Transcripts For BBCNEWS Tuesday In Parliament 20240713

They are going to use the Withdrawal Agreement bill as with the whole Brexit Strategy to sell our workers. The government has absolutely no intention of lowering standards on workers rights, to suggest otherwise is scaremongering. And peers find out how the nhs deals with older people with complex illnesses. When we use a drug which is license of the moment, we are often poisoning the dosage that we are using. But first, the day had started with things, for once, looking reasonably clear. The snp and the lib dems were backing the idea of a december general election, even if there was a bit of disagreement between them and the government on the exact date. And by mid morning the labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn was out with supporters saying he too wanted a chance to go the public. But in the politics of 2019 nothing is ever simple. To secure a december general election the government had to push a bill through parliament in double quick time. Ministers had hoped a short bill would pass the commons injust a day. But when debating that timetable a labour mp reckoned shed smelt a rat. When looking at it, it showed what the government was trying to do in simple terms was rig todays debate. Why, well because, she said the timetable as proposed wouldnt allow mps to make changes or amendments to the general election bill. Which she argued was bad for this bill and set a dangerous precedent. To do that late at night without any consultation with the opposition, and in the hope that nobody notices is frankly, and i hope the leader of the house understands this concept, not cricket. It is to admit that rather than when the case for this bill as it stands the executive wants no challenge to it at all, and that whether you think this is a good bill or not should be a concern for all of us in this house. Because if we let this light on this it will become Standard Practice in the future. Well, in a vote later mps backed Stella Creasy meaning they were now free to put down amendments to the bill calling for a december general election opening the door to attempts to extend the vote to 16 and 17 year olds, and eu nationals. After all that it was finally time to move on to the bill itself. Borisjohnson blamed Opposition Mps for as he put it delaying brexit. I think that this delay is becoming seriously damaging to the national interest. Because families cant plan, businesses cant plan, as the climate of uncertainty is not only corroding trust in politics but is beginning to hold everybody back from making vital everyday decisions. My right honourable friend was one of those who delayed briggs in march by voting against departure than on the deal in negotiation. He did to get a majority of 30 for his deal in principle last week, and if the subsequent time of this house had been devoted to the committee and report stage of the house following this, we would be well on our way to leaving in the middle of november. So, can i respect or say to my right honourable friend, can he find a slightly better basis for fighting the selection we get to the campaign . Im afraid my right honourable friend. I voted for the withdrawal bill and i hope that he will vote for this bill today to get brexit done. Borisjohnson said it was time to put the case to the people, something the snp and the lib dems now favoured. There is only one blockage is Still Standing in the way of democracy. Theres only one party that refuses to trust the judgement of the people, theres only one party that still is running scared of an election, and that is the main party of opposition. Who failing in their defining function. Dogs bark. We have not heard him. Dogs bark, cows moo, oppositions are meant to campaign for elections except this one. Theres only one way now to move this country forward and to have that debate and that is to get brexit done, and theres only one way to get brexit done, in the face of this unrelenting parliamentary obstructionism. This endless, willful, fingers crossed, not me, guv, refusal to deliver on the mandate of the people and that is to refresh this parliament and give the people a choice. Labour backed the general election because we want to this country to be rid of these reckless and destructive conservative governments. A government that caused more of our children to be living in poverty, more pensioners in poverty, and more people to be in work poverty. But not all labour mps agreed. I shall be voting against an early election today, and encourage as many as my colleagues as possible to defy the threats to do so because the reality is that the uncertainty of an outcome of a general election certainly does not take no deal off the table. I hope my friend willjoin in this campaign to defeat this government to bring in a government that will end injustice, poverty and inequality in this country. Ive table to partly man bent for votes of 16 at the table. And what he agree with me that the Prime Minister once talked with the United Kingdom, and wales and scotland 16 year olds not have the right to vote in elections and a referendum and that should be afforded to all of the United Kingdom 16 year olds. I think my friend for that intervention and im coming onto that in a moment, but absolutely do agree with him that all 16 year olds should have the right to vote because it seems to be fundamental to our democracy it is young peoples future after all what we debate in this election. The Prime Minister has failed to his promise to be out of the European Union do or die on the 31st of october, but it may be that date parliament dissolves and therefore will mark the end of his tenure in office. The honourable member says that the s p has tried to obstruct or brexit, well, mr speaker, guilty as charged. Hear, hear im grateful that the European Union have granted us an extension until the end of january, we must use that time wisely. But i say to our friends in europe, please remember to stand by scotland in our hour of need, and as our dear friend in the European Parliament alan smith said, keep a light on for scotland. Because we are coming. The lib dem leader said shed back an amendment to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote