the prime minister says the cabinet is fully behind her, as a former tory party chairman calls for a leadership contest. mrs may sought to quash speculation over her position after a conference speech full of mishaps. what i think is necessary for the country now, what the country needs, is calm leadership, that's exactly what i'm providing and i'm providing that with the full support of my cabinet. thank you. but grant shapps said there were 30 tory mps who wanted a leadership election, and that some in the cabinet back them. also tonight: the fragile state of the economy, new productivity figures show britain is falling further behind other leading nations. warnings about babies at bedtime, a series of positioning products are withdrawn after they're linked to infant deaths. vigils in vegas for the victims of this week's mass shooting, but the gun lobby stands firm in the face of criticism. and the stars of coronation street pay tribute to ‘our vera' at the funeral of the actress liz dawn. coming up in sportsday on bbc news.

we'll have the latest on wales‘ bid to reach next year's world cup finals in russia as they take on georgia. good evening, welcome to the bbc news at six. theresa may has said she has the "full support of her cabinet" after a former party chairman said there should be a leadership contest. the prime minister said the country needed "calm leadership" and declared "that's what i'm providing." but grant shapps claims that around 30 tory mps back his call for a leadership contest, adding "there are cabinet ministers who feel the same way." our deputy political editor, john pienaar, reports. if only theresa may's bodyguard

could see off the political plots, but that's up to her friends and to her, away from westminster today, and doing her best to look cool, still in charge, getting on with business. what i think is necessary for the country now, what the country needs, is calm leadership, that's exactly what i'm providing, and i'm providing that with the full support of my cabinet. thank you. maybe, but not all ex—cabinet collea g u es maybe, but not all ex—cabinet colleagues from happier times like the former party chairman, who has been outed as a plotter and admits stirring mutiny. gathering names of oratory mps who want the prime minister gone and gone quickly. well, actually, just over a period of time, since the general election that went so badly wrong, there are quite a lot of colleagues who feel we might now be better served by having a leadership election sooner rather than later. this was really to try to gather those people together in order to be able to say

that to her. mr shapps claims some 30 mp5 that to her. mr shapps claims some 30 mps support a plan to get mrs may out and force a leadership contest, including five former ministers. under tory rules it takes 48 mps tos force a vote of in confidence, if she lose that is vote, she must resign. allies say rebels don't have the numbers. i was in the hall when the numbers. i was in the hall when the conservative party rose as one to give her a thunderous standing ovation. . i've been in receipt of telephone calls from people until my constituency saying, get behind theresa may. i have said to them, absolutely we are all behind theresa may. he needs 48 signatures to trigger an election for the leadership of the conservative party. he says he's got up to 30. that could be eight. i suspect suspect that he hasn't got anywhere near what he needs. that is why he's doing this tantrum at the moment. near what he needs. that is why he's doing this tantrum at the momenta the time mps gather here next week, mrs may's team feel sure they will seen off this assault, at least for now. privately among tory mps there

is no longer much debate about whether mrs may will be driven out of office, just about when. few seem #2r50u8 to believe she can fight through another election and just now she's looking to weakened that even lasting through to brexit, less than 18 months away, looks like a tall order. that accident prone speech was tough to watch, even for ministers who are thought to fancy herjob. she tried to revive her premiership and everything went wrong. watching her and ambitious collea g u es wrong. watching her and ambitious colleagues it's hard to avoid thinking — be care of you wish for. john is at westminster for us now. how do you assess the outlook for mrs may? it seems theresa may isn't finished yet. on she goes, driven by her own sense of duty and with the cold comfort of knowing that many of her colleagues think it would be madness to have a leadership contest with brexit at such a delegate stage. 0thers simply dislike the idea of splitting the party at a time like this. they dislike it more

than carrying on with a wounded leader. another prime minister, yea rs leader. another prime minister, years ago, harold wilson, famously said, "i know what's going on, i'm going on." that's theresa may's message now, but business as usual looks tough. next week the government is going to be publishing legislation to cap energy bills. labour is enjoying itself saying — we had that idea first, are you just playing copy—cat. she will report on brexit. brussels are already saying they want much more detail on the terms of divorce before they even discuss the future. time is pressing for brexit and recovering against labour and for mrs may. she looks more and more like a leader on borrowed time, running out of credit and waiting for the next crisis which, its seems, is neverfar away. john, thank you. john pienaar there. new figures show that productivity in the uk labour force fell in the second quarter of the year. the office for national statistics says the amount each worker produces per hour is down 0.1%. uk productivity is now more

