wednesday and parliament. in this programme, theresa may says anyone suspected of the murder of a saudi journalist will not be allowed to travel here. and the home secretary is taking action against all suspects from there entering the uk. —— to prevent them entering. opposition mps say that does not go far enough. will the prime minister commit to ending the sale of arms to saudi arabia? and a plea forfair play in the lords. to urge those brexiteers to play the ball, not the man. all of that to come and more, but first, 18 men arrested by the saudi authorities in connection with the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi, barred from entering the uk. theresa may said that if any of the suspects had a visa, it would be revoked. she told mps that saudi arabia should provide a full explanation of how he died at its consulate in istanbul. we condemn the killing of the journalist jamal khashoggi in the strongest possible terms, and after his disappearance, we made clear that saudi arabia must co—operate with turkey and conduct a full and credible investigation. saying that he died in a fight does not amount to a credible explanation, so they must establish what happened in relation to this. ourforeign ministers and our ambassadors are making our position very clear to the saudi arabians, and i expect to speak to king salman later today and i can update the house that no minister or official will be attending the conference in saudi arabia and my right honourable friend, the home secretary, is taking action against all suspects from there entering the uk and if these individuals currently have visas, those visas will be revoked today. the murder raised by the snp's westminster leader. the saudi regime is responsible for multiple human rights violations. teenagers tortured, women imprisoned for campaigning for their human rights, the brutal bombardment of yemen. pushing that country to the brink of famine. what more evidence of criminality does the prime minister need before she fully commits to ending the sales of arms to the brutal regime of saudi arabia? yes, we do support the saud—led coalition and military intervention in yemen, that has been recognised by the united nations security council and it came at the request of president hadi. they're among the strictest in the world, they were introduced in the year 2000 by the late robin cook, they would not be issued to saudi arabia or any other destination would be inconsistent with any provision of the consolidated eu national arms export licensing criteria. injuly 2017, the high court ruled that sales to the saudi arabia were compliant with those regulations. but of course, we keep things under review. the labour leader concentrated on matters closer to home, austerity. theresa may told the house last month that it was coming to an end. jeremy corbyn said that was not the experience of councils, the police, students, nurses... this government is simply not being honest to the public. they can't even follow their own counsellors, they promised the nhs another 20 billion that we do not know where it's coming from or when it is coming, health numbers are falling, and the nurse numbers are following also. they promised universal credit would protect everyone, but the work and pensions secretary let the cat out of the bag, people will be worse off. the prime minister claimed that she is ending austerity, will she confirm that in next week's budget, there will be more police on our street? more nurses in our hospital? and elderly people in desperate need of care will not go ignored and forgotten by her government? what have we seen under this government? we have seen more money being available to the police, more money for the health service, more money for social care, more money going into our schools, and at the end of this parliament, at the end of this parliament, we will be spending £500 million more in real terms on people with working age and children and our welfare system. but let's actually look at what we now know about what the labour party's alternative is. because we now see, as reported by a respected academic, that by their own admission, labour's plans would cost 1000 billion pounds. that is the equivalent, the equivalent, of £35,000 for every household in this country. the lib dems leader also raised universal credit. does the prime minister not accept the sensible goals of universal credit to improve work incentives were seriously undermined by the 2015 budget of her friend, the former chancellor, who slashed the work allowance and that, together with administrative rigidity, is causing enormous hardship? will she listen to charities and her own backbenchers that are urging her to pause the roll—out into these deficiencies are remedied? he rightly makes the point that the universal credit system what it does is introduce a system that is simpler, single benefit rather than something that explains that people might be making. it is also a benefit which encourages them into the workplace and also benefits that ensures that they earn more, they keep more. but earlier, a group of women told mps on the work and pensions committee about the problems they are having with universal credit and other benefits. they all had young children and all wanted to work. but one mother said bluntly, work does not pay. it's the fact that you've got to fork out a month a week of nursery fees first before actually getting your 85% percent back, but then you don't always get your 85% back. and did you get it in four weeks? no. and how long did it take you before you got your upfront payment? when i switched to universal credit, i would say, eight weeks without money. so i had to rely my parents. and obviously when i put the children into nursery, i think it is about six weeks of nursery fees out before then i got contributed, and then this is month in, month out, you never get it in on time. you never get your childcare on time. i went back to work after having two children at the end of march, beginning of april. similar, i had to pay upfront for the childcare costs, so, it was £1300 the that the pay upfront before i even went back to work. before i'd had any childcare. and how long did it take for them to repay