harry farley is in westminster for us. the moment. harry farley is in westminsterfor us.take us through, for those who perhaps are not too familiar with how parliament works, what is going to happen this afternoon? in works, what is going to happen this afternoon? , ., afternoon? in the uk there is two houses, afternoon? in the uk there is two houses. the _ afternoon? in the uk there is two houses, the house _ afternoon? in the uk there is two houses, the house of _ afternoon? in the uk there is two houses, the house of commons | afternoon? in the uk there is two i houses, the house of commons and afternoon? in the uk there is two - houses, the house of commons and the house of lords, the house of lords is the second chamber, the revising chamber as it were, the house of commons is the elected one with mp5. it has been bouncing between the two for several months now. you heard from barbara plett usher how long this policy has been in the offing, more than two years, but it's been more than two years, but it's been more than two years, but it's been more than four months s

let's speak to our political correspondent harry farley. ister in tony blair's first government back in 1997. , ., , tony blair's first government back in1997. , ., , , , in 1997. yes, a minister briefly in tony blair's _ in 1997. yes, a minister briefly in tony blair's first _ in 1997. yes, a minister briefly in tony blair's first government, . in 1997. yes, a minister briefly in| tony blair's first government, and actually a number of the tributes have made reference to his independent thinking. tony blair said that himself, he said he was an independent thinker, never constrained by conventional wisdom, always pushing at the frontier of new ideas. perhaps he spent a lot longer actually rather than a minister as a chair of different select committees, backbench committees of mps, and as you say, his particular passion was welfare. he spoke passionately in the house of commons a number of times about food poverty, about conditions for his constituents in birkenhead. and that really was his life work. he published many pamphlets and leaflets

harry farley live there at _ aid getting into gaza. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. life of abc news. a five—year trial will try to find out whether the tests can spot the early signs. blood tests for dementia will be offered at more than 50 memory clinics across the uk. the trials are being run by teams in oxford and london with thousands of volunteers, and the plan is to introduce screening for dementia in over—50s. fergus walsh reports. what can our blood tell us about our brain? this small trial in oxford is looking for clues. lucy, like many of the healthy volunteers, has a personalfamily motivation for being involved. the main driver for the dementia was because my mother had dementia, and ijust have very close personal experience of how miserable that is. i mean, she wasn't... fortunately, she was relatively old, she was in her 80s when it started, and she died at 97. but her last few years were really mired by the disease. what's your first language? over the next five years, around 5000 people will take p

harry farley. thank _ end of the next parliament. hottest march ever recorded — that's according to the eu's climate change service copernicus. it's the tenth month in a row that a new air temperature record has been set. sea surface temperatures were even more dramatic. our climate editor justin rowlatt reports. last week, the president of zimbabwe declared a national disaster because of a deep drought in the country. low rainfall has slashed crop yields, driving up food prices and putting an estimated 2.7 million people at risk of hunger. it is just one example of a pattern of heat and drought affecting countries as far afield as southern europe and southeast asia. this graph shows how march continued the world's run of record—breaking monthly temperatures. this extreme heat has got many climate scientists worried. the reality is that we can quantify a large proportion of the extra heat that's causing these records, but not all of it. so there needs to be a lot more science, and there will be much more science coming out over the n

thanks very much for getting us across - very much for getting us across that, harry farley, our political — the bbc has witnessed chinese vessels firing water cannon at philippines coastguard ships. it happened near the disputed scarborough shoal an area that has been a flashpoint between the two countries in recent years. the filipino authorities said its boats had been involved in a mission to deliver fuel and food to fishermen in the area. it accused beijing of once again installing a floating barrier across the entrance to the shoal. chinese state media reports its coastguard as saying it had "expelled" a philippine coastguard ship and other vessels from the area. it is extremely rare for foreign media to be granted access to philippines coastguard patrols in the south china sea — but our correspondent jonathan head was on board. shouting. this is how china defends its claim to the entire south china sea. water cannon raking the deck of a filipino coastguard ship, soaking everyone. we were just off scarborough shoal, a coral reef that is claimed by both countries. but much closer to t

that is our i political correspondent harry farley.apital, kigali. the government has largely stood back and watched all the legal and political wrangling in the uk over this controversial plan, but in the meantime it has maintained a ready position throughout. so, for example, the hostel where the migrants would land has been prepared to receive them now for nearly two years. this is where they would make their applications for asylum here. and even if those are rejected they will still have the right to stay with residence permits. that was a decision taken in response to concerns of the british supreme court that there was a risk that they could deported back to the countries from which they had fled. and it does require changes in rwandan law which are working its way through the system now along with other measures in order to be compliant with the supreme court's concerns and with the treaty that rwanda has since signed with the uk. the government here has strongly objected to the country being called unsafe. it says, in fact, rw