than 15% below other major advanced economies. 0ur economics correspondent, andy verity, reports. at this glass maker growth starts with a glob of molten sand. at each stage of the process where it's melted shaped and transformed the firm analysed how to trim costs and boost the amount each worker produce, their productivity. that in turn can boost the amount each worker is paid. our turnover has doubled and our productivity has tripled. there are small things we can do. we reduced our energy costs by 30% by changing the style of doors. furnaces didn't have doors. they were invented and designed especially for us. small change that brought about massive benefit to the company. that is the exception, not the rule. before the financial

crisis each worker produced more each year as employers invested in technology and training. it's no higher than it was a decade ago. if it had kept growing like it did before the crisis we would produce a fifth more per worker than we do now. we are not the only ones struggling to produce productivity. we are behind italy and france and far behind germany. productivity has been slipping backwards in britain since the financial crisis. that meansjobs that since the financial crisis. that means jobs that are lower paid, that people have to work more hours on. not only that, we are slipping behind other countries. that's going to make it incredibly difficult for britain to grow, we are the slowest growing g7 economy. it will make it really difficult for brits to look forward to better jobs, really difficult for brits to look forward to betterjobs, to look forward to betterjobs, to look forward to better wages. the treasury had been expecting productivity to grow, not to slump. the official forecasts look wrong leaving the chancellor with a headache. with the economy predicted

to grow slowly the taxes won't roll in so fast, he will have less money set aside in case of emergency. the chancellor had thought he would have a rainy day fund of £26 billion. money he could spend or use for tax cuts without busting his self—imposed financial targets. when official figures self—imposed financial targets. when officialfigures are self—imposed financial targets. when official figures are revised at the next budget, much of that money won't be there. andy verity, bbc news. a father has lost his claim for damages against an ivf clinic after his former partner forged his signature in order to have a child. the man had been seeking more than £1 million to pay for his daughter's private education and her wedding. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, is here. what was the background to this case? this couple had a turbulent, one might say toxic relationship. they had one child through ivf and when they split up in 2010 the judge said the mother resorted to

desperate and dishonest measures to have a second child. she forged her ex—partners signature on documents in order to get frozen embryos implanted. she informed her ex—partner via a text message on valentine's day that she was pregnant. their daughter is now six yea rs old pregnant. their daughter is now six years old and the father had sought seven figure damages from the ivf clinic to pay for her upbringing including private education, holidays and a gap—year. the claim was dismissed. the high court said the clinic, ivf hammersmith, had acted with reasonable care. although the father lost his case, the judge said his ruling mounted to a "com plete said his ruling mounted to a "complete personal and moral vindication of the father." 0k. fergus, thank you. several high street retailers, including tesco and mothercare, have stopped selling baby sleep positioners — also known as baby nests — because of concerns

about their safety. a us health regulator said they can cause suffocation and have been linked to 12 infant deaths in america. the products are aimed at babies under six months old and are designed to keep them in the same position while they sleep. sima kotecha reports. how to make sure your baby sleeps safely and peacefully. a question all mums and dads want the answer to. one suggestion — a sleep positioner, or as it is sometimes called a nest or a pod. it moulds itself around the baby to keep it in position. but today some shops have stopped selling them after concerns from america that they could lead to suffocation. following advice from the health regulator in the us, john lieu you whiches and mothercare, which sold one baby sleep positioner, have have withdrawn them from sale ebay and tesco who sold them through third party suppliers

will not sell them online. 12 infant deaths in the us have been linked to the sleep positioner. parents say they are anxious on deciding which equipment to use on their babies. they say the story had impact and best to follow the advice given by the healthcare professionals. it's quite a worry to know whether you are doing the right thing. you want to do the right thing for your babies. you don't want to put them in any danger as a new it's a bad mum. ly positioned tragedy we shouldn't blame specific items because there has been something happen because of it. lack of sleep and everything you are desperate as and everything you are desperate as a mum to do anything that makes you feel the baby will sleep better. definitely an article like that, highlighting the dangers, i think it will make you think — no, it's not worth it. you know, go without the sleep. a charity which advises the nhs has these recommendations. babies are safest lying on firm, flat surfaces. they can and do move

