now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello, and welcome to the week in parliament. was this the moment mps started to get brexit done ? the ayes to the right, 330. the noes to the left, 231. the iran missile crisis. the prime minister lists the charge sheet against its military chief. and, of course, supplying explosive devices to terrorists who i m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british troops on his hands. the end of the peers show but what should a second chamber do? unless we start by saying what do we think the house of lords is for, and once we have agreed on that, i think the options on how you compose that body will almost naturally flow from itself. and, how should the uk mark its departure from the eu? will he make representations to the house of commons commission whose decision this is that big ben should bong for brexit? but first, a big moment for brexit. we are now a step nearer leaving the eu at the end of this month. the bill to put borisjohnson‘s brexit deal into law cleared the house of commons on thursday evening. the ayes to the right, 330. the noes to the left, 231. so, the ayes have it, the ayes have it. a government majority of 99 that s what you might call a meaningful vote after all the failed attempts to get the brexit deal through the commons. the withdrawal agreement bill covers divorce payments to the eu, citizens‘ rights, customs arrangements for northern ireland and the planned ii month transition period. mps had spent three days debating the details. but with a majority of 80, no opposition attempts to change it stood a chance of success. that didn t stop them trying. labour will continue to fight to protect the most vulnerable. we may not win many votes in parliamentjust now but we can win the moral argument. and of course sir keir starmer hopes to do that as labour leader. thursday also saw what s likely to be the last brexit questions in the commons the department for exiting the eu is due to be wound up at the end of the month the brexit secretary s job will disappear with it. there was a valedictory air to question time. during the three years the department has been in place, it has had three secretaries of state and three permanent secretaries but since the first departmental question, just one shadow brexit secretary. without in any way wishing tojinx his next steps, may i. laughter ..place on record his contribution to the scrutiny of the government, which i am sure will continue in whatever role he plays in the house moving forward. so no more knife edge votes at westminster, but the uk government has failed to win the backing of the scottish parliament. msps voted by 92 votes to 29 against giving formal consent to the withdrawal agreement bill. the scottish government s brexit secretary said scottish voters had shown repeatedly that they don t want to leave the eu. that message has been related time and time again. that message to the prime minister is as clear today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. let me put it this way prime minister, we said no to brexit and we mean it. but presiding officer, the prime minister is not listening to the scottish people, just as his party in scotland, as we hear, is not listening. because, in three weeks‘ time, it is virtually certain that scotland will be taken out of the european union against our will. and we will, each of us, be forcibly stripped of our european citizenship against our specific wishes. that is an intolerable situation, and this parliament, as the voice of scotland, must say so. and wales‘s first minister mark drakeford says assembly members should vote down the bill when it comes before the senedd. the fact of brexit is undoubtedly now there. nobody should believe that that means somehow that is a blank cheque for a uk government to do things in a way that would cause enormous damage to the welsh economy and to welsh interests. and we will continue to argue, wherever we can, to make sure that those interests are properly defended. mark dra keford, with a hint of trouble ahead. so, let s take stock of where we are with a real life expert, professor anand menon of the uk in a changing europe thinktank at king s college, london. the bill sailed through the commons what did we learn along the way? well, i think that older people like me have remembered and younger people will have heard what it was to have a majority government. because all of a sudden, this government is going to win all the votes. and you see opposition parties wondering about amendments but knowing that ultimately, unless they get the support of the government, they are not going to go through. and we have just learnt what power borisjohnson has at his disposal, at the moment at least. so, it s going his way so far. the bill will now go to the house of lords. could anything go wrong there? the house of lords will grumble and quibble, i m sure about that. but, remember, all the key elements of what is in this bill were part of the conservative manifesto so i find it very hard to believe that the lords are going to kick up too much of a fuss, and even if they do, going back to that majority again, they can be overruled by the house. and what are the sort of thing is that they would grumble about? well, several things. for instance, this version of the withdrawal agreement bill has removed parliamentary scrutiny over certain things, and i think that has caused some concern in parliament, but again, well, on the one hand, you can wonder why a government with a majority of 80 would bother doing that, on the other, there is not much that opponents can do. there is some slight concern, interestingly, in brussels, about some phraseology in the bill that says the institution being created to monitor eu citizens‘ rights could be replaced by another one. and you‘ve heard some rhetoric from the other side of the channel that actually they are a bit concerned about this. i wouldn‘t be at all surprised if you don‘t hear that being debated in the house of lords as well. and closer to home, the signs are that the scots and the welsh will withhold their consent from this bill. is that a practical problem or a political one? it is more of a political one. i don‘t think we‘ve had a piece of legislation go through without the consent of both the scottish and the welsh before. and the main political issue here is the scots because the snp are obviously pushing this line that we have a mandate for another referendum because of the outcome of the general election, and they will use brexit to try and strengthen that cause. and if we think as far back as last month, there was a queen‘s speech, and there were other bills in that queen‘s speech that focused on life after brexit. the government will presumably need to get these past this year. the government will need to get them past this year but until we reach the end of the year, we are essentially in the single market, in the customs union, we still have freedom of movement, all those things about trade bills and all those things to do with our new immigration policy will need to be in place for after that. so, we are talking about things like immigration, environment. agriculture. fisheries. yes, agriculture, fisheries. there are many areas of public policy where essentially the eu has substituted for westminster, fisheries, agriculture, immigration when it comes to europeans, we will need to devise policies of our own in those areas, we might need to devise new policies and new spending commitments for things like research for things like regional spending. all the things where the eu used to play a large role. and, of course, not being in the eu any more, depending on the deal we negotiate, they might not play that role in the future. and a lot of those things will need to be done by december the 31st. yes, absolutely. because there is still a very real prospect we will end up leaving the european union with no trade deal in place. if they can‘t reach agreement or if the agreement can‘t be ratified, then ultimately we are trading with the european union on wto terms, and there are no special arrangements for anything. professor menon, thank you very much. it was a week dominated by international tensions by what‘s been called the iran missile crisis, prompted by the killing of the iranian army chief qasem soleimani. on tuesday night, ballistic missiles were fired at two air bases in iraq where us and uk forces are stationed. iran‘s revolutionary guard said the strikes were in retaliation for the assassination of general soleimani on the orders of donald trump. the crisis and how to respond to it dominated the first prime minister‘s questions since the general election. mr speaker, i should begin by saying that we of course condemn the attack on iraqi military bases hosting coalition forces. iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. the labour leader wanted the prime minister to confirm his opposition to any retaliation or further escalation of the crisis. following the government s support for the united states over the assassination of general soleimani, is the prime minister confident that united kingdom troops and civilians are not at further risk in the region and beyond? mr speaker, i can of course confirm, and that is an important question, that as far as we can tell, there were no casualties last night sustained by the us, and no british personnel were injured in the attacks. the government has said that it is sympathetic to the assassination of general soleimani. what evidence has the prime minister got to suggest that this attack on him and his death was not an illegal act by the united states? well, mr speaker, clearly, the strict issue of legality is not for the uk to determine since it was not our operation. but i think that most reasonable people would accept that the united states has a right to protect its bases and its personnel. and i would remind the house that the individual concerned, qasem soleimani, was not only responsible for many years, amongst other things, arming the houthis with missiles with which they attacked innocent civilians, arming hezbollah with missiles, which again they used to attack innocent civilians, sustaining the assad regime in syria, one of the most brutal and barbaric regimes in the world, and of course supplying improvised explosive devices to terrorists whom i‘m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british troops on his hands. mr speaker, if we stand by international law, as i m sure the government does and would want to, then surely killing somebody in a foreign territory is an illegal act and should be condemned as such? this government s response is not putting the interests of this country first but instead seems more interested in prioritising the prime minister s relationship with president trump over the security of the region and of this country. isn t the truth, mr speaker, that this prime minister is unable to stand up to president trump because he has hitched his wagon to a trade deal with the united states and that prioritises everything else that he ought to be considering? well, mr speaker, i was waiting for the little green men thing to come out at the end of that, about the trade deal. this is absolute fiction. but what i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. i think we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a european response and in bridging that, the european response with that of our american friends, and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. later, in a phone call, the prime minister told the iranian president hassan rouhani there should be an end to hostilities. that was before evidence emerged that suggested an iranian surface to air missile brought down a ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near tehran. four britons were among the 176 people who died in the crash shortly after take off. borisjohnson said information suggests the plane was shot down, but this may well have been unintentional . let‘s have a look at some westminster news in brief now. and where better to start than with some election news? three new deputy speakers have been elected by mps nigel evans, dame rosie winterton, and dame eleanor laing. dame eleanor is the most senior of the three, and will chair budget debates. the first one to be elected is dame eleanor laing. cheering. ..was elected the first ever woman to be first woman to be elected chair of westminster. cheering. you‘re clapping whatever we do! no clapping, said the speaker, but he did call it a historic occasion. you