coming up in the next half hour: concerns that the brexit bill is a government power—grab. what this house being asked again and again his take on trust that ministers will not abuse these powers. ministers will not abuse these powers. a desperate call for better funding of refuges. the bare minimum is that someone —— someone should be no more than a phone call away, these people are at risk, they are in danger. phone call away, these people are at risk, they are in danger. and on national postal workers‘ day, one mp suggests a quite radical gift. renationalize. .. but first, we're now three—quarters of the way through the detailed deliberations of the european union withdrawal bill. and tuesday was all about henry viii! well, not so much him, but the powers he held. in 1539 the statute of proclamations was passed. this gave henry the power to legislate by proclamation. what on earth has that got to do with brexit? well, there are henry viii powers in the eu withdrawal bill. these would enable ministers to repeal or amend measures without further parliamentary scrutiny after the bill's been passed into law. and some mps don't approve. it's not an exaggeration to say that this is a massive potential transfer of legislative competence from parliament to government. and it is a sweeping power that would certainly make henry viii blush. if you are to see it today. my amendment 57 proposes deleting the sweeping measure of that particular sub—clause because ministers have not ensured that their powers are as limited as possible, quite the contrary they have ensured that they are as sexually wide as possible. would he not agree with me that whilst a member... says that there might be primary legislation in relation to trades... those bills says that there might be primary legislation in relation to trades... those bills are very likely to have the same henry viii powers in them. will that's it, i think eight different pieces of subsequent legislation which are also opening up this precedent, patting at members of parliament saying don't you trouble yourselves we will sort out all these areas, you willjust go away and if you really really object you can petition us about it which is effectively with the provisions are saying. that is not good enough. the bill itself could be used further henry viii powers. if this bill is passed an amended we face the prospect of ministers, perhaps not this minister, and perhaps not ministers in this government but ministers having the ability to use the henry viii powers in the built in for further such powers onto themselves or other uk institution. delegated legislation, piled upon the delegated legislation, i would argue that that is an outcome that no member of this house should regard as an acceptable prospect. the point is it is possible using the powers conferred under clause seven as it is currently drafted, as with so much of this bill what this house is being asked again, and again, is to take on trust that ministers will not abuse these powers. it's already been mentioned about the working time directive, a8, a weekly work. i'm not suggesting that the government minister necessarily want use these powers to completely overturn that, and substitute 48 with 72, i'm not suggesting, but it may well be that a minister in the future within this period of the transition will find that the 48 hours is overly prescriptive as in a mandatory sense of them i choose to make that more of i and advisory notion and something that is absolute and can be challenged. and with a stroke of a pan overnight the actual rights and data rights at work for millions of people i work in this country could simply be eroded. for the creation of a committee to sift through all legislation that won't be subject to the usual parliamentary scrutiny — the "statutory instruments" or sis. much is going to depend on the common—sense of the in how will those were going to be appointed a committee are chosen. there are of this house, on all sides, who have a keen understanding of what a statutory instrument is, a sack —— a keen understanding of how it should work, and an ability to sniff out when it is being misused. and it is those individuals which if i may say to my old friends, who are the ones who ought to be appointed. the conservative mps who tabled the bill said he would tab key. the political costs of his front bench, to my front bench of going against a recommendation of the sifting committee will be significant. it will have to give a reason. why isn't this agreement. the minister will be summoned. to explain his or her departments position. and it will be tagged on the order paper that this is i, this has not been agreed to sifting committee and government. the brexit minister denied there was any power—grabbing going on. it is the case of the government wishes to take the minimum powers necessary, the minimum powers required to do the job before us. which is to deliver a working statute by accident. we do not intend to make any major changes in policy between ash beyond those which are appropriate. beyond those which are appropriate to deliver a working statute book where the law after exit data substantially the same before exit day so that the public, so that individuals and businesses can rely upon it. and scrutiny of the brexit bill continues on wednesday with the government expected to face its toughest day yet. now, the home affairs committee is examining what action the government could take to stop demonstrations taking place directly outside abortion clinics. two abortion providers told mps that women were being harassed and suggested that a "buffer zone" would help. but anti—abortion protesters insisted they were simply "pavement counsellors" helping women in desperate situations to make a "true choice". we see an escalation both in the size and in the tactics used, we've seen across the uk now, protests and other harassment. not only are outside dedicated sensors, but in gp surgeries and nhs properties. mostly we a change in tactics from what our staff use to describe over the previous 20 years as usually silent prayer, to now engaging directly with our service users to point of physically grabbing and blocking them. and using other means of intimidation. we had one service user recently say that she was greeted outside the clinic by a protester or sidewalk counsellor with the mummy please don't kill me, i love you mummy. they are told that they will die of cancer, that god will punish them, they are holy water thrown at them. god help me ijust hope that the