in baghdad, pope francis has urged iraq's different religious communities to come together in a journey towards peace. his call comes at the start of the first—ever papal visit to the country, where he's also called for an end to violence and extremism. the un's special envoy on myanmar has told the security council that democracy must be restored to the country. christine schraner said anti—coup demonstrators were beginning to lose faith in the united nations. protests against last month's military takeover have been met by an increasingly violent response by the military and security forces. more details have emerged of the duchess of sussex's interview with oprah winfrey. in a newly—released clip meghan says she feels "liberated" now that she can speak for herself again. she suggested that life with prince harry within the royal family was not what she had expected. now on bbc news: the week in parliament.

hello there, and welcome to the week in parliament, where the chancellor sets out his budget to repair the nation's finances after coronavirus. rishi sunak announces an extension to furlough and higher universal credit, but a freeze on tax thresholds and a tax increase for big business. i recognise they might not be popular, but they are honest. but labour reckons the plans fall short of what's needed. what we got was a budget that papered over the cracks rather than rebuilding the foundations. angry exchanges in the scottish parliament as the row over the alex salmond case continues. there's no argument. if nicola sturgeon broke the ministerial code. the argument is only- about how badly she broke it. this is just about desperate

political games for the conservatives! also on this programme, cross—party condemnation of a planned cut in aid for yemen. and, in a rare appearance before mps, david cameron says his government did plan for a pandemic, but not the one we're facing today. you know, it was a pretty good flu pandemic plan, but it was a flu plan rather than a respiratory diseases plan. but first to the chancellor's budget. rishi sunak promised to "protect thejobs and livelihoods of the british people" as the uk emerges from the coronavirus crisis. confirming some of his trailed announcements, he said he'd extend the furlough scheme, paying a large part of millions of workers' wages until september, and a temporary increase of £20 a week to universal credit would also stay for another six months. but taxes on large company profits would go up,

and while national insurance and vat rates wouldn't increase, there would be a threshold freeze. the institute for fiscal studies said about 1.3 million people would be brought into the income tax system, with about 10% of adults brought into the higher 40p rate. the amount we've borrowed is comparable only with the amount we borrowed during the two world wars. it's going to be the work of many governments over many decades to pay it back. just as it would be irresponsible to withdraw support too soon, it would also be irresponsible to allow our future borrowing and debt to rise unchecked. so, after this year, there'd be a freeze to personal tax thresholds until 2026, and from april 2023, a rise in corporation tax to 25% for larger firms. these are significant decisions to have taken. decisions no chancellor wants to make. i recognise they might not be

popular, but they are honest. it's the tradition that the leader of the opposition, not the shadow chancellor, responds to the budget debate. i'm sure this budget will look better on instagram. in fact, this week's pr video cost the taxpayers so much, i was half—expecting to see a line in the 0br forecast for it. but even the chancellor's film crew will struggle to put a positive spin on this. after the decisions of the last year and the decade of neglect, we needed a budget to fix the foundations of our economy, to reward our key workers, to protect the nhs and to build a more secure and prosperous economy for the future. instead, what we got was a budget that papered over the cracks rather than rebuilding the foundations. no taxes should have been raised in the teeth of this economic crisis. so it's extraordinary that the chancellor is ploughing ahead with a £2 billion council tax rise

affecting households across the country. so, why is he doing that? why is he doing that when every economist would tell him not to do it? perhaps we find the answer in this week's sunday times. rishi's argument, "let's do all this now, far away from the election as possible." the conversion of this - prime minister and chancellor to increased public spending was only ever temporary. i today, we have a tory - chancellor returning to type. he is clearly itching to turnl off the state spending taps. this budget is carefully laying the ground for more tory- austerity, a decade more of conservative cuts. - while there are some steps in this budget which i'm sure will be welcomed, it does not for me go far enough for the many who have suffered the most. those, for example, in lower incomes, for whom the freeze on the tax threshold will mean a real terms loss in their income. the dup welcomed the budget�*s impact on northern ireland.

