tv BBC News at Ten BBC News October 11, 2017 10:00pm-10:31pm BST
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tonight at ten... more cabinet divisions on brexit — this time, over emergency plans for leaving the eu without a deal. the chancellor annoyed some colleagues by saying he'll wait til the last moment before approving money, in the event of no brexit deal. at westminster, it exposed a rift among some conservatives, as they weighed up the chancellor's words and the prime minister's apparent disagreement. every pound we spend on contingent preparations for a hard customs border is a pound we can't spend on the nhs, social care or education or deficit reduction. we are preparing for every eventuality. we are committing money to prepare for brexit, including a no—deal scenario. we'll have more on the brexit planning and the latest evidence of a split in the conservatives. also tonight... the benefit claimants still waiting for the new universal credit, months after applying.
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we report on the controversial roll—out. she's sold everything. she's sold her telly. she's sold her mobile phone. she... she's sold everything. she's got really nothing left. apart from the couch we're sat on and the bed she sleeps on, she's got nothing left. the british film industry has distanced itself from the hollywood producer harvey weinstein, following allegations of sexual of sexual misconduct. the spanish prime minster threatens catalonia with direct rule — if the declaration of independence is not withdrawn. and: 30 years after the great storm of 1987, a look at how the science of weather forecasting has been transformed. and coming up in sportsday on bbc news: cricketer ben stokes loses a major sponsorship deal after apologising for allegedly mocking the disabled son of celebrity katie price. good evening.
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the divisions within the conservatives over the brexit process have been exposed yet again. this time, it's over how much money should be spent on plans for leaving the eu without a formal brexit deal in place. the prime minister says the government is ready to spend whatever is necessary to make sure the country is ready to leave the eu. but earlier, the chancellor had told mps that he wouldn't be prepared to approve such spending until ‘the very last moment'. our political editor, laura kuenssberg, reports. number 11, where the money is counted. number 10, where decisions are made. and behind that scaffolding, number 9 downing st, where brexit plans are made. but when it comes to paying insurance policies in case it all goes wrong, the government
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can't yet agree. chancellor. the chancellor this morning saying we shouldn't pay that much, at least not yet. i don't believe that we should be in the business of spending, of making potentially nugatory expenditure until the very last moment when we need to do so. so we will be ready, we will spend the money in a timely fashion to ensure that we are ready, but we will not spend it earlier than necessary. in other words, he's not in the mood to sign off brexit billions just in case there is a deal. yet cabinet sources suggest when ministers met yesterday, when they actually got in... front door, please! that there was a row around the table about precisely that. number 10 admits there was a brief conversation, but denies a ding—dong. yet brexit backers are cross with what they see as the treasury's resistance and are demanding promises now. he needs to do the sums and i think
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he needs to set aside precisely the sort of sums that we need, which i would imagine would run into billions of pounds. but what we can't have is a state of affairs where if we do terminate the negotiations or the eu indicates that it is not prepared to do a deal with us, we are then left scrambling. i think the treasury's behaviour, both in the run—up to the 23rd ofjune last year and subsequently, has been incompetent and bordering on the dishonest. it's certainly no secret many of her backbenchers are suspicious of her next—door neighbour. and the prime minister was oh, so subtly given the chance by a prominent brexiteer to give her view. could she confirm then that all monies necessary will be allocated as and when required to this project? we are preparing for every eventuality. we are committing money to prepare for brexit, including a no—deal scenario. in some cases, departments will need to spend money before the relevant legislation has gone
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through the house. where money needs to be spent, it will be spent. he nodded along, but to brexiteers' ears, that sounded like a slap on the wrist for philip hammond. but for labour, another sign of tory wars. everywhere you look, it's a government in chaos. she's afraid of the most right—wing, rabid elements in her own party. she was having none of that. the honourable lady could not be more wrong. the chancellor's team believe hisjob is to be realistic about the future. chancellor, have you got the brexiteers onside? but he's a target for brexiteers who don't believe he's optimistic enough about what is next. daily demands, daily tensions, right inside the government machine. tonight, number 10 and ii have been playing down the sense of division
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between the two, saying there are differences in language but not sentiment this is the latest in what has already been a long line of divisions inside the tory party, not just in the cabinet but from top to bottom. yet another proxy for the real soul—searching going on inside the conservative party over the kind of brexit deal that they once, the kind of approach they want to take the britain outside the eu, and what is so difficult about this for the conservatives, while they are having these big internal rows, how can they find enough political energy and effort for the negotiations in brussels, which had been stuttering on this week? let alone to be able to get on with the big domestic reforms that theresa may really wa nts. reforms that theresa may really wants. the issues that she says really, really d rive wants. the issues that she says really, really drive her. in terms of this question of this insurance policy just in case of this question of this insurance policyjust in case we fall out of the european union without a deal, it is the case that money is already
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being spent in government, and more of it may be forthcoming very soon. but again, we have the sense to night that the tory party is stuck ina daily night that the tory party is stuck in a daily battle over what they think the european union without britain should look like, and there is that question, if they cannot persuade each other, how can they persuade each other, how can they persuade the rest of the eu, let alone the rest of us here at home? many thoughts, from westminster, laura kuenssberg. the prime minister has defended the major extension of the government's main welfare reforms, amid concerns from some conservative mps about the impact on claimants. universal credit combines six benefits into a single payment and is being introduced across the uk. as more accounts emerge of the difficulties and delays some people have been experiencing, the labour leaderjeremy corbyn called on theresa may to ‘show some humanity‘ and suspend its implementation. our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, has met one woman who's still waiting for payment, months after claiming.
