this is bbc news. the headlines at 8: theresa may says the ball is in the eu's court as she prepares for the possibility the uk could leave without a brexit deal, as she announces new proposals for how the uk could trade should that happen. while i believe it is in all our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is our responsibility as a government to prepare for every eventuality. an inquiry hears how prosecutors misled the press over abuse investigations into the late mp cyril smith. hollywood mogul harvey weinstein is sacked from the company he founded as allegations of his sexual harassment grow. also in the next hour — two sides of the coin. some won't take the new version, some won't take the old — confusion reigns as the deadline to scrap the old pound coin approaches. and can wales guarantee their place in next year's world cup finals? they‘ re playing ireland

in theirfinalgroup game in cardiff tonight. good evening and welcome to bbc news. theresa may has given mps her clearest indication yet that she is preparing for the possibility of leaving the eu without a deal — she announced proposals that will pave the way for just that and for the uk to operate as an independent trading nation post brexit. she said the ball is in the eu's court when it comes to the next stage of the negotiations. the eu, for its part, has said that ball is entirely in the uk's court. our political editor laura kuenssberg has this report. since she last went off to the house of commons, she's survived an attempt

to force her out, lost her voice in front of the nation, and if that's not all, ministers‘ antics have been fodder for the front pages. but the biggerjob in hand is to get the brexit talks moving. statement, the prime minister. theresa may trying — hoping — to ignore the pressure on her. but first, to tory nods, she said no deal might be an option. while i believe it is profoundly in our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is also our responsibility as a government to prepare for every eventuality. that is exactly what we are doing. her option now to dismiss the enemies, notjust with a shake of the head, but a determination to screw down on the other side. as we look forward, the ball is in their court. i'm optimistic for a positive response. their answer? it's not me, it's you. not much mood for

progress this week. there has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings. so the ball is entirely in the uk court. are you concerned about your own position? and there are jitters in brussels and at home about who is in charge. vows of loyalty now aplenty. looking forward to the prime minister's statement. but lots from labour to benefit from. just when britain needs a strong negotiating team, we have a cabinet at each other's throat. half of the conservative party on the foreign secretary's side, the other half on the chancellor's sacked. if this government can't negotiate a deal for britain,

they should make way for a team that can. but with the ground shaky beneath the prime minister's feet, competing tory visions are on display. should she push for a deal, or be ready to walk away? they are still refusing to discuss the long term relationship between the eu and the uk. when does she call time? by march 2019, if we haven't got a deal as to the final brexit arrangements, then we willjump off the cliff and there will be no deal? theresa may's problem ? her party likes different answers to those questions. doing a deal with her own tribe, the country and the rest of the continent is hard enough. laura kuenssburg with that report from westmister. let's talk to the vice—president of the european parliament, mairead mcguinness, who is an mep for ireland's fine gael party. she's in paris this evening. theresa may says that the uk has

shifted too a degree in negotiations, that there have been concessions made on the divorce bill, on citizens‘ rights, now the ball is in europe‘s court. do you think she has a point in saying that? well i think we welcomed part of her speech. that was clear from the opening debate on brexit. i wouldn‘t accept your language into the bill, because it is not a bill, it is commitments that the uk entered into and will be obliged to pgy- entered into and will be obliged to pay. the citizens‘ rights not completed, but i hope progress could be made. on the issue closest to me is the issue of northern ireland and the commitment of no return to the borders of past. we hope progress can be made and what is disturbing me about what i have watched and

listened from your side is that the howling and the jostling and the political debate in the united kingdom, i think it is remote from the lives of ordinary citizens in the lives of ordinary citizens in the united kingdom and the eu. when you look at what article 50 talks about, it doesn‘t talk about you can walk away if you don‘t like the deal. it talks of a withdrawal of the agreement. we both parties and wre obliged to find a settlement to this issue and the first part will, we are sluggish we are having difficulty, whether you call it tennis or not, but i believe the ball is in the uk‘s court. the prime minister has made a speech and that should be followed by a negotiating position. i hope progress can be made, but i do i we will see sufficient progress this month. but at the end of the day we are here to serve the interests of people. not so serve the interests of people. not so much about a power game and from

oui’ so much about a power game and from our perspective, that is what we see within the conservative party. so you say at the moment that you do not believe enough progress has been made on some of the key issues that the eu believes needs to be dealt with, before we talk of future trading relationship and this could go towards the end of the year. what do you need to see from british negotiators that will speed things along? welll negotiators that will speed things along? well i think what europe needs to see and i‘m part of the european team if you like, we do need to see that the three core issues are dealt with sufficiently. i don‘t think we will get everything settled, but i think we need more firm commitment and a better understanding that we have to deliver for citizens, for the financial settlement and the border. i say, i financial settlement and the border. isay, i made financial settlement and the border. i say, i made a speech last week in the european parliament i believe on

