Paying their leaders large salaries under new regulations, unless they can under new regulations, unless they ca n prove under new regulations, unless they can prove they are worth the money. Also, growing up fast. Prince george starts his first day at school with a handshake, escorted by prince william. Good morning. Its thursday the 7th of september. Im annita mcveigh. Welcome to bbc newsroom live. Hurricane irma has caused devastation across the caribbean, killing at least nine people. The small island of barbuda has been severely hit, making it, in the words of its Prime Minister, ba rely habitable, while the islands of anguilla and st martin have also suffered loss of life and significant damage. The storm is currently passing north of puerto rico, where more than half of the islands three million residents are without power. Officials have said it could be cut off for several days. Projections suggest the storm could hit the us state of florida by sunday. Authorities in the French Island territory of saint martin say it has been reduced to rubble and its airport is virtually destroyed, while the dutch Prime Minister says the death toll on the dutch section of the island is still unknown. The bbcs andy moore reports. An entire island raised to the ground, barbuda, home to 16,000 people, both at full force of Hurricane Irma. The communication tower was destroyed, cutting it off from the outside world. The Prime Minister said the island is barely habitable. What i saw was heart rending, absolutely devastating. In fact, heart rending, absolutely devastating. Infact, i heart rending, absolutely devastating. In fact, i believe on a per capita basis, the extent of the destruction in barbuda is unprecedented. A twoyearold toddler was killed, and there were many lucky escapes. We had cars flying over our head, we had 40 foot containers flying left and right. And the story that you are getting from most of the residents here is that the eye of the storm came just in time. People were literally tying themselves to their homes with ropes to keep them down. On the more affluent french territory of saint martin, a similar picture of devastation. At least nine people are dead and dozens injured. 0n the dutch side of the island, there is no news yet of casualties, but the airport has been completely destroyed, effectively cutting off several islands, including anguilla. Were talking about large scale destruction of infrastructure. There is no power, there is no petrol and theres no running water. Houses are underwater, cars are floating in the street, people are living in the dark, cut off from the outside world. This is Hurricane Irma seen from space. The size of france, is currently passing over the Dominican Republic and could hit florida at the beacon. The worst is still to come, close behind irma isjose. Islands like these could not withstand another storm. If jose islands like these could not withstand another storm. Ifjose has its way, they may need to be com pletely its way, they may need to be completely evacuated. Joining me now is blondel cluff, representative of the government of anguilla to the uk and eu. I heard you saying, in absolute agreement with the last line of the report, anguilla could not stand another hurricane, if jose report, anguilla could not stand another hurricane, ifjose hits. Bring us up to date since we spoke yesterday. This yesterday, is being confirmed we have suffered loss of life. Unfortunately, we are still lacking communication, so weve been unable to undertake a comprehensive review, but certainly, at least one gentleman has died thus far. With the devastation of saint martin, you simply cannot access anguilla. You we re simply cannot access anguilla. You were in explaining yesterday that anguilla is very much dependent on neighbouring islands, which are not necessarily british 0verseas territories, as anguilla is. Nor, indeed, in fact, the closest location as france, is part of the eu, which is the french side of saint maarten. As youve seen a new report, the closest International Airport is on the dutch side of saint martin, and that has been com pletely saint martin, and that has been completely wiped out, so there is no International Access to is readily available. So, have you been able to have any communication with people on anguilla . Its been sporadic. I got through to a minister yesterday and received a report on the fatality. The other setback for us is that our hospital, which is minuscule, with only 32 beds for 15,000 british citizens, has lost pa rt 15,000 british citizens, has lost part of its roof, as has the old peoples home, that prison and the Police Station major infrastructure is now under pressure, frankly. Dire situation, even before you get to the threat of another hardy came. We know that on saint martin, the french part of the island, there we re french part of the island, there were troops on the ground in readiness for this. That was not the case for anguilla. Boris johnson said earlier the uk is acting swiftly in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma. How do you react to that . Do you think the uk could and should have done more in advance . you think the uk could and should have done more in advance . I think its always important to learn from these situations. Saint martin had trips on the ground, because saint martin is france. Is the collectivity of france. And of course, they look after themselves more readily than perhaps the United Kingdom does for an overseas territory, which is not deemed to be a constituent part of the United Kingdom. Thats a very diplomatic answer, but if france can do it for its overseas territory, shouldnt the uk be acting in a similar fashion . Continuing in a diplomatic thing, i think that if france can do it, perhaps the uk could learn from that. Given that neighbouring saint martin has suffered terribly as a result of irma as well, and youve explained that anguilla is very dependent on it for its own recovery, other people essentially be on the run for the moments . We invariably are on a roll and without the assistance of