if it was selected. Look at the situation in scotland. Look at the success of the votes at 16 in scotland. Where you see on polling day, at four oclock in the afternoon, young people from fifth year and sixth year leaving school, walking down the road and going en masse to the polling station. Its a sight to behold and a positive step, i have to say there were many conservative members sceptical of this who have come around to the idea ofjust seeing it as a successful change. Before mps could find out whether amendments to allow votes for 16 and 17 year olds and eu nationals with settled status had been allowed, there was nearly two hours of backbench debate on the principle of holding a december election. Many but by no means all of the backbenchers felt that the Current Parliament was parlaysed. There is a basic principle here which i am very, very happy to explain to the good folks on the isle of wight, and that is what we have tried repeatedly to push a realistic and sensible brexit deal through. Please let me finish the sentence. We tried three times the summer and tried again with the Prime Ministers very good withdrawal deal, i did not like some elements of the Northern Ireland elements granted, but we have to move on and make the best of what we can. We have not got that because it has not been supported by this house. So we need to go back to the people and that has not been supported by this house. And thats why i said a few moments ago that his leader is the first in history that has not led and has not been deposed. We need to do that because we need to have a general election. To both lead and claiming to lean and also pose, it was him and members of the erg that voted down the previous Prime Ministers deal, so the idea somehow that he is blameless in this process of stopping brexit is not the case at all. I think the Prime Minister voted for two out of four which is more than most members opposite. I voted for four out of four, which is. And i will keep voting for any sensible brexit with a withdrawal deal that comes our way. There are members of this house who will not vote ever for any Withdrawal Agreement whatsoever, no matter how wonderful it is because they do not want to leave the European Union. And the reality is that people out there know this and they know that we now have a parliament that is actually a bit of a shambles. That is what he being told to anyone that goes on and talks to the public out there, whatever their views so however they voted in the referendum, they think this parliament is a bit of a shambles, and even today they are seeing that a simple vote on whether we have a general election or not is now being turned into a debate when very, very little time on whether we want to add 16 year olds, 17 year olds to the register and whether we want to give European Union citizens the right to vote. And i would say now that even if i supported that 100 i do not think mr speaker that this debate at this time is the time to be changing who was on the voting register. In the reality is that its very difficult for that to happen before a general election on december the 9th or december the 12th. I think the honourable lady forgiving way. Would she think that people outside might see it as a little disingenuous of some in this house to say they want to vote for an election, but at the same time to be adding amendments such as votes for children, votes for eu nationals . I thank the honourable member, a lot of people again who has seen how Parliament Works over the last few months and seen that now wrecking amendments and delaying amendments, and procrastination is not part and parcel of how we work in this chamber. We are going to dishonestly use the votes in a general election not to be about the fact that people in my constituency cannot send their kids to school five days a week, or not about whether the nhs is not serving them or whether they are really happy about something that the opposition side might say, we are going to use it for political expediency . It can we alljust stop pretending that its anything else . I would like to thank the honourable lady for giving way and making a passionate and amusing speech, and i believe the argument for a further referendum. How long would it take this split to legislate for that referendum and how long have the eu given us in this current extension . The honest answer, i would like to have this kind of honesty, im not entirely sure but, you know, does the honourable lady understand that we tried to get the biggest piece of legislation through this house in three days . So im fairly certain that the wit of the people in this room could certainly organise for a referendum. Even to be on the same day as the general election. At the end of that debate mps approved the bills second reading without a formal division and moved on to more detailed debate. After much speculation the Deputy Speaker didnt select amendments on whether 16 and 17 year olds should get the vote or on whether to allow eu nationals to take part in the poll. But he did select an amendment from labour shifting the date of the general election from the governments choice of december the 12th to december the 9th. But when it came to the vote mps rejected the idea. Order the ayes to the right, 295. The noes to the left, 315. The bill now goes off to the house of lords, where those attempts to enfranchise 16 and 17 year olds and eu nationals may be discussed on wednesday. Youre watching tuesday in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. Now, to other westminster news. Labour have accused ministers of planning to weaken workers rights after brexit. It follows the leak of an official document suggesting the uk could diverge significantly from the eu in the future. The business secretary came to the commons to answer an urgent question and to deny the claims. The uk has a long and proud tradition of leading the way in workers rights and for setting the highest standards. The government has been clear and consistent that the decision to leave the eu does not change that in any way whatsoever. The government has absolutely no intention of lowering standards on workers rights. To suggest otherwise is scaremongering