Now on bbc news, its the week in parliament. Hello again and welcome to the week in parliament. Tighter covid rules for england but the Health Secretary aims for the skies. The so called operation moonshot to deploy mass testing will allow people to lead more normal lives and reduce the need for social distancing. A startling admission about Boris Johnsons brexit plan. I would say to my honourable friend that, yes, this does break International Law in a very specific and limited way. And a legendary composer warns that the curtain could fall on live theatre for good. There comes a point now where we really cant go on much more. We are bumping up against our banks and all these things. All that to come and more. But first. The Prime Minister says it is not another National Lockdown but from monday social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in england. The strengthening of the rules with exemptions for schools and workplaces, weddings and funerals, follows a dramatic rise in the number of cases of coronavirus. Borisjohnson used a downing street News Conference to confirm the changes. In england, from monday, we are introducing the rule of six. The Scottish Government has introduced a similar rule. But as the Prime Minister talked of operation moonshot his hope of mass testing within months, mps warned their constituents cant get tested now. The Health Secretary was forced to make a second commons statement in three days. Mr speaker, these are not measures we take lightly. I understand that for many, it will mean changing long awaited plans or missing out on precious moments with loved ones. But this sacrifice is vital to control the virus for the long term and save lives. And i vow that we will not keep these rules in place for any longer than we have to. New technology offered new hope. We are developing new types of tests which are simple, quick and scalable. They use swabs or saliva, they can be turned around and 90 minutes or even 20 minutes. The so called operation monshot to deploy mass testing will allow people to lead more normal lives and reduce the need for social distancing. I have long been pushing him for a strategic mass testing regime from the start. The who told us to test, test, test. But we are all fed up of undelivered promises and world beating. Mass testing is too important to become another failed project. It is all well and good him talking about moonshot and the Prime Minister telling us we will be tested every morning, even better would be simply delivering the extra testing that is needed now, not just headline figures. Already, some experts have described this mass testing strategy as being fundamentally flawed. Does the secretary of state think the Prime Minister is gambling on something that experts feel cannot be delivered . Both the snp and the labour Party Opposite are making a huge mistake in opposing mass testing. It is an incredibly important tool in our arsenal. This is a urgent matter and needs a answer before the autumn bites, the autumn, winter bites. Will he commit by the end of the month to make sure that anybody that has symptoms of covid 19 can get a test at reasonable place close to their home . That is of course my goal. My goal is for that to happen immediately. Strict lockdown restrictions have been tightened further in bolton, said to have the highest rate in england. The lockdown in bolton will devastate the Hospitality Industry and the physical and Emotional Health of my constituents. Can i ask the secretary of state to ensure that my constituents can be tested in bolton as soon as soon as they require it . And as matt hancock reached for the moon on mass testing, a conservative mp brought him back down to earth. Now on tuesday evening, hundreds of cars from across the country, and i mean hundreds from across the country, descended on telford, on the testing sites as directed by the booking system. Tests quickly ran out, roads were blocked, people who had travelled from as far away as cornwall and london were turned away and my constituents were no longer able to access test in the area and they in turn were sent elsewhere. I didnt know about this example in telford although i had heard of people telling me that theres been a lot of people directed to telford in this instance. The broad problem is something were absolutely looking at and i will go and take away the particular example and find out exactly what glitch caused it. At Prime Ministers questions, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, had his own examples of the difficulty of getting a test. Yesterday, i spoke to a mum who lives in london. She has a four year old daughter who had a very High Temperature yesterday morning. She phoned iii and was told to get a test. She tried to book it was told the nearest was romford at nine oclock in the morning. She was told that there were no tests there. She was then told hayward, halfway to brighton. On exploration, no tests were there either. By lunch time, the mum was told the nearest place was telford, or inverness. The Prime Minister said the uk had done more tests than any other country in europe, thanks to the efforts of nhs test and trace. This is an organisation that is working heroically to contain the spread of this disease. And it requires the public to trust this organisation and to participate. Yesterday, the right honourable gentleman said it was on the