Transcripts For BBCNEWS The Week In Parliament 20240714

Its 2 30am. Hello and welcome to the week in parliament. Was this theresa mays last commons defeat and the new Prime Ministers first . The ayes to the right, 315. The noes to the left, 274. Catch them while you can at Prime Ministers questions, the leaders compare legacies. The real disgrace is his handling of racism in the labour party. Activists protesting, mps leaving, staff resigning. Deported british citizens which shes now had to compensate them for. I think, she might look to her own party and her own governments records as well. And 50 years on, that one small step for man. As the world held its breath and came together, and watched in awe these amazing events in black and white footage on our television screens. But first, theyve travelled thousands of miles, faced thousands of questions even answered some of them. Over the past six weeks, weve learned thatjeremy hunt was once an entrepreneur and that borisjohnson likes making model buses. And within days well know which of them will be our next Prime Minister. The last hustings, in londons docklands, was dominated by a smoked kipper produced by borisjohnson to make a point about eu regulations a point that turned out to be a red herring. As its the uk government rather than the eu that sets those particular rules. But the former foreign secretary is still the favourite to win the leadership. And as we know hes promised to take the uk out of the eu by the end of october do or die. Deal or no deal. If the uks spending watchdog, the office for budget responsibility, is to be believed, no deal could see the british economy slide into recession and public borrowing double. The chancellor, philip hammond, has been doing his sums, to the amusement of a cabinet colleague. Now the chancellor told the house recently that a disruptive no deal brexit would cost up to £90 billion. Is that a figure you agree with . Well, firstly, thats a prediction for 2035. And im sure the chancellor himself would say that it is very difficult for any finance ministry with certainty to predict 15 years after the implementation period. Secondly, that figure. Assumes no Government Intervention. Now, again, there are teams within the treasury working on what Government Intervention would be taken in the event of no deal. Stephen barclay believes the chances of a no deal brexit are underpriced. Philip hammond is so worried about the prospect he stayed in number 11 rather than vote against moves to make leaving without a deal more difficult. He was among 30 conservative mps who were absent or abstained on a bid to stop a new Prime Minister suspending, or proroguing, parliament to force through a no deal brexit. Something Boris Johnson has pointedly refused to rule out. 17 other tories voted against their own government, including margot james, who resigned as a culture minister to do so. The vote was on an amendment to a technical piece of legislation on power sharing in Northern Ireland. But its impact will be rather wider. Hilary benn again. So, i suppose this amendment has a secondary effect which would be to ensure that the house would be sitting at a crucial time for our country which is what i believe the country would expect. And i dont think that we can accept circumstances if i may coin the phrase in which we were sent missing in action. This is supposed to be a debate on the Northern Ireland executive formation and it is now being hijacked and turned into something to do with brexit, and to do with every other issue under the sun except the formation of the executive which now looks more unlikely as a result of this piece of legislation. Mr speaker, i entirely accept that the honourable gentlemen is right to be somewhat miffed about what he called a hijack but what i would call a situation where needs must. What have we come to in britain where we have to have amendments to ensure that parliament can still operate . The uk governments own Analysis Shows the catastrophic impact a no deal outcome would have yet some on the benches opposite are still courting no deal. The default should be revoking article 50, not a no deal brexit. And it would be a democratic constitutional crisis if the very honourable member from uxbridge and South Ruislip were to Prorogue Parliament. I rise simply to support the amendment. Like others, however, i regret the need for it. It is needed because of the position adopted by one person, the person who is going to be our next Prime Minister who, if i recall, did in Fact Campaign for parliamentary sovereignty but is now dangling the threat of abolishing parliament over our heads. A threat which dictators even in banana republics are reluctant to deploy. It is shameful. I say this very firmly to my friends from Northern Ireland in this house. They have got to recognise that there is nowhere in this United Kingdom of ours that will be more affected by a no deal brexit than Northern Ireland. No part of the United Kingdom. This amendment is being moved or is being proposed by those who voted to remain and speaking as someone who voted to leave, and as a minority in