intend to do a lot to bring this place into the 21st century, and to restore faith in our democracy. and i look forward to doing all i can to helping you. thank you very much. cheering. dominic cummings, the prime minister‘s controversial adviser, prompted a stir with a government recruitment drive launched on his personal blog. the debate spilled over into treasury questions. the prime minister‘s special adviser now wants a civil service packed in the cabinet comprised of weirdos and misfits with odd skills. so. laughter. ..so as a member of that cabinet, what weird explanation does the chancellor have as to why, according to the office of national statistics, productivity is falling at its fastest annual pace for five years? mr speaker, we ve just had an unprecedented decade of growth. it s the first decade of uninterrupted growth only the third time since 1700 that we ve had an uninterrupted decade of growth, thanks to the work of this government! and when it comes to weirdos and misfits, i know there are many on that side of the house, but they need not apply. and an mp accused a member of the house of lords of abusing security staff at westminster. the snp‘s hannah bardell raised the alleged behaviour of lord maginnis a former ulster unionist mp with the commons speaker. yesterday on reentering the building for the first time after christmas, i witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff i have seen in my time here. one of the members of the other place, who i will name so as to not incriminate anybody else, lord ken maginnis, had forgotten his pass something we ve all been guilty of. however, instead of taking the advice of the security staff who, as we all know, are here for our security and our safety, he proceeded to verbally abuse and shout at both members of staff, calling them crooked, saying, did they not know who he was, he had been here for 46 years and refusing to take the advice and assistance of both myself, the security staff, and the police that then attended. lord maginnis later told a newspaper the row was much ado about nothing and he had nothing to apologise for. hannah ba rdell has reported him to the police. now david cameron used to say that it was a third term issue low priority but could house of lords reform be back on the political agenda? the conservative manifesto promised to set up a constitution, democracy, and rights commission and the future of the lords may well be part of it. ministers are said to be looking at plans from a cross party group that could see the lords either abolished, or become an elected senate of the nations and regions. campaigners say change can‘t come quickly enough, but they‘re not holding their breath. we‘ve heard talk of lords reform in terms of better regional representation being on the desk of people at number ten. but we‘ve been here before, there‘s lots of talk about lords reform in fact, in the last 20 years, there‘s been nine attempts at lords reform of some sort, if we look at draft bills and committees and white papers, but what we really need to see is some action. this is an issue which has high public support, and we really can‘t go on much longer with an unelected upper chamber. it‘s just simply doesn‘t fit in our modern democracy. the idea of lords reform features in an act of union bill put forward by the constitution reform group. the former labour mp and ex chair of the vote leave campaign, gisela stuart, sits on the group‘s steering committee. gisela stuart, what is the problem that your act of union bill is trying to fix? it started about five years ago when i asked the then prime minister, david cameron and this was before he called the referendum on our membership of the european union whether he would meet us, because it was our argument that devolution was in very much unfinished business in the united kingdom. we had devolved power in a very asymmetric way to northern ireland, scotland, wales, and london. we kind of finished and overlooked the rest of england. we started doing coalition years that the function of the house of lords is being a revising chamber when no party had the majority was no longer working very effectively. and i remember literally saying to david cameron, irrespective of the outcome of the eu referendum, you are the prime minister of a deeply fractured nation . and that‘s what we are trying to address, a new look of how the four nations work together and hold together. and what is your solution for the house of lords? we offer one option, which goes for you have complete abolition. and you really look very much like the german second chamber, where you have representatives of the regions who speak collectively. or you have a house of lords which has an element of being elected. we ended up with a figure of 292 to be elected for 15 year terms, and 100 appointed. so we have a natural churning. the one thing we definitely decided was that the house of lords should not be for life. right, right. and haven‘t we been here before? you were an mp back in 2003. you will remember mps spent a whole day discussing voting on seven different options for the future of the house of lords, and they rejected them all. the problem is that people may agree there needs to be change, but they can‘t agree on the type of change that there should be. oh, i remember it well. and there‘s nothing worse in the house of commons than when mps are not whipped on how to vote, and you have a whole string of votes and. make up their own mind! ..and you go, what are we voting on? is it 18, is it 100? but you identified the problem in your question. there were so many options on the table, and i think that unless we start by saying, what do we think the house of lords is for ? and once we‘ve agreed on that, i think the options on how you compose that body will almost naturally flow from itself. gisela stuart, thank you very much, indeed. pleasure. the newly strengthened snp force at westminster has wasted little time in making its presence felt. with 48 of the 59 seats in scotland, the snp dominated scottish questions its mps making the same demand for scotland to have the power to hold another independence referendum. the party‘s westminster leader drove home the message during prime minister‘s questions. mr speaker, today the scottish parliament will decline legislative consent to the withdrawal vote we are deliberating later today. why is this conservative government dismissing the will of the people of scotland, ignoring their voicing, and disregarding our parliament? mr speaker, i think the real question is, why does the snp keep going on about breaking up the most successful union in history? to distract from their abundant failures in government! cheering. in spite of getting an extra £9 billion a year from the uk exchequer which of course they would lose if they were to foolishly break away they are mismanaging their health care, and you ll see, i m afraid it is not the fault of scottish pupils, but you re seeing scottish schools falling behind in the educational sense. concentrate on what you re doing, and stop going on about breaking up the union! now what‘s been happening in the wider world of politics this week? with our countdown, here‘s najiba feroze. at five pronouncing place names that are not spelled phonetically can be tricky sometimes. here is how the leader of the house of commons, jacob rees mogg, dealt with it. for starters, it‘s rhondda. not rhon da, rhon the. the honourable gentlemen, the memberfor. ..very generously, when i was newly elected, took me to the smoking room and gave me a couple glasses of scotch from his finest produce to help me learn how to pronounce his constituency. at four the scottish brexit secretary, michael russell, and conservative msp murdo fraser. you used to be opposed to brexit, so at least i am consistent. well, i am a democrat. we had a referendum, and i believe we should honour the outcome of the referendum. but let s not get into this, because it s a matter of debate. well, i know it‘s embarrassing for you. oh, i m not the one embarrassed, cabinet secretary commissioner. at three oh, what kind of tea should you drink in scotland? have a listen to what lord duncan of springbank says. on a bizarre point, i was criticised over the christmas period for not drinking scottish tea, but yorkshire tea. even on these issues in scotland, grievances can be found. laughter. at two was this a freudian slip from the treasury minister, rishi sunak? we‘ve committed to finding 20,000 new police officers by the end of 2023 to help keep our seats streets safe. laughter. and at one away from the commons, laura smith, a former mp who lost her seat in the general election has been photographed at the localjobcentre. she tweeted her response. najiba feroz reporting. now, the brexit arguments may be on hold in the commons at least for now but there‘s plenty of unfinished business there. mps are still divided over how if at all to mark the uk‘s departure from the eu at the end of the month. a party, or a wake? a celebratory drink, or a dram to drown your sorrows? or should a famous bell currently silent be centre stage? as we leave at a precise, specified time, those who wish to celebrate will need to look to a clock to mark the moment. laughter. it seems inconceivable to me and many colleagues that that clock should not be the most iconic timepiece in the world big ben. will he make representations to the house of commons commission, whose decision this is, that big ben should bong for brexit? can the government confirm whether or not it will request for the chiming of big ben to mark 11pm on 31 january? because this is not going to be a moment of celebration for many people across the uk, but a moment of considerable concern, not least my constituents who are citizens nationals of the european union. and perhaps they should be asking on that side of the house, if they do want to hear the bells chime, is for whom the bell will toll? ministers are sympathetic to the idea, but it‘ll be up to the commons authorities to decide. that‘s it for the week in parliament. i hope you canjoin mandy baker on bbc parliament at 11pm on monday night for the latest from the commons and the lords. thank you for watching. from me, david cornock, bye for now. hello there, the wind is starting to howl again, it is drawing into very mild hour from a long way south mind the exeter gliders bringing more rain across scotland and northern ireland. the winds are picking up as well, though, from a long way south, mind you so drawing mild air after a cold start to the night. the night. the tempers are continuing to rise. the ability nine, 10 degrees or so by the time i get your early morning. on saturday a picture start to the night. the tempers are continuing to rise. the ability nine, 10 degrees or so by the charmer get your early morning. on saturday habitually the rain across scotla nd saturday habitually the rain across scotland and northern ireland, heaviest over the hills, it‘s going to be this way south and slowly dipping somewhat weather to the current into snowdonia, shall variance constant and northern ireland as the wind starts to ease through the afternoon. the track days blustery, cow cycling in some places. mild across many parts of the uk with typical temperatures around 11 or12, the uk with typical temperatures around 11 or 12, bit that integrates. that band of rain is going to sweep its way southwards during saturday night, drawing behind cool air with sunshine and showers, a lot of the rain walking away from the south east corner and on sunday and we‘ve got the copper showers running through the methods, could be had for a while, easing in the afternoon and sunshine for scotla nd the afternoon and sunshine for scotland and often either. showers in the north west, it will be wintry ofa in the north west, it will be wintry of a higher ground because we are back into cold air in the northern pa rt back into cold air in the northern part of the uk. sunny will be less spending. only briefly because look what is out in the authentic. a storm is racing our way, that is going to strengthen the winds on monday and bring in rain two. we suffered a probably dry, there will be sunshine and dry weather for the eastern side of the uk into the afternoon but further west the cloud thickens, beget the ram that could be heavy. it will be the strength of the wind that causes the biggest issues with or severe gales at 70 miles an hour across western areas of the uk. still mild, temperatures typically 8 11 degrees. that‘s assessing on what is going to be a very changeable weekend ahead often windy with someone at mac brandt times, but for the most part of continue this mild theme. goodbye. welcome to bbc news i‘m james reynolds. our top stories: it‘s so sad, it‘s so sad. scenes of grief in canada as families mourn those killed in the ukrainian plane disaster. iran denies responsibility. polls open in taiwan for the country‘s presidential election, where relations with mainland china have taken centre stage. the death has been announced of the sultan of oman the longest serving ruler in the gulf. and plants living the high life why vegetation is growing at higher altitudes in the himalayas.
