this is bbc news, and these are the top stories developing at 11am. police say they've foiled a terrorist plot as six people are arrested after a raid in north—west london in which a woman was shot by officers. the armed entry was necessary due to the nature of our intelligence and it involved officers firing cs gas into the address. the economy slowed sharply in the first three months of the year — official figures show gdp grew by 0.3%. a huge waste of money — a special fund set up to improve access to cancer drugs in england is condemned by researchers. also, ukip's leader is launching his campaign for the general election. paul nuttall will be speaking in the next few minutes — we'll bring you his speech live. and car firm vauxhall is accused by mps of showing a reckless disregard for safety over the way it handled a series of fires on its zafira b model.

good morning. it's friday 28th april. i'm annita mcveigh. police say they've arrested six people following a counter—terrorism operation in north—west london, in which a woman was shot by armed officers. the female suspect, who's in her 20s, is under police guard in hospital. officers believe they've thwarted an active terrorist plot. the raid is not connected with yesterday's arrest near downing street of a man carrying knives. our correspondent andy moore is in willesden at the scene for us now. what's the latest you have on this

investigation? we now have a total of six people arrested in connection with this investigation. there was a raid on the street at about 7pm yesterday and we can bring you some video filmed by a neighbour. you can see police officers with long barrelled guns, we understand cs gas was fired into the property, you can see today one of the windows is broken, so you can see those armed police officers. we can see what appears to be a woman who is brought out of the property and is arrested by police. we now know a total of six people were arrested, a 16—year—old boy, a man and a woman both aged 20 and a 43—year—old was arrested in kent. we had an update

this morning that a man and a woman, 28 years old, were also arrested at this address. so police believe they have foiled a terror plot. let's go to central london were paul nuttall is launching his youtube campaign. youtube goes into the snap election determined to hold the government speak to the over brexit. we will act as the governments backbone in these negotiations, indeed, if voters elect a ukip mp, they can be

sure it will be a true brexiteer, someone sure it will be a true brexiteer, someone who has campaigned all their elliptical lights for a free democratic and independent britain. we are not the fly by night brexiteers. indeed, if it wasn't for ukip, there would have been no referendum in the first place and if it wasn't for the hard work of ukip activists, we would not have secured brexit. naturally, the question i get asked most byjournalists is what is the point of ukip after brexit? i believe we have to see this through to the end. we're only halfway through the war. it is a job halfway through the war. it is a job half done. we must continue the fight, so ukip will feel candidates all over the country at this election. we will also be prepared

to put country above party. to that end i have asked branches to step aside in this election in seats where there is a chance, where aid to brexiteer, regardless of political affiliation, could be replaced by a remain mp. this i believe is a principled stand that will ensure we get that kind of brexit that people voted for last year. and what is this kind of brexit? a brexit whereby we control oui’ brexit? a brexit whereby we control our own borders, which allows us to sign our own trade deals all over the globe. a brexit where we do not pay a divorce bill to the eu and a brexit where we ensure that real democracy is ensured to the youth came. “— democracy is ensured to the youth came. —— to the uk. finally it is a

brexit whereby our fishing communities are protected. ukip will go into this election with a bold and radical manifesto which is fully costed. we will tell you not only where the money will be spent but also work it will come from. for a example we will have a clear commitment to slash a foreign aid budget that is costing the british taxpayer in the region of £30 million every day. and we will redirect the money saved and plug it into an nhs. indeed, we will reaffirm our commitment that under ukip the nhs will remain in public hands and free at the point of delivery. we will also ensure that the national health service is not an international health service. we will also be committed to rebuilding

our beleaguered armed forces and putting more bobbies on the beat. we will go into this election with eight, meant to tackle the repulsive practice of female genital mutilation. it is at national scandal that there has not been one successful prosecution even though this barbaric cultural practice has been illegal for 30 years. this barbaric cultural practice has been illegalfor 30 years. we this barbaric cultural practice has been illegal for 30 years. we will also be asking that people show theirface in a public place. we will be the only party in this election with a clear commitment to cutting immigration, yes, leaving the eu technically allows us to control our own borders but polls clearly show that people want to see the numbers cut. let me put this simply. too many people are coming to our country every year. last year

alone a city the size of newcastle came to this country net. the gross figure is roughly the cities of liverpool and aberdeen put together. we believe this has not only lead to a stagnation of wages, especially in working—class communities, but is bad for community cohesion. recent reports have shown that we are becoming a more divided society and that integration is failing. we will also campaigned to do away with the antiquated first past the post system which gives the two establishment parties and unfair advantage. this is system, i argue, does not belong in a 2ist—century functioning democracy. therefore we will call for the replacement of the first past the post system with a

system which is fair and proportional and one that ensures that every vote matters. we will also be radical on constitutional reform. the time has now surely come to do away with the antiquated house of lords and replace it with some form of elected chamber. there also has to be both financial and democratic fairness for england and this will mean an english parliament. we will be radical because ukip is at its best when it is radical. we will be bold and lead the debate, continue to set the agenda just as we have in recent yea rs, agenda just as we have in recent years, so anyone hoping that ukip will fade away from the political scene will be bitterly disappointed over the next few weeks, and indeed i project, compounded over the next

few years. i project, compounded over the next few yea rs. we i project, compounded over the next few years. we have a great opportunity in this election because it is an election on ukip‘s curve, a brexit election and we will have our candidates out there knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and ensuring that ukip get members elected to the house of commons at this election. thank you. now the cuban this election. thank you. now the cu ban day. darren. this election. thank you. now the cuban day. darren. you said that you are going to run this election. can you please tell us where? second, nigel farage resigned as leader after the last general election. you failed to win whatever seat you ran

m, failed to win whatever seat you ran in, might you consider your position as leader after this election?” will announce where i will stand tomorrow. as for me resigning, ukip has a great future ahead of it. in terms of membership the party is pretty much work it was at the referendum. we will be financially secure. i think we are in with a chance of winning a number of seats at the selection we will target sensibly in terms of financial resources and manpower, and if we weren't successful, and i don't believe for a second we will fail, i think we will have seats in the house of commons after the selection. will i resign? i don't think so because i think ukip as a fantastic future ahead. you've had

one. michael, congratulation speakers in many ways this your election. if it wasn't for the work you have done and your investigative pro—west, maybe this election would not have been called, so we should call this the crack election. i'm not sure about this. only a couple of months ago you told us your heart was in stoke—on—trent, you would buy a house in stoke—on—trent. shouldn't you stand in stoke central again? many people will be disappointed if you don't. i will announce tomorrow where i will stand at the selection. what i will state about stoke central is that we cut labour's majority in half, only eight 2500

majority in half, only eight 2500 majority there. we have a fantastic branch and they will be out campaigning and there will be a candidate but i am not prepared to say if it will be me. do you know who the candidate for boston is? why boston? next question. one of your candidates described islam on twitter as evil but not just candidates described islam on twitter as evil but notjust her, a blog called islam eight death cult committed to violence and bloodshed, it said muslims wanted to establish sharia courts. are you tube believe in this board are you content to see

your party pushed into a position of anti—islam? your party pushed into a position of anti-islam? with anne-marie waters, the national executive committee is meeting this afternoon so we will ratify candidates at that point and i will look at evidence into the things that have been said but what i want to say about this integration agenda which has been perceived as anti—muslim, it is not, it is all about equality and breaking down barriers, integrating people in society because a number of reports, trevor phillips, dame casey, have shown that communities are becoming more divided than i would argue, and i know the headline from our press conference last week was a ban on face coverings, i would argue that they prevent people from integrating fully in society so i see it as a

positive move. you talk about the success positive move. you talk about the success ukip has had, nigel farage, how much of our role will he have and what advice has he given new?” speak to nigel all the time. he will play a front of house rule, you will see him on tv and hear his dulcet tones on the radio. he will be at the forefront of the campaign. are you worried about being upstaged by him? no. you give polling has suggested that 40% of ukip voters, less than half may stick with you. someone said that ukip had more ex—members than members. does that suggest ukip is in terminal decline?