this budget and indeed the actions which have been taken by the government over the last year give an indication of the value of the union. and i look at the details which have been given in the budget paper itself, where in northern ireland, over a quarter of a million people are having their wages paid through the furlough scheme. talking about the value - of the union, as if no other country in the world - was investing in businesses and people at this| very difficult time. of course, they're doing it in the republic of irelandl in a very generous way. but plaid cymru warned that the government's generosity wouldn't replace eu funds for wales. only £220 million is allocated

to the shared prosperity funds pilot to post the entire uk. wales alone received around £375 million a year in needs—based funding from the eu schemes, and yet now they'll be expected to compete for a much smaller pot of money. the green party mp sensed a missed opportunity. but the question is whether as a whole this budget addresses the climate and ecological emergency with anything approaching the ambition or urgency required. and it gives me no pleasure to say that it does not. it is alarming and disappointing to see the chancellor doubling down on economic dogma that is fuelling the fires of the climate crisis and making our society more unequal and less resilient. caroline lucas. and that debate on measures announced in the budget will continue until tuesday. now, there was high drama at holyrood as a committee looking into the scottish government's handling of sexual harassment complaints against former first minister alex salmond heard from the two key witnesses. alex salmond used his evidence

session to accuse his successor, nicola sturgeon, of repeatedly misleading parliament and said he had "no doubt" she had breached the ministerial code. for her part, nicola sturgeon insisted she had no reason to want to "get" alex salmond and dismissed claims of a plot against him as "absurd". the row is the fallout after the scottish government had to pay alex salmond's legal bills, totalling well over £500,000, after conceding a judicial review into the legality of its handling of harassment complaints against him. recently released documents showed the government's own lawyers had "severe reservations" about its court battle with alex salmond more than two months before it conceded the case. at first minister's questions, the tories pounced on that revelation. first minister, why was the crucial evidence withheld for months from the government's own legal team 7 the case ultimately collapsed because information

came to light. i set that out in the committee yesterday, and people canjudge by looking at the advice that was published themselves. and of course the committee will come to its conclusions, as will the independent inquiry on the ministerial code, and i await the findings of both. and what we've already seen shows that there's no argument if this government ignored legal advice, it did. the argument is if it did so for three weeks or for more than three months. there's no argument that the first minister was at fault for losing more than £500,000 of taxpayers' money. the argument is only about how much she's to blame for. and there's no argument if nicola sturgeon broke the ministerial code. the argument is only about how badly she broke it. we believe that the sanction is to go. why doesn't she? first minister? well, i think ruth davison has just shown her true colours and the conservative true colours all over again. because of course she stands up here and says scrutiny and democracy and due process is really important,

but just as on tuesday night, the conservatives prejudged my evidence to the parliamentary inquiry, she'sjust prejudged the outcome of the independent inquiry into the ministerial code. this is just about desperate political games for the conservatives! the newly elected leader of scottish labour wanted answers, too. in her foreword to i the ministerial code, the first minister says, and i quote, - "i will lead by example in following the letterl and spirit of this code, and i expect all ministers and civil servants to do likewise."j wisdom, compassion, justice and integrity. i in that light, does - the first minister agree, removing party and personality, that a minister, any minister, . who is found in breach- of the ministerial code should resign? i will uphold my words in the foreword to the ministerial coat.

i will uphold the principles on that mace, but i will also demand the right to due process, which one party at least is not prepared to give me. so let's wait and see what the outcome of the inquiries are. they will be published, and then we can debate in this chamber the outcome of that. earlier in the week, nicola sturgeon announced that all secondary school pupils will return to classrooms part—time from the 15th of march. it had previously been expected that some would not return to school until april. but nicola sturgeon said all secondary pupils will now get some in school time before the easter holidays. northern ireland's deputy first minister has set out its blueprint for easing the coronavirus lockdown, describing it as "cautious and hopeful". unlike england, there's no specific dates or timetable. the plan focuses on nine areas, including retail, hospitality, education, travel and tourism. each will emerge from lockdown in stages, with a gradual lifting of restrictions.