but first, a big moment for brexit. we are now a step nearer leaving the eu, at the end of this month. the bill to put borisjohnson‘s brexit deal into law cleared the house of commons on thursday evening. the ayes to the right, 330. the noes to the left, 231. so, the ayes have it, the ayes have it. a government majority of 99 that s what you might call a meaningful vote, after all the failed attempts to get the brexit deal through the commons. the withdrawal agreement bill covers divorce payments to the eu, citizens‘ rights, customs arrangements for northern ireland and the planned 11 month transition period. mps had spent three days debating the details. but with a majority of 80, no opposition attempts to change it stood a chance of success. that didn t stop them trying. labour will continue to fight to protect the most vulnerable. we may not win many votes in parliament just now, but we can win the moral argument. and, of course, sir keir starmer hopes to do that as labour leader. thursday also saw what s likely to be the last brexit questions in the commons. the department for exiting the eu is due to be wound up at the end of the month. the brexit secretary s job will disappear with it. there was a valedictory air to question time. during the three years the department has been in place, it has had three secretaries of state and three permanent secretaries but, since the first departmental question, just one shadow brexit secretary. without in any way wishing tojinx his next steps, may i. laughter. ..place on record his contribution to the scrutiny of the government, which i am sure will continue, in whatever role he plays in the house moving forward. so, no more knife edge votes at westminster, but the uk government has failed to win the backing of the scottish parliament. msps voted by 92 votes to 29 against giving formal consent to the withdrawal agreement bill. the scottish government s brexit secretary said scottish voters had shown repeatedly that they don t want to leave the eu. that message has been relayed time and time again. that message to the prime minister is as clear today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. let me put it this way prime minister, we said no to brexit and we mean it. but presiding officer, the prime minister is not listening to the scottish people. hubbub. just as his party in scotland, as we hear, is not listening. because, in three weeks‘ time, it is virtually certain that scotland will be taken out of the european union against our will. and we will, each of us, be forcibly stripped of our european citizenship, against our specific wishes. that is an intolerable situation, and this parliament, as the voice of scotland, must say so. and wales‘s first minister, mark drakeford, says assembly members should vote down the bill when it comes before the senedd. the fact of brexit is undoubtedly now there. nobody should believe that that means somehow that is a blank cheque for a uk government to do things in a way that would cause enormous damage to the welsh economy and to welsh interests. and we will continue to argue, wherever we can, to make sure that those interests are properly defended. mark dra keford, with a hint of trouble ahead. so, let s take stock of where we are, with a real life expert. professor anand menon of the uk in a changing europe thinktank, at king s college, london. the bill sailed through the commons. what did we learn along the way? well, i think older people like me have remembered and younger people have learned what it feels like to have a majority government. because all of a sudden, this government is going to win all the votes. and you see opposition parties wondering about amendments but knowing that, ultimately, unless they get the support of the government, they are not going to go through. and we have just learnt what power borisjohnson has at his disposal, at the moment, at least. so, he s got his way, so far. the bill will now go to the house of lords. could anything go wrong there? the house of lords will grumble and quibble, i m sure about that. but, remember, all the key elements of what is in this bill were a part of the conservative manifesto so i find it very hard to believe that the lords is going to kick up too much of a fuss, and even if they do, going back to that majority again, they can be overruled by the house. and what would the sort of thing is that they would grumble about be? well, several things. for instance, this version of the agreement bill has removed parliamentary scrutiny over certain things, and i think that has caused some concern in parliament, but again, well, on the one hand, you can wonder why a government with a majority of 80 would bother doing that, on the other, there is not much that opponents of this move can do. there is some slight concern, interestingly, in brussels, about some phraseology in the bill, that says the institution being created to monitor eu citizens‘ rights could be replaced by another one. and you‘ve heard some rhetoric from the other side of the channel that, actually, they are a bit concerned about this. i wouldn‘t be at all surprised if you don‘t hear that being debated in the house of lords as well. and closer to home, the signs are that the scots and the welsh will withhold their consent from this bill. is that a practical problem or a political one? it is more of a political one. i don‘t think we‘ve had a piece of legislation go through without the consent of both the scottish and the welsh before. and the main political issue here is the scots, because the snp are obviously pushing this line that we have a mandate for another referendum, because of the outcome of the general election, and they will use brexit to try and strengthen that cause. and, if we think as far back as last month, there was a queen‘s speech, and there were other bills in that queen‘s speech that focused on life after brexit. the government will presumably need to get past this year. the government will need to get them past this year, but there is tearing hurry, because as i said, until we reach the end of the year, we are essentially in the single market, in the customs union, we still have freedom of movement, so, all those things about trade bills and all those things to do with our new immigration policy, will need to be in place for after that. so, we are talking about things like immigration, environment. agriculture. fisheries. yes, agriculture, fisheries. there are many areas of public policy where essentially the eu has substituted for westminster, fisheries, agriculture, immigration when it comes to europeans, we will need to devise policies of our own in those areas. we might need to devise new policies and new spending commitments for things like research, for things like regional spending. all the things where the eu used to play a large role. and, of course, not being in the eu any more, depending on the deal we negotiate, they might not play that role in the future. and a lot of those things will need to be done by december the 31st. yes, absolutely. because there is still the very real prospect we end up leaving the european union with no trade deal in place. if they can‘t reach agreement or if the agreement can‘t be ratified, then ultimately we are trading with the european union on wto terms, and there are no special arrangements for anything. professor menon, thank you very much. a pleasure. it was a week dominated by international tensions, by what‘s been called the iran missile crisis, prompted by the killing of the iranian army chief, qasem soleimani. on tuesday night, ballistic missiles were fired at two air bases in iraq, where us and uk forces are stationed. iran‘s revolutionary guard said the strikes were in retaliation for the assassination of general soleimani on the orders of donald trump. the crisis, and how to respond to it, dominated the first prime minister‘s questions since the general election. mr speaker, ishould begin by saying that we, of course, the crisis, and how to respond to it, dominated the first prime minister‘s questions since the general election. mr speaker, ishould begin by saying that we, of course, condemn the attack on iraqi military bases, hosting coalition forces. iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. the labour leader wanted the prime minister to confirm his opposition to any retaliation, or further escalation of the crisis. following the government s support for the united states over the assassination of general soleimani, is the prime minister confident that united kingdom troops and civilians are not at further risk in the region and beyond? mr speaker, i can, of course, confirm, and that is an important question, that, as far as we can tell, there were no casualties last night, sustained by the us, and no british personnel were injured in the attacks. government has said that it is sympathetic to the assassination of general soleimani. what evidence has the prime minister got to suggest that this attack on him and his death was not an illegal act by the united states? well, mr speaker, clearly, the strict issue of legality is not for the uk to determine, since it was not our operation. but i think that most reasonable people would accept that the united states has a right to protect its bases and its personnel. and i would remind the house that the individual concerned, qasem soleimani, was not only responsible, for many years, amongst other things, arming the houthis with missiles with which they attacked innocent civilians, arming hezbollah with missiles, which again they used to attack innocent civilians, sustaining the assad regime in syria, one of the most brutal and barbaric regimes in the world, and, of course, supplying improvised explosive devices to terrorists whom i‘m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british troops on his hands. mr speaker, if we stand by international law, as i m sure the government does, and would want to, then surely killing somebody in a foreign territory is an illegal act and should be condemned as such? this government s response is not putting the interests of this country first, but instead seems more interested in prioritising the prime minister s relationship with president trump, over the security of the region and of this country. isn t the truth, mr speaker, that this prime minister is unable to stand up to president trump, because he has hitched his wagon to a trade deal with the united states and that prioritises everything else that he ought to be considering? well, mr speaker, i was kind of waiting for the little green men thing to come out at the end of that, about the trade deal. this is absolute fiction. but what i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. i think we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a european response and in bridging that, the european response, with that of our american friends, and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. later, in a phone call, the prime minister told the iranian president, hassan rouhani, there should be an end to hostilities. that was before evidence emerged that suggested an iranian surface to air missile brought down a ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near tehran. four britons were among the 176 people who died in the crash, shortly after take off. borisjohnson said information suggests the plane was shot down, but this may well have been unintentional . let‘s have a look now at some westminster news in brief. and where better to start than with some election news? three new deputy speakers have been elected by mps. nigel evans, dame rosie winterton, and dame eleanor laing. dame eleanor is the most senior of the three, and will chair budget debates. the first one to be elected is dame eleanor laing. cheering. ..was elected the first ever woman to be first woman to be elected chair of westminster. cheering no clapping whatever we do! right. no clapping, said the