Now on bbc news, its time for a look back at the week in parliament. Hello there and welcome to the week in parliament. Coming up, the chancellor unveils more help forjobs and businesses hit by coronoavirus restrictions. With every restriction comes difficulty and that is why we are doing everything we can to strike that balance between saving lives and protecting livelihoods. But the opposition reckons the governments behind the curve. The winter economy plan series iii. You know but the twist is it didnt last the winter. It didnt do enough to help the economy, and it wasnt a plan. The labour leader says parts of england face prolonged agony. I really think the Prime Minister has crossed the rubicon here notjust with the miserly way that hes treated Greater Manchester but the grub it take it or leave it way these local deals are being done. He stands up and attacks the economic consequences of the measures that were obliged to take across some parts of the country when he wants to turn the lights out with a full National Lockdown. Also on this programme mps mark black history month. And, a former Commons Speaker joins the chorus of disapproval of a bill that would allow ministers to break international law. Never in my parliamentary experience have i witnessed such a collapse of the Peoples Trust in a government that promised so much and so quickly. But first the chancellor came to the commons to announce increased support for jobs and workers hit by tougher coronavirus restrictions. Many firms had complained theyd be better off being forced to close under the tier 3 measures rather than struggling on with few customers in the less restrictive tier 2. Rishi sunak said now thered a grant for businesses that were impacted but not shut. I am providing enough funding to give every Business Premises in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors a direct grant up to £2100 for every month tier 2 restrictions apply. He said thered be a more generous support scheme with employers paying less and staff having to work fewer hours before they qualified. First, under the original scheme, employees had to work for 33 of their normal hours. Now, we will ask them to work only 20 of those hours. Second, the employer contribution for the hours not worked will not be 33 as originally planned. Or even 20 as it is in the october furlough scheme. It will reduce to 5 . And thered be more support for the self employed with a doubling of the maximum grant available. And he concluded. Support for local authorities, support for the self employed, support for peoples jobs and incomes all on top of over £200 billion of support since march. This is our plan. A plan forjobs, for businesses, for the regions, for the economy, for the country, a plan to support the british people, and i commend the statement to the house. We had a patchwork of poor ideas rushed out at the last minute. This is becoming like a long running television show. The winter economy plan series iii but you know what the twist is . It didnt last the winter. It didnt do enough to help the economy. And it wasnt a plan. We have to get ahead of this crisis instead of always running to keep up. But rishi sunak said he wouldnt apologise for reacting to events and difficult choices had to be made. With every restriction comes difficulty and that is why we are doing everything that we can to strike that balance between saving lives, and protecting livelihoods. We in the opposition benches have called for more certainty and a plan because the evidence is we are not coming out of this Coronavirus Crisis anytime soon. The chancellor has not listened and he has not responded. What this country needs now more than anything else is leadership, clarity, confidence that the government is in control. Rather than this constant reaction patchwork with every hallmark of having being written on the back of a cigarette packet that we are getting from this government. But the chancellor did have one big fan. I would like to thank the myth, the man, the legend that is the right honourable friend for this life saving support for businesses in my patch. And ask if he will continue to review and react promptly to the ever changing situation in his characteristically charismatic way. Laughter. Mr speaker, i am very grateful to my honourable friend for his, i think, kind compliments. When hed recovered from all that, rishi sunak said he was sure the measures hed announced would make a difference to matt vickers constituents. Rishi sunaks announcement came on the back of a week when divisions over tackling coronavirus had been laid bare. Talks between ministers and the mayor of manchester, andy burnham, over putting the region into the toughest covid regulations broke down. Local officials had been arguing for at least £65 million in financial support. Andy burnham said people and businesses were struggling and further restrictions would increase poverty and hardship. Boris johnsons government had offered £60 million in support and at a downing street news conference, the prime minsiter confirmed that having failed to Reach Agreement tier 3 regulations would be imposed, meaning pubs and bars which dont serve meals would close and thered be additional restrictions on households