citizens and the financial commit tments, i think we can close the ground with good will. i think on the border there is not a clear understanding from the uk said and i say this with respect, about the consequences for the island of ireland of brexit. it wasn‘t dealt with in the referendum campaign and we now have a serious worry that the border could be reinstated and it is unacceptable from all parties on all sides that that would happenment. but if uk can‘t stay in the customs union then the logic says you would put upa union then the logic says you would put up a border. i asked in the parliament last week for the uk‘s side to come forward with another proposal. and i haven‘t heard that yet. but look the negotiations and the negotiators are there to make progress. and on that issue, europe

is determined to support ireland and the peace process and the find a solution, but the uk side seem to be settling with the trade agreement. so it does sound as if for you at the moment and for your colleagues, enough movement has perhaps been made, maybe it would be nice to go further on the financial settlement. enough movement has been made on citizens‘ rights, but there could be room for improvement. as far as the border is concerned, that is a real sticking points and that is holding things up? helping to hold things 7 things up? helping to hold things 0 things up? helping to hold things i things up? helping to hold things up? no i think... progress can be made with good will after the prime minister‘s speech. there is a followed up with a detailed negotiating papers on all the issues. i think we need to have a shared understand about the difficulties on the island of ireland. i think the european union said will get that, because we have had many visits to the border region and they understand in a very

practical way how serious this is. it will disturb lives and businesses and people and communities and we need that understanding to be shown from the uk side. but it is in all oui’ from the uk side. but it is in all our interests and the interests of the island of ireland that we progress beyond phase one and talk about the transition. sorry, if i could come in there, it does sound as if you believe that there could well be no deal here. you‘re hoping thatis well be no deal here. you‘re hoping that is not the case, but that could be the case. well i think that if it happens it‘s because the uk side are not as clear as the european union side in terms of negotiations. we, both sides agreed that there could be phase one and three issues would be phase one and three issues would be dealt with. and they‘re not completed yet. so both sides agreed to that time table before we move further on. what has been clear from where we stands, the uk side have

had difficulties, or the conservative party have had problems internally and the agenda or the commitment to resolving issues isn‘t a lwa ys commitment to resolving issues isn‘t always there. that may change and perhaps that is the public perception and negotiations are obviously done this a quieter atmosphere. i believe we can make progress if there is a willingness to do that. and i suppose it reflects the realities of where we are today, which is that the uk citizens have voted to leave the eu and we respect that, but we do have go through a process of withdrawal and establishing a good relationship. and in fact you know, i have been strong on this, but my country has the most to lose if things go wrong. i don‘t want that to happen. but i don‘t want the european union weakened by this process. i think europe will be strengthened by this process. thank you and apologies for the break up on the audio. thank you.

thank you. and we‘ll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow‘s front pages at 10.40 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are larisa brown, defence editor at the daily mail and the broadcaster, john stapleton. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has heard that prosecutors misled the media about the existence of an investigation into allegations against the late politician cyril smith. the public hearings examining historic allegations of abuse in a children‘s home and residential school in rochdale have obtained new evidence from the security service mi5. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. in the 1960s, they called him mr rochdale. he became mayor of the town from labour but defected to the liberals. do you want a man to represent you or a party robot? in the ‘60s, it was never revealed he had been accused of sexually

abusing deprived boys. now this public inquiry intends to get to the bottom of it. the decision to embark upon this investigation was in part in response to the public concern that some politicians, including cyril smith, were involved in child sexual abuse, and able to abuse with impunity because they were protected by the establishment. it‘s claimed cyril smith abused boys at a hostel, cambridge house, which closed in the mid—‘60s. it is now a private home. when police began an investigation in 1970, smith asked for a meeting. a transcript records a police officer saying... you want to see what we know? smith started laughing. well yes, fishing, i think that‘s fair comment. cyril smith was hoping to move from local politics to national.

