Now on Bbc News the week in parliament. Hello again, and welcome to the week in parliament a week when the queen set out boris johnsons plans for the new political year. My government will level up opportunities across all parts of the United Kingdom, supporting jobs, businesses and economic growth. Also, in this Programme ExPrime Ministers question time Mps Grill David cameron over the greensill affair. This is a painful day, coming back to a place that i love and respect so much. Britains top Police Officer defends the handling of a vigil for sarah everard. I think its an extremely hard thing to second guess when you are looking back at it, but im proud of the way they responded and i do think they took these issues into account. And 80 years on, the speaker recalls the night the luftwaffe bombed westminster. As a bomb was dropping on The Lords, on westminster hall, elizabeth tower, but the big bomb that caused the real damage was in this chamber. But first, the State Opening of parliament was a dressed down, socially distanced occasion compared to previous years, but no less significant for that. The queens speech, which is written for her by ministers, outlined 30 proposed new laws a signal of the governments priorities for the year ahead. So there was plenty of talk of levelling up, but only nine words and no new laws promised on Social Care. A bill to ease Planning Controls in england and another to require voters to prove their identity before casting their vote are already proving controversial, but a long awaited 0nline Safety Bill has been widely welcomed. Trumpets play fanfare. Some Pomp And Pageantry did survive the stripped down ceremony, even if the queen arrived by car, rather than horse drawn coach, for her first major engagement since the death of the duke of edinburgh. As is traditional, Black Rod had the door to the House Of Commons slammed in her face to emphasise the commons� independence. Bangs on door usually, Party Leaders WalkSide By side to The Lords and even chat, awkwardly, but that is not permitted under covid restrictions. The social distancing continued as mps arrived in The Lords to hear the speech. My lords and members of the House Of Commons, my Governments Priority is to deliver an national recovery from the pandemic that makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthierand more prosperous than before. To achieve this, my government will level up opportunities across all parts of the United Kingdom, supporting jobs, businesses and economic growth, and addressing the impact of the pandemic on public services. Measures will be brought forward to support the health and Well Being of the nation, including to tackle obesity and improve Mental Health. Proposals on social Care Reform will be brought forward. On his first day as Prime Minister, borisjohnson promised to fix the crisis in Social Care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared. As mps began to debate the contents of the speech, the Labour LeaderSir Keir Starmer recalled that promise. 657 days on from that promise, what did we hear in this address . Proposals on social Care Reform will be brought forward. No legislation, no new funding, no details, no timescale. Failure to act for a decade and it was failure to act for a decade was bad enough, but failure to act after the pandemic is nothing short of an insult to the whole nation. The Prime Minister promised to publish plans for england by The End of the year. More widely, he promised to level up by spreading opportunity more evenly. The damage that covid has done could not be minimised, but. We must use this opportunity to achieve an national recovery, so thatjabs, jabs, jabs, becomes jobs, jobs, jobs. That is our plan, mr speaker. With scotlands First Minister demanding another independence referendum, the Prime Minister sought to highlight the benefits of the uk. Everything we do, mr speaker, will be done as one United Kingdom, combining the genius of england, wales, scotland and Northern Ireland, joined together by blood and family, tradition and history, into the most successful political, economic and social union the world has ever known. In all its centuries, The Union has seldom proved its worth more emphatically than during this pandemic. But the snp said the speech showed contempt for scotland, despite the snps election victory. That electoral earthquake now opens the democratic path that will shape scotlands future. And lets be clear that future will be in scotlands hands and will be the peoples choice, and nobody, nobody else. And there was a reminder of problems in Northern Ireland after the Brexit Deal with the eu. It pains me to see young people out on the streets in Northern Ireland once again engaging in violence against the police. It pains me to see the instability that is arising because of concerns around this protocol. To be clear, mr deputy speaker, violence is not the way to address this, but politics has to be seen to be working and the government must listen to those of us who have a political voice. Borisjohnson� s predecessor was among those calling for action on Social Care. I know its not an easy issue i put forward a plan, it was comprehensively rejected so i recognise the difficulty in trying to come forward with something here, but it is an issue that we need to grasp. And any Care Policy for england would