07/03/2018 Wednesday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to the programme.

As Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince

begins a three day visit to the UK

there are questions for Theresa May

about the UK's links to the country.

As she makes her arms sales pitch,

will she also call on the Crown

Prince to halt the shocking abuse

of human rights in Saudi Arabia?

We have with Saudi

Arabia is historic,

it is an important one, and it has

saved the lives of potentially

hundreds of people in this country.

Also on this programme: A call

to make misogynistic

abuse a hate crime.

Misogyny is everywhere in our

society, absolutely everywhere.

To the point where we often miss it

because it has been so normalised.

And MPs investigate why your fake

fur bobble hat may not

be fake fur at all.

But first.

Theresa May has defended the UK's

relationship with Saudi Arabia

at the start of a three day visit

by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

His schedule includes

talks with Theresa May

and lunch with the Queen.

The Crown Prince is credited

with kick-starting economic

and social reforms in the kingdom,

such as the lifting

of the ban on women driving.

But protestors have objected

to the country's human rights

record and its involvement

in the war in Yemen.

Jeremy Corbyn raised the visit

at prime Ministers questions.

But the session began

with Theresa May updating Mps

on the suspected poisoning

of a former Russian spy

and his daughter in Salisbury.

The police investigation is ongoing.

Yesterday afternoon,

I chaired a meeting of the national

Security Council where

we were updated on that

investigation which is now being led

by counterterrorism police.

And this morning, my

right honourable friend,

the Home Secretary, chaired

a meeting of the Government's

emergency committee, COBRA,

and has asked police

for an update later today.

It was later revealed that a very

rare nerve agent had been used.

The Labour leader thanked

Theresa May for the update and then

began his first question.

Tomorrow is International Women's

Day, a chance to both celebrate how

far we have come for equality

on women, but also reflect

on how far we have to go,

not just in this country,

but around the world.

And with that in mind he turned

to the visit of Saudi Arabia's crown

prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Despite much talk of reform,

there has been a sharp increase

in the arrest and detention

of dissidents, torture

of prisoners is common.

Human rights defenders routinely

sentenced to lengthy prison terms,

unfair trials and executions

are widespread as Amnesty

International confirms.

As she makes her arms sales pitch,

will she also call on the crown

prince to halt the shocking abuse

of human rights in Saudi Arabia?

Well, first of all, can I thank

the right honourable gentleman

for telling me that it's

International Women's Day tomorrow.

I think that's what's

called mansplaining.

I welcome, I look forward to

welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin

Salman from Saudi Arabia to this...

Well, Labour backbenchers

from sedentary positions

are shouting "shame".

Can I just say to those backbenchers

that the link that we have

with Saudi Arabia is historic,

it is an important one and it has

saved the lives of potentially

hundreds of people in this country?

that waits for a visit of the crown

prince to raise.

We do regularly monitor

the situation and regularly raise

this question with the Saudi

government and we will

continue to do so.

started on the issue

of International Women's Day,

I welcome the fact that the crown

prince will be sitting down

with as the guest of a female Prime

Minister.

As the crown prince sweeps

across Westminster and Whitehall,

will she pledge to raise a specific

case concerning the jailing

of writer Raif Badawi,

who languishes in a prison now

for six years all because he had

written something his

government didn't like?

His wife and children have now

claimed asylum in Canada.

Will she pledge to raise his case

and do something that her

predecessor never could,

stand at the dispatch box,

say that Raif Badawi is not criminal

and that Raif Badawi should

be set free?

Can I say to the honourable

gentleman that I'll be raising

a number of cases with the crown

prince as I see him over

the next couple of days.

The case he specifically refers

to of Raif Badawi is not something

that waits for a visit of the crown

prince to raise.

We do regularly monitor

the situation and regularly raise

this question with the Saudi

government and we will

continue to do so.

Jeremy Corbyn moved

on from Saudi Arabia's human rights

record to its involvement in the war

in Yemen, where it's

backing attempts to restore

the country's president.

Has suspended ourselves

to Saudi Arabia, but British arms

sales have sharply increased

and British military advisors

are directing the war.

It cannot be right that her

government, Mr Speaker, it cannot be

right that her government

is colluding in what

the United Nations says

is evidence of war crimes.

We have a very tight arms export

regime in this country.

And when there are allegations

of arms not being used

within the law, that we expect that

to be investigated and lessons

to be learned on that.

Theresa May, well a short time later

a Foreign Office Minister came

to the Commons to answer an urgent

question, on the UK's

relationship with Saudi Arabia.

