as the uk waits for tomorrow's budget, we look ahead to what the chancellor might have in store. and tv history goes on sale — the shirt famously worn by colin firth in the bbc s adaptation of pride and prejudice is being auctioned in london later today. the shirt is expected to fetch as much as £10,000. lots of speculation in the papers ahead of budget day as to what is and isn't in the budget. let's speak to our political correspondent, helen catt. lots of speculation including talk of an extension to the 5p cut to fuel duty. of an extension to the 5p cut to fuel du . ., , ., of an extension to the 5p cut to fuel duty-— of an extension to the 5p cut to fueldu . ., , ., ,,. ., ., ., fuel duty. lots of speculation and as ever we _

fuel duty. lots of speculation and as ever we should _ fuel duty. lots of speculation and as ever we should also _ fuel duty. lots of speculation and as ever we should also say - fuel duty. lots of speculation and as ever we should also say we - fuel duty. lots of speculation and as ever we should also say we do| fuel duty. lots of speculation and - as ever we should also say we do not know what is in the budget until the chancellor announces it tomorrow, but there are a lot of guesses being made. the idea here will freeze fuel duty, continue to freeze fuel duty i think is one of the least surprising bits of speculation. no chancellor has raised that the levy since 2011 but i think that one is possibly a pretty firm bed of speculation. let's talk about cuts to personal taxes because i think what we can't divorce ourselves from is that this is an election year. presumably that's the undercurrent running through all of what to expect to hear from jeremy through all of what to expect to hearfrom jeremy hunt through all of what to expect to hear from jeremy hunt tomorrow. you are riaht, hear from jeremy hunt tomorrow. 7m, are right, politics played a bigger part than usual in this budget. what the conservatives have decided their political priority is, is to cut taxes, cut personal taxes. taxation is as high at the moment, and there has been pressure certainly from across conservative backbenchers for tax cuts to be made. interestingly

we are used to hearing different groups of conservative backbenchers calling for different things and this seems to be one thing that pretty much unites all the different factions, they want to see personal taxes go down. there has been speculation thatjeremy hunt could choose to take money from income tax or he could choose to take money from national insurance, which is a slightly cheaper option for the government, but they are worried they did that in the autumn statement when he took 2p off national insurance but i think the worry in government is doing that rather than income tax would have as much of an impact. the backed to all of this is that the chancellor doesn't have a huge amount of money against the rules he sets himself to be able to do these sorts of tax cuts. they are expensive, personal tax cuts, and we are also getting lots of speculation about where he might look to raise revenue. the economy isn't really growing so we are looking at things like he might introduce a duty on vaping, could he

introduce a duty on vaping, could he introduce tax breaks on people who do holiday lets. he could pinch some of the labour revenue raising ideas like scrapping non—dom tax, or reforming it. like scrapping non-dom tax, or reforming it— like scrapping non-dom tax, or reforming it. interesting to hear what labour _ reforming it. interesting to hear what labour might _ reforming it. interesting to hear what labour might have - reforming it. interesting to hear what labour might have to - reforming it. interesting to hear what labour might have to say l reforming it. interesting to hear - what labour might have to say about that. the bbc understands today that councils might be told they need to make even more savings. such a hot issue at the moment and these are councils in england, i presume. we have councils in england, i presume. - have heard from councils for some time now that many of them are struggling to balance the books. the message they are likely to get from jeremy hunt tomorrow is that they need to have a look at what he considers to be wasteful spending. he says that is on things like consultants and diversity equality and inclusion initiatives. he will emphasise the significance of having productivity plans that council leaders will need to produce by july. we have already had from councils and local government associations this morning saying they have been doing more with less

for many years now and theyjust don't think there is any further they can go. don't think there is any further they can go— don't think there is any further the can no. . ., ~ ~ they can go. helen catt at millbank, thank ou. later this week, a police inquiry known as 0peration kenova will reveal the secret war between the british state and the irish republican army, or ira. over the last seven years it has examined crimes such as murder and torture linked to the agent known as "stakeknife", and the role played by the british security services, including m15. 0peration kenova has now linked the agent to the murder of 17 alleged informers. some of them were also working for british intelligence. for the families of those killed by the ira, it's hoped this week's report will provide some answers. the bbc�*s peter taylor, who has been investigating the troubles for more than a0 years, has more.