mixing. Late on tuesday night the Health Secretary made a statement to mp5. In Greater Manchester, there have been more Coronavirus Infections already in october than in july, august and september combined. Mr speaker, i understand the impact of these measures, but we must take the decisions to save lives and ultimately livelihoods in Greater Manchester. This is about so much more than Greater Manchester. But people will watch tonight and say if the government is prepared to inflict this level of harm on its people in the middle of a pandemic in one part of the country, they will be prepared to do with the people in all parts of the country as well. And the result will be a winter of hardship for millions of people. The people of Greater Manchester tonight feel that they have been abandoned by this government. And that my constiuents in Edinburgh West and people up and down this country will be wondering if they will be abandoned next. Thank you. It is impossible to describe todays events without using un parliamentary language. But out of deference to you, i will settle for a complete shamble. The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing overand overagain in the hope that it will turn good. We have had three months of interventions from Greater Manchester. Which have yielded very little results indeed. I cannot help but fear that the medicine is worse than the disease. At Prime Ministers questions the labour leader called on the Prime Minister to stop bargaining with peoples lives and provide the support Greater Manchester needed. This is a Prime Minister that can pay £7,000 a day for consultants on track and trace, which is not working, can find £43 million for a garden bridge that was never built, but he cant find £5 million for the people of Greater Manchester. I really think a Prime Minister has crossed a rubricon here. Not just with the miserly way that he treated Greater Manchester, but the grubby, take it or leave it away ways these local deals are being done. Borisjohnson said £60 million from the government would be distributed through local boroughs as to Keir Starmers point. But i think it is the height of absurdity that he stands up and attacks the economic consequences of the measures that we are obliged to take across some parts of the country when he wants to turn the lights out with a full National Lockdown, taking kids. That was his policy last week, anyway, wasnt it . Does he confirm that it still has policy . Is that what he wants to do . A challenge keir starmer didnt reply to. The snps westminster leader wanted more help for workers. Yesterday, we saw his total disregard for the people of Greater Manchester, a tory attitude that people in scotland are all too familiar with. Millions of families struggling and they want to cut their income in the middle of a pandemic. It is clear that the Prime Minister has decided with the decision to let unemployment soar just like thatcher did in the 1980s. Mr speaker, i really must reject what the right honourable gentleman hasjust said. It bears no relation to the facts of the reality of what this government is going to support people across the country. Labour used a commons debate to call for more help for areas facing additional covid restrictions. The partys deputy leader said the original package offered to Greater Manchester was an insult. But things took a bad tempered turn when a conservative accused labour of playing political games. I know the honourable member will think this is a good crisis which the labour party should exploit, and i know she speaks for a lot of her front bench colleagues when she says that, you can just see it in the support, u turn, 0ppose approach. It characterises their hindsight heavy behaviour. But. Excuse me, that did the honourable lady just call me scum . Order from the front bench, we will not have remarks like that. Not under any circumstances, no matter how heartfelt it might be. Angela rayner jumped to herfeet, arguing Chris Clarkson had made an inacurate comment about labours front bench but she did later apologise. Finally on thursday, the equalities minister told mps that her report on the unequal impact of covid i9 had found that a range of factors made it more likely that people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to be affected and die from the virus. But. Part of the excess risk remains unexplained for some groups and further analysis for the potential risk factors is planned. What has emerged is that interventions across the entire population are most likely to disproportionately benefit ethnic minorities and are at least likely to attach damaging stigma. Whilst i welcome the government decision to make the recording of ethnicity as part of the death certificate process mandatory, collecting data is one part of what needs to be done. Now from coronavirus to brexit where the government faced an avalanche of criticism over its controversial internal market bill, which allows ministers to break international law. The legislation sets out rules for the operation of trade between england, scotland, wales and Northern Ireland after the end of the brexit transition period injanuary. But controversially allows the government to row back on parts of the brexit divorce deal