Its about 2 30am. Now on bbc news tuesday in parliament. Hello there and welcome to tuesday in parliament, where mps returned from their easter break and approved plans for a virtual house of commons. We have a twofold duty of leadership as members of this house. One is to show that we are following the rules that apply to everybody else, and the other is to lead by example and show we are getting on with our essential work. For anything other than a very short period of time, while technical difficulties are sorted out, its absolutely unacceptable that the proceedings of this house are not broadcast. And questions for scotlands first minister about the supply of protective equipment for medical staff. If anybody ever has me standing up in this chamber during this pandemic and saying we have resolved the issue of ppe, you should really have a go at me, then. But first, deserted, empty, almost eerie streets of our towns and cities look and feel very different as million stay at home to try and curb the spread of coronavirus. New rules on social distancing are being enforced to stop large gatherings and make sure the public stays two metres apart from people who are not part of their household. With the easter extended break over it was a new look of house of commons for mps too. Big screens have been put in place for members to take part through video link from home. But first, a move to a Virtual Chamber had to be approved with the handful of mps who are physically there. From tomrrow, the house agrees these motions will resume oral questions, statements and questions virtually. While the new Digital Parliament may not be perfect, members may lunch for into fine perorations, only to be muted or snatched away altogether by itinerant internet connection. We must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If its the case, we cannot do ourjob properly because people are limited in their contributions. Mr speaker, the same rules applies to us as to everybody else. Thats the whole point of what we are trying to do and therefore facilitating working remotely by trying to ensure social distancing within this house. He reassured mps any changes would be temporary. In 1349, when the black death affected this country, parliament could not sit and did not sit. The session was cancelled. Thanks to modern technology, even i have moved on form 1349, and i am glad to say that we can see fit to carry out these fundamental constitutional functions. For the time being, mps will not deal with issues that need a vote but there was concern about what would happen when they did. Because weve got to make sure that any voting process is secure. We have already seen rogue that e mails, going about apparently from the department of health suggesting from the department of health that they want herd immunity. We have to be very careful in terms of how we vote. The operation of the virtual comments will be expanded over time. As for voting. No decision has been taken, we want to check that that is secure and that is the key for every member worried that this house when they are voting that is the person who they say they are. Most look at that very seriously and that will be completely checked before we do something that would not be secure. On a more light hearted, she wanted to know about the commons dress code for those working from home. Clearly this dress code will only apply to the top half, unless of course. Unless of course if the leader of the house, in which case i know that sometimes he likes to be horizontal, so in fact the dress code will apply to the top half and the bottom half. This is not going to be perfect. There are going to be glitches, there are going to be problems with this. Weve all seen our internet go down, i have had problems whenever a playstation is cranked up in the next door room. I have a feeling that my ability to see whats going on in the meetings have been conducting is not quite as easy as one would hope it would be. When the lack of supplementary, the lack of ability to come back in, lack of spontaneity to know that you can only come in on a question if you have been drawn on itself on a shuffle, that you for days before means that we are not going to be able to represent our constituents in the way that we would ideally want to do, but this is better than nothing. And the leader said quite rightly that we must not let the perfect be enemy of the good. We have a duty to be here, we have a responsibility to hold government to account and we must do that and make sure that we give our people and our country a vision that we will get out of this dark tunnel, that there is light at the end of the tunnel that things will go back, probably to a different normality, but that things will return and we will get our country functioning and working again, and moving in the right direction. Ian paisley. And after that debate mps approved the new working arrangements allowing for a virtual house of commons to start work on wednesday. Now, mps have been given a warning that there could be a bloodbath for the uks pubs and restaurants unless the government extends Coronavirus Support for the hospitality industry. Several high Street Restaurant chains have already called on the chancellor to extend the current three month rent holiday. Appearing before the treasury committee, the head of the trade and uk hospitality told the mps they were the canary in the coalmine for the british economy, and without more help, a third of firms could potentially go under. And we know hospitality is most severely affected and we know that it will be the longest affected because it will be one of the last to come out of lockdown. Even the phrase return to work with to put a lot of pressure on business. Weak social distancing restrictions in place, we know that businesses will only be able to open at 30 to 50 of their normal revenue. I think with the key is making sure that while we work with