this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines... after her difficult party conference, theresa may says she's resilient and won't hide from a challenge. as the snp's annual conference gets under way in glasgow, nicola sturgeon says she will commit to exploring all options to secure eu citizens‘ status in scotland. tens of thousands of people show their support for the spanish government, with demonstrations against independence for catalonia. after leaving a trail of devastation across central america, hurricane nate moves inland in the south east of the united states. also in the next hour, the royal foundation announces a £2 million grant to help find digital solutions to mental health problems. it's the largest investment ever made by the charitable trust of the duke and duchess of cambridge and prince harry. coming up at 2:30pm, a round—up of

the political stories that made the headlines this week in politics europe. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the former prime minister, sirjohn major, has weighed into the debate over theresa may's future, calling those conservatives who're seeking to undermine the prime minister "self—absorbed and disloyal". mrs may has admitted her difficult speech at the party conference last week had been uncomfortable for her but says she's resilient and determined to carry on in the job. here's our political correspondent, susana mendonca. and there is some flash photography in her report. if i win, i shall continue as prime minister... fending off the plotters was a full—time job for sirjohn major.

when he was prime minister, he faced a leadership election and won. more than two decades on, he's now coming to the defence of theresa may against those plotting to take her down. writing in a sunday newspaper, sirjohn said, "the country has had enough of the self absorbed and frankly disloyal behaviour seen among some in the conservative party", and he urged party members involved to "focus their minds instead on the needs of the british people, rather than on their own personal ambition". the deficit is back to precrisis levels. theresa may's speech to her party conference was beset with problems. it sounds as if my voice isn't on track. now the prime minister has admitted that that speech was uncomfortable, but insisted she was resilient and determined to keep going, and senior colleagues have joined calls for the plotters who want her out to pipe down. it's all about delivering for the country. it's not and should never be about private ambition. are you fully behind the prime minister?

long viewed as being in the running as a potential successor, the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has joined the chorus of cheerleaders for the prime minister, after weeks of accusations that he was attempting to undermine her. he's come out this week to say that he's fully behind every dot, comma and t and words of the florence speech. do you believe him? well, i want to see the prime minister hold him to that. the steam appears to have gone out of a plot by former party chairman grant shapps to unseat theresa may, but now some are calling for a reshuffle. she needs to stamp her foot down. that's a reshuffle, is it? i think one of the ways to do that is to have a reshuffle, also to bring in some of the brilliant talent, as well, that we had post—2010. downing street says talk of a reshuffle is just speculation, but after what's been a gruelling week, the prime minister may be hoping for some time for quiet contemplation over what to do next. susana mendonca, bbc news. tens of thousands of people are showing their support

for the spanish government today, with demonstrations against independence for catalonia. the pro—unity rally is taking place on the streets of barcelona, the heart of the independence movement. the spanish prime minister has said he will not allow the region to declare independence under any circumstances. gavin lee is in barcelona for us this lunchtime. these are the so—called silent majority, now in full voice, taking to the streets of barcelona, uniting under the colours of the rojigualda — spain's nationalflag. many here refused to vote in catalonia's banned independence referendum. the result was 90% in favour of independence, but more than half of the voting population stayed away from the polling stations. they're calling for unity. people here are saying once and forever that we want to be free to speak our minds, we want to be heard, to say that catalonia is spain. we want to show people that not everyone in catalonia

wants the independence. as you can see, there are a lot of people that want spain and catalonia to be together. there has been a week of demonstrations, pro—independence, those calling for dialogue, but the spanish government is claiming this is the biggest by far — and it is huge. streets have been blocked off, and coaches coming in from elsewhere in spain can't get here, but those who are supporting independence are saying, stay indoors today, don't add to these numbers, and then we'll see the real support on both sides. the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy, was unflinching when he spoke. translation: have the absolute reassurance that the government will prevent any declaration of independence from turning into something. spain will continue to be spain, and it will continue being spain for a very long time. 4000 national police officers have