verge of collapse. I think those were ill chosen words. I think he now regrets those words and i think you should reflect and he should take them back. Mr speaker, hundreds of families are trying to get a test in the last week and they cant get one. I do acknowledge the number of tests overall but this is basic stuff. People who have covid symptoms are very anxious about themselves, their children and their family and what to do. They cannot go to work, they cannot send their children to school. It matters. If they cannot get a test, the Prime Minister needs to take responsibility. Dont talk about the future, address this problem now. Borisjohnson said the government would do more. And the world we want, we want to move to as fast as possible is a world where everybody can take an enabling test at the beginning of the day, an antigen test to identify whether or not we have the virus or not, like a pregnancy test, so that we know whether we are able to live our lives as normally as possible. That is the vision the Health Secretary and others have been sketching out over the last few days. That is where we intend to get to. We all want test, trace and isolate to succeed. Ive offered my support but the Prime Minister is ignoring a problem. If people are told to go hundreds of miles away, something is wrong. It has gotten worse. Everybody here knows it because they have constituents telling them. Theres been a massive increase in the number of people who need or want tests and particularly people who dont have symptoms. And we need to, i hope he agrees, we need to prioritise people such as nhs front line staff, our care workers who urgently need those tests. He accused the labour leader of undermining confidence in the system. Whats undermining confidence is families being told go hundreds of miles away and they cant get a test. That is undermining confidence. Ijust want him to fix it. Tell us what the solution is. We will all muck in and try to make it make it better and tell our constituents. But the Prime Minister said growing demand was a result of the success of test and trace. It is hard work. Its hard work. Its a big job and theyre doing a fantasticjob. I really think what they would like to hear is some praise and encouragement and support from the honourable gentlemen. Mr speaker, why cant we just hear from the Prime Minister an honest answer . If he stood at the despatch box and said i know something has gone wrong in the last couple of weeks, weve been getting hundreds of examples of people being sent all over the place are being told there are no test. I have looked into it and worked out what the problem is, heres my plan, people might be reassured. But as ever, he pretends the problem isnt there. Borisjohnson said his government was working flat out and taking the tough decisions. The covid restrictions are being tightened in scotland too. As in england, the number of people allowed to meet up has been cut to six. The Scottish Government has also launched its own Contact Tracing app for mobile phones. The first minister told msps the pandemic was accelerating. It is worth stressing this position is not totally unexpected. In recent weeks we have reopened significant parts of our economy, though many will be operating below full capacity, approximately 96 of businesses in scotland are now trading again. Children have gone back to school. We have eased many social, leisure and travel restrictions. People are going out more and travelling more, and all of that is positive. But as we release ourselves from lockdown we also release the virus and we give them more opportunities to spread and so it was always likely we would see a rise in cases. The sobering news here in scotland and across the rest of the uk over the next few days has been a reality check for anyone who thought the pandemic was on its way out. It is clear that while we can still hope for further progress to be made over the rest of this year, there will be no swift return to normality. When we started to come out of lockdown, we made clear our view that there must be the agility to pause to go back as well as to go forward in this process. And also that there must be transparency in the science to back this up. The science tells us that across much of scotland, the virus is on the rise again and that there is no room for complacency. So we support the first ministers cautionary approach today. Some unusually consensual exchanges at holyrood. Now we may have left the European Union but brexit is very much still with us as the clock ticks towards the end of the transition period on december 31. The resumption of trade talks in london was marked by a ratcheting up of the rhetoric with borisjohnson warning that the uk could walk away without a deal if there isnt an agreement by the middle of october. The Prime Ministers plan for trade within the uk after brexit involves re writing parts of the oven ready divorce deal on Northern Ireland and state aid a deal he agreed last year. A minister admitted this internal market bill breaks International Law and the governments top lawyer, sirjonathan jones, resigned. Borisjohnsons predecessor was among the critics. The United Kingdom government signed the Withdrawal Agreement with the Northern Ireland protocol. This parliament voted that Withdrawal Agreement into uk legislation. The government is now changing the operation of that