After the death of a second woman in an alleged gang rape. She was also from the badly marginalised dalit community. Both killings have sparked national revulsion but gender and caste based violence continue to be endemic in the country. The sister of george floyd the unarmed black man who was killed in Police Custody has broken her silence. Latonya floys has been speaking to a british newspaper. She called on americans to vote, telling the uks daily mirror that President Trump actively emboldens the far right. The European Commission has started Legal Proceedings against britain over legislation that seeks to override parts of the brexit treaty. Britain has a month to respond and insists the legislation is necessary as a safety net to protect internal trade between parts of the uk including Northern Ireland. Thats it for me, luis will be here at one oclock. Now on bbc news, its newscast. So, chris, adam isnt here but you are. Yeah, and its great to be back, not least because usually when adams on holiday, lots of stuff happens. And, actually, today, on thursday as we record, theres been rather a lot of news. Theres been a lot of news and its been a busy old week. Weve had a slew of regulations, millions more people now living under limited lockdowns. Unfortunately, still the spread of the disease, although a story today that it might be slowing a little bit. But also this week, the return of satire. Yes. What did you say this show is called . The name, orthe nomine to the romans, little latin pun, is spitting image. Spitting scrimmage . Spitting image. Spitting cribbage . It a sketch show with puppet caricatures of real people and it can be rather nasty. Puppets . That is the very most moronic thing ive ever heard. My puppet is going to be
the best puppet and i love it. Laughter. The return of spitting image, and a bit later on well be talking to the voice behind both of those characters whos been involved with creating the show. And for a blast of nostalgia, weve got katya back to talk brexit. We have so welcome to a little bit of brexitcast, this weeks newscast. Newscast. Newscast from the bbc. So, its laura this week at westminster. And its chris, glad to be back at westminster, sitting in for adam, whos away. So, there has been, this week, number one, lots of confusion about all the changing rules. But number two, a real expansion in the numbers of people who are living under tighter restrictions now. A quarter of the population is now living under tighter rules. Huge brew ha ha in westminster about that this week. The government having to manage backbench discontent. Its felt quite angsty at some times, hasnt it . Yeah, angsty and, i guess inevitably, bitty because the government has said,
hasnt it, repeatedly, it doesnt want to institute, unless it has to, any kind of national whatever you want to call it, short of a lockdown or even a lockdown if things were to get that grim. But i suppose the inevitable reality of that is this patchwork of different measures that vary by geography and then seem to change every moment. Someone was saying to me the other day that you know, the phrase over the summer was th wasnt it . But if there is a new normal, it lasts for about three days and then it changes again. And then it changes again and thats difficult for people and its difficult, as well, for politicians to communicate. Hmm. A bit more on that later. But first off, lets have a listen to matt hancock in the Commons Chamber today, when he was confirming the latest restrictions now covering liverpool and even more of the north east of england. Working with Council Leaders and the mayors, i am today extending these measures that have been in place in the north east since the start of this week to the liverpool city region, warrington, hartlepool
and middlesbrough. We will provide £7 million of funding to local authorities in these areas to support them with their vital work. The rules across the liverpool city region, warrington, hartlepool and middlesbrough will be as follows we recommend against all social mixing between people in different households. We will bring in regulations, as we have in the north east, to prevent in law social mixing between people in different households in all settings, except outdoor public spaces, like parks and outdoor hospitality. Even explaining it takes quite a while, doesnt it . It does, and its just a lot of people. A lot of people and a lot of real limits on peoples lives and it was interesting there to hear the Health Secretary saying, this has been in close consultation with the Council Leaders and mayors right around the country but im not sure everyone quite feels like that. Lets talk to one of the mayors, andy preston, the mayor of middlesbrough, independent mayor. Hi, andy. Hello, hi. Thanks for coming on. What do you make of this . Well, its a carry
on, isnt it . Its a palaver, its a bit of a fiasco its the end of the day so i can laugh now but i was fuming and really angry this morning. Listen, the first thing i should say is, you know what, matt hancock and the government have an exceptionally toughjob. Its pretty much impossible and criticising is easy. But, but. You are going to do it anyway. Here it comes. Yeah, here it comes, here it comes. Listen, we are on top of covid here. We know all about it. We are not soft on it, we have dished out 180,000 free face masks. Weve imposed measures. Ive forced shops to get staff to wear them, ive forced cafes to get staff to wear them. We are on board, we are pushing for restrictions, but we need sensible, intelligent and compassionate restrictions. And while i accept we need to limit the ability of people to socialise at home, i get that, i see the data. A well run cafe for a socially