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hi, holly. hiya. here's your food parcel. thank you. when you've nothing, small mercies can mean everything. thank you. this is holly sargent‘s umpteenth food parcel. she first applied for universal credit eight months ago. she's still waiting for her first payment. without her mother's help, she'd be destitute. how have you got by? beyond your mother, what else have you had to do? starve. she's sold everything she owns. she's sold everything. she's sold her telly. she's sold her mobile phone. she's sold everything. so why have you got a telly in the corner that doesn't work? because it makes it look more homely. it doesn't look like a gap, like something's missing. holly sold her working tv to make £40. this broken one came from a friend. basically, the next thing that goes is going to be the sofa. and i'll be sitting on the table. admin failures with universal credit, problems at thejob centre and holly's vulnerable mental health
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all contributing to eight miserable months. as a parent, it's soul destroying to listen to your daughter on the phone telling you she's starving... i'm sorry. and not being able to physically help her. the problems with universal credit were predicted in the welsh valleys three years ago. a housing association here took part in a government—commissioned research project, which showed just 6% of housing benefit recipients had any savings. when people on benefits claim universal credit, all their other benefits immediately stop. this social housing provider warned ministers people would struggle to go weeks without money. they knew it in 2014. it's inexcusable, really, that in 2017, we've got a ship that's sailed — in terms of universal credit full—service coming in — but the lifeboats haven't yet been built and they're only now being launched, after the event. and here are some lifeguards.
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for this charity tackling poverty in one of the poorest areas in britain, universal credit is yet another challenge. daily, they meet families who simply can't cope. these people are suffering. we shouldn't be having that. so people like us need a voice. to stand up for everybody and stop it. sorry. knock on door. hi, holly. back at holly's flat, her support worker, beth, arrives to begin another universal credit claim. this will be the tenth claim and she's had no money since february. nothing at all. every time i see holly, you can see a little bit more has changed in her, and that's awful to see. i'm there to help and i physically am struggling to help her. amid holly's hunger and hardship, it's the heartache that kills. her lack of money means her son, who lives with her mum, is no longer able to stay the night. what's been the worst part for you?