There will be wide spread concern

across parties at the fact that the

dictatorial head of a mid-evil,

theocratic regime is being given the

red carpet equivalent of a state

visit. And I also asked if he can

explain why the safeguards on the

use of British weapons which were

introduced at the end of the

coalition at the insistence of

myself for my liberal Democrat

colleagues are apparently no longer

being applied?

We keep under strict

checks to ensure that

internationally mentoring lies

abided by, to make sure that we can

provide the support of Saudi Arabia

that it needs in order to protect

itself.

Labour said it wanted a good

diplomatic and economic

relationship with Saudi Arabia,

but with any good relationship

there had to be honesty.

As long as they continued the

indiscriminate bombing of

residential areas of farms, and

markets in Yemen, as long as they

continue to restrict the flow of

food, medical supplies and fuels to

a population suffering from mass

epidemics of knowledge attrition and

cholera, then they should not expect

our support in that war and the

crown prince is not deserve to have

the red carpet rolled out for him

here in Britain. Because let us look

at the man who the British

Government are bearing and scraping

to today. The architect of the Saudi

air strikes and blockade in Yemen,

funding the hottie grooves in the

Syrian civil War, ordering his cards

to beat up the minute the Prime

Minister of limit on. And the eight

months since he became crown prince,

doubling the numbers of executions

in Saudi Arabia.

The Minister said everyone wanted

to see an end to the conflict

in Yemen but simply

calling for a ceasefire

wouldn't make it happen.

You have the facts on the ground to

make sure that a cease-fire actually

works. It is all very well for the

honourable lady to shake her head.

She is not faced with some of the

issues that face of Government

Ministers in relation to this nor is

she giving full credit to the ethics

-- efforts that are being made to

try to bring this matter to an end.

She is at the sole holder of condos

in this places we deal with the

difficulties of trying to deal with

the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

That is what we are seeking to do

and we will ban all of our efforts

to that and continued to do so with

or without her support.

The former Labour Prime Minister,

Gordon Brown, has called for police

to investigate "criminal wrongdoing"

by the Press.

An ex-private investigator

who was used by The Sunday Times has

spoken about the activity

he was involved in to obtain

information for the paper.

John Ford said his methods included

stealing rubbish and "blagging"

or pretending to be a bank

or utilities account holder.

The Sunday Times said it "strongly

rejects" the claim that it had

ever commissioned anyone

to act illegally.

In the Commons, Labour called

for the Leveson Inquiry into press

standards to be re-opened.

But the Culture Secretary stuck

to his announcement made last week

that the second stage of Leveson

should not go ahead.

The fact that this activity stopped

in 2010 underlines the point that

the world has changed. Practises

like these have been investigated,

newspapers today are in a very

different position to win these

alleged offences took place. This

view is in fact strengthened by

today by the example because the

behaviour we discovered today was

before the Levinson inquiry and

existing or is in place to deal with

it. Criminal behaviour should be

dealt with by the police and the

courts and anyone who has committed

a criminal offence should face the

full force of the law.

Mr Speaker,

the world has not changed. The one

rogue blackguard offence has been

uttered from the knife of the

Secretary of State. And when he

announced last week that he was

dropping the Levinson inquiry, the

culture secretary said he was doing

so because the inquiry looked into

everything in this area. And it was

followed by a three police

investigations. We looked into these

things as a society. We had a

comprehensive and batch copperheads

of inquiry. He told us that the

matter was closed. There was nothing

more to see. Well, overnight, the

BBC has reported allegations by

another whistle-blower, John Ford,

who says he was a blackguard from

the Sunday Times for 15 years.

I was

just a secretary when we set up the

inquiry and we, as a second stage of

the inquiry. If my right honourable

friend would not be surprised to

discover that I'd share some people

insist -- disappointed that it was

postponed. Does he really think that

there is no longer any sufficient

public interest in new allegations

of this kind? Or knowing which

newspapers were bribing, which

policemen because it was this long

ago as seven years.

The former Labour Leader,

Ed Miliband, said Sir Brian Leveson

himself wanted the next stage

of the inquiry to take place.

Of course the police are looking at

specific instances. But the

questions are Brian is posing is

what is the culture that allowed

this practise is to happen and how

can we have reassurance that that

culture has changed? How can he had

the reassurance without a Levinson

inquiry.

Clearly, not only hasn't

already been a lemon -- a Levinson

inquiry today's areas, but it has

clearly changed. The fact that these

practises change in the best ten

underlines the fact that they are

historic practises. But we have to

address now is how to ensure that

there is high-quality journalism in

the years to come rather than going

into revisiting the time when he was

at the height of his powers.