been drafted to the region, though since the violence at the banned referendum, they have all been forced to leave catalan hotels, staying in military bases instead. as well as the divide on the streets, there are reports that the catalan government is also divided over the next steps it will take. according to a government source, if there are no negotiations by tuesday, when the catalan president, carles puigdemont, addresses parliament, unilateral independence may be declared two days after that. gavin lee, bbc news, barcelona. earlier, my colleagues spoke to gavin with the pro—unity demonstration. the silent majority of 950,000 people. according to the organisers, the pro—union organisation who have just anotherfigure the pro—union organisation who have just another figure in the past few minutes, very hard to know, but i have been here for the past week and a half, i have seen the crowds at

the other demonstrations, the pro—independence demonstrations, they were much smaller than this. there are coaches and buses that cannot get five miles near the city because all of the street in downtown barcelona are blocked. you can see the spanish flags, the cata la n can see the spanish flags, the catalan flags, people saying they are rallying to the government called to be here today together to say they want to stay united. bear this in mind as well because it is about what images go around the world support the government or the independence movement, the independence movement, the independence supporters are being urged to stay indoors. they do not wa nt to urged to stay indoors. they do not want to add to the numbers. the other thing to bear in mind, there are 7.5 million people living here and at the same time a lot of people living in madrid and elsewhere that the very hard to calculate. listen to the noise. a realfiesta at the very hard to calculate. listen to the noise. a real fiesta at the sea, celebrations, it is not violence, people feared that, but at the moment, it is songs and that the

book despite that, on tuesday, the cata la n book despite that, on tuesday, the catalan parliament, it is expected there will be a declaration of independence. i'm struggling to hear you. these are the next steps. we have had another comment by the scottish prime minister —— spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy, unflinching, uncompromising, even if it means extreme action legally, they will make sure the catalan government cannot have independence. he said spain is spain and will a lwa ys he said spain is spain and will always be spain for the future. what the catalan government are saying is: tuesday, carles puigdemont will announce in our speech in parliament the next steps. thursday, that will be the declaration of unilateral independence. here is the caveat.

they want to negotiate, they want to create room for a legal referendum, said this is what happens if they do not have that. this will go on through the day today. gavin reporting from barcelona. huge explosions at a fuel depot in ghana have killed at least six people and injured more than 30 others. the first blast in the capital, accra, last night sent a giant fireball into the sky, forcing residents to flee. it's understood to have triggered a second explosion and a fire at a nearby petrol station. the north korean leader kim youngman has promoted his sister —— kim jong—un. she replaces her aunt. close to four tonnes of cocaine has been seized after a ship was intercepted in the atlantic. the spanish authorities acted on intelligence provided by the national crime agency

in the uk to intercept the boat between madeira and the azores. the nca says, if sold, the cocaine would have fetched more than £200 million. seven men have been arrested. mental health staff in the uk are working in a powder keg environment, as assaults by patients soar, according to a bbc investigation. figures obtained by 5 live investigates show there were more than 42,000 reported attacks on staff over the last year. they included a healthcare assistant who was stabbed to death, and a worker having part of their thumb bitten off. the department of health says it's supporting mental health staff and plans to create 21,000 new posts by 2021. hurricane nate has hit the united states, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds to communities along the southern coast. since making landfall, its winds are weakening and it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm.

but weather officials warn the threat of dangerous storm surges remain. after claiming at least 30 lives in central america, it became the fourth major storm to make landfall in the us this year. anisa kadri reports. as it approached, hurricane nate promised strong winds and torrential rain. it hit the gulf coast of the united states, causing flooding in parts of mississippi, alabama, florida and louisiana, where people have been ordered to evacuate. although it is weakening, the impact is still being felt. we are still seen wind gusts between 70 and 80 mph. we have water coming up on most of our roadways, about two miles inland. so we've got about seven to ten feet of storm surge. so our first responders are kind of overwhelmed right now. the force of nature has already devastated central america, killing at least 25 people.

