as inflation remains at 4%. the uk is teetering on the brink of a recession. and chancellorjeremy hunt has said there's likely to be less scope for tax cuts in the coming budget than originally predicted. speaking to the bbc�*s nick robinson, mr hunt said he wanted to "lighten the tax burden" but it had to be done in a "responsible" way. we don't yet know the final numbers because there's this kind of iterative process that happens with the office for budget responsibility. but it doesn't look to me like we will have the same scope for cutting taxes in the spring budget that we had in the autumn statement, and so i need to set people's expectations about the scale of what i'm doing. because people need to know that when a conservative government cuts taxes, we will do so in a responsible and sensible way. but we also want to be clear that the direction of travel we want to go in is to

lighten the tax burden. and that's notjust about putting more money in people's pockets, although i do believe that we should put as much money as you can into people's pockets — that's a very conservative view. it's because in the end that's how we'll grow the economy, if we are... we know the right sort of tax cuts help boost our growth. that was the chancellor, jeremy hunt. live now to our chief economics correspondent, dharshini david. we have the interest rate decision in about 90 minutes but the experts think it will stay the same. yes. think it will stay the same. yes, that's the _ think it will stay the same. yes, that's the common _ think it will stay the same. yes, that's the common consensus i think it will stay the same. yes that's the common consensus across economists at the moment, nothing to see here. that's what it sounds like, anyway. and why isn't the bank of england doing anything about interest rates when inflation is falling? as you say, we are teetering possibly on the brink of recession in the second half of 2023. the answer is that there is a lot for the bank to consider. we

have seen inflation fall quite rapidly so therefore we expect a shift in mood from the bank of england. previously the bank had been warning interest rates had stayed sufficiently high for sufficiently long to bring down inflation. it is falling faster than expected. we expect to see a shift in attitudes here, perhaps signalling the next move will be down, but when? we are seeing at the moment some areas of inflation be more sticky than the bank wants to see, things like service inflation, eating out, booking hotels. and wage growth as well. the bank will want to see more signs of those things easing which is why many economists are saying we have to look towards late spring, perhaps early summer before we see that first cut in interest rates here in the uk. so not that different from what has been going on in the us and across europe as well. there will be a lot to consider. we have a whole forecast coming up from the bank of england as well meaning we will have

pages and pages to rifle through in about 90 minutes' time but at the moment nothing much to see. lats about 90 minutes' time but at the moment nothing much to see. lots for ou to moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have — moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have a — moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have a look— moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have a look at _ moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have a look at in _ moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have a look at in about - moment nothing much to see. lots for you to have a look at in about 90 - you to have a look at in about 90 minutes. and of course lots of people are looking at the interest rate decision because it affects our day to day life, whether it's mortgages or if you are a safer and having at the moment a better savings rate than you had over a year ago. savings rate than you had over a ear auo. ., , , year ago. indeed, it has been finall , year ago. indeed, it has been finally. save _ year ago. indeed, it has been finally, save those _ year ago. indeed, it has been finally, save those getting . year ago. indeed, it has been i finally, save those getting some relief on that score. it took banks a while to catch up with the bank of england's moves for savings rates but the news isn't that great, you have seen increasing your savings rate and it perhaps will not go up further. 0n mortgage rates, more thani million households are due further. 0n mortgage rates, more than i million households are due to remortgage this year. they are likely to see much higher repayments than they have been used to in the last few years. having said that, the mortgage rates are starting to ease off. how do they actually set them? lenders look at notjust

