this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm: ukip's only mp douglas carswell stands down from the party to become an independent, saying he's achieved his main objective with the party. we can be absolutely certain that brexit is in good hands. we are going to leave and all of the things that vote leave campaigned for are going to come to pass. it's wonderful. ukip's leader paul nuttall says carswell‘s resignation isn't a surprise. his deputy says his departure won't affect the party's future. i mean, he's been a very semi—detached person for a very long time with this party and frankly this is rather a nice breath of fresh air, this is now behind us. tributes to the policeman killed in the westminster terror attack. the investigation into khalid massood continues and one man is still in custody. also in the next hour, the human cost of the battle for mosul after coalition air strikes kill dozens of civilians. they've complained that the jihadists have used

them as human shields, but they have also spoken very bitterly about the effects of airstrikes on civilians. celebrations and soul searching in rome as the european union marks its 60th anniversary. and lewis hamilton will be on pole position for tomorrow's f1 curtain raiser, after out—qualifying sebastian vettel in melbourne. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the uk independence party's only mp, douglas carswell, has announced he's leaving the party. he said he decided to leave because the party had achieved its goal of pulling britain out of the european union, adding that he was going on "amicable terms". he will now represent clacton

as an independent mp, but there are calls for him to face a by—election. our political correspondent alex forsyth reports. shall we shake hands? i don't think we need to! there's been no love lost between douglas carswell and some in ukip for some time. when he joined the party two years ago, it was a big deal. i am today leaving the conservative party and joining ukip. but the relationship with the then leader soon soured. differences in policies and personalities. and today he quit ukip, saying its job was done when the country backed brexit. we have achieved what ukip was for. if other people want to carry it on, i wish them all the best. but you were the party's only mp, why quit if you have not put the final mail in the coughing? theresa may means brexit is in safe hands. no tears from nigel farage, the former party leader saying that

douglas carswell had jumped before he was pushed and was never truly ukip. current leaders agree. it really won't make very much difference to us, other than drawing a line under something that has really caused nothing but heartache for about a year, more than a year. douglas was never that comfortable in the party, so i think really he will go on his merry way. douglas carswell is duly elected as a member of parliament for the said constituency. thank you. last time he changed allegiances, the clacton mp made a big play of asking voters for approval, but not this time. if i were switching parties, if i were going from ukip to the conservatives, then absolutely i would feel honour bound to call a by—election. but the voters voted for a ukip mp and now they getting an independent. when i was a conservative and switched to ukip, i was the first member of parliament for 26 years to insist

on a by—election. but i'm not changing parties, i'm not switching sides. he hasn't ruled out returning to the tories but for now he is an independent who has once again raised the question of ukip‘s relevance. our political correspondent is in essex. he is respected among his constituents, which is one reason he felt confident to lead the conservatives and join ukip. he can also be a divisive figure, which is why today amongst local party members, there has been delighted that he is leaving. if you are deep sense of cleansing, said one councillorjimmy, well another one said that, douglas has been detached

from us for a while, we're not that —— surprised by what has happened and now we can move on. among his constituents today there has been a more mixed reaction. i think he has thought about this carefully, but she has thought about it from his own perspective. she has done well for a ukip. never mind. has he led the party then? i think so, personally. if that passion and drive for your party is not there any more, then i think he has made the right decision to step away. if you want to do that, we can't do a lot about it, unfortunately. local conservatives have told me today that they always thought him and independently minded person and they're not surprised that she has done what he has done. when i asked one leading conservative estimate taken back, he shook his head and said, norway. —— no way. if he hadn't jumped,

if he hadn'tjumped, do you think he was in serious risk of being punished? i don't think you can overestimate the animosity between some of the senior members in ukip and douglas ca rswell. senior members in ukip and douglas carswell. it stems from the fact that the former party leader has very deep ideological differences with him. nigel fiveash advocated a hard—line with him. nigel fiveash advocated a ha rd—line stance to with him. nigel fiveash advocated a hard—line stance to immigration, douglas carswell thought the party should be taking a wider, more moderate approach on immigration and looking at other issues as well. that is where some of the infighting has plagued the ukip over the past 18 months, that is where it has stemmed from. two camps have sprung up, those loyal to nigel frazier and the direction of ukip and those around carswell, the direction of ukip and those around ca rswell, who the direction of ukip and those around carswell, who have criticised as being the oriental taters, deliberately near to undermine the party, so there have been some that