our membership in the uk has not fallen since the referendum. nathan is talking about wales and we know there is a unique situation in wales. there is a six—week campaign ahead, so let's see what happens in that time. one thing i am confident about is that our poll ratings will go up. i always suspected we would ta ke go up. i always suspected we would take a week in that —— a hit in the first week with the publicity the prime minister has been getting, and voucher is important but it isn't that important and we learned that from 2015 whereby we got 13%, 4 million votes and came back with one seat. we have to target more sensibly this time. the one thing are unfair voting system ensures is that there are no prizes for second

place in first past the post elections. yes. you said the job on brexit was half done. when it is fully done, what will you do? ukip will have other issues to campaign on. we will have a domestic agenda. the manifesto will be radical on domestic issues and i think ukip broke coat of that single issue mentality a number of years ago and the 2015 manifesto was an excellent piece of work. suzanne evans is writing the manifesto again and is working as we speak. this manifesto again will have radical domestic policies but as in 2015 everything will be costed properly.” policies but as in 2015 everything will be costed properly. i wonder

what voters will make the energy behind this campaign. you were only standing around 100 seats and do people think this is a gung ho campaign or is that how it might appear? first i will deal with steady ukip would stand in 100 seats. heaven knows where that report came from. that is utter baloney. we will not stand in 100 seats. we will cover the majority of the country. i said we would stand down in certain seats for true brexiteers of all affiliations but we're talking tens, not 100s, so we will be standing in the majority of this country. was i reluctant? i had a lot to wake up, because unlike

jeremy corbyn and theresa may and tim farron, i'm not in parliament and i'm not sitting on a safe seat. they will probably visit their constituencies maybe once or twice during the campaign. if you were the ukip leader and are going at it, you have to be based there, we saw that happen with nigel farage in 2015, so i have to have conversations with the party as to how they wanted to the party as to how they wanted to the campaign, did they want me as a roaming figurehead speaking to branches or did they want me to stand in the selection? made easy vision is for the good of the party. first, then over to you. people have accused ukip of being a racist party and you of being a bigot. are they

right? no, it is disappointing that certain people in politics don't wa nt to certain people in politics don't want to debate but to shout people don't in an almost aggressive fashion and we are above that. you would never have ukip members or ukip candidates acting in such an undemocratic and abhorrent fashion. how much cash did ukip have on leaving the election? is the party broke? will the seeds you stood in 2015 be the same number this time? ukip isn't broke, farfrom it. the finance will not be a problem going into this election and as for standing in 600 seats, we will stand in the majority of the country.

there will be a lot more than 325. last question and then... what you make of this idea that if northern ireland, that ireland should be allowed... paul nuttall launching ukip's campaignfor allowed... paul nuttall launching ukip's campaign for the june allowed... paul nuttall launching ukip's campaign for thejune general election. he said the most common question here is asked by journalists is what is the point of ukip post the brexit referendum and his answer was that brexit is a job half done. he said ukip would act as the government's back down in negotiations and he said ukip would put country before party by not fielding candidates in marginal constituencies where what he called through dregs of tears should be up against it with remainer mps —— true

brexiteers. he said in those constituencies ukip would not field candidates, so talking about tactical voting and we will speak to paul nuttall at around 11:a5am. i will put some of your questions to him and you can still get in touch via twitter. official figures show the uk economy grew by 0.3% at the start of the year, the slowest growth rate since the first three months of 2016. the office for national statistics said rising prices and a fall in spending were partly to blame. with me is our business correspondent rachel horne. in the last are the chancellor gave his reaction. britain's economy is

forecast to grow at 2% this year. the economy is resilient and the choice facing the people injune is between five more years of strong, sta ble between five more years of strong, stable government under theresa may that will lock that progress in and get the best possible brexit deal for britain or a coalition of chaos underjeremy corbyn that will crush our economy again. with me is our business correspondent rachel horne. the economy is still growing but that growth is slowing down. this is about gross domestic product, how we measure how well the economy is growing or slowing, it's made up of services, agricultural, construction, and services are really the driver behind the economy, covering financial

services, retailspending, so economy, covering financial services, retail spending, so let's look at those figures. we should be able to see the services sector is up able to see the services sector is up by able to see the services sector is up by 0.3%, but if you compare that to the last three months of last year, it's fallen by 0.5%, a drag on businesses, hotels and services and distribution, but manufacturing which is part of the production sector, is up io.5%, a boost in automotive manufacturing, cars and vehicle output. white is services don't? look at your bank balance. we have been talking about inflation being up, wage growth is slowing, at 2.296, being up, wage growth is slowing, at 2.2%, so prices are rising faster than the money we are making. we have less money, we are spending

less and that is slowing growth. people are tightening those financial belts. is this a sign of a slowdown in the economy? the right couple of different attitudes. some say it's a blip because we had some surprising growth last year, those last three months of 0.7%, but it has dipped to 0.3 so some are saying thatis has dipped to 0.3 so some are saying that is a blip compared to the last three months. others say this is a disaster, they are blaming it on brexit which will devalue the pound, that has driven inflation which has been fighting the money we have in our pockets. there is another view that this is the beginning of a rebalance. we always hearfrom economists that the uk economy is too reliant on consumer spending which is often fuelled by debt and they say we need to rebalance our

economy and have a drive in production and manufacturing and we are seeing that beginning to happen in these figures. if you look at that figure you mentioned at the top, the slowest growth since the beginning of 2016. it depends which way you're coming at it. and we heard the reaction from the chancellor, and we will bring you the reaction from politicians of other parties. a special fund set up to improve patient access to cancer drugs in england has been condemned as a huge waste of money. the cancer drugs fund, which ran from 2010 until it was replaced last year, cost over a billion pounds. our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. the cancer drugs fund was set up to pay for expensive medicines that the nhs was not funding. in part, it was a political response to repeated negative headlines about patients being denied treatment. nearly 100,000 patients received drugs, but the study in the journal annals

of oncology found just one in five treatments delivered a significant benefit, extending life by an average of three months. researchers say it was an example of policy made on the hoof, and it failed. it was a major missed opportunity for the national health service and the cancer community to learn in the real world about the actual impact of new medicines. a great deal of money, over £1 billion, was expended on this. and we didn't collect the data to look at individual cancer patients. that's a missed opportunity. the study concludes many patients may have suffered unnecessary side—effects from drugs. but a leading breast cancer charity said the fund has had a totally transformational impact for many, offering precious extra time with loved ones for terminally ill patients. the fund was brought under the remit of the national institute for health and care excellence last year, so there is greater scrutiny over which treatments are approved.

let's get the weather with darren bett. still some uncertainty about the forecast over the holiday weekend. today we have some sunshine, more cloud across eastern areas, clothes retreat in back to the west country, wales, north—east england and western scotland, some sunshine for many parts of the country and with lighter winds it will feel warmer. on saturday, a lot of dry weather, some sunshine, a small chance of a shower, winds getting more southerly and drawing up warmer air so temperatures will be higher. windy on sunday, the main uncertainty this

rain coming into the south west, how far north doesn't get? further north across the uk, probably drive. that brent looks like it will peter out, leaving behind some sunshine on monday, also some showers and also in the sunshine it will feel quite warm. godden, this is bbc news, and these are the top the top stories developing at 11am. police say they've foiled a terrorist plot as six people are arrested after a raid in north—west london in which a woman was shot by officers. this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines. six people have been arrested after a counter—terrorism operation in north—west london last night in which a woman was shot by armed officers. economic growth suffered a worse—than—expected slowdown in the first three months of the year official figures show. a scheme to improve access to the latest cancer drugs in england didn't help many patients and was a huge waste of money according to researchers. ukip leader paul nuttall has confirmed that he will stand in the general election in his speech launching the party's campaign.

time now for the sport. talking about boxing and also some football? yes, good morning. we are going to come to anthonyjoshua in a moment but we start with football. a match with so much hype. the manchester derby. pep guardiola vsjose mourinho. the hunt for champions league football and ultimately a totally underwhelming match. i don't think that at the top three is decided. but that's what we have an opportunity to being there to win our games, so we do not have to speculate at all on who is in and not in. i believe a lot can happen until the end of the season. jose

mourinho was unimpressed with sergio aguero's part in the incident which saw maulana fellini sent off for head—butting during last night manchester derby. he was shown a straight red card six minutes from the end just seconds after he been blocked from foul on sergio aguero. said he had to settle for a point and stayed fourth in the premier league but the sending—off ended up being the talking point. he says that with another player it's not a red card. he says that sergio aguero was intelligent the way he reacted. but he has to control. i know how difficult it is. how aggressive they are. of course, we missed the last

shoot, the last pass. it's not easy to defend. you have to be always in a good position to counterattack. there's been a new deliverable to extend his stay at the club until 2021. the croatian international‘s contract was due to expire next summer contract was due to expire next summer after he joined from southampton in a £20 million deal in 2014. he says he is the happiest guy in the world to know he will be staying with his side. anthony joshua says he won't be affected by vladimir klitschko's mind games ahead of their title fight at wembley stadium. they held a press conference yesterday and for a pre—fight pair up it was remarkably civilised. pretty cordial. he could add the wba heavyweight champion with victory tomorrow. it doesn't matter about who i'm fighting. i just enjoy what i'd do and embrace every opportunity and they think failure is without trying. that's

