we'll be looking at the political pressures on the conservatives to bring down immigration — and at what their plans might mean for the economy. also on the programme... the government suffers a narrow defeat in the commons over more help to compensate victims of the nhs infected blood scandal. as fighting goes on in gaza — we have a special report from the other palestinian territory, the west bank, where civilians say they're being attacked by armed jewish settlers. a signal from ministers that the bbc licence fee will not rise in line with inflation next year, as had been expected. and more interesting than a garden gnome, but rather more dangerous — find out whyjeff and sian got a visit from the police... on bbc london... on newsnight at 10:30pm, "enough is enough" says the home secretary, as he aanounces what he calls the largest reduction

in immigration on record. but what would a cut of 300,000 mean for everything from care homes to construction? good evening. there's to be a tightening of restrictions on legal migration into the uk — which will affect people on work and student visas, and their dependants. the government says it will mean a reduction in numbers of more than 300,000. at the moment, foreign workers must earn a minimum of £26,200 to get a skilled worker visa. that will nowjump to over £38,000. people working in health and social care — who make up the bulk of visas — will be exempt from the minimum salary rise. but those same workers will be banned from bringing dependants into the uk. the head of the union unison called the plans cruel — and said they spelled disaster for the nhs and the care sector.

the home secretary said immigration policy must be fair and sustainable. with a look now at the detail — and at the political pressures on the government — here's our political editor, chris mason. we've got room for a little 'un. come on, then. st cecilia's nursing home in scarborough this afternoon. 225 people work here, 35 from abroad. the wider social care sector has a vast number of vacancies — overseas staff are seen as crucial. but net legal migration has ballooned, when the government promised it would fall. home secretary. the government wants to show it gets that for many, this is unacceptable. people are understandably worried about housing, about gp appointments, about school places. and so, the home secretary said the government will... stop overseas care workers from bringing family dependants, and we will require care firms

in england to be regulated by the care quality commission, in order for them to sponsor visas. he claimed he didn't think this would cut the number of care workers coming here. secondly, we will stop immigration undercutting the salary of british workers. we will increase the skilled worker earnings threshold by a third, to 38,700, from next spring, in line with the median full—term wage for those kinds ofjobs. that means some will need to earn more to get a visa. those working in health and social care will be exempt. allowing overseas workers to earn 20% less in sectors with big staffing shortages is to end, and allowing graduates to stay on after their course will be reviewed. and... we will ensure people only bring dependants who they can support financially.

by raising the minimum income for family visas to the same threshold as the minimum salary threshold for skilled workers, 38,700. that is an increase of £20,000. 300,000 fewer people will be eligible to come to the uk than were coming last year. this is the largest reduction on record. secretary yvette cooper. labour are less than impressed. the conservatives are in chaos, they've got no serious - plan for the economy, no serious plan for. the immigration system, - no serious plan for the country. britain deserves better than this! the snp said scotland badly needs migrant workers. i don't know if the secretary of state has any elderly relatives in care. i do, and i know the invaluable contribution that overseas care workers make. the trade—offs around migration — a colourful debate resumes. chris mason, bbc news.

so, what will be the impact of the latest changes to migration rules? here's our home editor, mark easton. since brexit, the uk has operated a points based system for foreign workers and as things stand, they have to have a job offer, they have to be skilled, and they must speak pretty good english. and importantly, at the moment they must be paid £26,200 a year or more if the going rate for theirjob is higher than that. from next spring, as we've been hearing, that minimum salary threshold will rise to £38,700. but there are exceptions in what are called shortage occupations, jobs where there are lots of vacancies which can't easily be filled by local people. and since last year, the sector which has seen the most workers come in by that route, is health and social care. the numbers, well they're remarkable. in the year to september, 66,000 people got a conventional skilled worker visa.

