today at 5.00: the cap on public sector pay is to be lifted, but only for police and prison officers in england and wales. police will get a 1% rise and an extra bonus, while prison officers will get 1.7% this year. we've looked at the evidence. we've been working on this over the summer and we feel now is the time to move to a more flexible approach, to make sure that we do deal with any issues we have got in the public services, so that we can continue to have world—class services. a pay cut is a pay cut for all workers. we must be united in ending the pay freeze for all. the announcement comes as the latest inflation figures rise to the highest level in more than five years. we'll have the the detail and the reaction. the other main stories on bbc news at 5.00: the foreign secretary borisjohnson flies to the caribbean, amid criticism of britain's response to hurricane irma. members of a traveller family from lincolnshire are convicted of modern—day slavery offences and given long prison sentences.

and tributes to sir peter hall, one of the greatest figures in the history british theatre, who's died at the age of 86. we'll be talking to sir trevor nunn. it's 5.00. our main story is that the cap on public sector pay rises is to be lifted, but only for police and prison officers in england and wales. union leaders have responded angrily, by demanding a pay rise for all public sector workers, who've been affected by a combination of pay freezes and pay caps for the past seven years. ministers are said to be ready to show "flexibility" in the public sector pay round for next year. let's take a look at the figures.

prison officers in england and wales have been awarded a rise of 1.7%. as far as police officers are concerned, their salaries will go up by 1%, and they'll also get a further 1% bonus. the current current level of inflation is nearly 3%. speaking at the tuc congress in brighton, labour'sjeremy corbyn says the government is trying to divide and rule public sector workers. our political correspondent iain watson sent this report. police and prison officers — vital parts of the criminal justice system. the government's announced that they are getting a pay increase, but the public service unions see themselves as the victims of an injustice, a pay cap that's held back wages for seven years. today the government signalled it was willing to relax its pay restraint. it's vitally important for the success of our public services that we pay public sector workers fairly, and also that retain people, that we keep them in the profession and we are able

to recruit new people as well. usually pay review bodies stick to government advice and don't recommend average increases above 1%, but the bodies governing police and prison officers said the government should breach its own cap this year. the government has accepted a recommendation to increase the salaries of most police officers by 1% across the board, and then a further 1% as a bonus, paid for from police reserve budgets. prison officers will get a cap—busting1.7%. it's simply not good enough. anything under the rate of inflation, which is currently 2.90%, is a cut in pay for my members, let's be absolutely clear about that, so it's not good enough. the government is arguing that in effect the pay cap will be lifted more widely next year. ministers will give pay review bodies flexibility to pay more than 1% to address skills shortages in some areas. the government will hope that easing the pay cap won't simply help with recruitment and retention

problems in some parts of the public sector — they hope it will also ease a sense of frustration amongst some public service workers about falling living standards. but some unions say any increase beneath inflation means there's still a case for strike action. we will carry on balloting our members and we will talk to other unions who will hopefully do the same, so that we can stand united, whether you are a cleaner, a benefit worker or a teacher, we all deserve a pay rise. and speaking to the tuc, the labour leader said if he won power he would lift the pay cap entirely. the labour party totally rejects the tories' attempt to divide and rule, to play one sector off against another. a labour government will end the public sector pay cap and give all workers the pay rise they deserve, and so desperately need. that is our policy. and labour's shadow chancellor said he'd back strikes over wages

if they're democratically decided, so clear dividing lines remain between the government and opposition on pay. ian watson, bbc news, brighton. our political correspondent leila nathoo is at westminster. first of all, this sense of maybe more flexibility in the system next year, what should people read into that? i think it is the beginning of the end of the automatic cap on public sector pay rises being set at 1%. this year we had the recommendation of independent pay bodies. the final once but their recommendations for bird were for police and prison officers and the government has decided to accept their recommendations to give pay rises above that 1% cap. but next year there will be a new set of independent recommendations from pay bodies and it is they are there will

bea bodies and it is they are there will be a strong signal the pay cap will no longer be in force. that does not mean public sector workers across the board will be given an automatic pay rise next year but it does mean that automatic limit and restriction of 1% we have had in force for a long time has come to an end. labour are picking up on the fact it is just prison and police officers that have that pay right about 1% this year. they are calling for a pay rise for public sector workers gci’oss rise for public sector workers across the board. we have heard unions talking about the level not being enough when inflation stands at 2.9%. certainly there is some significant movement from the government here. it gives substantial pressure since the election we are seeing unions coordinating strike action over the issue but i don't think this is the end of the argument as far as the level and extent of pay rises for public sector workers. of all the rationale given by ministers behind the policy since