people on the panel will ask for a very concrete evidence of this, none —— none of you will represent an reduced evidence against you just because they say to be so. there are two cameras trained on the gates a new one in spring this yearjust so they can have a better view of us all the time. that we're blocking women enter, were grabbing hold of them were shutting the gate of women, where facebook live streaming women. all these things are happening but there's no evidence otherwise no evidence of it. there's no evidence because it is not happening. where there been cases where was by, whether have been cases of somebody standing in front of an entrance or following somebody was left the clinic, or sending threatening messages to staff, do you agree that that is intimidation and that it should not happen? to the best of my knowledge none of those in incidence exists and i believe that they should not happen. the society of the protection of unborn child doesn't take part in vigils but supports organisations that do. many women that are arriving at abortion clinics and they're not decided they've not got a clear—cut decision yes i want to go through with my abortion. huge pressure is on these women, from boyfriends to families, they are worried about the future, there is some peaceful prayer for woman, person offering them a lifeline, offering them alternatives. and they take that. let's think about these women. whose lives have been turned around for the better because they've encountered a pro—life pavement counsellor who has given them a true choice about the decision that they're facing. abortion providers pointed to australia where clinics have buffer zones of 150 metres. clare murphy said the protests were forcing women to turn to other means. particularly where there are activists potentially with cameras, women who were in situations where they just cannot risk their confidentiality, they cannot risk the family finding out. who are going online to order, to try to order pills to try and take at home because they feel that this activity as i clinics is just an absolute, this is an absolute impediment to them accessing the services. would you be prepared to come to a voluntary agreement that you would voluntarily effectively operate a buffer zone and would not be a certain distance from the clinic doors so that nobody had to pass you on the way to the clinic. looking at the hundreds of women we see every year who take our help and feel that they haven't had up to instantly dump dead inside his clinics, i'm noticing anyways i'm going to move away from the nearest opportunity to give the woman's the leaflet as she is going the door. the debate about abortion clinics. back in the commons, there was a call for new powers to stop stalkers and domestic abusers using the courts to cause further distress to their victims. a plaid cymru mp wants courts to be able to dismiss "meritless applications" amid concerns that "baseless, vexatious" claims were being made in the civil courts. the purpose of this bill is to limit the ability of perpetrators of primarily domestic abuse, stalking, and harassment, their ability to use, indeed misuse, or abuse, family and civil courts as a cynical and calculus —— totally a method to cause further distress and to exercise deliberate control over the actions of their victims. exercise deliberate control over the actions of their victims. one victim had faced repeated court cases in which he had to face being questioned by his stalker who was under a restraining order: lucy's partner had a restraining order, having been charged with stalking her. he is taking lucy to court 15 times in civil and family courts. this is cost around £25,000. but many people she is not eligible for legal aid in the circumstances. victims of abuse often —— years of abuse, are obliged to present core protocol to face her abusers, to sit with them in waiting rooms, to be in close proximity to them in court rooms, and to undergo cross in person. rooms, and to undergo cross in person. and she said if cases were allowed to go ahead, the victims of abuse or stalking should be allowed to give evidence behind a screen or by video link. liz saville roberts was allowed to introduce her bill but without government support it has little chance of becoming law. you're watching tuesday in parliament, with me, mandy baker. don't forget you can find all our programmes on the bbc iplayer. now, plans to change the way refuges for victims of domestic violence are funded have been strongly criticised by mps. the government proposes giving local councils a protected grant to pay for all supported housing. this would cover refuges but would also include housing for other groups of people such as offenders, drug addicts and the homeless. in westminster hall, the labour mpjess phillips related some of the experiences she had when she worked for the organisation, women's aid. i remember a woman coming into the refuge where i worked, she could not speak or eat, as she had been part of her control. i will never forget what watching the refuge workers at sitting her for hours, gently feeding her, teaching her how to feed herself again. i remember another family where the mother had been so belittled, so dehumanized by her abuser that she could not parent her kids anymore. she had no power or influence over them at all. she criticised a proposal to fund refuges by councils. the bare minimum is that someone should be no more than a phone call away, these people are at risk, how's the going to check councils are spending this money and what they're spending it on? that services commissioned actually help people? because local need which is what has been outlined has been very different things. i want to see little girls given back their childhood. i want them securing well—paid support workers sitting over their clients where so traumatised the cannot eat. i want lives to be rebuilt. i don't want a bed for the night, i know my local schools also played an important role fighting has schools in which there is violence. we also need help to give victims the competent support to extirpate themselves and toxic relationships and try to instill faith in their own strength to live with a violent or abusive partner. refuges can play a crucial role in nine the government proposal is not changing the entitlement of the services, nonetheless i'm very glad the government is taking aromatic approach by committing to her view of the new funding to ensure that his work is at this shed. following the coalition government's