this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm: britain promises to stand up for gibraltar after the territory accuses spain of using brexit to advance its claims to the rock. a hate crime investigation as a teenage asylum seeker is left fighting for his life when he was attacked by a gang of youths in south london. we believe it's a hate crime. prior to the tactic in place, the young person was asked where they've were from and when they said they were an asylu m from and when they said they were an asylum seeker, that was when the frenzied attack took place. nearly half of people who used the government's help—to—buy scheme to purchase a house did not need it, according to new research. a pay rise for two million people, says the government, as the uk's national living wage goes up. also in the next hour: johanna konta wins the biggest tennis title by a british woman in a0 years, beating caroline wozniacki in the miami open. at least 100 people are reported to have been killed by a massive mudslide in southern

colombia. the mud engulfed homes and roads. hundreds of families are missing. and a woman who volunteered with mother teresa in calcutta is featured on witness. that's in half an hour here on bbc news. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the government has said that britain will defend the interests of gibraltar in the brexit negotiations, following warnings that spain is attempting to use the process to pursue its claim to the rock. the eu has suggested that a brexit deal won't cover gibraltar without a separate agreement between london and madrid. labour say it's vital the people of gibraltar aren't used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. richard lister reports. could this rock,

looming from the med, threaten britain's future relationship with the eu? gibraltar‘s been in british hands for more than 300 years, but it voted almost unanimously to remain in the eu, giving spain hopes of taking the territory back. just this week, theresa may said that wouldn't happen. we are absolutely steadfast in our support of gibraltar and its people and its economy. our position has not changed. but the european council's position has changed and in its draft negotiating guidelines, it says after the uk leaves the union, no agreement between the eu and the uk may apply to the territory of gibraltar without the agreement between the kingdom of spain and the uk. and giving spain veto rights could mean choppy waters ahead. spain hasn't been shy of confronting britain in the past, here over fishing rights off the gibraltar coast. now its demands on the territory could be part of any future eu—uk trade deal. these are draft guidelines

but already, we see spain making the moves that people expect she might have made at five minutes to midnight with an agreement ready, she is doing now, and frankly, i think it is singling out gibraltar unfairly. but madrid does have a list of grievances like the smuggling of cheap cigarettes into spain. brexit mayjust have given the spanish more leverage on that and the big question of sovereignty. spain must have tried something like 12 times to conquer or take over gibraltar. this is something that many people in spain want. it's a matter of national pride to have gibraltar back. the letter triggering article 50 in the brexit process made no mention of gibraltar. some say it should have. it was not just that it did not mention gibraltar. it was that it only talked about one land border where the negotiations cover two land borders.

it also made reference to government in terms that did not include the fact there are, you know, gibraltar has a government as well. the overwhelming majority of people in gibraltar want to stay british and i think on that basis, we will respect the sovereignty of the people of gibraltar, respect their decision and respect the negotiating process. a process which spain wants gibraltar to be a part of. richard lister, bbc news. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are anne ashworth, associate editor at the times and bonnie greer, playwright and writer for the new european. a teenage boy has been critically injured in a gang attack in south london. it's understood the boy was set upon at a bus stop in croydon after the group discovered he was an asylum seeker. police are treating it as a hate crime. chief superintendentjeff boothe is the borough commander for croydon. he's described the attack.

i would say it was a frenzied attack. a large number of young people, with a person on the floor, kicking this person repeatedly. by all accounts, members of the public asked them to stop. they continued. it was only when the sound of police sirens occurred that this horrific attack stopped. for me, that is com pletely attack stopped. for me, that is completely unacceptable. there was no place for this type of crime to ta ke no place for this type of crime to take place. we believe it's a hate crime. prior to the attack, the young person was asked where they we re young person was asked where they were from and when they said they we re were from and when they said they were an asylum seeker, that is when that frenzied attack took place. bbc news has learned that only 5% of prison staff in england and wales will be entitled to new pay allowances of up to £5,000. the payments were announced by the ministry ofjustice two months ago. they were aimed at tackling claims that low pay and morale had led to a recruitment crisis.