2010, really, it has been austerity and the need to get public spending under control. if people are asking now, reasonably, where is this money coming from? what is the answer? the key thing is there is no extra money to fund these pay increases. the money for this extra 1% bonus for police, 1.7% paper prison officers is coming from existing departmental budgets. police chiefs say this will result in cuts elsewhere. from ministers' point of view they say we are prepared to give portability but must operate within what is fair and affordable for the taxpayer. certainly this idea there is no extra money to fund these pay increases is certainly going to be a sticking point for some time. thank you very much. the latest from westminster. now we go to our studio in westminster to talk to steve white. he is chairman of the police

federation, the staff association for police constables, representing well over 100,000 members of the force. thank you for coming in. are you delighted with this announcement today what? absolutely not. talking about the removal of the pay cap, i don't think this is the removal but it is sitting at a jaunty angle. when i have been listening to the reaction of my members in the last few hours, and they are frankly gobsmacked. whilst i think we accept that 1% plus a 1% bonus is better than nothing, it doesn't go anywhere near redressing the balance that our members have suffered over the past five years. a 15% real terms pay cut that was beginning to look like 23% if this had continued. 0ne that was beginning to look like 23% if this had continued. one of the things i think people certainly from a police officer perspective find frustrating, it is all very well listening to the tuc and unions, but police officers do not have industrial rights. we cannot make

oui’ industrial rights. we cannot make our voice heard in any other way but by taking an evidence case to the so—called independent pay review body. in fact, the government could have taken all of the recommendations from the pay review body but have chosen to cherry pick. i don't think the government can haveit i don't think the government can have it both ways. either you listen to the independent pay review body 01’ to the independent pay review body or you do not. this is a halfway house. it is frustrating for us. a lot of my members are going to be... in fact, all of them will be angry and dismayed, because the government will say what a magnificent job and dismayed, because the government will say what a magnificentjob we do and over the last 12 months, but on the other hand there is this derisory pay rise. you mentioned the tuc and we heard speakers they are talking about division among public sector workers. there is a case there that ican workers. there is a case there that i can put to you, if they public sector worker was not part of this deal, and not a prison or police officer, and said, at least you're getting some kind of deal, what

would you say to them? i would have some sympathy. what we have seen over the past five years particularly in policing, because of the cuts we have been picking up the pieces of cuts and other public sector services. not the fault of the workers but the fault of the policy. we have been picking up the pieces among social services, the health service, the education service. they have been struggling. 0ne ironic thing we might be facing in the next few months, if there are going to be demonstrations by unions in relation to the public sector pay cap, who will be policing does demonstrations? the police officers of england and wales up and down the country who frankly have enough to do. it is ironic that we will end up policing those demonstrations when we don't have the right to be able to ta ke we don't have the right to be able to take industrial action. we need to take industrial action. we need to use the power and the force of persuasion in order to convince the government of needs. we convinced the independent pay review body but the independent pay review body but the government did not wholly listen to what they said. you underlined again the extent to

which police officers can take action. i am wondering what are the options open to you if you don't feel your cases being in government? this is exactly it. all we can do is make our voice heard, but the time is rapidly approaching where the patience of our members is at breaking point. for the past five yea rs breaking point. for the past five years we breaking point. for the past five yea rs we have breaking point. for the past five years we have been dealing with austerity and pay freezes, pay caps, and increased demand and decreased resilience. we have been dealing with increased terror threat. it has got to the end of the line. police officers do notjoin the police service to make huge amounts of money. they simply do not. but they wa nt to money. they simply do not. but they want to be able to do theirjob and be paid fairly and have a pay mechanism that listens to their concerns and takes notice of the evidence and the government that listens to the independent pay review body. to be honest, i am at my wits end as to where we go next in terms of beginning and continuing

to push the argument of further reforms that are needed around pay. a final thing, while you were speaking there i have got a statement in from the police minister. i will scan it quickly. he says, the police officers have a step in the right direction with the offer. we will not please everyone. he says the offer was affordable to force is an added we should recognise the police system is sitting on land leased £1.5 billion tax payers' money in reserve. he says a 1% bonus element was structured in a way that balances burners with affordability. we will not please everyone. then he crucially, asked about the 2018—19 pay deal, he said, what the police can expect is we will work very closely over the next months to get a good understanding of the demands in the system, how they are managing that, how they will manage that £1.5 billion worth of reserves they are sitting on. are you comfortable with

the fact he is focusing in that area? in terms of where the money comes from, that is an issue for government and police and crime commissioner is. the issue for us is that actually the pay award announced today is going to cost something in the region of £50 million. it is almost nothing. the overall pay bill for police is 6.9 billion. when you compare it to other spending departments it is very small. you must get the safety and security of the country right in orderfor and security of the country right in order for everything else to fall into place. i am not convinced that by publicly having a debate around forces having money in reserve and this kind of stuff is particularly helpful. what we must have is a properly resourced and funded police service with well motivated, experienced officers, who feel that the government respects what they do, that the service respects what

they do and they are fairly remunerated for it and we are not there. good of you to come in. thank you. steve white with his response. we stay with this theme. the news about public sector pay came as the latest inflation figures were published. it rose by more than expected last month to its joint highest level in more than five years. the office for national statistics says inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index, rose to 2.9% in august, up from 2.6% injuly. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity reports. with every month, the average wage buys less of this. for most of the last ten years, food prices kept on dropping, as did the price of many imported goods. but then the pound dropped in value. firms like this cake shop now have to spend more pounds to get the dollars or euros they need to get the supplies from abroad. and now those cost rises are feeding through. big increase in the price of butter, which has gone up 100% over the last 12 months and a big increase in the price of sugar which has gone up by a0%.

