this is bbc news. the headlines: ministers pledge a big house—building programme and consider ways to make selling houses faster and cheaper. everybody knows what gazumping is. one in six people who go through the process say it puts them off and i think it's good to look at that and see what more can be done. labour's brexit spokesperson says the party will back conservative rebels — to force changes to the repeal bill. officials in catalonia say they will continue to go to work until they are physically prevented from doing so. also in the next hour — lewis hamilton could win his fourth world title — at today's united states grand prix. hamilton will clinch the title if he wins the race — and rival sebastian vettel finishes lower than fifth. and coming up: a weather world special — looking back at the most active atlantic hurricane season in a decade.

iam in i am in florida iam in florida in i am in florida in the united states, the power of hurricane irma has had devastating consequences. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the government says it is considering ways of making buying and selling houses faster, cheaper and selling houses faster, cheaper and less stressful. it is launching and less stressful. it is launching a consultation in england and wales which will look at whether it's possible to reduce moving costs and end practices like gazumping. community secretary sergey javad says the government has planned a massive house—building programme. our business correspondentjoe lynam reports. moving home is often compared to getting divorced in terms

of stress and worry. picking your new home is the easy part of the process, before venders, surveyors, solicitors, banks, agents and removal vans get involved. currently, it can take three months on average to move home. getting the mortgage offer from your bank alone takes around 50 days. and a quarter of all transactions fall through. and so the government will be consulting estate agents, solicitors, as well as buyers and sellers to find out how best to speed up the process and cut costs for households. i think you can use technology to gather as much information about the proposed sale, about the proposed property, to be conveyed at an early opportunity. a purchaser or seller won't talk to his lawyer or conveyancer until after he's agreed the sale. that information can be gathered digitally. i know the land registry is working on this to improve it. so the more we can have ready for oven—ready sales, the quicker it can become. while some people involved in the house—buying process welcomed the consultation, labour said it was a feeble effort and would not tackle the real issue

of insufficient homes being built. speaking on the andrew marr show, sajid javid said it would help improve the experience of buying homes. we want to make sure those buying, renting a selling get a better experience, the announcement todayis better experience, the announcement today is a review of the home buying process , eve ryo ne today is a review of the home buying process, everyone knows what gazumping is, people don't like it, one in six people that go through the buying process say it puts them off andi the buying process say it puts them off and i think it's good to look at that and see what more can be done. we also want to look at how we can make better use of data, people who look for houses, the first thing they will do is go online, why can't we make use of technology and make the process cheaper, faster and less stressful? sajid javid talking to andrew marr. the shadow brexit secretary, sir keir starmer, has warned that unless the government makes changes

to the eu withdrawal bill, labour will side with conservative rebels to block it. hundreds of amendments have already been tabled to the legislation, which aims to transfer eu law onto the british statute books. our political correspondent jonathan blake is with me. it potentially important intervention, what is he saying? search keir starmer is setting out what labour would like to see the government do in terms of changing the eu withdrawal bill to make its demands. —— meet its demands. this is the important seppi piece legislation designed to tra nsfer piece legislation designed to transfer european law into uk law to ensure friendly leave the eu there is not a big legal and legislative void. significant demands here from labour, most notably parliament getting a formal vote on the deal that britain reaches with the eu at the end of the negotiations. effectively giving it a veto. also asking for the transition period to be set into law so guaranteeing that

would happen and a guarantee that workers' rights and consumer rights would not be watered down as a result of this process. this illustrates how difficult it is for the government to proceed here, as we know, it has no real majority in the house of commons any more, it needs broad agreement, that isn't there at the moment, as we've seen. the bill was expected to be back in parliament debated this week, that has not happened, a further delay. ongoing, of course, the negotiations with brussels and that's why time is up with brussels and that's why time is up the essence as far as this bill is concerned. the shadow foreign secretary emily warren break was asked about this on the andrew marr programme on bbc one and she suggested the government's negotiations as things stand are doomed to fail. intransigence is on the side of theresa may, she doesn't have the strength or a party to control her backbenchers let alone her cabinet andl backbenchers let alone her cabinet and i think we are heading for no deal and i think that there is a

