Against coronavirus from next week, after regulators approved a vaccine in record quick time. The Prime Minister has acknowledged it will be a massive logistical exercise thatis massive logistical exercise that is of a benefit to before. Mans of dozes of the Pfizer Biontech fax info arrive in days. An exasperated election official in the us state of georgia pleads with President Trump to dial down the rhetoric levelled against his colleagues over the election result. Mrtrump is angry mr trump is angry that a second recount there has been no change to joe bidens recount there has been no change tojoe bidens victory. The french president who oversaw sweeping social reforms, Valery Giscard destaing, has died at the age of 94. His family say he died of complications linked to covid 19. It is about 2 30am in the
morning it is time now for wednesday in parliament. Hello again, and welcome to wednesday in parliament. As a vaccine is approved, the Prime Minister warns people shouldnt get their hopes up too soon. Its very, very good news, but it is by no means the end of the story. It is not the end of our National Struggle against coronavirus. A beauty firm tells a body image inquiry airbrushing is no more. We havent been distorting our images for years and years on dove, and that includes everything spots, bruises, marks, hairs. Also in this programme, some advice for hard times. In my day, summat bad happened, you stayed home, got drunk and bit on a shoe. I think thats quite a good metaphor for the times we live in. But first, Prime Ministers
questions with a difference. On the day britains medicines regulator approved a coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination, Party Leaders united to celebrate the good news. I know that the whole house will want to join me in welcoming the fantastic news that the mhra has formally authorised the Pfizer Vaccine for covid 19. It is the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get our economy moving again. This pandemic has caused so much grief and so much loss, but were now a big step closer to the end of the tunnel. And like the Prime Minister, can i express my thanks those of everyone on these benches and across the house to all the scientists whove worked on this and to everybody who has taken part in the trials . This morning, for the first time in months, people have woken up with a genuine sense of hope. The news of a vaccine approval is the news that weve all been waiting for. The focus at question time turned to the timetable for the roll out of the vaccine and who would get it first. There was also the question of whether it would be mandatory. Now, i believe that we should support the widest distribution and take up of safe and effective medicines. But does my right honourable friend agree with me that it should always be taken on a wholly voluntary basis by individuals and families . Absolutely, mr speaker. I strongly urge people to take up the vaccine, but it is no part of our culture or our ambition in this country to make vaccines mandatory. Thats not how we do things. The Prime Minister was keen to stress that people still needed to follow the rules, including those introduced for england in the face of opposition from more than 50 conservative mps in tuesday nights commons vote. I think it is very important at this stage for us all to recognise that this is unquestionably good news. Its very, very good news. But it is by no means the end of the story. It is not the end of our National Struggle against coronavirus. And that is why its very important that the package of moderate but tough measures that the house voted for last night, the tiering system, is followed across the country because thats how we will continue to beat the virus. He said people shouldnt build up their hopes about an instant roll out. The labour leader was worried about Public Confidence in the vaccine. As the Prime Minister knows, weve got the highest regulatory and medical Safety Standards in the world. But its really important we do Everything Possible to counter dangerous, frankly life threatening disinformation about vaccines. We on this side have called for legislation to be introduced to clamp down on this, with financial penalties for companies that fail to act. So will the Prime Minister work with us on this and bring forward emergency legislation in the coming days, which i think the whole
house would support . Well, mr speaker, we are of course working to tackle all kinds of disinformation across the internet, and hes right to single out the anti vaxxers and those who i think are totally wrong in their approach. And hes right to encourage the take up of vaccines across the country. And we will be publishing the paper very shortly, mr speaker, on online harms designed to tackle the very disinformation that he speaks of. That consensual mood didnt last long as sir keir starmer turned to the collapse of arcadia and debenhams. Thats put 25,000 jobs at risk and obviously caused huge anxiety many families at the worst possible time and threatens to rip the heart out of many high streets in our towns and cities. So can the Prime Minister tell the house what is he going to do now to protect the jobs and the pensions of all those affected by these closures . Mr speaker, were looking at what we can do to protect all the jobs that are being lost currently across the country, and my right honourable friend, the secretary of state, has written to the Insolvency Service over the conduct of the arcadia directors. Borisjohnson said there was also a fund to help high streets. But i must say i think it is a bit much that the right honourable gentleman should