agreed with the eu. In a lords debate the business minister set out the governments position. This bill will provide the certainty that businesses need to invest and create jobs. And it will accompany one of the biggest transfers of power in the history of devolution with hundreds of powers flowing from the eu to the devolved administrations at the end of the transition period. This bill will do all of this and preserve the internal market that has been an engine of growth and prosperity since the axe of union. But criticism came thick and fast. The archbishop of canterbury had already made his opposition clear in the morning newspapers. Explaining he was was worried about the impact on the good friday agreement. There are some who claim that me and my colleagues who wrote in the ft this morning are misinformed. But the letter, and this intervention followed the lead of those who have spent their lives seeking peace in ireland. Peace is surely something of which religious leaders should speak. An independent peer put down an amendment to show the level of opposition in the lords. So my lords, i know that i am not alone in finding it offensive that we are being asked by a minister, in parliament, to seek parliament authorisation to allow him to break the law deliberately and knowingly. My lords, saying it is only going to be done in a very specific and limited way is a total affaceation. In this bill, the Prime Minister has now managed to anger lawyers, evolved authorities, the eu, the churches, his own backbenches, and a majority of your lordships. He is really like a bathroom brawler, is he not, taking on all comers. Is it possible that they are right and that he is wrong . There was an occasional voice of support for the government. Most of the adverse comments were frankly sour grapes from remainers. That britain would lose its reputation by passing this bill is nonsense. But a former Commons Speaker disagreed. I was elected to parliament some 47 years ago. And i have witnessed nine Prime Ministers treading the steps of number 10 downing street. But never in my parliamentary experience have i witnessed such a collapse of the Peoples Trust in a government that promised so much and so quickly, and now is groping for desperate solutions to problems it said would not arise, or if they did, they could easily be resolved. And when it came to the vote, peers voted by a majority of 226, in favour of lord judges motion condemning the disputed provisions in the uk internal market bill. They have voted content, 395. Not content, 169. So, the contents have it. And that thumping defeat for the government sets the scene for a continued tussle between ministers and the lords over the internal market bill. Now, lets take a look at some other westminster news in brief. They were on and then they were off all week but when michael gove came to the commons to update mps on uk eu trade talks, it was the reaction of former Prime Minister theresa may that caught the sketch writers eye. Shed asked michael gove about access to security databases to help catch criminals in the event of no deal. There are many, many areas in which we can co operate more effectively to safeguard our borders outside the European Union than we ever could inside through a variety of methods and arrangements open to us, open to border force, and open to our security and intelligence services. We can intensify the security that we give to the british people. Mps rejected a call to extend Free School Meals for children in england over the holidays until easter next year. It followed a campaign by the footballer Marcus Rashford to fight child hunger. The striker says the problem is worsening as the covid crisis continues. A conservative reckoned there was a bigger picture. I spent eight years of my life working as a secondary School Teacher in which the overwhelming majority was at a head of year, working some of the most disadvantaged parts of london and of birmingham, seeing the impact of Child Poverty and child hunger but also the impact of not having a Stable Family and good role models as well as crime and drugs in a local community. I refuse, madam deputy speaker, to be lectured by members opposite who have not walked in my shoes and have not seen the things that i have had to witness in my career. So, i hope the honourable lady would reflect on those remarks and i will not be lectured by members of the front bench who simply havent worked in the schools ive worked nor seen the things ive seen. I refuse to be shouted down and treated in this manner tell that to the 5,500 children in my constituency of bradford west who are eligible for Free School Meals tell that to the Marcus Rashfords of this world who grew up in poverty tell me who grew up in poverty tell those on this side of the house whove experienced it first hand just what should be done about statues in public spaces of now controversial figures . In june, protesters in bristol toppled the statue of 17th century slave trader edward colston. One peer suggested putting up a few new faces. Research by campaigner Caroline Criado perez suggests that there are only 158 statues of women, and of those, 110 feature mystical or allegorical women, 46 depicts royals, and 1a show the virgin mary. Does