john dignam was murdered by the ira in 1992 and branded as a special branch informer. i personally can't see him working for the ruc. i couldn't believe it, knowing john, and living with him. i interviewed claire dignam 30 years ago. he was my husband and he was the father of my children, and i loved him. no matter what people say he did or he didn't do, i loved him. every bone in my body. the ira interrogated dignam and two of his ira comrades, and tape recorded their alleged confessions. i finally managed to get hold of the tapes. the banging of a pan was the sign to start talking, to hide the interrogator�*s voice. metal pan clangs. my name isjohnny dignam from portadown. i'm aged 32. i told the police handlers that i was on a weapons training camp in limerick. dignam admitted being recruited by special branch. he paid the penalty — a bullet in the back of the head. his body was dumped

on a lonely country road. he always went in to kiss the kids goodnight. and he didn't. .. he never has come back to do it. that's hard. in your case, you've suffered for 30... 31 yea rs. and are you still suffering from it? yes, peter, iam. i don't have a photograph of my husband because it's the memory of that... itjust brings up a dark, dark time. ijust conjured up all the emotions, all the emotions that i bury deep down inside. we'll play a few clips from the original film. and, you know, it will obviously be emotional because of what happened tojohnny. after you've seen the clip, we'll pause and i'lljust ask you your reactions to it. metal pan clangs on recording. 0h, is that the...

no, i don't want to hear that. i don't know if i could cope. the sound was too painful. but claire quickly composed herself and came back to carry on and thank me for doing the interview. this is healing — it's healing for me. what are you hoping 0peration kenova will do? give answers to all the families, and myself. no matter what them answers may be, just to give us answers. that was peter caldwell reporting. the family of emma caldwell, who was murdered in 2005, are due to meet scotland's first minister later today. her mother has called for a public inquiry into the investigation of her daughter's murder. last week iain packer was found guilty of the crime, almost 19 years after emma's body was found in a remote wood in south lanarkshire. here's our scotland correspondent

alexandra mackenzie. emma caldwell had a happy upbringing. but when her sister died of cancer, she turned to drugs and prostitution. her killer was iain packer. for a quarter of a century he carried out a campaign of sexual violence against women. now emma's mother wants to know why one of britain's worst sex offenders remained free for so long. margaret believes that officers systematically sabotaged an investigation into packer for a decade, and have blood on their hands. margaret caldwell now wants a public inquiry. i've gone this far, i'm going on. ijust want the truth, i want the truth to come out. scotland's first minister has said a judge—led inquiry is being considered, given the systematic failings in the case.

i'm looking forward to hearing directly from margaret caldwell, and then, of course, rightly, as you'd understand, we'd update parliament in terms of any next steps that we choose to take forward. by 2007, police had identified iain packer as a sexually violent user of prostitutes. but four turkish men were charged with emma caldwell�*s murder. those charges were later dropped. in 2015, packer was exposed by a newspaper and a bbc documentary. the crown 0ffice ordered a new police inquiry. and in 2019, he was confronted by a second bbc investigation. did you kill emma? no, i never. i can look you in the eye and say i _ had nothing to do with it whatsoever. another three years passed before packer was charged with her murder. police scotland say they were exceptionally sorry that the women, including emma, had been let down, and lessons had been learned. margaret caldwell may have finally got justice for

her daughter, but said her emma will always be in her thoughts. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news, glasgow. you can find out more about the investigation in the documentary catching a killer: the murder of emma caldwell, which is currently available on the bbc iplayer. more than 100 charities have backed a letter to the chancellor urging him to provide more financial support to families with disabled children. it comes as a mum from doncaster, who provides round—the—clock care to her severely disabled son, says she has been left in a desperate situation by the cost of living crisis. samantha tolmie's letter has now got the support of nearly 3,000 otherfamilies. here's her story. lewis, he was born in 200a. when we got his diagnosis eventually in 2014, i think it was,