and is untrue. So, mr speaker, in direct answer to the honourable ladys question, i can absolutely assure her and this house that the government will not lower standards on workers rights when we leave the eu. On the contrary, it is the ambition of this government to make the United Kingdom the best place to work and to grow a business. The leaked memos as reported in the Financial Times earlier this week are both worrying and utterly predictable. They shine a light on the true politics of this conservative government and how they are going to use the Withdrawal Agreement bill as with their whole Brexit Strategy to sell out workers. This government has proposed a brexit deal that will help their pals the millionaires, the speculators, the Hedge Fund Managers over working people. And they can shout at me all they want but this is the truth. How can we trust a Prime Minister who said, and i quote, they will keep the highest possible standards on workers rights and yet the leaks show that the government views such commitments as and again im quoting inappropriate and that negotiators had successfully resisted them being in part of the legally binding part of the agreement with the eu . Make no mistake, the Prime Ministers deal is disastrous for workers rights. Scottish workers in industry now face the spectre of tory trade deals lowering environmental and other standards. The tories can never be trusted with workers rights. Their record speaks for itself, and anyone who believes otherwise is sorely diluted. Diluded. But Andrea Leadsom said the uk offered more paid holidays, a minimum wage, and better parental rights. Weve given adoption leave. Weve given employees the rights to request flexible working. In every single area, the uk far exceeds the European Union. Its absolute rubbish, total rubbish, to say that the eu is the only protector of uk workers rights. The secretary of state parts of words ring hollow simply because the workers rights were in the legally binding withdrawl agreement. And the other reason for which her reassurances ring hollow is that the logic of leaving the eu for looking for new trade deals will come at the price of what another country works and the desire for a us trade deal as a political trophy would mean that workers rights could end up being traded away to get that us trade deal. Frankly, mr speaker, of all people i find the honourable gentlemens intervention quite shameful. He will be very aware of the governments proud record of enhancing workers rights, and of course he will also be very well aware as an ex conservative minister of the fact that this government is committed to ensuring not only the protection of workers but also the enhancement of their rights, and it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Anyone who has travelled in the European Union will know that conditions of employment in the uk are higher. Particularly on contracts of employment, as well as the other points that my right honourable friend has made. Does she share, therefore, my suspicion that this new queue is not promoted for care for Employment Rights but more by the fact that we are facing possibly a general election . Andrea leadsom said she completely agreed. Now, if you feel brexit has added years to your life, then youll be interested in what a Lords Committee has been discussing. The science and Technology Committee had assembled a group of professors as part of its inquiry into the science of ageing. The Committee Chair got straight to the point. So, what is it about ageing that leads to all of these diseases . It probably kicks off with problems with the genetic material, the way that its replicated and packaged, then things go wrong in cells, the powerhouses the mitochondria the handling of protein and proteostasis goes wrong. Stem cells lose their function. They become disused and the whole systems comes down particularly with inflammation. But it wasnt all doom and gloom. We can intervene to prevent aspects of the ageing process. No single intervention catches everything but different interventions capture Different Things that go wrong. And if we do that in experimental atoms, we can prevent the diseases of ageing and they often have a much less unhealthy period at the end of their lives. She explained that ageing was a side effect. Its a failure of Natural Selection. Were living way beyond the ages we reached in our evolutionary past, and Natural Selection has never had a chance to make everything work properly for a 50 or 60 year old. Its a process of rather random things going wrong that has never been corrected during evolution. An independent peer wanted to explore how the nhs dealt with people who had more than one terminal condition, whats called multi morbidity. At what stage the multi morbidities begin to cause the deterioration of peoples day to day lives, and it doesnt sound like the nhs is very good at being ready for this. Historically the nhs has been designed or has evolved to deal with single problems and single organ systems and has evolved really to deal with episodic care. It is less good and less well designed and dealing with chronic care, and it is particularly poorly equipped of dealing with multiple problems affecting a single person. If you have six conditions, you will be probably taking two or three medications for each of those conditions. Those medications are often prescribed with insufficient attention being paid to what other specialists have said or what would be appropriate for those other conditions. So its very easy to end up on 15 or 20 medications, each of which have side effects, each of which interact with each other. Most of the patients i see now are on ten, 15, 23 drugs. That is a huge number of drugs to be taking let alone to rememberto take. And those drugs are used conventional doses that have been tested in younger populations with exclusion criteria for trials, so theyve been tested in people that dont have had multiple diseases. So when we use a drug at a dose which is licenced at the moment, we are often poisoning the elderly because of the dosing we are using. If you take 100 patients who are on a certain amount of drugs to 16 drugs, what would happen . If you look at the general population coming in the hospital, 6. 