a historic night for the conservative party, as it deals labour a major blow in a supposedly ultra—safe seat. the tories celebrate a stunning victory in the copeland by—election — an area labour represented for more than 80 years. copeland is obviously very disappointing. i'd hoped we'd win the election there. we didn't. labour holds stoke—on—trent central, seeing off a challenge from ukip leader paul nuttall. we'll be live in both constituenciesm getting reaction from our assistant poltiical editor, norman smith. also this lunchtime... "inexplicable, unforgiveable, and gut—wretchingly sad" — gary lineker‘s verdict on the sacking of claudio ranieri. i personally think they should be building statues to him, not sacking him. murdered by a weapon of mass destruction — authorities in malaysia say kimjong—nam was killed by a banned nerve agent called vx. royal bank of scotland reports a loss of £7 billion for 2016, far worse than the previous year's figure. and a group of conservation

charities is launching a recruitment drive for volunteers to help protect the native red squirrel. and coming up in the sport on bbc news, former manchester city boss roberto mancini is the favourite to succeed claudio ranieri at leicester city. good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. it was, by any standards, a great result for the conservatives — causing a major electoral upset by winning the long—held labour seat of copeland in cumbria. their candidate beat labour by more than 2,000 votes. it's the first time a governing party has gained a seat at a by—election since 1982. in the night's other by—election, labour held stoke—on—trent central —

holding off the challenge of the ukip leader paul nuttall. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn says the party's win in stoke was "a decisive rejection of ukip‘s politics of division" but he says their "message was not enough to win through in copeland". 0ur political correspondent, carole walker, reports. harrison, trudy. the conservative party candidate. 13,748. this really was an astonishing results. victory for the tories in a seat which has been labour territory and that was created. what has happened here tonight is a truly historic event. you would have to go back more than a century to find an example of a governing party taking a seat from the opposition party in an election like this. height the conservatives are

jubilant. though new mp increased the party's share of the vote by more than 8%. the tories have seized on the result has a resounding endorsement of theresa may's leadership and policies, and an outright rejection of labour and jeremy corbyn. for them to lose a seat to the governing party, this has never happened before. and that is a show of the weight which the labour party is just out of contact with what people of thinking. the defeated labour candidate, gillian troughton, left without saying a word. the result has piled on the anguish for labour mps who fear their heading for defeat at the general election. jeremy corbyn has rejected suggestions he should step down i was elected to lead this party. i was elected to oppose the redistribution of wealth in the wrong direction, which is what this party was doing. we will continue out party was doing. we will continue ourcampaigning party was doing. we will continue our campaigning work on the nhs, social care and housing.

and there was some comfort for labour in stoke central, where campaigners saw off the threat from ukip to hold onto the seat. the pa rty‘s new ukip to hold onto the seat. the party's new mp said it was a victory for the whole labour movement. to those of you who came to stoke—on—trent to sow hatred and division and to turn us away from oui’ division and to turn us away from our friends division and to turn us away from ourfriends and division and to turn us away from our friends and neighbours, division and to turn us away from ourfriends and neighbours, i have one very simple message. you have failed. ukip leader paul nuttall‘s bit of a parliament failed, despite overwhelming support for brexit locally. after a campaign dogged by controversy. it left him facing questions about the future of his party and his leadership. this seat was number 72 on our hit list. there are a lot more that will happen, there'sa list. there are a lot more that will happen, there's a lot more to come from us. i'm not going anywhere. therefore, we move on. therefore, we move on. the result has also cast doubt and ukip‘s strategy of targeting

traditional labour seats. this lunchtime the prime minister arrived in copeland to congratulate her pa rty‘s newest mp in copeland to congratulate her party's newest mp and what she said was astonishing victory. and what i think we've seen from this victory is that this truly is a government that is working for everyone and for every part of the country. and that... that's the message that we bring here to copeland, and that we will take across the country. the theresa may knows that future success will depend notjust on her domestic policies, but on her handling of britain's departure from. —— from the eu. in a moment we'll get the latest from our assistant poltical editor norman smith, who's in stoke. but first to iain watson, who's in copeland. the stuff they're of tory dreams and labour nightmares. thatjust about sums it up. let me expand. certainly theresa may's message here in the