in nicaragua, honduras and costa rica, where hundreds of thousands of people are reported to be without running water. and scenes like these have become all too familiar in the past few months. after back—to—back hurricanes irma and maria, people in the caribbean have been left without homes, power or clean water. visiting the islands to see the damage, the united nations secretary—general had a stark message. it is clear — warmer climate means more hurricanes and more devastating hurricanes and we need to do everything to stop this. we need to make sure that the paris agreement on climate change is implemented, and more, as the paris is not enough, that enhanced commitments are made by all countries around the world, in order to make sure that we are able to dominate this very dramatic evolution. people in new orleans, who remember the devastation of hurricane katrina 12 years ago,

did what they could to prepare themselves for the impact of nate. but early indications are that they have been spared the worst. some americans are seeing nate as a near miss, as it is been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, but there are still warnings of life—threatening storm surge flooding. white nationalists have held another rally in charlottesville virginia after a woman died after clashes at after a woman died after clashes at a previous protest in august. several dozen people took part in a torchlight protest led by far—right activist richard spencer to oppose the removal of a statue of the confederate general robert e. lee.

the city's mayor, mike signer, tweeted saying the protestors were not welcome and telling them to "go home." the headlines on bbc news... fter her difficult party conference, theresa may says she's resilient and won't hide from a challenge. as the snp‘s conference gets under way, nicola sturgeon says her party would guarantee the rights of eu citizens living and working in scotla nd citizens living and working in scotland after the uk leaves the eu. and tens of thousands of people show their support for the spanish government with demonstrations against independence for catalonia. the duke of cambridge and prince harry have been very open about their own experiences with mental health, and set up their charity heads together to encourage people to speak out. now they've announced the next phase of their mission — a £2 million investment fund to help improve the nation's mental health through technology. 0ur royal correspondent, sarah campbell, has finding out more. in the run—up to the london marathon, the younger royals‘ focus

was almost exclusively centred on heads together — the campaign they founded, and which aims to improve the nation's mental health. in april, thousands took up the challenge to run the 26 miles and in doing so, help to raise awareness of an issue that affects millions of people. this has been an unapologetically personal mission, with the princes opening up in a way they hadn't previously. do you think we've made enough of an impact, or a stepping stone into the schools area at a younger age? we will come back to that report later. john swinney is opening the snp's later. john swinney is opening the snp‘s annual conference. later. john swinney is opening the snp's annual conference. across all of those decades, no speaker at a party conference has been able to say the words, the words that i am

about to say to you today, conference, the snp leads the city of glasgow. applause cheering the victory of susan aitken and her tea m the victory of susan aitken and her team marks the latest in a string of historic successes for our party. first they told us we would never win at holyrood. we won in 2007, 2011, and again in 2016. applause then they told us we would never win a westminster election in scotland. but we have, notjust once, but twice. 2015 and again earlier this yearin twice. 2015 and again earlier this year in 2017. applause

winning at holyrood, westminster and winning for all of scotland's communities, we are the one and only party in scotland that is national in reach, in scope and in perspective. we are truly a national party of all of scotland. applause and what was the first decision we took when we won control of glasgow? it was to put forward our nominee to be the lord provost of the city, an individual to hold that great historic office, that symbol of the character and the identity of the city and we chose someone not born here, not raised here, but a fellow eu citizen who has made scotland her home and that says something profound about the snp.

