the headlines: the us has threatened myanmar�*s military with more sanctions if it continues its violent crackdown on demonstrators opposed to last month's coup. it had already sanctioned ten individuals, including its acting president, as clashes continue in the country. the united nations says it is disappointed by the amount of aid pledged by international doners to war—torn yemen. secretary—general antonio guterres warned that cutting aid was a death sentence. it had hoped for $4 billion to help prevent famine, but $1.7 billion has been promised. prince philip — the queen's husband — is moved to a specialist heart hospital in london for further treatment. the 99—year—old was said to be

comfortable on arrival to st bartholomew's hospital. he's being treated for an infection and a pre—existing heart condition. time now for monday in parliament. hello there, and welcome to monday in parliament, where david cameron says his government did plan for a pandemic — but not the one we're facing today. there was a pretty good flu pandemic plan, but it was a flu plan rather than a respiratory diseases plan. the government's being urged to secure the future of the vauxhall car factory in cheshire. the uncertainty facing ellesmere port and other car plants speaks to a deeper problem caused by the government's inaction on automotive. they've been asleep at the wheel. and there's a damning verdict on a proposed tunnel under the irish sea. a push—me, pull—you could be

the senior guard and puff- the magic dragon the inspector. let's concentrate on making the protocol work and put. the hallucinogenics down. but first, the conservative former prime minister, david cameron, has criticised decisions taken by both his successors. speaking to mps and peers, he said it was a mistake to combine the jobs of cabinet secretary and national security adviser. when theresa may was prime minister, sir mark sedwill did bothjobs. i think it was a very bad mistake combining cabinet secretary and national security adviser. they're two jobs. even if you were a cross of einstein and mother teresa, you couldn't possibly do both jobs. a few minutes later, david cameron also criticised borisjohnson�*s decision to scrap the department for international development. i think abolishing dfid is a mistake, too, for all sorts of reasons, but one of which is actually having the foreign office voice around the table and the dfid voice around the table i think is important.

they're not necessarily the same thing. and i think having that deep development expertise about what we could do to help with the humanitarian situation in syria, with helping development in afghanistan. can he really expect the foreign secretary to be able to do all of the diplomatic stuff and be able to speak to the development brief as well? that's quite a task. david cameron was appearing in front of a committee of mps and peers looking at the national security strategy. when he was prime minister david cameron set up a national security council with the aim of co—ordinating the response to dangers facing the uk and integrating the work of the foreign, defence, home, energy and international development departments. by the very virtue of the fact of having a national security council, we did have proper discussions on what were the biggest risks facing the country. and the risk assessment that we did make, for instance, pandemic —

say, tieri risk, which is important because that means it gets more government attention. as well as that, we've set up the subcommittee on threats, hazards and risks, which was specifically looking at things like pandemics. although this was a tieri issue, actually i have the feeling not much attention at the very top. i don't think that's fair. i'll tell you why i don't think that's fair, because we had a reminder of what a pandemic is when ebola struck. i think the mistake that was made was that in thinking about future pandemics, the focus was very much on influenza rather than respiratory diseases, and i think that's where... and i'm sure there'll be a big inquiry into what we learnt and all the rest, but i think there was a pretty good flu

pandemic plan, but it was a flu plan rather than a respiratory diseases plan. i also think we set up a unit in the cabinet office to do sort of global virus surveillance. i'm not quite sure what happened in that unit after i left, but it was there when i was there. and there were questions about brexit. there's been examples of failure of grand strategy. the pandemic prepared usi for the brexit referendum. with hindsight, would you agree with that conclusion? _ well, the brexit referendum was discussed and called in 2013. so, two years before the general election and three years before the manifesto. so, it's not as though this is something that was suddenly thought up and popped into a manifesto. so it was a part of. your grand strategy? yes, i think we needed to confront the issue, because i can see, and i've written about this extensively in my book, partly the single currency had

