To the programme. Coming up, a former Health Minister calls for an enquiry into the effects of an epilepsy drug which can harm unborn babies. To understand how on earth this outrageous scandal could ever have happened, how it has gone on for so many decades, letting down so many families across our country. Ministers are accused of breaking their promises after the Grenfell Tower fire. And the government comes under attack from all sides over its decision not to take part in a vote on its new benefit, universal credit. What an anti democratic shambles and utter embarrassment for this house. First, a former Health Minister is calling for a hillsborough style panel or enquiry to be set up to investigate an epilepsy drug and the harm caused to unborn babies during pregnancy. The liberal democrat norman lamb said the government also had an overwhelming moral case to establish a Compensation Scheme for those affected by sodium valproate. Leading a debate in the commons, he said about 20,000 babies were estimated to have been affected since the 1970s. In the general population, there is a risk of foetal abnormality of 2 3 but, if valproate is taken during pregnancy, that goes up to 11 , and the defects include spina bifida, malformations of the face, including cleft palate, the skull, limbs, organs, including heart and respiratory issues. Also, and i think this is incredibly important not to disregard, 30 a0 of people taking valproate during pregnancy, there is a 30 to 40 risk of developmental problems, and these can include life changing issues poor speech and language skills, delayed walking, talking, behavioural problems, interaction and communication issues, low intellectual abilities. The consequences of this are incalculable. He related several womens experiences, including one mother from blackpool. She says, to me, she is an angel and i wouldnt change her for the world. She said to me not long ago, i wouldnt want to be normal, i like my mad head. But it hurts to me that she doesnt and wont know any different, all down to the pills i took for my seizures. He set out the action he wanted taken. These families have suffered an injustice. The government has a moral obligation to address it. If its right for thalidomide victims, its right for those who have lost out severely as a result of valproate. He said there must be a statement of regret or apology, and he concluded. There is a case for an enquiry or for a hillsborough style panel to understand how on earth this outrageous scandal could ever have happened, how it has gone on for so many decades, letting down so many families across our country, and what lessons can be learnt to ensure that this never, ever happens again. I think, if a woman gives birth to a child with a birth defect, or in the very early years theres recognition of some kind of major developmental delay, and shes on a drug . I dont care what the drug is. I feel that should be reported. A conservative mp sounded a note of caution. It might make some women nervous about taking medication if they are pregnant, or considering whether they want to fall pregnant if they are on medication. Surely one of the messages we want to send out today is, please, consult your doctor and dont respond to everything you read in the press if you are taking epileptic medication. A labour mp revealed hed suffered seizures after a bout of childhood meningitis, and had taken sodium valproate for several years. He said he was stunned by papers which had been found in the national archive. Notes in these meetings, in the minutes, 1973 and 1974, advising two consecutive, different governments not to include any warning or information on the risk. This is all too familiar. Another National Cover up, further scandal from those closed decades. The we know whats best for you approach taken by the few to the many and, as has been said very often, by men to women. I do not rise to spread fear, but knowledge of sodium valproate. I stand here as record of its effectiveness, but i do not stand up without remembering the unborn children, the women and expectant parents for whom the risks are not widely enough known. The minister insisted the warnings had improved. Im not allowed, quite properly, to use props while im at the dispatch box, but i cannot resist pointing out to honourable members that the warning now on valproate packaging includes a very specific warning, which i will read, which says, warning for women and girls, this medicine can seriously harm an unborn baby. Always use effective contraception during treatment. If you are thinking about becoming pregnant, or you become pregnant, talk to your doctor straightaway. As to the demand for an enquiry and compensation, the minister said he wouldnt talk about those now, but there was to be a meeting between mps and his department. 