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not being able to see my son. i can't sit and watch this for much longer. it'sjust horrific. it's getting to a point where my child doesn't even know who i am. and all she's asking for is £54 a week. michael is here now. when you talk to ministers and some of those who devised this, they will say that, as they have been today, lots of the faults in the system had been ironed out. what is the evidence on the ground? that they have not. holly's case is not typical. she has been waiting eight months. what ministers will tell you
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is 80% of claimants receive a full payment, and time. universal credit is working for people who are digitally savvy and can apply online and geta digitally savvy and can apply online and get a bit of money to help them through the initial period when they have to wait for the first period, and ministers also say they have evidence to show it is getting people into work for a lot longer. but it is people like holly struggling, the most vulnerable who have not got a job and cannot get a job, perhaps with mental health issues, they are struggling with that claim period where they go and apply for universal credit. and any other benefits they get will be immediately stopped, so they have to wait a immediately stopped, so they have to waita number of immediately stopped, so they have to wait a number of weeks for the first payment. ministers say they can get advance payments and they have reiterated they could be paid, in some circumstances, and the day the claim is made. even if you get an advance payment and lots of people have said they were not made aware of these, they immediately begin to pay them back from that first
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payment they get for universal credit, and that is putting them into financial difficulties as well, so into financial difficulties as well, so it is for the most vulnerable at the moment that saying this system is simply not working. once again, thank you very much, michael buchanan. the hollywood producer harvey weinstein, who's alleged to have sexually assaulted a number of women, has been suspended from bafta, the british film academy. and tonight, the academy of motion picture arts and sciences — which hosts the oscars — said the allegations were ‘repugnant‘ and it would be meeting on saturday to discuss possible action. weinstein's wife, the british designer georgina chapman, said her husband's actions were ‘unforgivable' and she announced she'd left him — as our correspondent, nick bryant, reports. this time last week, harvey weinstein was at the centre of hollywood's in—crowd, but now he's a virtual outcast. known not for the magnetism of his personality, but what accusers have described as the menace. a—list actresses, to women
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who just wanted to break into the movie and tv industry, all saying he sexually abused or harassed them, claims he denies. but now his wife of ten years has decided to leave him, horrified by what she's been hearing. the british fashion designer georgina chapman described her husband's actions as "unforgiveable" and said, "my heart breaks for all the women who suffered tremendous pain." the new zealand model zoe brock claims the producer harassed her at the cannes film festival in the late—1990s. harvey walked out of the room and came back in naked. he came back naked? naked. what did you say? and he said that he wanted a massage, could i give him a massage? and i said, no. weinstein claims many sexual encounters were consensual, not according to zoe brock. i hope he's watching. say that to my face, harvey! i would happily stand
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in a courtroom and testify. happily. tonight, the british model and actress cara delevingne claimed he harassed her in a hotel room. "he walked me to the door and tried to kiss me on the lips, i stopped him. i still got the part for the film and always thought he gave it to me because of what happened." what did i tell you? some of hollywood's leading men have also distanced themselves from a friend who gave them their big breaks. george clooney described weinstein's behaviour as "indefensible." so how's your lady? ben affleck, who made his name in the weinstein movie good will hunting said he was "angry." his co—star, matt damon, said he was sick to his stomach and said he'd never seen this kind of behaviour or been part of an attempt to suppress stories about it in the past. silver linings playbook. but this joke at the oscars nomination ceremony four years ago begs the questions — what did hollywood know and when? congratulations, you five ladies no
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longer have to pretend to be attracted to harvey weinstein! laughter. this is the new york headquarters of the weinstein company, which sacked its co—founder on sunday, it's said to be considering a name change. the company faces the same questions as the industry as a whole — did it protect him? did it enable him? was this an open secret that friends and colleagues simply chose to ignore? those who worked with him speak of his immense power and ca reer—breaking influence. if you had been an actress who, let's say, harvey had groped your breasts while you were supposed to be auditioning for him — what are you going to do? you're not going to go to the police, they're not going to take that seriously. you're not going to call a journalist because at that point, harvey had the whole media world in his pocket and no—one was going to go up against harvey weinstein. there is only a down side to reporting it — ie, harvey's going to destroy your career. there's no upside to doing that. why is anyone going to do that? bafta has suspended weinstein
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from its membership, the hosts of the oscars are now considering taking action. his beloved red carpet, a place where he used to parade his powerfor now, at least, seems out of bounds. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. there's a major disturbance at long lartin high—security prison in worcestershire, which houses more than 600 prisoners. daniel sandford is with me. it's difficult to get information out of a prison during one of these incidents. 0ur a prison during one of these incidents. our understanding is that at the moment one of the wings in long lartin prison is suffering disturbance. staff were attacked with pool balls and decided they would have to retreat and secure that wing to stop the violence from spreading. they have lost control of that wing essentially. tornado teams, antiriot teams that the prison service uses, are on their way from all around the country.
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it's going to be a busy night trying to ta ke it's going to be a busy night trying to take control of long lartin prison, again. any disturbance in a prison is worrying. long lartin is one of the most high—security prisons in england and wales. it has two—thirds of the people there are life sentence prisoners. normally, actually, the highest staffing ratios and the older age of the prisoners mean you get less trouble ina prisoners mean you get less trouble in a prison like that. they have suffered staff cuts since chris grailing's big cuts on the prison service and lost a fifth of its staff in three years. they are now recruiting again, but tonight it's a prison that's right on the edge. daniel, thanks for the latest. daniel, thanks for the latest. daniel sandford there. buckingham palace has announced that the queen will not lay a wreath at the cenotaph on remembrance sunday this year. the prince of wales will lay the floral tribute on her majesty's behalf.