they said that he might live to 11 or 12. he is nearly 20 now. he is just proving everyone wrong, every day. he's a miracle. and i can say he's my hero. all of this equipment that you can see now is always running. so he's got his ventilator, which most of the time is breathing for him. and then the humidifier. then the sats monitor with two feeding pumps. and all these pieces of equipment are so essential that we have to have two of each piece of equipment, so that if one stops working we have another one. all these items are on charge all the time, all plugged in all the time. there you are. it's always been difficult financially since lewis became unwell. surviving on benefits from the government. but then when the energy crisis impacted, and the amount — it wasn'tjust £5 or £10 a month, which you would still have to find, it was £200 or £300. i had to think about what i could switch off,

what i couldn't use. with lewis' equipment i can't turn anything off. i can't not charge his equipment. i can't switch his ventilator off. oh, yeah, i have to switch ventilator off for a couple of hours, lulu, because we can't afford to pay for the electric. you have to have lewis in your sight and in your awareness all the time, every second of every day. it is exhausting. emotionally it's terrible, because you're having to be on top of everything. and all of this clinical stuff. you can't comprehend, i don't think, unless you know of it first hand. it doesn't matter what the weather is like, we have to come out with lewis. he needs to come out for his chest. and also, it helps with his partial gut failure, that i mentioned earlier. if i don't come out with lewis every day, then very quickly i will start to think about all the things that

aren't great, and then you end up spiralling into a black hole that it is very difficult to climb out of. if the sad side wins that battle, then i can't move forward from that. if i can't be happy and positive, what good am i to lewis? it's crazy that i should be scared that we're going to lose our home because we haven't got enough money. when we find out how much universal credit we're going to get, which i hope will be soon, all i know is it is going to be a lot less than it has been. and combining that with the energy costs, yeah, i literally am being an ostrich. i am just hiding at the moment. "she was tidying the house when suddenly there was a knock on the door." we can't do this. other families can't do this. we are giving our heart and soul to looking after our children. we just want some help. let's do that. help us to do that. help us to help ourselves,

to look after our children. don't put us into poverty feeling like you're not going to be able to look after your child. that's the end of the story now. it's time to go to sleep. wanting to look after them and care for them, and be everything for them that they need, that's all we want to do. night, night. that was samantha outlining the financial challenges many families say they are facing at the moment and our thanks to her. people living with one of the most common types of alopecia could soon have access to treatment on the nhs in scotland, for the first time. the treatment will go before the scottish medicines consortium later today, after it was approved for use on the nhs in england last month. it's not a cure, but helps suppress parts of the immune system to improve hair growth.

it's a ray of hope for some who have the condition — like 21—year—old megan mccready. look at this photo. i feel kind of heartbroken that i've lost something of myself. having alopecia at such a young age was hard. to have that happen, it was like, right, i'm losing my old self in some way. when i first found my first patch, it was the size of a 50p, no bigger. and unfortunately, it was at a hairdressers. so, the place where you cherish your hair, you love your hair. it got to the point where it was hard to cover it up. the thought of washing it was terrifying, because as you washed it and try to kind of put the shampoo and conditioner in, it was a hair in the hands. and to see that as a teen, who is all about appearance

and finding themself, it's heartbreaking. this is mejust kind of starting to lose my hair. so, it was still fine enough to have it kept down. i think my lowest point was when i was doing pe. i'd be in the changing rooms getting changed, having a carry on with my friends, and i would hear the other girls saying, "oh, look, her bald patch is showing." and that, for me, just kind of put me down completely to the point where the bathrooms were kind of like my best friend. pulling it forward on my head. i didn't want it to win in a way, so i took it upon myself to brave the shave, as they say, and take matters into my own hands. and i decided, right, i'm going to go bald now. and then after that, i got my first wig. it's all about choosing a wig that makes you confident, and choosing a wig that you feel most pretty in as well. i would definitely take up the opportunity of taking the drug and trying it out. the thought of scotland