0njune the 1ath, the Grenfell Tower fire in west london killed as many as 80 people. Four months on, the government says there are more than 200 households that wish to be rehoused. So far, 112 have accepted an offer of accommodation. Of those, 58 have moved into temporary housing, and 1a into permanent homes. Asking an urgent question on the issue, labours shadow housing minister accused the government of breaking a series of promises set out by ministers in the aftermath of the fire. Grenfell survivors have a deep mistrust of those in power, who failed to respect social Housing Residents for so long. When ministers make pledges but fail to act or fail to ensure others act, this simply fuels a wider lack of trust and confidence. The buck stops at the top. So, will the minister, four months on, today, now, secure the extra homes needed for all grenfell families, provide the Government Funds to do urgent remedial work and retrofit sprinklers, and set a date to come to this house and tell us that every other tower block in this country is not as safe as possible, as the minister said today, but safe for the residents live in it. First, let me say that i know that the right honourable gentleman cares as deeply about helping the survivors of this terrible tragedy as i do, as the entire government does. I really know that he cares. Therefore, id just say, it is a shame to see the right honourable gentleman trying to treat this as some kind of political point scoring opportunity. It is a real shame. The right honourable gentleman knows exactly what the situation is, not least because i updated a select Committee Just last week. His colleagues on the select committee, where we had an opportunity to go into many of these issues in detail, as you should in a select committee. Im sure the right honourable gentleman would have followed that. It is a shame to see this, because this is not what the victims of the tragedy want to see. Its not what the country wants to see. They want to see us all working together to do whatever we can. Several mps wanted to ask about the fire safety Work Councils now had to do on other tower blocks. The secretary of state has talked about extra flexibility is, probably extra borrowing for those councils, but hes ruled out any cash, any money from government to help fund this. Does he recognise that Many Councils may be in the position where they have to defer or cancel other essential Maintenance Work on other properties, putting the lives and health and safety of other residents at risk . Wont he reconsider this position and recognise this is a National Problem and government ought to share responsibility at least with local councils to deal with it. The minister said each councils situation was different, but other mps pressed him on the point. Escaping from a 20 floor tower block is exactly the same, whether thats in birmingham, manchester or london, and therefore leaving it to local decisions isnt good enough. Local authorities will face replacing panels and trying to retrofit sprinklers in a very short period of time. I dont see that thats manageable out of a normal essential works budget. The residents of my 24 tower blocks in gateshead really do express their deep sympathy for the occupants of gre nfell towers, the bereaved and the traumatised. But they also are looking for peace of mind. Their buildings are not clad the same way as Grenfell Tower, but they do live in blocks which had no sprinkler systems, and many of them with single stairwells. But they have to live there, whether they are elderly, infirm, disabled or vulnerable. They are looking for peace of mind from this government, from this secretary of state, and i am looking for it now. In that case, the honourable gentleman should be reassured that his council, like others, is one of those that has received the expert advice, has been asked to work with us in checking all buildings locally, whether they are Public Sector or the private sector, and where they need further support and advice from us, of course that is available, but also they have been reminded, like the others, of the extensive Enforcement Powers that they have. Sajid javid. You are watching thursday in parliament with me, you are watching thursday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. Dont forget, you can find any of this weeks programmes on the bbc iplayer. A former conservative minister has strongly attacked the governments decision to abstain in a commons vote on universal credit, describing it as the road to tyranny. Sir edward leigh accused ministers of ignoring the will of parliament, and warned a future Labour Government would be able to behave in the same way. The decision to tell conservative mps not to take part in the vote follows other high profile debates, on tuition fees and the Public Sector pay cap, where the same tactic was used. At the end of the universal credit debate, labour forced a vote on its motion, which it won by 299 0, but that result isnt binding on the government. It may be in the future that there is a minority Labour Government. They may produce policies which we think are deeply contrary to our personal liberties. We may muster a majority in parliament against it. What happens then if a future Labour Government says, im sorry, you set the precedent, this is only an expression of opinion, were going to ignore parliament. Frankly, the road to tyranny is paved by executives ignoring parliament. So i do urge my right honourable friend to listen to parliament. I believe the secretary of state should come back and make a statement, and it should be a statement full of meat. Parliament