think is a fair one which says that we have steel processes, we have industrial processes which use coking coal, and if we don't have sources of coking coal in the uk, we would be importing those anyway. also in the new business secretary's in tray — the problems for meat and fish exporters post—brexit.

millions of millions of pounds of food's being lost. - is the government looking. at compensating these funds before they go bust? there are huge amounts... the other thing we haven't mentioned is, of course, there's covid on top of the brexit issue, so a lot of the issues relating to things like the collapse of the price of fish are related to the fact that all the restaurants in france are closed — there's no demand for fish in france at the moment. so, thatjust is an illustration, but a lot of the issues that we're dealing with, the difficult issues we're dealing with, are also associated with covid. as you know, mr brown, we have provided unprecedented amounts of support through my right honourable friend, the chancellor of the exchequer. later, the government said there would be money to support seafood business affected by covid and brexit. there were questions, too, about kwasi kwarteng's views on workers' rights. the comments were of concern, i think, where you said that british workers were among the worst idols in the world and you suggested the national minimum wage should be different in different parts of the country. do you want to take this

opportunity to distance yourself from the... look, a book written by a bunch of backbench mps nearly ten years ago i don't think is particularly relevant to the kind of problems and issues that we face. if you look at the world of 2011, who was talking about net zero? we weren't talking about the net zero challenge, we weren't talking about the industrial opportunities that would come from net zero, we weren't talking about global leadership in the fight against climate change, we weren't talking about even brexit. that was a speck on the horizon if anyone could see it. so, it was a very, very different context. the government's been urged to carry out a large scale study to find out just how many people suffer from eating disorders. the call came from a lib dem peer, who reckoned more research was needed. the nhs health survey suggests that the prevalence of eating. disorders is significantly - higher than previously assumed. so, will the government now commission a national- population—based study to accurately identify. the number of people|

with eating disorders, as the public administration and constitutional affairs i committee recommended to inform research and service level- provision? well, my lords, the noble baroness is right, the statistics on eating disorders are shocking. the mental health of children and young people in england survey identified .4% of five to 19—year—olds and 1.6% of girls aged 17 to 19. the nhs digital psychiatric morbidity study showed a 6.4% of adults displaying signs of an eating disorder, and i could go on. my lords, i don't think it is an issue of surveys. what we have to do is to address the underlying statistics with measures that make a difference. as the minister said, the statistics outlined by the health survey are obviously of concern, but the survey published last december does not cover the period of the covid pandemic. has the noble lord, the minister, any evidence that eating disorders have increased

during the pandemic, and, if so, what is her majesty's government's response? the noble lord is right, the pandemic will have had pressure particularly on young girls. inpatient units are experiencing tremendous pressure, so it's difficult to see those instances working their way through primary care at the moment. we are studying it very carefully, but the noble lord is entirely right. it is quite possible that incidents will increase, and we will put resources in place to address it. nhs digital has supported those |admissions for eating disorders| have almost tripled since 2007, but there has been very little i investment into inpatient treatment since then. - with only 400 nhs beds for adult eating disorder| sufferers in england - and capacity currently further reduced by the pandemic, could the minister say - what the government is doing about this chronic shortage i of inpatient beds for those . suffering from serious eating disorders, which is- particularly affecting young women? the minister said a large number of beds had opened over the last year, including more than 30 across the country. i recognise that there do need to be more beds for those who have particularly acute disease, but the large

prevalence of the disease to hundreds of thousands of young girls and boys does also mean that community care has to be really at the heart of our response to this condition. lord bethell. mps have called on the government to resolve problems around eu touring visas for musicians and crews. since brexit, british musicians and crews are no longer guaranteed visa free travel, and may need extra work permits to play in certain european countries. a petition signed by more than 260,000 people has called for "a free cultural work permit", a demand backed by a former member of the band, runrig. touring europe means everything to our artists and musicians. the thrill of that first tour, crammed into the transit van with all your gear, four to a room in a cheap hotel in paris, rotterdam or hamburg, using what's left of the fee for a post—game beer.