ease off. how do they actually set them? lenders look at not just what them? lenders look at notjust what is happening to interest rates at the moment but what is expected to happen over the next year or so and even longer. as a result, we have seen expectations of rate cuts mounting, so you will see mortgage rates start to come down, not quite as fast and far as many would like to see but if you are a borrower that pain might not be as intense as perhaps we once thought.— perhaps we once thought. dharshini david, thank _ perhaps we once thought. dharshini david, thank you. _ perhaps we once thought. dharshini david, thank you. we _ perhaps we once thought. dharshini david, thank you. we will _ perhaps we once thought. dharshini david, thank you. we will have - perhaps we once thought. dharshini david, thank you. we will have that | david, thank you. we will have that decision live on bbc news at around midday. now, do you trust politicans? well, a report out today has made more than a hundred recommendations to clean up governments and politics. the governance project has 100 no or low—cost proposals to rapidly improve standards in government, the civil service and parliament. i'm joined now by dominic grieve, commissioner chair of the governance project report. thank you very much forjoining us. i want to start by getting your take on just how bad i want to start by getting your take onjust how bad our i want to start by getting your take on just how bad our trust in politicians and government is at the

moment. the politicians and government is at the moment. , ., . , politicians and government is at the moment. ,., . , ., moment. the polling evidence is that it is an all-time _ moment. the polling evidence is that it is an all-time low— moment. the polling evidence is that it is an all-time low stop _ moment. the polling evidence is that it is an all-time low stop people - it is an all—time low stop people have always had a healthy cynicism about politics and that's probably quite a good thing. politicians make promises and it turns out they can't fulfil them. promises and it turns out they can't fulfilthem. but promises and it turns out they can't fulfil them. but the current position is that for many members of the public, they think politicians are outright liars, they are cronies, dishonest and just trying to line their own pockets. in many cases, this is simply not the case, but it has been, i think, a progressive disintegration in confidence in politicians and that's what our report is trying to address. what our report is trying to addres— what our report is trying to address. ~ . ., , , address. what are you suggesting can be done to change _ address. what are you suggesting can be done to change that? _ address. what are you suggesting can be done to change that? lots - address. what are you suggesting can be done to change that? lots of- be done to change that? lots of thins be done to change that? lots of things which _ be done to change that? lots of things which can _ be done to change that? lots of things which can be _ be done to change that? lots of. things which can be implemented be done to change that? lots of- things which can be implemented very easily. for example, we have a ministerial code but the truth is the code at the moment is completely at the whim of the prime minister. it should be put on a statutory

footing. the code commissioner should be a statutory appointment and should be able to initiate investigation themselves and report to parliament. still the final decision would be done by the prime minister, if he doesn't want to sack a cabinet minister who has been found to behave improperly, he can explain to parliament why he won't do it. but actually there will be a process by which there is transparency. much better in dealing with conflicts of interest and it will make it easier for members of parliament, not more difficult, simplifying the system and making it much more transparent. we want to reform the honours system. we think the process by which the prime minister can effectively override the ordinary honours system, either to give a knighthood or put someone in the house of lords, when the committee that exists in the house of lords, which exists to vet the

nomination says the person is unsuitable, that ought to come to an end. we want to improve the relationship between the executive and parliament and we think there are areas where parliament's procedures can be changed to deal with that and try to reduce the misuse of secondary legislation, which is the way, i'm afraid, we are much governed today. there is a sort of menu. there are lots of other things as well, trying to improve civil servants' relations with ministers, making sure ministers can't override the civil servants' code and order civil servants to do things they shouldn't. and look at the electoral commission to make sure it acts as a guardian of our parliamentary democracy. in sure it acts as a guardian of our parliamentary democracy. in the end doesnt parliamentary democracy. in the end doesn't it come _ parliamentary democracy. in the end doesn't it come down, _ parliamentary democracy. in the end doesn't it come down, and _ parliamentary democracy. in the end doesn't it come down, and you - parliamentary democracy. in the end doesn't it come down, and you have| doesn't it come down, and you have been a politician for many years, down to us politicians to better? i am reminded of something on the laura kuenssberg programme on sunday where they talked about who would