harry farley, bbc news, in westminster.alk to our washington correspondent gary o'donohue, but first to yolande knell injerusalem. yolande, israel's war cabinet meeting now with reports it's split on the timing and the scale of a response to iran's attack. that's correct. we know that the israeli military has drawn up a list of possible action that could be taken against iran, and now the war cabinet, we believe it is already meeting, that we've not had confirmation of that. it is really weighing up those different options, and we've had an israeli official source who has been briefing the media that, really, this was such a large attack that happened that israel does need to respond in some kind of way. you have israeli politicians who have been saying that, really now, a powerful message needs to be sent to iran, basically as deterrence, to make sure it doesn't do the same kind of thing again. then you have other important voices, including key decision—makers in the war cabinet, who have been talking up the benefit of no

let's speak to our political correspondent, harry farley who is in westminster.sial is it to move the decision away from gps to someone else on this issue of fitness for work. ., ., ., , ., work. the royal college of general practitioners _ work. the royal college of general practitioners have _ work. the royal college of general practitioners have welcomed - work. the royal college of general practitioners have welcomed this i practitioners have welcomed this call for evidence. they say they are assessing sickness can be part of the normal conversation, but they are welcoming the call for evidence. it is worth pointing out a few of the statistics behind rishi sunak was my argument that he is making today. they are quite staggering, a record number of people out of work, 2.8 million, 850,000 more since the pandemic. the prime minister makes the argument that half of those who are out of work say they have depression or anxiety and he says he worries that we as a country are over medicalised mental health. he did say that if people had mental health problems they

our political correspondent harry farley has more. listening to that speech.ite staggering statistics, to be honest — 2.8 million people — a record number out of work with sickness. and he said half of those had depression or anxiety. it's worth actually pointing out that for most of those, actually, actually, mental health problems were a secondary, not the main cause of their sickness. but he said a worrying number were younger people and he talked about those with less severe mental health conditions should be in work. and that's the range of measures — just picking out one or two for you. firstly, he said they would the government would consult on tightening up eligibility for personal independence payments, that's disability benefit payments, saying that those who do have less severe mental health conditions should be in work. the other thing that the government is going to consult on is stripping gps of their power to sign sick notes and saying that other work and health care professionals would instead do that to take that away from gps. it's worth just

here's our political correspondent harry farley with more on mr sunak�*s announcement. are some interesting details there about when he expects flight to take off, he said 10—12 weeks as you said there. and some interesting detail about the work the government has been doing behind—the—scenes to ensure that this plan is ready to go and is operational as soon as possible. so, just to run you through those, he said they had identified an airfield and a commercial airline to take flights off. he said that they had 500 people trained and ready to escort people to rwanda. he said that they had secured extra court time to process legal claims, and 200 people legally trained to do that. so i think what rishi sunak was trying to do there was to get ahead of the debate this evening in the house of lords and house of commons about the intricacies of the bill and say that the government is ready to get flights off as soon as possible. obviously, the caveat to all of that is that rishi sunak initially said that he wanted to get flights off in the spring, he is now saying the flight

our political correspondent, harry farley, reports.he amount of crime that's going on in blackpool at the moment is horrendous. there's a lot of homeless and there's a lot of people that are just bordering. for more than 20 years, from 1997 to 2019, this was a labour town. then borisjohnson's campaign to get brexit done and the promise of levelling up flipped it to the tories. now, with the scandal—hit former conservative mp having to step down, rishi sunak faces a challenge to keep blackpool blue. many coastal areas struggle, blackpool perhaps more than most. it holds eight of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods in england. but this town has received millions in investment, which for some is having an impact. i feel it's starting to pick up. you can see there's new cafe—bars turning up. they've got the new buildings round there. you know, there are some really good places round here and some positives as well. others aren't convinced. it's the worst town for unemployment, the worst town for sickness in the country. so you want to get

here's our political correspondent harry farley with more on mr sunak�*s announcement.ere. and some interesting detail about the work the government has been doing behind—the—scenes to ensure that this plan is ready to go and is operational as soon as possible. so, just to run you through those, he said they had identified

our political correspondent harry farley reports from westminster.e again and how to respond. the foreign secretary gave his assessment. iran to respond. the foreign secretary gave his assessment.— gave his assessment. iran has suffered a _ gave his assessment. iran has suffered a double _ gave his assessment. iran has suffered a double defeat, - gave his assessment. iran has suffered a double defeat, the | suffered a double defeat, the failure of their attack and by making this attack we have revealed to the world their true nature as a malign influence in the region. but there was also this warning to israel. ~ .. there was also this warning to israel. ~ ., ., , israel. we are urging them as friends to _ israel. we are urging them as friends to think _ israel. we are urging them as friends to think with - israel. we are urging them as friends to think with head - israel. we are urging them as friends to think with head as i israel. we are urging them as i friends to think with head as well as heart, smart as well as tough, and to recognise iran suf