for us, it will definitely not mean changing the ingredients or downsizing the size of portions and things like that so we have put our prices up by about 10% over the last year, which has helped. we've obviously looked at our suppliers and done a lot of work to reduce the costs they're passing on to us. companies with rising costs face a dilemma, especially in a competitive industry like food. raise prices too much and customers might go elsewhere. raise them too little, and those higher costs will start eating into whatever profit you hope to make. at 2.9%, inflation returned to a four—year high which was first hit last may. among the pressures on the cost of living was petrol, up 5.1%, and clothing, which also rose by 5.1%. in the city, traders had not expected the cost of living to rise quite this fast. now, the prediction is that interest rates might arise from their record low as soon as february.

that pushed up the value of the pound this morning, as set against the dollar. but some economists still think there is no need to raise rates any time soon. the bank of england has a difficult decision to make on this, because inflation is rising well above wage growth, and that means that household incomes are being squeezed. we think that they will probably keep interest rates unchanged for another couple of years. whether for luxuries or essentials, prices on average continue to rise faster than the average wage. for now, though, most of the interest rate setters at the bank of england are sticking to their belief that this latest bout of inflation and the squeeze on living standards are temporarily. this is bbc news at 5.15. the headlines: the cap on public sector pay rises is to be lifted, but only for police and prison

officers in england and wales. the announcement comes as the latest inflation figures rise to the highest level in more than five years. foreign secretary borisjohnson flies to the caribbean amid criticism of britain's response to rai al—youm. in sports the england women's manager mark samson tells the bbc he is not a racist. it follows claims are bullying and determination made against them by the straker. he lost an appeal against the length of his ban and was sent off against manchester city at the weekend. the champions league group stage starts tonight with manchester united, chelsea and celtic in action. the latter attempting to contain paris saintjermaine's forward line. i will be back with more of those stories at 5:30pm. nine members of the same family have beenjailed for a total of nearly 80 years for offences related to slavery,

as well as assault and theft. the case at nottingham crown court heard the family took advantage of vulnerable men, and forced them to do manual labour while making them live in cramped conditions with no running water or toilet facilities. let's speak to our correspondent sima kotecha who joins us now from nottingham crown court. tell us about this case and the outcome. the rooneys ran an operation and recruited vulnerable men, some homeless and with mental health problems, some addicted to alcohol and drugs, and the force them to run their road surfacing business for them. they made them live in cramped ca rava ns them. they made them live in cramped caravans with no running water or heating, no toilet facilities. today nine members of that family were jailed for these modern slavery offences, including a farmer and two offences, including a farmer and two of his twin sons. the judge when handing down the sentence, timothy

spencer qc, told the family, you deluded yourself that the life you offered them was better than life on the street. you denied these men the opportunity to exercise free well and stripped them of dignity and humanity. here we also heard about what some of the victims are appealing. they were not there in person but thejudge appealing. they were not there in person but the judge quoted some of them. i have a quote here. he said, like with the rooneys was a living hell. i still fear being beaten by them. thank you for the update their at nottingham. 0ur correspondent at nottingham. 0ur correspondent at nottingham crown court. one of the greatest names in the history of british theatre, sir peter hall, has died at the age of 86. he founded the royal shakespeare company at the age of 29, and went on to become the director of the national theatre. 0ur correspondent nick higham looks back at the life of the man described as a colossus. i think she wants to be that side of the camera. give me a stage and three actors and a text and i have the confidence to know instinctively what should be done.

he started as britain's most talented young director, charismatic and adventurous. samuel beckett's waiting for godot was a theatrical bombshell — atjust 2a, peter hall directed the uk premiere. at stratford, aged 29, he created the royal shakespeare company. not bad for the working—class son of a railwayman. we are not going to read the play — embarrass each other and ourselves. the rsc was a company of international standard which attracted the very best actors. peggy ashcroft was one, here in an early hall triumph — a reworking of shakespeare's henry vi plays as the wars of the roses. sir peter was a visionary. he was a colossus, striding the world of the british theatre. in a way it would be iniquitous to pick out any individual production.