make a good prime minister. a lot of people said martin lewis, the money saving expert, because they trusted what he said and they don't necessarily trust, as we have said, you as politicians. i necessarily trust, as we have said, you as politicians.— you as politicians. i entirely airee. you as politicians. i entirely agree- and _ you as politicians. i entirely agree. and in _ you as politicians. i entirely agree. and in fact - you as politicians. i entirely agree. and in fact all - you as politicians. i entirely agree. and in fact all these | agree. and in fact all these proposals could be implemented by a prime minister standing up at the dispatch box and saying tomorrow, this is a good set of proposals and i will observe them. but of course, for the future, they need to be put on a statutory footing so there is no backsliding. if they were done, the irony is i think government would find it easier to govern and people would realise the quality of government was improved. it's a very odd situation we are in today. because presentational politics has become so dominant, the messaging is more important than the content. but ultimately people come to realise they are just being conned. yet politicians find it very difficult to step forward and say things as

they are, where rouse, as you have just pointed out, the public want that. so it's about making a leap. and a bit of a leap of faith. i actually think the public are much more sensible about this than the politicians. and if the politicians were to be more open about, and also to frame their work in a way that guarantees probity and that they have high standards of ethics, then i think things will be much improved. i think things will be much improved-— i think things will be much improved. i think things will be much imroved. . , ., ,, i think things will be much imroved. . , ., ~ improved. dominic grieve, thank you for “oinini improved. dominic grieve, thank you forjoining us- _ nearly half of all adults in the uk do not know how to perform cpr, according to new research. more than 30,000 cardiac arrests each year take place outside a hospital setting where cpr could save lives. now, the british heart foundation is urging the public to use its online tool to learn how to recognise signs of cardiac arrest, and how to perform chest compressions.

live now tojoanne whitmore who is a senior cardiac nurse at the british heart foundation. thank you very much forjoining us. just outline how many people really don't know how to do cpr. we conducted _ don't know how to do cpr. we conducted a — don't know how to do cpr. - conducted a survey recently. it's nearly half the uk population that haven't learned cpr. that equates to rethink about 23 million adults. an astonishing amount. that rethink about 23 million adults. an astonishing amount.— rethink about 23 million adults. an astonishing amount. that is a lot of --eole. i astonishing amount. that is a lot of peeple- i sunpose _ astonishing amount. that is a lot of people. i suppose the _ astonishing amount. that is a lot of people. i suppose the issue - astonishing amount. that is a lot of people. i suppose the issue is - astonishing amount. that is a lot of people. i suppose the issue is you i people. i suppose the issue is you don't think you will need it until you actually need it.— don't think you will need it until you actually need it. that's exactly riiht, you actually need it. that's exactly right. yeah- _ you actually need it. that's exactly right. yeah. and — you actually need it. that's exactly right, yeah. and what _ you actually need it. that's exactly right, yeah. and what the - you actually need it. that's exactly right, yeah. and what the survey l you actually need it. that's exactly l right, yeah. and what the survey has shown is that that is the biggest reason why people haven't learned cpr. the fact they don't even think they might need that skill. but the second most important one is that people don't have the confidence to administer cpr. so what we are

trying to do is enable people to learn cpr quickly and easily, within 15 minutes, by using our online tool. that will take you through a cpr itself but also an automated phone call, so you know what to expect from the emergency operator. it also goes through the defibrillation side of things so thatis defibrillation side of things so that is less frightening as well. i remember a that is less frightening as well. i remembera couple of that is less frightening as well. i remember a couple of years ago there was a boost of people doing it when the staying alive music came out and everybody was doing cpr to staying alive. are you looking at that again to help boost people to know how to do it and the number of compressions you need to do?— you need to do? music and that rh hm is you need to do? music and that rhythm is really _ you need to do? music and that rhythm is really good. - you need to do? music and that rhythm is really good. you - you need to do? music and that rhythm is really good. you are. rhythm is really good. you are looking at doing about 100, 120 compressions a minute, so it is quite fast. the vinniejones video was to staying alive, and that's the perfect beat for administering cpr.