first and foremost, our approach is risk—based and will be driven by health, community and economic data and analysis. we will not be driven by hard dates. we recognise everybody will be looking for certainty, but we do not want to set potentially unachievable dates that will only disappoint. our commitment is that we will keep restrictions in place only as long as needed, and as and when we build headroom to open a sector, we will most certainly take that opportunity. as i understand it, the executive office pathway has nine streams, with five stages moving at different speeds, meaning that there are 45 variables moving at different paces for people to engage with. i can see that causing confusion for people and it not being that easy to follow. borisjohnson made a very clear commitment — - we'll not go backwards. will you be able to make that commitment today that once | we've gone forward to a phase, there will be no going back? i

this virus is still among us. it's still spreading at too high a rate. there are new variants out there. but what we have done today and what we are trying to achieve with this plan is that if we do this in a gradual way and in a very considered way, if we work our way through it gradually and be cautious and take the right decisions at the right time, then that mitigates against the risk of going backwards. today, we have light at the end of the tunnel. we have a society who for over a year have been struggling, so at least we have something. but one member said it wasn't much of a sat—nav if it didn't tell you the route or when you're expected to get there. people wanted answers. when can we get our kids - permanently back into school, not in some hokey pokey business? i when can we get our kids back to playing sport? . when can families again engage in recreation - and use their caravans and whatever? - those are the questions people want answered. | all we have today- is a "maybe, maybe". it's not good enough.

michelle 0'neill told him kids would be back in school and businesses would reopen whenever it was safe to do so. back at westminster at prime minister's questions, borisjohnson said the uk had got its "priorities right" in cutting aid to yemen because of the "tough circumstances" of the coronavirus pandemic. the situation in yemen has been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. the government has said it will provide "at least" £87 million in aid this year, down from £161; million pledged last year. mr speaker, britain should be a moral force for good in the world. butjust as the us is stepping up, the uk is stepping back. if the prime minister and the chancellor are so determined to press ahead with their manifesto—breaking cuts to international aid, cutting the budget to 0.5%, they should at least put that to a vote in this house. will he have the courage to do so? mr speaker, we are going

to get on with our agenda of delivering for the people of this country and spending more than virtually every country in the world, by the way, spending more still than every other country in the g7 on aid. it is a record that i think which this country can be proud of. given the difficulties that this country faces, i think the people of this country will think that we've got our priorities right. 100,000 people have been killed. - 16.2 million are at risk of starvation. | 2.3 million children, - prime minister, are at death's door, facing acute malnutrition. - the uk government's response isn't one of compassion. - instead, it is to impose cuts. that's what you're doing, i prime minister, a 50% cut to international aid to yemen — a move that the un chief- antonio guterres has described as a death sentence. _ since the start of the war, | the tories have shamefully backed the saudi regime. through billions of pounds of arm sales and support — - despite evidence of war crimes

and of the targeting of civilians. - on monday, we're going to provide cash support to 1.5 million of the most vulnerable yemeni households, support 400 health clinics and treat 75,000 cases of severe malnutrition, mr speaker. that is the continuing effort of the british people and the british government to help the people of yemen. borisjohnson. and that reduction in aid to yemen was also roundly condemned in the house of lords. my view is that we really should not be cutting the aid to yemen, let alone all the other countries. we really need to look at this again. i have to say that cutting british aid, and in particular cutting aid to yemen in the middle of a humanitarian emergency, looks less like global britain than little england — and little england at its worst. let us hope that it is not too late to reverse it.