he told the police... or another whether i am going to fight the next parliamentary election as a liberal democrat. and if i‘m going to be charged, i‘m not going to accept. guilty or not guilty, it would be onto the party. he wasn‘t charged. but years later, the press got wind, started asking questions. the inquiry has obtained these documents held by the security service, mis, which record that the dpp‘s press representative had untruthfully told a journalist that they had no record of this case. smith was re—elected in greater numbers than before and far from diminishing him, the allegations appear to have had absolutely no effect whatsoever. also under investigation, a sexual abuse link to this school, where smith was a governor. at one point, a sex offender

roamed its corridors at night. but as with cyril smith, the central allegation is of a cover—up. this inquiry is attempting to learn the lessons of the past so children can be better protected in the future. tom symonds, bbc news. the president of catalonia will address the region‘s parliament tomorrow. he has threatened to declare full independence. tim wilcox is in barcelona, there was a march for unity yesterday, has it had any effect do you think? well i think it has actually. and this is a deeply divisive time, a time of great political uncertainty. there

was that prounity march and thousands came out on the streets of barcelona, saying they were the silent majority and wanted to remain pa rt silent majority and wanted to remain part of spain. they thought the referendum that had been called on october 1st was illegal, which is the argument of the spanish prime minister and flouted the 1978 constitution. now, the stakes are high, because there is that silent majority saying they want to stay pa rt majority saying they want to stay part of spain. then you have the people, the supporters of the cata la n people, the supporters of the catalan president, who is politically vulnerable, relying on ha rd left politically vulnerable, relying on hard left communist supporters who keep him in power, who are pushing for independence. he is against mariano rajoy, the spanish prime minister, the leader, who said forget it, guys to the catalans, we are not going to negotiate with anyone about this, you‘re outside

the law, that referendum was illegal and if you declare independence, we will revert to direct rule from madrid. now, just think of consequences of that, there has been no violence here in terms of pro—separatist movement. the only violence we have seen is the heavy handed the way the national police tried to stop the referendum. you may recall pictures of riot police going in, pulling out people by their hair, saying, you can‘t vote. despite that, the vote did go ahead. 90% of people who voted voted in favour of leaving spain, but only on a turn out of 43%. so it is all to play for. i arrived last night and my gut feeling was that the catalan president would not declare independence. but i‘m beginning to feel now, having spoke on the his supporters and from the people in

favour of unity he might push it and say, what are you going to do now? to see how mariano rajoy plays it. the spanish prime minister has a lwa ys the spanish prime minister has always tried to curb more autonomy for catalonia. but he is a cautious man, so we are not sure what he might do. there isjoke if you met mariano rajoy on a stair case, you would never be sure if he was going up would never be sure if he was going up or down! thank you. the headlines on bbc news: theresa may has said she wants a creative solution to establishing a new economic relationship with the eu after brexit — one that will ensure prosperity for all. the independent inquiry into child abuse in england and wales has begun hearing evidence about the former liberal mp, sir cyril smith. the actress meryl streep has spoken out against the producer harvey weinstein in the wake

of sexual harassment allegations which have resulted in him being fired from his own company. the oscar winning hollywood film producer harvey weinstein, who‘s behind a string of hits including pulp fiction and shakespeare in love, has been sacked by the company he co—founded. he is accused of sexually harassing women over three decades. the actress damejudi dench has said the allegations are horrifying. nick bryant‘s report contains some flashing images. he‘s the behind—the—camera figure who has become one of the most prominent red—carpet stars of the industry. harvey weinstein now cast by some as a sexual predator. he is the producer behind a string of hits. pulp fiction showed how he could turn arthouse films into box—office sensations. the king‘s speech brought oscar—winning success.

but now he‘s been fired from the company he co—founded. in light of what the weinstein company described, this new information about his misconduct. ashleyjudd was one of the first actresses to speak out, and the new york times reported he‘d reached settlements with eight women. the question stands, who protected harvey weinstein? did the women believe this would hurt their careers? it sound like a throw back to the bad old days. it is a movie mogul allegedly preying on aspiring young actresses in a modern—day version of the casting couch, but the industry has been slow to publicly condemn a figure of enormous influence. one with the power to break as well as make careers. harvey weinstein is a prominent democrat, with friends such as hillary clinton in high places,

but today the first lady of hollywood, meryl streep, a friend who once referred to him as god, spoke out about the claims. judi dench, who won an oscar for her role in the weinstein movie shakespeare in love, said the allegations were horrifying. last week, he apologised for behaviour which in the past had caused a lot of pain but also claimed many of the accusations are false. this is a storyline that even he cannot control. camilla wright is the founder and editor of popbitch — a uk—based celebrity news website and newsletter. shejoins me now. in that report nick talked of it

being a throw back to the bad old days of studio system in the 40s and 50s. clearly, the allegations suggest that this has been going on for some time. it has been quite an open secret in hollywood among actresses and journalists that harvey wea n actresses and journalists that harvey wean stein was a difficult person to be around. there is reports he has paid compensation, are you surprised more women haven‘t come forward? i think it is a difficult position some people are in. hollywood is based around who you know, it is a creative industry, a lot of people owe their careers to him. he is an oscar—making machine. he has had 300 oscars. people have