i think his greatest legacy must be the company he formed, the royal shakespeare company. but the wunderkind suffered a nervous breakdown and quit. only to re—emerge as laurence olivier's successor as director of the new national theatre being built on london's southbank. he revelled in his new role. it is a very, very complex, very stimulating job because it is both concerned with management and with art. he combined creative flair with a phenomenal workrate, administrative skill and formidable powers of persuasion. ah, yes. he transferred national productions like amadeus to the commercial stage, and later formed his own company to direct classics and new plays in london, bath and on tour. he loved opera too, and for six years was artistic director at glyndebourne, where he demonstrated

that an opera's director can be as important as its conductor. and he also made films like this nostalgic portrait of rural life in a suffolk village like the one he'd grown up in. he gets to here, somewhere — he trips. you will appreciate we can only do it once. it was shot mainly at weekends, using amateur actors. it was the work of a fine director and talented impresario, who ended his career as the grand old man of british theatre. the notable tributes to sir peter hall who has died at the age of 86. and now someone well qualified to talk about sir peter hall, we have sir trevor nunn with us who succeeded peter at the royal shakespeare company. idid not shakespeare company. i did not want him to go but yes.

where on earth do we begin to talk about his contribution? i suppose i can begin at the beginning by saying that all the way back to 1960 i quite coincidentally went to a lecture and heard this young man talking about a vision of the theatre where there would be a permanent company, where it would be shared and antique wall. there would be democracy in the company and it would be an ensemble. it would be the most educated and trained shakespeare company in the world. it would be in competition with the moscow theatre and the berliner ensemble, and that young man turned out to be peter hall and he made that vision happen, the royal shakespeare company, and then went further than that. there was a kind

of hubris and madness in him that he also said, we have to have a theatre in london. my company has to be seen in london. my company has to be seen in london as well, a permanent home in london, and so therefore we are not just in london, and so therefore we are notjust going to do the plays of shakespeare, we are going to do classic plays from all other traditions and do new plays. so the same actors, his genius shakespeare actors, were playing harold pinter. a lot has been said today about his ambition and vision, and you just outlined it again. and people talk about his background and they try to match up these things. where did the ambition come from and his vision come from? can you shed light on that? not really, no. i can shed light on the background because one of the first conversations i had with peter, we realised that we were both from suffolk and therefore we were both suffolk boys and started to

talk like that. it became something that linked us on hundreds of occasions. he found that very funny. but i think very, very quick, brilliant, clever boy that went to a school on a scholarship and could not have got their otherwise but then got into cambridge. cambridge university has always had this theatrical tradition, an extraordinary diversity of theatrical presentation amongst the students. peter did a reprehensible number of productions when he was a student, far more than his tutors would have wanted him to do, to the point where when he left i think he must have felt like, i am a professional already. this is what i do. i go from production to production and therefore very early

on he made a revolutionary difference. he ran the theatre in london called the arts theatre between 1955 and 57, and early on in that regime he directed a play, a new play no one had heard of, called waiting for godot. if he had only done that in his entire career, we would be sitting here saying he had changed the british theatre forever. he did change the british theatre forever. that kind of ensemble he made gave him the confidence, i think, to then take on the national theatre project. you would need a kind of madness and daring to say, i am going to take the national theatre into a custom—built, three theatre venue, and in that venue

each of those theatres is going to operate a repertoire and the range of the repertoire is going to be from shakespeare all the way through to, let's say, guys and dolls. it will be theatre for everyone. he had a speed of thought and a charisma and a daring that the rest of us cannot approach. here is a rotten question. what was his greatest achievement in theatre? 0f his greatest achievement in theatre? of course, i am biased and therefore iam going of course, i am biased and therefore i am going to say creating the possibility of the royal shakespeare company, because i think that is where it all started. the notion that there could be a national theatre was based on his accomplishments and achievements very early on. that was with the royal shakespeare company. his

shakespeare productions were stunningly original, but he always insisted that we do shakespeare plays because they are relevant and because they apply to the wealth that we are living in. therefore he would never schedule a shakespeare because we haven't run that one for a while because, i think its term has come. no. we will only do it if there is something we want to say with it and threw it. final question, i must ask you this. is peter the man, the man to deal with comedy personality, the individual, how would you describe him? i counted him as one of my best friends, and it was a french that lasted for 50 years. and therefore i describe him as being wonderfully approachable and brilliantly amusing and wonderfully insightful, to have

and wonderfully insightful, to have a political conversation with peter was revelatory. i frequently said to him,i was revelatory. i frequently said to him, ithink was revelatory. i frequently said to him, i think you should give up the theatre and stand as an mp, and very soon theatre and stand as an mp, and very soon you theatre and stand as an mp, and very soon you will be the prime minister and will have a better country. it was great to talk to you, and thank you for coming in. a great pleasure. we are grateful to sir trevor nunn. the foreign secretary borisjohnson is heading to the british virgin islands today, to see for himself the damage caused by hurricane irma at the weekend. the government has been criticised for being slow in its response to the disaster. 700 british troops and 50 police officers have been deployed, and more aid supplies are on their way. hurricane irma, the strongest ever recorded in the atlantic ocean, is now fading away as it passes over the american state of georgia. our correspondent richard lister reports. a tropical paradise reduced to rubble. this is tortola — the largest