attack the economic consequences of the fight against coronavirus when last night, neither he nor his troops could be bothered to vote for the measures, sensible, balanced measures, that would open up the economy and allow businesses to trade, mr speaker. How can he attack the economic consequences of our battle against coronavirus when he wont even support measures to open up the economy . Mr speaker, when i abstain, i come to the house and explain. When the Prime Minister abstains, he runs away to afghanistan and gives the taxpayer a £20,000 bill. A reference to a vote on Heathrow AirportBoris Johnson once missed. Keir starmer said he should do more to help the 200,000 shop workers whove lost theirjobs this year. As well as providing emergency support, will the Prime Minister work with us, with the trade unions and the sector to finally bring forward a comprehensive plan to save retail jobs and to provide the sector with the much greater support it needs through this crisis . These are the people, Prime Minister, with realjobs, this family are facing the sack. They really need to hear from you. The Prime Minister said the government was supporting everyjob before again turning defence into attack. When it came to protecting the people of this country from coronavirus, at this critical moment, he told his troops to abstain, mr speaker captain hindsight is rising rapidly up the ranks and has become general indecision,
mr speaker thats whats happening, im afraid, to the right honourable gentleman. He dithers. We get on with the job. The snp leader called for more help for self employed people whove fallen through the Covid Support gap. Were now a little over three weeks from christmas. These people need help. Will the Prime Minister commit to looking again at the support package for the excluded to ensure no one, that no one is left behind . I know there are hard to reach people, but theyre also supported with the increases in universal credit and many other means of support that are currently on offer, mr speaker. And i think when you look at the overall level of support this government has given to people across this country, it compares favourably with any other government around the world. Borisjohnson. Later, the Health Secretary gave mps more details of how
the newly approved vaccine will be deployed. Hes made dozens of statements as the pandemic has unfolded, but this was the most upbeat. This is a monumental step forward. Its no longer if theres going be a vaccine, its when. In our battle against the virus, help is on its way. Today is a triumph for all those who believe in science, a triumph for ingenuity, a triumph for humanity and i want to thank everyone whos played their part in this achievement. The team at pfizer, the team of scientists at biontech, the volunteers who stepped up and took part in Clinical Trials and to the mhra themselves, whove made sure that this is a vaccine that we can all have faith in. We were the first country in the world to pre order supplies of this successful vaccine, and we have a0 million doses pre ordered for delivery over the coming months, enough for 20 Million People because two jabs are required for each. Following authorisation, the next stage is to test each batch of the vaccine
for safety, and i can confirm that batch testing has been completed this morning for the first deployment of 800,000 doses of the vaccine. Over the next few months, we will see vaccines delivered in three different ways. First, we will begin vaccinations in hospital hubs. Second, well deploy through local community services, including gps, and in due course pharmacies, too. And third, well stand up Vaccination Centres in conference centres and sports venues, for example, to vaccinate large numbers of people as more vaccines come on stream. This is an important step, but were not there yet. We have rightly clapped carers throughout this crisis, mr speaker. I wonder if we should as a nation come together and applaud our scientists as well one evening. And its also incumbent on all of us across this house to reinforce the case that vaccination saves lives. And if it helps, i will stand alongside the secretary of state, socially distanced of course, on any platform or in any tv studio to show that we are united cross party in promoting vaccination. I think we all understand, mr speaker, that restrictions will have to remain in place for some time, but can he offer us a timeframe or a target for when we should expect to achieve herd immunity and life gets back to normal . Will he consider publishing a route map of what restrictions could be released as vaccination rates increase . Please can we continue to have increased honesty about what we still dont know . We dont know how long the immunity will last. We dont even know if you are vaccinated whether you can still transmit the disease. And of course we dont know if tier 2 will actually succeed in bringing the r rate down. And until we can answer those questions, we still need
maximum effort behind Contact Tracing and isolation of virus spreaders. This is a huge personal triumph for the Health Secretary, who has always backed the science, and in choosing and backing on behalf of the country the first vaccine that proved efficacious, he has scored a massive goal for the country and he deserves great credit for that. And it will also have global significance. I was in a meeting with the World Health Organization this morning, who congratulated the uk on being the first country to prove a vaccine because it will help encourage other countries around the world to approve vaccines faster. When its my turn to have a vaccine, i will have absolutely no hesitation in doing so. And when it comes to terms, can the secretary of state confirm that community workers, care workers that work in the community, who work home to home, will be part of the first assessment for clinical need . And then after clinical need, will educational need be a factor in keeping our schools open . A school in southfield has been