changed the eu quite fundamentally, and that change was happening in front of our eyes, and we had to confront this issue of how to try and either find a better place for the eu — for britain within the eu, which is what i think my negotiation achieved, or take a different path. and that required a referendum to do that. now, as i say, you could disagree with that argument, but it was an argument that was properly had amongst senior ministers. it was announced, it was discussed, it was debated, it was voted on in parliament. i think it received an overwhelming majority of mps from all manner of parties. it was put in a manifesto, a government was elected on it. and we carried it out. it is then implemented. i wish the results had gone the other way. i think there was a path for britain to stay in, on an amended basis, but i do disagree with people

who say there simply wasn't a problem. i mean, there really was a problem and i was confronted with this by early in my premiership over the issue of bailing out eurozone countries. now, britain's not part of the eurozone. problems like that were coming back and coming back. the development of the single currency change the nature of the organisation we were a member of. he left abruptly in 2016. wednesday, 12 noon, i don't miss. but it's a bit different these days. from what i can see. fancy a come back at some point? does it ever cross your mind? no. thinking about donald trump

making a comeback i think is enough to send us all spinning over. david cameron. the business secretary, kwasi kwarteng, has insisted the government is "100% committed" to ensuring the future of the vauxhall car factory in cheshire. the owner, stellantis, is said to be weighing up whether to produce electric vehicles at the ellesmere port plant or move production to continental europe. with the sale of new petrol and diesel cars banned in the uk from 2030, stellantis has been holding talks with ministers about financial support. last sunday, my constituents - woke up to a newspaper headline said a decision - was made on behalf of vauxhall motors. there was media speculation throughout— there was media speculation throughout the _ there was media speculation throughout the week. - by the end of the week, - those whose livelihoods depend on the plant - were none the wiser. i'm sure it's clear to all how much anxiety how all this i speculation has generated, but it will be work that if it| focuses the government's i attention on the urgent need to deliver on a plan| to deliver and move to electric vehicle production.

i could only imagine the uncertainty under which the excellent workers in his constituency and in that site are working under, and there's of course an issue in terms of — and a question we have to ask ourselves, whether we are committed to actually having biggerfactories in this country. we are 100% committed to that, and i'm very hopeful we can reach a satisfactory conclusion in terms of the continued investment of support for stellantis in his constituency. the business secretary has been holding meetings about supporting stellantis to make a "positive investment decision". we are 100% committed to making sure that the uk continues to be one of the best locations in the world for automated manufacturing. —— automotive. we are doing all we can to protect and create jobs while securing a future for the sector in the uk, in particular, including the port. he was responding to an urgent

question from a predecessor. unless the batteries of the vehicles are manufactured in britain, in five years, the cars they power will no longer be exported tariff—free to the eu. so we urgently need to restore the manufacturing capacity in the uk. these means notjust one giga factory, but many. laissez—faire won't do it. general encouragement won't do it. it requires sleeves rolled up, concrete action to be taken now between government and industry, just as one of the case with brexit. so, will the secretary of state make this commitment today and do whatever it takes urgently to make sure britain is a global force in manufacturing electric vehicles long into the future? thank you, sir.

my right honourable friend is quite right. i think the issues that are raised by his question are of critical strategic importance. i fully appreciate the work that he did driving the industrial strategy. the industrial strategy, as he pointed out, set the foundation for vaccines and the success of the vaccine rollout, and he's quite right to point out that we need the same rigour, the same focus on making sure that the united kingdom continues to be an attractive place in which to invest. labour stands ready to do all we can to ensure the future. | the plant has been a major| employer in the north—west for decades and is highly efficient. and productive. it would be a travesty if it - didn't have a long—term future. that's now in the - government's hands. the uncertainty facing - ellesmere port and other car

plants speaks to a deeper problem caused by the i government's inaction on automotive. - they've been asleep at the wheel. - the snp blamed the situation on the brexit deal. the mess is clear for the mess is clearfor all to see. it might make more sense to invest in europe. the tories need to own up to their mess. as does the labour party. does the secretary of state encouragingly accept the deal was not fit for purpose? but the dup said it was the government's green policies. it's now clear that the policy of phasing out the production of petrol and diesel cars is going to have an impact on employment and some of the areas of the united kingdom have higher than average unemployment. the business secretary replied that the prime minister's ten—point plan for tackling climate change had been well—received. the equalities minister has told mps that the second wave of the pandemic has had "a much greater impact" on people from some south asian backgrounds. kemi badenoch came under pressure to do more to increase vaccine uptake as she presented her latest quarterly report