distanced coffee is of no risk to anybody but ceasing that, denying that human right, that piece of important humanity, will Damage Mental Health and its killing jobs. I mean, i could look to my left, several coffee shops, they are clinging on to life by their fingertips and this is going to push them over that edge. The repercussions are monstrous. How would you do it, though . You accept, you see the rise in cases, im sure you share the concerns of people about how this spread of the disease is on the rise again. What would your approach be . If its not these restrictions, what would you do instead . So, we feared this was coming, we feared it for about a week. We went and put a proposal to government, it went as follows, and it was based, by the way, on expert advice from Public Health. And our specialist knowledge, we know our community, we know how it works, we know the health issues, the challenges and we can get stuff done. We proposed, yes, of course,
limit, for the time being, social interaction or socialising at home. But allow somebody to stand in the garden and have a coffee three metres from a friend or neighbour. Allow someone to stand on the garden path while someone else stands at their doorstep. Allow friends to meet for a socially distanced coffee in a coffee shop. All of these things are safe and sensible. We heard mr hancock theyre talking about in consultation with mayors and local leaders. Did you have mr hancock on the phone, were there Conference Calls and was it news to you when he stood up in the house of commons this morning and said what he said or had you been told in advance . Well, im a mayorand im a local leader and i was on a phone call with another local leader from hartlepool and we were both staggered at that statement. Neither of us or any of our teams have been consulted at any point, at any point. So, where that statement came
from, goodness knows. At any point during the whole pandemic, do you mean, or in the last few days has it looks like restrictions might be on the way back . Well, there have been huge la rge scale Conference Calls. Well, not Conference Calls, messages from government via zoom that local leaders are allowed to sit in and watch and listen. I have not observed any two way interaction at all, of any kind. Maybe ive missed out, but we actually went to government and said, listen, based on our local knowledge, based on our understanding of the community, based on our wish to control the virus, we think you should do this. And if someone had come back and said, weve taken that on board but weve decided not to thats fine. They havent. We dont feel theyve listen, we dont think they are interested, we think they are under pressure, of course, but they need to listen to local knowledge. But do you think its helpful, then, for members of the public to hear you question whether the restrictions are really required . I have to do myjob, i have to stand up. If the government proposes. Of course, it isnt law right now, its a proposal to come in i think at the weekend. We dont even know. Even since that was said this morning, weve not had a single piece of communication on anything. Even since the announcement . So, you still dont know as we are talking on thursday evening whether or not this will be in force with the law with Police Forces and Cleveland Police out and about this weekend . No, not at all, i dont know that at all. I spoke to my ceo two hours ago and he doesnt know, either. We know what to expect, by the way, of course, we know what to expect but theres been no official communication or clarification of any points. And to be clear, andy, your views on what the government is, as you see it, imposing upon middlesbrough are clear but once those rules are the law, would you encourage local people to abide by them . Absolutely. Listen, i will stick to the letter and the spirit of the law and everyone else will, too. We will make sure that happens but before it becomes law im saying,
listen, youve got it wrong. I know youve not got much time, andy, because youve got a lot to be getting on with, trying to find out exactly whats going on butjust before we let you go, i mean its been one of the running themes through this crisis, hasnt it . Weve talked about it a lot on this programme and on the podcast about what seems like a pretty big disconnect between local leaders trying to make things work on the ground and national government. I mean, from your point of view, as an independent leader, rather than someone from one party or another, how would you characterise it . Obviously, i dont know whats going on away from us. Sure. But im frustrated, im disappointed. I get matt hancock is not going to call me or pop round for a socially distanced coffee in the garden and have a chat, right . Realistically. Laughter he might have been planning it until today, andy you never know. He probably is there tonight with a crowbar or baseball bat or something. Laughter. But seriously, i get hes busy and we are in a crisis and being the boss in a crisis is extraordinarily tough and its
so easy to criticise. And i bit my tongue all the way along, all the way along ive been asking for tougher measures, more this, more that, Face Coverings in cafes, Face Coverings in shops, by the staff as well as customers, so im not light on covid. Ijust wish that they could get a junior minister or senior Civil Servants to talk directly to us and listen. If you listen and dont agree, thats fine, thats their decision but they havent come and listened. You just want to be brought into that conversation andy, thank you so much. I know its a really busy time. Come back another time and tell us how things are going. Thank you. Bye bye. So, it will be interesting to see how that develops over the coming days. Obviously a lot of concern in all sorts of different parts of the country. We found out more today, havent we, about how the government is actually going to try and make this more straightforward, with a sort of Traffic Light system . Yes, this idea that as opposed to having effectively what seems like a different model for everywhere, to try and in the future, and this hasnt been announced yet but we know its being discussed involving Public Health officials and politicians, of having a Traffic Light system or a tier system, where