neighbouring islands. For example, we simply cannot receive major shipments of anything, because our waters are far too shallow. But there is a naval vessel in the india . Yes, it has 40 members of crew on it, but it will have to cater for the needs of hundreds of thousands of people in the vicinity, i understand. Thank you very much for coming along to talk to us again. Im sure well be staying in touch to find out what the situation on the island is like. Thank you again. Thank you. The uk takes another step towards brexit today, as mps debate the European Union withdrawal bill before a vote takes place on monday. The bill will mean that thousands of eu laws and regulations are transferred into british law. Many in the commons, including some conservative backbenchers, have expressed concerns about the bill. Labour says it will vote against it arguing its simply a power grab by the government. My my colleague jane my colleaguejane is in westminster for us this morning. This will be one of the most contested debates and sometime. Yes. There will be extra debate in the commons this morning, in the wake of storm irma. And going to be talking to Iain Duncan Smith for the conservatives ina duncan smith for the conservatives in a moment, but first lets go to achieve Political Correspondent norman smith, because it will be watching all of this for us. Norman, just to give us less sense of the anxieties here, whether its going to go through, because they will ultimately have a port on it at the end of two days of debate. What are you picking up on . I think it was certainly will go through, even though the opposition parties are poised to vote against it. Theyre not going to be joined poised to vote against it. Theyre not going to bejoined by poised to vote against it. Theyre not going to be joined by tory rebels. Lets be clear, this is a big moment in the brexit story. This is the key bill that basically paves way to leave the eu. It undertakes the original legislation back in 1972, which took us into the then European Community. This is a very significant piece of legislation and asa significant piece of legislation and as a result, its an almighty big piece of legislation, Something Like 60 places with innumerable clauses and subclauses. What that means is there are all sorts of opportunities for the Prime Ministers critics and those opposed to brexit to try and change, to amend, to introduce different elements. So we may well see down the line, eat a few weeks time, mps trying to table amendments, saying we must stay in the Single Market, we should leave the Single Market, we should leave the Customs Union, mps must have a vote before any brexit deal is signed off. There are huge opportunities to shape the sort of brexit we eventually have. The curiosity is, the flash point which is emerging at the moment has nothing to do with brexit. Its all about the power of the government, because there is legislation means ministers will have a huge amount of say in transferring european law into british law and in some insta nces, into british law and in some instances, they would have to bother getting the approval of parliament. In many instances, some say up to a thousand different pieces of legislation, will be in effect signed off by ministers. That has provoked a backlash from those concerned about the power and role of parliament, including the former conservative attorney general dominic greene. I asked an hourly of what was his concern about this. As drafted, the bill is undoubtedly eat powergrab, drafted, the bill is undoubtedly eat power grab, because it gives the government the ability to rewrite primary legislation in a way that has no adequate safeguards. I should explain, i entirely recognise that they cannot do this massive change without giving the government statutory instrument power to change statute law. But there have got to be safeguards, there has to be a syste m be safeguards, there has to be a system where parliament to scrutinise. In addition, we need to go through the bill to see if these powers should be granted. I think the governments approach so far has been remarkably cavalier in the way this has been drafted, because it has all the hallmarks of a power grab. And its not necessarily, and theyre going to have to change it if they want to get this bill through the commons. Let me put it to you, is simply impossible to debate all the many cia, the thousands of bits and pieces of eu legislation. We have to cut the government some slack, to allow them to carry out what id just nips and tucks. Absolutely right, i agree with that entirely. What im suggesting is not that we somehow have to get rid of all these henry viii clauses, but there has to be a structure in place. Youre so have to make sure that each time the lizzie henry viii clause allowing the government to government by decree, is this necessarily in this particular context . The legislation is full of them. My own view is that there are places where they are not necessarily. There are other places where what we need is a structure that guarantees that parliament will be able to have oversight in this piocess. Be able to have oversight in this process. As long as we have that, the government will have my support. It is necessary that we have this bill, we need in order to leave the eu without chaos, and the government is entitled to support in order to achieve that. But the draft is insufficient. What happens if the government says they dont agree with you and the defeated on this. Because this bill is pivotal to our departure from the eu. Would you not then in effect be scuppering the key legislative plank to brexit . then in effect be scuppering the key legislative plank to brexit . I think thats a rather apocalyptic description. In my view, if the government doesnt listen, there must be a strong likelihood of individual issues and the government might lose. I wouldnt wish to see that happening, my view is that the government is likely to listen carefully to what we have to see and amend the bill accordingly. If the bill was an appalling condition at the end of committee