does matter, because if we as conservatives live by the sword now, our conservative values in the future might die by the sword. For the leader of the commons, they insisted that no precedent was being set. This government is very clearly listening to parliament, and has very clearly taken action as a result of concerns raised in this house and, thirdly, ive also given an assurance that dwp ministers will come back to this chamber to update members across the house on progress with rolling out universal credit. Last night went well, didnt it . What an anti democratic shambles, an utter embarrassment for this house. Just when you thought that this government couldnt show or demonstrate more contempt for the democratic arrangements of this house, theyve gone into that lift and taken us down another couple of levels. I dont know whats going to be next. It might be that theyll refuse to answer questions from the dispatch box. Maybe theyll even try to abolish all of these inconvenient voting opposition parties. They might even do the country a favour and abolish themselves. The leader of the house has to get a grip, and the vacuous nonsense has to stop. Labour thought a minister should come to the commons following the universal credit vote. This is where we make the law. The honourable member for gainsborough was right when he said this is not a school debating chamber. You made it very clear, mr speaker, that the government should come to the house because a motion was passed to pause the roll out of universal credit. It took a week for them to end the charges on their helpline for universal credit. This is a disorganised government, disrespectful to the house. Andrea leadsom pointed out that the government was not bound by the vote. I would like to assure all members across the house that the government is listening and has been listening. I think, as my right honourable friend, the secretary of state for the dwp said yesterday, and was reiterated by the Prime Minister in pmqs, the dwp as a result of issues raised in this house have looked again at charges for those using the dwp helpline, and have agreed that those charges should be stopped. That is direct action as a result of concerns raised right across this house. Andrea leadsom. Now the chancellor, Phillip Hammond has asked the police to look into whether the british banking groups, hsbc and Standard Charter are linked to a Corruption Scandal in south africa. The labour former cabinet minister lord hain raised concerns that they may have unwittingly been used to launder money. Can i thank the chancellor for ensuring that the financial conduct authority, and the Serious Fraud office and the National Crime agency investigate hsbc, Standard Charter banks and also can i add, baroda bank, each of which expert south african whistle blowers have told they must have been conduits for the corrupt proceeds of money stolen from their taxpayers and laundered through dubai and hong kong. In my letter of the 25th of september to the chancellor, i supplied for investigation 27 names and personal identification numbers including president jacob zuma, 11 members of his family, 11 members of his close friends, the gupta family and five associates, with 1a entities linked to the guptas and suspected of being set up for the purposes of transnationally laundering of an estimated £400 million or 7 billion rand of their illicit proceeds. Will he ensure that those banks together with the european banks about which i have similarly written to Commission President juncker, to track down the laundered money, return it to the south african treasury and supply evidence to its officials to enable the prosecution of all those connected with such corruption . Here, here. We are grateful to the noble lord for the persistence which he has shown in this issue and bringing it to the attention of the chancellor and actually international attention. The uk has some of the toughest anti Money Laundering laws in the world. We have been at the forefront of introducing them, whether it was the criminal finances act this year, the fourth anti Money Laundering directive here. We realise that london is the largest Financial Centre is a target, which can be used for these purposes, but we are determined to root it out. That is the reason why we are provided with information as the noble lord correctly wrote to the chancellor and is setting up that detail, the chancellor took immediate action in referring that to the relevant authorities to ensure that they can pursue it and thatjustice is done and seen to be done. It will not do for the government to suggest that it has got its eye firmly on the ball. At last, we are getting some response, my lords, but it is quite clear that in fact, a number of british banks have got very clear and significant interests in south africa and it is important now that action is taken to make sure that these banks are clear of this corruption, or if not, that action is taken against them and i do urge the noble lord, the minister, to reinforce what he said today elsewhere. It will not do britains reputation any good at all for us to be tardy on this very significant issue. Lord bates repeated that the government was taking the issue seriously because they recognise the consequences of not doing so for the city of london and the uk. Well, later in the lords, a conservative peer accused the government of giving europe mixed messages on its brexit objectives. Lady mcintosh, a former mep said the uks eu partners were bemused and confused about the starts of ministers, adding every sector is crying out for certainty. 