made careers, money and notjust actresses and actors, you look at the bigger world that that fits in, the bigger world that that fits in, the world of media and think of the number of people who have had access to parties, who have had access to interviews, the stars, you think of the advertisements placed around the world that come through mirror max and disney. it is a very difficult world for somebody to denounce. these are allegations, nothing has been proved, would you hazard a guess to suggest this is not unusual? there is an old maxim in hollywood when it comes to dealing with mirror max, if you want a part and you‘re an actress, in one of harvey‘s film, you don‘t go through harvey, harvey goes through you. right. what about other producers perhaps and don‘t mention any names,

do you think this is the kind of thing, because of the power imbalance and there are individuals who can make or break careers in this town, los angeles, do you think this town, los angeles, do you think this is the kind of thing women have to put up with all the time?|j this is the kind of thing women have to put up with all the time? i think people factor it into their careers, you have to do this. we talk of the casting couch as a stereotype for a reason — it has been there. but now the money men have taken over and people who run big studios look at the bottom line and look at reputational damage and what is good for the business. i think the people like harvey are getting less important, although i wouldn‘t be surprised if more big names come out this year. thank you. now sport and for a full round up, john has the details. we are

approaching half time in cardiff, where wales and ireland are meeting in theirfinal world where wales and ireland are meeting in their final world cup qualifier. it isa in their final world cup qualifier. it is a big night. a win for either would guarantee a play—off place. wales have had the best of the first 30 minutes. ramsey saw a shot turned over. it is still goalless. you can follow it is on radio 5 live now. the future of the scotland manager, gordon strachan will be discussed by the scottish fa next week. he was unable to guide his team to a play—off place after their draw with slovenia. steven thompson believes it is time for a change.|j slovenia. steven thompson believes it is time for a change. i think it is time for him to go. he has had two campaigns where he has failed to get us to a finals. his comments say

it is down to genetics are nonsensical. harry kane has been short listed for the ballon d‘or given to the world‘s best players. eden hazard and n‘golo kante have also been chosen. the castleford tigers full back zak hardaker will miss the rugby world cup after testing positive for cocaine. it comes as england announced their squad today. leeds‘ head coach brian mcdermott has his sympathies for his former player. you just think, what a shame that is. for him, for england. he is a fantastic player. clearly it didn‘t help cas. yeah... it isa clearly it didn‘t help cas. yeah... it is a tough one for zak, i hope he pulls up. because this is a big thing. but at the same time, don‘t

mess about with drugs. just don‘t... don‘t be stupid. and everybody needs to realise whether it is performance—enhancing or just social drugs, it doesn‘t work. itjust does not work and long—term it will catch up not work and long—term it will catch up with you. kyle edmond has through in the shanghai masters. he suffered aan in the shanghai masters. he suffered a an early break in the fist set before composing himself and going on to before composing himself and going ontoa before composing himself and going on to a win in china. the result sets up a second round meeting with the fourth seed, marin cilic tomorrow. less than three months after suffering a heart attack, the olympic coach has returned to work

with the uk‘s women‘s squad. olympic coach has returned to work with the uk's women's squad. i'm thinking about particularly in tournaments about of when i wake up in the morning and having a high quality routine that gets me into the right space, rather than immediate busyness. when i‘m out cycling i try to sort of smell the roses a bit more and try not to just be thinking about training. just enjoying the scenery. and having a bit of that... meditation if you like through the exercise. rather than just seeing exercise as a means to an end. and some of the wider enjoying being in the great outdoors. that is something i will do more of. danny carey. and that is the sport now. thank you. coming up: wild fires powered by strong winds

are sweeping but northern california and sent residents fleeing from their homes. we will get the latest. now the weather. wot there has been a lot of grey and damp weather out there today. and there is not a lot of change to the over all pattern over the next 48—hours or so. breezy as well. and some very mild air coming in from the south. this entire pattern, the low pressures and weather fronts will be streaming in our direction. you can see across the uk this afternoon and that is going to bring some heavier rain to the upland areas, whereas to the east, the drier you will be. tonight, very mild and when we get this with the south—westerly winds, temperatures around 13 or 14 degrees. fresher in

scotland. and that is where the fresher air is. then the next front, strengthening wind, but sunshine in other parts too. hello, this is bbc news with me, clive myrie, the headlines at 8:30. theresa may says she wants a creative solution to establish a new economic relationship with the eu after brexit. she says a new deal would be in the interests of the european union, as well as the uk. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in england and wales has been hearing how allegations against the late liberal mp sir cyril smith failed to impede his political career. the actress meryl streep has spoken out against the producer harvey weinstein, in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. he‘s now been fired from his own company because of the controversy. catalonia‘s separatist leader