decision to transfer the support element of funding for refugees into local authority budgets, while making huge cuts to council funding, 17% of specialist refugees have closed by 2014 and it's little wonder, then, that putting the entirety of state funding for refugees into the hands of already under pressure local authorities has caused the member for birmingham yardley and others working in the sector so much concern. within my own family, there have been severalfamily members that have been direct victims of quite extreme domestic abuse and i've seen through luck, through their own strength, and energy and determination that they've been able to change that trajectory and make sure it wasn't something that was repeated forfuture generations. i think it is down to their character and luck that they've been able to do that and that is not something that is afforded to everyone and that is why government must intervene. the new funding model will see all housing costs, core rent, and eligible service charges funded by a ring—fenced grant to be distributed by local authorities, and we intend that ring fence to remain in the long term. we also intend to use grant conditions to ensure that the funding is spent where it is intended. what i'd like to do is invite the honourable lady for yardley to meet with myself and my honourable friend to discuss some of these issues in more depth, particularly in terms of appropriate accommodation and the examples that she mentioned in that sense, the wider issues that she raised. as members have pointed out as well, there is a consultation on funding which closes on the 23rd ofjanuary. so there is still time for organisations to have their say and i would encourage them to come forward and do that. i welcome the minister's statement and what i will say is that the reality on the ground never feels quite like what is being presented to me at whichever particular dispatch box but i will never ever ever stop pointing that out until what is said to me feels exactly like what it feels like to get someone a refuge bed at ten to five when the office is shutting on a friday. because, at the moment it feels impossible. at the weekend the chairman of a major london hospital trust resigned. lord kerslake claimed that ministers were simply not addressing the financial challenges facing the nhs. but when an urgent question about his resignation was asked in the commons, he came under sustained attack from conservative mps. kings is receiving substantial financial support from the department of health. during this financial year the trust is receiving £135 million of support in orderto maintain front line services. this is the second highest level of support across england. both the level of deficit and speed of deterioration is an acceptable, as i'm sure all honourable members would agree and while no trust or hospital is an island, it is right that those charged with leading it should take responsibility for such results. the chief financial officer and chief operating officer both resigned last month and, as we know, lord kerslake left on sunday. the trust will now receive even more support with the appointment of a financial improvement director. the organisation will be required to implement a plan to prove its finances to be more closely monitored by nhs improvement. on top of special measures and subject to due process, nhs improvement intends to appoint ian smith as a new and experienced interim chair for kings to take control of the organisation. harriet harman. in doesn't the minister realise that the problem at kings is not the leadership any more than it is the growing number of patients or the dedicated staff. the problem at kings is not enough money. and he shows no recognition of the fact that over the last two years they've already cut £80 million, double the rate that other hospitals have had to cut, and they've taken on an ailing trust in order to help out the wider nhs and now they've been told that they've got to make even further cuts. several south london mps pointed to the background behind the financial problems at kings. the root of this current financial crisis go back to 2013 to the collapse of the south london health care trust and the decision to incorporate two additional hospitals which were failing in their services into kings trust without adequate funding to support that decision. this has been followed by year—on—year real term revenue cuts, next to zero capital funding and all the time demand and need in our community is going up. there were calls for a commission to be set up to look the issues. over the decades we have perpetrated the fiction that we can have a scandinavian level of public service an american—style levels of taxation and this is the reason why. i would ask the minister to heed the call of the member of parliament for totnes and many others across this house and set up a proper convention to look at what is the sustainable model, notjust for kings but for the whole of the nhs so that we can continue to get the services our constituents deserve. a series of conservatives attacked the record of kings. under lord kerslake's watch £715,000 last year was spent off payroll on an interim director. £30,000 a month was spent on temporary managers. there is a problem in this country with this scandalous waste of tax payers' money. what we have here is one of labour's top advisersjumping in in a blaze of politically motivated publicity before being pushed out for woeful financial mismanagement. given the noble lord's kerslake much—publicised association with the current labour leadership should it come as any surprise that the trust he was chairing would run out of taxpayers money. and isn't the truth that he actually jumped and squeaked before he was pushed. now, rail fares are about to see their largest increase for five years. fares in britain will go up by an average of 3.4% from 2nd january. the increase is the biggest since 2013. the price rise will affect regulated fares, which includes season tickets, and unregulated fares, such as off—peak leisure tickets. in the lords peers wanted to know why such a big increase was necessary. an annual season ticket from swindon to london will increase by £3011. for many years now the government has frozen fuel duty to help motorists so will the minister agree that government should now freeze rail fares for the coming year to help rail passengers? the noble lady raises the point on freezing fuel duty which is obviously widely welcomed by motorists following the