speaker, but he did call it a historic occasion. you intend to do a lot to bring this place into the 215t century, and to restore faith in our democracy. and i look forward to doing all i can to helping you. thank you very much. cheering. dominic cummings, the prime minister‘s controversial adviser, prompted a stir, with a government recruitment drive launched on his personal blog. the debate spilled over into treasury questions. the prime minister‘s special adviser now wants a civil service packed in the cabinet, comprised of weirdos and misfits with odd skills. so. laughter. ..so as a member of that cabinet, what weird explanation does the chancellor have as to why, according to the office of national statistics, productivity is falling at its fastest annual pace for five years? mr speaker, we ve just had a unprecedented decade of growth. it s the first decade of uninterrupted growth, only the third time since 1700 that we ve had an uninterrupted decade of growth, thanks to the work of this government! and, when it comes to weirdos and misfits, i know there are many on that side of the house, but they need not apply! and an mp accused a member of the house of lords of abusing security staff at westminster. the snp‘s hannah bardell raised the alleged behaviour of lord maginnis a former ulster unionist mp with the commons speaker. yesterday, on reentering the building for the first time after christmas, i witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff i have seen in my time here. one of the members of the other place, who i will name so as to not incriminate anybody else, lord ken maginnis, had forgotten his pass something that we have all been guilty of. however, instead of taking the advice of the security staff who, as we all know, are here for our security and our safety, he proceeded to verbally abuse and shout at both members of staff, calling them crooked, saying, did they not know who he was, he had been here for 46 years, and refusing to take the advice and assistance of both myself, the security staff, and the police that then attended. lord maginnis later told a newspaper the row was much ado about nothing and he had nothing to apologise for. hannah ba rdell has reported him to the police. now, david cameron used to say that it was a third term issue low priority but could house of lords reform be back on the political agenda? the conservative manifesto promised to set up a constitution, democracy, and rights commission. and the future of the lords may well be part of it. ministers are said to be looking at plans from a cross party group that could see the lords either abolished, or become an elected senate of the nations and regions. campaigners say change can‘t come quickly enough, but they‘re not holding their breath. we‘ve heard talk of lords reform, in terms of better regional representation, being on the desk of people at number ten. but we‘ve been here before, there‘s lots of talk about lords reform. in fact, in the last 20 years, there‘s been nine attempts at lords reform, of some sort, if we look at draft bills and committees and white papers, but what we really need to see is some action. this is an issue which has high public support, and we really can‘t go on much longer, with an unelected upper chamber. it‘s just simply doesn‘t fit in a modern democracy. the idea of lords reform features in an act of union bill, put forward by the constitution reform group. the former labour mp and ex chair of the vote leave campaign, gisela stuart, sits on the group‘s steering committee. gisela stuart, what is the problem that your act of union bill is trying to fix? it started about five years ago when i asked the then prime minister, david cameron and this was before he called the referendum on our membership of the european union whether he would meet us, because it was our argument that devolution was very much unfinished business in the united kingdom. we had devolved power in a very asymmetric way to northern ireland, scotland, wales, and to london. we kind of finished and overlooked the rest of england. we started during coalition years that the function of the house of lords is being a revising chamber where no party had the majority, was no longer working very effectively. and i remember literally saying to david cameron, irrespective of the outcome of the eu referendum, you are the prime minister of a deeply fractured nation . and that‘s what we are trying to address, a new look of how the four nations work together and hold together. and what is your solution for the house of lords? we offer one option, which goes for you have complete abolition. and you really look at, very much like the german second chamber, where you have representatives of the regions who speak collectively. or you have a house of lords which has an element of being elected. we ended up with a figure of 292 to be elected for 15 year terms, and 100 appointed. so you have a natural churning. the one thing we definitely decided was that the house of lords should not be for life. right, right. haven‘t we been here before? you were an mp back in 2003. you will remember mps spent a whole day discussing and voting on seven different options for the future of the house of lords, and they rejected them all. the problem is that people may agree there needs to be change, they can‘t agree on the type of change that there should be. oh, i remember it well. and there‘s nothing worse in the house of commons than when mps are not whipped on how to vote, and you have a whole string of votes and. make up their own mind! ..and you go, what are we voting on? is it 80, is it 100? but you identified the problem in your question. there were so many options on the table, and i think unless we start by saying, what do we think the house of lords is for ? and once we‘ve agreed on that, i think the options on how you compose that body will almost naturally flow from itself. gisela stuart, thank you very much, indeed. pleasure. the newly strengthened snp force at westminster has wasted little time in making its presence felt. with 48 of the 59 seats in scotland, the snp dominated scottish questions its mps making the same demand for scotland to have the power to hold another independence referendum. the party‘s westminster leader drove home the message, during prime minister‘s questions. mr speaker, today the scottish parliament will decline legislative consent to the withdrawal vote we are deliberating later today. why is this conservative government dismissing the will of the people of scotland, ignoring their voicing, and disregarding our parliament? mr speaker, i think the real question is, why does the snp keep going on about breaking up the most successful union in history? to distract from their abundant failures in government! cheering. in spite of getting an extra £9 billion a year from the uk exchequer which of course they would lose, if they were so foolish as to break away they are mismanaging their health care, and you ll see, i m afraid it is not the fault of scottish pupils, but you re seeing scottish schools falling behind in the educational sense. concentrate on what you re doing, and stop going on about breaking up the union! now, what‘s been happening in the wider world of politics this week? with our countdown, here‘s najiba feroze. at 5 pronouncing place names that are not spelled phonetically can get tricky sometimes. here is how the leader of the house of commons, jacob rees mogg, dealt with it. for starters, it‘s rhondda. not rhon da, rhon the. the honourable gentlemen, the member very generously, when i was newly elected, took me to the smoking room and gave me a couple glasses of scotland s finest produce, to help me learn how to pronounce his constituency. at 4 the scottish brexit secretary, michael russell, and conservative msp murdo fraser. you used to be opposed to brexit, so at least i am consistent. well, i am a democrat. we had a referendum, and i believe we should honour the outcome of the referendum. but let s not get into this, because it s a matter of debate. well, i know it‘s embarrassing for you. oh, i m not the one embarrassed, cabinet secretary commissioner. at 3 oh, what kind of tea should you drink in scotland? have a listen to what lord duncan of springbank says. on a bizarre point, i was criticised over the christmas period for not drinking scottish tea, but yorkshire tea. even on these issues in scotland, grievances can be found. laughter. at 2 was this a freudian slip from the treasury minister, rishi sunak? we‘ve committed to finding 20,000 new police officers by the end of 2023, to help keep our seats streets safe. laughter. and at1 away from the commons, laura smith, a former mp, who lost her seat in the general election has been photographed at the localjobcentre. she tweeted her response. najiba feroz reporting. now, the brexit arguments may be on hold in the commons at least for now but there‘s plenty of unfinished business there. mps are still divided over how if at all to mark the uk‘s departure from the eu at the end of the month. a party, or a wake? a celebratory drink, or a dram to drown your sorrows? or should a famous bell currently silent be centre stage? as we leave at a precise, specified time, those who wish to celebrate will need to look to a clock to mark the moment. laughter. it seems inconceivable to me and many colleagues that that clock should not be the most iconic timepiece in the world big ben. will he make representations to the house of commons commission, whose decision this is, that big ben should bong for brexit? can the government confirm whether or not it is going to request for the chiming of big ben to mark 11pm on 31 january? because this is not going to be a moment of celebration for many people across the uk, it is going to be a moment of considerable concern, not least my constituents who are citizens, or nationals, of the european union. and perhaps they should be asking on that side of the house, if they do want to hear the bells chime, is for whom the bell will toll? ministers are sympathetic to the idea, but it‘ll be up to the commons authorities to decide. that‘s it for the week in parliament. i hope you canjoin mandy baker on bbc parliament at 11pm on monday night, for the latest from the commons and the lords. thank you for watching. from me, david cornock, bye for now. sunday has brought a bit of a respite. this picture was taken by a weather watcher in stirling earlier on. blue sky and sunshine today, but blue sky in short supply over the next few days as we transition to a very u nsettled days as we transition to a very unsettled spell of weather. strong winds and heavy rain which may well cause some disruption on monday and tuesday. for this afternoon, cause some disruption on monday and tuesday. forthis afternoon, lots cause some disruption on monday and tuesday. for this afternoon, lots of dry weather. lots of sunshine, 5 10d for most of us. some showers over the high ground in scotland, and northern ireland. they fade away tonight. a few more showers across england and wales were generally clear skies for some quite a cold night ahead. a touch of frost in the north, mostly frost free to start monday further south. monday morning will be the wind picking up and that is down to storm brendan approaching from the west. you can see the proximity of the isobars, the wind will be disruptive through the day on monday although we start off the morning with a fair bit of sunshine, not particularly when the first thing, the when picking up from the west, gales developing across western parts of the uk in particular. further east, likely to stay dry, for longer, heavy rain working in as storm brendan approaches, moving west to east. reasonably mild, about 7 10d for some it won‘t feel that way when you are exposed to the strong costs. in the west, 65, 78 are exposed to the strong costs. in the west, 65,78 mph, sunshine and showers approaching northern ireland and the western isles of scotland, gusts could reach about 85 miles per by the end of the day. some very strong gusty wind. that area of rain and strong winds slowly clearing away towards the east and into tuesday. but of quieter whether to start tuesday but the next area of low pressure is approaching from the south west. tuesday, another windy day. some wintry showers across parts of scotland, this area of strong wind and heavy rain pushing north across england and wales. it will be mild, temperatures 13 or 1a degrees. calder in the north but those winds in the south particularly disruptive on tuesday. u nsettled particularly disruptive on tuesday. unsettled week ahead, strong wind and some heavy rain around at times. it is mild, and looking drier towards the weekend. goodbye. this is bbc news, i‘m shaun ley. the headlines at three. iran summons the british ambassador following what they say was his attendance at an anti government rally in tehran. rob macaire says he left when a vigil turned into a protest. we want to see things de escalate, we want to see iran come back into the international fold and play their part, but they are at a crossroads and they have got to make that decision. urgent talks between the queen and prince harry and meghan will be held tomorrow over the royal couple‘s future. 8,000 people are ordered from their homes and manila international airport puts all flights on hold after steam and ash erupt from a volcano in the philippines. the authorities are advising people to wear masks to protect themselves and of course this has gone up from a level three alert