past hour is that the conservative party is now the party for everyone, not just the party is now the party for everyone, notjust the privileged few. it will really wrangle with labour mps. this seat, copeland, back in 1983 at the height of thatcherism, it stayed labour. this time it's gone. the word historic will be a reduced. but many labour mps see this as notjust a disappointing result, but a catastrophic results. the question is what do the party do about it? i've been speaking to voters this morning and there seemed to be three interlinked problems for labour. the first distrust. nuclear is a big issue here. people want investment in new nuclear capacity. jeremy corbyn came and said he believed in that after all. he was attacked for not being nuclear enough. now he a p pa re ntly not being nuclear enough. now he apparently believes in it. but not enough people believed him. the second problem is jeremy enough people believed him. the second problem isjeremy corbyn himself. even left—wing labour mps here tell me that his leadership came up here tell me that his leadership came up on here tell me that his leadership came up on prompted on the doorstep, and not in a good way. the third

thing is that some of the people here don't necessarily see jeremy corbyn as an antiestablishment figure, that's how he'd like to portray himself. they see labour as the establishment party, they've had the establishment party, they've had the mp for the past 80 years and they don't think they've done enough for the local area. those three problems together could be toxic for labour at the next general election. but the overriding problem labour mps have is they try to dislodge jeremy corbyn last year and they failed. it looks like they have no workable plan b. let's go to norman smith who is in stoke, where corbyn will be celebrating later on. one wonders how much celebration there will actually be. paul nuttall is not celebrating either, of course. i don't think there will be much celebrating by mr corbyn or mr nuttall. let's be honest, this was not just a harrowing nuttall. let's be honest, this was notjust a harrowing night for labour in copeland, it was a difficult night for them in stoke, too. even though they won, they had too. even though they won, they had to struggle to hold on in what

should have been an easy to the park by—election for them, because stoke has been a labour seat pretty much since the year dot. —— should have been an easy cheesy stroll in the park. we are seven years into a conservative government. we have what many people with a real problems in the health service. and still labour is having to fight very ha rd still labour is having to fight very hard in one of its safest seats. as for ukip, the question that arises following their defeat in stoke is if they can't win here, then where can they win? stoke was a prime target for them. it is weak brexit country. it's a traditional working class seat. —— it is big brexit country. paul nuttall himself took a battering. the one person who seems to have emerged significantly strengthened is theresa may, who

pretty much seems to be master, or should i say mistress, and commander of all she surveys. and i have to say, it does remind me of the early 19805, say, it does remind me of the early 1980s, when then, as now, we seem to have a dominant female prime minister with a resurgent conservative party against a struggling opposition, led by a leading many of whom supporters have little confidence in. norman smith in stoke and iain watson in copeland, thank you. and if you'd like more information on the by—election results, there's more reaction and analysis on the bbc news website — at bbc.co.uk/news. former leicester and england footballer gary lineker has described the club's sacking of claudio ranieri nine months after he led them to the premier league title as "inexplicable, unforgivable and gut—wrenchingly sad." the italian was dismissed last night after a string of poor results, that has left the side just one point and one place above the relegation zone. our sports correspondent, joe wilson, reports. and your manager, claudio ranieri!

he was the smile, the face and the manager of the most extraordinary sporting success is anyone in leicester had ever seen — well, quite possibly anyone anywhere had ever seen. quite possibly anyone anywhere had ever seen. and leicester sacked him. the starkness of that reality has shocked even those who spent their life in football. yellow ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the leicester city squad, including their coach, claudio ranieri! flashback to sports personality of the year. gary lineker, former player and lifelong leicester fan. to ranieri, lineker, former player and lifelong leicesterfan. to ranieri, eternally grateful. the way that everybody got behind leicester last season was just something that i had never witnessed really in football before. and i think to toss that all the way over a premature decision and a disloyal

and in many ways a lack of gratitude, is quite gobsmacking. but ijust think you deserve a little bit more, and certainly more time. —— ijust think he deserved. i think they should be building statues, not backing him. do you think the players are culpable? do you think some players will be thinking, crikey, did i cause this? if the players are involved, they should have a long, hard look at themselves as well. there was always going to be and after the lord mayor's show season. it was never going to match anything like last season. this was the reality of where less than normally are. they're all sorts of different reasons why this happened, but ijust think it's a really sad day for leicester in many ways, that it's come to this. i think he deserved and bought himself a bit more time than this, really. i'm not