what i'd always do, step up to any occasion, without a shadow of a doubt. there is no fear whatsoever throughout my body. it's amazing to have this promotion where we are actually polishing the sport of boxing. without any effort words promoting the fight, punching, each other in the face, or throwing chairs or glass bottles, so i'm very happy about that. mark selby has says an early comeback in its world snooker championship semifinal with dingjunhui. snooker championship semifinal with ding junhui. he's taken the first two frames to level the match at 5-5. two frames to level the match at 5—5. these of the live pictures from bbc two will world number three is hoping to avenge defeat from last yea r‘s hoping to avenge defeat from last year's final and coverage continues on bbc two and the match is currently level and is also available on the bbc sport website. we'll wait for this shot. 0k,

ok, there you have it. we will be back with more in the next hour. thank you very much. the metropolitan police say six people have now been arrested after a counter—terrorism operation in north—west london during which a woman was shot by armed officers. these pictures obtained by the sun newspapers the operation which was carried out in willesden last night. there's a number of armed officers have long barrelled guns facing towards a terrorists house. a woman is brought out of the property. and arrested. and arrested. giving an update at the metrpolitan police headquarters at scotland yard, deputy assistant commissioner neil basu gave more detail on yesterday's terror related arrests. in whitehall, a 27—year—old man

was arrested by armed officers from the met‘s specialist firearms command, who stopped and searched him as part of an ongoing counter terrorism investigation. he remains in our custody having been arrested for terrorism act offences and possession of offensive weapons and there are two ongoing searches at addresses in london as part of that investigation. in our second and unrelated investigation, last night atjust before 19:00hrs, our highly trained firearms officers carried out a specialist entry into an address in harlesden road that we had under observation as part of a current counter terrorism investigation. an armed entry was necessary due to the nature of the intelligence that we were dealing with, and involved armed officers firing cs into the address. during the course of that operation one of the subjects of that operation — a woman — was shot by police — she remains in hospital. her condition is serious but stable.

because of her condition she has not yet been arrested. we are monitoring her condition closely. giving an update at the metrpolitan police headquarters at scotland yard, deputy assistant commissioner neil basu gave more detail on yesterday's terror related arrests. given the horrors in london of a few short weeks ago, and our thoughts are still with the victims and survivors of that dreadful day, i wanted to reassure the public that our increased activity to combat terrorism over the last two years continues both by police and security services. activity continues around the clock to identify and stop these threats and we are making arrests on a near daily basis. i want to pay tribute to the bravery of my uniform and detective colleagues who are doing that work to keep us safe. across the uk campaigning is in full swing, but before the general election voters in scotland will go to the polls to elect councillors in all 32 local authorities.

for many, next thursday's council elections have become about much more than choosing who looks after schools and makes sure the bins are collected. steven godden is in glasgow for us this morning, the scene of one of the most intriguing contests. as well as the local elections, of course, people will be asking whether these are a crystal ball for what might happen onjune eight. absolutely, lots for people to think about. one election campaign bleeding into another one but first of all the voters have to consider this local election next thursday and one of the big questions here in glasgow is what happens to the labour party? for decades, they controlled the counselling glasgow and its been considered one of their heartlands, but at the last westminster election, labour lost all their seats to the snp and many people are predicting that this could be a similarly bruising contest for them. i have been out

and about one area in glasgow to speak to people and candidates to see how this election is shaping up. on glasgow's southern fringe sits the ward of newlands auldburn. traditionally voters here have helped labour keep control of the city council. but against a busy political backdrop, could that be about to change? on the face of it, this election is about choosing who is responsible for looking after parks, who is responsible for schools and collecting the bins, but it's become wrapped up in wider national questions like the general election and the prospect of a second independence referendum. in recent years, labour have suffered heavy losses at uk and scottish elections. once known as "red clydeside", glasgow city council now represents a last bastion of power for the party. the fixation that the conservatives and the snp both have with independence referendum issues is something which can confuse people about which elections they are actually fighting on. we are fighting this election, the council election. we're saying send a clear message to the snp and the conservatives

that we've got the best plan for the city. canvassing nearby, their biggest rivals. for the snp candidate it's a far cry from when she joined the party and the labour vote had to be weighed rather than counted. we are on the verge of another great happening. this taking of glasgow, the citadel, gives us wonderful credibility and credibility is what we need. we have a lot of it already, but this is the big one. don't forget to vote. there's one for your daughter. but snp ambition could be thwarted by what previously might have seemed unthinkable. emboldened conservatives finding favour with glasgow voters. for the very first time, you know, across glasgow, lots of doors actively consider us. they want to hear from us. they want to hear what we have to say so there's lots of people who are turning to us, notjust in a constitutional question but actually because they want a strong local

councillor, someone who will focus on the ward, on the area. for this couple, simply filling out their postal vote was a tug—of—war between local and national concerns. because there is a general election in a few weeks' time, and everything that's happening in the country, it has got me thinking about when i make my local vote this time. i thought, when the brexit thing is out the way we can calm down and get back to normality, wrong, completely wrong. the sixth election in three years for scots voters will soon be settled. time then for some brief respite before number seven rolls around. stephen godden, bbc news, glasgow. with media again as professorjohn curtis. what's likely to happen in glasgow? it looks as though it's going to be extremely difficult for the labour party to hang onto

control of the city. if we look at the record of the government by—elections taken place in the last four or five years, labour have often lost ground very, very heavily. of course, we have to remember that when the elections last fought in 2012, labour did surprisingly well, notjust in glasgow that in scotland and it was the snp's biggest disappointment five years ago they didn't get control of the city from labour then. since then, we have seen the snp do very well in the 2015 general election and in the 2016 general election. this city voted in favour of independence and against that backdrop it's very difficult to believe the labour party are going to do well enough to retain control of the city. we had the conservative candidate in that bt saying they we re candidate in that bt saying they were going to places they hadn't be able to go to for a long time. what do you think their influence will be? the conservatives in scotland seem be? the conservatives in scotland seem finally, after 20 years, to be having a revival. theyjust managed

to beat labour in the scottish parliament election in may last year. since then, the opinion polls have been suggesting the conservative vote has been going up and labour‘s vote has been falling yet further. yes, therefore the conservatives do think they can now begin to begin to get representation backin begin to begin to get representation back in the city from which they've been almost entirely bereft and therefore that's one of the reasons why, at the end of the day, although the snp are the favourites to be the largest party in the city, whether they themselves will have an overall majority is perhaps much more doubtful, but certainly, yes, here is somewhere perhaps conservatives who have been notable by their absence may gain one small and be a player in the city. what about the wider picture across scotland and the other parties? we do need to remember in 2012, when these elections were last held, although the snp did become the largest party for the first time ever it was a

relatively disappointing performance and nothing like on the scale we've seen and nothing like on the scale we've seenin and nothing like on the scale we've seen in other elections. the snp literally just beat labour seen in other elections. the snp literallyjust beat labour by one percentage point. very, very different from the tsunami in the general election two years ago. even if the snp are simply playing catch up, there are getting more of their people who usually vote for them to vote for them in the way they didn't seem vote for them in the way they didn't seem to do in 2012, the snp should make again. the real question is just how big those games will be. because recent local government by—elections and opinion polls suggest perhaps the snp advance was beginning to recede to some degree. the conservatives certainly more broadly expected to make gains and we should also keep an eye on the greens who are fighting many more seats than the last time and the lib probably, even though they did very badly five years ago, probably doing not much more than treading water which is what things are pointing

to. 0k, which is what things are pointing to. ok, thank you very much. we will hear more throughout the day. ok, stephen, thank you very much for that. and here is a full list of all the candidates for the local election in the ward of newlands auldburn in the south of glasgow. the car maker vauxhall showed a reckless disregard for safety over the way it handled a series of fires on its zafira b model, according to mps. a report by the transport select committee has found the company was too slow to act, especially when it allowed people to drive in cars which were still a hazard. our transport correspondent, richard westcott, reports. you can see why many drivers described it as terrifying. theirfamily car bursting into flames out of the blue, sometimes with the children inside. fire taking hold in a matter of minutes.