our political correspondent harry farley is in westminsterfor us. explained the situation.on. this is not the rwanda scheme _ explained the situation. this is not the rwanda scheme we _ explained the situation. this is not the rwanda scheme we have - explained the situation. this is not the rwanda scheme we have been| the rwanda scheme we have been talking about, that policy aims to forcibly deport those who have arrived in the uk illegally, but this asylum seeker voluntarily went to rwanda under a separate scheme the government announced in march and that scheme is for those whose claims have been processed in the uk and have been rejected, so this man was paid £3000 to go on a commercial flight, and labour say they govern is so desperate to get flights off the ground that they have even paid someone to go. the question is, how significant is this? symbolically it is the first time that someone has voluntarily been sent to rwanda, so it is a big week for local elections, so symbolically it is important, but rishi sunak�*s pledge was to stop the boats, and this particular a

our political correspondent, harry farley, has been explaning more about this case.gship rwanda scheme that they've been talking so much about that aims to forcibly deport those who come to the uk illegally on small boats. this asylum seeker voluntarily chose to go to kigali. that came... that's under a separate scheme that the government set up in march. they're offering to pay those whose asylum claims have been processed here in the uk and being rejected, and been rejected, pay them £3,000 to voluntarily go to kigali. so that's what's happened in this case. it's the first time that someone has been sent to rwanda under this scheme. the labour party, they say that the government are so desperate to send, get flights off the ground to rwanda that they've paid someone to go. so i think the question is, how significant is this? well, symbolically, it is significant. as i said, it's the first time that someone has voluntarily been sent to rwanda. and obviously it's a big week in the uk with local elections. but remember, rishi sunak, the prime minister's pledge was to

let's speak to our political correspondent, harry farley, who's live in westminster.prime minister saying no ifs and knowbuts, it will pass today. mps this afternoon will dote on the changes lord howe suggested. we are expecting mps to reject them. we are expecting mps to reject them. we are expecting the lords to reattach the certain changes to the bill. it will bands between the two houses, the house of lords and commons, until eventually we are expecting at some point this evening, i do could be late this evening, for the house of lords to eventually give way and for the bill to go through. the government saying they on offering any concessions, any changes to the bill, but the lords want to see. labour and the lord saying they are looking to back down, so it could be a late one. ., , ., , looking to back down, so it could be a late one-— a late one. lots of procedure to get throu~h. a late one. lots of procedure to get through. thank _ a late one. lots of procedure to get through. thank you. _ a late one. lots of procedure to get through. thank you. we _ a late on

we can cross live to westminster to speak to our political correspondent harry farley.uppose we will get the details of the british involvement but i suppose the basic message to israel of restraint will be underlined in the next few minutes. i of restraint will be underlined in the next few minutes.— of restraint will be underlined in the next few minutes. i think that's exactly right. _ the next few minutes. i think that's exactly right. i _ the next few minutes. i think that's exactly right, i think _ the next few minutes. i think that's exactly right, i think we _ the next few minutes. i think that's exactly right, i think we can - the next few minutes. i think that's exactly right, i think we can expect| exactly right, i think we can expect the prime minister to call for calm. i think he will condemn the iranian strikes on israel and i think he will seek to defend why the raf got involved and he will argue that it was in britain's own national interests for the raf to do so. shooting down some iranian drones there. i think we can expect more details. we can expect

(read on) let's speak to our political correspondent, harry farley, who's live in westminster. what are?— will happen? later this afternoon, we do not know— will happen? later this afternoon, we do not know when, _ will happen? later this afternoon, we do not know when, the - will happen? later this afternoon, we do not know when, the housel will happen? later this afternoon, i we do not know when, the house of commons mps will vote and debate the changes that the house of lords inserted last week. we expect mps to reject those changes. the bill will go back to the house of lords probably early this evening at some point. and then the question will be well the house of lords reinsert the changes they want to see, certainly from speaking to labour sources in the lords they are keen not to back down and they want the government to offer concessions, particularly on whether those who work with uk forces overseas, particularly they are thinking of people in afghanistan, who helped british troops there, whether they will be exempt from being deported. the government said there are enough saf

conference in downing street talking about the government rwanda plan is still with us is the bbc harry farleyme secretary interview there, remind of this policy is also being challenged within the ruling party itself, within the ruling party itself, within the ruling party itself, within the conservatives. yes, very much so. within the conservatives. yes, very much s0- you _ within the conservatives. yes, very much so. you remember— within the conservatives. yes, very much so. you remember when - within the conservatives. yes, very much so. you remember when thisj within the conservatives. yes, very - much so. you remember when this bill was first debated and voted on in the house of commons was controversy about whether we would pass and there were some like suella braverman and the right of the party who had significant concerns, as you heard there, but the bill contains loopholes, they feel it doesn't go far enough to blocking legal challenges to being deported to rwanda and they wanted the bill to be tougher. on the other hand, more moderate conservatives said that the bill goes too far a