is facing growing pressure from business leaders and political parties to abandon any plans to declare the region independent from spain. more now on our lead story tonight. the prime minister has given her strongest indication yet that the uk is preparing for the possibility of leaving the eu without a trade deal. theresa may says the ball is now in the european union‘s court for the next stage of the negotiations. butjeremy corbyn has accused the government of a chaotic approach to talks. earlier, i spoke to our reality check correspondent chris morris, who said the prime minister was playing hardball with the eu. i think she is trying to do both, we want to talk and we want to move on, but don‘t forget we have other options. we have seen that in the two white papers we saw published this afternoon, one on trade and one on customs. they talk about things that we sort of know,

a frictionless trade with the eu, we don‘t want a hard border with northern ireland, we want to set our own trade policy. but they also set out in more detail than we have seen before what would happen in the event of no deal. there is contingency planning. we have told that a long time now, what would happen if there is no deal. these papers set out this in more detail than we have seen before. the international trade secretary has been talking about that this evening. we want to get a deal, but we will prepare for what will happen without a deal. a lot of work is under way to ensure that if we come to the end of the negotiation period and our european partners have not been willing to come into a deal with us, then we will leave without one. what we set out today in our white paper on trade and customs, were some of the legal powers we would have to take to enable that to happen. but again we hope that when the case. so preparatory work has been going on for some time in the event

of no deal coming back from these negotiations, but she is now putting it front and centre. what do you think the likely response from brussels will be? i think they will understand that that planning has to go ahead. they themselves will need to think about what happens if we have no deal. we saw the german equivalent of the cbi, the employers federation, say a few days ago that no deal is becoming increasingly likely. german businesses need to think hard about what will happen if that is the case. nobody wants it to happen. look at the customs paper that came out today, for example. it talks about the type of tariffs that the uk would be willing to apply, and the customs bill later this autumn will set that out as a possibility for the government to have the power to do that. it talks about high—volume roll—on, roll—off ferry ports. it says consignments should be pre—notified to the customs authority to avoid disruption as much as possible. you read between the lines and you understand

that for both the uk and eu, no deal will mean disruption. nobody really wants that. the message the uk is time to send is that we are trying to prepare for all eventualities so don‘t take for granted. a little earlier, i spoke to richard ashworth, an mep for the south east of england, who‘s been stripped of the conservative party whip after he voted to advise against starting trade talks between the uk and the eu. what we as meps have been asked to do is a technicaljudgment on the issues under phase one of article 50, has enough progress being made in order to advise the council that they can authorise the starting of phase two? i looked at it, listen to the arguments, and with the deepest regret i came to the conclusion that no, we have not got sufficient agreement on any of the three issues, citizen‘s rights, northern ireland, financial arrangements. we don‘t have enough progress,

and in my opinion there is no point in fast—tracking to the second phase until you have that done, because it would not shorten the negotiation. but what it would do is diminish the opportunity of getting a very agreeable brexit deal. why would that be? because if the other issues are settled, they would be the hostage to fortune, as it were, as part of the trade talks? yes, they would. but they are talking about a hard brexit being the last—case scenario, and i hope it is. but remember, even if you got to that, you still have got to resolve these issues. you still have to resolve citizen‘s rights. that is not going away, and people are writing to me in droves saying they are extremely worried. the question of the northern ireland border, if you‘re going to reinstate such a border, the prime minister promised there wouldn‘t be one. the people of the uk are very

concerned that we could control our borders and the free flow of citizens from the eu. you can‘t do that without a border. and last of all, the financial settlement. even if we walked away and said we‘re not paying, imagine if that was on the other foot, imagine if scotland had left the uk. do you think england or wales would have said that‘s ok, forget about the bill, it doesn‘t matter? i hope there is still time for us to reach an agreement. but it sounds as if you don‘t want to make sure the will of the people is enacted. it sounds as if you want to stop brexit in its tracks. no, i don‘t. people have accepted that we are leaving the eu. when i looked around and talk to people, they see the value of the pound down.

