headlines. now on bbc news wednesday in parliament. hello again and welcome to wednesday in parliament. a labour mp denied the chance to see his dying relatives due to covid rules challenges the prime minister. we see sycophantic, spineless, hypocritical government ministers lining up to defend the indefensible. we have tried throughout this pandemic to minimise human suffering and to minimise loss of life. also in this programme, universal credit claimants face a £20 a week cut. this was brought in in line with the temporary measures to support people during the covid pandemic. it s being phased out in line with all the other temporary measures. and the transport minister on why we need more female lorry drivers. it is a very white male sector. and i think there are huge opportunities for the sector to diversify. but first. a summer of chaos with new covid variants, greater pressure on the nhs and millions of people being pinged to self isolate. that prediction came fro
To minimise human suffering and to minimise loss of life. and as i have said before, when he asked me to apologise, i do. i apologise for the suffering of the people of this country have endured. all i can say is that nothing i can say or do can take back the lost lives, the lost time spent with loved ones that he describes. and i am deeply, deeply sorry for that. two hours after prime minister s questions, boris johnson faced mps at the liaison committee, which is made up of the chairs of select committees. he was asked about the increasing numbers of covid cases ahead of the lifting of restrictions in england the week after next. we are already seeing businesses unable to function, hospitality businesses having to close. if i take nurseries for example, they have to maintain legal ratios of staff to children in order to stay open, and the early
Than the wait, is that the case that until we get to that point on the 16th of august people who have been jabbed twice will have to isolate even if they have had a negative covid test? we are asking people to isolate. i know how frustrating it is, but. why? because we have to. i m afraid this is a highly contagious disease and we have to do what we can to stop its spread. 0ne labour mp wondered why the prime minister didn t always correct the record when he got things wrong. boris johnson s reply focused on the brexit referendum campaign. it s commonly asserted, for instance, that when we put the figure of £350 million a week on the side of a bus that went around this country causing a great deal of hoo ha that that was erroneous. and that it did not reflect
And so forth. on friday, and we had a new health secretary on saturday. and considering that we are in the middle of a global pandemic it s quite a thing to move your health secretary. i think it was quite fast if i may say so. that s all i have to say on that matter. the prime minister. you re watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. don t forget if our daily highlights happens to clash with a penalty shoot out or something else important in your life, you can catch up via the bbc iplayer. the work and pensions secretary has said that the £20 a week increase to universal credit will be phased out in the autumn along with other temporary covid measures. universal credit is claimed by more than 5.5 million households in the uk.
Robert courts. now, where have all the lorry drivers gone? a shortage of drivers has been blamed by, among others, the german confectionery giant haribo for problems delivering its sweets to shops in the uk. the haulage industry has blamed the pandemic and brexit for thousands of unfilled hgv driverjobs. now questions have been asked in the house of lords. brexit and covid combined have in part led to the crisis that we face as well as the closure of test centres during the covid pandemic last year preventing training of new drivers. the industry is stepping up to the plate by agreeing to pay drivers more. will the government look very carefully at encouraging women drivers to take up lorry driving? and also by adding hgv drivers to the uk skills shortage list as well as try to hold even more training test centres and the reissuing of licenses?