the minister agree that rather than myths, princesses, or virgins, we should invest in a few statues that commemorate some of our great female innovators and role models such as dorothy hodgkin, ada lovelace, Jocelyn Bell Burnell . There are many to choose from and they would be a great addition to our landscape. The minister agreed there was plenty of room for women of extraordinary talent to be represented. Now, the equalities minister has told mps that teachers who tell pupils that White Privilege is a fact are breaking the law. Kemi badenoch made her comments in a debate marking black history month. Three petitions had called for it to be compulsory for schools in england to teach pupils about britains colonial past and its part in the slave trade. What we are against is the teaching of contested political ideas as if they are accepted fact. We dont do this with communism, we dont do this with socialism, we dont do it with capitalism. We do not want to see teachers teaching their white pupils about our White Privilege and inherited racial guilt. And let me be clear any school which teaches these elements of Critical Race Theory as fact of which promotes partisan political views such as defunding the police without offering a balanced treatment of opposing views is breaking the law. The petition signed by more than 350,000 people also called for the curriculum to be more inclusive of black, asian and minority ethnic history. One mp called for the government to set up a task force to diversify the school curriculum. We want all our kids, all our children, black and white, every single corner of this country to understand to better understand our history so our children have a true sense of belonging within British Culture and british history because at the moment, it doesnt reflect that. At the moment, history is taught to make one group of people feel inferior and anothergroup of people feel superior. And this has to stop. Could she just expand on which parts of the curriculum she believes make black children feel inferior . So, history needs to be de colonised. My honourable friend has already discussed how you can go through your whole of the gcse and not have reference to any black authors at all. You can go through history thinking that, you know, the people that were enslaved were not a part of the uprising. You can go through history and not understand the richness of africa. I went to visit a private secondary school in my constituency last week speaking to the year 11s about black history month, and they gave me a small goodie bag. And one of the badges in the goodie bag said, black 365 days. Im not only black in the month of october. Im black every day. And its important we celebrate the contribution of our black people all throughout the year. I believe that including more rather than less into our history books can only be enriching. It doesnt mean that we eradicate history but that we add to it to get a fuller picture of what life is and has been for more than just the white majority. Wera hobhouse. Back now to coronavirus. The Welsh Government confirmed a short, Sharp National lockdown until the 9th of november. People will be told to stay at home and pubs, restaurants, hotels and non essential shops must shut. Gatherings indoors and outdoors with people not in your household will be banned although primary and some secondary children will return to school after the half term. At first ministers questions, the welsh conservative leader questioned the evidence for the decision. First minister, the wales wide lockdown announcement yesterday has left many people across wales frustrated and disappointed that their freedoms will be curtailed, their ability to see their loved ones restricted, and their businesses told to close. He said the data didntjustify a full National Lockdown. According to Public Health waless latest data, in 20 of the 22 local authority areas, cases of covid 19 per 100,000 has gone down from week 41 to week a2. How can you justify a National Lockdown when figures in all but two areas are actually coming down . Well, its very easy indeed tojustify it because while the efforts that have been made by people in those local lockdown areas are succeeding, they cannot succeed far and fast enough to turn back the tide of coronavirus as it is currently accelerating across wales. But unless we take these actions, cases and hospital admissions will rise across wales, that there is compelling evidence for further interventions, and that unless we do so, 6,000 additional deaths will take place due to coronavirus over this winter. What more data does the member need before hes prepared to do what his duty should tell him he should do and to support the actions being taken to save the nhs and to save lives in wales . Mark drakeford. The government has faced cross party calls for pet theft to be made a specific criminal offence. Dogs and certain breeds of puppies can change hands for hundreds if not thousands of pounds. The debate was in response to several petitions signed by more than 250,000 people amid rising cases of dog theft. One mp described the crime as sickening and depraved. Making pet theft a specific offence as these petitions call for would elevate pet theft to a category