the week in parliament. minister, david cameron and this was before he called the referendum on our membership of the european union whether he would meet us, because it was our argument that devolution was in very much unfinished business in the united kingdom. we had devolved power in a very asymmetric way to northern ireland, scotland, wales, and london. we kind of finished and overlooked the rest of england. we started doing coalition years that the function of the house of lords is being a revising chamber hello and welcome. was this the when no party had the majority was no longer working very effectively. and i remember literally saying to david cameron, moment that mps are started to get irrespective of the outcome brexit done? of the eu referendum, you are the prime minister of a deeply fractured nation . the ayes to the right, 330. and that‘s what we are trying the noes to the left, 231. to address, a new look of how the iran missile crisis. the prime minister lists the charge the four nations work together and hold together. sheet against its military chief. and what is your solution and, of course, supplying explosive devices to terrorists who i m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british for the house of lords? we offer one option, which goes troops on his hands. for you have complete abolition. the end of the peers show but what should a second chamber do? unless we start by saying what do and you really look very much like the german second chamber, we think the house of lords is for, where you have representatives of the regions who speak collectively. and once we have agreed on that, i think the options on how or you have a house of lords which has an element you compose that body will almost of being elected. naturally flow from itself. and, how should the uk mark its departure from the eu? will he make representations to the house of commons commission whose decision this is that big ben we ended up with a figure of 292 should bong for brexit? to be elected for 15 year terms, and 100 appointed. so we have a natural churning. but first, a big moment for brexit. the one thing we definitely decided we are now a step nearer leaving was that the house of lords should not be for life. the eu at the end of this month. right, right. and haven‘t we been here before? you were an mp back in 2003. the bill to put borisjohnson‘s brexit deal into law cleared the house of commons you will remember mps spent a whole day discussing voting on seven on thursday evening. different options for the future the ayes to the right, 330. of the house of lords, and they rejected them all. the noes to the left, 231. the problem is that people may agree there needs to be change, but they can‘t agree on the type so, the ayes have it, of change that there should be. oh, i remember it well. the ayes have it. and there‘s nothing worse in the house of commons than when mps are not a government majority of 99 whipped on how to vote, that s what you might call and you have a whole a meaningful vote after all string of votes and. the failed attempts to get the brexit deal through the commons. make up their own mind! ..and you go, what are we voting on? is it 18, is it 100? the withdrawal agreement bill covers but you identified divorce payments to the eu, the problem in your question. citizens‘ rights, customs there were so many options arrangements for northern ireland on the table, and i think that and the planned 11 month unless we start by saying, transition period. what do we think the house mps had spent three days of lords is for ? debating the details. but with a majority of 80, and once we‘ve agreed on that, no opposition attempts to change it i think the options on how stood a chance of success. you compose that body will almost naturally flow from itself. that didn t stop them trying. labour will continue to fight gisela stuart, thank you very much, indeed. to protect the most vulnerable. pleasure. we may not win many votes the newly strengthened snp force in parliamentjust now but we can at westminster has wasted little time in making its presence felt. win the moral argument. with 48 of the 59 seats in scotland, the snp dominated scottish questions and of course sir keir starmer hopes its mps making the same demand for scotland to have the power to do that as labour leader. thursday also saw what s likely to hold another independence referendum. the party‘s westminster leader to be the last brexit questions drove home the message in the commons the department during prime minister‘s questions. mr speaker, today the scottish for exiting the eu is due to be parliament will decline legislative wound up at the end of the month consent to the withdrawal vote we are deliberating later today. the brexit secretary s job why is this conservative government will disappear with it. dismissing the will of the people of scotland, ignoring their voicing, and disregarding our parliament? there was a valedictory mr speaker, i think the real question is, why does the snp keep air to question time. during the three years going on about breaking up the most successful union in history? the department has been in place, to distract from their abundant it has had three secretaries of state and three permanent failures in government! secretaries but since the first cheering. departmental question, in spite of getting an extra £9 just one shadow brexit secretary. without in any way wishing billion a year from the uk exchequer tojinx his next steps, may i. ..place on record his contribution to the scrutiny of the government, which i am sure will continue in whatever role he plays which of course they would lose in the house moving forward. if they were to foolishly break away they are mismanaging their health care, and you ll see, i m afraid it is not the fault of scottish pupils, so no more knife edge votes at westminster, but you re seeing scottish but the uk government has failed schools falling behind in the educational sense. concentrate on what you re doing, to win the backing of the scottish parliament. and stop going on about breaking up the union! msps voted by 92 votes to 29 against giving formal consent to the withdrawal agreement bill. the scottish government s brexit now what‘s been happening in the wider world of secretary said scottish voters had politics this week? with our countdown, here‘s najiba feroze. shown repeatedly that they don t at five pronouncing place names that are not spelled phonetically want to leave the eu. can be tricky sometimes. that message has been related here is how the leader time and time again. that message to the prime minister of the house of commons, jacob rees mogg, dealt with it. is as clear today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. let me put it this way prime minister, we said no to brexit and we mean it. but presiding officer, the prime minister is not listening to the scottish people, just as his party in scotland, as we hear, is not listening. because, in three weeks‘ time, it is virtually certain that scotland will be taken out of the european union against our will. and we will, each of us, be forcibly stripped of our european for starters, it‘s rhondda. citizenship against not rhon da, rhon the. our specific wishes. that is an intolerable situation, the honourable gentlemen, and this parliament, the memberfor. ..very generously, as the voice of when i was newly elected, scotland, must say so. and wales‘s first minister mark took me to the smoking room and gave me a couple glasses drakeford says assembly members should vote down the bill when it of scotch from his finest produce to help me learn how to pronounce his constituency. comes before the senedd. the fact of brexit is undoubtedly now there. nobody should believe that that means somehow that is a blank cheque for a uk government to do things in a way that would cause enormous at four the scottish brexit damage to the welsh economy secretary, michael russell, and conservative msp murdo fraser. and to welsh interests. you used to be opposed to brexit, and we will continue to argue, wherever we can, to make sure so at least i am consistent. that those interests well, i am a democrat. we had a referendum, and i believe we should honour are properly defended. the outcome of the referendum. but let s not get into this, mark dra keford, with a hint of trouble ahead. because it s a matter of debate. so, let s take stock you used to be opposed to brexit, so at least i am consistent. of where we are with a real life well, i am a democrat. we had a referendum, and i believe we should honour expert, professor anand menon the outcome of the referendum. of the uk in a changing europe but let s not get into this, think tank at king s because it s a matter of debate. well, i know it‘s embarrassing for you. oh, i m not the one embarrassed, college, london. cabinet secretary commissioner. the bill sailed through the commons at three oh, what kind of tea should you drink in scotland? what did we learn along the way? well, i think that older people have a listen to what lord duncan of springbank says. like me have remembered and younger on a bizarre point, i was criticised people will have heard what it was over the christmas period for not to have a majority government. will have because all of a sudden, drinking scottish tea, but yorkshire tea. even on these issues this government is going to win in scotland, grievances all the votes. can be found. laughter. at two was this a freudian slip from the treasury minister, rishi sunak? we‘ve committed to finding 20,000 new police officers by the end and you see opposition parties wondering about amendments of 2023 to help keep our but knowing that ultimately, seats streets safe. unless they get the support laughter. of the government, they are not going to go through. and we have just learnt what power borisjohnson has at his disposal, and at one away from the commons, laura smith, a former mp at the moment at least. so, it s going his way so far. who lost her seat in the general the bill will now go election has been photographed at the localjobcentre. to the house of lords. could anything go wrong there? the house of lords will grumble and quibble, i m sure about that. but, remember, all the key elements she tweeted her response. of what is in this bill were part najiba feroz reporting. of the conservative manifesto so i find it very hard to believe now, the brexit arguments may be that the lords are going to kick on hold in the commons up too much of a fuss, at least for now but there‘s and even if they do, plenty of unfinished business there. going back to that majority again, mps are still divided over how they can be overruled by the house. if at all to mark the uk‘s and what are the sort of thing departure from the eu is that they would grumble about? at the end of the month. well, several things. for instance, this version a party, or a wake? of the withdrawal agreement bill has removed parliamentary scrutiny over certain things, and i think that has caused some concern in parliament, a celebratory drink, or a dram to drown your sorrows? but again, well, on the one hand, or should a famous bell you can wonder why a government currently silent be centre stage? with a majority of 80 would bother doing that, on the other, there is not much that opponents can do. there is some slight concern, interestingly, in brussels, about some phraseology in the bill as we leave at a precise, that says the institution being created to monitor eu specified time, those who wish citizens‘ rights could be replaced to celebrate will need by another one. to look to a clock to and you‘ve