the dream that when you come back, it will be in a lavish tour bus, staying in five—star hotels — gone, all gone. the eu said they were prepared to offer a 90—day deal. why was that turned down? the eu did not offer. a deal that would have worked for musicians. it's quite simple — - the eu, in fact, made a very broad offer which would not have been compatible - with the government's manifesto commitment to take back control of our borders. instead, the uk had made proposals based on what musicians had said they needed. we fought very hard i for what they wanted, the eu wouldn't play ball. but let's focus on the future. if the eu is willing - to consider the uk's very sensible proposals, i then the door is open. and, yes, mr speaker, i'm very happy to walk through it. - i'll be the first one through that door. i really think that she has to go further and spell out exactly what the proposal is now from the uk to resolve this situation. because, mr speaker, when musicians and creative peoples tour, they don'tjust power up an economy that's massively important to us.

they represent us all on the stage. so, we have to get this resolved now. the eu did not propose - and would not accept a tailored deal for musicians, - for artists, for their support staff to tour across| the eu and the uk. as i've said, the uk's door. remains open, should the eu change its mind. we recognise that the outcome will need some additional- requirements to be met for. the sector, and we are working with the sector as fast. as we can to put in place the support and the - information that they need. and that's it from me for now. but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another parliamentary round up, including the highlights of prime minister's questions. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.

hello there. storm christoph will bring disruptive weather over the next 48 hours. the rain's been falling through the day on tuesday, already mounting up to over an inch in places, and there's a lot more rain yet to come. and as it bumps into the cold air in the north, potential for snow as well. let's focus on the rain because in some parts of england and wales, we could have around 150—200 mm of rain falling over the hills onto ground that's already saturated. river levels are already high. so, this amber warning from the met office highlights those areas particularly saturated at the moment with the high river levels plus the snowmelt to take account of as that also runs into the river systems but it's no means exclusively these areas. as i mentioned, it's

wet right the way up into northern ireland and southern scotland with the added potential of several centimetres of snow falling on some parts of the southern uplands, possibly even the central lowlands through the night, and ice, too. furthersouth, it's milder, it's windier, and that south—westerly wind, that moist south—westerly wind, keeps pumping that rain up onto the hills and mountains of england and wales through the day but there'll be some heavier rain elsewhere as well. so, a fairly grey, wet, windy sort of day and with some risk of snow as well as further rain across some northern areas. so, quite a contrast in our temperature and that really comes into play later in the day on wednesday because as that colder air starts to dig southwards as that low pressure, storm christoph, starts to move out into the north sea and the cold air digs in, it will turn the rain progressively to snow. even at lower levels, potentially 5—10 cm through wednesday night and into thursday. certainly more over the hills. notjust scotland but, exclusively, we could see some across the hills of northern england, too. and the winds by that stage — as the low pressure, storm christoph, moves out into the north sea — get towards gale or even severe gale force winds. so blowing that snow around, blizzard conditions

but at least they're blowing that rain away by that stage. however, by that stage, we will have seen significant amounts of rainfall, as i say, and the flood risk really is going to escalate in the next 12—24 hours. then the cold air digs in and things slowly start to quieten down but between now and then, we've got that heightened flood risk across england and wales with persistent rain and several hundred millimetres in places, and then that snow risk — heavy snow with drifting and blizzards in the north. the weather warnings and the flood warnings all on the website.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: joe biden and kamala harris lead a ceremony to honour the 400,000 or more americans who've died from covid—19. to heal, we must remember, and it's hard sometimes to remember. president trump releases a farewell video on his last day in office and wishes luck to his successor, without naming him. we did what we came here to do, and so much more. mr trump's last day was soured when mitch mcconnell, one of his biggest allies, accused the outgoing president of provoking the capitol riot.