but in the same period, 144,000 people got a health and care visa, mostly to work in care homes. but many of the foreign workers bring close family with them. add dependents to those skilled workers and the total rises to 117,000. but in health and care, the combined figure, well, that rises to 318,000. that's an additional 174,000 dependents who would no longer be able to come unless the worker earns more than £38,700, virtually unheard of. some in the care sector worry that stopping foreign workers from bringing their close family will mean they don't come either. i think we'll find more businesses fail as care homes closing, and most importantly, which is part of the government strategy, is people having care in their own homes won't be able to get the care they need because the staff aren't there. so to my mind, one department is working against the other. it doesn't make sense to me

what the government is saying they're going to do. this is the difficult balancing act the government must perform. they want to cut immigration, easing pressure on services and housing, but without starving businesses of workers they desperately need. there's another aspect of today's announcement that's likely to prove controversial, and it affects uk citizens. 0nly brits among the top 30% of earners will be able to marry a foreigner and then live together in this country. the most radical piece of the announcement is the more than doubling of the family income threshold, which governs whether british people who marry someone from overseas are able to live with them in the uk. at a level of more than 38,000, i think that would effectively eliminate a potentially quite substantial proportion of family immigration for people joining brits in the uk. these measures will have an impact, cutting net migration by 300,000 a year according to home office calculations. while some say that's a step in the right direction,

others worry that in the short term, at least, today's rule changes will have unwelcome social and economic consequences. mark easton reporting there. and our economics editor faisal islam is here. what is likely to be the economic effect of the government's plans here, tightening its own rules on who can come here to work? depends on the measure of the economy you use. if you use the overall economy, this could shrink it a little bit but if you take into account the number of people in the economy, it's a bit more in the balance exactly what the impact is. what you can see is the government is performing this balancing act, trading off the impact on the economy with what they see as the political impact. you can see that in social care especially. exempted care workers from the main measure but at the same time, they are trying to limit the number of dependents and social care worker could bring. now the question is,

will that lead to fewer social care workers from the likes of india and nigeria and ghana, which is where they have been coming from, coming? we don't know the answer to that question but it is those sorts of workers helped save the industry from its state in the last 12 months. so clearly a balancing act. we think that these measures will help bring down net migration but it was due to come down, if you believe the forecasts, to these numbers over four or five years. the forecasts, to these numbers over four orfive years. it the forecasts, to these numbers over four or five years. it may happen more quickly now, maybe not enough to be visible by the next election, but the big picture is people are waiting for whether or not british workers can be trained up, the inactive workers will come into the labour market and do the sorts of jobs. that has been government policy for a decade and a half. {lila policy for a decade and a half. 0k, thank ou policy for a decade and a half. 0k, thank you very _ policy for a decade and a half. 0k, thank you very much. faisal islam there. israel says it's fighting on the ground in all areas of gaza against hamas — designated a terrorist organisation by the uk. the city of khan younis in the south

has come under further strikes, and witnesses report israeli tanks and armoured vehicles on the outskirts of the city. the israeli military has asked civilians to move further south, with a fresh order for people to leave about 20 areas in and around khan younis. the us this evening called israel's specific evacuations "an improvement". it comes as allies of israel condemned a sharp rise in attacks on palestinian civilians byjews who are armed and who have settled in the west bank — the other palestinian territory which along with gaza has been occupied by israel. religious dues believe the land was given to them by god — and leaders of the settlers say they are protecting themselves. —— religious jews. from the west bank, our international editor jeremy bowen sent this report. where thejudaean desert tumbles down to the riverjordan lies a tiny community of palestinian bedouins. it's called arab ilm lihat

and it looks timeless. but the shock waves of the war in gaza have reached here, changing lives and threatening them. the village — really just a family compound — lies a few minutes from an illegal outpost ofjewish settlers who came calling a few nights ago. this man, a 23—year—old son of one of eight brothers here, videoed what happened. shouting. the settlers accused them — falsely the family said — of stealing their goats. 0ne, wearing a police jacket, loaded his assault rifle. they thought they were about to die. translation: he was shooting at my uncle so i ran down - there and confronted him. we were pushing each other and screaming, head to head, and i was filming him. then, around 20 settlers came.