the prison officers' association has described the situation as totally u na cce pta ble. mark fairhurst from the prison officers association said giving some staff pay allowances and not others was demoralising their members, and failing to get to the heart of recruitment problems. those of us who are experienced are very demoralised, because we haven't had a pay rise in over seven years. those new recruits, for example, a new recruit at berwyn, the newjail in wrexham, will be receiving £21,000 a year, yet someone with the same level of experience as them, with only ten weeks in the job, working in brixton, will be receiving £31,000 a year. now, that's no incentive to stay in the job. they need to tackle the real issue. the real issue we can't retain staff is because of the violence, because of the working conditions and because of the severe lack of support from management when we deal with that violence. the other issue is the starting

salary throughout the country, apart from the 31 sites identified, simply isn't sufficient enough. it doesn't compete with other industry. the columbian president has said that over 100 people are now dead following a mudslide in the south of the country. red cross officials said more than 100 people have also been injured as swollen rivers and heavy rains sent mud onto homes and roads in the city of mocoa late last night. police and rescue teams are at the scene, but their efforts are being hampered by adverse weather conditions. nottinghamshire police are appealing for help finding a woman who's suspected of abducting her two young sons. it comes after a family court warned that samantha baldwin, who's 42, posed a risk of harm to them. peter harris reports. this is samantha baldwin, not seen since monday. she is believed to have abducted her two sons in the hours after a court ordered they be

removed from her care. the police say nine—year—old louis and six—year—old dylan are at risk of harm from her and they are asking the public to help find them. samantha went missing, having left court shortly after 11am. we are working on the notion that they remain together. we are concerned that samantha poses a risk to the boys and we have a 100 strong team of dedicated officers working around the clock to trace her and return the children safely. the two boys have been made wards of court. this is now an abduction enquiry. samantha baldwin was last seen here in nottingham city centre on monday. the police are not ruling out the possibility that somebody else might be involved and could be harbouring her. two women arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender have now been released on bail. peter harris, bbc news. an unexploded world war two bomb

is believed to have been discovered on the banks of the river thames in putneyjust a day before the oxford—cambridge boat race. scotland yard said it was called to an area of the chelsea shoreline this afternoon. a decision on the boat race going ahead will be made by organisers in the morning. a man whose wife was murdered in mauritius six years ago has returned to the island to seek more information about her death. john mcareavey from northern ireland has told the bbc that he's prepared to "go to the ends of the earth" to ensure thatjustice is achieved for his wife. michaela mcareavey was found strangled in a bath at a luxury hotel 12 days after the couple's wedding. no—one has been convicted of her murder. the help—to—buy scheme was meant to support lower wage earners in england buy theirfirst home. but it's emerged thousands of families on high incomes have also benefited, asjoe lynam now reports. but for the government's help to buy

scheme, lina hannon and her husband would have needed an additional five to ten years before they could afford their own place in harrow. she does worry, though, that some high earners are also allowed to use the scheme. it does bother me a bit that some people that don't really need the scheme use the scheme. but to be fair, i think that the fact that the scheme was able to help people like me, and i know that a lot of people benefited from this scheme, it makes me feel happy. introduced four years ago to encourage house—building and help mostly first—time buyers get on the ladder, 250,000 people have bought property using the help to buy schemes. but research suggests that existing homeowners from wealthy households have benefited as well. using official data, research found that around 4,000 households in england earning more than £100,000 used the help to buy equity loan

scheme, and 20,000 households used it even though they weren't even first—time buyers. this scheme, in place, playing a valuable part in helping people get into the housing market for the first time, should only be there for first—time buyers, and really shouldn't be there for people who are earning over £100,000 per year. itjust doesn't make sense. the help to buy equity loan scheme offers buyers up to a fifth of the cost of a new—build home so they only need to provide a 5% deposit. the government says almost 400,000 people have been helped and £8.6 billion has been promised for it in england until 2021. the fact that the help to buy scheme has helped existing and sometimes wealthy households will worry some economists. they have long seen concerns about consumer indebtedness, rising house prices and savings at an all—time record low. if the cost of living continues to rise as it has in recent weeks and months, that will make the problem even worse.