even vauxhall says it's lucky nobody was seriously hurt. today's report is scathing about the way the company handled the issue. it took them a long time to act. when they did act and said they'd put things right, cars were still bursting into flames. even at that point, they didn't recall the cars fully. this is totally unacceptable and is putting people's lives at risk. well over 200 zafira bs caught fire because of a problem in the heating system. the true scale only really came to light after a facebook group and the london fire brigade began noticing a pattern. worst of all, this report says, vauxhall let people drive around in cars that were supposed to be fixed but could in fact still catch fire. the company says safety is its top priority, and it's changed the way it deals with recalls, to speed things up. now mps are calling for new laws to prosecute carmakers who fail to sort out

a safety issue quickly. richard wescott, bbc news. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour. but first, the headlines on bbc newsroom live. police say they've foiled a terrorist plot as six people are arrested after a raid in north—west london in which a woman was shot by officers. economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year. official figures show a rate of 0.3%. a huge waste of money. a special fund set up to improve access to cancer drugs in england is condemned by researchers. i'm rachel horne. in the business news: the uk economy grew byjust 0.3% at the start of the year, the slowest growth rate since the first three months of 2016, according to officialfigures. more on this in a moment. troubled royal bank of scotland has reported its first quarterly profit

since the third quarter of 2015. shares in the bank opened up almost 4% after it posted profits of £259 million in the first three months of 2017, compared with a £968 million loss a year earlier. profits surged at four us tech giants in the first three months of the year. google parent alphabet increased 28% year—on—year to to £4.2 billion boosted by advertising on mobile phones and the popular youtube video service. amazon profits climbed more than 40% £560.8 million. it was its eighth quarter in a row of profit. while microsoft also had a strong quarter, with profits up nearly 28%. the uk economy grew byjust 0.3% at the start of the year, the slowest growth rate since the first three months of 2016. the office for national statistics said that the slower pace in the january—to—march period

was due mainly to the service sector, which also grew by 0.3% against 0.8% at the end of 2016. for more on this we can speak to victoria clarke, economist at investec. thanks very much forjoining us this morning. let's talk about these figures because a lot of people had been expecting 0.4%. 0.3% is lower than we were thinking and what does it tell you about the general health of the economy? it is the slowdown we've been expecting but as you say it's a bit more of a marked slowdown. when you look at the detail of the figures, it is telling the story that many economists had been talking about, so that is one where inflation has been going up, wages have not been keeping pace with the growth rate and households

are feeling more squeezed and in terms of these gdp figures, we are seeing, particularly the retail sector, restaurants, those sorts of sectors which are very discretionary in terms of how people spend their money, they have been weaker through the first three months of the year. we are seeing slower growth in services which are usually focused on as services which are usually focused onasa services which are usually focused on as a driver for the uk economy but what about manufacturing because thatis but what about manufacturing because that is stronger than it was? that's an interesting angle, so there's a lot of focus on the fact in the consumer sector, lot of focus on the fact in the consumer sector, it weakening. lot of focus on the fact in the consumersector, it weakening. one element of the effect plunge in the pound which we saw after the brexit vote if it has been helping export sectors, manufacturing sectors of the economy. that sector grew in the last three months of the year but it was a slowdown on the pace we saw the last three months of 2016, so we are starting to look at these numbers and say ok it is still expanding and the weaker pound of

helping, but is that fizzling out? ata time helping, but is that fizzling out? at a time when we're also seeing consumers finding things tougher and obviously looking ahead to the rest of the year, both of those factors make us feel more nervous. some people are saying this is the beginning of the slowdown. others are saying if we look at it from a different angle, perhaps it's the beginning of a rebalancing. the economy is far too reliant on consumer spending which more often than not is fuelled by debt and actually we need to focus more on production and manufacturing. i'd like to see all sectors of the economy firing on all cylinders, and the services sector is the lion's share of the uk economy, in the 80% of gdp so we certainly want to avoid a slowdown in spending at least for too long. but to the extent that the wea ker too long. but to the extent that the weaker pound can help the manufacturing sector and help build the menton at a time when there are other brexit headwinds, when they don't know what trade arrangements they will have, that is good news

and certainly we are hoping that those benefits from that weaker pound can persist and help push that along a bit more. ok, thank you very much for your time this morning. in other business news. uk house prices fell for the second month in a row during april. figures from nationwide said prices dropped 0.4%, and the annual rate of price growth slowed to 2.6%, the weakest pace for almost four years. the building society said the slowdown may indicate that households were reacting to the "emerging squeeze on real incomes". mps have accused the car manufacturer vauxhall of showing "a reckless disregard for safety" in allowing customers to keep driving zafira cars after a fire risk was identified. the fires started behind the glove box in the heating and ventilation system, and were a problem in zafira b cars, which are still subject to a recall. the company said there were lessons to be learned. six executives sacked by japan's olympus have been ordered to pay more than half a billion dollars in damages after a massive accounting fraud. the camera and medical equipment firm brought the case against ex—chairman

tsuyoshi kikukawa and 15 others. the scandal was one of the biggest financialfrauds injapanese history but kikukawa and two other executives who pleaded guilty never went to jail. instead, they were given suspended sentences of up to three years. let's have a look at the latest figures. barclays let's have a look at the latest figures. ba rclays bank let's have a look at the latest figures. barclays bank saw their profits doubled in the first three months of the above their share prices down more than 5% and the pound against the dollar, $129. that it from me. thank you very much. the general election will be a tipping point for education, according to headteachers who claim the stability of the whole system is at risk. a survey by the national assocation of headteachers found that nearly three—quarters of heads say their budget will be untenable within two years. our education correspondent marc ashdown reports. and when you square something

what do you do in your maths when you square something? pupils at the corbett school in shropshire are on top of the figures. today, head teachers are warning that they are struggling. many have already had to make savings to balance the books and schools funding will be a key issue during election campaigning. we are going to have to look very carefully at our staffing levels. if you start doing that in a small school like the corbett you are in danger of restricting your curriculum, you are in danger of having to increase school class sizes, all of that affects standards, all of that affects the quality of education. money is tight at schools across england. ahead of its national conference, the national association of head teachers surveyed its members. 72% said their budgets will be untenable by 2020 and 18% said they are already in deficit. it comes as the institute for fiscal studies says to keep up with inflation and freeze funding in real terms

the next government will need to find an extra £2 billion over the next parliament. anything less would effectively amount to a cut. all the main parties have said funding schools is a priority. we will have to wait for the manifestos to see how they will make the figures add up. marc ashdown, bbc news. time now for a look at the weather. an important weekend of course, bank holiday weekend and it looks like it'll be warming up which is good news but there's a of some rain. a few showers around today but here in suffolk we have seen some blue skies. more cloud coming in and cloudy skies across this part of northern ireland. a picture sent in by tom. here is the cloud in northern ireland. sunshine to begin with. cloud has bubbled up, thicker cloud out towards the west where we

will find most of the showers continuing into the afternoon. most places will have a dry day with some sunshine and with lighter winds today, it will feel warmer than it did yesterday. good weather for cycling with the wind dropping. the first stage of the toured a yorkshire about to start. bridlington to scarborough will be dry. not that warm. where the sun is out today, it should stay on the fine side across the far south—west and the showers leaving the south—east of england heading into the west country and continuing across the west midlands, east wales and up towards north west england but sunny spells for eastern england where the showers will move away offshore. a bit of sunshine developing for northern ireland. sunshine in scotland and one or two showers, but not many showers in the afternoon and evening. we will find thicker cloud in western areas getting pushed towards the east overnight allowing the cloud to break out towards the west and it will turn chilly in the countryside, 2-3. will turn chilly in the countryside,

2—3. into the bank holiday weekend, the wind is picking up. that much is certain and the temperatures will be higher. the main uncertainty comes from the rain. how quickly will it move into the uk as well? saturday looks pretty straightforward. showers left over but most places will have a lovely day, fine, the wind turning more into a southerly direction, so it will be warmer and temperatures rising and in the sunshine it should feel quite pleasa nt sunshine it should feel quite pleasant and then, as we head from saturday into sunday, the wind sta rts saturday into sunday, the wind starts to pick up. we have an area of low pressure developing across this weather front and this is causing uncertainty. it looks like it should spill some rain into the south—west of england on sunday. could be a little bit heavy. that will push his way up towards wales, not far from northern will push his way up towards wales, not farfrom northern ireland and, by the end of the day, not far from south—east england. further north, staying dry with some sunshine and they'll force wind. this is what is left of the main by the time we get to monday. leaving behind that, some

showers and sunshine and again, warm in the this is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at midday. police say they've foiled a terrorist plot as six people are arrested after a raid in north—west london in which a woman was shot by officers. the armed entry was necessary due to the nature of our intelligence and involved officers firing cs gas into the address. economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year — as shoppers tighten their belts. ukip leader paul nuttall launches his campaign, saying his party will hold the government's fee to the fire over brexit. people can ensure ourmp can be fire over brexit. people can ensure our mp can be a true brexiteer who has campaigned for a free and