serious threat to britain and it is not in britain's interests for that to happen. we will. that. everything we have heard from the government suggests otherwise, yes, they are doing the groundwork for a new deal and is theresa may said several times no deal is that than a bad deal but by far the preferred option is not the government keeps referring to as a deep and special partnership with the european union. the conservative mp theresa villiers was asked about that and she says there will be a deal in place by march 2019. i feelthere there will be a deal in place by march 2019. i feel there is there will be a deal in place by march 20 19. i feel there is a strong place and chance we will reach an agreement, in terms of two questions, the basic exit agreement, measures on air, travel and security, and there is a separate question of a trade deal, delivering a trade deal in the time available, certainly more of a challenge but i think eu leaders were very much

signalling this week they had knowledge it will be in their interests as well as ours to reach a sensible trading arrangement. i remain optimistic that is what is going to be achievable. definite change in tone since the summit in brussels over the last few days but a lot of work still to do as mr macro set herself, a long way to go but we get a sense of perhaps a prime minister dry to regain the initiative in parliament this week. she is expected to tell mps although these negotiations are deeply technical she is reminding people she will put the book first. jonathan blake. thank you. demonstrations took place in barcelona last night, as the political crisis in spain deepens. the spanish government has said it plans to impose direct rule on catalonia and sack the regional administration, following a controversial indepence referendum. the catalan president, carles puigdemont, has compared the government in madrid to that of fascist dictator, general franco. tom burridge has more from barcelona. our correspondent in madrid, guy hedgecoe, says the political debate in spain had soured in the last few weeks.

that's been the case in the last few months, particularly so in the last 2-3 months, particularly so in the last 2—3 weeks since the october the 1st referendum on independence which the cata la n referendum on independence which the catalan government staged and which the spanish government opposed, the courts opposed. the situation has really deteriorated since then, tensions risen. the two sides have become as entrenched as ever, really, and it's very difficult to see a way out of it. what form of civil disobedience do we think there is likely to be by people supporting the catalan authorities when the madrid government finally takes these powers and what a week's time? i suppose the obvious form will be for civil servants to refuse to obey the of those ministers and those departments in madrid giving orders

as opposed to the ministers in catalonia, the catalan government. they could possibly refuse to obey and not carry out their duties. we are told that those measures being implemented by madrid would mean there are punishments for civil serva nts there are punishments for civil servants but nonetheless, that seems to bea servants but nonetheless, that seems to be a possibility. of course we have the other issue of demonstrations out on the street, the possibility people might block government buildings, pro—independence campaign is my block government buildings to prevent the spanish government from implementing this very drastic measure to take control of their institutions. how risky is this for the prime minister to go through this process, to effectively call regional elections which he says will happen following this within six months? if the result could be simply strengthen the hand of the separatist parties? well i think

it's risky when you look at the overall picture. because it's going to draw a backlash. we saw that backlash yesterday on the streets in barcelona and i think we're certainly going to see more demonstrations out on the street and other kinds of reactions against this measure by the spanish government. but there's also a feeling that the spanish government didn't really have much other choice, felt it did not have any other choice. a lot of pressure on marianne bell—macro the prime minister to take this route, pressure from the voters, media in madrid, sections of his unpopular party who insists this was the only way to prevent the independence movement from going any further. i think he felt it was his only option. how have, you know, the media on sunday being reporting this? sunday papers in spain are as important as they are here in the uk, are they taking the government's side so far or are there any notes

of caution? well, in madrid, the national paper is published in madrid, they tend to take the line of the government, even if they are not government supporters. on this issue many newspapers say order is being restored to catalonia, finally, after all these weeks and months of tensions and chaos. in catalonia the media has a different view, not all of them, newspapers up are saying that this measure by the spanish government is going to cause a backlash, it is very risky. parts of britain have been hit by storm brian with violent winds and rough seas. gusts of more than i20kph were recorded in some places. strong wind warnings and flood alerts remain in place across much of wales, the south of england and the midlands. briohny williams reports. storm brian unleashes its worst as waves crash