now they said they had to trust god as israel's police and army protect the settlers. this time, no—one was killed. they know there will be a next time. before gaza, two or three settlers with pistols might steal sheep. now, it was more than 20 with assault rifles. the settlers want to force them out and this family believes the israeli government has given them the weapons to do it. in three days of travelling through the occupied west bank, palestinians have said consistently that since the war in gaza, jewish settlers are better armed and much more aggressive. south of hebron, soldiers checked us out. one told an israeli colleague that he was a traitor for visiting palestinians. they filmed us but took much less interest in what had happened a few miles down the road. the village had been bulldozed

activists said last night. the 200 palestinians left four weeks ago after a barrage of threats from armed jewish settlers. the school was destroyed — britain helped fund it. the project was called supporting palestinians at risk of forcible transfer. activists said settlers did it to make sure the palestinians would never come back. someone drewjewish stars of david. a settler leader cancelled an interview. the police said they were waiting for a complaint. in fact, the palestinians have petitioned israel's supreme court. we went to the village with a former israeli special forces soldier who now campaigns against the occupation. they are demolishing palestinian villages, beating palestinian farmers, stealing their olives. they are trying to open a third front, an east front against the palestinians. why? because they want this

without any palestinians. they want the land without palestinians. palestinians see all this and the rest of the settler violence on the west bank as confirmation of their worst fears, that there are powerful elements inside israel, in the government as well as the settler movement, who want them out and who are using the enormous crisis surrounding the gaza war as an opportunity to further their agenda. south of hebron, palestinian farmers are ploughing with the donkey because localjewish settlers have threatened to steal or break their tractor if they use it. arabs and jews started fighting over every grain of soil in the land both sides believe should be theirs more than a century ago. here, it still comes down to that in every rocky field. and we can speak tojeremy now,

who's injerusalem. in gaza itself, more heavy bombing by israel, what sort of reaction has there been? i by israel, what sort of reaction has there been?— there been? i think more fear and more movement _ there been? i think more fear and | more movement from palestinians trying to get away from all of that. the israelis are saying they are warning palestinians about what they are going to do, giving them a chance to get away. the un is very sceptical about whether the scheme the israelis are using is actually going to work, whether it is visible at all. the israelis appear to be cutting off the city of khan younis from the rest of the gaza strip as the focus of the next phase of their military operation, a lot of the hamas leaders come from there and they are hoping to get closer to killing them if they can clear the place out. however the americans have said to them again that they must not kill as many palestinian civilians as they have and have even

warned they might suffer a strategic defeat even if they get a tactical victory if that is what they do. i think at the moment, depressingly, there is now this awful rhythm, daily rhythm of war of the strikes, of the deaths, of the un saying it is struggling to get the humanitarian aid in that people need and what we have to conclude is that this is going to go on, i think, for weeks, months come into next year. jeremy, thank you. uk families whose relatives are still being held hostage after the hamas attacks have been pressing the british government to do more to get them back. today, some of those families held meetings with the foreign secretary lord cameron, as lucy manning now reports. steve brisley�*s family in israel was almost wiped out by hamas, and now he wants the government here to do more to help the one who survived.

his sister, bristol—born lianne sharabi, was murdered, along with his two nieces, 16—year—old noiya and 13—year—old yahel. his brother—in—law eli is a hostage, abducted with eli's brother, yosi. getting him back is the one sort of chink of light in this... ..this whole continuing nightmare. i think it would be perhaps the greatest memorial to the lives of my sister lianne and my nieces noiya and yahel for him to be back home safely. today, he and eli's other brother met the foreign secretary, lord cameron. steve says they had felt abandoned, as it's been a struggle to get the government to respond to them. what was your message to lord cameron about what you now expect? you need to recognise that eli is part of a british family, and that we are a british family that have expectations of the government to serve us and to act on our behalf, and that eli is an integral part of that.

ten days ago, the foreign secretary visited israel and the kibbutz where the sharabis were murdered. the government has sent a surveillance aircraft to the region to help in the search for hostages. today, lord cameron said he would support the families through their ordeal and continue to work tirelessly to get all the hostages home. nadav popplewell, a british israeli, is also being held hostage, and oded lifshitz, the 83—year—old father of british israeli, sharone. steve wants the british government to take up the battle for eli's release. we really do need to get eli's name spoken at the negotiating table. obviously, we accept that he's not a british citizen. however, my sister and both my nieces were. this time of year, they should all be coming over to us for christmas and enjoying that british christmas. just trying to save someone in this family that hamas destroyed. lucy manning, bbc news.