independent britain. also a huge waste of money — the cancer drugs fund is condemned by researchers who found most of the treatments had no benefit. and car firm vauxhall is accused by mps of showing a reckless disregard for safety over the way it handled a series of fires on its one of zafira models. good afternoon. its friday the 28th of april. welcome to bbc newsroom live. police in london believe they have thwarted an act of terrorist plot after a raid in north—west london. a woman was shot and eight have been arrested. the raid is not connected

with yesterday's arrest near downing street of a man carrying knifes. our correspondent andy moore is at the scene in willesden. the police are saying they are carrying out operations, making arrests and daily that may by” and police by- and police say they caught by those and police say they make an arm -jury

caught by those and police say they make an arm - jury because had to make an arm and jury because with intelligence, they say a total of six people work arrested overnight. a 16—year—old boy, a man and a woman both aged 20 me at this property and a 43—year—old woman in kent. this morning we had an app and that a man and woman aged 28 were also arrested here when they return. let's get an update on the events of yesterday from richard galpin. early yesterday evening in north west london. and armed police begin their raid on a house here. shots are fired, sparking alarm in the neighbourhood. asi as i made my way to the living room i heard bang, bang, so why won't to the front room and i saw officers aiming andi the front room and i saw officers aiming and i ran to my partner in the kitchen and said there are armed

officers and heard another bank. the sun newspaper obtained this amateur video showing officers pointing their weapons at the house. by the end of the operation five people had been arrested here and a woman had been shot by the police and seriously injured. this morning a top counterterrorism officer gave further details about the raid. last night at approximately 7pm highly trained firearms officers carried out a specialist entry into an address in harleston road. we had that under observation as part of a counterterrorism investigation. the armed entry was necessary due to the nature of our intelligence and involved officers firing cs gas into the address. during the operation one of the subjects, a woman, was shot by police. she remains in hospital.

i can say that her condition is serious but stable. it's thought to be the first time a woman has been shot by the police for a decade and it's now being investigated by the independent police complaints commission. meanwhile the police have been searching three more houses in london, including here in willesden, where yesterday's raid took place, and all thisjust where yesterday's raid took place, and all this just hours after the police arrested this 27—year—old man in london, close to the entry to downing street and the foreign office. nearby they found a rucksack with knives inside. the arrest here part of a completely separate counterterrorism operation. with these arrests over the past 24 hours, the police believe they have contained the potential threats they allegedly posed but london this is how we prevent terrorism. we

saw police preventing an attack, which is important because when a person get to the point of blowing themselves up or shooting people it's too late, we would just have victims. what we need is police intervening before the attack happens. but with a series of incidents over the past month, london is on a very high level of alert. and just an update on the 27—year—old man arrested in whitehall, we now know he had been under police surveillance for some time and that police surveillance was mounted because there was specific concern about him from the community. he is still being questioned at a south london police station on suspicion of terrorism offences. the ukip leader, paul nuttall, has launched his party's general election campaign with a warning that a "whopping" conservative majority will put the uk's

withdrawalfrom the european union "in peril". he accused theresa may of already beginning to backslide on the issue of immigration and said ukip would act as the government's "backbone" during brexit negotiations. hejoins me now he joins me now from hejoins me now from westminster. having achieved what ukip was set up for, a brexit referendum, a vote to leave the eu, the you think your speech addressed what ukip stands for now? absolutely. not only did i speak about the kind of brexit we want, a clean brexit where we control our own borders and finances and democracy, i spoke about our domestic agenda which will include eye—catching policies like slashing the foreign aid budget and reinvesting money in the nhs,

cutting immigration back to sensible numbers, putting more bobbies out on the beat, ensuring our armed forces are well funded, so we have a huge raft of domestic policies which we will campaign on in this election and we go into it quite buoyant. but the chief theme of your speech seem to still be about brexit. you said ukip would act as the government's back down so fundamentally that is what the party is still about. of course this is in effect the brexit collection. the prime minister called that because she said she wa nted called that because she said she wanted a mandate in negotiations with the eu, so in many ways politics is on our purpose and we have campaigned for a brexit all our political lives. if it wasn't for ukip there wouldn't be brexit and you can be sure if people are left ukip mps they will get real

brexiteers and the kind of rags at they voted for. you also said you won't field candidates in marginal constituencies work a conservative mp who you call through brexiteers are facing a tough fight against remainders. how many constituencies are you talking about?” remainders. how many constituencies are you talking about? i didn'tjust say conservative mps but mps of all political colours, through brexiteers who have campaigned for many years alongside ukip to ensure we get real brexit and what we will be looking at is not only their record but their majorities and in those seats, and we are talking tens, not hundreds, i will be asking ukip ranches to stand aside to ensure a brexiteer is returned to parliament and not they remain can do that. everyone wants to know where you will stand, i can see why

you didn't want to see that this morning ahead of tour launched so was not to steal the thunder but now can you tell us which constituency? i will be telling everyone tomorrow. it sounds like you might not have settled on which constituency you wa nt to settled on which constituency you want to run in. no, it's all settled, i had to have conversations with branches, with my own party leadership team because we have two days side hope to fight this election, whether i would fight a seat and the the candidate donated to see or whether i would be roaming all over the country speaking to ukip branches and members and basically leading the party right across the nation, but i will be standing in this election and we will announce where tomorrow. boston

and skegness, southport and hartlepool, those were three constituencies you mentioned this morning in interviews that you had heard link with yourself standing four parliament. can you tell us is it one of those three? no, these are branches which are being contacted by journalist asking whether branches which are being contacted byjournalist asking whether i would be the candidate. there will be an announcement tomorrow. were clearly not going to get that answer out of you to day. how many seats do you think ukip will win? can it win realistically? what ukip will do is target sensibly. in terms of manpower, in terms of financial resources and we will be eating in constituencies and trying to ensure we went those seats. what we will do is have a scatter—gun approach where we spent money across the board,

whereby we spread our manpower across the country because one thing we know from first past the post elections is that there is no prize for second place so we will run this campaign sensibly and target ruthlessly. is it vital in this election but ukip wins some seats and if it doesn't, does that mean you will have to stand down or would it put that future of ukip itself that brett? it wouldn't put the future of ukip at the rat but i will say ukip will go into the selection confident we can win seats. we will target very sensibly and are looking forward to the campaign. our candidates will be leafleting, knocking on doors and ensuring we get our message across. you have been accused by some of having an tea m been accused by some of having an team as long policies, your plan to not allow women to work a full face

veil, what do you say to those people who criticised those policies —— anti—muslim policies?” people who criticised those policies -- anti-muslim policies? i say you we re -- anti-muslim policies? i say you were wrong. this isn't about islamophobia or anything, this is about integration and if you want to enjoy the full fruits of this great society, you have to be prepared to show your face because it can act as a barrier to employment, for example, you cannot communicate through facial expressions, you are cut off from many parts of society, so cut off from many parts of society, so rather than being negative i would say it's all about integration and ensuring we're not be divided committee but can come together. will that make life difficult for your candidates in some areas with high muslim populations? no is all

about integration, not anything else, this is a positive move.” also want to ask about your policy on fgm which you mention in your speech, you said it was a national scandal that no one had been prosecuted for this crime. you talked about an annual check for girls at risk. how will this work in practice, how would you identify these girls? first it is a national scandal. there has not been one single prosecution even though this has been illegal for nearly 30 years and something has to be done. we need to ensure this practice stops and we have taken steps to open a debate on this and what we think is that children deemed at risk, for example children who were taken out of school and ta ken

example children who were taken out of school and taken to a country where fgm is widespread like somali, when they return, if they aren't problems then these young girls should be checked and prosecutions should be checked and prosecutions should then take place. we have the majority of the country on our side. i think there has been one prosecution either last year or 2015 ofa prosecution either last year or 2015 of a doctor. it failed. not a huge number, agreed. we asked viewers to send any questions and i know you are not especially comfortable with taking viewers' questions. is there a reason for that? it's not that i'm not cover troubled but i am in no rush going from interview to interview. maybe i could ask you this one from a ukip member and a brexiteer who says he's in a tory lib dem marginal seats and is asking is tactical voting and must to keep

a committed brexit tory government? i have no idea quits et is in. ask him to e—mail me directly and we can have that conversation. but you are concerned that are whopping conservative majority might put a tough brexit at risk. i am concerned it will put brexit at risk because if theresa may ends up with a whopping majority we will have lots of tory lobby fodder that will allow her to backtrack knowing she already has the vote bank and i think at the moment she is beholden to around 50 tory brexiteers. she will not be beholden to them any more and it will allow her to go down the line ofa will allow her to go down the line of a soft brexit, which is not what people voted for. paul nuttall, we wait until tomorrow to find out which constituency you are standing