you that 1000 plus? it was just over five weeks. on a salary of 32,000, we would be entitled to any universal credit, housing credit or help. so having paid our rent, council tax, £1500 per month, full—time childcare, plus the £500 deposit on top, we were left with £60 of the entire month for all of our bills, that is effectively two quid a day. so unfortunately, i was unable to take the job because it didn't pay fast enough. and are there two or three of you? it is just myself and my son. £2 a day, you would have to spend quite a bit of that a day shopping. to get a meal, three meals out of two pounds a day, wouldn't you? on top of everything else. nappies, petrol, travel, utilities, we worked the food bank, that is how bad things got for us. we were at the food bank last christmas. given all of your experience, which is probably vastly different to the architects of this system, because you are affected by it. is there any changes that the government could do to make it work better for you? yes. it would be helping out more with the upfront costs, you've got to pay the monthly costs first and in my situation, my children have just changed nursery, so when they change nursery, you've got to pay a week upfront. so with twins, that's two weeks plus a week each so that's four weeks, so where am i going and it's £180 per week. where do i find that kind of money from? the women's evidence was stunning but, pretty depressing. chair frank fields said mps would produce a report shortly. mps have increased the pressure on ministers to change laws related to abortion and same—sex marriage in northern ireland. they back an amendment intended to allow civil servants to make decisions and the absence of ministers. unlike other parts of the uk, the 1967 abortion act does not extend to northern ireland. the amendment to the bill put forward by a labour mp, came after a majority of supreme courtjudges said earlier this year that northern ireland's abortion law was not compatible with human rights. when it comes to abortion we know that right now in northern ireland when you are raped and you become pregnant as a result of that attack and you seek a termination, you could face a longer prison sentence in your attacker. so too, we know that gay couples in northern ireland, when they step off the plane, no longer have their relationship respected in the way that any of us would wish for our relationship to be respected. we will not ignore them. we will hold ourselves to account out of the secretary of state to account for the incompatibility and human rights that the continued existence of those two pieces of legislation represents in their lives. and that is what this incredibly reasonable then that does. it doesn't create a new law. but it doesn't shy away from recognising the impact of those existing laws either. from recognising the impact of those existing laws eitherlj from recognising the impact of those existing laws either. i rise to speak against you, clause seven, on the basis that it is clearly inappropriate, going far beyond, as it does, government's narrow, specific intention when this emergency bill was framed, to ensure that the administrative functions keep working efficiently in northern ireland in the absence of an executive there. not to go further and influence key to evolve policy matters, more properly decided by that executive. is there anything more of an emergency than the women of northern ireland, right here, right now, who could be wondering what on earth they have to put themselves through to have the choice to have an abortion? to me, thatis choice to have an abortion? to me, that is a pretty big emergency to. this is absolutely a key issue which i believe does merit consideration. but reconsideration in the right legislative chamber, and that is by the administration when it is up and running, of northern ireland. the administration when it is up and running, of northern irelandm goes against the will of 60% of the people of northern ireland, women who say they do not want any change. that is what the people of northern ireland are saying. what help and assistance is going to be given to those hundreds of women who feel that they have to leave their own country, northern ireland, to seek an abortion? abortion is not compulsory. it is an option women should have the choice of, in the case of rape, incest and rachel faecal abnormality. —— fatal feotal. i suggest the member does not see this as the endgame or as the means to an end —— oras this as the endgame or as the means to an end —— or as the end this as the endgame or as the means to an end —— oras the end in itself, but as a means to an end. let's be honest with each other about that. i believe that the means to an end is to change the law in northern ireland. i agree with the comments that have remade, all that lam comments that have remade, all that i am saying is that i believe most people in mike h&c and in northern ireland believe that it is for the northern ireland assembled seat and executives to make those laws. —— people in my constituency. will she recognise that she has a powerful role to play as a check and balance in that process, and that is what this amendment does?|j in that process, and that is what this amendment does? i say very gently to the honourable lady, i disagree with her interpretation of what this amendment would do. it would result in putting the northern ireland civil service into an impossible position, given the guidance is clear, that in exercising their functions, they must act at all times in accordance with the law. let the stress again, this bill cannot force northern ireland departments to change the law, as this amendment seeks to do. adapting motorways could cost £35 million. 0peration stack is currently used on sections of the m20 in kent. if there is traffic disruption, lorries are parked on closed off sections. 