on the pandemic. she said the most recent data showed very different outcomes for different ethnic groups. in the first wave for instance, black african men were 11.5 times more likely to die from covid—19 than white british men of the same age. but in the early part of the second wave, the risk of death was the same for both groups. the second wave has however had a much greater impact on some south asian groups, driven primarily by differences in exposure and infection. this strengthens the argument that ethnic minorities should not be viewed as a single group in relation to covid—19, and means our response to the pandemic and to the disproportionate impact it has had on certain groups will continue to be shaped by the latest evidence. we know that covid—19 has had a devastating and a disproportionate impact on our black, asian, and ethnic minority communities. in the second wave, bangladesh and pakistani people have been three times more likely to die. so my first question is to ask the minister what steps is the government taking

to protect these groups? the vaccine rollout offers hopes but uptake remains low in the ethnic minority groups. her report rightly list myths and disinformation as contravening factors, but fails to address the mistrust and not understanding of health inequality faced by some of the ethnic minority communities. so what steps are being taken to tackle the historical steps of mistrust? she mentioned what the government was doing to assist south asian groups. of which who the numbers and the impact appears to be increasing. so we have taken a number of steps to mitigate the impact of covid—19 on these groups including targeting those occupations with larger pakistani and bangladeshi workforces, for example we issued new guidance to private hire vehicle and taxi drivers in november. and had an update injanuary about how to protect themselves from covid—19. working with religious leaders and others we have taken steps to promote vaccine uptake among these groups including housing vaccination centres and other places of worship. there is clear evidence of both higher covid—19 infection and higher mortality rates

among people from ethnic minority backgrounds as well as greater pandemic related economic damage affecting these diverse groups. we know that there is a higher excess mortality risk— for south asian women. so can i ask my friend if she is making sure. that we also reach out to - female voices in communities, organisations like the muslim - women's network uk to make sure that they are playing a part in increasing i the uptake of vaccines? i thank the right honourable lady for her question. she is quite right to point this out. we should not assume that community organisations which might be male—dominated are reaching female members of ethnic minority groups and i will continue to ensure that this is the case. this new report shows in the second wave bangladesh and pakistani people were three times more likely to die from covid—19 and that black and minority ethnic amenities as a whole are still significantly disproportionately in critical care with it. does the minister acknowledge now that it is systemic injustice that black

and minority ethnic communities face from high rates of poverty and overcrowding housing to higher rates of front line work and barriers to access in health care? we have seen the data show that at some point ethnic minority gaps in terms of disproportionate impact completely disappeared. if these were structural issues, that is not what we would expect to see. a conservative mp highlighted another category. across all age groups, and all ethnicities, men are far more likely to be hospitalised and killed by this virus than women. and in the 40 to 49 years age group, men are twice as likely to suffer critical illness. why is this and what are the implications for government response to the pandemic? some of the issues around the disproportionate impact on men is to do with occupational risk for example, which is something that we cannot control very easily. and that is why we are making sure that we are treating

and addressing this pandemic holistically. we are not stigmatizing any specific groups, but we are making sure that we are targeting the information and the assistance of those who are most vulnerable. kemi badenoch. a labour peer has warned ministers of dire consequences after the health secretary said it was the right thing to do to delay publishing the details of contracts handed out in the early stages of the pandemic. the high court ruled that matt hancock had breached his legal obligation by failing to publish the information within 30 days. labour's lord harris didn't mince his words. the noble lord the minister is on very thin ice. he is following mecca valley teachings at the ends justify the means. the same argument that led to a french aristocrats, and we should be careful, being guillotined after the revolution. to stall in the�*s terror to the black shirts. can he tell us does he accept that the government

and administers have to obey the law? and if he thinks that this case was trivial, where does he draw the line? contracts to cronies? clearly not until number ten spouts have been cited. provoking parliament illegally? clearly not. interning vaccine refuses? where is that line? laughter. i am grateful for the colourful character of that question. but my lords, the noble lord this make a serious point. and we do respect the law. that is why we have published the contracts. the case found we have published them 17 days late. but my lords, any reasonable person faced with a huge pandemic of that kind would think that 17 days delay is a perfectly reasonable price to pay for the saving allies. —— of lives. my lord, the noble lord asked me what is the price we are willing to pay