this place, i can assure the minister that we on our side of the referendum debate would in no way countenance a prorogation of parliament. So, in many respects, these people are tilting at windmills we have reached a narrowing funnel in which our choices are getting fewer and fewer. We are running out of room. The time and voters tolerance of us failing to address that central issue is running out so, the problem with this amendment for many of us isnt about more or less democracy. It is that it is pretending to be democratic but in reality, it is trying to prevent the democratic referendum decision from ever happening at all the ayes to the right, 315. The noes to the left, 274. Applause. So, a hefty government defeat by 41 votes. But what does it mean . Lets try to make sense of it all with experts from not one but two Award Winning think tanks. Professor anand menon from the uk in a changing europe, and joe marshall from the institute for government. I asked joe marshall how significant that vote was. Well, it is significant in lots of ways. Weve had lots of discussion about whether or not mps can try and prevent the Prime Minister proroguing parliament and also about whether mps can try and stop no deal and prevent the government from pursuing that policy. And this sort of makes both no deal and proroguing Parliament Less likely. So its possible that there is a new opportunity for mps to sort of take control of the order paper and something government from doing no deal. And tried to stop the government from doing no deal. And it makes prorogation likely although not impossible for a prime minster to still try. Yeah, as joe says, a prorogation not impossible. Can mps stop borisjohnson or any other Prime Minister doing what they want in those terms or do they have to get the queen to stop it . Well, i thinkjoe was spot on. This has made it harder for a Prime Minister to Prorogue Parliament because parliament has now to come back and sit and they can make the point that this is against the will of elected mps. So its symbolically important and symbolically as important as the fact that a number of ministers, high profile conservative ministers, abstained on this which, as a signal to the incoming Prime Minister, could hardly have been more powerful. But youre right, the Prime Minister could still argue that this is a decision for the queen and when it comes to brexit itself, we should bear in mind there is a difference between abstaining on a procedural motion which is what happened today and taking that far bigger decision to vote against your own government and party in either a substantive motion oi even more so in a vote of no confidence. So ultimately it will depend of what conservative mps are willing to do. But asjoe quite rightly says as a symbol, this is pretty powerful. Now, both candidates say they want a deal. Borisjohnson says we are leaving do or die, deal or no deal. Can he actually say that . Is Parliament Ready for a deal or indeed no deal . What more needs to be done . Well, it is very challenging in both circumstances. The government has said a no deal circumstance but it doesnt need to pass any more primary legislation. It says it can make do with what its got already even though that is not quite what it needed originally. But that could come unstuck if borisjohnson orjeremy hunt wanted to pursue a stimulus budget before a no deal, they might need to introduce a finance bill and there will also be resolutions in parliament. And theyd need mps to vote that through. Yes, exactly, and as weve seen, legislation can be targeted. Finance bills have been targeted earlier this year. And also in a no deal scenario, there is going to be a lot of political decisions that need to be taken in Northern Ireland very quickly in the absence of a devolved administration in Northern Ireland. Really going to have this taken by westminster because of limits of what the Northern Ireland Civil Service can do. So, that really means imposing direct rule in Northern Ireland and it would be prudent for a government to legislate for that before a no deal rather than afterwards. Parliament is about to disappear for its summer break. If borisjohnson orjeremy hunt got that deal they expect or hope from europe, is there time to get through parliament before the end of october . Well, there are several layers there. One, it is there time to get a negotiator in europe because id rather suspect that the french have had enough of sacrificing their august holidays for our brexit. And it will be hard to find people to negotiate with though the team is still there in brussels. Getting the actual Withdrawal Agreement agreed in parliament is the matter of an afternoon in the sense that you have a vote on it and it passes but of course. If only theresa may knew indeed. But then of course, the heavy lifting starts. There is this big piece of legislation called a Withdrawal Agreement bill which is the law you need to put the Withdrawal Agreement into domestic law. Now, that is a major piece of legislation thats constitutional in part and the notion that you can just rush that through while feasible, strikes