heard some rhetoric mark the moment. from the other side of the channel that actually they are a bit laughter. concerned about this. i wouldn‘t be at all surprised it seems inconceivable to me if you don‘t hear that being debated and many colleagues that that clock in the house of lords as well. should not be the most iconic and closer to home, the signs timepiece in the world are that the scots and the welsh big ben. will withhold their consent from this bill. is that a practical problem or a political one? it is more of a political one. i don‘t think we‘ve had a piece of legislation go through without the consent of both will he make representations the scottish and the welsh before. to the house of commons commission, whose decision this is, and the main political issue that big ben should bong for brexit? here is the scots because the snp can the government confirm whether or not it will request for the chiming of big ben are obviously pushing this line to mark 11pm on 31 january? that we have a mandate for another because this is not going to be referendum because of the outcome a moment of celebration for many of the general election, and they will use brexit to try people across the uk, but a moment of considerable concern, not least my constituents who are citizens nationals of the european union. and strengthen that cause. and perhaps they should be asking on that side of the house, if they do want to hear and if we think as far back as last the bells chime, is for month, there was a queen‘s speech, whom the bell will toll? ministers are sympathetic and there were other bills in that to the idea, but it‘ll be up queen‘s speech that focused to the commons authorities to decide. on life after brexit. that‘s it for the week the government will presumably need in parliament. to get these past this year. i hope you canjoin mandy baker the government will need to get them on bbc parliament at 11pm on monday past this year but until we reach night for the latest from the commons and the lords. the end of the year, we are essentially in the single thank you for watching. from me, david cornock, bye for now. market, in the customs union, we still have freedom of movement, all those things about trade bills and all those things to do with our new immigration policy will need to be in place for after that. so, we are talking about things like immigration, environment. agriculture. fisheries. yes, agriculture, fisheries. there are many areas of public policy where essentially the eu has substituted for westminster, fisheries, agriculture, immigration when it comes hello. to europeans, we will need to devise sunday was a pleasant day policies of our own in those areas, across many parts of we might need to devise new policies the british isles. and new spending commitments for things like research for things like regional spending. all the things where the eu used plenty of sunshine around things to play a large role. and, of course, not being in the eu will change markedly indeed. storm any more, depending on the deal we negotiate, they might not play that role in the future. and a lot of those things will need brendan living in. a deep area of to be done by december the 31st. low pressure and that means strong yes, absolutely. because there is still a very real winds. prospect we will end up leaving the european union with no trade deal in place. if they can‘t reach agreement the wind freshening all the while or if the agreement can‘t be ratified, then ultimately we are ahead of the system pushing the rain trading with the european union into many western areas accompanied bya on wto terms, and there are no into many western areas accompanied by a very strong perhaps special arrangements for anything. professor menon, thank you very much. it was a week dominated disruptively strong wind. gusts up by international tensions by what‘s been called to 45 miles an hour but up to 70 the iran missile crisis, prompted by the killing of the iranian army chief qasem miles around the irish sea coast. soleimani. on tuesday night, ballistic missiles were fired at two air bases in iraq also on the eastern side of where us and uk scotland. perhaps before the day is forces are stationed. done, as much as 85 horsepower iran‘s revolutionary guard said through the western isles so again the strikes were in retaliation for the assassination that will be speed restrictions, of general soleimani on the orders of donald trump. travel disruption and ferries could the crisis and how to respond have a real problem. at least the rank lose weight but the wind is an to it dominated the first ever present feature. a bright start prime minister‘s questions since the general election. to tuesday in central and western mr speaker, i should begin by saying scotla nd to tuesday in central and western scotland but not very long into the that we of course condemn the attack morning, the next pulse of mild air on iraqi military bases from the atlantic so that means a hosting coalition forces. iran should not repeat these lot of cloud and rain gradually reckless and dangerous attacks but must instead pursue pushing its way up towards the central part of scotland. it is urgent de escalation. mailed to the south but further north, that rain may fall into cooler air. north of the central the labour leader wanted the prime minister to confirm his opposition to any retaliation belt that could be some snow so very busy start to the week. the wind is or further escalation of the crisis. seal that is a feature across the northern half of scotland into following the government s support for the united states over the assassination of general wednesday. showers, a weatherfront soleimani, is the prime minister confident that united kingdom troops to get away from the south east and and civilians are not at further then a decent sort of day. still risk in the region and beyond? mastery but nowhere near the strength we saw on monday and tuesday. the answer must begin to mr speaker, i can of course confirm, squeeze up on thursday again so and that is an important question, another windy day from the south. a that as far as we can tell, there were no casualties last night new set of whether front with cloud sustained by the us, and no british personnel and rain into scotland. widely were injured in the attacks. the government has said that it is sympathetic to the assassination across western areas and later on in of general soleimani. what evidence has the prime minister the afternoon some pulses working got to suggest that this attack on him and his death was not their way further towards the east. an illegal act by the united states? you have to go as far ahead as well, mr speaker, clearly, friday to see something a bit quieter moving in from the atlantic the strict issue of legality is not as that ridge of high pressure begins to quieten things down. for the uk to determine since it was not our operation. but i think that most reasonable people would accept that the united states has a right to protect its bases and its personnel. and i would remind the house that the individual concerned, qasem soleimani, was not only responsible for many years, amongst other things, arming the houthis with missiles with which they attacked innocent civilians, arming hezbollah with missiles, which again they used to attack innocent civilians, sustaining the assad regime in syria, one of the most brutal and barbaric regimes in the world, and of course supplying improvised explosive devices to terrorists whom i‘m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british welcome to bbc news. i‘m james reynolds. our top stories: troops on his hands. iran‘s leaders under pressure after more protests over the shooting down of a passenger jet. canadians were among the victims prime ministerjustin trudeau paid his respects and promised justice. we will not rest until mr speaker, if we stand by international law, there are answers. as i m sure the government we will not rest until there does and would want to, then surely killing somebody in a foreign territory is an illegal is justice and accountability. act and should be condemned as such? this government s response is not putting the interests of this queen elizabeth and other senior country first but instead seems more interested in prioritising royals are to hold talks over prince harry and the prime minister s relationship with president trump over the security of the region and of this country. meghan‘s future role. isn t the truth, mr speaker, that this prime minister is unable to stand up to president trump warnings of a further eruption force thousands to leave their homes because he has hitched his wagon to a trade deal with near to a volcano the united states and that in the philippines. prioritises everything else and serena williams celebrates her that he ought to be considering? first title in three years, well, mr speaker, i was waiting for the little green men thing to come out at the end of that, about the trade deal. this is absolute fiction. but what i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. i think we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a european response and in bridging that, the european response with that of our american friends, and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. later, in a phone call, the prime minister told the iranian president hassan rouhani there should be an end to hostilities. that was before evidence emerged that suggested an iranian surface to air missile brought down a ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near tehran. four britons were among the 176 people who died in the crash shortly after take off. borisjohnson said information suggests the plane was shot down, but this may well have been unintentional . let‘s have a look at some westminster news in brief now. and where better to start than with some election news? three new deputy speakers have been elected by mps nigel evans, dame rosie winterton, and dame eleanor laing. dame eleanor is the most senior of the three, and will chair budget debates. the first one to be elected is dame eleanor laing. cheering. ..was elected the first ever woman to be first woman to be elected chair of westminster. cheering. you‘re clapping whatever we do! no clapping, said the speaker, but he did call it a historic occasion. you intend to do a lot to bring this place into the 21st century, and to restore faith in our democracy. and i look forward to doing all i can to helping you. thank you very much. cheering. dominic cummings, the prime minister‘s controversial adviser, prompted a stir with a government recruitment drive launched on his personal blog. the debate spilled over into treasury questions. the prime minister‘s special adviser now wants a civil service packed in the cabinet comprised of weirdos and misfits with odd skills. so. laughter. ..so as a member of that cabinet, what weird explanation does the chancellor have as to why, according to the office of national statistics, productivity is falling at its fastest annual pace for five years? mr speaker, we ve just had an unprecedented decade of growth. it s the first decade of uninterrupted growth only the third time since 1700 that we ve had an uninterrupted decade of growth, thanks to the work of this government! and when it comes to weirdos and misfits, i know there are many on that side of the house, but they need not apply. and an mp accused a member of the house of lords of abusing security staff at westminster. the snp‘s hannah bardell raised the alleged behaviour of lord maginnis a former ulster unionist mp with the commons speaker. yesterday on re entering the building for the first time after christmas, i witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff i have seen in my time here. one of the members of the other place, who i will name so as to not incriminate anybody else, lord ken maginnis, had forgotten his pass something we ve all been guilty of. 00:17:02,835 > 2147483051:45:16,132 however, instead of taking 2147483051:45:16,132 > 4294966103:13:29,430 the advice of the security staff