people do find it useful when they are in an emergency situation to fall back on something they already know, so they don't need to worry about the counting, it's more doing the music in your head. i about the counting, it's more doing the music in your head. i remember i learned cpr — the music in your head. i remember i learned cpr when _ the music in your head. i remember i learned cpr when i _ the music in your head. i remember i learned cpr when i was _ the music in your head. i remember i learned cpr when i was much - the music in your head. i remember i l learned cpr when i was much younger, about 11 or 12 when i was doing swimming and life—saving. but i think i would struggle now to remember how to do it. so where do people, if they are interested, get more information and learn how to do it? ., .., more information and learn how to do it? ., ., ., ., ,, ., it? you can go to our website at the british heart _ it? you can go to our website at the british heart foundation, _ it? you can go to our website at the british heart foundation, and - it? you can go to our website at the| british heart foundation, and search for heart month and it will tell you everything we are doing for heart month and signpost the app. we think we will be doing cpr on strangers. but in fact eight out of ten out of hospital cardiac arrests happen in the home. the likelihood is it will be someone you know, who you'll have to do cpr run in those

circumstances.- to do cpr run in those circumstances. . , ,., , circumstances. that is sobering thou . ht. circumstances. that is sobering thought. thank _ circumstances. that is sobering thought. thank you _ circumstances. that is sobering thought. thank you for - circumstances. that is sobering thought. thank you forjoining. circumstances. that is sobering i thought. thank you forjoining us circumstances. that is sobering - thought. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. thought. thank you for “oining us on bbc news. ., ~ thought. thank you for “oining us on bbc news. ., ,, , ., it's now illegal to own an xl bully dog in england and wales without a special exemption certificate after new legislation came into force overnight. 0wners who don't have a certificate, or who fail to follow strict rules around keeping the dogs, face a criminal record and an unlimited fine. frances read reports. it was horrifying attacks that made the government say it had no choice but to take action. an increasing number, with xl bullies disproportionately involved, including a number of deaths. from today, anyone in possession of an xl bully faces prosecution unless it's registered and insured, micro—chipped, neutered and muzzled and on a lead in public. the government has published guidance to recognise an xl bully type dog, describing a large, broad head, a heavily muscled body and great strength and power for its size.

the government says there's been a high level of compliance from dog owners with more than 35,000 xl bullies now registered in england and wales. in scotland, there will be restrictions later this month, and a deadline of the end ofjuly to get the necessary paperwork. the changes are aimed at stopping repeats of cases like jack liss. in 2021, the ten—year—old was killed by an xl bully when he went to play at his friends home in caerphilly. the owners were jailed for several years each. i first wanted to ban every single xl bully and american bully, whatever, every variant of it, and then i thought, i was listening to organisations and they were saying it's not the breed, it's the owners. and i agreed. but over the last year, and how many attacks there have been and how many the xl bully has been responsible for, and variants of it,

i couldn't sit there and think, yeah, ok, it's not the breed. but despite it now being illegal to abandon xl bullies, shelters say they are concerned they could be inundated without any possibility of having them rehomed. a dog that rapidly became one of the uk's most popular, nowjust as quickly unwanted. that was frances read reporting. a bbc investigation has heard from dozens of people in the uk who claim they were scammed out of thousands of pounds for legal services they didn't receive. it's understood that craig johnson, who claimed to be experienced in family law, is now facing two police investigations. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt has this report. in the world of courts and the law, false promises can ruin people's lives. this is 26—year—old craig johnson receiving his law degree less than three years ago.

he is not a solicitor or a barrister but he has been offering legal services to people, like joe stevenson. the situation i was in was one of desperation, financially and emotionally. over the past six months, the bbc has spoken to dozens of people who paid mrjohnson thousands of pounds for legal help. his website made big claims about his skills, particularly in family law, which deals with child arrangements and divorce. and joe was getting divorced. he was very convincing. he assured me that everything would be fine, pay him this money and my problems would go away. at first he was pleased, but he soon became suspicious when mrjohnson didn't turn up for most hearings and paperwork for his divorce wasn't done. he kept on charging me more and more money and then blocked me, ignored me, made every excuse not to come to a hearing. "i'm not going to be there today, i'm in hospital. i'm in a car crash." i heard everything.