me as very, very unlikely. I dont see the commons and particularly the lords agreeing to sort ofjust wave through a piece of legislation of that significance. Personally, i do not think there is time to leave with a deal by the 31st of october. Anand menon and joe marshall. Now, borisjohnson may have said were leaving on october the 31st but the new president of the European Commission has said she would consider allowing a further extension to that deadline. Ursula von der leyen, who served as defence minister in the German Government and is a close ally of angela merkel, was confirmed as the replacement for Jean Claude Juncker winning a narrow majority among meps. Before that vote, in a speech to the European Parliament in strasbourg, she reflected on the uks referendum result three years ago. This is a serious decision. We regret it. But we respect it. Applause. Since then together, with the current government of the United Kingdom, the European Union has worked hard to organise the orderly departure of the United Kingdom. The Withdrawal Agreement concluded with the government of United Kingdom provides certainty where brexit created uncertainty. In preserving the rights of citizens and in preserving peace and stability on the island of ireland, these two priorities are mine too. However, i stand ready for further extension of the withdrawal date. Yelling. Should more time be required for a good reason. Applause. While many meps applauded, members of the brexit party heckled. Its leader appealed to meps to reject ursula von der leyen. What youve seen from ursula von der leyen today is an attempt for the European Union to take control of every single aspect of our lives. She wants to build a centralised, undemocratic, updated form of communism that will render nation state parliaments. Yelling. Where the state controls everything, where nation state parliaments. Where nation state parliaments will cease to have any relevance at all. I have to say from our perspective, in some ways, im really rather pleased. Because youve just made brexit a lot more popular in the United Kingdom. Thank god were leaving hear, hear. Ursula von der leyen said whatever happened, the uk would remain an ally, partner, and friend of the eu. But it may be worth remembering that she doesnt take up her newjob officially until november the 1st, the day after the uk is supposed to have left. Now, one of theresa mays last duties as Prime Minister will be to answer mps questions on wednesday. Her penultimate pmqs saw her asking as many questions as she answered. It was dominated by angry exchanges withjeremy corbyn over which of the two leaders had the biggest problem with racism in their own party and the way each of them were tackling that problem. The labour leader wanted to talk about the environment. Theresa may wanted to talk about the labour party. Just today, 60 distinguished members of the labour party have written in the newspapers, the labour Party Welcomes everyone except it seems jews. This is your legacy, mr corbyn. You still havent opened your eyes. You still havent told the whole truth. You still havent accepted your responsibility. You have failed the test of leadership. Apologise now anti semitism has no place in our society, no place in any of our parties, and no place in any of our dialogue. Neither does any other form of racism. And when 60 of tory Party Members think islam is a threat to western civilisation. And the Prime Minister has said she will act on islamophobia within her own party, i hope she does. I look forward to seeing that being dealt with as we will deal with any racism that occurs within our own party as well. We deal with islamophobia in the conservative party. Any allegations of islamophobia are dealt with unlike his way in the labour party where he is failing to deal with anti semitism. This Party Opposes racism in any form whatsoever in our society. And coming from a Prime Minister who encouraged the hostile environment, sent go home vans around london, and deported british citizens which shes now had to compensate them for, i think she has to look at her own party and her own governments records as well. The real disgraces his handling of racism in the labour party. Activists protesting, mps leaving, staff resigning. What would his great heroes of attlee, bevan, and benn think . Look what he has done to their party. We will never let him do it to our country. Hear, hear the snp leader linked president trumps recent controversial comments about congresswomen of colour with the Prime Ministers own record and quoted a retiring conservative mp, guto bebb. Isnt a member from aberconwy correct, Prime Minister, when he warns that the tories are appealing to the type of nationalism that has seen ukip grow . While the tory party shares more with the extremes of donald trump and nigel farage, isnt any wonder, mr speaker, that scotland looks on in horror . The conservative party is a party for the whole of the United Kingdom, and the only party in this house which is appealing to blatant nationalism is the party that wants to take scotland out of the uk. Im sure theyll