government to maintain social distancing in our premises we have that ongoing support, and there will be a continuation of the furlough scheme. Those businesses that are either required to remain closed for longer beyond june if thats the case, or those businesses that are only able to open at half of volumes. She said the grant for the sector should be extended and current areas lifted. We have a debt enforcement moratorium but there will be legislation to back that up so that they can be a positive rent process otherwise there will be all for nothing because businesses will not be able to stand back up while we help the support. But a few pubs in constituency are required to pay full rent by the landlord and regularly building up huge debts by the end of it when they will be able to pay off. What specifically would you like to see . Would you like to see the rent cancelled and cut back . From the lender point of view and their income as well. If you rely on landlords and lessees to sort it out individually, it will be a bloodbath come june. We have the next months of rent that becomes due. You need to have that protected space, we would recommend that as a matter of urgency the government extends that lease forfeiture moratorium and also extend it to be a general debt enforcement moratorium, because of not being able to pay rent in march a large number of companies and hospitality already face statutory demands and already seeing the first threats of winding up petitions being waved around, and number of landlords have reached very quickly for legal resolution. So the government does need to act very quickly on this one. She was supported by a fellow witness. I would just like to echo what kate just set about rent. That is the one area we have heard big problems where landlords and tenants have not been able to come to agreement on whats going on, people cannot access the buildings, the stuff to pay rent, and who is right and who is wrong, no one seems to know. Some sort of guidance and Financial Support into that specific area would be very much appreciated. If we get the kind of intervention that we are talking about for rents and rental processes to take the unpaid rent and add it onto the end of the lease or loan rather than facing a mounting debt when you come out of this, then i have every optimism that we will be able to return relatively quickly with almost full strength in the sector. But if you dont get the intervention in rent, we are forced to remain closed until christmas, i think you can put a third of the sector at risk. Without warning ringing in their ears they heard from an economist and one of the authors of a report that suggested a phase system for easing the lockdown. The lockdown itself is not only having an Economic Impact, thatsjustifying in some respects to bring the virus under control. But longer the lockdown goes on its likely that the Economic Impact in economic terms will be called nonlinear. The longer it goes down, the greater Economic Cost and the more firms and more jobs that will be impacted by the length of the lockdown. So what we proposed is a traffic light approach to ending the lockdown. Red, amber, green. Reflecting the fact that one needs to have a gradual, predictable process to exit, and needs to keep the virus under control while revitalizing the economy. He said easing lockdown by age groups or those are areas with low levels of infection would not necessarily help the economy. At the end of the day, unlocking Economic Activity in sectors makes a lot more sense, and if you do it in a gradual and predictable way where the medical side is aligned at the beginning, and you can keep the virus under control, you can address the economic factors. Nicola sturgeon faced questions about her handling of the crisis and ppe for medical and care staff a few weeks ago. The Scottish Government conceded there was difficulties in an e mail to get in touch with problems. Jean freeman said that his e mails are monitored by ministers so that we can act on them straightaway. This weekend in intensive care doctor glasgow said that nine days after e mailing he still had not had a response. He said in scotland there were no visors and staff are reusing single issue visors, additionally contaminated with covid 19. This is something that is simply scotland. Every minute of the day we make sure we are able to give confidence about the supplies of these items of the which is now added to the future. We that many lives have been lost her care homes and they are still facing a shortage of ppe. I ask again, what is the first minister possibly advice to those care workers who find themselves on shift in scotland doesnt care homes tonight without the ppe that they need . If he ever hears me, if anybody ever hears me standing up in this chamber during this pandemic saying we have resolved the issue of ppe you should really have a go at me then. Because that would demonstrate a level of complacency that i will never want to do in handling this. We are trying as hard as possible to take a belt and braces approach to this while putting a safety net in place. If any care home worker feels they dont have or they need to have somewhere to go. Im not trying to pass response ability to anybody. This is a National Endeavour and care home providers have a responsibility to their staff to make sure that they have these supplies and i certainly hope and expect that all of them are doing that. Can the first minister explain what over half of the Testing Capacity is being unused at the moment, while were still testing a much lower percentage of our population than most European Countries and when she believes a test, trace, isolate strategy will be in place . As we start to lift some of the most stringent restrictions in place right now i dont know exactly when that will be but as we start to do that we should be under no illusion where we are facing a period where we are