have Funding Consequences for the rest of the uk. There is a will across this house to work together on this matter. There is a will across all the parliaments of the United Kingdom to work on this matter together. We have to work together to do it. But we will have failed in the people who we serve if we do not address the Care Crisis which we have experienced in the last year, and which we know has been there for years previously. Liz saville roberts. The former Prime MinisterDavid Cameron faced a tough grilling by mps over his work for the collapsed Finance Company Greensill capital. He told mps on the Treasury Committee he was unaware the company was in trouble when he lobbied the government on its behalf. This is a painful day, coming back to a place that i love and respect so much, albeit virtually, but in these circumstances. And ive had plenty of time to reflect on what has happened. It has emerged that David Cameron sent more than a0 texts and whatsapp messages to ministers and officials, lobbying on greensill� s behalf. I hope it is accepted that nothing i did was in breach of the rules, but on the wider test of what is appropriate, as ive said previously, it would be better only to use more formal means of contact, via a letter. He said greensill� s aim had been to ensure small firms got the finance they needed during the pandemic. Greensill was not asking for direct Government Support or some sort of bailout. And at this stage, april last year, i certainly had no sense at all that the business itself was in any danger of collapse. The mps wanted to know how much he was paid. There has been all sorts of speculation in the press, some people saying that you suggested to friends you could, if everything went the right way, make a gain of about £60 million, and others have said that is a vastly inflated figure. Can you tell us something about what you would have expected to have gained, had your involvement gone to plan and youd had an effective exit from the business at some point in the future . Well, i was paid an annual amount a generous annual amount, far more than what i earned as Prime Minister and i had shares, not share options, but shares in the business which vested over the period of time of my contract. He said he had a big economic investment in greensill, but the exact sum was a private matter. You had the enormous privilege of being the Prime Minister of our great country. Youre one of only five people post war to have been re elected to lead our government. Do you not feel that you have demeaned yourself and your position by whatsapping your way around whitehall on the back of a fraudulent enterprise based on selling bonds of high Risk Debt to unsuspecting investors . Well, my view is that what i did was i made a choice to work for a business which i hoped would be a Uk FinTech Success Story and many people believed that it would and i wanted to help that company and what i did at the time of economic crisis was put to the government what i genuinely believed to be a good idea for how to get money into the hands of small businesses and get their bills paid early. David cameron. Earlier in the week, the same committee heard from mr camerons former boss, lex greensill, who began his evidence with an apology. Please understand that i bear complete responsibility for the collapse of greensill capital. I am desperately saddened that more than 1000 very hard working people have Lost Theirjobs at greensill. Over three hours, he struggled to convince sceptical mps. Mr greensill, are you a fraudster . No, ms mcdonagh, iam not. Frankly, it smacks of fraudulent behaviour and it franks of the sort of stuff we saw conducted by the likes of likes of madoff. In the financial crisis thats what it smacks of. It doesnt smack of a proper. Process where people can get Supply Chain Finance that is reliable and credible. Ms ali, when i started greensill, no member of this committee or, indeed, i think almost any institution had heard of Supply Chain Finance. Now, every majorfinancial institution in the world offers it as a product. What would you say to them that makes it clear that it wasnt a fraud because i think thats the heart of what you are being held to account for here. Certainly. We were using data inside corporate systems to allow the customers or suppliers that they had to be able to for us to be able to unlock capital using that information. Lex greensill. The northern Ireland SecretaryBrandon Lewis has said the government is truly sorry for the events in ballymurphy 50 years ago, in which ten people were killed. In the space of 36 hours in August 1971, nine men and one woman were shot in and around the Ballymurphy AreaOf Belfast in the wake of an army operation. Brandon lewis told the commons that the findings of the coroner earlier in the week were clear. Those who died were entirely innocent of wrongdoing. The events of ballymurphy should never have happened. The families of those who were killed should never have had to experience the Grief And Trauma of that loss. They should have not had to wait nearly five decades for the judgement this week, nor have been compelled to relive that terrible time in August 1971 again and again in their long and distressing quest for truth. The government profoundly regrets and is truly sorry for these events, and how investigations after these