the government has been defeated in the commons after conservative mps backed calls to set up a compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal. up to 30,000 people were given contaminated blood products in the 19705 and '80s. more than 3,000 died after contracting hiv or hepatitis c when they received a blood transfusion on the nhs or a treatment made from contaminated blood products. our health editor hugh pym is here. remind us what the vote was about. campaigners have been calling for some time now for a full compensation scheme to recognise the loss of life chances for victims of this scandal. an interim compensation plan was set out last year but much more is likely to be needed and this could run into billions of pounds. ministers had set up until now they wanted to wait

until the end of the public inquiry process, thejudge chairing until the end of the public inquiry process, the judge chairing the inquiry will report in march, ministers have said, let's wait till then, see what the detail is and work out a plan for compensation. they were sympathetic to the idea but wanted to wait but the campaign groups don't trust that after so many years of waiting. they were worried it would get kicked into the long grass, worried the general election would get in the wake so they wanted a scheme set up now ready to roll next march or soon afterwards, and that seems to be what they have achieved thanks to this vote. ~ . ., , , , what they have achieved thanks to this vote. ~ . . , , , ., what they have achieved thanks to this vote-_ it i what they have achieved thanks to i this vote._ it will this vote. what happens now? it will have to no this vote. what happens now? it will have to go through _ this vote. what happens now? it will have to go through the _ this vote. what happens now? it will| have to go through the parliamentary process through the lords as a result of this amendment, but it seems highly likely to get onto the statute book, meaning that the government will have two set up the scheme within the next couple of months, independently chaired, working out the parameters for paying out this compensation. some other countries affected by this

scandal did all this some time ago, so this will have to be in place by the spring and then a pretty large bill seems highly likely. this was the first government to feet —— defeat on a major weapon vote. the haemophilia society representing quite a few victim said the prime minister should be ashamed it has taken the political pressure, cross—party, and public opinion to do the right thing. the culture secretary, lucy frazer, says the bbc should be realistic about how much the tv licence fee can increase by. the licence fee has been frozen for two years at £159 but is due to rise in line with inflation next year. our culture editor katie razzall reports. the bbc licence fee is spent on everything from entertainment, this year hosting eurovision in liverpool... # walk on...# ..to children's programmes... i'm tom.

i'm sat here outside with my dog, blue. ..sport, news and current affairs. we've got big games... in all, £3.74 billion brought in last year to fund tv, radio and digital services. now, labour's leadership has been... under a previous deal, between the government and the bbc, after two years frozen at £159 a year, the licence fee is due to rise in line with inflation. official estimates predict an almost £15 rise in april — too much says the culture secretary, who denies she is changing the terms of the deal. we did freeze the licence fee to protect people. it is due to rise with inflation. we will enable it to rise, to rise with inflation, but we are looking very carefully at the rate of inflation. the bbc is already looking to save £500 million — more than twice what it spent on entertainment and comedy last year. it announced last week job cuts and an end to newsnight�*s investigations at a time when costs are going up. the amount of money charged by the streamers

and pay tv has shot up. so some of them have gone up by 30 or 40% and the bbc has had zero. so it seems unfair to punish the bbc, which is our great national broadcaster, and is facing some very tough financial times. broadcasting is a costly business. news budgets, for example, have been hit by covering the wars in ukraine and israel—gaza, and not everyone pays the licence fee. last year, 400,000 didn't. that's1.6% of households adding to pressures on the corporation. the bbc said it will continue to focus on what it does best — working to deliver world—class content and providing great value for all audiences. the government's decision is expected very soon. it's notjust the bbc facing uncertainty — everyone is trying to balance their budgets in these difficult times. katie razzall, bbc news. sir keir starmer says any future labour government will not be able to turn the taps on quickly when it comes to public spending. in a speech at the launch

of a report by the resolution foundation think tank on the uk's economic record, the labour leader says while growth would be his number one priority in government, every pound would have to be spent wisely, as our chief economics correspondent dharshini david explains. tills are ringing, a spot of rain isn't deterring the seasonal splurge. but keir starmer isn't up for going with that festive giveaway mood, as he confirmed his party wouldn't steer sharply away from the current government's spending plans. anyone who expects an incoming labour government to quickly turn on the spending taps is going to be disappointed. inflation, debt, taxes are now huge constraints. so, those listening wouldn't see a radical shift away from the numbers contained in the government's recent autumn statement. the spending plans unveiled here in parliament point to some of the biggest cuts once you take into account inflation