0peration block plans to introduce a contraflow to keep that road open. work is being done to see if the neighbouring m26 could be used as a lorry park in the event of no deal. the potential cost was revealed when the public accou nts was revealed when the public accounts committee took evidence from top officials at the department of transport. they were asked, of all the work the department had to do ahead of brexit, which areas were of most concern and had red flags against them? at the moment, we actually have three that we would regard, and would rate with a red or an amber red assessment against them at this stage in terms of where they are, and those are not ones that will be a surprise. we've touched on potentially post office contract and where precisely that is. where we are in our discussions around air services agreements, we have not been able to start those bilateral discussions or multilateral discussions yet with either member states or indedd with the commision. at this stade we have started rail bilateral discussions with our counterparts in france, belgium and holland. it's at a very early stage so we have similarly marked that. have you had a meeting with the secretary of state and could you update us on where we are as far as the checks on the borders are concerned? i think the point that my secretary of state will be referring to is that we will not have checks on the uk side of the border. what we cannot know is what the french may choose to do on their side of the border, and that is clearly a key determinant of what then happens in terms of flows of traffic, and freight through the ports. ijust wanted to ask about what the overall cost of increasing lorry holding capacity would be on the m26. i'm not sure you i can give you a disaggregated figure for the m26. we're looking at an infrastructure cost in total of i think between 30—£35 million. some of that will obviously be around the hard shoulder improvements, strengthening et cetera needed at m26, but i can't give you a disaggregated figure, i'm afraid. you can't do it now? it must be somewhere in the accounts. i would be able to give you... if you could provide us with that, that would be very helpful. can we be assured that you have as it were a war game, the worst possible scenarios so that you know how you are going to deal with getting through and in and out of his country, for example? bernadette kelly used the example of air travel. also plan a, our preferred goal is that we will have some form of eu—wide agreement in place for march. if that is not possible, then we would look to have bilateral agreements in place with other member states, but what we have done... 27 bilateral agreements from now until the end of march? yes, indeed. and i'm saying that... i think that is challenging and what we have done... 0bviously what we are... we are clear that our first goal is obviously as part of the future partnership to have a comprehensive air transport agreement in place. you are watching wednesday in parliament. don't forget, if you miss a programme or you just want to watch this one again and again, you can catch up via the bbci player. -- bbc —— bbc iplayer. still to come, a minister has a tough day at the office. mr speaker... i'm not having a good day today, am i? the uk's counterterrorism machine is running red—hot according to the head of counterterrorism policing at scotland yard. assistant commissioner neil basu told mps on the home affairs committee his job is like fine—tuning a formula 1 car that was still going around the track. the overriding threat to the uk remains from those inspired by daesh and the resurgent al-qaeda, but our operations reflect a much broader range of dangerous ideologies, including a very disturbing rise in extreme right wing activity. across the counterterrorism network at the moment we are recording a record high of over 700 investigations, that is the combined figure of both counterterrorism policing and mi—5. -- mi5. despite thinking for a long term that this threat was returning foreign fighters, the majority of attackers here who have attacked or plotted are uk or dual uk nationals, and since the westminster attack in march last year we have stopped 17 attacks, that's four of which were extreme right—wing terrorist plots. i expect those figures to increase. mr basu also acknowledged the comments made by the chief coroner at the inquest into the westminster bridge attacks, when he concluded that the murder of an unarmed police officer outside the houses of parliament could have been prevented. that particular atrocity, along with manchester, finsbury park, borough market and parsons green, they all took place on my watch when i was senior national co—ordinator for counterterrorism policing. it is important to me for the panel to know that i think about the 36 who were murdered and all the victims every single day, and particularly in this job. it was incredibly painful to hear the coroner say that there was a possibility that the police constable palmer might have been saved were it not for shortcomings in the security system at the palace, including supervision of those engaged, and we unreservedly accepted those conclusions. we have improved, we are committed to further improvements. assista nt assistant commissioner daly basu. —— assistant commission neil basu. the speaker of the commons has criticised the former leader of the english defence league, tommy robinson. john bercow said he was a loathsome, obnoxious, repellent individual. he was responding to a complaint that tommy robinson dined in the house of lords yesterday. it's entirely correct that members of both houses engage in robust political debate around the parliamentary estate, but today we have learned that yesterday the violent, racist thug and fraudster known as stephen yatsley lenon, or tommy robinson, was invited onto the estate and wined and dined in the house of lords yesterday. mr speaker, i understand that sometimes we have to engage in dues that one might not agree with, but surely, surely the fact that a man who is as guilty as he is on stirring up racial hatred, organising violent thuggish crimes around the country, setting up the edl and everything that comes with it, crosses a line, and such a person should not be invited to walk amongst us on the parliamentary estate. i share his assessment of the individual concerned. a loathsome, obnoxious, repellent individual, and i make no bones about my view being the same as his on that front. over in the lords, there was anger that a peer had hosted the far—right politician. does