terrible events were handled, and for the additional pain that the families have had to endure in theirfight to clear the names of their Loved Ones since they began their campaign almost five decades ago. Downing street said borisjohnson had apologised to Northern Irelands first and deputy First Ministers in a phone call, but labour pointed out how a former tory Prime Minister had behaved. In the aftermath of the bloody sunday inquiry, David Cameron came to this house and apologised in a statement. He didnt brief apologies from disputed calls with politicians. He took full responsibility. Where is the Prime Minister today, and why has he not publicly apologised to the ballymurphy families and to this house . Will he take responsibility as Prime Minister and show the victims the respect they so obviously deserve . The Secretary Of State says that the British Army made terrible errors in Northern Ireland. Joan connolly was a mother of eight. She was shot by the British Army four times. She was left lying on the ground for hours to die. That is not an error. That is sheer bloody murder. Will the Secretary Of State ask the Prime Minister to come out of hiding, come with me, meet the ballymurphy families and tell them to their faces why he wants to protect their killers. The Prime Minister is contacting the families directly, as well as his public apology on behalf of the state, and his conversations with the first and deputy First Minister, which Ijoined Him for yesterday. Now obviously, members and colleagues will be aware that obviously, the report was published on tuesday, which was the first full sight we had of the report. We received it on tuesday. We put out a statement on the same day. I am now making a statement to the House Of Commons, having had that opportunity to reflect on that report, but obviously, we will be considering that report in more detail in the period ahead. A leading unionist spoke of ira terrorists. Their victims will never see anyjustice ever in our country and therefore, we cannot have a scapegoating of our soldiers, of our Police Officers, a Perverse Exhibiting and rewriting in an Alice In Wonderland like way of what happened in Northern Ireland, where the peacekeepers become accused of being the peace breakers. Now, borisjohnson� s announcement of an independent public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic has been widely welcomed, but his decision to delay it until next year was equally widely criticised. The Prime Minister told mps that the government was fully committed to learning the lessons at every stage of this crisis. A Covid Memorial Wall outside a hospital, opposite parliament, remembers those whove lost their lives, and a commission will look at ways of commemorating what we have all been through. But the scope of the Inquiry Wont be decided until after talks with the devolved governments in scotland, wales and Northern Ireland, and its unlikely to report until after the next general election. The Prime Minister said the state had an obligation to learn every lesson for the future. Mr speaker, this process will place the states actions under the microscope and we should be mindful of the scale of that undertaking and the resources required to do it properly. The exercise of identifying and disclosing all relevant information, the months of preparation and retrospective analysis, and the time that people will have to spend testifying in public in some cases for days will place a significant burden on our nhs, on the whole of government, on our scientific advisors and on many others. The Labour Leader recalled his meetings with families bereaved by covid. The hardest bit was the details. They told me about not being able to say goodbye in the way they wanted whether that was a hospital or elsewhere and not being able to have a funeral in the way that they wanted. He thought the inquiry should begin this year. The principle is that the inquiry should be as soon as possible as soon as possible. Now, i understand an Inquiry Statutory inquiry will take time to setup. Of course it will. But why can it not be later this year . Why cant it start earlier . The snp thought the vaccines had generated hope. Just as the hope is fragile,. So is the economic recovery. The Prime Minister has just spoken of lessonsl and answers and timing. This mornings 0ns figures demonstrate the depth of the plummet Thats Beenl experienced by the economy and equally showed the scale of the recovery needed. The liberal democrats, who called for an inquiry last year, said the announcement was welcome. And desperately needed so that the public can understand why the uk has suffered one of the highest Death Tolls in the world, so it is critically important that this inquiry is properly independent and has the confidence of the public, including the bereaved families of the over 127,000 people who so tragically lost their lives. A Labour Mp shared her familys experience. Speaker, my Father In Law died at the beginning of the pandemic. Our children were not able to go to their grandfathers funeral. 