of the british virgin islands and the most heavily populated. just imagine trying to live here now. there are 1a other inhabited islands in the bvi just like this. the people here are british citizens and they are looking to the uk for help. and britain is helping. at raf brize norton, giant transport aircraft have been loaded with hundreds of tonnes of aid for the region. they are taking emergency supplies as well as timber and building equipment. there have been eight such flights in the past few days, and the government rejects criticism that its response has been too slow. we responded very quickly. we had a ship there already, not by chance, we always put a ship into the region for the hurricane season. that ship has been helping since thursday in anguilla and the british virgin islands. we have 900 troops out there now. we have three helicopters out there.

the aid effort is under way. hms ocean sets off from gibraltar today with a crew of 700 who specialise in disaster relief. they won't arrive in the caribbean until late next week, but they'll be part of what the british government says will be a long—term reconstruction effort. several of the worst—hit caribbean countries are french, and president macron arrived in guadeloupe to see what more was needed. his government has asked for british help with the aid effort. translation: now the priority is a return to normal life, thinking about people on the island and then the time will come for evaluation of responsibilities. i'm all in favour of this. on st martin, mr macron's next stop, the slow and dirty work of the clean—up continues. the islanders here have been doing this for days. not everyone has the means to clear up, says wilfred. "i'm lucky to have gloves but there are many who don't."

in florida, the recovery is going to cost tens of billions of dollars. this is orlando — at least 5 million people are still without power in florida. many have been returning to ruined homes. the florida keys, an island chain in the south, were worst hit and are still cut off. irma didn't discriminate as it barrelled through a vast swathe of territory, taking homes, property and livelihoods of anyone in its path. richard lister, bbc news. some breaking news. we are told that the public relations phone, belle pottinger, has collapsed and gone into administration. -- bell pottinger. they failed to find a buyer amid allegations that they ran a racially divisive campaign in

south africa. these are protests against claims that it ran a racially motivated campaign in south africa. bell pottinger has gone into administration having failed to find administration having failed to find a buyer. headlines and sport coming up. now let's take a look at the weather. we have our first named storm coming up, aileen, coming this way. already persistent rain in northern ireland, western scotland, wales and parts of england. for northern ireland and scotland, a wet night and for england and wales, potentially very windy with gusts between a0 and 50 mph, 60 in some western coasts. for a time, as the low—pressure bridges across northern england and parts of wales we may see gusts locally of 75 mph, strong enough to damage trees, perhaps branches down and even entire trees. maybe some disruption

to transport. it will pull away into the north sea tomorrow morning but still some strong gale force winds and persistent rain band behind it, more sunshine and showers with the wind slowly easing down but still feeling quite cold, between 1a and 18 celsius. this is bbc news at 5 — the headlines. the cap on public sector pay is to be lifted, but only for police and prison officers in england and wales. police will get a 1% rise, and an extra bonus, while prison officers will get 1.7% this year. the announcement comes as the latest inflation figures rise to the highest level in more than five years, nearly 3%. members of a traveller family from lincolnshire are convicted of modern day slavery offences and given long prison sentences. the foreign secretary borisjohnson flies to the caribbean, amid criticism of britain's response

to hurricane irma. and tributes to sir peter hall, one of the greatest figures in the history british theatre, who's died at the age of 86. sport now, here'sjohn watson. the england women's manager mark sampson has told the bbc that he's not a racist. it follows allegations of discrimination and bullying made against him by striker eni aluko. he was cleared in two separate investigations of any wrongdoing. he's been speaking to our sports editor dan roan. did you ever belittle, victimised or bully eni aluko when she was a memberof the bully eni aluko when she was a member of the squad? absolutely not, my intention, working with all of our players, eni included, was to give them the best chance to perform for england. that's always been the

case for myself and the staff and i believe the environment we have and the work we've done is reflected in the work we've done is reflected in the performances we've achieved over the performances we've achieved over the last three and a half years. liverpool will be without forward sadio mane for three matches after the fa turned down their appeal against the length of his ban, following his red card against manchester city at the weekend. the player was sent off in the first half after catching the city goalkeeper ederson in the face with a high foot. the club tried to argue that the ban was excessive. it means he'll miss the next two premier league matches and liverpool's efl cup tie with leicester. the champions league group stage begins tonight with the scottish champions celtic taking on the most expensive forward line in world football, that of paris saint germain. they've spent £a00 million, 200 million of that on the brazilian forward neymar. they also have kylian mbappe and edinson cavani in their ranks. celtic let in 9 goals home and away to barcelona last season but did manage two draws against manchester city. the eyes of the world will be on

this game. and it is one that come like i say, we are in real good condition to go into the tournament this time. the players are very clear on their role and clear in terms of how we handle these types of pressure games. this is a game to enjoy. barcelona againstjuventus is another stand—out match. premier league champions chelsea are at home and face champions league debutants qara bag from azerbaijan. manchester united were in the europa league last season, but won it to qualify for the champions league. first up for them, swiss side basle at old trafford. sam warburton will miss the rugby union autumn internationals. the cardiff blues and wales flanker has suffered a recurrence of a long—standing neck injury and needs surgery. he captained the lions in the drawn series against new zealand this summer and was due to face the all blacks again for his country. he aggravated the problem training with blues this week and is expected to be out for up to four months.