think, with his departure, the party will be to draw a line under the collars of what has been so much division for so long. whether or not she chose medical because he had no other option, who knows? he is adamant that the timing is about the trickle —— the triggering of the former —— the triggering of the formal brexit negotiations. he says that as his motivations and it had nothing to do with the internal politics of the ukip. but that has so politics of the ukip. but that has so dominated the decisions that the two can be entirely separate. he said that he expected the other leaders to be more upbeat about their achievements. that they had w011. their achievements. that they had won. the implication of that is that ukip does not have a political future. is that what you think he

thinks? this has been a question that platelet ukip since the election. the, for a long time, had a sole focus and now the uk has decided to leave the european union, there is a question over what ukip sa. there is a question over what ukip 54. i there is a question over what ukip s4. i asked there is a question over what ukip s4. iasked him repeatedly there is a question over what ukip s4. i asked him repeatedly if you thought that the party was now an irrelevance? his view was not to condemn anyone in the party, he was very careful not to do that and he does not want to further alienate anybody or increase any animosity or continue any infecting our repercussions. he was saying that they can find their path but it was not for him any more. ukip has consistently said that what it wants to do now is broaden its policy platform, to become a voice of opposition, to reach out to disillusioned labour voters, particularly in the north of england. they have failed to do that yet. the currently the field to win the recent by—election in stoke and they did not get the picture they

hoped for. there are plenty of voices who think that they still have a voice to play. holding the government ‘s key to the fire over brexit, as they have put it. douglas ca rswell has brexit, as they have put it. douglas carswell has made it clear he thinks the visa me is doing a good job. —— the visa me is doing a good job. —— the visa me is doing a good job. —— the visa me. —— theresa may. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30pm this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are ruth lea, arbuthnot banking group economic adviser and john rentoul, chief political columnist at the independent. a former head of the metropolitan police has called for changes to security at westminster, following the attack on wednesday. former commissioner lord blair said there should be a review of the arming of officers. one man, arrested in birmingham, remains in custody. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. minutes after the terrorist attack in the precincts of the palace of westminster. on the ground is constable keith palmer, who was stabbed to death. his killer, khaled massoud, has been shot to death by police. meanwhile, armed officers here have left the scene to investigate the gates, where masood's car has mounted

the pavement and crashed. meanwhile, the gates were left wide open, anyone could have got through. an understandable error according to a former head of scotland yard, who nevertheless leaves that in the future security will have to be more stringent. i'm absolutely certain that they will have to be a review now of the outer soft ring. always behind it is the inner core of armed officers, but pc keith palmer has paid for his life for that soft outer ring and i think his family at least, and everyone else, need reassurance. the bbc has obtained new footage of the police response. a fleet of cars carrying teams of marksmen racing down the embankment. this was shortly after khalid masood's trail of carnage which began on westminster bridge. questions remain unanswered about his route to radicalisation. he was a violent criminal

before converting to islam more than a decade ago. one of his victims who have arrived is this romanian tourist, who was hurled into the thames. she was in london with her partner, who was also hurt. in remainiac, a friend paid tribute to the emergency services in london. —— in romania, a friend paid tribute to the emergency services in london. translation: we would especially like to thank the doctors and nurses, all the medical staff, for everything they are doing to help them. today at scotland yard, police officers who were part of the emergency response laid flowers in memory of their colleague, keith palmer, who they tried to help. june kelly, bbc news. and a man from eastbourne has claimed he was attacked by khalid masood14 years ago. danny smith described how he met masood, known then as adrian elms in 2003. i met him in a pub in eastbourne.

seemed like a pretty decent fellow. had a few beers with him. a few days later we fell out. he tried his best to kill me. can you tell us what he did? he pulled a knife, held it to my face and i thought surely he's not going to hit me, surely he's not going to hit me with a knife, and he sort of flinched it to do it and ijust stood there, thinking, he isn't going to do it, and all of a sudden, he hit me with a knife, straight from my face and then it went through my nose, through my tongue, into my mouth. joining me now from outside scotland yard is our news correspondent simonjones. simon, first of all, we have more information about the officer who