like every other human, they don't necessarily have as good control of their bob bodies as young ages as adults do. they can get into trouble and not be able to get out of that again. sleep is especially precious for newborn babies, making sure it's healthy and comfortable is just as important, while eliminating any danger is crucial. sima kotecha, bbc news, birmingham. in las vegas, vigils have been held to remember the 58 people murdered in the deadliest mass shooting in modern american history. but some of those who survived the attack have since told the bbc they remain fiercely opposed to tighter gun control. 0ur correspondent, james cook, reports. # amazing grace, how sweet thy sound # their

# their dark # their dark darkest # their dark darkest hour # their dark darkest hour they # their dark darkest hour they have # their dark darkest hour they have their dark dar turned # their dark darkest hour they have turned to their god. the massacre in las vegas struck at the heart of the christian country music community. these are patriotic americans. they are proud of their country and of its freedoms, including the right to carry a gun, even after the deadliest of mass shootings. we lost my uncle from a head wound on tuesday afternoon. tara king is the niece of brett, 61 years old. my unning thele was the funniest, funniest, hill billy, red neck, country music loving good 0ldboy. this was brett at the concert with his fiancee. even though tighter gun laws may have perhaps saved his life

his niece is resolute. we are the lad of free. we are here because we are free to make our your uncle was choices. shot and killed by a gunman. yes. that doesn't change your view? absolutely not. are you kidding me. my uncle is all about... he's all for guns. the worst thing that could happen, my uncle would be ina that could happen, my uncle would be in a fit. my my whole entire family, if they were going to take our guns away. grief, it seems, does not heal divisions in the united states. guns and country music have always gone together. the cultures ares intertwined. in rural america you here people say that this lifestyle is maligned and misunderstood. even in mourning, many people here are determined to defend their right to bear arms. for those americans these crosses a re bear arms. for those americans these crosses are the price of freedom. james cook, bbc news las vegas. 0ur

our top story this evening. theresa may says her cabinet is fully behind her despite claims she should face a leadership challenge. still to come: a court sees pictures of the parachute worn by victoria cilliers, whose husband is accused of attempting to murder her by tampering with it. coming up on sportsday: we look ahead to the super league grand final at old trafford tomorrow between leeds and salford. in the company of leeds legend kevin sinfield. the number of women who have successive children taken into care, in repeated court proceedings, is on the rise, according to new research. over the past decade in england, around 11,000 mother had more than 30,000 children involved in care cases, with most of them removed from their homes. many of the women have had major personal problems,

such as mental health issues, abusive relationships, and dependence on drink and drugs. now the bbc has been given rare access to a project working with women to help them change their lives. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. first thing in the morning in north london and support workers sophia and maggie are already out searching for a woman who's concerning them. so it's likely that if she has been to hospital it's been not one that's in the local area, so getting some of that information has been quite difficult. they think she's having her phone calls monitored by a controlling partner and may be under great pressure to get pregnant. how many miscarriages has she had now? she's had four miscarriages. 0k. and four births. like all the women they work with, her children have been taken into care for their protection.

they support mothers with chaotic lives, often involving drink and drugs, who have child after child removed. the first step will be to offer this woman long—term contraception. there is no answer at the last place she was staying but they don't give up on any of the women. her phone's going to voice mail so i'm just sending a text message to let her know that we've been. we are seeing women that have had three or four children removed from their care. but we also have women who have had six, seven children removed from their care. we have one woman who's had 13 children removed from her care. and repeat removals gets shorter and shorter. many of the women have been victims of domestic violence and had difficult abusive childhoods themselves. many have also grown up in care. like ruby, not her real name, who had her son removed last year. when he was first taken into care it kind of felt like i would never get over it. it kind of felt like, oh my days, every day i was crying because i felt like everyone at that time around me was all about my son, all about him, him getting taken