they see the credit rating down. they see investments down. they see growth down. they look to the political leaders for a plan and see both parties, parties that seem to be more in obsessed with infighting than delivering a plan. now when they look to see progress, sadly they find that there isn‘t any, or not enough, and therefore time is ticking away and hard brexit is looming. and maybe richard ashworth was speaking to me earlier. the snp leader, nicola sturgeon, says it‘s not the right time to think about the timing of a second independence referendum, because of uncertainty about brexit. speaking from her party‘s conference in glasgow, scotland‘s first minister says she is considering the need for a second referendum on leaving the eu and suggests she is planning to increase income tax rates in scotland. she‘s been talking to our scotland editor, sarah smith. since their last party conference, snp party members have been

led halfway up the hill towards referendum and halfway down. now it seems they‘re neither up and are down. as nicola sturgeon says, she is considering calling for quite a different vote — a referendum on the result of the brexit negotiations. i have said i think the case for the argument for, not another vote on the principle of eu membership, but a vote on the outcome of that, may become quite hard to resist. i don‘t think we are there yet, it is not my party‘s policy, but i think this is an argument that may gather strength. as the snp focus on public services, not independence, income taxes may soon rise. you have made a lot of public—spending commitments. are you planning to raise tax to pay for them? i think it is time to look at how we progressively use limited tax powers to protect our public services. we will do that responsibly. we have always been responsible on tax. we will not transfer the burden of austerity to the poorest. income tax will be

going up in scotland? we will announce tax intentions in our budget. i won‘t do that today. but i am being open about the debate we have to have as a country and a parliament. the snp have asked voters to judge them specifically on their record on education. scottish schools have slipped down international rankings. by your own government measures, literacy and numeracy standards are falling. how can you say you are proud of the snp record? i don‘t accept that characterisation of scottish education. we do have challenges to overcome. that‘s why we are pursuing the biggest reform to school education in the lifetime of the scottish parliament, empowering head teachers, pouring significant extra resources into the hands of head teachers, much more transparency around the performance of our schools, so the system can be held to account, and crucially, i and the government can be held to account on progress.

you are doing a big round of media interviews today, since early this morning. how worried are you about losing your voice before your speech tomorrow? you‘re speaking to my inner anxieties here! my voice is fine at the moment. i have a healthy supply of strepsils. fingers crossed my voice will hold out. fingers crossed, my voice will hold out. that speech may be a challenge, even without a cough. it is much harder to excite delegates with talk of tax rises than full—throated calls for independence. sarah smith, bbc news, glasgow. the co—leader of the greens, jonathan bartley, has told supporters the party can be the most influentialforce in 21st century politics. they only won one seat at this summer‘s general election, but mr bartley has told activists in harrogate that they are setting the agenda. but, conference, let‘s not forget what we‘ve achieved together. our ideas and policies are now common currency, part of the mainstream.

we achieved the party‘s second best general election result, and we helped deny theresa may her majority and her mandate. the dementia tax — dead, the ban on fox hunting — safe, the extreme brexiteers in retreat, and the tories in disarray. people have been evacuated in california‘s wine region after a massive wildfire broke out on sunday evening. strong winds fanned fires across more than 200 acres across the napa area, forcing drivers to abandon their cars in the streets. authorities have forced residents in in several rural neighbourhoods to evacuate, as well as one hospital. our correspondent david willis is in los angeles with the very latest, this started last night, sunday night, and it seems to be getting worse. it does, clive, as you say,

it started last night and has spread rapidly. there are now a number of fires burning to the north of san francisco, particularly a coupled to the south of there, but the majority of in the so—called wine country area around napa and sonoma, where tens of thousands of acres have already been engulfed by flames. now, this all arose from burning embers spreading from one place to another, fuelled by those very strong winds, and there is a massive operation under way now to get people out of harm‘s way. hospitals and homes and hotels have been evacuated, and schools have been closed. more than 1000 homes and businesses have been destroyed, so we‘re told, and these pictures you are seeing at the moment are live pictures from a place called the anaheim hills, south of here. there

are luxury homes on fire there, an area that is not far from the disneyland resort, of course. but the california governor, jerry brown, responding to all this by declaring a state of emergency here. that is particularly directed at those counties in the napa valley area. we are getting reports that evacuation centres here are, in many cases, already filled to capacity, clive. david, you point to these live pictures, and we can see the wind whipping up the trees around the area, fanning the flames, and some firefighters desperately trying to deal with these fires in this residential area. we see one jet of water sprayed into the air, but the wind seems to be making things a lot worse. you know what, clive, you will remember, as a former

correspondent here yourself, this is about the time of year when these fires do tend to break out here, after we have had, as we havejust had, a long hot summer, you get the tender dry brush, and a combination ofa tender dry brush, and a combination of a spark, an ember to that very dry area, which sets things us, and then of course the wind picks up and those fires spread. that is what we are seeing right now. the concern of firefighters is if the winds do not die down, this could get a whole lot worse. all right, david, thank you for that, david willis with the latest on those threatening wildfires in the napa area of northern california. many thanks. theresa may has said she wants a creative solution to establishing a new economic relationship with the eu after brexit, one that will ensure prosperity for all. the independent inquiry into child abuse in england and wales has begun hearing evidence about the former