joe lynam, bbc news. joining me now via webcam is ray boulger, mortgage expert atjohn charcol. how did this happen? a scheme that was meant for a certain group of people, with others managing to get around it? nobody is getting around it. the scheme was introduced in april 2013 and at that time, the mortgage market was still very difficult. house—building was still ata difficult. house—building was still at a low level. the scheme was designed to do two things: to encourage more house—building and to help people who could only get a small deposit, particularly first—time buyers. 81% of people who have used the scheme are first—time buyers. with a lot of the developments, 40% of sales have been with this scheme. bearing in mind that there was very little access to 95% mortgages at that time, it has

made a big difference firstly to the number of houses built and secondly to the people who can afford to buy them. so it has achieved its objective to a large extent. then what if any do you have with households with an income of £100,000 or more being able to use the scheme? surely it was not designed for them. i suspect those people with an income of over £100,000 are probably onlyjust over that limit. the scheme had a maximum purchase price of £600,000. and that was clearly to accommodate the larger prices in london. if you're buying a property at £600,000, you will need an income close to £100,000 to get a mortgage. so the government will have been aware that there were a few people in that category. but bearing in mind that it was targeted at first—time buyers, who make up 81% of the people who used the scheme, it is fairto people who used the scheme, it is fair to say that it has largely been

used by the people it was targeted at. it is also worth bearing in mind that a lot of people who bought houses in the mid—2000s and who will have in some cases seen their properties for in value, if they we re properties for in value, if they were first—time buyers then and needed to move on, they will also have had difficulty finding a deposit. so it is unfair criticism to say it should have been limited to say it should have been limited to first—time buyers. to say it should have been limited to first-time buyers. how likely is it that in the light of this research, some kind of income cap might be applied? research, some kind of income cap might be applied ?|j research, some kind of income cap might be applied? i don't think that is feasible unless the government decides to reduce the top purchase price from £600,000. what the government perhaps should do, given that developers are more profitable than they were in 2000, the profit margin most of the big developers are making on sales is about 20%. so it would be reasonable for the government to get into negotiation with the developers to see if they could make some sort of

contribution. but in terms of whether the government is subsidising these mortgages, a term i have heard used including on the bbc today, i think the government will make money out of this scheme at the end of the day because the government is lending money on an equity share basis, and as long as property prices go up, when people sell their property, the government will get back more than they have lent. so the government will make a profit. we are always hearing that we don't building of houses in this country. to what extent has this scheme meant that more houses have been built? on the basis that about 40% of sales from the new developments are using this scheme, some of which would have happened a nyway some of which would have happened anyway but i suspect half of them wouldn't, so it is fair to say that it has been successful in stimulating sales of new property. 0ne stimulating sales of new property. one thing that has changed in the last four years is that 95% loan to value mortgages have become more available. so the need for the

scheme will not be there after 2021, when it is currently designed to end. but it has been an important contribution to getting the housing market going and allowing people to buy a property when otherwise, because of a lack of mortgage availability, they could not have done so. the headlines on bbc news: the uk says it will stand up for gibraltar‘s interests after the territory accused spain of using brexit to advance its claims to the rock. a teenage asylum seeker is critically ill after being attacked at a south london bus stop in what police are treating as a hate crime. nearly half of people who used the government's help—to—buy scheme to purchase a house did not need it, according to new research. sport now, and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. to the day's football shortly, but in the last half hour, british tennis number one johanna konta has won the biggest

match of her career, beating caroline wozniacki in straight sets to win the miami 0pen — her third and biggest wta title so far. against the former world number one, wozniacki — who's currently 14th in the wta rankings — began well, breaking serve in the first game. it was a bit of a nervous first set, both players dropped serve several times. but konta came through to take it 6—4. then konta made the breakthrough she needed in the middle of the second set, breaking the dane's serve to go 11—3 up at that point. she needed to hold her servejust twice more, but in the end she didn't need to, breaking wozniacki again to win it 6—4, 6—3. eight matches in the premier league today, and a shock defeat for leaders chelsea, who lost 2—1 at home to crystal palace. it cuts their lead at the top to seven points. all the goals came in the first 15 minutes. the blues with a great start from cesc fabregas, but palace hit back straight away

through wilfried za ha and a lovely dinked finish from christian benteke. it's only the eagles' third premier league win against chelsea and lifts them four points above the relegation zone. it's a very sweet three points. and of course, for everybody, this is what the premier league is about. there can be a shock anywhere, any time, and we are the ones who have made everybody sit up this weekend and gone, wow, what a result that is. from the players' point of view, it was a well—deserved victory. tottenham made the most of chelsea's slip up with a 2—0 win at burnley. it was goalless at halftime and they had also lost victor wanyama and harry winks to injury, but a much brighter second half saw them make the breakthrough. eric dier stabbed home the opener inside the last 25 minutes and heung min son came off the bench and made sure of the points with a tap—in. that is now four league wins a row for mauricio pochettino's side but the injuries are