died. , that he was waving a stab vest at the time she was attacked. that's right, we haven't had any on camera briefings from the police today but today they have issued two new statements. one is concerning the officer at the time of the attack. that tells us he was wearing attack. that tells us he was wearing a protective vest, which has been examined by a pathologist as part of the postmortem investigation. they said they could see no signs that it had been penetrated or damage, other than the fact that had been cut off by the first aid as he tried in vain to keep them alive. we have also had another statement from scotland yard, concerning the people who have been arrested. we are told that the man from been arrested. we are told that the manfrom birmingham has been arrested. we are told that the man from birmingham has been released with going to be taken and also a

woman who was released on bail has now been told that no further action is going to be taken against her. she was from east london. that means that currently, there isjust she was from east london. that means that currently, there is just one person in custody, a 50 yearjob man from birmingham and he is still being questioned by the police. as regards the pc and has protective vests, we' re told regards the pc and has protective vests, we're told the police are not going to reveal at the moment, at the request of the coroner, the cause death. —— cause of death. good news about the number of people receiving medical treatment in hospital. yes, we are told that number has come down to 15. at the pain of the attack, some 50 people were injured, so attack, some 50 people were injured, so it is good news in terms of that treatment, but a number of people are still critically injured and, of course, the death toll, which eve ryo ne course, the death toll, which everyone has been thinking about, today we have seen more tributes by fellow police officers who have come to bring flowers, to mark the life of the pc palmer. there was also a

march year, in favour of staying in the european union. at that march, people pause to remember those who had died and also the survivors who we re had died and also the survivors who were still in hospital. what happened yesterday very much on the minds of people in westminster and central london. concerns about fraud have prompted the fund—raising website justgiving to review all pages raising money for the victims of the westminster attack. for the first time, the company has taken direct control of a crowd—funding page, which any individual can set up. concerns were raised over a fund for the family of aysha frade, after a person who set up the page had the same name as a woman convicted of fraud. money raised for victims will not be automatically released until verified. the us military says it carried out an air strike at an iraqi request at a site where hundreds of civilians are reported dead. the united nations has raised grave concerns about the casualties in the iraqi city of mosul.

iraqi forces, backed by a us led coalition, are fighting to retake the city from the terror group islamic state. at least 200 people are reported to have been killed, with many buried under the rubble. the us has opened a formal investigation. the bbc‘s middle east editorjeremy bowen has the latest from mosul. thousands of people have walked and have arrived with a close they are standing up in. they need food, clothing and shelter. it's a mass of humanity but not as big as the one that may be literally coming down that may be literally coming down that road in the coming weeks. from where the black smokers, which is where the black smokers, which is where islamic state positions are.

maybe some thousand kilometres that we. this is very much a theatre of war. people are talking about what they have been through. they have talked about air strikes that have come in the last days and killed, as well as people from the islamic state, hundreds of civilians. they have complained that the jihadists have complained that the jihadists have used them as human shields, but they have also in tears and anger, spoken very bitterly about the effects of air strikes on civilians. i spoke to multiple witnesses who said that there are perhaps hundreds of bodies still lying in the rubble and that people can't get to them. if you take it all together, the

effect of the war, the wounded, the dead, military and civilians, and the massive humanitarian needs of the massive humanitarian needs of the people being displaced by the fighting, it comes together as a great humanitarian emergency and thatis great humanitarian emergency and that is worsened by the fire pit is happening any country that was already broken into pieces by war. it isa already broken into pieces by war. it is a huge challenge and it is really ha rd to it is a huge challenge and it is really hard to think of the bigger one anywhere in the world at the moment. two teenage boys have been found dead at cliffs at saltburn in north east england. cleveland police were called to huntcliff last night and found the bodies of the two 17—year—old boys at the bottom of the cliffs. our correspondent lindsey smith was in saltburn and sent us this. it was at 7pm last night that reports came in to the police of a casualty at the cliffs behind me. when they arrived with the coastguard,

what they discovered was far worse. it was the bodies of two 17—year—old boys. they wear airlifted to the james cook hospital and cleveland police have told us today that the families of these teenagers are being supported by specially trained officers. this area is very popular with walkers and police are appealing for anyone who was there to contact them, the headlines: ukip's only mp douglas carswell is standing down from the party — but will stay on as an independent. ukip says his resignation isn't a surprise. there are more tributes to the policeman killed in the westminster terror attack. the investigation into khalid massood continues and one man is still in custody. the us says it's investigating