agreement. Given that, how can the government reassure future International Partners that the uk can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs . I thank my right honourable friend for the question. We have worked with the eu in the spirit of good faith and i know we continue to ensure we do implement the arrangements which uphold the fundamental principles behind the protocol, and our focus continues to be to secure the protocol and the joint committee through trade agreements. But the Withdrawal Agreement pros and cons are not like any of the treaty. It was written on the assumption that subsequent agreements could be reached between us and the eu on the detail. That is the entire purpose of the specialised joint committee. And we continue to believe that its possible but as a responsible government we cannot allow businesses to not have certainty for january. The secretary of state has said that he is committed to the rule of law. Does he recognise that the adherence to the rule of law is not negotiable . Against that background, will he assure us that nothing proposed in this legislation does or potentially might breach International Legal obligations or International Legal arrangements that we have entered into . I would say to my honourable friend that, yes, this does break International Law in a very specific and limited way. We are taking the powers of this through eu supply contact of direct effect required by article four and a certain very tightly defined circumstances, and there are clear precedents for the uk in a certain very tightly defined circumstances and there are clear precedents forthe uk and indeed other countries needing to consider their international obligations. And i would say to members here, many of whom who would have been in this house when we passed the finance act in 2013. An argument disputed by george osborne, who was chancellor at the time. Labour said Boris Johnson had agreed the Northern Ireland element of the divorce deal. The Prime Minister personally renegotiated it, campaigned on on it, legislative for it, and ratified an international treaty. With these latest moves some fear that the Prime Minister is once again using Northern Ireland as a political football to suit his wider political means. Northern irelands mps queued up to add their criticism. Meanwhile, the welsh and Scottish Governments say the bill is a power grab, allowing the uk government to make decisions that should be theirs to make. At Prime Ministers questions, the snp leader seized on brandon lewiss comments. This legislation breaks International Law, but it also breaks domestic law. The Prime Ministerand his friends are parcel of rogues, are creating a rogue state one where the rule of law does not apply. Why does the Prime Minister think that he and his friends are above the law . Well, on the contrary, this uk internal market bill is about protecting jobs, protecting growth, ensuring the fluidity and safety of our uk internal market and prosperity throughout the United Kingdom, and it should be welcomed, i believe, in scotland, in Northern Ireland, in wales and throughout the whole country. A liberal democrat mp pursued the argument in a slightly different way. The Prime Minister may be aware that there are some scottish nationalists who want scotland to follow the example of catalonia and to have a wildcard independence referendum. Now, i oppose that because it would be illegal. If the Prime Minister thinks it is acceptable for his government to ignore International Law, on what basis would he oppose it . Myjob is to uphold the integrity of the uk, but also to protect the Northern IrishPeace Process and the good friday agreement. And to do that, we need a legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations of the protocol which could lead to a border down the irish sea in a way that i believe and i think Members Around the house believe would be prejudicial to the interests of the good friday agreement and prejudicial to the interests of peace in our country, and that has to be our priority. But the European Commission has threatened the government with legal action. Deal or no deal, there will be changes when the transition period ends and the uk no longer has to follow eu trade rules. A customs expert told mps he fears lorries could be turned around at calais and sent back to the uk. Witnesses to a Commons Committee warned many businesses werent ready and there werent enough customs agents to process the paperwork. The biggest absolute fear is that a truck is sent to calais and they send it back. I mean, that is a genuine fear, is that if the paperwork is validated whilst the vehicle is crossing the channel and that validation fails because the transit documents are not correctly authenticated or there arent any documents or the entry is not lodged in france, its coming back. And i just think that the fear is that the daily mail headline of we sent our goods to europe and they sent them back is looming. Its a matter of time, really. The tools are there to kind of get it right. The car park in kent is because we have not got it right. Its of our making, if youd like, is that if something arrives in kent and it is not prepared, its because we have not prepared it. Its nothing to do with the eu. Its this is our problem to solve and it has always been our problem to solve. Some of the fundamental things that need to