ashamed to say that last night, when the news broke, i shed a tear. i shed a tear for claudio, for football, and my club. leicester's thai owners stressed that the club is in crisis, that they acted to help the club survive. they urge leicester fa ns help the club survive. they urge leicester fans to try to understand. i was shocked. i was not surprised, because when not playing too well, but i was definitely disappointed because after last season he deserved to stay with us, until the end of the season, even if we got relegated. you can't run a business like this. 0ne you can't run a business like this. one year he did the impossible, the next you're sacking him. disgusting. days when players could be from selling fruit and veg on. that was the lineker business before football. days when winter pictures we re football. days when winter pictures were often marred. but if the sacking of ranieri isjust modern football, what does that say about modern football? let's speak to david 0rnstein, who's at leicester city's ground. as we saw there, there was real

anger out there about this. simon, there is a feeling of high emotion in the city, and among the support base today. it ranges from the sympathy for claudio ranieri to the downright anger at the decision to sack him. some, however, it must be said, do understand the decision made by the club. when ranieri was appointed in 2015, it was a decision that raised eyebrows. he proved those critics wrong. he answered them — and how! he brought celebrations to this city and this club, the like of which they had never seen before in the club's 133 never seen before in the club's133 year history. this stadium, the stadium work craig shakespeare, the assistant manager, is now giving a news c0 nfe re nce assistant manager, is now giving a news conference as we speak. the stadium where we saw such scenes of celebrations. now it's come to this. this is where claudio ranieri came last night to learn his fate. now,

however, that dream is over. all focus will turn to liverpool on monday. they visit the king power stadium and leicester must win that. they're one place and one point above the relegation zone. they could become the first club since manchester city in the 1930s to become relegated having won the top flight become relegated having won the top flight the season before. a big task for leicester, but they will have to do it without claudio ranieri. david, thank you very much. police in malaysia say the half—brother of north korean leader kim jong—un was murdered with a highly toxic nerve agent known as vx. kim jong—nam was attacked at kuala lumpur airport last week. 0ur correspondent, stephen evans, sent this report from seoul. only a drop of vx was needed. the assassin pulled the cloth over kim jong—nam's face and his fate was certain. he sought urgent medical help, but so deadly is a chemical agent that nothing would have saved him. the malaysian police chief was adamant it was vx. it is the vx nerve agent,

which is a chemical weapon. you don't know how it was brought in? no, we are investigating that. the police have three people in custody. the two women alleged to have actually attacked, and a north korean man said to have helped. one of the attackers may have contaminated herself. police want to talk to at least seven others, including a north korean diplomat and an employee of north korea's state airline. in 2013, kim jong—un inspected chemical weapons masks. north korea's long been suspected of making chemical weapons. south korean experts think the relation attack confirms that. -- think —— think the malaysian attack

confirms that. a tiny drop of the vx agent can kill anybody within a minute. so i think it is this, it can absorb the skin, eye, or whatever the body part. so it's more than 100 times toxic than the nerve gas commonly used, the sarin gas. and the problem with this vx is its toxic, tasteless and colourless. it's very hard to detect. the airport in kuala lumpur is to be swept for traces of any other deadly chemicals that the assassination team may have left. north korea is, in effect, a dynasty. the all—powerful leadership goes from father to son. brothers are rivals. 0ne threat to kim jong—un is now no more. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield hayes

is in kuala lumpur. you have just been added to the airport where, according to authorities, a weapon of mass destruction was used a few days ago. how are they taking this?l destruction was used a few days ago. how are they taking this? a little more relaxed than they perhaps should be, simon. i have been in the airport this afternoon, this evening, it has taken a good hour or two to get back, when we left there we re two to get back, when we left there were no signs at all that the authorities were carrying out this week for the decontamination effort they claimed they were going to. i am afraid to say there is little credibility to their claim that they are taking the threats of other people seriously and doing something about it. in terms of what happens now, what happens to the body, what does north korea wants to happen to that? i think this takes the whole crisis between malaysia and north korea to

a completely different level. we we re a completely different level. we were talking about a potential assassination until today, now we are talking about notjust an associate nation but potentially be used by a country of a banned chemical weapon in another country's major international airport. this has really pushed relations between malaysia and north korea to the verge of breaking point. the malaysians foreign minister today affectively threatened the north korean ambassador but if he does not stop what he called spewing lies, malaysia may well expel him. thank you, rupert. our top story this lunchtime... an historic night for the conservative party as it deals labour a major blow in the supposedly ultra—safe seat of copeland. and still to come... america moves to calm fears in mexico that us troops could be sent in to deal with illegal immigrants. coming up in sport at half—past, centre ben te'o will make his first start for england in sunday's six nations match against italy at twickenham. reports from the iraqi city of mosul