possibly approving it, is a big step for us. being able to have my own hair back, and have eyelashes, do mascara, having eyebrows that i don't have to worry about putting them on every morning to go out, being a normal girl in some way, with enjoying the appearance and the hair that they have, it'd be awesome to get again. 0ur our thanks to megan for sharing her story. it brought violence to the streets and sowed division that tore communities apart. a0 years ago this week, the miners started a year—long strike which they saw as a fight to save theirjobs and a way of life. it was to become a bitter dispute that brought them into conflict with the police and margaret thatcher's government. peter harris has been looking back at those tumultuous days. we were fighting for our futures, we were fighting for our

communities, and fighting for our way of life. it makes me feel as if i was there again. it's as if it was yesterday. and it brings back a lot of memories, and i'm proud as punch of them lads who stood and fought. absolute heroes, fighting for their very survival. the intention was that they were going to batter the miners into submission. compared to what developed later on, that violence was rather mild, if you like, if there is such a thing. but it developed into something a lot more sinister than that. if there was violence on one side, inevitably there would be violence on the other side as well. i feel sorry for the people of britain. | there is no respect- for the police whatsoever. none whatsoever. i remember one officer

got hit by a brick. if he hadn't had that helmet on, it would have probably killed him. it developed into a little war, in a sense. and people were wondering whenever it would stop. well, i would submit to you it takes some courage for these persons that have came with me to pass the picket lines you have seen today. you see a strike breaker on the archive there, and he talks about, "well, it took courage to cross those picket lines." do you have any sympathy with that? not at all. it didn't take any courage when he is surrounded by thousands of police, getting off a bus and scurrying like rats. when you look at... show that to anybody, they are scurrying like rats through the rat run to get into the pit. all i say is, "you've got your conscience to live with."

you mention officers from other forces. was that a problem at times? it was. if we had bus—loads of people, for example, from the metropolitan police particularly, they would actually provoke the pickets and in some cases with overtime slips and payslips. they'd retreat eventually back to london, leaving the durham police to pick up the pieces and to try to repair the community relations that had been destroyed. but where officers had brothers who were in the mining community, obviously some difficulty. caused family rifts and family problems. i saw them, during the strike, many times arresting people for nowt. you come down here, do a bit of picketing, i fighting for your bloodyjob, and you've got these - animals beating you up. it's beyond a flaming joke, man. 0ne lad stepping off a pavement to pour cup of tea at wearmouth and getting arrested for breach of the peace. loads of lads just being snatched out of the crowd, and doing nothing. absolutely doing nothing. oh, i got convicted four orfive times.

fines for breach... it was all breach of the peace. and i wear... it's a bit of a badge of honour, i suppose, now. but there were lots of lads it did affect. some of the lads never worked again. the violence and intimidation we have seen should - never have happened. it is the work of extremists. it is the enemy within. i'm proud at thatcher, when she described us disparagingly as the enemy within. i'm proud to be one of those enemies within. certainly, durham has a history of being an excellent police force, and i think we operated as well as we could, given the circumstances during that long, hot summer of 1984. it leaves a very, very bitter taste in the mouth to think that we were portrayed as these thugs and gangsters it's a0 years thugs and gangsters. it's a0 years ago, but i'll tell my kids, i'll tell my grandkids, "this is what we went through."

and when i'm dead and buried, take the fight on and let them know that we weren't criminals, we were fighting for the right to work. some breaking newsjust in — a russian patrol ship has been damaged after being attacked by sea drones in the black sea, according to ukrainian intelligence. the sergei kotov was allegedly hit in the early hours of tuesday morning. footage released purports to show the boat damaged by drones. we will have much more on that at the top of the hour. before we had to the weather... the shirt famously worn by colin firth in his portrayal of mr darcy in the bbc s adaptation of pride and prejudice, is expected to fetch as much as £10,000 when it goes on sale in london later today. it's part of an auction of costumes from film and tv, in support of the bright foundation, an art education charity. our culture reporter