Ed Miliband unimpressed there

by that answer from Matt Hancock.

There was a call for misogyny to be

treated as a hate crime,

because Mps argued the power

imbalance in society meant

women were routinely

treated as a minority.

A debate in Westminster Hall heard

that the definition of a hate crime

should be extended to include

the abuse of women,

if they are targeted simply

because of their gender.

And there was some strong

language used in this debate

to describe such abuse.

All forms of abuse are committed

disproportionately against women and

girls end the perpetrators are

usually men. Part of what is

stopping women achieving equality is

violence against women and girls.

This debate is about securing an

extension to existing hate crime

definitions and sentencing to better

prevent violence against women. To

support the early intervention

against lower-level incidents and

give women greater confidence and

reporting the actions that too often

have become the wallpaper of their

wives.

When she talks about

misogyny, and I just wondered

whether we could take it as read

therefore that she thought that this

century should also be a hate crime

in exactly the same way and if she

doesn't, could just lay why she

thinks there should be one rule for

one original for the other

Mhairi Black then read out some

of the extreme abuse

she has received online -

which, because of the language,

we can't broadcast here.

I've been assured multiple times

because I don't have to worry

because I am so ugly because nobody

would want to rate me. All of these

have been tailored to be because I'm

a woman. We can kid ourselves that

these are a few bad on the anonymous

people on Twitter but it's not. This

is everyday, common line which.

This is everyday, common line which.

The Minister for Women insisted

the Government was taking

this issue seriously,

saying it had brought

in changes such as a new law

on revenge pornography.

But...

I do think we need to be careful.

About creating laws which would

inadvertently conflict with the

principles of equality. If we were

to have a crime in relation to

gender I think we would have to

think through very carefully whether

that's applies to the whole of the

population as opposed to half of it.

opposed to half of it.

Victoria Atkins, who herself came

off Twitter because of the abuse

she suffered, also said hate crimes

were meant for minorities in society

and she was hesitant to put

women in that category.

You're watching Wednesday in

Parliament with me, Alicia McCarthy.

Let's go back to prime

minster's questions,

where Jeremy Corbyn used

the rest of his questions

to tackle Theresa May over

the problem of homelessness.

In November the Chancellor of the

Exchequer announced a task force and

£20 million for three pilot schemes

to hack a homelessness. I understand

for months on the task force has not

yet met. Not a penny has been spent

on that programme. Mr Speaker, there

is a homelessness crisis in this

country. Rough sleeping has doubled

since 2010. Doesn't the premise or

think it is a little unambitious to

say we're going to tackle rough

sleeping by 2027.

Can I say we are

going to eliminate it. That's our

aim by 2027. But let me just

perhaps... Perhaps it would be

helpful if I was to update, because

a task force that he referred to has

in fact met. It met today. We are

funding for TA projects to help

rough sleepers into emergency

accommodations and to overcome the

issues like mental health and

substance abuse. It is why there

have been councils around the

country during severe weather

ensuring their providing

accommodation for people who are

sleeping on the streets. But also

dealing with the underlying issues

that lead to somebody sleeping on

the streets. It is why we are

ensuring that we are implementing

accounting first in a number

regions. To put entrenched rough

sleepers into accommodation as a

first step to rebuilding their

lives.

first step to

rebuilding their lives.

Plaid Cymru has called for UK

nationals to be allowed

to keep their European Union

citizenship after Brexit.

Holding a debate in the Commons

the party said that under

the proposal, British citizens

would be able to keep

their "European identity

and citizenship" either

by protecting existing arrangements

or by creating a new "associate

European citizenship."

The assumption so far however on

both sides of the EU and the

Government tear it is that you

citizenship lapses at the Poynter

exit the European Union. But

European Union citizenship to not

replace UK citizenship did not -- we

can't force. Both continue to

coexist. And leaving the EU does not

entail the end of the EU citizenship

for UK citizens.

One thing that

depresses me is that by the end of

this Parliament perhaps uniquely,

there'll be fewer opportunities and

young people have fewer rights than

those of us who sit in this

Parliament today I've enjoyed. And

that is something that we should all

reflect on. At the end of any

Parliament regardless was a

government, regardless which party,

it should be aspiration of all of

us, and I do think the -- the young

people should have more

opportunities and better

opportunities than those who went

before them. That should always be

our goal.

The Government has been

clear that the membership in the you

will end on the 29th of March 20 19.