official figures show the uk economy grew by 0.3% at the start of the year, the slowest growth rate since the first three months of 2016. the office for national statistics said rising prices and a fall in spending were partly to blame. the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said the figures were worrying. it's a cause for concern, a cause for concern and i think the biggest cause for concern is the uncertainty. lots of businesses are saying we need greater clarity from the government, what's its position on no deal, transitional measures? labour has said we must have transitional measures so businesses have time to adjust their illnesses, so have time to adjust their illnesses, so uncertainty is the primary concern of businesses across the country including here in yorkshire. with me is our business correspondent rachel horne. labour is saying this is a sign of

uncertainty while the chancellor says it shows the economy is resilient. tell us more about why we have had some growth but slower growth. this is about gross domestic product, made up of agriculture, construction, services and did i say construction? services is the one we normally focus on, it makes up for fa ns normally focus on, it makes up for fans of the economy and that is the one that has pulled down those figures today. we should be able to see that the services sector is down to 0.3%, that is still a growth but it was up 0.8% in the last three months of last year so it is done by 0.5% in that fall was seen by its hotels and 0.5% in that fall was seen by its hotels a nd restau ra nts 0.5% in that fall was seen by its hotels and restaurants and distribution, so getting items to where we buy them, but production

and manufacturing are up 0.5%. more vehicles are being produced so we are seeing some sectors reducing and others increasing and some people say this could be a rebalancing of the economy. we hear that our economy is too dependent on consumer spending, which is often fuelled by debt, and the weaker pound is increasing manufacturing where we should focus. so maybe a rebalancing or maybe part of a slowdown. some people say this is a blip, we had a surprising figure in the last three months of last, up 0.3%, some people say it was going to be a big fall anyway, some people say this is a slowdown, we saw a devaluation in the pound which is pushed up

inflation and their people with less money to spend, and other people have called it a rebalancing. alan clark at scotia bank said imagine you were driving for the bank holiday weekend, doing 70 mph, you hit a traffic jam, holiday weekend, doing 70 mph, you hit a trafficjam, you are down to 30 mph and it starts to rain. that's a useful analogy. we are hearing about problems with the rbs natwest banking app. their banking app failed for nearly an hour this morning, rbs saying both the app and online banking are still running slowly. they said some but not most of the customers were but a spokesman from rbs added that no customer would be left out of pocket. rbs is still 72% owned by the government, they issued first

quarterly profits since 2015, £259 million for the first three months of the year but they have serious legacy issues, trying to resolve issues with the usjustice department over mortgage bank securities sold before 2008 and there are concerns that any fine they get from the us could wipe out profits this year. rachel, thank you. a special fund set up to improve patient access to cancer drugs in england has been condemned as a huge waste of money. the cancer drugs fund, which ran from 2010 until it was replaced last year, cost over a billion pounds. our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. the cancer drugs fund was set up to pay for expensive medicines that the nhs was not funding. in part, it was a political response to repeated negative headlines about patients being denied treatment. nearly 100,000 patients received drugs, but the study in the journal annals of oncology found just one in five treatments delivered a significant benefit,

extending life by an average of three months. researchers say it was an example of policy made on the hoof, and it failed. it was a major missed opportunity for the national health service and the cancer community to learn in the real world about the actual impact of new medicines. a great deal of money, over £1 billion, was expended on this. and we didn't collect the data to look at individual cancer patients. that's a missed opportunity. the study concludes many patients may have suffered unnecessary side—effects from drugs. but a leading breast cancer charity said the fund has had a totally transformational impact for many, offering precious extra time with loved ones for terminally ill patients. the fund was brought under the remit of the national institute for health and care excellence last year, so there is greater scrutiny over which treatments are approved. with me is emma lavelle

from the charity breast cancer care. do you agree with me on this overall analysis that this fund was a huge waste of money? what we hear is that the fund has given people with incurable secondary breast cancer access to drugs they would not have had otherwise. it was only meant as a short—term solution so we now need a short—term solution so we now need a more sustainable solution to access to drugs. as far as your charity is concerned, is it significantly extending the lives of some patients? we heard some patients have been able to access drugs on the fund that give them additional months, up to nine months, which is important to people

living with incurable breast cancer. we hear people on our helpline, it means they can go to their daughter's wedding or a curry on activities, go to work. for those individuals and their families, you cannot put a price on that extra time but the problem for people looking at the bigger picture of funding is they have to look at whether a fun like this is overall good value with the other services that have to be provided, so what is being done now to help people to access this fund and is it better than what went before? we acknowledge the previous fund wasn't perfect, the management was not it should have been, and there is a new system that we hope will give patients access to treatments they had previously and in the future, so we hope that means people have

access to drugs in future. you're hoping but you don't have any guarantees at the moment. we know there are ongoing discussions around drugs that are currently on the cancer drugs fund and whether they will be available going forward, so there are no guarantees but we hope that will be available in the future. one of the key findings of the assessment of the cancer drugs fund was that data on the effectiveness of these drugs hadn't been collected and assessed as well as it could have been and that is a huge negative against this fund because doctors, yourselves in the world of charities supporting patients, you would have wanted to see that hard data on how these drugs were helping or not. yes, so we we re drugs were helping or not. yes, so we were hoping the cancer drugs fund

would lead to data being available on how those drugs would impact on people living with breast cancer and how that would be used in the future so we how that would be used in the future so we hope lemmings will be taken on board from this report and more data will be collected. emma, thank you for your time today. pope francis is due to arrive in egypt, on a trip aimed at encouraging dialogue between the christian and muslim faiths. earlier this month 45 people were killed in the bombing of two christian coptic churches. live now to our correspondent orla guerin , who is in cairo pop frances hoping to build relationships with islamic leaders ata relationships with islamic leaders at a difficult time. the trip was planned before the latest bloodshed but he is landing in a country at a state of urgency. that was before

the double bombings this month which killed almost 50 people at two churches, so there are security concerns about this visit. he is only on the ground for 27 hours at a raft of additional security measures have been put in place. we have heavily armed police and troops at sensitive locations including christian churches. in cairo, which the pope will visit, there are barricades and road closures, parked ca rs barricades and road closures, parked cars will be moved, pedestrians will be moved on and there are host to house searches. authorities here in egypt and church officials are keen of the risk that so—called islamic state might try to carry out an attack during this visit. they said previously that questions are their favourite target. the pope has decided he would not be travelling in an armoured car. a vatican

official said he was not especially worried about security and would move forward with serenity. against that threat you have outlined, how difficult will it be for the pope as he meets other religious leaders to deliver a message that can make the christian community feel safer? it's difficult to see how he can deliver something so tangible.” difficult to see how he can deliver something so tangible. i think his mere presence will give them an incredible boost. it's a sign of solidarity, a demonstration he is not afraid to come here and be with them and coptic christians have been saying that means a great deal to them that the visit is going ahead, but it happens at that time that they are experiencing unprecedented prosecution. it's not new to have attacks on christians and they would say it is not new for them to face six kerry intentions, but what is

new is an orchestrated campaign by the islamic state which is carried out three separate bombings here, one of those here in cairo in december at a church called saint peter and polls. the pope will visit that this afternoon and save prayers for the dead but another key aspect of the visit is to try to build bridges and deepen dialogue between the christian and muslim faiths, for this pope that is our priority. he sees this as a means of combating religious extremism. he will go to a site which for 1000 years has been the seat of sunni islamic theology. he will be the first pope to have a visit there and he will meet the grand imam, so he is making a strong demonstration of reaching out. he said he wants to bring a message of

brotherhood and reconciliation to the muslim world and there is no doubt he wants to copper fast and the dialogue taking place and use that as a means of working together to combat extremism and terrorism. thank you, order. time now for a look at the weather. good morning to you. good afternoon to you, actually. not a bad day out there for you. we are losing those chilly winds we've had over the last few days. a fair amount of sunshine as well. cloud here and there. especially in western areas, thick enough to produce the odd passing shower. most of us will spend the bulk of the day completely dry and temperatures up although still chilly at the moment across eastern scotla nd chilly at the moment across eastern scotland and north—east england. a few showers to take this into this evening but they will fade away.

rein in the hebrides. the wind direction switching to the south—west of lifting temperatures across southern and western areas but in rural wales, england and scotla nd but in rural wales, england and scotland there could be an outside chance of a touch of frost into saturday. the bank holiday weekend gets off to a fine start. isolated showers far west of the uk but the breeze will pick up and most will have a dry day, a bit of sunshine and temperatures widely into 17 celsius in the south—east corner. the full bank holiday forecast coming up in half an hour. this is bbc news and these are the top stories police say they've foiled a terrorist plot as six people are arrested after a raid in north—west london in which a woman was shot by officers. economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year as shoppers tighten their belts.