does this notjust reflect badly on the moral case | for global britain, at a time . when we cut our aid to what's acknowledged to be the poorest and most suffering people - in the world — look- at the television programme the other night on a - nine—year—old blind boy teaching in a derelict school — at a time when they need this most? - my lords, i align myself to the particular news story that the right reverend relates. and indeed we've all been, as i have myself, as a parent, i totally understand the issue of children in particular who are suffering in yemen, and indeed elsewhere in the world, and that's why we remain very much committed to our programmes on vaccination, but also importantly, as noble lords have brought to our attention again today, on humanitarian aid. the foreign office minister, lord ahmad. now, let's take a look at some other news in brief. the health secretary told mps

the search for the person with the brazilian coronavirus variant had narrowed to just a few hundred households in the south—east of england. it was discovered that half a dozen cases of the strain had been found in britain. scientists say it appears more contagious and may evade immunity provided by past infection. matt hancock said five of the six people identified had quarantined at home as they were legally required to do. our current vaccines have not yet been studied against this variant and we're working to understand what impact it might have, but we do know that this variant has caused significant challenges in brazil. throughout history, epidemic after epidemic has exploited international travel. surely it is obvious that tougher border controls should've been in place sooner. does he recognise that quarantining just 1%. of international arrivals does. not protect the uk from these variants, nor those which may evolve in the future in other l

parts of the world? the business secretary 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. the sale of new petrol and diesel cars banned in the uk from 2030. unless the batteries for vehicles made in the uk are manufactured in britain, within five years, the cars that they power will no longer be able to be exported tariff—free to the eu, so we urgently need to install the manufacturing capacity in the uk. this means notjust one giga factory but many. 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. we are 100% committed to making sure that the uk continues to be one of the best locations

in the world for automotive manufacturing, and we're doing all we can to protect and create jobs while securing a competitive future for the sector here in the uk in particular, including ellesmere port. are shorter summer holidays and longer school days the best way to help children in england catch up following the coronavirus pandemic? that was one of the questions that mps on the education committee put to a panel of experts, including the man who's been dubbed the "catch up tsar". i don't think it's either/or at the moment. i think we need... for some children, i think summer schools can be extremely supportive, particularly if you're in year seven, you're going to your secondary school and you want a couple of weeks before you get there. i can see the value of that. but i think the key thing is that schools target and schools know which children would benefit and those that perhaps summer school isn't the right thing for. it's not to be

called centrally. the government announced it's extending a grace period for border checks on some goods crossing the irish sea. the european union says the uk is breaking international law after it made the change to the northern ireland protocol unilaterally. the cabinet office minister, lord frost, described the change as temporary technical steps, but the dup wants ministers to go further. will the business leader of the house inform us when the prime minister will be able to come to the house and make a statement about the extension of the grace period now put in place unilaterally by her majesty's government? and what next steps will the prime minister be able to take to protect the union, to protect northern ireland businesses and to ensure that the genie does not get out of the bottle any further? what my noble friend lord frost has done is really very important and indicates the government's commitment to making sure that the protocol works and that the problems that have arisen are taken very seriously by the government. i think this is important. we must get to a situation where the whole of the

united kingdom is able to trade freely, as required under the 1801 act of union. northern ireland's infrastructure minister gave short shrift to the idea ofjoining up three tunnels heading out from england and scotland at a roundabout underneath the isle of man. i think that simon hoare summed it up perfectly. he described this project as the following — "the trains could be pulled by an inexhaustible herd of unicorns overseen by stern, officious dodos, a pushmi—pullyu 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. david cameron has argued that planning for a pandemic was helped by the experience of ebola and his decision to set up a us—style national security council. the former prime minister was answering questions in parliament for the first time since his resignation in 2016. peers and mps are holding an inquiry into how the uk's national security is run.