0ur Grief remains raw. So let me welcome the commitment to those families and the memorial. But can i draw the prime Ministers Attention to the scope of the inquiry. Because we do know, dont we, that the fracturing of Social Care, running the nhs at 90 capacity, the lessons warned in the Flu Pandemic Strategy in 2014, and the lessons from 0peration Cygnus all forewarned much of what has happened and for those of us who have worked in emergency planning, we were shocked at the initial responses. I am so sorry to hear about her own loss, mr speaker, and i want to assure her, of course, i cant imagine thered be any chair of the inquiry or any terms of reference that we could devise that would not include looking back at the state of preparedness before covid actually struck this country. 0thers raised issues that they felt couldnt wait for the inquiry. At the moment, if you want to reside in a Care Home, i you have to spend14 days isolated in your room. Can the Prime Minister look. Again at that isolation period, because it is so impactfull on the physical and Mental Health of residents. She is also right to raise the very painful questions of visiting and the ability of Care Home residents to get to leave their Care Home safely and, mr speaker, there we have to balance the risks to them as well. We try to, as you know, to increase number of visitors they can have and we hope very soon that greater freedoms will be possible. Borisjohnson. Time now for a look at some other news in brief. A fire at a block of flats in East London prompted questions in The Lords on why some high rise buildings are still covered in dangerous cladding, almost four years after the Grenfell Tower Fire in which 72 people died. A minister said the government had been pressing the developer, ballymore, for more than two years to replace unsafe cladding on new providence wharf. Peers were told that Remediation Work had not been carried out, despite the government funding the Lions Share of the £12 million cost. We also are paying for Expert Construction Advice for this particular site, and that is been available sincejuly 2020. And prior to the fire, and this year i had two meetings, So Ministerially led meetings with the senior leadership of ballymore and other members of London Government to try and get the work started. Sadly, it only started this monday. The metropolitan Police Commissioner has defended the way her officers handled the vigil in the memory of sarah everard. Hundreds of people had gathered on Clapham CommonIn London after her body was found in woodland in kent. The force was criticised after some women were handcuffed and removed from the crowds, although the Police Inspectorate found the policing appropriate. Cressida dick was appearing before the home affairs committee. You talked about people being shocked by the images, and i absolutely understand that some people were, you know, upset by them. I would underline again that the Hmr Report points out how well the officers conducted themselves at the time and that they were not heavy handed at all and that they took a very proportionate approach and they did not rush in. She said her officers had had to enforce the covid regulations and had dispersed weddings, funerals and, just that day, two other vigils. I think its a you know, an extremely hard thing to second guess when you are looking back at it, but im proud of the way they responded and i do think they took these issues into account. On your marks, go englands Sports Minister has said councils should look free 5km events that, before the pandemic, were held every Saturday Morning across the uk. Parkrun hopes to return in england next month, although several venues have yet to grant permission. There is nothing stopping them from starting, and starting very soon. I understand the plans are to start again nationally from earlyjune, and i do encourage local authorities, who obviously work with parkruns, to make sure that the events can open safely, to take the applications very seriously and sympathetically because i think wed all like to see parkruns start again very soon. Members of the welsh parliament have returned to work after the Senedd Election, with labour winning 30 of the 60 seats. The party has led the welsh government for 22 years. The Plaid Cymru Ms elinjones fought off a challenge from the conservative Russell George to continue as Presiding Officer or llywydd. This Senedd Election is a neighbourly election, the members for montgomeryshire and for ceredigion. I guess in olden times, we wouldve sorted that out as a dual at dawn on the mountains of plynlimon but this feels far safer and we will both live to tell the tale, russell. At holyrood, two members of the Scottish Parliament have been sworn in. Karen adam, the new Snp Msp for banffshire and buchan coast, made her affirmation in sign language. Before becoming the first sikh to take the oath, Pam Gosal of the scottish conservatives spoke the words of the mool mantar, the sikh statement of belief, in punjabi. Speaks punjabi. And britains newest mp took her seat in the commons after the hartlepool by election. Jill mortimer won the constituency for the conservatives. It had been labourfor almost 50 years, and the defeat prompted a shadow cabinet reshuffle. I 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. All hear, hear Jill Mortimer getting a warm reception in the commons there. Its 80 years since the chamber was destroyed by german bombs during the biggest second World War Air raid on london. The speaker, Sir Lindsay hoyle, has been looking back at events in may 19111. Plane after plane was dropping high explosive bombs, incendiary devices that were dropping all over london. Famous buildings were hit, and none more famous than the palace of westminster. As a bomb was dropping on The Lords, on westminster hall, elizabeth tower, but the big bomb that caused the real damage was in this chamber. Completely obliterated. In fact, the tragedy and the luftwaffe was determined to smash democracy. And as we know, on the 10th, 11th, as it was raining down, 1,500 people lost their lives. Three people lost their lives in this house, trying to save this building. Sir lindsay and his newly elected house of Lords Counterpart LordMcfall Laid Wreaths in a ceremony to remember them. The Speakers Chaplin led prayers at what has become known as the churchill arch, at the entrance to the commons. 