and population growth for some areas, for example, higher education or law and order, even transport, since the last age of austerity a decade ago. this when services are already under pressure. but the chancellor chose to prioritise tax cuts to boost private sector growth. public—sector investment matters, both directly for growth, through improvements of the infrastructure, improving our hospitals, our school buildings and, of course, the science budget in rnd — research and development, which ultimately spills over into the private sector. but it also, of course, affects the environment within which businesses are making their investment decisions. when it comes to future growth, public investment, be it in buildings or roads, count, and over the last 20 years, the uk has spent about £500 billion less in total than the typical wealthy country. so germany has three times as many hospital beds per person, far more mri machines. we have a much slower

commute to work. those kind of hurdles matter when you're looking for a more efficient economy. but the chancellor, at the same conference today as the labour leader, claims that he had little choice but to rein in investment, to restore financial credibility. i had to balance the books a year ago. it was an incredibly difficult situation but it was necessary for the markets and it was necessary for the battle against inflation. so what i chose to do was to freeze that capital budget in cash terms, which is not a freeze in real terms. i hope as soon as we can afford it, we can get back to real terms growth. it's easy to be dazzled by politicians' pledges but today's report claims british households are already £8,000 worse off per year than they could be because of poor growth. a new age of austerity against the backdrop of a flat economy may take the fizz out of the new age of prosperity that's on everyone's

new year's wish list. dharshini david, bbc news. the premier league has agreed a new record £6.7 billion domestic tv deal for sky and tnt sports to show up to 270 live games a season. the deal includes the bbc continuing to show highlights on match of the day. the premier league said the deal — which covers the four years from the 2025—26 season — is the largest sports media rights deal ever agreed in the uk. its the garden ornament that turned out to be an unexploded missile. for more than four decades, jeff and sian edwards from milford haven in wales lived with the 64—pound naval artillery shell, thinking it was a harmless "dummy" — until a police officer turned up on their doorstep last week. here's hywel griffith. oblivious to the jeopardy amongst their geraniums... it was sat here, right in front of your window! ..jeff and sian say they spent decades happily living

with the unexploded missile in their front garden. when they bought the house in the 1980s, they assumed this shell was a dummy. sian painted it red to match the windowsill. only when a policeman saw it last week were they told it could still be live. the bomb squad was called, and tests showed there was still a charge, so it would have to be destroyed. what we were concerned about was what was going to happen to the neighbours of our street, you know? the street cordoned off, people being moved out of the row. i thought, we're going to be really popular! we'll be off their christmas card lists! over a century ago, the royal navy used to use the pembrokeshire coastline for target practice, taking aim at this beach. it's believed that the shell was found here and taken back to milford haven by horse and cart as a souvenir, along a rather bumpy seven—mile stretch of road. oh, and i grew up here... i came in '49. it's been part of my life for 74 years. jeff says he now misses the missile.

for sian, the 29kg shell had a role in her gardening routine. i used to put new plants in, put fresh, and i'd dig them with my trowel. and it was the right height for me to bang the trowel onto the bomb to get rid of the excess earth! i done it a couple of weeks ago. i've done it for 41 years! i patted the bomb the thursday morning and wished it good luck! the ornamental ordinance is gone, but not forgotten. after detonation, it split, but didn't shatter, sojeff and sian hope it may now find a new home in a museum. hywel griffith, bbc news, milford haven. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz schafernaker. we have been shivering for days, we have had snow but there is a wind of change on the way and it will turn,

first, less cold and towards the end of the week we might be able to call it milder. as far as tomorrow is concerned it will be for many of us a wet start, but before we get to that, i want to this vast animation of what is happening over the next few days. an undulating jet stream across the atlantic spawning areas of low pressure so clearly the weather coming in from the west, moving east and that is a mild direction but not at the moment. we have an area of low pressure still an easterly pushing cold air i will wear but mulled —— mild overall, temperatures four, 5 degrees. still a frost over northern, central parts of scotland. tomorrow a disappointing day, particularly for eastern and central parts, could stay cloudy and damp all through the day but some of these western areas will brighten up on the best of the

sunshine tomorrow across scotland and