closed for the last two weeks due to a lack of teachers being able to teach. So as a next phase, will educational need be a consideration for the roll out of the vaccine . Last week, i asked the secretary of state to develop a model he has on the effective lapsing of rules over christmas on the transmission of covid 19. Yesterday, i was told that its not possible to answer yet. Now that seems quite extraordinary. Has secretary of state been given an estimate of how many additional deaths are likely to be caused by the loosening of restrictions over christmas . If he knows the answer, i ask if youd tell us that now. If he does not know the answer, why would he be making such a major decision without any idea of the number of deaths that could result . Thank you very much, madam deputy speaker. We have to makejudgements based on what is right and balancing the difference considerations you have to take into account, including the yearning that many, many people have to come together at christmas, and try to find a balanced way through. Matt hancock. Youre watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. As we heard during Prime Ministers questions, thousands ofjobs are at risk following the collapse of the two retail giants debenhams, and the Arcadia Group, which owns brands like topshop and dorothy perkins. All 12,000 employees of debenhams are likely to lose theirjobs when the chains124 shops cease trading. In the commons, the business minister was urged to spell out specific action to help the staff and their stores. He started by reflecting on the scale of this weeks developments. On monday, Arcadia Group limited which employs approximately 13,000 people appointed administrators. They are assessing all options available to the group. Theyll on orders made of the black friday weekend, no redundancies have yet been announced, and existing Sales Channels will continue to operate while administrators evaluate options. The secretary of state has written to the insolvency
services and ask that they expedite the consideration of the administers report. Yesterday, debenhams which employs approximately 12,000 people announced the decision of administrators to wind down the company. No redundancies have been announced, and existing Sales Channels will continue to operate while administrators evaluate options. We know this is going to be a worrying time for employees and their families, and we stand ready to support them. Let me join the minister in expressing deep sympathy for those who are at risk of losing theirjobs. The test of government, and indeed this house, is whether that sympathy translates into action. Philip green owes the workers of arcadia a moral duty. His family took a dividend worth {1. 2 billion from the company, the largest in uk history, more than three times the size of the pension deficit. The workers at arcadia should not pay the price of philip greens greed. So will the minister now publicly call for him to make good any shortfall in the pension scheme, and will he ensure that the pensions regulator takes all possible steps to make sure
this happens . In terms of the pension schemes and support for those facing redundancy, the majority of defined pension schemes are run effectively, were fortunate to have a robust and flexible system of pension protection in the uk. The independent pension regulator has a range of powers to protect pension schemes, and it does work closely with those involved. The schemes where they employer goes insolvent, the Pension Protection Fund is there to help protect the members. Anybody already in receipt of their pensions will continue to be paid and other members will at least receive Pension Protection Fund compensation levels. The Pension Protection Fund is confident in its funding Plan Investment approach position it well to whether the current market presents future challenges. It wouldnt be appropriate at this stage for ministers to comment on individual cases, which are a matter for the regulator. Later, it emerged that lady green sir phillips wife had brought forward a payment to the pension fund. All of our thoughts are with the thousands
of workers, including those in my own constituency, who have often given years or even decades of service in retail and will be devastated by this news. They must be given all the help they can get to have all of their pension rights repaid. So firstly, will the minister confirm that his government will ensure that its federal agreement obligation that pensions are met, and will this Department Work with trade unions to ensure that these workers are treated fairly and are adequately supported through the process. What we want from this government is a strategy. Government is leadership, not crocodile tears. There are a fifth of young people who have lost theirjobs, 20,000 young people with a kick starter programme thats hardly touched young peoples lives. Will he get on with it . Take that message back to number ten surely, the time is come for legislation to stop these robber barons, who own these Big Companies who plunder the assets and than the taxpayer is left to foot the bill and you have anxious employees losing theirjobs and their pensions. Covid has the potential to be the straw that breaks the camels back for bricks and mortar retail. I note the governments announcement this week to extend shopping trading hours monday saturday until january, but particularly in the shorterm, an extension to sunday trading hours would be of huge benefit to retailers. Will he support me, the sun on sunday newspaper, and the retailers like Marks Spencer campaigning to extend sunday trading . In terms of sunday trading, this is not something that we are proposing to do at this stage, but we are extending shopping hours throughout the weekdays, and we want to work with local authorities to make sure that they can support the safe return to shoppers for our high streets up and down the country, including the west end. Paul scully. Clothing and beauty firms have insisted that they dont photoshop their advertising material, telling mps