you have three tiers representing three different gradations that parts of england might find themselves within. Weve actually seen two variations of this, tier one and this is kind of worst Case Scenario and then better Case Scenario but the point is. Important to get that the right way round for people but the idea being you would have tier one or the red light being the most significant restrictions. Tier two, some restrictions, more than the rest of england but not as bad as tier one and then tier three of the green light or whatever it might be, being the most relaxed but still social distancing, still the rule of six. The idea being that we would all have perhaps a greater way of understanding what applies where we live because we would be in one of the three tiers. And at least that would be a kind of coherent rather than having to read the small print because weve seen even this week the Prime Minister himself got it all a bit mixed up, didnt he . In the north east and other areas where extra tight
measures have been brought in, you should follow the guidance of local authorities but its. You should follow the guidance of local authorities its six in a home or six in hospitality but, as i understand it, not six outside. And the Prime Minister had to apologise quick smart for getting it wrong and to be completely crystal clear, unless you live in one of the areas of local lockdowns, the rule of six applies everywhere outdoors, indoors, everywhere. So so coronavirus clear the dominant here in westminster, but its also time for a little bit of nostalgia. Cadieux is with us, and if youre watching rather than listening or, she is still in possession of the must have
items of 2819 which is brexit cast, we did something called a spy cast, we did something called a spy fall. Why are we talking about brexit this week, what is happening . You could be forgiven for thinking that you wear because you know, these are the end stages of the negotiations, high stakes, both sides saying they want a deal, but not any price. We decided it was called a spoffle. Dominant thing at westminster. But it is also time for some nostalgia yes and katia is with us. If youre listening rather than watching, she is still in possession of one of the most have items of 2019, a brexit cast. We decided it was called a spoffle. A microphone cover. What is happening. I have to focus and not be too 2019. You would be forgiven for thinking you were, because these are the end stages of the negotiations. High stakes. Both sides say they want a deal. We can say the reason
it is so hard, because it is about compromise and on big sticking points whether fishing rights or state aid or the governance of a whole trade and security deal, dispute mechanism, that is difficult for both sides and we have the row over the governments internal market bill. If you rememberthe eu said, we give you up until the end of september you need to remove the contentious parts of bill in the eus bill, that would override part of the Withdrawal Agreement. Otherwise. And today we heard from the Commission President what the dot, dot, dot was. The problematic provisions have not been removed. Therefore this morning the commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the uk government. This is the first step in an infringement procedure. Ursula von der leyen there with her eu Face Covering i noticed that popped out of her pocket as she to send a letter of formal notice to the uk government. This is the first step in an infringement procedure. Ursula von der leyen there with her eu Face Covering i noticed that popped out of her pocket as she walked from the microphone. When you hear of Legal Proceedings, the temptation is to go, ooh, intake of breath. But this stuff happens quite a lot. Yes. I would say to be fair it is a big deal. I mean. The commission does take proceedings against Member States when it feels that theyve broke on rules or regulations. Of course, we are no longer a member state, since 31st january, but under the brexit Withdrawal Agreement there are provisions for Legal Proceedings like this to be started and for a period after brexit, we are still beholden, or have to respect rulings of the European Court ofjustice. There is a very long and drawn out proceedings. I would argue its quite a big deal. From the uk side we have heard a lot of dismissal of the deal, this happens all the time. But i think that we should put our eyes on what the commission hasnt done rather than what it has done. I think the reason it started these Legal Proceedings is because it said it would. It set the timeline. And this is aimed at much at other trade partners that the eu has, like japan for example, dont dare think you can break an agreement
with us, because this is what we will do, as much as at the uk. What the eu has not done is walk out of trade talks. And that would have been the really explosive reaction. Exactly. And she said the uks got a month to respond to this and in a months time we will be past the key european summit meeting in the middle of this month which is still the sort of hoped for focus that could actually be the timing of getting a deal done. There or thereabouts and just as the uk put that controversial legislation that infuriated the eu so much, on pause until after that moment, what does that mean . It means both sides say weve still got a window to get a deal done, the trade talks going on in brussels all week, the final day tomorrow, youre hearing conflicting things, theres a bit of chat like, ooh it might be looking quite good, we might be going into the tunnel where negotiations happen behind closed doors and everyone has to stay in the room until
they get a deal done. From the other end, i heard fro