applause we are applause we a re party applause we are party that embraces diversity, celebrates our relationships with others, extends a warm welcome to people of all backgrounds, those are the actions ofa backgrounds, those are the actions of a truly inclusive national party of a truly inclusive national party of scotland. applause at the heart of everything that we do, at the heart of who we are, a fundamental truth, power should be applied for the common good and exercised with principle. it is that ethos that powers your snp government, it led us to make university education free, delivering record numbers accepted to universities and record numbers from the poorest backgrounds too. it led us to hold labour and the tories‘ creeping privatisation of

the nhs creeping it firmly in public hands. it led us to set one leading climate change target and we have already reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 41%. earlier this week... applause earlier this week, it was that ethos that led paul wheelhouse to announce a ban on fracking in scotland. cheering applause conference, paul considered the detail, he asked the hard questions on both sides of the argument, he listen to the people and he took a decision anchored in the national interest, that is the mark and style

of our party, the national party that takes decisions in the national interest of scotland. at all times. applause every conference brings scrutiny of the position of political parties and hours is no different. at this point in ourfirst and hours is no different. at this point in our first government back in october, 2008, we were polling about 38%, not bad. but at this point in our second government, we had hit 40%. point in our second government, we had hit a0%. getting better. but now, ten years into government, what is our most recent polling number? it is 42%. in fact... applause in fact, our lead over our nearest rival is only stonking17%, five

times what it was in 2008 and double what it was in 2012. our party commands that support because we stay close to the people, we listen to them, and we act in the national interest of scotland. applause in amongst all this polling, scottish labour has descended into infantile name—calling and the tories have flirted with a cabinet coup against theresa may. labour and tories are not so much locked in a battle for the future of this nation, but in a battle for who can break twitter first. the antics of borisjohnson, break twitter first. the antics of boris johnson, labour's leadership contest, theresa may's p45, things have gone from the ridiculous to the bizarre. friends, there is chaos on

the left and there is chaos on the right and threw it all, the snp government stands firm, a beacon of progressive effective government, delivering for all of the people of scotland. applause things have now got so bizarre that ifind things have now got so bizarre that i find myself agreeing, things have now got so bizarre that ifind myself agreeing, possibly things have now got so bizarre that i find myself agreeing, possibly for the first time ever, with jackie baillie. laughter she was spot on when she labelled her labour colleagues hypocrites who have betrayed the values of her party. my only question, why did it ta ke party. my only question, why did it take you so long to realise that? it has been crystal clear to us for a long time. as for the tories, the prime minister said something this week that i actually agree with. in her conference speech, she said, racism, intolerance and hatred has

no place in british politics or british society. i agree unreservedly with the prime minister. the thing is, as we sit here today, racist and xenophobic councillors are still members of the scottish tory party, so she does not... applause so the prime minister does not need to lecture us, she needs to lecture ruth davidson to get her house in order. applause while all of the chaos has been going on on the left and right, what have we been doing? we have been delivering progress for the and building afairerand delivering progress for the and building a fairer and more prosperous scotland, that is what we have been doing —— progress for the country. the first in the programme for government last month. after ten yea rs for government last month. after ten years in office, she unveiled what was easily the most ambitious programme of any government since

devolution. she set out a vision for the country that recognises the challenges we face today and those still ahead of us. it sets scotland on the path not simply to overcome those challenges, that is not the limit of ourambition, those challenges, that is not the limit of our ambition, but to turn them into opportunities. challenges like climate change, educational attainment, obesity, the new economy. take a look across the political landscape. the tory leadership is in turmoil, the labour leadership is in turmoil, the labour leadership are at each other‘s throats, only in scotland, only nicola sturgeon is providing the vision and leadership we need in these turbulent times and we thank these turbulent times and we thank the first ministerfor these turbulent times and we thank the first minister for that leadership of our country. applause studio: john swinney with the opening address to the snp's annual conference, saying there is chaos on the left, chaos on the right, he said that snp stands firm as a

progressive beacon. if you want to continue watching his speech, you can do so on the bbc parliament channel. right now, let us parliament channel. right now, let us stay with politics, as we have been hearing, theresa may has declared she is resilient, despite the setback she suffered at the conservative conference. senior conservatives have renewed their condemnation of efforts to oust her. we can speak now to lord heseltine, former conservative deputy prime minister. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. john swinneyjust saying that the left is chaotic and the right is chaotic, is he right? it does look pretty chaotic at the moment. i think there is a deep division in the conservative party, it has been there for some time, but it has been there for some time, but it has been there for some time, but it has now erupted in the public gaze. the brexit agenda is going to dominate the next couple of years,