i think he actually forgot what he had told me previously. joe paid nearly £5,000, but eventually got about half of that back. phil and jenny turned to craig johnson after a family court hearing went badly. phil's daughter had stayed with them longer than an order said she should. we've disguised their identity for legal reasons. what we've ended up with isjust so much worse. not only is it seeing my daughter less because he didn't put the appeal in, i'm in financial trouble because we had to get a loan to pay for his services. 0ver several months, mrjohnson told them about five different court dates and that a judge had agreed they could keep the daughterfor longer. but when phil rang the court there was no record. they said, "look, you're not even down as being represented by anyone. " i said, "how is that the case? i've signed for him." and they said, "look, we think you may have been scammed." and as no appeal had been made in the original case, phil could face three months in prison for contempt of court.

i get angry, i get sad, i can't think, i can't focus. i had to go to a gp and they said, "look, you're having a mental breakdown. " and it's because i've got no answers. if craig johnson had been a solicitor, the law society says he would have been trained and regulated. he was not. welcome to the law society library, alison. karen dovaston chairs the family law committee. we showed her a divorce petition that mrjohnson sent to another of his clients. matrimonial what? "this order cannot be disclosed to anyone." that's not the right wording. this is rubbish, this isjust not what you'd get in a divorce. he's since told a court that the order was not genuine. these poor people, if they think they are divorced and they go off and get married, they'll end up in a bigamous relationship. she said since cuts to legal aid many people are very worried about the costs involved in family cases and can end up representing themselves or getting bad advice.

the law society position is that early legal advice should be available for all. legal aid should be reinstated to allow for early legal advice for people to go and see a solicitor for that initial interview. we tried to put his clients' many questions directly to craig johnson. mrjohnson, hi. we are from the bbc. i'd like to talk to you about the people that you've scammed. they want some answers. no comment here, but through his lawyer, he says he has cooperated with professional inquiries and can't comment on individual cases. alison holt, bbc news. barbie star margot robbie has broken her silence on her 0scar snub for best actress, saying she was not sad. fans were dismayed that she was overlooked for her title tole in 2023's top grossing film. but robbie, speaking in a discussion with co—stars, said: "there's no way to feel sad when you know you're this blessed." she added the mission of the movie was to "affect culture"

and that is the "biggest reward" that has come out of the film's success. lily gladstone made history by becoming the first native american to get nominated for a best actress 0scar and her handlers have her crossing continents in an orchestrated campaign to win support for herfilm, killers of the flower moon, and improve her chances of winning an oscar. tom brook caught up with her when she was in london this week. hello, lily. hello, tom. very good to meet you and welcome to london. lily gladstone is on the campaign trail to win 0scar votes. she made history last week by becoming the first native american ever to get nominated for a best actress academy a best actress academy award for her role in killers of the flower moon, directed by martin scorsese. please send help, there's murder in osage and the police do nothing.

she plays mollie burkhart, an 0sage woman who finds herself in the midst of the nightmarish poisoning of indigenous people by greedy white men seeking to claim the oil—rich lands of the 0sage nation in 1920s 0klahoma. gladstone plays opposite leonardo dicaprio and robert de niro. her character is the emotional heart of the film. i need you here. i am right here. your nomination alone has been historic. what do you hope your legacy is from this awards season hoopla, for want of a better term, in terms of changing the representation of native americans? by bringing indigenous performers into a place where we are leading ladies, we are leading films that people are feeling, resonating with from all walks of life, is proving that we belong in these places and we have a lot to offer. the stories we have to tell are ones that everybody can benefit from, notjust us. it's interesting you say that, the importance of telling your own stories. i wanted to ask you, martin scorsese, leonardo dicaprio, robert de niro, fine upstanding men,

but they're all white men. did you have any kind of apprehension about collaborating with white men on telling a story about a terrible wrong done to indigenous people in the united states? absolutely. there was apprehension about all of it, all aspects of it. where a lot of comfort came before walking in and seeing what it actually was to work with these incredible, incredible humans, was the legacy of work that they all had. leo with his climate activism and the way i know his organisation centres grassroots indigenous people, i had a feeling that's what he would be like to work with on this project and he certainly was. but the film had built such a strong safety net of 0sage voices in every department around the whole production, so i neverfelt i'd be alone, or speak out of turn. speaks osage. that's how you are.