now it s time for a look back at the week in parliament. hello, and welcome to the week in parliament. was this the moment mps started to get brexit done? the ayes to the right, 330. the noes to the left, 231. the iran missile crisis. the prime minister lists the charge sheet against its military chief. and, of course, supplying explosive devices to terrorists who i m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british troops on his hands. the end of the peers show but what should a second chamber do? unless we start by saying what do we think the house of lords is for, and once we have agreed on that, i think the options on how you compose that body will almost naturally flow from itself. and, how should the uk mark its departure from the eu? will he make representations to the house of commons commission whose decision this is that big ben should bong for brexit? but first, a big moment for brexit. we are now a step nearer leaving the eu at the end of this month. the bill to put borisjohnson s brexit deal into law cleared the house of commons on thursday evening. the ayes to the right, 330. the noes to the left, 231. so, the ayes have it, the ayes have it. a government majority of 99 that s what you might call a meaningful vote after all the failed attempts to get the brexit deal through the commons. the withdrawal agreement bill covers divorce payments to the eu, citizens‘ rights, customs arrangements for northern ireland and the planned ii month transition period. mps had spent three days debating the details. but with a majority of 80, no opposition attempts to change it stood a chance of success. that didn t stop them trying. labour will continue to fight to protect the most vulnerable. we may not win many votes in parliamentjust now but we can win the moral argument. labour will continue to fight to protect the most vulnerable. we may not win many votes in parliamentjust now but we can win the moral argument. and of course sir keir starmer hopes to do that as labour leader. thursday also saw what s likely to be the last brexit questions in the commons the department for exiting the eu is due to be wound up at the end of the month the brexit secretary s job will disappear with it. there was a valedictory air to question time. during the three years the department has been in place, it has had three secretaries of state and three permanent secretaries but since the first departmental question, just one shadow brexit secretary. without in any way wishing tojinx his next steps, may i. ..place on record his contribution to the scrutiny of the government, which i am sure will continue in whatever role he plays in the house moving forward. so no more knife edge votes at westminster, but the uk government has failed to win the backing of the scottish parliament. msps voted by 92 votes to 29 against giving formal consent to the withdrawal agreement bill. the scottish government s brexit secretary said scottish voters had shown repeatedly that they don t want to leave the eu. that message has been related time and time again. that message to the prime minister is as clear today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. let me put it this way prime minister, we said no to brexit and we mean it. but presiding officer, the prime minister is not listening to the scottish people, just as his party in scotland, as we hear, is not listening. because, in three weeks‘ time, it is virtually certain that scotland will be taken out of the european union against our will. and we will, each of us, be forcibly stripped of our european citizenship against our specific wishes. that is an intolerable situation, and this parliament, as the voice of scotland, must say so. and wales‘s first minister mark drakeford says assembly members should vote down the bill when it comes before the senedd. the fact of brexit is undoubtedly now there. nobody should believe that that means somehow that is a blank cheque for a uk government to do things in a way that would cause enormous damage to the welsh economy and to welsh interests. and we will continue to argue, wherever we can, to make sure that those interests are properly defended. mark dra keford, with a hint of trouble ahead. so, let s take stock of where we are with a real life expert, professor anand menon of the uk in a changing europe thinktank at king s college, london. the bill sailed through the commons what did we learn along the way? well, i think that older people like me have remembered and younger people will have heard what it was to have a majority government. will have because all of a sudden, this government is going to win all the votes. and you see opposition parties wondering about amendments but knowing that ultimately, unless they get the support of the government, they are not going to go through. and we have just learnt what power borisjohnson has at his disposal, at the moment at least. so, it s going his way so far. the bill will now go to the house of lords. could anything go wrong there? the house of lords will grumble and quibble, i m sure about that. but, remember, all the key elements of what is in this bill were part of the conservative manifesto so i find it very hard to believe that the lords are going to kick up too much of a fuss, and even if they do, going back to that majority again, they can be overruled by the house. and what are the sort of thing is that they would grumble about? well, several things. for instance, this version of the withdrawal agreement bill has removed parliamentary scrutiny over certain things, and i think that has caused some concern in parliament, but again, well, on the one hand, you can wonder why a government with a majority of 80 would bother doing that, on the other, there is not much that opponents can do. there is some slight concern, interestingly, in brussels, about some phraseology in the bill that says the institution being created to monitor eu citizens‘ rights could be replaced by another one. and you‘ve heard some rhetoric from the other side of the channel that actually they are a bit concerned about this. i wouldn‘t be at all surprised if you don‘t hear that being debated in the house of lords as well. and closer to home, the signs are that the scots and the welsh will withhold their consent from this bill. is that a practical problem or a political one? it is more of a political one. i don‘t think we‘ve had a piece of legislation go through without the consent of both the scottish and the welsh before. and the main political issue here is the scots because the snp are obviously pushing this line that we have a mandate for another referendum because of the outcome of the general election, and they will use brexit to try and strengthen that cause. and if we think as far back as last month, there was a queen‘s speech, and there were other bills in that queen‘s speech that focused on life after brexit. the government will presumably need to get these past this year. the government will need to get them past this year but until we reach the end of the year, we are essentially in the single market, in the customs union, we still have freedom of movement, all those things about trade bills and all those things to do with our new immigration policy will need to be in place for after that. so, we are talking about things like immigration, environment. agriculture. fisheries. yes, agriculture, fisheries. there are many areas of public policy where essentially the eu has substituted for westminster, fisheries, agriculture, immigration when it comes to europeans, we will need to devise policies of our own in those areas, we might need to devise new policies and new spending commitments for things like research for things like regional spending. all the things where the eu used to play a large role. and, of course, not being in the eu any more, depending on the deal we negotiate, they might not play that role in the future. and a lot of those things will need to be done by december the 31st. yes, absolutely. because there is still a very real prospect we will end up leaving the european union with no trade deal in place. if they can‘t reach agreement or if the agreement can‘t be ratified, then ultimately we are trading with the european union on wto terms, and there are no special arrangements for anything. professor menon, thank you very much. it was a week dominated by international tensions by what‘s been called the iran missile crisis, prompted by the killing of the iranian army chief qasem soleimani. on tuesday night, ballistic missiles were fired at two air bases in iraq where us and uk forces are stationed. iran‘s revolutionary guard said the strikes were in retaliation for the assassination of general soleimani on the orders of donald trump. the crisis and how to respond to it dominated the first prime minister‘s questions since the general election. mr speaker, i should begin by saying that we of course condemn the attack on iraqi military bases hosting coalition forces. iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. the labour leader wanted the prime minister to confirm his opposition to any retaliation or further escalation of the crisis. following the government s support for the united states over the assassination of general soleimani, is the prime minister confident that united kingdom troops and civilians are not at further risk in the region and beyond? mr speaker, i can of course confirm, and that is an important question, that as far as we can tell, there were no casualties last night sustained by the us, and no british personnel were injured in the attacks. the government has said that it is sympathetic to the assassination of general soleimani. what evidence has the prime minister got to suggest that this attack on him and his death was not an illegal act by the united states? well, mr speaker, clearly, the strict issue of legality is not for the uk to determine since it was not our operation. but i think that most reasonable people would accept that the united states has a right to protect its bases and its personnel. and i would remind the house that the individual concerned, qasem soleimani, was not only responsible for many years, amongst other things, arming the houthis with missiles with which they attacked innocent civilians, arming hezbollah with missiles, which again they used to attack innocent civilians, sustaining the assad regime in syria, one of the most brutal and barbaric regimes in the world, and of course supplying improvised explosive devices to terrorists whom i‘m afraid killed and maimed british troops. that man had the blood of british troops on his hands. mr speaker, if we stand by international law, as i m sure the government does and would want to, then surely killing somebody in a foreign territory is an illegal act and should be condemned as such? this government s response is not putting the interests of this country first but instead seems more interested in prioritising the prime minister s relationship with president trump over the security of the region and of this country. isn t the truth, mr speaker, that this prime minister is unable to stand up to president trump because he has hitched his wagon to a trade deal with the united states and that prioritises everything else that he ought to be considering? well, mr speaker, i was waiting for the little green men thing to come out at the end of that, about the trade deal. this is absolute fiction. but what i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. i think we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a european response and in bridging that, the european response with that of our american friends, and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. later, in a phone call, the prime minister told the iranian president hassan rouhani there should be an end to hostilities. that was before evidence emerged that suggested an iranian surface to air missile brought down a ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near tehran. four britons were among the 176 people who died in the crash shortly after take off. borisjohnson said information suggests the plane was shot down, but this may well have been unintentional . let‘s have a look at some westminster news in brief now. and where better to start than with some election news? three new deputy speakers have been elected by mps nigel evans, dame rosie winterton, and dame eleanor laing. dame eleanor is the most senior of the three, and will chair budget debates. the first one to be elected is dame eleanor laing. cheering. ..was elected the first ever woman to be first woman to be elected chair of westminster. cheering. you‘re clapping whatever we do! no clapping, said the speaker, but he did call it a historic occasion. you intend to do a lot to bring this place into the 21st century, and to restore faith in our democracy. and i look forward to doing all i can to helping you. thank you very much. cheering. dominic cummings, the prime minister‘s controversial adviser, prompted a stir with a government recruitment drive launched on his