change and some of the things that need to be invested in are simply not happening fast enough. And if we go back to the primary point, which is about customs intermediaries and having the number of customs intermediaries, customs agents available to deal with the increased number of declarations some 200 million additional declarations on top of the 50 million that are done for the rest of the world at the moment we are a long way off being able to recruit those customs agents. Richard burnett. Time now for a brief look at what else has been going in the world of politics. Labour has tried to force the government to implement the initial recommendations of the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire three years ago, in which 72 people died. Labours amendment to the fire safety bill failed but a minister repeated the governments pledge to implement the findings of the inquiry. It is the governments intention, and we have already stated the principal intention to follow through on the phase one recommendations, and we are not resigning from that one jot. The chief executive of hmrc, her majestys revenue and customs, has said up to 5. 5 billion pounds could be wrongly paid out in the governments furlough scheme. Jim harra told mps on the Public Accounts Committee that the error and fraud rate could be between 5 and 10 of spending on the scheme. In terms of actual cash numbers, what does 5 to 7 now look at in terms of the money that youve paid out . I believe the last figures that we put out said that we had paid £37 billion on the scheme . I think thats correct . So it would be 5 to 10 of that figure would be the assumption on which we are basing our sorry, 35. 4 billion was the last amount that we said that we had paid out on this scheme. A bill denying parole to killers who refuse to disclose the location of their victims remains has cleared its final parliamentary hurdle. The prisoners disclosure of information about victims bill is known as helens law after helen mccourt, whose killer ian simms was freed from jail without disclosing where her body was. The bill means parole boards will have to take into account an offenders non disclosure of information about a victims remains, or the identity of child victims in indecent images. As the lords passed the bill, there was a tribute to helen mccourts mother, marie. She has worked tirelessly and with great dignity notjust on her own behalf, but on behalf of of the small number of families who find themselves in this most awful, awful position. Three quarters of black people dont believe their human rights are protected as well as those of white people thats according to a survey commissioned by the human rights committee. The study also suggested that 65 didnt think the nhs treated them equally and 85 felt the police werent fair. The reports authors appeared before the committee to expand on theirfindings. A really interesting interview was a young woman from kent who ended up getting stop and searched. And after this whole debacle, she actually spoke to a few friends who were not black themselves, and they spoke about the situation and it seemed as though it was not a normality for any of her friends and to the point where they were quite shocked and in fear of her own safety. And she expressed that, you know, while theres a high number of black while there is not a high number of black females who get stopped and searched, she sort of acknowledged that its a very familiar process within the black community. Now, theres never any shortage of political theatre at westminster, but the curtain has come down almost everywhere else because of the coronavirus pandemic. The composer and theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber says the performing arts are now at the point of no return. He wants the government to announce a date when theatres can fully re open. Injuly, lord lloyd webber organised a concert at the london palladium to see if it would be possible to re open theatres safely and at full capacity. But he told mps on the Culture Committee that theatres couldnt operate with social distancing. It would be impossible. The margins, say, for a big musical are very, very, very tight. I mean, if you were to take say you were talking a really big musical, like, say, the disney frozen that is coming hopefully coming in to drury lane next year, say they were operating at £500,000 a week. The biggest slice of that, of course, goes in vat, and i would reckon disney would be very lucky to make their investment back on that show for perhaps two, three years. At least. And thats really at full capacity. The margins are incredibly, incredibly tight. Its just been absolutely devastating and catastrophic for the theatre industry and for the live sector. Over 300,000 people are employed by theatre alone. You can more than double that when you actually look at whats going on for the live sector and that doesnt even count all the ancillary services that support what we do. Thats over a Million People employed by the sector. That is huge, and that, of course, makes us uniquely vulnerable as a country in dealing with the pandemic, because the arts, performing arts, live theatre, are not only one of our biggest assets and one of the strongest experts and things that bring in tourism over 34 Million People come to this country every year, largely driven by the opportunity to see theatre