doing this in different ways. Social distancing will be part of that for a while but testing will also be a part of that as well. Since 2010 committed members of the uk military have been entitled to a daily operational allowance of £29 when their deployed to specific operations and demanding conflicts. The first minister considers such a proposal for front line nhs and care staff to give an extra £29 a date reward for their service during this pandemic . I will certainly consider any suggestions like that. We will absolutely certainly want to make sure that in a variety of different ways we are recognise the contribution to health and care staff have made but recognise and rewarding that. You are watching tuesday in parliament with me alicia mccarthy. Dont forget you can follow me on twitter. Parliament is due to look very different starting from wednesday but in the lords there were already signs of what is to come. When a new peer takes a seat in the house, there is a bit of dressing up. They arrive wearing the full ceremonial robes. The three of them a process in, there is some bowing and the new peer takes the oath. But the introductions to lord grimstone and lord greenhalgh were a socially distant affair. I, lord brimstone, do swear by almighty god that i will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen elizabeth, her heirs and successors according to law. So help me god. If you look closely, you will see red cards with white text marking out where people can sit in the chamber in line with social distancing rules. I, Stephen Greenhalgh do swear by almighty god that i will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen elizabeth, her heirs and successors according to law. So help me god. Lord greenhalgh taking his seat in the lords. Like the commons, the lords is also to try out remote working. It is using a different system in the hope that the two chambers can see what works best. My lords, when you think of the problems of connecting about 780 members of varying degrees of technical ability, who are distributed around the country, who cant be visited to be given help, with little time for testing, using off the shelf technology, it is not, you can see, a trivial problem. He said the solution would be questions and some debates would take place virtually with debates on legislation being held in the chamber. We have seen a wholly new and innovative way of working, to meet the needs of parliament, to pass legislation and continue with our democratic role. It is important that that continues. It is a work in progress to a certain extent. Those of us who have been participating in practices for various bits of virtual activity later in the day know that it wont go smoothly totally on the first day, but i am sure it will quite quickly. A labour former cabinet minister said some part of the new arrangements would worry peers and the public. The one that causes most concern is the fact that the virtual proceedings wont be broadcast on that until two weeks time at least it will not be possible for the public to observe what is going on it which is a breach of all the precedents in terms of parliamentary proceedings and i think is a matter of very great concern. Could the chief whip tell us what the governments intentions are in respect of the publication and broadcast of the virtual proceedings . Would the chief whip agree with me that for anything other than a very short period of time whilst technical difficulties are sorted, it is absolutely unacceptable that the proceedings of this house are not broadcast . A peer who is a professor of nursing said it was important for lords to do theirjob responsibly. At the end of the previous session i was quite distressed when some members of this house felt that closing early and looking to the future is not necessarily the best thing, and i said at that time that we were at the beginning of a Public Health crisis, that we couldnt imagine, and i think in the last three weeks, our imagination has become a reality. And the fact is that we will be modelling to the rest of society that we are trying to do ourjob, role, responsibility, in the best way we can. Lady watkins there. After that short debate, peers moved to the new system straightaway, running a a0 minute question time online away from the broadcasters, cameras and microphones. The head of the foreign office, simon mcdonald, said the government took a political decision not to take part in an eu previously, he also told the Foreign Affairs committee that britain is travelling abroad have been helped to travel back to the uk. Why, oh why, oh why are we not involved in eu procurement . We left the European Union on the 315t ofjanuary. No, we had every right to take part. We were invited to take part. Apparently we missed the e mails or forgot the e mails or didnt ask for e mails. Five of the meetings we didnt attend but lots of the other meetings we did attend. It is not about leaving the European Union. All i can say is that it is a matter of fact that we have not taken part. Maybe i can ask sir simon, what was the advice on it or was it a political decision . It was a political decision. Ministers were briefed about what was available, what was on offer and the decision is known. Later, so simon offered a correction saying it was not a political decision. He was also asked about returning britons from overseas. Yes, we acknowledge there have been problems. One reason for that is that this is a crisis that has hit every work simultaneously and i admit that at the beginning, particularly our call centres were not as we would wish them to be. This was a feature of the foreign secretarys evidence session on the 19th of march. It was then the focus of a concerted effort. It took us a couple of weeks to get it right and i suspect the comments that you have received mostly from people who are trying to get in touch during that fortnight, but there were real problems and many calls were not getting through and so people could be hanging on the phone for a long time, but since the 30th of march, our pick up rate has been consistently at 98 or better in the foreign secretary mentioned a figure of up toi million people. Now we think that numbers overseas in the middle of march were higher than that, nearer to 1. 