personal blog. the debate spilled over into treasury questions. the prime minister‘s special adviser now wants a civil service packed in the cabinet comprised of weirdos and misfits with odd skills. so. laughter. ..so as a member of that cabinet, what weird explanation does the chancellor have as to why, according to the office of national statistics, productivity is falling at its fastest annual pace for five years? mr speaker, we ve just had an unprecedented decade of growth. it s the first decade of uninterrupted growth only the third time since 1700 that we ve had an uninterrupted decade of growth, thanks to the work of this government! and when it comes to weirdos and misfits, i know there are many on that side of the house, but they need not apply. and an mp accused a member of the house of lords of abusing security staff at westminster. the snp‘s hannah bardell raised the alleged behaviour of lord maginnis a former ulster unionist mp with the commons speaker. yesterday on reentering the building for the first time after christmas, i witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff i have seen in my time here. one of the members of the other place, who i will name so as to not incriminate anybody else, lord ken maginnis, had forgotten his pass something we ve all been guilty of. however, instead of taking the advice of the security staff who, as we all know, are here for our security and our safety, he proceeded to verbally abuse and shout at both members of staff, calling them crooked, saying, did they not know who he was, he had been here for 46 years and refusing to take the advice and assistance of both myself, the security staff, and the police that then attended. lord maginnis later told a newspaper the row was much ado about nothing and he had nothing to apologise for. hannah ba rdell has reported him to the police. now david cameron used to say that it was a third term issue low priority but could house of lords reform be back on the political agenda? the conservative manifesto promised to set up a constitution, democracy, and rights commission and the future of the lords may well be part of it. ministers are said to be looking at plans from a cross party group that could see the lords either abolished, or become an elected senate of the nations and regions. campaigners say change can‘t come quickly enough, but they‘re not holding their breath. we‘ve heard talk of lords reform in terms of better regional representation being on the desk of people at number ten. but we‘ve been here before, there‘s lots of talk about lords reform in fact, in the last 20 years, there‘s been nine attempts at lords reform of some sort, if we look at draft bills and committees and white papers, but what we really need to see is some action. this is an issue which has high public support, and we really can‘t go on much longer with an unelected upper chamber. it‘s just simply doesn‘t fit in our modern democracy. the idea of lords reform features in an act of union bill put forward by the constitution reform group. the former labour mp and ex chair of the vote leave campaign, gisela stuart, sits on the group‘s steering committee. gisela stuart, what is the problem that your act of union bill is trying to fix? it started about five years ago when i asked the then prime minister, david cameron and this was before he called the referendum on our membership of the european union whether he would meet us, because it was our argument that devolution was in very much unfinished business in the united kingdom. we had devolved power in a very asymmetric way to northern ireland, scotland, wales, and london. we kind of finished and overlooked the rest of england. we started doing coalition years that the function of the house of lords is being a revising chamber when no party had the majority was no longer working very effectively. and i remember literally saying to david cameron, irrespective of the outcome of the eu referendum, you are the prime minister of a deeply fractured nation . and that‘s what we are trying to address, a new look of how the four nations work together and hold together. and what is your solution for the house of lords? we offer one option, which goes for you have complete abolition. and you really look very much like the german second chamber, where you have representatives of the regions who speak collectively. or you have a house of lords which has an element of being elected. we ended up with a figure of 292 to be elected for 15 year terms, and 100 appointed. the one thing we definitely decided was that the house of lords should not be for life. right, right. and haven‘t we been here before? you were an mp back in 2003. you will remember mps spent a whole day discussing voting on seven different options for the future of the house of lords, and they rejected them all. the problem is that people may agree there needs to be change, but they can‘t agree on the type of change that there should be. oh, i remember it well. and there‘s nothing worse in the house of commons than when mps are not whipped on how to vote, and you have a whole string of votes and. make up their own mind! ..and you go, what are we voting on? is it 18, is it 100? but you identified the problem in your question. there were so many options on the table, and i think that unless we start by saying, what do we think the house of lords is for ? and once we‘ve agreed on that, i think the options on how you compose that body will almost naturally flow from itself. gisela stuart, thank you very much, indeed. pleasure. the newly strengthened snp force at westminster has wasted little time in making its presence felt. with 48 of the 59 seats in scotland, the snp dominated scottish questions its mps making the same demand for scotland to have the power to hold another independence referendum. the party‘s westminster leader drove home the message during prime minister‘s questions. mr speaker, today the scottish parliament will decline legislative consent to the withdrawal vote we are deliberating later today. why is this conservative government dismissing the will of the people of scotland, ignoring their voicing, and disregarding our parliament? mr speaker, i think the real question is, why does the snp keep going on about breaking up the most successful union in history? to distract from their abundant failures in government! cheering. in spite of getting an extra £9 billion a year from the uk exchequer which of course they would lose if they were to foolishly break away they are mismanaging their health care, and you ll see, i m afraid it is not the fault of scottish pupils, but you re seeing scottish schools falling behind in the educational sense. concentrate on what you re doing, and stop going on about breaking up the union! now what‘s been happening in the wider world of politics this week? with our countdown, here‘s najiba feroze. at five pronouncing place names that are not spelled phonetically can be tricky sometimes. here is how the leader of the house of commons, jacob rees mogg, dealt with it. for starters, it‘s rhondda. not rhon da, rhon the. the honourable gentlemen, the memberfor. ..very generously, when i was newly elected, took me to the smoking room and gave me a couple glasses of scotch from his finest produce to help me learn how to pronounce his constituency. at four the scottish brexit secretary, michael russell, and conservative msp murdo fraser. you used to be opposed to brexit, so at least i am consistent. well, i am a democrat. we had a referendum, and i believe we should honour the outcome of the referendum. but let s not get into this, because it s a matter of debate. well, i know it‘s embarrassing for you. oh, i m not the one embarrassed, cabinet secretary commissioner. at three oh, what kind of tea should you drink in scotland? have a listen to what lord duncan of springbank says. on a bizarre point, i was criticised over the christmas period for not drinking scottish tea, but yorkshire tea. even on these issues in scotland, grievances can be found. laughter. at two was this a freudian slip from the treasury minister, rishi sunak? we‘ve committed to finding 20,000 new police officers by the end of 2023 to help keep our seats streets safe. laughter. and at one away from the commons, laura smith, a former mp who lost her seat in the general election has been photographed at the localjobcentre. she tweeted her response. najiba feroz reporting. now, the brexit arguments may be on hold in the commons at least for now but there‘s plenty of unfinished business there. mps are still divided over how if at all to mark the uk‘s departure from the eu at the end of the month. a party, or a wake? a celebratory drink, or a dram to drown your sorrows? or should a famous bell currently silent be centre stage? as we leave at a precise, specified time, those who wish to celebrate will need to look to a clock to mark the moment. laughter. it seems inconceivable to me and many colleagues that that clock should not be the most iconic timepiece in the world big ben. will he make representations to the house of commons commission, whose decision this is, that big ben should bong for brexit? can the government confirm whether or not it will request for the chiming of big ben to mark 11pm on 31 january? because this is not going to be a moment of celebration for many people across the uk, but a moment of considerable concern, not least my constituents who are citizens nationals of the european union. and perhaps they should be asking on that side of the house, if they do want to hear the bells chime, is for whom the bell will toll? ministers are sympathetic to the idea, but it‘ll be up to the commons authorities to decide. that‘s it for the week in parliament. i hope you canjoin mandy baker on bbc parliament at 11pm on monday night for the latest from the commons and the lords. thank you for watching. from me, david cornock, bye for now. hello. saturday was another mild and a wet and windy day rather like january has been thus far. and the reason for it the jet stream has looked like this. and you‘ll notice as i take you through the next few days, it will continue in similar vein pretty strong, firing in from the west and south west, and in each kink, we will see a succession of low pressure systems delivering yet more wet and windy and mild weather towards the british isles. and that‘s rather how we start the day across a good part of england and wales, although i suspect that once the cloud and rain has quit the scene, by around about lunchtime on the east coast, it will be a glorious afternoon. plenty of sunshine around. dry for the most part too, save for a peppering of showers across the north and west of scotland, urged along in this neck of the woods by a noticeable south westerly wind. but nowhere near as windy for many of us as was the case on saturday, and those temperatures still hanging onto double figures down across the southern half of britain. and then, as the sun sets, the temperatures will tumble away underneath relatively clear skies. yes, one or two showers still coming through on the breeze, but things will cloud up in the west to finish off the night. but further east, it could be a chilly start to monday. a dry one for many of us, too. that, however, will not last very long. notice the number of isobars here, squeezing up all the while as a very vigorous area of low pressure throws this active weather front in towards the western side of the british isles not very far into monday, so don‘t be fooled by the dry start because it will turn increasingly very wet indeed from the west to many parts of northern ireland, certainly scotland, the west of england, then into wales. and the gusts of wind willjust keep on building, such that at some point, we could well see gusts of wind to around 60, 70, if not 80 mph in extremis across the north west of scotland. not a cold day by any means at all, but one to watch out for, particularly if you‘re on the move. and then as that area of low pressure quits the scene, itjust makes room for another spell of wet and windy weather to pile in on tuesday from this south western quarter. so again, many of you start the day dry and chilly and bright. but it doesn‘t stay that way, and as this mild air rushes up towards the scottish borders, there‘ll be a conversion, we suspect, of rain to snow across the southern uplands, then north of the central belt across the higher ground. very mild indeed in the south. so disruptively windy, really quite wet at times in the first half of the week. mild, perhaps a tad drier, later in the week.