ukip leader paul nuttall launches his campaign, saying his party will hold the government's fee to the fire over brexit. police say they foiled a terror plot. economic growth suffered a worse—than—expected slowdown in the first three months of the year official figures show. ukip leader paul nuttall has said his party will hold the government's feet to the fire on brexit if it wins seats in the election injune. a scheme to improve access to the latest cancer drugs in england didn't help many patients and was a huge waste of money according to researchers. police say six people have now been arrested after a counter—terrorism operation in north—west london in which a woman in her 20s was shot by armed officers. let's show you these pictures obtained by the sun newspaper on the operation which was carried out in willesden at around 7pm yesterday evening. you can see police making an arrest outside the property. there are a number of armed officers with long barrelled guns facing

towards the terraced house. a woman is brought out of the property and arrested. giving an update at the metrpolitan police headquarters at scotland yard, deputy assistant commissioner neil basu gave more detail on yesterday's terror related arrests. in whitehall, a 27—year—old man was arrested by armed officers from the met‘s specialist firearms command, who stopped and searched him as part of an ongoing counter terrorism investigation. he remains in our custody having been arrested for terrorism act offences and possession of offensive weapons and there are two ongoing searches at addresses in london as part of that investigation. in our second and unrelated investigation, last night atjust before 19:00hrs, our highly trained firearms officers carried out a specialist entry into an address in harlesden road that we had under observation as part of a current counter terrorism investigation. an armed entry was necessary due to the nature of the intelligence that we were dealing with, and involved armed officers firing cs into the address.

during the course of that operation one of the subjects of that operation — a woman — was shot by police — she remains in hospital. her condition is serious but stable. because of her condition she has not yet been arrested. we are monitoring her condition closely. deputy assistant commissioner neil basu also said detectives are handling a rising number of terror related cases and arrests are being made on a daily basis. given the horrors in london of a few short weeks ago, and our thoughts are still with the victims and survivors of that dreadful day, i wanted to reassure the public that our increased activity to combat terrorism over the last two years continues both by police and security services. activity continues around the clock to identify and stop these threats and we are making arrests on a near daily basis. i want to pay tribute to the bravery of my uniform and detective colleagues who are doing that work to keep us safe.

across the uk campaigning is in full swing, but before the general election voters in scotland will go to the polls to elect councillors in all 32 local authorities. for many, next thursday's council elections have become about much more than choosing who looks after schools and makes sure the bins are collected. steven godden is in glasgow for us this morning, the scene of one of the most intriguing contests. to what extent to think these local elections will be a sign of what is to come in the general election? it's interesting speaking to a lot of voters yesterday who were weighing up whether it was at the forefront of their mind, local concerns as he mentored in the introduction, schools, the services the council are responsible for or these larger national questions that

are at play, brexit, a second independence referendum, and one of the most intriguing contests in all of this will be here in glasgow because of course, for decades, labour—controlled council in glasgow and has, from long time been considered one of the heartlands, but could that be about to change? many dire predictions about how they could do. labour lost all of their seats to the snp in glasgow in the last election. i've been talking to candidates of one particular ward head of the vote next thursday to see how the contest is shaping up. on glasgow's southern fringe sits the ward of newlands auldburn. traditionally voters here have helped labour keep control of the city council. but against a busy political backdrop, could that be about to change? on the face of it, this election is about choosing who is responsible for looking after parks, who is responsible for schools and collecting the bins,

but it's become wrapped up in wider national questions like the general election and the prospect of a second independence referendum. in recent years, labour have suffered heavy losses at uk and scottish elections. once known as "red clydeside", glasgow city council now represents a last bastion of power for the party. the fixation that the conservatives and the snp both have with independence referendum issues is something which can confuse people about which elections they are actually fighting on. we are fighting this election, the council election. we're saying send a clear message to the snp and the conservatives that we've got the best plan for the city. canvassing nearby, their biggest rivals. for the snp candidate it's a far cry from when she joined the party and the labour vote had to be weighed rather than counted. we are on the verge of another great happening. this taking of glasgow, the citadel, gives us wonderful credibility and credibility is what we need. we have a lot of it already,

but this is the big one. don't forget to vote. there's one for your daughter. but snp ambition could be thwarted by what previously might have seemed unthinkable. emboldened conservatives finding favour with glasgow voters. for the very first time, you know, across glasgow, lots of doors actively consider us. they want to hear from us. they want to hear what we have to say so there's lots of people who are turning to us, notjust in a constitutional question but actually because they want a strong local councillor, someone who will focus on the ward, on the area. for this couple, simply filling out their postal vote was a tug—of—war between local and national concerns. because there is a general election in a few weeks' time, and everything that's happening in the country, it has got me thinking about when i make my local vote this time. i thought, when the brexit thing is out the way we can calm down and get back to normality, wrong, completely wrong.

the sixth election in three years for scots voters will soon be settled. time then for some brief respite before number seven rolls around. stephen godden, bbc news, glasgow. i'm joined by the butler corresponded for the glasgow evening times and the local government expert. we are focusing on glasgow, dire predictions for labour but what is your assessment of how they might do? labour would need to get all of their candidates elected in this election to hold control of the council. they would have to get every single candidate elected and thatis every single candidate elected and that is looking highly unlikely given the direction they are travelling in the last two elections as you alluded to and the snp swept the board last year. they did the same in westminster and if that

party was to continue, then labour would lose control of the council. it depends how many seats they lose and how many go to the snp and how many go to other parties, but it would be a big surprise if labour was to keep control of glasgow city council. there could be a temptation to assume this is about the demise of labour and the rise of the snp in glasgow. but it's more complicated than that perhaps? there has been a big decline in the labour vote but when it comes to cancel elections people might vote differently than they do on the other elections. there have been fewer council by—election successes for labour which was a surprise to most people because they thought the snp would win but in some local areas, strong local candidates, labour could have a chance. they may be able to keep some of their seats they are predicted to lose. neal, it's

tempting to look at this and save a local government elections will tell us local government elections will tell us everything we need to know or at least something about the general election which follows so is that dangerous? i think they will be a great indicator because of a great sample of voters, many more voters thana sample of voters, many more voters than a polling organisation can offer. they will tell you where labourare, and the offer. they will tell you where labour are, and the big story obviously in glasgow is the decline of labour but what we are seeing, the rise of the conservatives. they are looking stronger. very hopeful and confident of taking over the council, and other stories going on. the greens are putting up far more candidates. the story can be quite compensated. there are preferences rather than putting an x on the ballot paper. it's much more difficult to predict the selections than an conventional one. we heard

about national versus local politics. is that the case? the general election taking place in june isa general election taking place in june is a nationalised things. the message from the conservatives is let's not have a referendum, so it has been nationalised. it's been great to speak to you but that's the time we have. more about this local government contest as the day goes on but, for now, back to the studio. thank you very much. and here is a full list of all the candidates for the local election in the ward of newlands auldburn in the south of glasgow. tick awareness month is being launched this may in a bid to raise awareness among pet owners and walkers about the threat from ticks and tick—borne illnesses, such as lyme disease. it's estimated there are 2,000 to 3,000 new confirmed cases of lyme disease in england and wales each year. i'm joined now by the tv presenter

and naturalist, chris packham who is launching the campaign. this will be the first tech awareness month. —— tick. this will be the first tech awareness month. -- tick. yes, we looked at the veterinary and is across the uk and them to send in any ticks they got from dogs and they sent in 6000, they were identified at universities, and we look to see what diseases they were carrying and ticks are now widely distributed all over the uk, there is no safe haven, the south—west of england, scotland, and lyme disease, it's prevalent in all of that population. there are hotspots, and there's a map you can look at on the website but nevertheless, wherever you are, in a national park, central

london, in the middle of cities, if dogs are being walked, there will probably be ticks there. that's a scary thought, isn't it? you have seen scary thought, isn't it? you have seen it first hand, the impact of these diseases. there's the impact on the pet, it's very difficult to diagnose in dogs, the symptoms which present because they're so similar to other things but even vets struggle with that and lines disease is fatal in dogs and will be fatal in humans. people like myself have spent a lot of time in that environment are in close contact with animals more often, and as the disease goes up, so does the risk of contagion. it's debilitating. it could take two years out of your life, the symptoms could become neurological, it could have a debilitating effect so lyme disease, which is also sometimes difficult to identify in humans, is a significant concern. the reason we are launching

