Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Sunday 10 Feb 2019

1. Prime Minister to ask for more time for Brexit deal

Theresa May will urge MPs to give her more time to secure changes to her Brexit deal. The PM is expected to pledge in the House of Commons this week that MPs will get another say on Brexit if she cannot recommend a revised plan this month. Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer says that Labour plans to force another vote on her deal.

2. Sir Philip's Arcadia accused of a 'cover-up'

Sir Philip Green’s retail giant Arcadia is being accused of a cover-up after it emerged witness testimonies were left out of a report into sexual harassment. Although two male executives told a lawyer they had watched as Sir Philip “slapped” and “smacked” a woman’s bottom, their comments did not appear in a final report. Meanwhile, Baroness Brady is refusing to resign as the chairman of Sir Philip Green’s business empire.

3. Elizabeth Warren formally launches her White House bid

The Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has officially launched her bid to stand for the White House in 2020. In her speech, she described Donald Trump as “the latest and most extreme symptom of what's gone wrong in America” and a “product of a rigged system that props up the rich and powerful and kicks dirt on everyone else”. In response, the US President called her a “fraud”.

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4. Suicidal children facing delays for mental health care

Suicidal children are having to wait more than two weeks for beds in mental health units to start treatment, according to a new study. The research found that bed and staff shortages mean NHS services for troubled children as young as 12 have become dangerously “threadbare”. Former mental health minister Norman Lamb warned that being forced to wait for a bed could increase the risk of young people trying to end their lives.

5. Prince Philip surrenders his driving licence after crash

Prosecutors will take into account Prince Philip voluntarily surrendering his driving licence when they consider charges over the car crash he was involved in last month. Buckingham Palace has confirmed the Duke of Edinburgh has given up his licence. The development comes after the 97-year-old apologised over a crash near the Sandringham estate, in which his Land Rover Freelander landed on its side after a collision.

6. Executives to face longer jail terms for pensions scandals

Company bosses could face up to seven years in prison if they mismanage employee pension schemes. The Work and Pensions Secretary is proposing a new criminal offence for “wilfully or recklessly” mismanaging funds. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Amber Rudd said the new law would target “the reckless few playing fast and loose”. The proposal comes after one of the biggest pension scandals of the past decade, at BHS.

7. Prisons to get transgender wings in future

Jails are to get transgender wings as the Prison Service stops many transgender inmates, including sex offenders, serving their sentences in women’s prisons. Ministers are revising guidelines that said the “great majority” of trans prisoners should be allowed to “experience the system in the gender in which they identify”. Officials predict that numbers of trans or non-binary prisoners in England and Wales could rise to 1,000, up from 139 last year.

8. Children at risk from lax checks on dating apps

Dating apps are putting a generation of children at risk of grooming and sexual exploitation, claims The Sunday Times. Police documents found that loose controls on apps such as Tinder and Grindr, are giving sexual predators and paedophiles easy access to children across the UK. Detectives have investigated more than 30 incidents of child rape since 2015 where victims had dodged age checks on dating apps.

9. Utility bill rises could be 'sudden and devastating'

Consumer campaigners say impending price hikes in essential utilities could plunge families into the red. The average household will have to pay hundreds of pounds more due to rises in the price of energy, water and council tax. “When these latest price hikes happen, the impact on those already teetering in to the red will be sudden and devastating,” said Martyn James from complaints site Resolver.

10. Yellow vest protestor's 'hand blown off' in Paris

A yellow vest protestor’s hand was seemingly blown off during another weekend of violent clashes in Paris. In the 13th consecutive weekend of demonstrations in the French capital, medical experts provided emergency treatment to the man near the gates of the National Assembly. Tens of thousands took to the streets on Saturday. A scooter and a police van were set on fire, and some shop windows were smashed.