that's all sport for now. you can keep up to date with all those stories on the bbc sport website. more on our main story, that the cap on public sector pay is to be lifted, but only for police and prison officers in england and wales. union leaders have responded, by demanding a pay rise for all public sector workers, who've been affected by a combination of pay freezes and pay caps, for the past 7 years. we spoke to the police federation who said that even though they had been awarded the pay rise, they said it was totally inadequate. downing street said that pavey view bodies across the public sector are being given more flexibility, looking into the next financial year which is

taken to be a signal that the pay cap is coming to an end. liz truss explained why ministers have singled out the lease and prison officers this time. there are specific issues in specific areas, we are moving away from a blanket approach so we can look at schools, the nhs and police forces separately. we are moving more money to the front line in public services. we did that with our schools announcement recently. we are ensuring that we get value for money in what we are spending but there will be a process that we will go through, looking at the specific issues we face. it is vitally important for the success of public services that we pay public sector workers fairly and that we retain people and keep them in the profession and we can recruit new people as well. liz truss speaking earlier today. in 2011 there was a review of pay in

the public sector commissioned by the public sector commissioned by the government of the time. joining me now from westminster is the economist will hutton. thank you forjoining us. can we ask your thoughts on the way that the award has been shaped? well... firstly i think there has been a seven—year pay cap, i think public sector pay in the round has seriously lagged the growth of private sector pay, even allowing for some of the advantages of public sector work, job security, reduced pension benefits. you're getting recruitment problems. in the police particularly, prison officers particularly. that's also the case with teachers. so there needed to be, there had to be some increased ability in these pay review bodies to make recommendations reflecting what was going on in the market that

the government wouldn't reject outright. so this is a welcome moment for public services in the uk. and the quality public services. i know that people say that should be more, but this wouldn't have happened, i think, be more, but this wouldn't have happened, ithink, even be more, but this wouldn't have happened, i think, even six months ago. it's a result of the election. the outlook for public sector expenditure and tax revenues has looked a little bit better than people had expected. interesting statement from nick hurd, the police minister, who said that we should recognise that the police system is sitting on at least £1.5 billion worth of tax payers money in reserves. what is he referring to and how does that play into the picture? i don't think that every. .. every department of state and every sub element of department of state like the police budget have a

contingency reserve. that money is allocated but it's not a kind of money tree from which you campaign increased pay which goes on to the second, third and fourth year because that becomes the basis for all pay. this is the contingency for say a terrorist attack, expenditure on increased collaboration with whoever about whatever threat appears. it's not a... whoever about whatever threat appears. it's nota... i'm whoever about whatever threat appears. it's not a... i'm surprised to find nick hurd saying that. i think some eyebrows may be cocked in the treasury at the idea that you can spend an annual reserve on an ongoing spending commitment, that isn't good housekeeping. and talking about the next financial year with

more flexibility, how much should we read into that? does that mean the cap, in effect, is disappearing? that is the cap disappearing, but not completely. what's going to take place, there will be the normal cash limits for departments within which they will be able to make allocations to reflect, as far as possible, what the pay review body has suggested. but it is an escape from the current flat rate 1%. independent of what was happening in the labour market, people's living standards, whether they were struggling to get by, you've just got 1%. we're leaving those days behind and that's an important concession by the government. one point on affordability, given that we've talked endlessly about austerity over the last seven years plus. when the police federation says that this doesn't get anywhere near making up for what we've lost

out on in real terms, could the government afford to pay more? of course it could. i think it's long overdue for ministers, in particular conservative ministers, to honestly recognise that actually if the british want the average public services by international standards, and actually we want better than average, we want best in class, they don't come forfree average, we want best in class, they don't come for free and you simply have to raise the tax revenues to support that level of expenditure. taxation as a share of gdp is towards the bottom of the international league table now. there is scope to raise taxes, obviously not cut them, which would permit us, if we choose, to pay the teachers, prison officer is, police officers, the rates they would expect given the level of skill, education and their importance to us. education and their importance to us. there was a period when you could justify this, just about, as

they are taking a share of the burden of austerity. no longer. i think there is a big national debate about this, especially in the context of brexit. we must recognise that if we want holiday public services, we've got to pay for them. thank you forjoining us. three men, including two british serving soldiers, have appeared in court in london charged with terror offences. they are all accused of membership of the banned neo—nazi group national action. they are due to appear at the old bailey later this month. police say a man arrested on suspicion of murdering the daughter of the holby city actor john michie at the bestival event, is also being questioned on suspicion of supplying a class a drug.