the noble lord the minister note the 40% increase in religious hate crimes in the united kingdom between 2017—2018? and in this context, does he feel it's appropriate that tommy robinson was entertained in the lords by a member here? 0n the second point, i don't think it is right. i think we need to look at ourselves... take a long, hard look at ourselves as a house, and i'm sure the house authorities have been alerted to the presence of the said individual. he is someone who the views that he expresses are notjust appalling against the community he targets, but we are all rightly appalled and it's important that we review our procedures to ensure individuals such as tommy robinson do not enter the heart of democracy. but i am minded to defer that to the house authorities. the foreign office minister. lord ahmed. britain's top civil servant, the cabinet secretary sirjeremy heywood, is retiring due to ill health. there were tributes in both the commons and the lords, which sirjeremy is to join as a life peer. his peerage comes at a time when senior civil servants, especially the prime minister's europe advisor, 0liver robbins, have come under scrutiny for their role in the brexit negotiations. will he condemn all those politicians of all political persuasions and all different views on brexit who blame the civil servants for policy decisions which are the sole responsibility of government ministers? would he not agree that this is damaging to the confidence and trust in the civil service? as the noble lord has indicated, i have an interest to declare. i was myself a civil servant in the 19605 working for such agreeable political masters as george brown and john stonehouse. laughter but on the serious issue the noble lord has raised, i agree entirely with what he hasjust said. i think 0liver robbins has the most difficultjob in the civil service. it is quite wrong that he should be the lightning conductor for those unhappy with the negotiations, and i deplore the anonymous allegation that he is following his own agenda against the wishes of ministers. those who do attack them are actually doing it rather like fake news, to undermine what the words or what they are saying, so could we ask the noble ministers, i'm sure he will, when he reaffirms the independence of the civil service, to urge those brexiteers to pay the ball and not the man? whatever one's politics, one should play the ball and not the man, and it is ministers who bear responsibility for any difficulties in negotiations, not civil servants. lord young. and finally, it is not unusual for ministers to come a cropper at the dispatch box, but it is unusual for their political opponents to help them out. have a look at what happened to the northern ireland secretary, karen bradley. mrspeaker, i... 0h. we're having a day today, aren't we? mr speaker, i will come ono the date in particular, but... thank you very much. the honourable gentleman is such a gentleman, isn't he? i'm sure we would all agree. even better. he's allowing me to not waste any water, which is even better, still. labour's stephen pound, a gallant and eco—conscious helping hand there ending wednesday in parliament. thank you for watching. pleasejoin me again at the same time tomorrow for thursday in parliament. bye for now. hello there. sunshine on wednesday took temperatures very close to 20 degrees, but you can expect those temperatures to drop away over the next few days. and also through the day ahead, thursday, we're going to see a bit more cloud around in many areas. for most, it will stay dry, but not for all. 0n the earlier satellite picture, you can see the way the cloud has been streaming its way in from the north and west. still some breaks in the cloud, a few mist patches to start the day. through the day, the best breaks in the cloud are likely to be for the east of high ground, to the east of the welsh hills, the west midlands, north—east england, east anglia and the south—east as well. all the while, outbreaks of rain in the north and west of scotland, this rain turning heavy late in the day and temperatures down on wednesday, 9-15. and temperatures down on wednesday, 9—15. through thursday night, the rain in the north—west will spread south east, tending to fizzle away as it goes. but behind that, quite a significant change in the feel of the weather as the skies clear out, showers packing in and those temperatures really dipping away. that is a sign of what's to come. as we get on into friday, we start to bring ourairdown we get on into friday, we start to bring our air down from a long way north. cold air rushing in behind this cold front. the remnants of which will still bring cloud and patchy rain in the south first thing on friday. then we get into a mixture of sunshine and showers, those showers turning wintry over high ground in the north and temperature—wise, well, we're looking at highs of between six and 10 degrees at the very best. and with a noticeable northerly wind. so, we stick with that cold feel to the weather as we head on into the weekend with a biting northerly wind. there will be some sunshine, some showers too in areas exposed to that wind and along without some risk of frost and highs. saturday will bring some sunshine, yes, but showers too. most likely in parts of eastern england but also a line of showers perhaps dangling across west wales and parts of cornwall, a few showers to the north—west. sunshine for inland areas, 7—10 at best, and we add on the strength of that northerly wind, this is what it will feel like, it will feel like 1—7 degrees. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is martin stanford. our top stories: explosive devices are sent to leading democrats including barack obama and the clintons. president trump says such behaviour has "no place" in america. any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy itself. in our second special report on china's muslim minority, we hear from those who have fled the country, leaving families behind. the saudi crown prince vows to punish all the "culprits" responsible for the murder of writer jamal khashoggi in turkey. and america's growing addiction to drugs — we hear from those on the frontline of a public health crisis.