he said the council was a place where senior ministers were able to discuss the big risks facing the uk. 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. and we did make, for instance, pandemics a tier1 risk, which was important because that means it gets more government attention. as well as that, we set up the subcommittee on threats, hazards and risks, which were specifically looking at things like pandemics. although it was made a tier1 issue, i got the feeling that, actually, for the reasons you've very fairly given, actually not much attention at the very top... i don't think that's fair. and i 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 on respiratory diseases. and i think that's where... and i'm sure there'll a big inquiry into what we learn 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... just one other thing. i also set up a unit in the cabinet office to do sort of global virus surveillance. i'm not quite sure what happened to that unit after i left, but it was there when i was there. and there were questions about brexit. it's been suggested that some modern examples of what some call a failure of grand strategy, the pandemic preparedness, which we've already talked a little bit about, but also the calling of 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, three years before the referendum itself,

and so it's not as if this was something that was suddenly sort of thought up and popped into a manifesto. now, of course, i wish the result 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 wasn't a problem. i mean, there really was a problem, and i was confronted with this quite early in my premiership, over the issue, for instance, of bailing out eurozone countries. now, britain's not part of the euro, we shouldn't have been asked to bail out eurozone countries, and problems like that were coming back and coming back. and that's the issue, as i say. the development of the single currency changed the nature of the organisation that we were a member of. 0ne mp wondered if he hankered after thejob he left abruptly in 2016. it's been a while, mr cameron. i wondered if you miss the old job at all, but... i certainly don't miss wednesday at 12 o'clock. .. wednesday, 12 noon, i don't

miss, but it's a bit different these days, from what i can see. donald trump's fancying a comeback at some point. does it ever cross your mind? no. thank you. thinking about donald trump making a comeback is enough to keep us all spinning over. david cameron, not planning a comeback of his own any time soon! and that's it from me for now, but dojoin david cornock on bbc parliament on monday night at 11pm for a round—up of the day at westminster and beyond. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello. last weekend was a mainly dry weekend across the uk, with high pressure in control. and this weekend will be the same. but there is a significant difference between weekends —

that word there, cold. a very different feel to things. spring in the air last weekend, 15 celsius in the sunshine. this weekend, with only a few sunny spells around, it's closer to 7 degrees. and it feels like winter's still got a bit of life left in it. but it is high pressure across us, so it is going to be mainly dry. just this one weak weather front will deliver a bit of rain into parts of scotland, especially the further north you are. there is milder air out in the atlantic. it will come our way in the week ahead, but that's not the only change coming, as i'll show you in a moment. this is how saturday begins, temperatures well below freezing. in the coldest parts, a widespread frost to start the day. some mist and fog patches around. there's the chance of catching a shower along the north sea coast, maybe around the thames estuary early on. they'll fade, showers come into the western isles, far north of mainland scotland, one or two into the northern isles. elsewhere, variable

cloud, some sunny spells and temperatures only around that 7 celsius mark. 0n into saturday night, then, we'll keep a few areas of cloud but also some clear spells. the rain becoming a little bit more widespread across northern scotland, with some heavier bursts around here, keeping the temperature up, whereas elsewhere, if you're clear for any period of time, your temperature will drop below freezing and there will be another frost on sunday morning. still in scotland on sunday, towards the north and northwest, some outbreaks of rain. elsewhere, well, again, it's the sort of day where if you start sunny, you're likely to cloud over. if you start with cloud, you'll eventually see a few sunny spells. a little less cold in scotland and northern ireland. and then on monday, it is again scotland most likely to see a few outbreaks of rain, but the odd spot in parts of northern england and northern ireland can't be ruled out. to the south, after a frosty start, still a fair amount of cloud around, maybe a few early mist and fog patches. but significant weather changes on the way into midweek. goodbye, high pressure, hello, low pressure,

and that does mean a change to, yes, slightly milder weather coming our way and some potentially disruptive wet and windy weather once more.

welcome to bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories: pope francis begins his historic visit to iraq with an appealfor all religions to come together and work for peace. gunfire more clashes in myanmar — as the united nations security council meets to decide what action to take against its military rulers. "a greater mass trauma than world war ii" — the head of the who says the effects of the pandemic will be felt for years to come. and, the disconnected phonebox injapan that helps relatives remember loved ones lost in the fukushima disaster ten years ago.