the body of 25—year—old louella eve fletcher—michie was found in a wooded area on the edge of the site at lulworth castle in dorset, yesterday. the uk plans to keep contributing to eu defence operations, and to agree joint foreign policy positions, after brexit. a government paper makes clear the uk is ready to continue contributing troops, equipment, expertise and money to eu operations, and to align foreign policy with brussels where appropriate. it also promises co—operation in imposing sanctions on other states. the paper is the latest in a series setting out the government's aims for brexit negotiations. joining me now via webcam from tel aviv is colonel richard kemp, former commander of british forces in afghanistan, and member of veterans for britain, who campaigned for the uk to leave the eu. very good of you to join us. very good of you tojoin us. i'm just wondering, in principle, what do you make of this broad direction of this paper today? well, i think it's quite a shocking move that the government is making. what it

effectively does come it is binding us effectively does come it is binding us into a far closer european union defence union or eu army, in slang terms, than we've ever had while we we re terms, than we've ever had while we were members. we're going to be committed to becoming part of an eu army after we leave the eu, we're going to be paying money into the eu defence fund, their central budget. our money is then going to be spent by the eu on all forms of equipment such as ships and aircraft, drones, submarines and various other forms of military hardware, plus headquarters, intelligence organisations, that we won't have a say in. we will have it defence out of british hands. what is your reading on why it is being put forward? my understanding is

that it put forward? my understanding is thatitis put forward? my understanding is that it is being done as a bargaining chip against what our officials considered to be maybe higher stakes, big economic concessions from the eu. u nfortu nately concessions from the eu. unfortunately it is more than a bargaining chip, it is giving away two the eu the complete deck of cards of our defence and i think it shows in some ways how the little —— how little the government regard defence that they are prepared to give up control of it to the eu. it isn't just people give up control of it to the eu. it isn'tjust people who voted for brexit who want to maintain control, but polls showed from around the time of the referendum that the majority of people, even those who wa nted majority of people, even those who wanted to stay in the eu, did not wa nt wanted to stay in the eu, did not want the eu to take control of our defences. it's one of those areas where some people, they are today, they say it is one area where even if you are a brexit supporter, it makes sense to be collaborating and cooperating on. it is an area that

makes sense to be reaching out. there's no question that you are right on that, we should be collaborating and cooperating on defence, security, intelligence, counterterrorism with the eu. we are the most potent auditory force in the most potent auditory force in the eu. we don't have two surrender military control and effectively betray our armed services, as i would describe it, by giving control to the eu commission and council, of our armed forces. we can still pull our armed forces. we can still pull our weight on defence, security and counterterrorism without being part of the eu. we give more in these areas and have always given more to the eu than we ever received from them and there's no reason why we shouldn't carry on doing that. i'm in favour of full collaboration but we shouldn't be subordinate to the eu. the majority should be in nato. this move, creating effectively an eu army will undermine nato,

alienate the united states, who aren't going to like this one bit and it will damage our relationship with america as well. to be clear, accusing ministers of betraying our armed forces, that's a very strong thing to say, isn't it? i think it's a betrayal of the armed forces because it demonstrates how little regard they hold the armed forces in. we've seen how deeply they have cut back the armed forces, eroding and undermining the standard of living and the quality of life for our troops and now we see how little significance is given to them, when they want to give away control of they want to give away control of the armed forces for the economic gains. i'm not disputing the importance of the economic position but i don't think anything is worth giving away control of our armed forces. why would stand by what i said about it betraying forces but it also betrays the country. the

primary duty of every government is to defend the country. a sovereign government, as we are going to be when we leave the eu, should not be surrendering its decision—making on defence to the extent that this suggests it will come to an organisation like the eu, with which we should retain as a sovereign government. thank you forjoining us. government. thank you forjoining us. responding to that paper that has been released today. almost a00 thousand rohingya muslims have now fled across the border from myanmar to bangladesh, since the latest upsurge in violence, which began at the end of august. the prime minister of bangladesh, visiting one of the refugee camps, called on myanamar to take the refugees back. the un said yesterday that the treatment of the rohingya by myanmar, a mainly bhuddist country, amounted to "ethnic cleansing". the un is holding an urgent meeting tomorrow to discuss the crisis. our south asia correspondent justin rowlatt reports. roshida is nine months pregnant.