i don't know what you said but it must have been indian for " handsome devil". laughter. mollie has quite a commanding presence. she seems very self—assured. so do you, if i may say so, in real life. what was it like, though, when you went on the set for the first time with people like leonardo dicaprio or robert de niro? were you intimidated or starstruck at all? graciously, leo had invited me over for dinner beforehand to get over the starstruckedness of it all. he unstruck me! and it was definitely a more intense shake working with bob later down the road. the shakes came back when i was in front of him, the first few takes, but then you kind of embrace really quickly why these film—makers, these actors, these men, are decades—long careers now, are just such shapers of the entire film world that i grew up watching. you understand why they have such longevity in their work.

unlike some academy campaigns designed to serve and act as vanity or narcissism, lily gladstone appears to be participating in something bigger than that. she comes across as a committed trailblazer in her efforts to get the us film industry to represent the native american people fairly and responsibly. and her authenticity, as much as her much praised acting, may well help her win an oscar. tom brook, bbc news, new york. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, a powerful storm passed to the north of the uk on wednesday. storm ingunn, named by the norwegian weather service, across the faroe islands it brought wind gusts in excess of 120 mph. then it slammed into the west coast of norway with gusts of more than 100 mph. there is our storm system moving away as we head into thursday. across shetland we saw wind gusts of 78 mph. even those winds have been easing a little, and through thursday it's a quieter day ahead. some hazy sunshine, dry for many.

still quite windy up towards the north but not as windy as it has been. some wintry showers across the north—west of scotland and a touch of frost for some of us first thing. the majority will see spells of hazy sunshine with high cloud streaming across the sky. thicker cloud into northern england, northern ireland and scotland, with rain returning to the north—west of scotland later. temperatures across the board, eight, nine or ten degrees. during thursday evening and overnight, we will see this band of rain pushing across the north of scotland. behind that we see lots and lots of cloud filtering in from the west. it'll turn really misty and murky for coasts and hills, some spots of drizzle. but look at the temperatures by the end of the night, by the start of friday morning. some spots up in double digits. that's because we will be between these two weather fronts, between this warm front and this cold front, in what we call a warm sector, a wedge of very warm or at least very mild air. but these south—westerly winds, not only mild but laden with moisture, so a lot of cloud on friday.

some mist and murk for western coasts and hills where there will also be some bits and pieces of rain. the best chance of any sunshine to the east of high ground, although the winds here will be pretty gusty. but look at the afternoon temperatures, 13, 1a, we may see highs of 15 degrees. now, during friday night we see a weak, cold front pushing its way southwards. that'll bring a lot of cloud, it'll bring some bits and pieces of showery rain, nothing much really on this weather front to look at for saturday. to the south of it, we are still in that very mild but rather cloudy and damp regime. to the north of the weather front, something a little bit brighter but with some showers. still not particularly cold. temperatures north to south, 7—14 degrees. into sunday, mild air if anything pushes northwards again. a lot of cloud, some bits and pieces of rain. highs of 1a.

live from london. this is bbc news. the attack happened in clapham. a woman aged 31 and her daughters aged eight and three are in hospital. the mother and young girls injuries could be life changing. police have said.

an eight—year—old girl was also injured in the incident, in clapham, on wednesday evening. we will go live to bbc radio london studio where we are talking to mark rowley about the attack. in a few moments will be going to bbc radio london where we will hear from the met police commissioner. this go live to be seen in our correspondence to charlie rose is there. what more can you tell us of there. what more can you tell us of the moment from there? the details of this incident _ the moment from there? the details of this incident are _ the moment from there? the details of this incident are distressing - the moment from there? the details of this incident are distressing and i of this incident are distressing and horrific. what we do know is that police were called here at 7:30pm last night to report that a woman and her two young daughters have been attacked. we know that the suspect attacked

the family with an alkaline substance.