This is bbc news, the headlines President Trump has ended negotiations with congress over a multi trillion dollar stimulus package to help the us economy recover from the pandemic. He says he will only resume talks after the election. A leading democrat says mr trump is putting himself first at the expense of the country. The senior white house adviser, stephen miller, has become the latest of over a dozen members of Donald Trumps inner circle to test positive for coronvirus since the president announced he had covid 19. Millers wife, katie, whos a spokeswoman for Vice President pence, tested positive for the virus in may. Several senior military officials are also quarantining. Out on the campaign trail, democratic candidate joe biden has offered a stark assessment of americas place in the world telling voters that the nation is in a dangerous place and issuing a warning that the forces of darkness are pulling the country down. Now on bbc news, tuesday in parliament hello again, and welcome to tuesday in parliament, as conservative mps warn ministers over lockdown rules. If we do not rethink the 10pm curfew, we could see bars, pubs, restaurants and breweries will call last orders for the final time. Will the Government Back britains boozers and breweries . Mps debate how to tackle the horror of gang killings. In the last two months alone, i have had to speak to three inconsolable mothers who have lost their children as a result of knife crime. And should statues of controversial figures from our past be taken down . We know more about colston since hes been pulled down
when he was there. To tell the truth, people dont know that colston didnt even live in bristol more than nine years. But first, labour has said that Financial Support must be provided hand in hand to communities facing local lockdown restrictions. The shadow chancellor, anneliese dodds, warned that what she called the governments failure to implement a functioning test, trace and isolate system had profound economic consequences putting businesses and jobs at risk. But the treasury minister, steve barclay, told mps the government was willing to listen and adapt its response to the virus according to the needs of the economy. He came to the commons to answer an urgent question from labour. So, when will the government finally be in a position to deliver support hand in hand with the opposition of restrictions. Not trailing them. Secondly, the response has been inconsistent. £3 million for lester, 7 million for Liverpool City Region an undefined funding
package for the northeast of england, nothing for Greater Manchester or the west midlands. So, which criteria determined the allocations of support to areas under local restrictions . Steve barclay told her what the government was doing. Many of the measures that we put in an initial response have been extended by my right honourable friend the chancellor, such as the package of loans, the tax deferrals, the pay to grow and these are universal offers to support businesses, irrespective of what they are in areas of acute lockdown or otherwise. The snp said restrictions had been targeted. I ask the minister what sectors of specific sports are being given forward, hospitality, events, tourism, culture and the arts in which the chancellor seems to suggest earlier that people should just go and get anotherjob, which is deeply offensive to many in those sectors. Failing to support and sustain businesses right now risks
putting those businesses over the edge in the chancellor would not be there for a recovery in the future. Bearing in mind with the secretary has said bearing in mind what the secretary has said about flexibility, will the government now accept that extension to for a june of 2021, which experts say could protect more than a millionjobs is absolutely vital to protect these companies . I dont agree with the honourable lady that the solution would be to extend indefinitely the furlough scheme, because i think that is keeping people with the expectation of a job that may never return and in doing so at a very significant cost. We need to support those jobs with a viable. We need to support those jobs that are viable. Will the chief secretary agree that the best way to help business is to let business get on with the job as free as possible from government control. When the treasury argue against further lockdown for business, scores
of tory mps cheer him on tens of thousands of businesses but the chancellor. Is it our duty to balance the books and what is the point of solving this problem by borrowing money . Is that the socialist way and what will be the point of the conservative government if we did that . Thank you, mr speaker. As a former chair of the public accounts committee, he is quite right on the importance of value for money and protecting the interests of the taxpayer and youll be well enough the interests of the taxpayer and he knows me well enough to know that i share that sentiment. Is it the treasurys assumption that these measure are only going to be needed for a short period in the vaccine will come and solve everything . As i think it is more likely that we are going to see some permanent changes to our economy and that is going to require for us to accept that there will be a significant Economic Transformation required . As far as the timing of the vaccine that the Prime Minister has set out, what has changed from march was perhaps initially looking