80 years ago today, 12th of may, prime Minister Winston Churchill came to the chamber to view the destruction. He would make a plea for this archway to be retained in its bomb damaged state as a Reminderfor Future generations. And he looked at the chamber, the chamber where he had been here as an mp, where his father had been. He realised how important it was to the world, about the home of democracy. And as he surveyed the damage, which was unrecognisable, the spirit of the people of this palace was never going to be lost. And he said, we will rebuild this chamber as it was, but, more importantly, we know the damage to the arch when we walk in. Its not that we dont maintain this building. It is about a reminder of what the luftwaffe tried to do, was smash democracy. That was never going to happen. The speaker, Sir Lindsay hoyle. And that was the week in parliament. Thank you for watching. I hope you canjoin me on Bbc Parliament at 11 oclock on Monday Evening for the latest from the commons and The Lords. Until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now. Hello. It may come as a shock to those of you who sat under sunny skies on sunday, but elsewhere, there was some severe storms, some Flash Flooding and also this was sent into us from one of our weather watchers, a funnel cloud, the early stages of a tornado, on the West Coast of somerset. And the turbulent atmosphere which brought those conditions still with us through the next few days. More Thundery Downpours to come, nice in the sunshine where youve got it, but overall, rather cool and then potential for something much wetter and windier later in the week. Now, out there into the start of monday, the area of low pressure that was with us on sunday moves a bit further eastwards. That allows a bit more of a north westerly flow across the country and a subtle shift in where we will see some of the heaviest of the showers. Now, some of the showers will continue through the night a fair bit of cloud around to start your monday, but it will be frost free, temperatures around 5 8 degrees celsius. Best of the brightness will be in the west, and in fact, in western areas, it will be a drier day overall. One or two showers though in the west to begin with, but notice how they are tracking their way eastwards and, as we go into the afternoon, as temperatures rise, its eastern parts of scotland, Eastern England where we are most likely to see some severe thunderstorms, hail and potentially some gusty winds, with the risk of Flash Flooding in one or two spots. Western areas, though, as i said, always that bit drier compared with yesterday. Nice enough in the sunshine. It will be cooler where the showers occur. The showers will last into the evening, gradually fading away, for the vast majority. There will be one or two around, particularly for coastal areas as we go through the night and into tuesday morning. And with some clear skies around, perhaps cooler through the night into tuesday morning. An isolated chance of a frost for southern scotland, Northern Ireland, but most places will be frost free. The details for tuesday, then well begin with some sunshine, a few early Mist And Fog patches. Cloudier and breezier to the north of scotland, where it will be a rather cool day. A greater chance of showers in northern scotland. Showers return, though, to Northern Ireland, wales, southwest england. This is where the heaviest will be. Fewer showers in southern scotland, northern and Eastern England, compared with monday. Nice in the sunshine, cool out of it. That Showery Story continues into wednesday. Shower risk pushes a bit further north. Then through thursday into friday, it all depends on how quickly an area of low pressure will start to push its way in. There is the potential thursday could be dry, but this Deepening Area of low pressure will push in with some extensive rain and some strong winds, with gales possible in many areas. Stay tuned to the forecast to keep up to date with that. Bye for now. Welcome to Bbc News, im david eades. Our top stories the un pleads for peace in the Middle East conflict, but israels Prime Minister says the Military Campaign on gaza will continue with full force. Civilian casualties continue to rise with children, and the elderly among those killed and injured. Previous wars between israel and hamas have ended with mediation, generally with egypt involved, leading to a ceasefire. Now, contacts have been made but it is a difficult process. India faces a shocking truth, the death from coronavirus of up to 1,600 teachers instructed to help with last months elections