she is expecting any day. but this is where she is living, with 15 other family members and is almost certainly where she will have to give birth. translation: i am worried. there is no help. nobody is getting any food. here there is no rice, no vegetables, nothing. i'm starving. she hiked for seven days through hills and jungle to get here, after her village was burnt to the ground. we've seen her and herfamily moved on by the authorities. and driven off the land by fellow refugees. many nights, she's had to sleep under the skies despite the monsoon rain. now her baby is sick and her husband has jaundice. and tens of thousands of other refugees are, like her, living in these filthy,

makeshift cities that are mushrooming on the muddy hilltops here. they arrive bewildered. if they want a plastic sheet or bamboo to make a shelter, they pay. they often have to fight just to get food. these guys are well—meaning bangladeshis just trying to help out, but just look how chaotic this is. it is so demeaning for these people to have to beg for food. there is growing criticism of the way bangladesh is handling this crisis. we have to give them shelter so that they can live and they can get some food and medication, with the humble way we are. all the big international aid bodies and agencies are here, but the government has put restrictions on what they can do

and where they can work. we're doing the best we can with the government. there needs to be more co—ordination. we need to sit together and plan better. we need to mobilise support. itjust seems as if it's not being organised. there's no kind of organisation here. the airlifts are coming in. we're bringing tents, we're bringing relief items. what needs to happen next is for us to work closer together, to make sure that the land is allocated, temporary shelter is provided, so things can be a little more organised. and that is what we are discussing with the government, to see how we can provide assistance, not just unhcr, but other agencies, provide assistance in an equitable way. and while that discussion takes place, just look at this. refugees sit amongst a litter of unwanted clothes. they've been given out of generosity, but what these people really need is nutritious food, fresh water, sanitation. somewhere clean

to live and to sleep. roshida needs medical care and a safe, clean place to have her baby. what she, what all the refugees need, is a home. justin rowlatt, bbc news. solving the traffic problems near stonehenge, on the major road from london to the west country, has exercised transport experts for decades. dozens of schemes have been put forward and rejected. but now the government has finally approved plans to dig a road tunnel near the ancient monument in wiltshire, to ease congestion on the a303. our correspondent duncan kennedy is there. good evening from stonehenge, a monument that gets 1.3 million visitors a year but the problem isn't that, it is this, the 8303,

running alongside it, getting 25,000 vehicles every day. —— the a303. the government proposalfor vehicles every day. —— the a303. the government proposal for a tunnel has the support of many heritage groups but others say that it doesn't go far enough. from the thunderous blight of this... to the wondrous sight of this. the a303 and stonehenge have long been unhappy partners in this world heritage landscape. but now there is this. the government's plan to put 1.8 miles of the a303 into a tunnel as it passes the stones. the £1.6 billion project has the support of english heritage and the national trust. but even for them it is a qualified welcome for today's news — so delicate are the archaeological challenges of protecting this unique site. we believe this is a solution that's got real potential to benefit the world heritage site. we will support this scheme as long

as and subject to it being designed and delivered in a way that does protect it. proposals for a tunnel past stonehenge were first announced in 1989, but were repeatedly dropped because of rows about the cost and the route. if you stand by the stones you're interested in looking at the stones. and there are still many who fear the new tunnel option may protect stonehenge but not the surrounding countryside — also rich in neolithic remains. the tunnel will take the road away from the central part of the world heritage site. but as unesco points out, the whole site is important, and for its archaeology. the tunnel cuttings will destroy archaeology. around 25,000 vehicles use the a303 every day. having road next to ruins has been a dilemma — not quite 5,000 years in the making — but one that now has a firm if controversial solution in sight.

there is one more year of consultations to go but if the government gets the final go—ahead next year, digging may begin around 2020 and the son tunnel —— the tunnel could open in around 2026. the latest on the transport problems around stonehenge. coming up to 6pm. the weather now. wet and windy weather coming this evening and overnight because we have our first named storm, aileen, already bringing persistent rain across northern ireland, western scotla nd across northern ireland, western scotland and into wales and west in england as well. northern ireland and scotland, the wind is in such a feature but across much of england and wales, windy conditions this evening and overnight, gusts up to 50 mph, 60 in some western and

channel coasts and we have an amber warning from the met office. parts of northern england and northern wales may see gusts up to 75 mph, enough to do damage to trees and maybe even bring them down. disruption possible to transport. bbc radio can keep you up to date. aileen moving into the north sea tomorrow morning but still some go force winds across the coasts tomorrow. leaving the day broadly of sunshine and showers, the wind easing down. feeling quite cool, between 1a and 18 celsius. tonight at six: the public sector pay cap — the measure that symbolised austerity

for millions — is to be scrapped. the police go to the front of the queue — they and prison officers will see bigger rises this year. others have to wait till next year. now is the time to move to a more flexible approach to make sure we do deal with any issues we've got in the public services. shopping bills are going up — inflation hits nearly 3% — and unions say pay will have to keep pace — and more. the government is making a big mistake in thinking it can get away with just lifting the cap. people have waited seven long years. the extra pay comes from existing budgets — so where does that leave public services? also tonight: paradise lost — we're in the turks and caicos islands where they're