for a shorter period of time and that it is now clear that we will be leaving and that it is now clear that we will be living the coronavirus for a longer period of time for further than six months. Some conservative mps were unhappy about the 10pm closing time for pubs and restaurants. If we do not rethink the 10pm curfew, we could see bars, pubs, restaurants and breweries call last orders for the final time. Will the Government Back britains boozers and breweries and rethink the approach to the 10pm curfew . Well, mr speaker. My honourable friend is absolutely right that it is important that we do this in a targeted way, both in terms of our economic measures but also in terms of our Health Response to the pandemic. It is about getting the balance right and in respect of a 10pm curfew, it is worth reflecting that we are not alone that in that the netherlands and madrid, they have taken a similar approach and it is all about getting the balance right in ensuring that we do this in a targeted way. Last week, one of my constituents who owns a bridal store contacted me in desperation due to coronavirus restrictions in the northeast, brides to be can no longer take a relative or a friend to their dress fitting appointments, especially ultimately, this has led to numerous cancellations. To echo my honourable friend, will the ministry committed to echo my honourable friend, will the ministry commit to providing support for businesses like hers or will the government allow them to fail through no fault of their own . I think this is one of the sectors which is very emotionally hard hitting in terms of one can see the human distress and impact of the virus on cases like that. What is a Pivotal Moment in peoples lives, but also economic distress. Certainly not the case that the government letting businesses fail in that regard, the consequence of the pandemic in a particular sectors more acutely than others. Steve barclay. Mps on the Treasury Committeewere given an insight into the challenges facing the Hospitality Industry with new restrictions on meeting up and pubs a nd restau ra nts shutting at 10pm. Even before those restrictions were imposed, an Industry Survey painted a bleak picture. A quarter of our members said that they would be closing premises, for individual sites, there will be their entire business and for others it will be a significant proportion of their estate. When we asked the survey was done just before we latest round of restrictions comes only about a week and a half since it was published but it is already out of date. The anticipated number of additional redundancies by the end of the year was 560,000. So, that was out of the ones that were on furlough. We are doing that survey again and will share the data with the Treasury Committee when it comes out. The anticipation is that number will be far higher now as a result of the local restrictions the national constraints on working from home. On the curfew. Etc. A Health Minister has failed to rule out people having to pay for coronavirus tests under the governments proposed moonshot programme. The Prime Minister hopes millions of covid i9 tests including some giving results within minutes could be processed daily. But labour wanted to know if thered be a cost. We have real concerns about creating a two tiered system where some people have to pay. It undermines the fundamental principle of the nhs and will do nothing to stop the spread of the minister give us a definitive answer today . Are people going to have to pay to access the new tests, yes or no . Thank you, mr speaker. Thank you, mr speaker. I dont recognise the comments that hes making about the suggestion that there should be a two tiered system. What we have in place is a universal system where every body who has symptoms is able to access a test. And as he will well know, where we know that we have
particular risks like for those in the care home settings, there are also tests for those who dont have symptoms so we can pick up outbreaks early on. And a huge amount of resource and investment is going into developing new technologies for testing, easier testing, quicker tests and testing be done at a greater scale. This is all part of building up our Testing Capacity so we can suppress this horrid virus. The snp asked about existing Testing Capacity and the newly set up lighthouse labs. With covid 19, speed is of the essence but people are struggling to get a test due to limited capacity at the lighthouse labs. New labs were do to open in newport in august and loughborough last month, but both were delayed. As nhs labs or have to take on more testing, can the minister say what additional funding will be provided specifically to increase nhs lab capacity . Thank you, mr speaker. Well, the context of this is the huge increase in the Testing Capacity of our system where we have already seen going from the order of 2000 tests a day back in march two now well over 200,000 tests a day. And building up to 500,000 tests by the end of this month. And as of course she will know, the huge amounts of volume has been and its going to the nhs to support that response to covid 19. Over in the house of lords, peers were debating the regulations that brought in the rule of six limiting social contact indoors and outdoors in england. The minister said the rules had been changed to make them simple. My lords, i accept that there are seemingly many inconsistencies, injustices and perceived unfairness in rules like these. I have heard many of them already, probably everyone in this chamber has an instance where the rules do not seem to make sense. We cannot legislate
for every scenario. And the virus does not respect special circumstances however moving. But my lords, there is wisdom in simplicity and there is effectiveness in it being easily understood. But a conservative former cabinet minister argued the regulations were illogical. A rather dry, cynical, mathematical friend of mine pointed out that at a wedding there are two main predicaments. Each get 7. 5 friends. At a funeral, there is one body who gets four times as many friends. Now this may not be the most appropriate way of looking at it, but it has a certain logic. The noble lord raised many valid questions, including the contrasting rules between weddings and funerals. A friend of mine, a priest, is suggesting that there should