beginning to stack up. the day began with liverpool maintaining their impressive record in the merseyside derby, as they beat everton 3—1 at home. they haven't lost this fixture for over six years and 1999 was the last time everton won at anfield. after scoring the winner at goodison park in december, sadio mane gave liverpool the lead, although he did go off injured later. matthew pennington equalised with his first goal for everton. a superb finish from phillipe coutinho restored liverpool's advantage and then divock 0rigi sealed it with a third goal. high speed two very good performance. what they did today was outstanding. played really well. you need to be

ready for the fight and we were ready for the fight and we were ready for the fight, but then we play football. that is good. the teatime kickoff was the south coast derby — southampton against bournemouth at st mary's. it finished 0—0. harry arter had a chance to win it for bournemouth from the penalty spot in the 79th minute after ryan bertrand was adjudged to have tugged ryan fraser. but arter lost his footing and sent the penalty sky high. elsewhere today, hull city came from behind to beat west ham 2—1. leicester's good run continues — they beat stoke 2—0 with goals from wilfred ndidi and jamie vardy. man united were held to a goalless draw at home by west brom. watford beat bottom of the table sunderland1—0 — they are seven points from safety. leinster came out on top in the first of the weekend's european champions cup quarter—finals. they put four tries past the premiership leaders wasps to win 32—17 and set up a semi—final against either clermont auvergne or toulon. they'll be joined by rivals munster in the last four, they thrashed toulouse 41—16.

in super league, warrington wolves remain winless but picked up a first point of the season with a 22—22 draw against hull fc. in the day's late kickoff in perpignan, wakefield trinity ran out 38—18 winners over catalan dragons. benjones bishop scored twice in the opening 16 minutes — and added a breakaway try for his hat trick to help wakefield up to sixth. in the day's other game, widnes beat leigh 37—24. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. two million people are set for a pay rise today, as the national living wage goes up to £7.50 an hour. the change has been broadly welcomed by unions. but employers have expressed concern about the strain of additional costs, as sangita myska reports. 23—year—old lewis davidson already paid more than the national living

wage by his employer. he certainly notices the difference from his previous company. i was struggling for money, it was a big concern for me. it was very much go to work, come back, spent the night in front of the telly. now i can afford to have a social life, i can afford to do stuff in my local area. and enjoy myself a bit more. from today, all workers over 25 must be paid at least £7.50 an hour. but employers are worried. many of our members were already paying their staff more than the national living wage, but for those that were not, it is adding significant costs to their businesses. around £900 a year for staff, and a further £120 a year with the knock—on consequences for national insurance payments as well. much of that cost will be absorbed by the businesses themselves rather than passing it on in the form of higher prices. and that's not the only change. controversial new business rates come into force today. while most companies will pay less, some,

especially in the south—east, face higher bills. and a new system for calculating car taxes starts. hybrid car owners will pay more than they did. with me in the studio is craig beaumont from the federation of small businesses. we saw his colleague in that report. how much warning have small businesses had that this was heading their way? this was an initiative from george osborne to create a national living wage and then to announce that there would be staged increases, so small businesses have had time to plan. we saw an increase last year in the national minimum wage when it first came in, and is the follow—up. wage when it first came in, and is the follow-up. before we had anything like the minimum wage, a lot of companies that they would go out of business and there would an increase in unemployment, and that did not turn out to be the case. so how concerned are your members about this increase? we backed the

national minimum wage when it was brought in. we agreed with the model of having a statutory minimum at a level that society believes everyone should be paid, and then have an aspirational minimum, which is the living wage. we think that model works. while there hasn't been a massive fallout with jobs, the impact has been moderated by the fa ct impact has been moderated by the fact that the rate has been set by the low pay commission, which includes business voices to make sure that rises are affordable. but even people who will be earning £7.50 an hour will be needing in work benefits to make ends meet. so it might feel to taxpayers that they are having to subsidise businesses because they are not paying enough. why don't your members pay what the living wage foundation thinks they should? the majority of employers already pay over £7.50. it is about one third of small employers who are affected by the rise this time. if you look at that third, most of those are looking at how they can