liberal mp sir cyril smith. the actress meryl streep has spoken out against the producer harvey weinstein in the wake of sexual harassment allegations which have resulted in him being fired from his own company. and an update on the markets for you. ina in a moment, the pound in your pocket, the deadline for using the old coins is fast approaching, but when will shops stop taking them? 12 people have been arrested on suspicion of importing class a drugs

and firearms. the officer was detained by french police in calais along with three other british nationals. eight men were later arrested in kent, six of whom have been charged. catriona renton has the latest from westminster magistrates court. six men have been charged with conspiracy to import firearms and class a drugs, part of a cross channel operation. on friday, four british people were arrested near calais by french police, one of them a border force a facial. now, police seized ten firearms, including eight automatic pistols and two revolvers. they also seized over 3a kilograms of cocaine and more than six kilograms of heroin. those men are being detained in custody in france, but at the same time six men were

arrested in various parts of kent. as we said, they appeared here today in court, they are due to appear again on the 6th of november at woolwich crown court. this has been an operation that has been working with the national crime agency, the metropolitan police, working in partnership with french police and the home office. now, a spokesperson for the national crime agency has said that they believe that they have prevented the importation of a significant quantity of class a drugs and firearms to the uk, and they say the investigation is continuing in the uk and in france. catriona renton at westminster magistrates court. a man from birmingham who planned to target a railway line with a bomb made out of fairy lights and a door bell has been jailed for life. the judge at winchester crown court said zahid hussain was strongly committed to carrying out multiple bombings after viewing hundreds of videos posted by the islamic state group. our midlands today correspondent peter wilson looks back at the case. zahid hussain, a loner,

a heavy drug user, living in squalor, keeping to his bedroom. he‘s got a history of mental—health problems. in the summer of 2015, he repeatedly began patrolling the streets around his home. at one point, he went into the garden of a house and descended into the sewer, yards from the main railway between birmingham and london. the manhole here in woodlands road in alum rock is not connected in any way with the main railway line, but zahid hussain certainly seemed to be obsessed with railways and trains and reading about how to ambush them. hussain had a library of books on terror tactics. his favourite — the che guevara and the us army guerilla tactics manual — was bookmarked at a section on how to derail trains. at his home in alum rock, birmingham, detectives unearthed an improvised explosives laboratory

and found a pressure—cooker bomb packed with chemicals and a huge amount of shrapnel — nuts and bolts which hussain boasted would be capable of utter devastation. had it been a viable device, it would have caused significant loss of life. fortunately, he made some mistakes which meant it wasn‘t a viable device on this occasion. but there can be no doubt that, had this device worked, he would have went on to build another device which would have worked and which would have caused significant harm. hussain had been radicalised in his bedroom, sat for hours watching so—called islamic state propaganda, and war videos from syria. his bomb would not have exploded because he‘d got the recipe wrong, but he‘d skilfully built detonators out of christmas fairy lights and a wireless doorbell. when arrested, he was carrying a crowbar and a large kitchen knife. it was these streets that zahid hussain was patrolling, armed with that knife.

he‘s said to have had extremely violent urges directed at random members of the public. and in his own words, he said, "i keep stabbing people over and over again in my mind." friends of zahid hussain tell me he was an ordinary, happy birmingham schoolboy, but drugs, leading to mental—health issues and radical internet videos, later turned this man into a potential terrorist and a bomb maker. the government is on the eve of publishing an audit examining how people of different backgrounds are treated when it comes to education, employment, housing and health. the findings show that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are twice as likely to be unemployed. but also that white working—class students who attend state school are less likely to go to university than people from ethnic minorities. elaine dunkley reports. how fair is multicultural britain

when it comes to race? this nursery in birmingham believes inequality starts early and has a lasting effect. in the past, we have had children who have been excluded, which is quite shocking, from nurseries and other settings in the area. sometimes when behaviour is identified in black boys particularly, it can be seen as challenging. black boys being badly behaved because they are very expressive or speak very loudly and they are excitable, that is boys per se. that also might be girls per se, it is not exclusively black boys or girls, it is children. some have been labelled as young as one—year—old. the government says its mission is to create a society that works for everyone. one area is employment. black, asian and minority ethnic

graduates in britain are paid less than their white colleagues with a degree and less likely to find a job. i have a law degree, but if you are capable, you are not always given an opportunity to be the person you can be. if your name is on the cv, our cv could be thrown in the rubbish bin because they don't want a black person. injobs, i always taken out my middle name. say if like my white colleague was to have a fit at work, started swearing and carrying on, "take your time off, have a few days off work," but with me it is a disciplinary. there are complexities and challenges amongst all races in britain.