and what are the reasons for standing out on this? saving lives, my lords! saving lives. that is what this delay was about. lord bethel. you're watching monday in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. earlier this month the daily telegraph reported that an under sea tunnel between great britain and northern ireland could get the green light as early next month in an attempt to help unblock trade hit by brexit tensions. a study by sir peter hendy, the chairman of network rail, will say whether a link between stranraer in scotland and larne in northern ireland is workable. other papers meanwhile have suggested plans have been put forward to join up three tunnels heading out from england and scotland at a roundabout beneath the isle of man. the idea came up at infrastructure questions in the northern ireland assembly. prime minister borisjohnson announced the union connectivity review in june 2020. with no communication before with any of the devolved administrations, even though i had previously raised my

concerns with grant shapps, the secretary of state for transport. she said she'd made her views clear to sir peter hendy who's chairing the union connectivity review. members will be aware that i met with sir peter in december 2022 discuss the union connectivity review in detail and i outline my concerns and affirmed my opposition to any extravagant vanity projects. i heard nothing further on the matter until media reports in february that agreement on a tunnel between scotland and northern ireland was to be approved. my officials have been a touch with the department for transport to have been assured that this is not the case, and that news articles had greatly overstated the situation, i have made my position extremely clear. i am the ministerfor infrastructure and devolution mandates made to take decisions that will improve the lives of citizens here. the minister has formed for talking down east, west connectivity, so can ask her as the minister

west connectivity, so can ask her has the minister or department submit any written evidence regarding northern ireland's need for infrastructure as a part of uk connectivity? these are exciting projects that have the ability to transform the young and in relation to connectivity and infrastructure and would she please outline if she has or has not submitted the information? as i said to the member, i met with sir peter and also written to the secretary of state and to grant shapps and to a number of government ministers. i have written as recently as today. again, to remind the ministers of their commitments in the new decade approach to turbo—charging infrastructure. members in the house rightly raise concerns about the fact the potholes, street lighting and get here we have a proposal for three tunnels, and a roundabout on the isle of man, that is clearly a vanity and distraction project. is

if money is coming our way, i will ensure that it is spent for structure projects that we've all committed to coming ministers across all political parties, and that the british government has committed to in the new decade new approach. i think nick simon summed it up perfectly. he described this project as a following, "the trains can be pulled by an accessible herd of unicorns overseen by stern or vicious dodos, a push me pull he could be the senior guard and puff the magic dragon the inspected. let's concentrate on making the protocol work and put the hallucinogenics down." the television licence fee will remain at least until 2027. that was the response of the government to a debate held by the petitions committee which saw mps divided over the the future of the fee and the bbc. they were considering an e petition, signed by more than 110 thousand people, calling for the licence fee to be axed. from the 1st of april this year, the british taxpayer will be forking at £159 a year for the bbc content. what are they paying for equipment content produced —— what are they paying for?

content produced by individuals pushing up out of touch views onto cities and towns such as stoke—on—trent while the bbc continues to cave to the wokery on the left by censoring and removing some of its most successful shows. they pride themselves on being a public service broadcaster, yet i find it difficult to understand how they have actually serve the public. i get furious about this pretend debate about wokery. i have no idea what that means. it is a fib. it is a lie. at the very heart of it is a fundamental attempt to cast everybody else as in the wrong. standards at the bbc and notably slipped i in the 215t century. it is following a long way from its original- founding principles. too often it deviates - from is required to operate in a partial manner. not in a partisan political weight, but certainly- this has been particularly acute in recent years. - for example, the tone of his . coverage of the brexit process. and the progress of— the coronavirus pandemic have been a markedly skewed.