away, me being such a bad mother. but the pause team helped her sort out her housing, get back to work and it stopped her life spiralling downwards. it's just really important to have someone feel like they want to be there for you, not because they've been told to, or because you are just another case that they need to work on and they need to close your file. it didn't feel like that with them. if you can remember what colour it was a minute ago... by teaching the women new skills, for instance in classes like this and by tailoring support around the women, the programme has been shown to significantly reduce pregnancies amongst this group. effectively cutting the number of children taken into council care. a government report estimates that would save some local authorities more than £2 million a year. it's about reducing the number of children that need to go into care and improving their outcomes, which not only is costly but we know that a child born in the circumstances unfortunately immediately starts

with a deficit so we absolutely have to get at the point way before we start needing to remove children. forjane who's had two children taken into care, the work to build her skills and self—esteem is giving her a new future. we've also disguised her identity. that i see things with a positive outlook. i don't want to do college but a positive has come out of it, i've got a certificate and i can now look forjobs and do things. so i've come a long way, a very long way in a short amount of time. you must be proud of yourself. hell yes. similar schemes are now being piloted or planned across the uk. alison holt, bbc news. ryanair chief executive michael 0'leary has written to the airline's pilots to offer them better pay and conditions. it follows the airline being forced to cancel thousands of flights in recent weeks. in a letter to pilots, mr 0'leary also apologised for changes that caused disruption to their rotas and holidays — urging them not to leave the airline.

the cost of taking out a fixed rate mortgage is starting to rise despite the bank of england keeping interest rates at a record low. barclays and natwest has become the latest lenders to increase their fixed rates. around 4 million people have fixed—rate mortgages. anyone taking out a typical mortgage of £125,000 could pay around £130 a year more as a result of the changes. the trial of an army instructor accused of trying to kill his wife by tampering with her parachute has heard from an expert who was at the scene of her fall. victoria cilliers suffered multiple injuries when both her main and reserve parachutes failed to open during a jump over salisbury plain. duncan kennedy is at winchester crown court for us. for the first time today photos of victoria cilliers' parachute were

made public. the prosecution claim those images show that the parachute was deliberately sabotaged by her husband emile cilliers. but today mr cilliers's own defence barrister has challenged the events leading up to this accident. emile cilliers in front here is the man accused of trying to sabotage his wife's parachute for money and for another woman he was having an affair with. the prosecution say emile cilliers hated his wife victoria and wanted to find a way of killing her. victoria cilliers took off from this airfield near salisbury in april 2015. she jumped at 4000 feet but both her main and reserve chute failed to open. she suffered multiple injuries and only lived because she came down in a ploughed field. so this is the same type of equipment as was used. today the jury was shown a number of videos, including this one of mark

bayada, a veteran of 5000 jumps over 30 years. he explained to the jury what might have happened. here using a chute like the one that victoria cilliers was wearing. this was so tightly knotted up. he looked at the main chute and the reserve and said the main chute's lines were all twisted in no way he had not seen before but the reserve had two pieces of strips called slinks that we re pieces of strips called slinks that were missing. mark bayada concluded by saying that he'd never seen a main parachute so entangled and that reserve chutes do not malfunction. he said they are life—savers in all situations. the court has already been told that a few days before the accident in the cilliers home kitchen emile cilliers tried a separate attempt to kill his wife, the prosecution say he tampered with this gas fixture so gas would leak and kill her. today has been committed by evidence about the parachute incident forth

at the main witness continuing to be cross—examined tomorrow. emile cilliers denies two counts of attentive murder and one of recklessly endangering life. duncan kennedy, bbc news, winchester crown court. cricket — and ben stokes will not travel to australia with the rest of the england squad for the ashes tour at the end of the month. the england and wales cricket board said a final decision had yet to be made on the all—rounder‘s future — and that he may fly out to join the team later. the 26—year—old is under investigation after being arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm last month. football and wales are in action in their world cup qualifier against georgia in tbilisi. they need to win this evening — anything less will take qualification out of their hands. currently they are leading 1—0. tom lawrence was the scorer and this was his first goalfor wales. commentator: lighting up the georgian night, tom lawrence with his first goalfor wales.