0ur European Partners are bemused and confused. The messages coming from the government are mixed, depending on the audience. The complexity of disentangling ourselves from the administrative arrangements spanning 40 years is immense. Every sector is crying out for certainty. We owe it to the people of britain, clarity, certainty and a smooth transition to future opportunities and challenges. No transition means either a deal has been agreed by the end of march 2019, ready for immediate implementation, and there is no one who considers that possible, or we leave via the cliff edge like lemmings, save that lemmings appear to be agreed upon their hopeless course of action whilst, in our case, many will be carried over, dragged by the crowd against our wishes. The question refers to transition, but at present no deal also remains a possibility at the end of transition. I believe it is now time for us to face reality and abandon that rhetoric. In spite of the fact that i voted to leave, and i still feel very strongly that that is the right decision, i also feel that we cannot do it in this way. We have a cabinet supposedly ignoring all concept of group responsibility, of ministerial responsibility, and its not for me from an un whipped party to lecture the tory party on discipline, but somebody should. Any suggestion of walking away from these talks for the United Kingdom would bring about a National Catastrophe that anyone who seriously cares for our National Interest could never, ever contemplate. It seems to me that the government has been clear. What its looking for is a bespoke agreement, not an existing agreement, on as wide ranging and frictionless a trade agreement as can be negotiated. In her florence speech, the Prime Minister made a constructive offer on all aspects of stage one. If the eu now refuse to proceed to discussing our future relationship, i believe that they are acting in bad faith and, indeed, inconsistently with article 50. We would be justified in saying to monsieur barnier, we hear the clock ticking. For the government, lady goldie was confident that an implementation period could be agreed, to build a bridge between the old and new arrangements. It makes sense for there to be only one set of changes for both businesses and individuals, and thats why i think the implementation period should be based on the existing structure of eu rules and regulations and, during that time, the uk and eu would continue to have access to one anothers markets on current terms, and the uk would take part in existing security measures. Any implementation period should be a strictly time limited period. It should be determined by the length of time needed to implement the new processes and the systems for our future relationship. As the Prime Minister set out, as of today, these considerations point to an implementation period of around two years. Lady goldie. And staying with brexit, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling has dismissed concerns that flights could be grounded after brexit. Mr grayling said it would be very foolish for anyone to stop the current arrangements from continuing, as he was pressed on the impact for aviation if there was a no deal brexit. The chancellor, Phillip Hammond had said it is theoretically conceivable that all flights between the eu and the uk could be suspended on the day britain leaves. What european destinations will want to turn away planeloads of spending british tourists . Here, here. Well, mr speaker, my honourable friend makes a very good point. For those who have any concerns about 2019, theyjust have to ask the question, how many hotels in spain would be empty if the Spanish Government chooses not to continue arrangements and that is why, mr speaker, we will continue to make Good Progress towards satisfactory arrangements for the future. The nine freedoms of the air guaranteed under the european common aviation area have enabled the growth of low cost air travel with average leisure fares to europe falling by a third since 1993. We have already seen easyjet hedging against a no deal scenario, but what assessment has been made of the implications of the uk falling back on the Chicago Convention . What would that mean for the future of uk airlines, uk airports and uk consumers affordable flights . Of course, what she needs to remember, mrspeaker, is that aviation regulations operate at a global level, at a pan european level, where there is an open skies agreement and there is a national level, at bilateral level and i have worked very carefully with the airlines and with all those involved and i am absolutely certain, mrspeaker, that not only will aviation continue, post 2019, but that everyone will want aviation to continue post 2019. The European Competition law would no longer apply after brexit, how would he propose