budget, i'm afraid were not able to freeze rail fares because by doing so we would have to decrease the investment in our which is sorely needed. not only is the whole area of rail fares very complicated it is in fact discriminatory when you look at many people in this country who do not have access to internet or to computers and they find trying to get deals on railways almost impossible and they also find, like i do, that the stations are not always accessible because the staff are on training or sick and we stand there in the rain waiting for the train, it's not a good picture. my lords, i recognise that the fare system can sometimes be complicated and indeed illogical. of course, many tickets are now bought online but for those who don't use the internet the rail minister is working on a fares and ticketing action plan. amongst other things, they are working on reducing jargon and improving the vending machines at stations and they've extended the availability of advanced purchase fares. which you can now purchase at the station on the day of travel. well, it may have escaped your notice but tuesday was national postal workers‘ day. the event is organised by the communications workers union. members across the commons agreed postmen and women did an excellentjob. but one mp called for a dramatic policy change. royal mail was up for sale under this government the privatisation they faced worsening conditions on tax and pensions and the prospect of more job losses. will the minister re—nationalise the royal mail? minister! i'd like to start by heartily agreeing with the right with the right honourable gentleman's celebration of our postal workers today who will deliver, as he says, in all weather to 29 million addresses across the country over the festive season. i can't agree with him that renationalisation is the answer. does the minister agree with me that regardless of ownership royal mail needs to continue to modernise and become more efficient because it operates in a very increasingly competitive marketplace. minister! my honourable friend makes a very good point. when it was privatised, amazon was one of royal mail's biggest customers. amazon now is one of its biggest competitors. so my honourable friend is absolutely right. more investment required in technology and in modernisation. margotjames. so that ends day six of detailed debate on the eu withdrawal bill. and important though it is, it can be a bit, well, dry. the power could not be used to remove functions relating to rights and protections, as are the concerns of the amendment 3112 and new clause 37, unless somehow they became deficient outside the eu and removing functions entirely was an appropriate response. all of which would, of course, be laid out in the accompanying explanatory memorandum. taking dryness to a whole new dimension: the brexit minister, steve baker. and that's it from me, mandy baker no relation. dojoin me again at the same time tomorrow. well, the weather story is getting a bit messy now during the middle of the week. and although we will see cold air through the middle of the country, there is still the risk over the next few days of some snow and also further ice. and we are starting wednesday morning off with the risk of ice across scotland and england. that is because we have overnight rain moving through, falling on freezing surfaces, then skies will clear for a time during wednesday morning before the next bout of rain moves in. so this is where we will see the ice risk ahead of this next rain band. and it will be quite showery pushing into much of scotland and north—west england and northern ireland, quite a messy commute to work in the morning. a lot of standing water around because there will be a little bit of snow melt as those temperatures will be a little less cold than we have had over the last few mornings. snow will be falling over the mountains of scotland and maybe a little bit of sleetiness over the higher ground of wales, too. but generally speaking, it is going to be of mostly rain here, combined with the snow melt elsewhere. a lot of snow here in the last few days. there there is going to be a lot of standing water around. dry across the east, but we have that ice risk. but then the rain across western areas will be spreading eastwards during the course of the day. some heavy bursts on this as it continues to spread south—eastwards but behind it the skies brighten up quite nice. some sunshine for england and wales. but slightly colder air moves into scotland and northern ireland, so showers here increasingly wintry. but across the south, you'll notice, 9—11 celsius. so, slightly milder than of late. then, as we head through wednesday night, we're looking at the next rash of showers and rain, which move through. some of these producing a bit of snow on the higher ground maybe down to lower levels in the heaviest bursts. so, by thursday morning, the risk of a bit of light snow and, again, ice as temperatures fall away. so there could be a little bit of travel disruption. and then, as we head on into thursday day, it looks quite a messy picture. quite windy, once again, plenty of showers moving into northern and western areas. again, these wintry over the higher ground of the north. and we could even see some substantial snow across central parts of scotland through the day, so this could cause some disruption and, generally speaking, those temperatures are a bit lower than wednesday. and then, as that area of low pressure moves away on friday, we open the floodgates again to the arctic north, so it looks like it will be very cold to end the week. you can see the blue colours extending right across the british isles, ever as far south as france and northern spain. so it does mean that friday is going to be a cold one. could have a little bit of ice to watch out for it in places. a few wintry showers across coastal areas but, that said, plenty of sunshine too. but you will need to wrap up, it's going to be cold. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: counting's underway in the alabama senate race. will controversial—republican roy moore be the winner? a change of tune on north korea. the us says it's ready to open talks without preconditions. ‘the world is losing its fight against global warming' — france's president macron gives other world leaders a blunt warning. also in the programme: on a red carpet not so far far away. the latest star wars film feels the royal force at its european premiere. hello.

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