the funeral of liz dawn, who was coronation street's vera duckworth for 34 years, has been held at salford cathedral. she died last week at the age of 77. judith moritz reports. to herfamily she was mum and gran, but to millions she was vera. salford cathedral isn't far from the corrie cobbles where liz dawn made her name. and from where her cast mates came to say goodbye. carry on doing what you're doing. show them you've got principle! jack and vera duckworth were one of tv‘s most enduring double acts, on screen for more than 30 years. now i can say i'm going to bingo and then i might go for a drink after. i can't think of another coronation street character who is as strong as vera duckworth was. what a great comedy couple they were. there will never be another jack and vera. they were amazing, legends. very dear friend and you're all part of one family. absolutely we are.

and it's times like this that you really understand that. she'll be looking down now and just saying, "eh, that were nice." do you know, don't he talk posh. liz dawn worked in factories herself before becoming an actress. she was often funny but always believable. that was her saying, wasn't it? ta—ra, chuck. rita and shirley are long—time vera fans. they came to pay their respects and remember the highlights. and when she had the house clad and everything, didn't she? yeah, yeah, she did. admiring my stone cladding, are you? well, it's certainly eye—catching. the laughter, the tears, the arguments she had and everything, because that's what goes on in real life, isn't it? they closed coronation street today as liz dawn's real and screen families came together to remember the soap legend they loved. judith moritz, bbc news, salford. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich.

in the soap opera of weather today has been one of the quiet episodes, mostly dry day, some spells of sunshine around, particularly this morning, lovely bright scene for this weather watcher in gedling in nottinghamshire, but things changed as the day went on. on the satellite picture you can see this area of cloud, initially turning the sunshine hazy and as the clouds thickened up over northern ireland and western scotland it produced outbreaks of rain, that was the scene for our weather watcher in argyll and bute early on. the cloud and rain willsink argyll and bute early on. the cloud and rain will sink southwards and east was heading through this evening and into tonight. in many places the rain will be light and patchy but over some hills in the west there will be heavy bursts and it will be a breezy night and much milder than last night, temperatures around 8—12d. the weekend begins on what i suppose we could describe as a fairly what i suppose we could describe as afairly drab what i suppose we could describe as a fairly drab note, mostly cloudy,

and some rain at times, the rain will command. although it will come for a good part of the day across the south—west of england, showery rain feeding the south—west of england, showery rainfeeding in the south—west of england, showery rain feeding in across the north—western areas with lots of cloud but there are some places we can pick out that our best favoured to see some brightness tomorrow. this is tomorrow afternoon, south wales, central and southern england could see brighter spells, despite the breeze temperatures 16 or 17 degrees and it won't feel too bad. always more cloud and showery rain in north wales, north—west england, the midlands, northern ireland and north—west scotland seem showery rain. eastern scotland, north—east england, these areas best favoured to see some drier weather and brightness as well. and fourth sunday things are looking up a little bit. it will be a dry day, some brightness around, i am not promising wall—to—wall blue skies but used in areas will see at least some hazy sunshine and always a bit more cloud in the west. some prison showers here and there and temperatures around 14—17d. 0n balance sunday is the better day but

generally lots of cloud around and some outbreaks of rain. the cabinet say they are fully behind theresa may. neal headlines this evening. the prime minister insists she has the support of her cabinet after a former conservative party chairman says at least 30 mps want a leadership election. what is necessary for the country now and what the country needsis country now and what the country needs is calm leadership, exactly what i am providing, and i'm providing that with the full support of my cabinet. a warning on the

fragile state of the economy with new productivity figures showing britain is falling further behind other leading nations. politicians in catalonia press ahead with plans to declare independence from spain as madrid offers fresh regional elections to try to stem the crisis. the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons is awarded this year's nobel peace prize. the funeral has been held at salford cathedral for liz dawn, who played vera duckworth in coronation street for more than 30 years. ina in a moment it will be time for sportsday. first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. we will have the latest from america as president donald trump indicates that he could pull out of a deal with iran designed to limit

its nuclear programme. we will have the latest in our bbc 100 women series with reports around the world. at 8:45pm, we will review blade runner 2049 and the best of this week's best new