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the queen and the duke of edinburgh will watch the service from the balcony of the foreign office, in whitehall. the prime minister of spain, mariano rajoy, has given the leaders of catalonia five days to clarify whether they've made a formal declaration of independence. yesterday, the catalan president signed a declaration of independence following that disputed referendum, but then suspended the declaration to allow further talks. mr rajoy accused the catalan leadership of a dangerous attack on the country's constitution and rejected calls for mediation. 0ur europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, reports from madrid. in every people's story there are fateful days. for spain and catalonia, these are times fraught with risk. after emergency cabinet meetings this morning, spain's prime minister came to tell his parliament he's demanding clarity from catalonia. the question, did the document signed yesterday by the separatist leader amount to a declaration of independence or not? translation: the answer
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given by mr puigdemont will determine what happens next. in his hands lies either re—establishing the rule of law as everybody is asking him, or continuing the instability, the tension and the divisions in catalonia. because the spanish government's position is simple. catalonia cannot use an illegal referendum to secede. if catalonia does try to split away, mr rajoy told parliament he would begin moves to impose direct rule on the region next week. spain's prime minister is a leader under intense pressure be some in parliament say she should not compromise who cata la ns she should not compromise who catalans who they say are blackmailing spain. 0thers catalans who they say are blackmailing spain. others say he should seek compromise. what nobody is criticising him for is defending spanish unity. it's the catalan leader who is under more pressure. the catalan leader, carles
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puigdemont, signed it and immediately said he was suspending it and the text ambiguous. the fact it and the text ambiguous. the fact it was fudged has left catalans who wa nt it was fudged has left catalans who want independence for their region feeling cheated. translation: i feel totally let down. he took a step back. the people supported him to do something, but he didn't do it. people supported him to do something, but he didn't do itm madrid tomorrow is spain's national day, preparations for the parade. across the capital those opposed to catalonia breaking away are flying the national flag. catalonia breaking away are flying the nationalflag. in an office, high above the parade, they were hanging theirs out. it belongs to these lawyers from catalonia, both opposed to catalan independence. translation: i'm catalan. ithink, i speak, i pray in catalan. puigdemont does not speak in my name. spain's
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divisions are growing deeper and now the government has set a deadline, next week, for catalonia to come back into line. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. 0ur europe editor, katya adler, is in barcelona. how do you assess the pressure mr rajoy is ex—certing on the catalans, katya ? rajoy is ex—certing on the catalans, katya? he is piling on that pressure. i mean, he's basically given the catalan president until first thing monday morning to explain whether or not he really is declaring independence from spain. if he says, yes, then the spanish prime minister is threatening to launch article 155 of the spanish constitution. what's that? it gives him the power to take away the powers of autonomy from this region. such as having their own police force, dissolve the regional parliament and government. that is the spanish prime minister's nuclear option. the ka lap president has his
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own nuclear option, to declare unilateral independence from spain. neither man wants to be seen to touch that red button first. at the moment they are desperately trying to throw the ball in each other's court. they are both under immense pressure from their own political circles telling them to stand firm and not to blink first. catalans here meanwhile, whether they are for or against independence, are saying they just hope or against independence, are saying theyjust hope this situation can be resolved peacefully. katya many thanks for the latest there. katya adler, in barcelona. deaths from heroin and morphine addiction more than doubled over the past five years in england, wales and scotland, as we reported last night. the bbc understands that the growing crisis has now led to a shift in government policy. local areas have been given options to consider, including the use of drug consumption rooms where users can take class a drugs without fear of prosecution. our home editor, mark easton, reports. 200 milligrams. yeah. due today. yeah.
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until last year, chronic heroin addicts in three parts of england could get their daily fix provided by the nhs and funded by the home office. medical grade heroin, diamorphine, was prescribed and its use supervised by health professionals, schemes that saw large local reductions in dangerous street heroin use. have you used anything since your last injection? funding for the pilot has now ended, but while central government won't pay for such schemes itself, ministers say local areas are free to open them. there's uncapped needles there, the needles have got blood inside them. in durham, the police and crime commissioner is planning to do just that and six other pccs in england have told the bbc that if durham's project proves successful, they'd consider opening one too. but this former heroin user says he doesn't think the state should be feeding people's drug habit. if somebody was saying to me — right, you're 0k to go into this room and you can use in it and we will look after you, and we'll make sure you don't go over?