coalition airstrikes that were carried out in western mosul, killing dozens of civilians. european union leaders have marked the 60th anniversary of the eu's founding treaty with a formal declaration promising to deepen unity. theresa may is not at the ceremony in rome. the meeting comes as tens of thousands of people protest in london against brexit, just four days before the formal process of leaving the eu is triggered. damian grammaticas reports from rome. signing their new declaration of unity, each in turn,

the leaders from every eu country were in rome today except one, the uk on the point of triggering its exit. they pledged to cooperate, even as they face challenges lie around. the countries are emerging from the economic crisis but there are fears thatjobs, telepresence, migration and among the leaders also. europe asa and among the leaders also. europe as a political entity will either be united or not at all. under a united

europe —— only a united europe can bea europe —— only a united europe can be a sovereign europe in relation to the rest of the world and only a sovereign europe guarantees independence for its nations, guarantees freedom for its citizens. and on this anniversary, the world marches are europe today by the deep supporters. this was in london, more than 20,000 estimated to have taken part. and, in rome, the gatherings we re part. and, in rome, the gatherings were small. what worries eu leaders is that in the wake of brexit, their opponents, far right forces, are energised right now. for the summit, the leaders are trying to find a new impetus for dear project, to confront brexit and the other charges they face. the problem we haveis charges they face. the problem we have is how to rekindle enthusiasm for the european union across europe. thousands of people have been in london for another protest against the uk leaving the european union. marchers held a minute's

silence at the start of the demonstration, in memory of the victims of the terror attack at westminster. earlier the labour mp david lammy explained why people still wanted to protest ahead of theresa may triggering article 50 next week. i think ithinka i think a lot of people here are very concerned about the position of philippine nationals across the country, they are hugely concerned about leaving the single market, a lot of people here are small business owners and are worried about the future of this country. many expect the economy to earn significantly over the coming months and years. president trump has come out fighting after the bill to overturn barack obama's health reforms was withdrawn on friday, because of a lack of support within his own republican party. he's tweeted that ‘obamacare will explode'. after the defeat he said he will now switch his focus to tax reform. our correspondent laura bicker has

more from washington. the control of the major levers in congress that they could not get this done. another thing that was clear that yesterday's drama is that both republicans and president trump balls spokesman to push forward the message that president trump had done all he could, that he had been up done all he could, that he had been up to the help, notjust twisting arms but breaking them, when it came to persuade republicans. the problem is, when it comes to comes to politician to represent different districts across the united states of america, you have very differing views with than the one party. on the left of the party, they thought the left of the party, they thought the reforms went too far and would leave too many people without medical insurance and underrated of the party, they felt the reforms did not go far enough and they too could not go far enough and they too could not come to any consensus. when he

says we will come together, that we will piece together a new health ca re will piece together a new health care plan, right now, that is not looking very likely. a17—year—old has died after collapsing in the ring at an amateur boxing match. eddie bilbey, from derbyshire, was competing in south normanton on friday evening. he later died in hospital. the sandwich chain, pret a manger, has insisted teenage interns will get the firm's basic weekly wage, after it was criticised for apparently offering a free lunch instead of a wage. the business has launched a new work experience scheme for 500 16 to 18—year—olds in response to fears of a post—brexit staffing crisis. some people had threatened to boycott the company. you may remember last month when the hollywood star — harrison ford — made an unusual landing at an airport in southern california. he came down on a taxi—way instead of a runway, flying directly over a waiting passengferjet. now audio tape has emerged of him explaining what happened. tim allman reports. this is the conversation the actor

had when he touched down. this wasn't the first mishap he had had in recent years. in 2015, she received in the desert clock crashing on a golf course in santa monica, due to engine problems. fortu nately, monica, due to engine problems. fortunately, there were no injuries in this recent incident, perhaps —— except perhaps a little damage to his plate. —— pride.

and now the weather. good visibility tomorrow if you're going to be flying, although i don't know if you would call a penny per win because it is pretty windy. it was a warm day today. cold, with plenty of sunshine. skies are clear for all but the northern isles of scotland. here, it shouldn't get so cold. it is the northern half of the uk, where there is no wind or cloud that will find temperatures getting down to freezing orjust people. with lots of sunshine on the week tomorrow, it will warm up quickly. the northern isles, particularly shetland, will see cloud, still quite windy across southern part of

england. generally, temperatures in the mid teens, were around the coast. —— couloir around the coast. more cloud on the way, on monday, a touch cooler in scotland. not as windy in the south, with some sunshine and temperatures in the mid—teens.