5 of all patients coming into hospitals are admitted because of adverse drug reactions. 15 of patients develop adverse drug reactions while in hospital. At this very moment in time, at least 8,000 beds in hospitals by those with adverse drug reactions. That is a huge burden and the cost which was come out of a report from nhs england commissioned by nhs england is 1. 6 billion added to the nhs. And if you look at the age profile of those developing adverse drug reactions, it is mostly the elderly on multiple drugs that are developing the adverse drug reactions. And hence come back to the issue of getting the right choice of drugs and the right dose in those patients to be able to prevent that. Are we envisaging that you get personalised medicine approach of a single poly pill that is tailored for particular needs . That is possible for the future whereby you can tailor the dose and the different drugs you require in a single poly pill. Technologies are already developing to be able to do that and formulate and produce those kind of medicines, even with a persons name on it as well. Those technologies are becoming available. Clearly there are some regulatory issues which need to be sorted out, and some of the pharmaceutical issues which need to be sorted out, but in the future that type of technology will be widely available so you can have that personalised poly pill with the dose that you require and the type of drug you require within that. Finally, theyve become a familiar site on the streets of big cities. But just how safe are electric scooters . Its against the law to ride them on public roads, cycle lanes and pavements and ministers are now reviewing the regulations. A conservative peer said that more than 1,000 incidents had been reported to the police. He said the review should look at the specification of electric scooters. To ensure that there are brakes, lights, stability in those scooters and additionally, will they look at putting in an age limit of16 orabove . The strand of the regulatory review that will be looking at micro mobility, which is what e scooters are, will be looking at vehicle requirements for user, helmets, age, insurance. It will be looking at whether they should be used on the roads and elsewhere and also the Service Provider requirements. Is the noble baroness, the minister, aware of the laws introduced in france whereby they had been banning e scooters from riding on pavements but also most importantly limiting the speed and wearing safety gear and banning e scooters altogether on country roads. I am indeed aware that the french are taking matters forward. They have a maximum speed limit of 20 kph. In barcelona, they have a maximum limit of 30 kph. Different countries are doing Different Things. For example, in france, the minimum age for riding one of these is eight. There you go. Lady vere, with the lords equivalent of a gallic shrug. And thats it from me for now but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another round up of the day in westminster as mps head for that december general election. But for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. The middle of the week across the uk is looking fairly quiet on the weather front. Once again, is looking fairly quiet on the weatherfront. Once again, a lot of bright if not sunny weather on the way for the majority of the uk, but not everywhere because in the south west of the country, different story here. It has been damp, its been raining for the last 2a hours my mostly on and off, like rain, thats exactly what were going to have on wednesday and you can see the clouds here, thats a weather front thats basically stuck, its kind of stalled across this part of the uk so for cornwall and devon, we got light outbreaks of rain, possibly pembrokeshire and the isle of wight and milder conditions, nine in the morning, whereas era skies have led to a frost at this stage in Northern England and scotland. You can see the blue colours out in the countryside as low as 3 or minus four degrees mirbat for most nowhere near as cold. Forecast for wednesday, penzance, plymouth, exeter, maybe the far south west of wales but for the rest of us, its a bright day with easterly winds, mostly easterly and light but noticeable and it will feel chilly, those temperatures ten in glasgow, ten or 11 those temperatures ten in glasgow, ten or11 in those temperatures ten in glasgow, ten or 11 in london. A little below parfor ten or 11 in london. A little below par for the ten or 11 in london. A little below parfor the time of ten or 11 in london. A little below par for the time of the year. Lets have a look and the forecast for wednesday night into thursday. Thursday, of course, is halloween and the weather front in the south west has made some progress into northern and eastern areas of the uk. With this progression also comes slightly milder air. Initially we all feel that milder air in south Western Areas of the uk, so this is the forecast for thursday and weve got light outbreaks of rain on thursday, only light in south Western Areas, and a lot of us will notice increasing amounts of cloud and spits and spots of rain, mist and cloud and spits and spots of rain, mistand murk cloud and spits and spots of rain, mist and murk in places, Spooky Halloween weather, that kind of thing. And those temperatures again around the 10 degrees mark and then around the 10 degrees mark and then a big change on the way into the weekend, day glo pressure basically parks itself across the uk. Stronger winds, heavy outbreaks of rain and multiple weather fronts heading winds, heavy outbreaks of rain and multiple weatherfronts heading our way. So the outlook from around about friday onwards is looking very u nsettled, about friday onwards is looking very unsettled, but quite often when low pressure arrives it often brings a slightly milder, windier weather. Bye bye. This is bbc news. A very warm welcome if youre watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. Im mike embley. Our top stories to try to break months of deadlock over brexit, the British Parliament finally votes, overwhelmingly, for a snap general election in december. 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