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would i have ever made that choice to stop? probably not. the record numbers of drugs deaths revealed this summer shocked ministers here at the home office and prompted a subtle, but significant change in government policy. as well as nhs heroin treatment centres, the government signalled that local areas might want to consider introducing drug consumption rooms, where users can take their drugs without the fear of prosecution. and here in glasgow, that's just what they're doing. in a city with 500 street heroin users, where 90 people have recently been infected with hiv, local health chiefs are trying to open such a facility, with 12 injecting booths and an inhaling space. we do have a population of people who are living really on the hard edges of society. they have severe and complex needs and this is a pragmatic and realistic way of reducing
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the harms that those population face. a problem remains though, what would go on inside the consumption room would be illegal and government officials are still wrestling with whether it's possible to create a space where the use of elicit substances is effectively decriminalised. we should be funding services that are focused genuinely on treatment, on trying to get addicts off the drugs they've become addicted to, not providing them easier access to those drugs. but on a visit to geneva, in switzerland, the police and crime commissioner for north wales recently went to a drug consumption room. hello, nice to meet you. and impressed by its results, says there are now active plans to open a similar facility in wrexham. there may be some reluctance at first, but once they see the benefits then, i'm sure, it'll be acceptable. while central government refuses to fund or provide these kind of services itself, it seems the record death toll from overdoses and drug—related infections is leading to radical new approaches at local level. mark easton, bbc news. this weekend marks the 30th
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anniversary of the great storm of 1987, when winds of more than a 100 miles an hour caused extensive damage and destruction across large parts of englandm and the lack of a proper warning prompted a government inquiry into forecasting. since thenm there have been rapid advances in technology which make britain's weather far less unpredictable than it was. 0ur science editor, david shukman, reports. it was a storm that struck without warning back in october 1987. the day before, michael fish had played down the dangers. earlier on today apparently a woman rang the bbc and said that she heard that there's a hurricane on the way. well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't. but the storm brought 100 mile an hour winds, 18 people were killed and as many as 15 million trees were brought down. a police car had a very close escape. roads were blocked. a ferry was driven onto a beach
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and something new about weather was discovered, a dangerous kind of gust, called a sting jet. the met office has analysed what happened, simulating how the weather system intensified during the night, creating dangerous winds where they were least expected. before we used to think that the strongest winds were tied into weather fronts whereas now this is happening behind the weather fronts and that's why it's called a sting jet. it's like the sting in the tail. you think the storm is over, but then these sting jets come in. since 1987 there's been a revolution in forecasting, with satellites launched to beam images from space and powerful computing. 30 years ago, the met office computer had less power than a smartphone and the weather charts used to be drawn by hand. perhaps the biggest change is the amount of information the forecasters have to work with. 30 years ago they received 1,200 separate observations about the storm as it approached, now they get 215 billion
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observations every day. back in ‘87, the computer models of the atmosphere were divided into grid squares of 150 kilometers, now it's a far more detailed 10 kilometers. so while the forecast used to look one day ahead, they're now able to give warnings four days ahead, which can make all the difference. if by communicating this risk of really bad conditions coming along, somebodyjust stays in doors a little bit longer, it could put them out of danger, it could save their life and, at the end of the day, that's what we're really trying to do. so as the technology of forecasting has improved, would michael fish spot the great storm if it came along again now? obviously, you can never be 100% certain with weather and weather forecasting, things will always go wrong, but i think the chances of it going wrong now are very slim indeed. tonight a reminder of why forecasting matters. floods have hit cumbria after a burst of very heavy rain,
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forcing nine schools and two bridges to close, and this time there was plenty of warning. david shukman, bbc news. the rise in the number of acid attacks in britain has prompted a response by government and plans to restrict the sales of corrosive substances. experts say that british policy—makers should study the experience of bangladesh, where acid attacks were once commonplace, but new measures have led to a drastic fall. bangladeshi women are now raising awareness here in uk. 0ur correspondent, tulip mazumdar, met some of them at a fashion show in london. today, though, they' re doing the exact opposite, but it's been a long and painful process for them to get to this point.
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