that grey hair, scars and spots were all included. They were giving evidence to an inquiry into body image. The Equalities Committee is investigating whether advertisements containing images of beautiful, well groomed and happy people can undermine peoples self confidence. During the inquiry, we had written evidence about the pressure many people face to change their appearance to suit the images they see online. They told us that it included images that were photoshopped, edited and sexualised women as well as the ageing process and the lack of visual representation of old women and causes them sufferable body image. Suffering poor body image. What are your policies on editing photos and videos used to advertise your products and services . I think consumers in themselves are looking for more authenticity in this space. I think whats really important to us is that our advertising accurately represents the product benefits. I mean, just to give
you an example, eva longoria an actress that is one of our spokes models during lockdown, she dyed her hair at home, shot on her iphone, completely home made film that we put on tv. And i think there was an amazing public response to it, because we couldnt believe eva longoria was showing her grey roots on national television. We absolutely do not alter or retouch body image, skin tone, etc. Were allowed to retouch certain flyaway hairs or Something Like that, but we follow the asa guidelines on this space, which i believe are very comprehensive. We dont retouch body shape or size, we will retouch things like flyaway hairs, bruises, but we really aim to encourage and keep Natural Beauty in there and make people not afraid to show Natural Beauty with things like stars, freckles, stretch marks
will always stay in. Likes scars. I think for us, you know, similarly, we want our models to be reflective of our customers at home, or our customer bases, and it wouldnt make any business sense for us to show only size six models. Itjust doesnt work for us as a business, and our customers will very happily tell us anything that they are not in agreement with. The soap brand dove was one of the first organisations to break the mould. We havent been distorting our images for years and years on dove, and that includes everything, spots, bruises, marks, flyaway hairs, like anything. We dont retouch lighting, and in fact, weve actually now got our own no digital distortion mark that we ask to be put on all of our communications, whether thats in any country in the world, actually, so we do this globally. Its a Global Policy for dove. The community received evidence that some of boohoos Advertising Campaigns featuring black women were seen by customers as contribute into racist stereotypes. How can you ensure that in yourfuture campaigns
reflect positively on black women and encourage diversity . So, like i said earlier, you know, we use social media as a real time listening tool for us. Weve got a massive audience globally, and we listen to each market, what they want to see, what they dont want to see, what they like, what they dont like, and well always take that learning away and make sure that we incorporate it into our next campaign and learn from it, really. Dove has what it calls a self esteem project. So, we have a very Clear Strategy that we callarm and disarm. We wish to arm the individual, and by that we mean the next generation, so young people, to be resilient in the face of what theyre going to face in the outside world, and equally, we wish to disarm those threats that theyre going to encounter as they enter the outside world. Loreal sells lots of skincare including antiquing treatments, which are targeted at women,
how do you balance the need to advertise your products without contributing to appearance pressures for women as they age . Antiaging products. Caroline oneill said the brand wanted to offer choice and a route to self expression. Who knew that 2020 would be the year that pink hair dye would be one of our best selling products, but really, were seeing a huge rise in the need for consumers to express themselves and express their personality, especially in the shoulders upwards online environment. Caroline oneill. Now, its a long running soap opera with characters as familiar as our own families. Not the houses of parliament but coronation street which is 60 years old next week its officially the worlds longest running soap opera. And who better to lead a debate on the anniversary than a former star. Labours tracy brabin played the character of Tricia Armstrong before being elected to westminster. Those famous cobbles have been the stage to storylines that have gripped our country. Weve cried together, gasped together, laughed together and learned together. Iconic storylines that caused a nation to take a breather from their busy lives, make a cuppa and pop corrie on the telly. And like all parts of life, covid has put massive obstacles in the path of coronation street, and theyve worked hard to overcome them. The rovers return isnt that busy these days, the desks in the factory are slightly more spread out than they used to be reflecting the regulations of real life, and keeping cast and crew as safe as possible while bringing familiar entertainment to our homes. And during the last few months of pain and frustration, there will have been many times when im sure many of us would have found familiarity and comfort in these words from the legendary blanche, written by my good friend, damon rochefort. She says, in my day,