noor nanji has the story. it was the image that set pulses racing — colin firth as mr darcy, emerging from a lake in a wet shirt... mr darcy! ..in the 1995 bbc adaptation of pride and prejudice. now that very shirt could be yours. it's one of more than 60 costumes to be auctioned in london, with all the proceeds going to charity. it's just a simple linen shirt, but it's going under the hammer with an estimate of £7000 to £10,000. i think it's going to be interesting to see what their next life is, yeah. and who buys them and for what purpose. the collection here is incredible. it includes this vintage1950s gown worn by madonna in evita and this beautiful dress worn by drew barrymore in ever after. but, of course, everyone is talking

about this shirt here, the one that was worn by colin firth as mr darcy in pride and prejudice. also up for sale are costumes from tv drama series including peaky blinders and downton abbey. we're standing here against some very pretty downton abbey pieces. we have matthew and we have lady mary here, for example, but we have an entire downton abbey grouping here. when we look at something like a series, like, downton abbey, we look at where it was worn to try and capture the moment it was worn and who.... and there were three designers for downton, also give each designer a credit, which i think is quite nice to do. the entire collection spans more than a00 years of changing fashion trends. for hollywood costume collectors, as well as die hard fans, this is their chance to own a piece of screen history. noor nanji, bbc news.

now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. at the moment we've got high pressure anchored over scandinavia, which is effectively keeping weather fronts at bay out towards the west. now, having said that, there is a weather front to the east which is producing cloudy and damp conditions. and around the high pressure we pull in the south—easterly breeze or wind, so here in the east we are going to see a lot of low cloud and murky conditions in the next few days. but by the weekend it looks very much like a weather front is going to come into south bringing some rain with it. as we go through the course of today, here is our weather front. at times it will lap offshore but it will remain cloudy and damp across eastern parts of england with some heavy showers drifting into the south—east which could be thundery. at the same time we've got some showery rain moving out of northern ireland into western

scotland accompanied by gusty winds. gusty winds across the northern isles and a lot of dry weather in between, with some sunshine. through this evening and overnight a weather front comes back into the east bringing in more cloud, murky conditions, some light rain and drizzle. under clearer skies in the west, though, we'll see mist and fog patches forming, across parts of wales, south and central southern england, once again, and it'll be frosty under clear skies in parts of wales, the southwest and potentially north—west england and western scotland. so tomorrow, we've got all this cloud in the east, still with some dampness in it. it should tend to break up in its southern end but having said that too, we are still going to see some showers. brighter skies will be out towards the west with temperatures 5—12 degrees north to south. then as we head into the latter part of the week, well, here's the high pressure drifting a bit closer to us. again, if you remember the wind around it, comes in from the south—east, so it's going to be dragging in a lot of cloud, dank conditions

across eastern areas at times. getting into some central parts. some light rain, some drizzle. but out towards the west we still are looking at something drier and brighter. these white circles represent the average wind speeds. the gusts will be a little bit more, and these are our temperatures, 7 to about 12 degrees north to south. it's after that it looks like a weather front�*s going to come in across southern areas overnight friday into saturday, bringing in some rain. it will also be quite breezy at times, and chilly by night.

live from london, this is bbc news. ukraine says it has destroyed a russian patrol ship with naval drones in the black sea. in the us, millions prepare for super tuesday, one of the biggest days in the race for the white house. at least 35 are killed as surprise snowfall hits northern pakistan. and, tv history goes on sale — the shirt famously worn by mr darcy in pride and prejudice is up for auction later today.

hello, i'm sarah campbell. ukraine says it has attacked and destroyed a russian patrol ship with naval drones in the black sea. ukrainian military intelligence says the vessel, the sergey kotov, was hit near the kerch bridge connecting russia with occupied crimea, forcing its closure to traffic. a video posted on social media appears to show the moment of the explosion. a ukrainian military intelligence spokesman said the ship had definitely been destroyed. russian officials have not yet commented. live now to kyiv and our correspondent abdu jalil abdurasulov. we have seen the video, just explain what we think it shows. we have seen the video, 'ust explain what we think it shows._ what we think it shows. well, according _ what we think it shows. well, according to _ what we think it shows. well, according to the _ what we think it shows. well, according to the ukraine - what we think it shows. well, according to the ukraine 's i what we think it shows. well, - according to the ukraine 's military according to the ukraine �*s military intelligence agency,