think of something nice to say about each other for her last question time. Time now for a brief look at some other news around westminster. The minimum age for playing the National Lottery may be increased from 16 to 18. The culture minister, mims davies, said she would consult on whether the age limit should rise for all lottery games orjust games such as scratch cards. In addition to the option to raising the minimum age for all national games, National Lottery games, and retaining the current limit of 16, i am also seeking views on a differentiated approach. That would increase the minimum age for instant win games only. This includes scratch cards and online instant win games. Mps have approved a change in the commons rules to allow allegations of historical bullying and harassment at westminster to be investigated. At the moment, only claims made about behaviour since the last general election can be looked at. The change follows the publication of a report on the issue from a senior lawyer. The report contains serious allegations, including those relating to members who, and i quote, shout at, demean, belittle, and humiliate their staff on a regular basis, often in public. References are made, and again i quote, to staff being subject to unwanted sexual advances, often accompanied by touching, sometimes forceful. The bbcs director general, tony hall, has defended the broadcasters decision to take away free tv licences from the majority of over 75 year olds. The bbc announced last month that only pensioners in receipt of pension credit would receive their licences free from june next year. The chair of the Culture Committee argued that concessions offered in return for taking on the policy had more than offset the cost to the bbc. As a bundle, and you may query those numbers, it ends up being about £700 million has to be found. But certainly the value that you got back from the closing the loophole from the iplayer and from ending top slicing, and from the increase in the licence fee, it certainly seems to be greater than the £250 million obligation you are prepared to take on for the over 75s. If anything, it would seem that you are net gaining from this process, given your current policy of not honouring the original agreement but means testing the over 75s. Can i just say. Can ijust say, the idea that we are not honouring the original agreement is wrong. And i really refute that and i resented. We absolutely, absolutely are honouring the agreement we came to with George Osborne and john whittingdale, to the t. So, honestly, if you want to come out and say things like you are not honouring it, you are wrong. This is absolutely crucial that i establish this because, you know, we are carrying out what the government said we should do, to the t. Mps discussed the plight of Nazanin Zaghari ratcliffe, the british iranian woman jailed in iran three years ago. Last month, Richard Ratcliffe went on Hunger Strike in protest at the continued detention of his wife. He camped outside the Iranian Embassy in london and was visited by more than 100 mps, including john bercow. He spoke directly to mr ratcliffe, who was in the commons public gallery. This matter, the iranians need to know, will not go away until mother and daughter, mother. And wife. And husband are reconciled, so that they can live as one. John bercow. Whats been happening in the wider world of politics this week . Ryan brown has our countdown. At five, a new parliamentary baby meets the speaker as the labour mp tulip siddiq brings her son in to the chamber. At four, a library founded by liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone could get more accommodation under new plans. The uks only Residential Research Library Currently has 26 bedrooms. At three, brexit finally gets the better of a green peer baroness as she gets a little short with lord true. I am sure this is unparliamentary, i cant see the point of what you are saying. Laughter. Youre actually. At two, contrary to popular opinion, there is more happening in europe than brexit. This mep from a satirical german party supported this outfit to protest the new commission president. At one, as we near the summer recess, there appears to be some goodwill left in the commons. Business secretary greg clark gives the opposition benches this model to celebrate the lack of committee. In a week marking the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, we thought wed look back through the eyes of a parliamentarian who watched the apollo 11 mission on tv as a teenager. Crossbencher lord mawson shared his memories during a debate on Space Science and technology. Guidance is internal. 12, 11, ten, nine, ignition sequence start, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero, all engines running. Lift off we have lift off. Many of us in this chamber, i suspect, are old enough to remember exactly where we were and what we were doing at that moment in time as the world held its breath and came together and watched in awe these amazing events in black and white footage on our television screens. I can certainly remember where i was, and the sense of wonder it sparked in me. I was 15 years old. It was only eight years before this that president kennedy had set nasa this mission and seven months since nasa made a Bold Decision to send apollo 11 all the way to the moon on the first manned flight on a massive rocket. On that fine morning in 1965, 7. 