5 million people. Since then, 1. 3 million have come home by commercial means and a lot of that was facilitated by the network, by and blasted siders and high commissioners in the network in touch with airlines, encouraging them to remain open, to keep routes open and indeed to increase the number of flights and so our high commissioner in australia had a particular success with one airline who increased their capacity en route from australia by 2000 seats. Our high commissioner in islamabad, with pia, has arranged extra flights which brought 7500 people from pakistan. The commercial route, i think, it was the right place to start but has now come as you know, been supplemented by chartered flights. So, the latest figure on chartered returns is 12,124 british nationals on 64 flights from 20 countries and that programme will continue for several more weeks. Simon, im sure everybody on the committee would want to thank all the valiant efforts that everyone has made but i would have to say, on behalf of a great number of mps about that there has been a phenomenal sense of frustration, anger, distress, every negative feeling that they could possibly be and an awful lot of people have felt abandoned by the government and they have seen people in the same hotel as them, from other nationalities, being repatriated. So, who makes that decision that we are not going to repatriate, we are going to rely on commercial flights first . That was a decision by the government and i recognise what you say and im sorry that your constituents and the constituents of fellow mps have been in that position but i hope that over time, that it has improved and that most of what youre talking about was from three to six weeks ago and that latterly, the has improved. Because we have been listening. We have been changing and we have reinforced our call centres in order to improve connectivity with people in trouble. And that is it from me for now but i will be back with you on wednesday with the First Virtual setting of the house of commons when the foreign secretary, dominic raab will fill in for borisjohnson on pmqs. But for now, from me, goodbye. Hello there. Tuesday was another sunny but windy day for many parts of the country. There was some cloud for a while, actually, across cornwall, the channel islands, gave a couple millimetres of rain, and then in the sunshine along the west coast of wales, south coast of england, temperatures reached 21 celsius. And we had a lovely sunset across the southern parts of england, helped by a bit of high cloud thats coming in from continental europe. Still actually a lot of wet weather to come in the mediterranean, but our weather is dominated by that area of High Pressure over scandinavia. Not as many isobars on the chart for wednesday, the winds wont be quite as strong. But with a bit of a breeze overnight, these are the temperatures we are starting off with on wednesday morning. And, again, with lighter winds in the scottish glens, there may well be some frost around here. There may well be some mist and a low cloud affecting the southern uplands, onto the pennines and the welsh hills, but, again, that wont last long at all, it soon gets blown away. Lots of sunshine on wednesday, a little bit hazy at times perhaps across more southern parts of the uk. But the winds wont to be quite a strong, it may well be a degree or two warmer. Still a touch cooler along those north sea coasts, but as you head further west across the uk, those temperatures widely 20 21 degrees for england and wales. As we move into thursday, again, some mist and some low cloud to clear away early in the morning, same sort of areas. Again, lots of sunshine around, that higher cloud is drifting a little bit further north by this stage. The winds will be much lighter though on wednesday, everywhere. It will feel warmer as well. The temperatures will probably peek at maybe 25 degrees somewhere in oxfordshire, berkshire or hampshire. Thats probably going to be the peak of the temperatures on thursday. Mind you, fridays not far behind, again, a few mist and fog patches to clear away very quickly in the morning. And then light winds again, lots of sunshine around too, and those temperatures still making 22 23 degrees across southern parts of england and wales. A little bit cooler across northern scotland, bit of a northerly breeze here. The weather is starting to change a bit over the weekend. Pressure is going to be much lower, especially across scandinavia, but also across the uk as well, pressure is falling away. A very weak weather front coming into more northern parts of the uk. That may bring a few showers across scotland, mainly northern scotland, perhaps into northern ireland. On the whole, it is going to be dry over the weekend. A bit more cloud coming down the eastern side of the uk, temperatures beginning to slip away a little, highs of 19 or 20. This is bbc news, my names mike embley, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world President Trump brushes off oppostion to his temporary immigration ban, he insists its to protect americans from the current economic crisis. By pausing immigration we will help put unemployed Americans First in line forjobs as america reopens. The uk govenment remains under pressure for failing to supply enough personal protective equipment, to hospitals and care homes. The World Food Programme issues a stark warning about the millions in regions of conflict, who could starve, because of covid 19. And, leading artists respond to the dedication of health workers, with striking portraits of some frontline