come up with this extra money. this is not big businesses, this is nursery is and pubs, the small business on the high street. if you ask them how they are going to cope: most of them say they will have to reduce profitability. what is important is the one person in that business who is not earning £7.50, which is the business owner. then what would help more employers pay the living wage foundation's idea of a national wage, which would be something like £8.50 an hour outside london? we came up with the idea for the implement allowance which the government adopted two years ago. this takes the first £2000 or £3000 until now off the national insurance bill for a small employer. that helps, because you saw more people employed and you saw an increase in pgy- employed and you saw an increase in pay. we would like to see that increased to £11000. this year, the average small business employer will

pay £2600 to cover the national living wage, national insurance contributions and pensions auto enrolment. so if the government were to help us afford that with all these costs coming on the small business, that would be a big help. what kind of encouragement do you get from the government that that is going to happen? well, we had a difficult budget with other topics like business rates. but we now have a zero budget, so there is hope that we will have a second bite of the cherry. fingers crossed we might get some progress. a few more months to keep lobbying. thank you. let's get more now on our top story. tensions are rising over gibraltar after the european union gave spain a potential veto on any future deal for the british territory during the brexit negotiations. let's talk to our political correspondent iain watson. how can it be that gibraltar isn't covered by any deal that westminster strikes with the eu over brexit?

covered by any deal that westminster strikes with the eu over brexit7m is complicated. i think it will be covered by the deal that brings britain out of the european union, the final divorce settlement, if you like. but what the eu made clear yesterday, the european council, the representatives of the 27 remaining member states made it clear that any final deal on trade would be after britain left. and then by inserting the fact that that deal as it applies to gibraltar has complicated matters. some are saying the government has taken it is eye off the ball and it should have been aware that this is something spain may have attempted to do, and it should have made specific mention of gibraltar‘s status in the letter that triggered article 50 oppressors of leaving the european union. what difference will the will of the people of gibraltar make in brussels? it is interesting that so many of them voted to stay inside the european union, about 96% of

those who voted. i understand that there will be an attempt in the european parliament on wednesday to raise the rights of the gibraltarians. they are going to try to insert a mention of gibraltar into a document that will be discussed in the european parliament on wednesday. it mentions that scotland, northern ireland and london all voted to stay inside the european union. british meps are going to try to get gibraltar mentioned in the same context. so if there are thoughts of special deals further down the line helping those who want to remain eu citizens, then the people of gibraltar would be included in that. but there is no guarantee that that will succeed. in the end, their fate guarantee that that will succeed. in the end, theirfate may guarantee that that will succeed. in the end, their fate may be tied guarantee that that will succeed. in the end, theirfate may be tied up with the rest of the uk and how successful the government are in arguing for their continuing rights. what encouragement or offers of protection has the government here been offering gibraltar? the government has said the reason gibraltar was not included in that article 50 was because they never

thought the sovereignty of gibraltar was going to be an issue in negotiations. it is not something they intend to negotiate. they mentioned other areas that they thought would be contentjust like the border with ireland. but the fa ct the border with ireland. but the fact that gibraltar was missing, if you like, was a statement of their intent in favour of gibraltar getting the same deal as the rest of the uk because they were saying that the uk because they were saying that the sovereignty of gibraltar is not something they are going to discuss. to coina something they are going to discuss. to coin a phrase, their support for gibraltar is rock—solid. now, you may remember the story of the brightly coloured car that's causing consternation in certain quarters for spoiling the view in the picturesque cotswold village of bidbury. its owner peter maddox was criticised for parking outside his own cottage. today, a hundred strong convoy of fellow yellow car owners from around britain have driven through the village in a very bright show of support. here's alice bouverie. it was a day to celebrate all things yellow.

an act of solidarity. 0ver100 yellow cars driving through the cotswolds, coming from as far afield as north yorkshire tojoin in the rally. they came in support of local pensioner peter maddox, who until earlier this year had parked his beloved yellow car outside his home. until, that is, someone vandalised it. it was apparently spoiling the view of the picture postcard village. it was a sad moment for him. he got up early in the morning and found the car with broken windows and scratches. peter is not a man to make a fuss, so he sold his car and replaced it with a grey one, one that blends in with the background of this famous view. but other indignant yellow car drivers took up the fight on his behalf. quite simply, when i saw that his car had been vandalised,