5 million lbs of thrust propels them into space and into history. After one and a half orbits of the earth, apollo 11 headed for the moon. Three days later, the crew is in lunar orbit, and one day later, armstrong and aldrin climbed into the lunar module and begin theirdescent, while collins is in orbit in the command module. Collins wrote later the eagle is the weirdest looking contraption i have ever seen in the sky. When the lunar module landed at 4 18pm edt, only 30 seconds fuel remain. We all know the rest. My lords, when you dig into the details of this amazing human feat of risk taking and daring, you discover some interesting facts. It was costing a massive 4 of usa gdp at the peak, it took over 400,000 people working together as a team to take these two brave men alive there and back to the moon. During the final seconds of dissent, eagles computer is sounding alarms, it turned out to be a simple case of the computer trying to do too many things at once. Sound familiar . My lords, at a time when we are in danger, as a country, of talking ourselves to death, drowning in thousands of words and coming apart as a nation, this 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing is a breath of fresh air. Lord mawson recalling apollo 11. And creating new memories for those of us too young to remember 1969. That was the week in parliament. Thank you for watching. I do hope you canjoin me on monday night at 11 oclock on Bbc Parliament for the latest from the commons and the lords on a day when after months of suspense and intrigue, we finally find out who the next leader of the lib dems is. Until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now. It felt as if summer had taken a break on friday, it will return though, as i will show you later in this forecast. But over the last 24 hours we have seen some heavy downpours, that picture came from a weather watcher in staffordshire late on friday afternoon. The radar shows the way in which these pulses of heavy rain flung themselves across the british isles, with some lightning, rumbles of thunder and the last vestiges of this wet weather still with us as we start off saturday morning, some heavy rain across the far south east, patches of rain elsewhere as well. All tied in with this frontal system which is clearing away, so that will allow things to improve a little through the day ahead, but low pressure still in charge, so while there will be some spells of sunshine there will also be some showers, some of which could be heavy and thundery. It is quite a soggy start across the south east of england, that rain should clear away fairly smartly through the morning, rain hanging back across shetland for a good part of the day. For the majority it is that regime of sunny spells and heavy, thundery downpours, although for Northern Ireland, a much drier day in prospect with patchy cloud and sunny spells, 20 in belfast, 22 in plymouth, 24 in london. Those showers should quickly fade away during saturday evening, into the early hours of sunday we will be left with clear, starry skies, maybe the odd mist patch and it will be a little cooler and fresher with temperatures getting down to 11 14. Sunday starts off on a fine, dry and in many places sunny note the further south and east you are the better the chances of holding on to that fine weather, but for Northern Ireland, western scotland, far north west of england, maybe North West Wales will see outbreaks of rain and strengthening winds through the day. Still some wet weather around the northern half of the uk on monday, that rain tending to retreat northwards, further south some spells of sunshine, and things start to warm up. Temperatures could get to 29, possibly 30, but that is not the end of it because across iberia and france, a significant heat wave will be developing through early next week and some of that heat will waft its way northwards, some is likely to get around 34 degrees. The north west of the uk, likely to see some outbreaks of rain at times, but even in edinburgh we are looking at highs of 25 26, some areas of cloud flirting with western coast at times, further south and east is where we will have the highest temperatures, 33 34, with the chance of some thunderstorms later in the week. Welcome to bbc news im reged ahmad. Our top stories the British Government warns of serious consequences after an oil tanker in the gulf is seized by iran. The ship was tracked moving off course, to the north no longer in contact with its owners. Hello and welcome. The British Foreign secretary has warned of serious consequences if the seizure of a british tanker in the strait of hormuz by iran is not resolved. The stena impero was bound for saudi arabia when the owners say they lost contact with the vessel. There are 23 personnel on board but no british citizens are among them