Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 8 Jan 2019

1. MPs complain to police after Soubry abused

At least 55 MPs have signed a letter to Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick expressing “serious concerns about the deteriorating public order and security situation” around Parliament, after Tory Anna Soubry was verbally abused and jostled by pro-Brexit campaigners. Labour’s Mary Creagh called the abuse “vile, misogynistic thuggery”.

2. Cross-party bid to prevent no-deal Brexit

MPs from the the UK’s major parties have united in an attempt to stop a no-deal Brexit. Tory Nicky Morgan and Labour’s Yvette Cooper have tabled an amendment to the Finance Bill that would limit the Government’s spending powers in the event of the UK crashing out of the European Union without an agreement. Lib Dem leader Vince Cable has tabled a similar amendment.

3. Millions of patients to see Skype doctors

Theresa May wants millions of patients to see their doctors via video-calling services such as Skype, in a bid to save billions of pounds as part of a “wholesale transformation of the NHS” announced yesterday. NHS England boss Simon Stevens said the current model of hospital appointments was both “outdated and unsustainable”.

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4. Spacey in court charged with sex assault on teenager

Actor Kevin Spacey made a first appearance before a court in Massachusetts yesterday to face charges of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man in 2016. The House of Cards star, rarely seen in public since the allegations were levelled at him, entered a not guilty plea through his lawyers. On his way home, Spacey was pulled over for speeding but let off with a warning.

5. England needs three million new homes by 2040, says report

A report by a cross-party group of MPs says England needs three million new social homes by 2040 in order to save millions of people from a future in dangerous, overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable housing. If the recommendations are taken up, it would mean building more new council houses than in the 20 years after the War.

6. Giant fatberg blocking sewer in Devon

The largest so-called fatberg ever found by South West Water is blocking the sewers of the coastal Devon town of Sidmouth and will take about eight weeks to remove. The obstruction is 210ft long – more than the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa – and composed mostly of fat, wet wipes and grease. Work to remove it will begin in February.

7. Teenage abuse victim who shot man is freed

A woman who as a teenager shot dead a man who had taken her to his house for sex is to be freed, following a campaign backed by celebrities including Kim Kardashian. Cyntoia Brown, who is now 30 and has earned a high-school diploma in prison, was jailed for 51 years for the 2004 killing of Nashville real estate agent Johnny Allen.

8. Uber driver pleads guilty to six murders

An Uber driver who blamed the app for controlling his “mind and body” after killing six people in a shooting spree in Michigan has pleaded guilty to murder. Jason Dalton, 48, continued to pick up passengers in between the attacks, in Kalamazoo County in 2016, but none of his randomly selected victims were Uber customers.

9. French writer Moix: I can’t love over-50s

A writer has caused outrage in France by telling Marie Claire magazine that women of 50 or over are “too old” and that he is “incapable” of loving a woman of that age, despite being 50 himself. Yann Moix, who often courts controversy, said: “I prefer younger women's bodies, that's all. End of. The body of a 25-year-old woman is extraordinary.”

10. Briefing: what is the average UK household debt?

UK households have seen their debts to credit card firms, banks and other lenders soar by an average total of £886 over the past year alone, according to a new report.

And unsecured debt across Britain has risen by almost 50% since the 2008 economic crash, the analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found. Here is the amount owed by British households in the third quarter of 2018.

What is the average UK household debt?