We are content to listen to

proposals from the EU on associate

citizenship for UK nationals.

However, to date this has not been

formally proposed to the UK in the

negotiations. EU treaty provisions

state that only citizens of EU

member states are able to hold you

citizenship.

member states are able

to hold you citizenship.

Does that woolly hat you pulled

on during the cold snap last week

have a fake fur bobble on it?

Well if it does, be

warned: that bobble may

contain actual animal fur.

The Environment Committee has been

gathering evidence after a spate

of cases where garments trimmed

with fake fur were contaminated

with the real thing.

Samples sent to a laboratory

were found to contain a variety

of different animal furs,

which were often cheaper

than synthetic fibres.

The revelations emerged

after investigations

by Sky News and the BBC.

All the products we found were

labelled as for, they were all quite

cheap price point under the £30

mark. We have those items sent to

the fibres expert. One of the

leading experts in this area any

identified, they ranged in terms of

species from raccoons to dogs, -- to

rabbits. Most consistent with cats

for quite asked ordinarily.

Because

fake fur does feel very much like

real fall -- for. To the naked eye

and to feel you would necessarily

tell the difference would you. No,

absolutely. And what we've told

people about the accuser used to

tell fake fur, these completely

unreliable cues. Including price.

People using price to indicate fake

fur. Including colour like bright

pink. All the queues of people using

our unreliable. It was a range of

reactions. Some were left crying,

frankly.

I'm an animal rights

already constructing a somebody

would... We can reveal that she sold

us with pom-poms made with rabbits.

We took that to her. She burst into

tears. She said she would never do

that. She takes in strays or sell.

Then she admitted on camera that she

hadn't even asked her supplier

whether it was fake fur. John done

any fake check -- any checks. Have

master any paperwork.

I break that

story in April, December admittedly

different brands. But rivals were

still being found. Although they

were small in number. These are big

brands that you would expect to have

these checks.

these checks.

So what did the shops have to say?

I figure the challenge is about

understanding the nature of the

problem. So on that resetting the

nature of the problem. The supply

chains are being contaminated

because the real furs than the fake

fur. With something that only came

to light Willie with the Sky News

inquiry. So knowing that...

So back

in 2015 you are alerted to this, as

all your you're saying?

Nothing was

happening in that way. Such that in

the choice of material we were

expected to be a fabric that...

It's

interesting that you now feel it's

necessary, but you didn't feel is

necessary in 15, because otherwise

in 17 it wouldn't have been in your

shop and Skype -- and Sky News with

the fat in the BBC wouldn't have had

it. His board to carry on when the

heat dies down. Will you go back to

having some real fur traitorous fake

fur?

With complete respect what our

systems have been a place in 2015

they continue. Each step if

something happens we learn and we

improve the system.

improve the system.

Dorothy Maxwell

from House of Fraser

Finally for now to the Lords,

where fears were raised that music

was being pushed out of school

curriculums in England.

The education minister insisted

money was going in to make sure

children still took up the subject.

Between 2016 and 2020 we are

providing £300 million of funding

for music education. To ensure all

pupils have the opportunity to learn

an instrument, saying, and perform

regularly, and have access to clear

roots of progression.

In the last

year a low in England but it fell by

8%. Is he aware that a survey of six

and a half thousand schools,

teachers held the EU for this

decline.

There's no evidence that

the subject of the client... Did the

proportion of time spent studying

music has remained broadly stable

since 2010.

When there is so much

concern about child and adolescent

mental health would he accept that

it is important that within schools

there opportunities for children to

participate in music for the

therapeutic and social benefits they

convey his, and that is particularly

true of performing music groups.

My

own Academy trust I appointed,

director music just before a point

just an acid to give me his early

feedback. But he has said on

listening -- pupils find listening

easier, listening longer. Pupils

readily try new things. Improved

multitasking skills. And in relation

to extracurricular ensemble, he

talks about pupils being better able

to understand commitment, time

management, perseverance, and

cooperation.

Can you see why

facilities are so much worse than

they are in many private schools. A

situation which would be reversed by

that premium. Wars of the case of

the conservative government is quite

content for the study of music to be

the preserve of the wealthy?

As to

music in schools.

The commitment to

music remains. They are supporting

some 14,000 ensemble across the

country.

Lord Agnew.

And that's it from us for now,

but do join me on BBC Parliament

on Thursday night at 11 for a full

round up of the day at Westminster,

when it's environment

questions in the Commons

and both houses hold debates marking

international women's day.

But for now from me, AM goodbye.