to allocate airport slots, by auctioning or in some other way . Well, of course, the big question around the expansion of Heathrow Airport particularly and the slots, that will be a matter for the governments to both negotiate, and i happen to believe that right at the top of our priority list for the allocation of slots, something we have committed to and something we have said about the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport is that we reserve slots for regional productivity. Can he tell us how many staff there are in the department for transport with expertise of negotiating aviation deals and how many are working on deals as we speak . Good question. Well, i have a big team that is experienced in dealing with these things, because across the world, mr speaker, we have bilateral arrangements with countries in all different continents. So i have an experienced team working on this right now and we are pursuing the necessary successful arrangements that we will need for flights to countries around the world and there is nothing but good and constructive discussion between us and those countries in making sure there is no interruption in flights. The secretary of state may be in denial, but the chancellor has finally confessed to the fact that it is conceivable that if there is no deal, with brexit, flights between the uk and eu might well be grounded isnt it time that the government got its finger out and delivered the reassurances that the aviation sector so badly needs . Here, here. Well, mr speaker, i am surprised that the honourable gentleman as an experienced lawyer did not read the whole of what the chancellor said, because the chancellor said that wasnt going to happen and therefore he wasnt going to spend a lot of money preparing for it. Now, the actual reality, mr speaker is that we are doing lots of preparatory work for all eventualities but the reason the chancellor made the point that he did is that he said it was not going to happen. And that is it from me for now, but dojoin me on friday night at 11 for a round up of the week here at westminster when i will be talking to two parliamentary experts to find out what has happened to the eu withdrawal bill and what to expect when it finally gets to the commons. But for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. Hello there. It was pretty grey for many on thursday. Wet weather as well. Heavy showers and rain lasting through the evening and through the night. Not great for driving. There is a squeeze in the isobars around low pressure bringing heavy rain through thursday and overnight. Some gales with this. This is storm brian, which was named during the day on thursday. That looks like the next set of autumnal gales. But for friday, it starts grey and gloomy. Fog in Northern Ireland and york and further north. Low cloud and hill fog with remnants of low pressure further south. But it is an improving as the day wears on. Increasing amounts of dry and bright weather and even sunshine until late on. That is until this next area of low pressure comes in bringing rain to Northern Ireland, wales, and the south west. And the strengthening wind. Despite the fresh air, it will be pleasant due to the brightness in the afternoon. But a grey start. Through the evening, rain rattling east on strengthening winds. The game might be dry, west ham, brighton. The rains not too far away though. It will rattle through quickly through the night due to storm brian. Gales, severe gales, quite widely in southern and western areas. For some south eastern areas, the first gales of the season. 40 50mph inland. 60, perhaps, locally, 70 around the coast. With the wet ground, that could bring down trees and disruption. Very large waves indeed. That is because this storm coincides with spring tides as well. So, some dangerously large waves around the coast to be avoided. So, it does look like it will be a bit of a feature as it goes across the uk. Southern areas especially. Strong and gusty winds further west, eventually getting into Northern Ireland and south west scotland. As well as that, wet weather. Ahead of that, despite the wind, dry and bright weather on saturday and in eastern areas. Temperatures getting to about 16 degrees. It will be the wettest weather in the way, especially with these showers. Saturday night, low pressure pulling away. A westerly wind driving them east. Another showery day going into sunday. Again, eastern areas are best for brighter weather. Clearly, there are warnings out. And do stay up to date with those warnings. Theyre on the website. Welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. Im duncan golestani. Our top stories by air, land and sea experts say the worlds pollution crisis is linked to more than one in six deaths across the globe. Disease and malnutrition threaten Rohingya Refugees as they flee myanmar. Weve a special report from the border as 10,000 people pour into bangladesh in the last 24 hours. Tears come to my eyes sometimes, but you just do what you can. Barack 0bama gets back on the campaign trail and calls for an end to the politics of division. Also in the programme californians go through the motions of a major earthquake and test their ability to survive