this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00: a human rights lawyer has been struck off for acting dishonestly, in bringing abuse claims against british soldiers in iraq. is there light at the end of the tunnel for southern rail commuters? a deal‘s been done with drivers to end strike action, but one union is still holding out. the bank of england has risen its growth forecast. it now thinks the economy will grow by 2% this year. and coming up on newsnight. more detail on brexit plan — we'll get a view from the continent on how messy they feel the divorce will get over there. good evening and welcome to bbc news. phil shiner, a human rights lawyer who brought dozens of allegations

of murder and torture against british soldiers who served in iraq, has been struck off for dishonesty. mr shiner paid thousands of pounds to a fixer to find iraqi clients. he'd already admitted acting without integrity and his firm is no longer in business. the defence secretary sir michael fallon said mr shiner had brought great pain to soldiers and their families. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has been following the case. once an award winning human rights lawyer, tonight, phil shiner‘s reputation lies in tatters. he made his name at the expense of the british armies and the taxpayer in legal aid. accusing soldiers of widespread abuse during the war in iraq. i don't know whether people we re iraq. i don't know whether people were killed but i think something went wrong. we need to find out who was responsible and hugh in command yuriko koike going on here. they

we re yuriko koike going on here. they were kept naked, they were sexually humiliated. —— who in command and what was going on. there were five charges of acting dishonest leave. —— dishonestly. he was ordered to pay £250,000. he has been struck off at will never work as a lawyer again. the tribunal also heard china paid an iraqi agent almost £i.5 million, to knock on doors trawling to business. this was the aftermath of the incident that proved his undoing. the battle in iraq in 200a. coloneljames coote will never forget that day when he and his men put their lives on the line. it culminated with soldiers in hand—to—hand combat, they are nets, fighting through heavily defended opposition. acts of bravery were soon followed by allegations that he

—— they murdered iraqis. the claims we re —— they murdered iraqis. the claims were found to be built on lies and without foundation. the process of going through the last ten years has put a great deal of stress on my family who fail to understand why the process was applied the way it was and to my soldiers and their families as well. what do you want from phil shiner now?” families as well. what do you want from phil shiner now? i would simply asking to apologise to the soldiers and the families that have been put through the stresses and strains of the last decade. there is proof of mistreatment by british soldiers will stop it was phil shiner who highlighted the case of the iraqi hotel worker acted —— battered to death in british company. he has made soldiers deposit lives a misery in the last decade. he needs to apologise properly to all the troops

and their families who he falsely accused. the prime minister, too, has promised to end what she calls an industry other vexatious claims against british troops. though dozens against british troops. though d oze ns of against british troops. though dozens of claims about historic abuse are still being investigated. at four phil shiner, this is the end of his career. a man who once sought the might —— limelight but has now gone to ground. —— but, for phil shiner. a deal to end part of the long—running dispute, which has inconvenienced many thousands of passengers on southern rail, has been reached. the company has been holding extended talks with the aslef union to resolve a disagreement about the role of guards on trains. but the rmt union is still involved in a dispute with southern as our transport correspondent richard westcott reports. it's the bitter dispute that's been paralysing one of the country's busiest lines. but tonight, southern rail‘s finally reached an agreement with its drivers. do you know that the southern rail strike, they've come to a deal in the last hour or so, i was just wondering if you knew?

no, i hadn't heard that, but thank you, that's terrific news. it's been absolute hell for the last 12 months. it's impacted on a lot of things and a lot of people. the row was over the role of staff on trains. southern wants drivers, not conductors, closing the doors. the union says that's not safe. neither side's giving details, but the company's hinting its changes will still go ahead. our modernisation plans that we introduced earlier in the year are intact, so we'll continue to work the reliability of the service up and improve and get back to the service standards we've achieved previously. but aslef says it's secured significant concessions on safety and is confident members will vote for the deal. well, after the past year and where we've been, we welcome that we've come to a consensus that we've got something to our membership that we believe will help deliver a safer railway. so it took two weeks of what i'm told was very intense negotiating inside this building, but southern rail does seem to have reached a deal

with its drivers and both sides say they're happy. of course aslef wasn't the only union involved in this dispute, so it doesn't end here. the rmt union isn't part of this deal. it represents conductors and could still announce more strikes, knocking out a third of services each time. so the pain isn't quite over for southern‘s long—suffering passengers. richard westcott, bbc news. the bank of england has made another significant change to its forecast for economic growth. it now estimates that gross domestic product will rise by 2% this year, significantly higher than its previous prediction of i.4%. but the bank is warning that there will be ‘further substantial increases‘ in inflation over coming months. our economics editor kamal ahmed reports. we are still spending. employment is rising. the bank of england cut interest rates... borrowing has become cheaper. today, the governor nodded

to the new president and his plans to boost the us economy, all reasons for this significant upgrade of britain's growth forecast. the governor admitted that consumers had shrugged off any brexit gloom. consumers have not been affected by any of the associated uncertainty around brexit. and that is to a large degree understandable. the labour market is holding up, wages are growing at roughly the same rate, modesty, but roughly the same as the past, and in part because of our actions, credit is available and it is cheap. these growth upgrades are some of the fastest the bank has ever published. last november it said growth for 27 team would at i.4%. that figure has been raised for 2%. the 2018, it originally said growth would be i.5%.