folks from all the political spectrum pay for the licence fee and it doesn't matter what their views are. we all have different political views, but the bbc is, despite what has been said, i believe, impartial. and i think that is pretty important within the context of the uk media. despite what is being said, as far as i am aware, fake news and bias is not known. 0ther critics focused on the bbc�*s decision to end free tv licences for those over 75 who don't get pension credit. in my constituency, 1300 people over 75, no longer get the free tv licence because they don't have a pension credit. so they are now punished with almost £160 fine essentially for watching the bbc. that is wrong. i agree with lord booth when he said last week that over 75 should not be prosecuted for the nonpayment of this fee. you talk a lot about misrepresentation so i hope it will be ok to bring a few backs to the fore. firstly with regard to the over

75 provision, it is not the case of the bbc was funded for this or that it promised to continue it. it was a decision given by my government at the time and it was down to the bbc to decide if it wished to fund it or not. the bbc does not solve - the needs of the diverse people in the united kingdom sufficiently to justify l a mandatory licence fee. far less one backed up- by the threat of prosecution a fine — or even imprisonment. all this and are charging the majority of over 75. for a tv licence is totally- outrageous and unacceptable. to call the bbc warped and accuse it of extreme political bias from a position of ripened extremism is rather like donald trump throwing his dummy out of his pram. it is not fit for british politics. the last 12 months have shown how important public service broadcasting is to audiences. the length and breath the wales. audiences to bbc wales today have risen almost 30% year on year. responding to the debate the minister said the licence fee would stay at least

until 2027 and the next review of the bbc�*s charter. for the moment it is the case that licence fee remains the best and in many ways the only means of funding universal tv supplied to the bbc. universal tv supplied through the bbc. john whittngdale. and that's it from me for today but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another round up of the day here at westminster, but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello there. today is shaping up to be a pretty similar day to how yesterday was, with many places starting chilly, grey, foggy with some low cloud, that will slowly burn back to the east coast, allowing for some sunshine to develop for many of us. so a largely dry day today,

a chilly start with that low cloud and fog. many places though will turn brighter into the afternoon. now, it's all driven by this area of high pressure, which is keeping things fine and settled. most places will see light winds which is why we will start off rather grey with this fog around for many places. the exception, the west of scotland, parts of northern ireland, the far west of england and wales, which will start cold, frosty and sunny. but eventually the sun will get going on this cloud, thinning and breaking it. but it could linger again like on monday, through parts of eastern wales, the midlands, eastern england and also eastern scotland, where we will continue to see some threatened haar lapping against the coast. sunshine though will develop across southern areas. and winds generally light but still quite fresh to the channel and for the south—west of england. in the sunniest spots we could see temperatures reaching 10 to maybe 1a or 15 degrees, but really chilly where we hold onto the grey, foggy weather — only 3—5 celsius. as we head into tuesday night, it looks like that low cloud and fog will tend to return across much of the country.

a few clearer spells out west. a few showers starting to push into the channel islands and the southwest. so here a bit more cloud, so not quite as cold, but chillier further north, particularly where we have any cloud breaks. so into wednesday then — we've got this little weather front which is going to bring some wetter weather to southern and southwestern areas. mainly the form of showery rains — some of the showers could be quite heavy for the channel islands — southwest england, then into south wales, and then spreading into parts of the midlands, southern and southeastern england into the afternoon. elsewhere it's generally cloudy particularly towards the east. best of the sunshine further west. but despite any sunshine, it's actually turning colder across the north. further south given some sunshine, and again quite mild — 10 to 15 degrees. the reason for it turning cold in the north is this new area of high pressure moving down from iceland. it's got some very cold air mixed in with it, and that is going to affect much of the country as we move through thursday and indeed friday. so a much colder feel to our weather to end the week. it will return to a more settled note though.

thursday looks pretty cloudy across the board. friday, perhaps seeing a little bit of sunshine in places.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: the united states threatens myanmar�*s military with more sanctions if it continues its violent crackdown on demonstrators opposed to last month's coup. un officials say they are disappointed by the amount of aid pledged to war—torn yemen. the un had hoped for $4 billion to help prevent famine. in the uk, health authorities continue the hunt for the person carrying the new brazilian variant of the coronavirus, as the prime minister defends britain's policy on protecting borders. prince philip — the queen's husband — is moved to a specialist heart hospital in london for further treatment.