and if we dont actually do something to address that and we dont find a means of actually being able to open theatres and venues again, then a Million People will still be without work. Its been a very long time and many of them have had no support. Its a really bad, catastrophic time, and we need to find a way out of it. There comes a point now where we really cannot go on much more. I mean, we are bumping up against our banks covenants and all of these things. Because, as i say, theatre is an incredibly, incredibly labour intensive business. In many ways, putting on a show now is almost a labour of love. Lord lloyd webber. All elections to Public Office have been cancelled for the duration of the pandemic in a blow to psephologists and political anora ks alike. The house of lords has been making sure that one controversial election for new hereditary peers doesnt slip through the net. 92 seats in the lords are reserved for hereditaries under changes introduced in 1999, and only hereditary peers can vote for a replacement when one of their number dies or retires. The next vote was due to take place this month but peers have postponed it until next year. It sparked a wider discussion about how peers can stop the chamber from increasing in size after borisjohnson created 36 new peers injuly. At the moment, no elections to any Public Office are being held. Elections were postponed in may, no by elections to local councils are being held, and i think if we if the only place which was Holding Elections at this point was a hereditary peers by election in the house of lords, it would make us look even more foolish if thats possible than we look today. Live peerages actually go back to the reign of henry iii, in 12 something or other, and there have been regular live peerages. They used to end the live peerages by chopping off the heads of the lords when they fell from favour. This is no longer recommended procedure. Well, thats one way to address the question of the size of the Upper Chamber and that was the week in parliament. Thank you for watching. Alicia mccarthy will have the latest from the commons and the lords on monday night at 11 oclock on bbc parliament. But from me, david cornock, bye for now. Hello. The weekend is upon us and the weather is looking a bit mixed. Its something of a north south split. Across much of england and wales, weve got a fairly decent weekend ahead. Its looking largely dry, pretty warm as well with some sunshine on offer. But for scotland and Northern Ireland, a different story. Here, things will be turning increasingly windy, particularly through saturday, and therell be some rain at times. Heaviest for the north west of scotland on sunday. But for the here and now, weve got this weak weather front thats been slipping its way slowly south of the past 2a hours or so. But a more active weather front waiting out in the atlantic. That is what will bring the rain to the north west. But for saturday morning, we just got a band of cloud on this weak weather front pushing south. Could be the odd spot of drizzle for southern england first thing, but that clears away. Much of the uk looking dry with some long spells of sunshine, but there will be more of those blustery showers for scotland and for Northern Ireland, with more persistant rain arriving by the evening. Temperatures on saturday will move to about 13 21 degrees. As we move through saturday overnight, thats where we see that more persistent rain arriving across Northern Ireland and scotland too, really heavy around those hills in the west in particular. Whereas further south, you should stay dry overnight. And for all of us, it is going to be mild. For most places, temperatures are in the low teens to start sunday morning. Now, through the day on sunday, High Pressure sits to the south, keeping things settled, but weve got this weather front, this warm front which is going to be quite slow moving through the day. So on sunday, more heavy persistent rain which could lead to some flooding and disruption across the Northern Highlands in particular, weve got a weather warning for that. Elsewhere, a lot of dry weather. The best of the sunshine towards the south and east, when temperatures will be up to about 2k degrees on sunday. That warming trend is going to continue into the working week too. Moving on to monday, as that warm front pushes its way further north, it is pulling in this warmer airfrom spain and france. It is going to feel quite warm for many of us on monday with long spells of sunshine. Could be more cloud and perhaps the odd shower along some North Western part of the uk. Most places are avoiding it. For the sunshine, those temperatures in the southeast, 29, possibly 30 degrees. Many of us in the low to mid 20s on monday. Stays warm to the middle part of the week, gradually things turn a bit cooler and fresher as we head towards the end of the coming week. Bye bye. Hello and welcome to bbc news. I am maryam moshiri. Up to half a Million People have been ordered to leave their homes in the american state of oregon as wildfires continue to spread across the countrys west coast with around 3000 firefighters tackling nearly a hundred blazes. The state governor, kate brown has said that dozens of people are missing. The fires have killed at least 4 people in oregon and 11 in other west coast states. From portland our north america correspondent aleem maqbool