tech awareness month is because this is preventable. if you take cats and dogs to the vet during may, we're asking them to give them the best advice, and there's preventative treatments available, collars, sprays, tablets, they will determine which is best for you and your pet, and there's no reason they can contract any diseases. when it comes to yourself, it's about being aware, in that environment, you give yourself the once over afterwards. ticks are carried on us and are easy to re m ove ticks are carried on us and are easy to remove on our bodies. we'd want to remove on our bodies. we'd want to scare people. this is an awareness campaign. “— to scare people. this is an awareness campaign. —— we don't want to scare people. we have been living successfully alongside them for yea rs. successfully alongside them for years. the population of ticks is

growing in the uk and if you bring your pet beyond the uk, on holiday, and then bring it back, and you want the government to reinstate compulsory treatment for all dogs, pets have travelled outside the uk and you are encouraging pet owners to write to the government about this, especially in light of brexit, because you are concerned it could affect the processes. when you take your pet to the vets, before you bring back to the uk, it has a general health check. it is wormed and previously was treated for ticks but it was phased out inexplicably in 2012. the cost is inconsequential. what we've seen since then animals arriving back in the uk that have been taking to vets, as much as 70% of these animals carrying ticks which they are picked up overseas, a new species coming into the uk ringing

in new diseases, killing dogs here, and vets are not used to looking for the symptoms because it's considered a continental disease. yes, we are reorganising through brexit and asking people to lobby their mps to reinstate this measure. although it might sound like a very small thing, with everything going on in the world, if you have lyme disease or of lost your dogs, you wouldn't think it was a small affair. the incidence of human —based lyme disease is going up so this could be a critical issue. so easily overcome if politicians acted upon it. ok, thank you very much for getting that message across to us. thank you very much for getting that message across to us. thank you for talking through your sore throat. i'm not sure what species it is but it's doing a lot of damage!”

i'm not sure what species it is but it's doing a lot of damage! i hope your throat feels better soon. thank you, chris. police say they've foiled a terrorist plot as six people are arrested after a raid in north—west london in which a woman was shot by officers. economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year. official figures show a rate of 0.3%. the little has promised emigration promises, face covering and female genital mutilation bands. the car maker vauxhall showed a reckless disregard for safety over the way it handled a series of fires on its zafira b model, according to mps. a report by the transport select committee has found the company was too slow to act, especially when it allowed people to drive in cars which were still a hazard. our transport correspondent, richard westcott, reports. you can see why many drivers described it as terrifying. theirfamily car bursting into flames out

of the blue, sometimes with the children inside. fire taking hold in a matter of minutes. even vauxhall says it's lucky nobody was seriously hurt. today's report is scathing about the way the company handled the issue. it took them a long time to act. when they did act and said they'd put things right, cars were still bursting into flames. even at that point, they didn't recall the cars fully. this is totally unacceptable and is putting people's lives at risk. well over 200 zafira bs caught fire because of a problem in the heating system. the true scale only really came to light after a facebook group and the london fire brigade began noticing a pattern. worst of all, this report says, vauxhall let people drive around in cars that were supposed to be fixed but could in fact still catch fire. the company says safety is its top priority, and it's changed the way it deals with recalls, to speed things up.

now mps are calling for new laws to prosecute carmakers who fail to sort out a safety issue quickly. richard wescott, bbc news. the former royal marine alexander blackman whose murder conviction for killing a taliban fighter in afghanistan was quashed has been released from prison three years into a seven—yearjail term. sergeant blackman was known as "marine a" during the case. john davies who managed the campaign that led to his conviction being reduced to manslaughter on appeal last month has been talking about his release, in the early hours of this morning. i'm finding it very surreal. it's been an extremely long journey, long battle, tiring battle, but it's amazing. especially this morning to see them together, its amazing. especially this morning to see them together, it's made the last three and a half years worthwhile without a shadow of a doubt. when that car pulled up and

they saw each other and he was released from prison, what was that moment like for them and also for you having led this campaign for so long? for them, i can't comment but, for me, it was an amazing moment. to see them together. to know everything we've done has worked despite being all odds really. how was the release? it's the most relaxed i've seen them both and it was great to see them like that, to be honest and i've not experienced it before because they didn't know him before. how do you think he will react, how do you think he will be able to cope with having been released from prison? i think it's going to be a fairly difficult transition period, but both of them are extremely level—headed individuals, so although there will be difficult times i'm sure, i think

he will cope really well. going back three and a half years, why did you set up this campaign? what was the reason why? explain it to me. one reason why? explain it to me. one reason is we don't believe people behind, that's not what we're trying to do, what we believe in. it seemed nobody else was doing anything. so it just seemed nobody else was doing anything. so itjust seemed like the right thing to do to one of our own, really. that campaign grew and grew. talk me through the stages of the campaign. it was pretty strange, i've never done anything like this before. social media presence, campaign started on facebook and twitter, and overnight it really did grow some legs. we raised £107,000 signatures. gained a parliamentary debate, led by the mp for south dorset, richard

drax, and then got frederick forsyth, the daily mail, and our legal team headed up byjonathan goldberg involved and, from there, it flourished once we got highlighted the system which took place. how are you personally feeling first morning he is a free man? tired. it is odd. i'm finding it very, very strange. but amazing in the same light. i think it will ta ke in the same light. i think it will take a few days to really sink in what we have achieved has been amazing. john davies. the french presidential election candidate, marine le pen, has been campaigning in nice where dozens of people were murdered in a truck attack lastjuly. le pen will battle emmanuel macron in the presidential run off, after both got through the initial

vote on sunday. our europe correspondent james reynolds reports. lastjuly in nice, this man was his clothes shop when an attacker killed 86 people. 31—year—old has come with thousands more to hear marine le pen. translation: in this city hit so ha rd by translation: in this city hit so hard by terrorism, i would show no wea kness hard by terrorism, i would show no weakness in the face of islamic fundamentalism. the audience hears her promise to deploy more police, and to deport suspects under surveillance. everyone is clear now, to come here, we talk about maybe it's dangerous to come, so in france, we are scared and we think she is the stronger person to be able to protect us and protect france. these are the true believers who are campaigning for their leader

but these supporters on their own won't be enough. in order to win the election, marine le pen must fight and win over new voters. that means that she has do read the mood of a city which are still recovering. some here do want greater action. many believe that her party is simply not the answer. this 18—year—old fled from the attacks on this promenade. what happened here has not made her turn to marine le pen. i don't think it changes how i think about security. i don't think we can always stop everything i think a lot of people say things just to gain votes. in order to quieten marine le pen, she will make a simple choice. and they will vote

for emmanuel macron. james reynolds, bbc news, nice. in a moment, the news at one. time now for a look at the weather. a cloud developing and more on that ina a cloud developing and more on that in a moment. out of there today, though, it's not feeling quite as chilly as it has done. wait a bit of cloud in western areas of the moment bringing the odd shower here and there but that will fragment and chilly but bright across the eastern half of the uk. a bit more cloud. sunny spells into the afternoon. showers few and far between. chilly along the eastern coast but warming up along the eastern coast but warming upa along the eastern coast but warming up a touch elsewhere. 12—15. into tonight, we start off with dry weather. a few showers and eastern scotland, north—east england in particular and most will stay dry overnight. the breed keeping

temperatures rising for western scotland, northern ireland at south—west england, east of scotland it could be an isolated frost —— breeze. a breezy weekend in store. warmer than it has done this week. a chance of rain but, as i've mentioned, a lot of dry weather and saturday, uk wide, isolated showers, few and far between, mostly dry, plentiful amount of sunshine, but turning breezy in the west. the southerly direction temperatures climbing day by day. the exception being parts of north—east scotland where the onshore wind will be but 13-17. as where the onshore wind will be but 13—17. as we go into the afternoon, in yorkshire, stage two of the tour, it's looking fine and the fine weather continues into the evening. clear skies overhead. this is how we finish on saturday. low pressure for sunday. as it develops to the west,

the breeze freshens. most will have a dry day once again. but it turns wet for a time and south—west england, wales, northern ireland and london and birmingham, rain overnight working northwards. so, by bank holiday monday, parts of northern england in particular. a few showers to the south of it. staying largely dry across scotland. the best of sunshine in the west. ted koehler but nice enough in the sunshine. bye—bye for now. —— a ted koehler. —— a touch cooler. police say they've foiled an active terror plot in london. one suspect — a woman in her twenties — was shot and is in a serious condition. in a major security operation, armed police surrounded the property and have arrested six people, including one in kent. the armed entry was necessary due the nature of the intelligence we were dealing with and involved armed officers firing cs

gas into the address. it's understood that the man arrested in whitehall yesterday is mohammed khalid omar ali who's 27 and originally from north london. we'll have the very latest live on both those stories — also this lunchtime. britain's economy slowed sharply at the start of the year. official figures show gdp grew byjust 0.3%. a fund set up to improve access to cancer drugs in england