not be any split families over christmas. The host simply has to slaughter a turkey and stay at a humanist funeral. Watching mrjohnson on andrew marr on sunday where he spoke of the tension between the economy and the public health, which of course we understand, he came across as someone who is indecisive, late to act and failing to find a way to steer between these two options. The result being of course that we failed in both. Churchill said trust the people. Government has not done that. But if you dont do it, they stop trusting government, and that is what is happening. Of course we need rules, but we need sensible ones which everyone can see and which are enforceable. Lord bethell likened the debate to the sound of an elastic band being pulled as tight as it could go, but he said the bottom line
was that social distancing meant putting space between ourselves and the people we love. Where there was love, it puts in space. And that, my lords, is something i cannot apologise for, i cannot change it, i cannot find some form of words that transform sensible fact or in any way changes the grim realities of how we have to limit the transmission of this disease. Lord bethell. Youre watching tuesday in parliament with me, david cornock. Still to come, a special report from the welsh parliament. The government has been urged to do more to help girls and young women caught up in Gang Violence and the Illegal Drugs trade. The call came in a short debate in the second commons chamber, westminster hall, where a labour mp highlighted the abuse and exploitation used against girls and young women by male gang members. In the last two months alone, ive had to speak to three inconsolable mothers whove lost their children as a result of knife crime. These children were murdered by their peers. And as a mother to two Young Children myself, this is not something i can live with, ignore or accept. She was especially concerned at the involvement of girls and young women in whats known as county lines, in which Illegal Drugs are transported around the country. Girls running county lines are not in a gang, they are victims of the gangs. Girls and young women face different risks than males. They can experience rape and other forms of sexual abuse, physical abuse, online grooming in the form ofjob offers, direct threats of violence to them and their families to make them move or store drugs, weapons oi even cash. We need to look at targeted interventions to help the girls who are being exploited, groomed and abused. We need to continue to raise awareness with the authorities around the use of girls in county lines and other gang related activities. And we need the policymakers to change the language that they use in highlighting this issue. But most importantly, we need to continue to listen to these young women and girls and listen to what they are telling us. The girls in gangs or the girls who are victims of gangs are hidden, and i think its very right what the honourable member for vauxhaull said about the data. And if there was one thing that we would want the police to do moving forward, i believe, is taking down the details when they stop boys or young men in groups and there are girls there, take their details. They are usually ignored. People in positions of power must understand the problem and work tirelessly to address it. And although we must make sure that the girls are given the support they need to recognise unhealthy and abusive relationships, to get away from exploitation and get the right care to recover, we must also empower those girls. I want to reassure colleagues that tackling Serious Violence and the exploitation of girls and women is an absolute priority for this government. We have invested £119 million this year alone to provide extra Police Resources to drive down the scale of Violent Crime that we are seeing on our streets, to Fund Violence reduction units in the 18 force areas that are most affected by crime and violence and Fund Specialist county lines operations. We have also spent over £200 million on Early Intervention to ensure that those most at risk are given the opportunity to turn away from violence and lead positive and safe lives. Victoria atkins. The foreign secretary, dominic raab, has defended a proposed new law, the internal market bill, that would allow the uk to override part of the brexit divorce deal with the eu. He told mps on the Foreign Affairs committee that the uk was respected around the world as a stalwart defender of international law. Historically one of the values of the Foreign Office and of the uk government has always been the rule of law. The government for the First Time Ever has published its own legal advice on its own law, saying that it believes the law that it is publishing does not abide by international law. That seems a bit of a surrender of a key british value. I dont agree with that. I think its a precautionary defensive reaction to what the eu have been doing, and i have to say whilst of course there is the brexit
drama going on and were at the 11th hour of the fta negotiations, when i leave the uk and indeed im not talking about brexit, no one thinks that the uk is anything other than a stalwart, reliable defender of the International Rule of law. Dominic raab. To cardiff now, where the Welsh Government has said its considering forcing visitors from covid hotspots elsewhere in the uk to quarantine. It comes after borisjohnson rejected calls for a travel ban. The issue was raised during first ministers questions in the senedd. Weve called for action consistently on this issue since the summer. Can you say whether and when you intend to take action yourselves independently as a government . And in addition to looking at introducing quarantine as a solution, is consideration being given to making non essential travel into wales from a lockdown area illegal and subject to enforcement by the police . I would like to think adam price for that. I sha