something bad happened, you stayed home, got drunk and bit on a shoe. I think thats quite a good metaphor for the times we live in. The show has its fans in the speakers chair. At home, ive got the tray from newton and ridley that was off the set of coronation street, both myself and mr evans were on the politics show, we had to get so many questions, guess who won . Ive got the tray his deputy mr evans didnt take that lying down. I grew up in the 1960s watching coronation street on the huge tv we had in the corner small screen, but big tv all in black and white laying on the floor, the haunting melody on a monday and a wednesday. My father would close the shop early in order that he could watch coronation street because he loved it so much. Another shopkeepers child, margaret thatcher, also visited the corrie set during her downing street years. And she was particularly keen to visit alf roberts
corner shop because, of course, her own father was Alfred Roberts who ran the grocers shop in grantham, but she arrived on set and was very upset to see that alf Roberts Corner shop had the sign, licenced to sell alcohol, and she said that certainly this would never have been allowed in her own fathers shop who would not have dreamt of selling alcohol. The culture minister and former thatcher aide John Whittingdale at what sounded like a meeting of the coronation street fan club. Well, that was wednesday in parliament. Thank you for watching. I hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for the week in parliament. Until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now. Hello. Weve a much colder snap of weather on the way for the next couple of days, so theres a much greater risk of some ice and some snow. Snow from these showers in the north through the course of today, and even perhaps in this band of more persistent rain in the south just on the hills because we got that cold airjust nudging further southwards, hanging around through today, hanging around through tomorrow as well. And look at this strengthening wind that will accentuate the chill. So, yes, we do have warnings out at the moment, especially across the northern half of the country, and the snow mainly on the hills and you can get the details on those warnings from the website. The showers are falling as snow on the hills in the north, but across scotland, even to lower levels with a slight covering. And here, with a widespread frost, northern england, northwards, a risk of ice. Some treacherous conditions potentially further south, there could be some patchy frost and a little bit of snow in this system as well
across the welsh mountains, perhaps the moors of the southwest. As it edges its way northwards and eastwards, perhaps bringing some snow into the midlands as well, the showers further north still falling as snow over the hills. This, as you can see, slowly migrates eastwards through the day, giving way to showery weather further west, some hail and thunder here. Whilst for scotland and northern ireland, the showers perhaps becoming fewer, more confined to the coasts with more sunshine, but its cold for all of us, accentuated by the strengthening wind around that area of low pressure. And then those weatherfronts spiral their way around the low pressure overnight, so an increased risk as we go through into the coming night of snow potentially across northern and eastern areas, and a more widespread frost with the surfaces damp even in the south. Theres a risk of some ice as well. So, quite a difficult one on friday in terms of the details because weve got these weather systems spiralling around that area of low pressure. Certainly, its going to be cold. Itll be windier as well with a risk of gales for the west coast of scotland
and also through the irish sea, and these bands of rain pushing their way gradually westwards with some snow potentially. The lower levels on the western flank, and look at the temperatures, they are quite low. In the heavier bursts, that snow level comes down as well, could even be a smattering further south as well. Certainly lots to keep our eye on at the moment for our first widespread taste of winter. The weekend sees things drying a little bit, but it stays pretty chilly, as you can see. The warnings, as i say, are on the website. Welcome to bbc news, my names mike embley. Our top stories britain is to roll out a Mass Vaccination Campaign against coronavirus from next week, after regulators approved a vaccine in record quick time. When you consider the damage that i was saying earlier, the damage that this virus has done, it is a fantastic moment. It has to stop. An exasperated election official in the us state of georgia pleads with President Trump to dial down the rhetoric levelled against his colleagues over the election result. The french president who oversaw sweeping social reforms, Valery Giscard destaing, has died at the age of 94. And one of britains most celebrated artists, tracey emin, says her
painting has kept her alive