that has also been increased, more modestly, to i.6%. -- 2017. mixed in with the good news, some caution. for this small food firm in kent, inflation is on the up, driven by the fall in the value of sterling. the price of goods nimisha raja buys have increased by 25%. for the moment we are able to absorb the prices, we are not passing it on to the retailer so that doesn't go to the consumer. when we have to pass on price, i don't know whether that will reach the consumer, it depends on the retailer. as the pressures build, might the bank have to reach for that cooling button, and interest rate rise? is there more of a risk of interest rate rise than there is of a further interest rate cut? if we do see a situation where there is a faster growth than wages, than we anticipated, or that spending doesn't decelerate later in the year, one could anticipate there would be an adjustment of interest

rates, an increase. that is not a signal. here at the bank of england, the governor struck a pretty upbeat note today, but there are still warning lights flashing in this inflation report. the amount we are saving has fallen to historic lows, and that could be a problem if the economy does take a turn for the worse. i think the bank here is still nervous. yes, there is better news but, as the governor said, we have onlyjust started ourjourney to brexit. on growth, it's been a roller—coaster ride for the bank, a sharp change in direction to positive. consumer debts are high and savings are low. that positive news will need to keep flowing if the uk is to keep prospering. kamal ahmed, bbc news. the government has published a white paper setting out more details

of its plans for the brexit negotiations. the brexit secretary david davis told mps that changes would be phased in gradually and that the uk would not find itself on the edge of a cliff. the paper promises a new immigration bill and says ministers will seek separate deals for key industries to retain access to the european single market. our political correspondent vicki young has more details. be ambitious, be positive about britain's future outside the european union. that's the message from ministers, who say they're aiming for a strong new partnership with the eu. secretary david davis. the man charged with achieving that told the commons that the referendum was not a vote to turn our back on europe. it was a vote of confidence in the uk's ability to succeed in the world, an expression of optimism that our best days are still to come. whatever the outcome of our negotiations, we seek a more open, outward looking, confident and fairer uk that works for everyone. under pressure to reveal more, the government's published some brexit plans. priorities include putting

parliament in control of our laws, making immigration decisions in the uk with a new system that'll be phased in over time, continuing security cooperation with the eu, and establishing the freest possible trading relationship with eu countries. theresa may has already announced that the uk will leave the single market, but today's document says she'll seek a special arrangement for key industries, such as car manufacturers and financial services. mps are demanding that parliament is regularly consulted when negotiations get under way. there's no point in having a vote after he's already signed it off with the european union, treating parliament as some sort of afterthought. mps are demanding a say on the deal that theresa may does with the european union. they want the power to order her back to brussels if they think it's not good enough. but before labour can focus on that fight, they're going to have to get over a few problems of their own. is brexit splitting labour?

good bye. the labour leader ordered his mps not to block the brexit process last night, but dozens disobeyed. some resigning from his shadow cabinet. jeremy corbyn couldn't even rely on one of his closest allies, diane abbott. she was taken ill, shortly after this debate, and just before the crucial vote, and had to go home. but some colleagues don't believe her. it is extraordinary that diane abbott sneaks off, saying that she's ill. you know, people who are well enough at five o'clock to be in parliament are well enough to be there for the vote at 7am. i think we know what's going on here. she bottled the vote. tonight, malta is preparing to host a summit of all 28 eu leaders. theresa may's set out her intentions. she'll leave early so everyone else can discuss their brexit tactics. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. that is it. you are up—to—date. now

it is time for newsnight. the mexicans with the wall and the eu seeking its destruction and then the australian prime minister, not to mention the iranians. if they measured in the president's apparent madness? he is famously a dealmaker and likes to get his way but the president is not a happy deal take—up. he is not happy with the deals of his predecessors. particularly one to take refugees from australia. when you hear about the tough phone calls i am having, don't worry about it. just don't worry about it. we are tough. it's time to be a bit tough, folks. we are being taken advantage of by every nation is order or disorder in prospect? we'll ask the president's recent adviser on climate change and environment. also tonight, our official policy on brexit now runs to 75 pages, but it's not entirely up to us. britain wants to free itself from much of the eu customs union to

allow it to negotiate new free trade deals across the globe. but it does want to hold on to one benefit, tariff—free trade with the rest of the eu. italy's deputy foreign minister will tell us why it might get tricky. and on viewsnight, pankaj mishra explains why we live in the the age of anger. for the last two tumultuous centuries we've been encouraged to pursue ideals designed for the benefit of a homogenous few. billions of people are now chasing these ideals with ever increasing frustration. hello. another day, one in which the unconventions of the new us diplomacy have been in evidence. item one — the president seems to have had an argument with the australian prime minister, and curtailed a phone conversation with him.

two — the national security advisor michael flynn has put iran on notice, although no specification as to what that notice is of. and three — it emerged that some days ago, donald trump had suggested that he might send us troops into mexico, telling the mexican president that he needed to deal with the "bad hombres" down there. but, at the same time, this evening in the un, at the security council, the americans have strongly condemned the russians‘ actions in ukraine, and sounded very like they traditionally have. we do want to better our relations with russia, however the dire situation in eastern ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of russian actions. the united states continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the russian occupation of crimea. crimea is a part of ukraine.