class, the environment you grow up in and aspiration can all play a key part. last year, children from white working—class backgrounds were the least likely to go to university, according to the government‘s audit on race. if home life was better and more stable, maybe i would have paid more attention. stereotyping is a big thing. obviously, i live with a travelling family, we get stereotyped all the time. it doesn‘t matter what background you are from, you have a choice whether you succeed in life, but success doesn‘t always start with writing the book. the hope is for a fairer society for the next generation. the challenge is finding radical measures that will get under the skin of racial and social inequalities. if you have any old pound coins, now is the time to spend them. from next monday, the old pound

will no longer be legal tender, and businesses will be able to refuse them and only take the new ones instead — but will they? some shops are expected to ignore the royal mint‘s deadline and continue accepting old coins — at least for a few weeks. sima kotecha explains. they have been the same for more than 30 years, but now it is all change. just days to go before the round pound coin will no longer be legal tender. and from sunday, retailers can refuse to accept it if they choose to do so. at this newsagent‘s, the owner is making it herjob to tell customers the old coin is on its way out. how many old pound coins have you got in your till? at least 30 in there. mostly older ones? no, a mixture. it‘s been replaced by the 12—sided pound coin in use since march. it was produced to help crack down on counterfeiting.

we take them to the bank because a lot of people don‘t know. we still take the old £5 notes because a lot of people don‘t know that, especially the tourists. i have found a problem with some of the shopping trolleys, and you have had to fiddle with them a little bit because the old ones were so easy because they are round. these are 12 sided, aren't they? it's one of those things. this machine takes the new pound coin and the old one. the royal mint has advised that by sunday businesses must try their best to update any equipment so it can take the new money. but there‘s no need to panic — you will still be able to pay the old coins into banks and building societies. the advice is check the old coat pockets unless you have a few bob that need replacing, and do it as soon as you can. let‘s get the weather with someone

who is incredibly artful in his forecasts, this is from tomasz schafernaker, this forecasts, this is from tomasz schaferna ker, this is forecasts, this is from tomasz schafernaker, this is what he does in his spare time! he creates art, and look at that picture, will smith there, brilliant. tomasz schafernaker, are you going to be as artful with your description of the weather? you have plugged in that picture all day, iam you have plugged in that picture all day, i am very flattered! i like it, man, nice one! there are a lot of talented people,

iam not there are a lot of talented people, i am not the only one who control like that! this is my dayjob, this is what i should be doing, and next 48 hours, damp, mild, breezy, not really going to change an awful lot of the next few days. a lot of weather in the atlantic, basically pushing in our direction, so we will keep this sort of weather. but not one coherent layer of grey, clouds today have been broken up in places, so in some places, yes, the sun comes through, but in other areas it is rain and drizzle. the cloud is climbing the hills of western britain, dumping rain, damp here, more so compared to maybe some of the towns and cities a little bit further east. tomorrow, a weather front moving through, perhaps introducing some rain in the south, another one hot on its hills moving into the north—west of the country, so certainly some rain for western and central scotland, and here is the low pressure moving to

the north—west of the uk. very windy weather in some places, you can see the rain is heavy on wednesday, around the hills of wales, the lake district, and with that a real bluster coming out of the south—west. but with that, there comes some height and bridges, 18 london, 14 in glasgow, not bad for this time of year. —— there comes some high temperatures. those temperatures will be climbing later in the week, thursday morning is an exception, clear skies, scotland would not surprise me with a touch of frost, but generally speaking the weather towards the end of the week, at least across the bulk of the country, should start to improve and turn warmer as we see the south—westerly winds coming out of the warmer southern climes. you can see this big vortex, this low pressure sucking in, shunting that warmth, wafting it in into our eye direction, and that basically means the temperatures can only do one

thing as we head into the weekend — they are going to be climbing. it is not going to feel like summer, don‘t get too excited, but it will feel warmer. so a great start, rain mid week, and then by the weekend of those temperatures in some southern parts of the uk could be as high as 23 or 24 degrees, but not the 23 we get in the summer, because the sun was not so high in the sky, it will not feel as one, but decent enough. hello, i‘m ros atkins, this is outside source. donald trump and a critic falling out isn‘t always news — it happens all the time — but it does matter when it‘s it‘s a senior republican senator who‘s accusing the president of putting the us on the path to world war three? more on that in a moment. we‘ll be live in barcelona on the eve of possible declaration of catalan independence. this was the spanish government‘s message to the regional president earlier. tra nswe have told

transwe have told him several times he was walking towards an abyss. i think he is already hanging from the a byss. think he is already hanging from the abyss. the nobel prize for economics has gone to