two offence and empowerjudges to hand out prison sentences of up to two years. Sentences would represent something closer to justice and an effective deterrent against this disgusting crime. I would like to urge the government to rethink the current laws on sentencing for pet theft. It is a growing crime and i feel the law must be improved to reflect the seriousness of the crime and the impact on pet owners of having their pets stolen. In lockdown as the demand for pets has risen, so has the price for certain breeds of dogs and cats. Puppies and kittens are now big business and as the price of those pets increases, so do the potential rewards for criminals. The government really understands how important pets are to the families who care for them. The courts, she said, already take into account the Emotional Trauma of losing a pet. We dont think currently that the creation of a specific offence for pet theft with a two year custodial penalty would really help much at the moment. We do think that the way to go is to continue the discussions which i know the honourable gentleman is already undertaking on sentencing guidelines. To this end, the governments very willing to work with interested parties including the police and Animal Welfare organisations to bring this forward. Were keen to act in this area, and i look forward to taking this forward with members across the house. Victoria prentis, and thats it from me for now. The commons isnt sitting for the next few days but if youd like a Political Fix with a difference, Bbc Parliament will be showing the two general Election Results programmes from 197a. You can catch them on friday the 30th and saturday the 31st of october starting at 9am each morning. And if thats not enough on wednesday the 28th of october at 8pm, Bbc Parliament will be showing the debate continues, a bbc programme from 1950 about King George Vi re opening the Commons Chamber after the war time bombing. So, plenty to keep you occupied until we return with our daily round ups on monday the 2nd of november. But for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. Hello. Saturday brought some extremely wet and rather blustery weather for many parts of the uk. It was a particularly soggy end to the day in eastern and south eastern parts of england. Not quite as wet for most of us on sunday. Still some heavy showers around, some blustery winds, but some sunny spells in between. You can see the speckled shower clouds here pushing in on our earlier satellite image. And its this stripe of cloud here that brought the heavy and persistent rain for many during the first half of the weekend. That is now clearing away. Low pressure still very much driving the weather, so it is going to be another windy day and that wind coming in from the west will drive a fair few showers across parts of Northern Ireland, western scotland, the western side of england and wales, and quite a few i think blowing in across southern counties of england as well. Not as many showers across the north east of england or eastern scotland. And we will see some spells of sunshine. But its going to be windy for all of us. These are the average wind speeds. The gusts will be higher than that. We could see gusts of 50 mph or more in the most exposed places in western scotland, where the showers could well turn into a spell of more persistent rain through the afternoon. Temperatures 11 14 degrees, a fairly cool feel. And it stays rather cool and blustery as we head through sunday night and into the early hours of monday. As you can see, therell be further showers moving in from the west. Some clear gaps in between those downpours, and temperatures generally in a range between 5 8 degrees. Now, monday is another sunshine and showers day, but a bit of a shift in the focus of those showers. They will increasingly become focused across Northern Ireland, england and wales, whereas for scotland, i think things should start to turn a little bit drier and we will see some spells of sunshine. Not as windy by this stage, but temperatures still struggling a little bit between 11 14 degrees. It does stay unsettled, though, through the coming week. Low pressure taking up residence to the north west, a deep low out in the atlantic, so thatll drive strong winds and showers across the uk, some longer spells of rain at times. And it may well be that for the end of the week, this weather system brings some more persistent wet weather, so the outlook looks like this. There will be some heavy rain at times and some brisk winds, a very unsettled autumnal week on the way. Good morning welcome to breakfast with sally nugent and ben thompson. Our headlines today more pressure on the government as thousands of doctors back Marcus Rashfords campaign for free meals for children during the school holidays. The england strikers appealed for an end to online abuse over the issue, after mps were targetted on social media a backlash over welsh supermarkets being banned from selling non essential items during lockdown. The first minister says common sense should be applied. Good morning. Doing the double the devon way exeter chiefs round off a remarkable week, beating wasps to add the premiership title
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