stage, that might call into question whether one could support it at third reading. But of course one has to have in mind that we need a piece of legislation of this kind, and if its not this legislation, we would need some other piece of legislation. Although i may have campaigned to remain in the eu, i have accepted the verdict of the electorate. My task as an mp is to make sure this exit is carried out ina make sure this exit is carried out in a smoothly and in a way that is compatible with our constitution. The difficulty is that there legislation at the moment doesnt do that. Indeed, far from creating certainty, there are other aspects of the bill but create uncertainty, and that has been commented on by a large numberof and that has been commented on by a large number of people and that bubbly to be addressed. Beyond this argument over the powers of parliament, this is a piece of legislation that provides ample opportunity to table allsorts of amendments how far is it likely that mps opposed to the governments approach to brexit will use this legislation to derail the governments plans . That certainly not my understanding of what is likely to happen, as far as conservative mps are concerned. Ive no idea what the labour party is going to do. Speaking personally, i think this bill is a very poor vehicle for trying to obstruct brexit. Anyone who has any sense of responsibility must recognise that we need such a piece of regulation if we are to leave the eu smoothly. Theres responsibility on all of us to do that. There may be all sorts of background issues that people would like to argue about, including the principle of brexit itself, but this isnt the place to do it and its certainly not my purpose in the issues ive been reading with the government, to try to obstruct brexit being carried out, far from it. So potentialtrouble brexit being carried out, far from it. So potential trouble ahead for mrs may. But potential trouble ahead forjeremy corbyn, because labour have decided they are going to vote against the big second reading vote, the main vote on monday. But some labour mps the main vote on monday. But some labourmps are the main vote on monday. But some labour mps are not at all happy about that, because their fear is that labour will be seen as trying to sabotage brexit, and their concern is that this will be a slap in the face of those many labour voters who actually backed brexit in the referendum. So trouble for mrs may potentially, potential trouble forjeremy corbyn as well. Well be putting some of that to labour members later in the day. Ill be talking to hillary benn among others later on. But right now, lets talk to Iain Duncan Smith, in favour of britain leading the eu. Good morning. You could not hear Dominic Grieve there, but im sure you know the former attorney general was describing this bill is a power grab. He says that are significant problems with that. The first thing is there will be plenty of time to debate what he thinks is in this bill, but can ijust remind him of something he skates over. In 1972, the act that routers into the European Union, gave the government enormous powers to ignore parliament. For 40 years, enormous powers to ignore parliament. For40 years, i enormous powers to ignore parliament. For 40 years, i dont re call parliament. For 40 years, i dont recall him or others complaining about the lack of accountability of parliament. The set of powers are time limited and then about simply getting this stuff into uk law, all the european law that were going to repeal, but it into uk law and get it done and then the powers all. Thats all it is. If there are ways of scrutinising whether the change are not, im in favour of that, but lets not complain about the power grab, that took place 40 years ago. This will now empower parliament and agree to win and we had for 40 years. But the fact that people like him, with the role he has heard, there are many backbench mps in your own party who are expressing similar concerns. Does that not suggest that theresa may has not been able to reassure people probably that there will be scrutiny . That the issues has not filtered through, because Dominic Grieve is not the only person saying it. He has been an opponent of us leaving from the word go. But he says he acknowledges the way the vote went. Theyll say that. Lets put it in context. It is a lets; eat it in. Tartut i z ai reading today the bill it second reading today the bill it will be debated here and in the lords. There will be a lot of give and take on the scrutiny of it, to assure people there is no intention to expand or extend those provisions in any way. Its simply about implementing and not changing the laws. I think will be able to get it through, but the bill itself has one purpose only, to make sure that when we leave, it is as smooth as possible, that businesses and others now, that the law that applies today will still apply in the same way tomorrow, and thats the purpose of the bill. And those who want to vote against it, like the labour party at the moment, its ridiculous. If you vote this bill down, you will have chaos. What would the impact be of that . Some of your Party Members might do that as well . All the law weve implemented in 40 years would disappear from the statute books, with no mechanism to restrain it. That would be chaos. The labour party is playing a silly game. By all means, complain about elements of the bill and seek to get the change, but to vote against the second reading is to vote for chaotic exit. Quickly about devolved governments. This, this is all about we are bringing powers back and is the powers will be devolved. Things that fisheries, that will take place with devolved administrations. But they are devolved, remember, they are not federal parliaments, so the government retains certain powers like trade. They are making a fuss about nothing. Thank you very much for your time this morning. Banks are being with us. At half past three this afternoon, we want to a special ask this. We will have two experts and academics with those just have half past three to g