with all, in my view, the deteriorating news that it will produce. what is the prime minister doing? well, you have only got to read today's newspapers to realise the present situation is unsustainable. she can either, so to speak, retract and abandon brexit, but the party will not let her do that, so she has to go forward and attack. that seems to me inevitable. it would mean a reshuffle. high—profile, very dangerous, because you create more enemies by a reshuffle. she will find it extremely difficult to divert the media and the gossip away from brexit. but there are things that she could do and the housing agenda is one, ourfailing she could do and the housing agenda is one, our failing schools another, she should get on with the devolution agenda to embrace the enthusiasm of the whole country, and not just parts of enthusiasm of the whole country, and notjust parts of it, she should address the skills shortages. but

they have to be done with a determination and with a leadership which is very difficult at the moment for her to produce. she clearly wa nts. .. moment for her to produce. she clearly wants... the most unenviable position. she clearly wants desperately to get the policy issues sent meat front and centre again rather than a discussion of her leadership —— policy issues front and centre again. but the media is reporting it because it is coming from the conservative party. do you agree with sirjohn major who said today those seeking to question theresa may's leadership are disloyal and self absorbed ? theresa may's leadership are disloyal and self absorbed? well, i served as john's disloyal and self absorbed? well, i served asjohn's deputy disloyal and self absorbed? well, i served as john's deputy for some yea rs. served as john's deputy for some years. they were there then and it was exactly the same. 0ne years. they were there then and it was exactly the same. one has to face up to this, in democracies, there are people with strong views and there is a certain integrity in pursuing those views. there are

great historic examples of people who have fought the conventional wisdom. they are there. i do not know any way in which they can be silenced. is she the right person to lead the party at the moment in your opinion? well, i think she is not going to lead the party into the next election and my view is the next election and my view is the next election and my view is the next election is much sooner than people are anticipating, i think, two years people are anticipating, i think, two yea rs is people are anticipating, i think, two years is about the timescale. but watch you could do is open up the debate about who the leadership should pass to —— but what she could do. that is a reshuffle and a very dangerous policy. but i do not know what choice she has got. there needs to bea what choice she has got. there needs to be a focus on the younger generation, the great gap in the tories and the younger voters is very serious. and i think there is a certain board about the rather stereotyped arguments over brexit

that are continuing. but let us not escape the simple fact that brexit is the overarching issue of our time and it is hugely damaging to the unity of the conservative party. the point you were making about the reshuffle, you say it brings with it its own dangers, but would that be an opportunity for theresa may to sack boris johnson? do an opportunity for theresa may to sack borisjohnson? do you think thatis sack borisjohnson? do you think that is what she should do, despite his call yesterday for mps to circle the wagons around her? well, boris is very flexible in his approaches to these matters. but the serious thing is that quite rightly in my view, theresa may put three brexiteers in charge of the negotiations. they would never have forgiven her if she had done anything else. all the gossip is quite clear that she wants to move boris who has had very unfortunate effects as the foreign secretary overseas, she has taken away david

davis's principal civil servant to put him in number 10 because she wa nts to put him in number 10 because she wants to do it herself, and liam fox, frankly, is obscure. it has been a disaster, putting the brexiteers in charge. but the fact of the matter is that the security the europeans now see in the domestic situation here makes it hardly worth their time to take the negotiations seriously. what does theresa may do by taking control of it herself? the split will not go away, the party will not unite, the country will not unite, it simply puts her further and deeper country will not unite, it simply puts herfurther and deeper into country will not unite, it simply puts her further and deeper into the difficulties. returning to my question, do you think she sack borisjohnson? question, do you think she sack boris johnson? i think she should have a reshuffle, but a reshuffle tends to create more enemies than it creates friends. people