say government troops have entered a neighbourhood in the western half of the city. they captured the airport yesterday as part of their battle to expel islamic state forces from its final stronghold in iraq. let's speak our correspondent wyre davies, who is with iraqi forces near mosul. just how significant is this progress? sorry, we obviously have a problem with a link to wyre davies. sorry about that, we will try to get him a little later. america's homeland security chief has moved to reassure mexico that the us army won't be deployed

to deal with illegal immigrants. john kelly made the pledge during talks in mexico with the country's president and other senior officials. concerns were raised after president trump spoke about a military operation to deport criminals. 0ur correspondent dan johnson reports. there's already been a change on mexico's border with the usa. a new flow of people heading back south. these mexicans were sent home because america says they were living illegally. translation: in portland, oregon, as i was coming out of the court when i went to pay my ticket that i owed, they were waiting for me outside. that's the new reality under what president trump calls a military operation. you see what's happening at the border. all of a sudden, for the first time, weeding gang members out, we'ree getting drug lords out. we're getting really bad dudes out of this country. and at a rate that nobody‘s ever seen before. and they're the bad ones. also crossing the border, rex tillerson, the secretary of state from texas, year to talk to his counterpart and forced to listen

to mexican concerns. translation: it is a fact that is obvious that mexicans are worried, irritated, before what is perceived as policies that might be harmful to our national interest and to mexicans in mexico and abroad. inconsistency in tone is an early feature of the trump administration. the secretary of state took a much softer line than his boss. two strong sovereign countries, from time to time, will have differences. we listen closely and carefully to each other as we respectfully and patiently raise our respective concerns. there were discussions with the mexican president, too. promises of closer cooperation and reminders of the cultural bonds across the border. figures do show the number of mexicans leaving the us in recent years actually outstripped new arrivals. protesters have called for bridges to be built instead of walls.

translation: i think there couldn't have been a better symbolic protest than burning trump's wall, because there shouldn't be barriers among nations. the us president disagrees. he intends to deport more people he considers a threat and filters water keep them out. -- built —— built his wall to keep them out. we have re—established links with wyre davies in the iraqi city of mosul and can update us on progress, they have entered parts of the west of the city? this is a very critic... critical point in the battle for mosul. we have heard that after taking the airport yesterday, as of dawn this morning iraqi forces have moved in with heavily armoured units to try to push so—called islamic state fighters into the city itself. it is a very built—up area, 750,000

citizens, very difficult to fight in. iam citizens, very difficult to fight in. i am at citizens, very difficult to fight in. iam ata citizens, very difficult to fight in. i am at a joint american and iraqi military base and it is apparent that international forces are very much part of this. there are very much part of this. there are american artillery units firing position shells at isis positions in and outside of mosul. their boots on the ground, as the americans call them, trying to help the iraqi army to ta ke them, trying to help the iraqi army to take the western part of the city. this is very critical part of a fight to try to remove so—called isis from its last big stronghold in iraq. thank you very much, wyre davies. the royal bank of scotland made a loss of nearly $7 billion last year, more the three times the loss they made the year before. well, our business editor simonjack is with me. we have been talking about losses at rbs for a 031 time? if you have a sense of deja vu, this is the ninth loss in a row rbs has made, £7 billion today on top of 51 billion

over the last decade, £58 billion of losses in total. the uk taxpayer put in £45 billion in 2009, we have gone through all of that and then some. it was not meant to take this long, we we re it was not meant to take this long, we were meant to be back to health, so we were meant to be back to health, soi we were meant to be back to health, so i spoke to boss ross mcewan and asked why it is taking so long and whose fault it is. i don't think it's a matter of fault. i don't think people saw the magnitude of the conduct and litigation issues that would come through. who thought that we'd be paying, as an industry, 40 to 45 billion for ppi insurance? who thought these charges would come through of this magnitude? i don't think anybody did. it is not over yet, i think it is very likely that rbs will make another loss next year, they have too settled with us authorities over the rbs role in the sub—prime mortgage crisis, so more to come. underneath the wreckage, there is a decent bank, £1 billion of profit every quarter, lending to uk businesses and homeowners, but we have some way to go before we get

there. thousands of jobs have some way to go before we get there. thousands ofjobs could go over the next year, pain ahead but also some light at the bank today, they said for the first time they we re they said for the first time they were confident they would make a profit in 2018. thank you very much, simonjack. police are questioning a man and woman over the escape of a convicted murderer in liverpool. they're being held on suspicion of helping shaun walmsley, who got away from guards during a hospital visit. let's get the latest from our correspondentjudith moritz. still no sign of him? that's right. shaun walmsley escaped from here on tuesday afternoon, he came for a regular hospital appointment at this hospital and as he was leaving and was escorted here by prison officers from liverpool prison a short distance away, as they were getting into a distance away, as they were getting intoa carto distance away, as they were getting into a car to leave the group were ambushed by two men, whose faces we re ambushed by two men, whose faces were covered, brandishing a gun and a knife and who escaped with shaun

walmsley in a gold covered volvo. —— gold covered volvo. merseyside police arrested a 27—year—old man and a 26 year macro woman, both of the same address in the norris green area of liverpool. i understand they area of liverpool. i understand they are being held at separate police stations on merseyside and being questioned about the escape on suspicion of assisting an offender, it is not thought they are part of the group that at the hospital on the group that at the hospital on the day. police say they are still looking this shaun walmsley and the two men who were part of that escape effort and choose day. they are telling members of the public they should not approach walmsley if they see him, he is a dangerous criminal who was sentenced to life in prison with the minimum term of 30 years backin with the minimum term of 30 years back in 2015. merseyside police say they are combing cctv footage, they have released imagery of what happened here that afternoon in the hope that witnesses may come forward , hope that witnesses may come forward, because it was in broad daylight. i know plenty of people may have seen what happened. i

should add that merseyside police say they are working not just with police forces around the uk on this but also liaising with police forces abroad, notices of information have gone out to port authorities, airports, they say they are working around the clock to try to get shaun walmsley back. thank you, judith moritz. prince charles is reported to back new plans to sterilise grey squirrels in a bid to protect native reds. the proposals would see grey squirrels given an oral contraceptive — hidden in chocolate spread — which would last several years. the wildlife trusts are having their biggest—ever recruitment drive to help protect red squirrels. conservation charities say the population could disappear from england, wales and northern ireland within 40 years. aisling mcveigh reports. red squirrels were once a common sight across much of the uk. but the introduction of their grey cousins 141 years ago spelled disasterfor the red population. carrying a disease which kills reds, the bigger, greedier grey squirrel

dominates our landscape more than a century on, with more than 2.5 million of them around. there arejust 140,000 reds in comparison. but in recent years, efforts to protect reds have had some success and now for the first time the wildlife trusts are combining to recruit 5,000 volunteers to help with these conservation efforts. people will be asked to monitor and record data and, if they're willing, they'll be given training on how to cull grey squirrels humanely. they're hoping the red squirrels united project will not only maintain, but maybe even increase numbers. we can train people to help with monitoring, so using trail cameras and hair tubes, we also need people to record their sightings and report them to us and also help with grey squirrel control. it's a really great opportunity for people to get involved in a large—scale conservation project but also at a local level and really make a difference.

this map shows how many red squirrels were around in 1945, compared to 2010. the campaign hopes to focus the efforts of volunteers on the nine areas where there are already red squirrels, including the glens of antrim in northern ireland, anglesey in wales, and merseyside in england. the saving scotland's red squirrels volunteer project will also get underway. most of us will never get this close to a baby squirrel. rachel's nursing this one back to health. but with this campaign there's a chance to make sure this native species survives and maybe even flourishes once again in the uk. aisling mcveigh, bbc news. the price of first and second class stamps will go up by 1p next month. from the end of march, a first class stamp will cost 65p, with a second class stamp increasing to 56p. the royal mail have said the increase is needed to ensure the sustainability of the post service.

a woman who died after being hit by debris and wolverhampton city centre yesterday has been named as tanni, she was 29 and from stafford. winds of up to 94 mph were recorded at its height in the uk, causing power cuts, flights to be grounded and trains cancelled. time for a look at the weather. here's john hammond. some welcome tranquillity at last for some of us, a beautiful start to the day in cumbria. in cumbria the sunshine will not last long, as we see ina sunshine will not last long, as we see in a moment. doris has been hurtling its way across northern parts of europe, causing some problems. for us, a window of sunshine for many places this morning, there are further fronts lying in wait in the atlantic and there will be rain for many