against the coast of wales. the ferocity of nature showing its hand. it's taken the whole side of the rnli offices out. buildings damaged and roads flooded. the picture in the south west of england is similar. beaches empty, advice from the environment agency has been to stay away from the coastline. but walkers in the north west of england couldn't resist watching the awesome scenes storm brian has provided. fantastic. power of nature, innit? i tried to go for a nice coastal walk this morning, but i think i'll put that on hold. the disruption hasn't been as widespread as predicted, and storm brian is expected to ease over the coming hours.

only then will the true impact be revealed. the new head of the world health organization says he's rethinking his decision to appoint the president of zimbabwe, robert mugabe, as a goodwill ambassador. mr mugabe has led his country for 37 years but has been condemned over his human rights record. britain and the united states warn the decision could overshadow the work of the global agency. a woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder, after a baby fell from a sixth—floor window in bradford and died. west yorkshire police say the woman, who's 23, is undergoing a medical assessment in custody. officers have described the death of the 18—month—old child as "extremely traumatic" and say specially—trained officers are working to support his family. prison officers in fourjails are to trial the use of pava spray — similar to pepper spray —

to defend themselves against aggressive inmates. the ministry ofjustice will also roll out more than 5000 body cameras to officers in england and wales, as well as police—style handcuffs. violence in prisons rose significantly last year — with assaults on staff reaching record levels. the prisons minister, sam gyimah, has been explaining why the new measures, like using pepper spray, are necessary. violence against prison officers is up 34% in the last year. we have a particularly violent cohort of prisoners, and i think we need to give officers the tools they need to do theirjob. now, we obviously need to pilot it to see if it works, but if a prison officer is attacked, surprisingly, then as a last resort, having this could make a difference, then they should have it. millions of people injapan are casting their votes in the snap general election called by the prime minister, shinzo abe. if mr abe wins, it would be his fourth term in office. our correspondent rupert wingfield

hayes has the latest from tokyo. mr abe called this snap election over a year before he needed to go to the polls. in fact, it has not been a popular decision. about two thirds of japanese people polled said they disapproved of him calling an election now. despite all that and despite the fact that mr abe is not hugely personally popular, it looks like he is going to win. it looks like he has taken advantage of disarray injapan's opposition parties who've been fighting amongst each other over the last few months and a slight bump in his own opinion and support amongst the japanese public to go for this election, and it does look like it's going to pay off. it looks like he will get a majority in parliament today, that will give him another four years in power and an opportunity to push ahead with what he wants to do in his final term, to change

japan's constitution and get rid of the clause that makes japan a pacifist nation. it is an important election, because that would be a huge change for this country. a look at the headlines at 10:16am, ministers look at ways to make the buying and selling of houses faster, cheaper and less stressful. the shadow brexit spokesperson says it will back plans over brexit. political leaders in the spanish region will continue to go to work until they are physically prevented from doing so, officials have said. time for the sport, including the american grand prix coming up. jessica is in the bbc sports centre. good morning. formulai jessica is in the bbc sports centre. good morning. formula 1 coming up but let's start with football, the

former fa board memberjane heather ra bbatts former fa board memberjane heather rabbatts says she thinks stand as for the's position as technical director at the football association is untenable. the fa apologised for racially discriminatory remarks made by mark samson. rabat says things need to change starting with ashworth. i think it is untenable, his position is untenable, he's been there since 2012, these issues raised, the lack of diversity, black coaches, clearly the issues of mark samson, these have all happened and when you talk about leadership and organisations come off when people talk about culture and i've heard able argue there has to be root and branch reform, who is going to lead that reform? branch reform, who is going to lead that reform ? it branch reform, who is going to lead that reform? it cannot be the leadership who have been there. manchester united manager jose mourinho criticised his players describing their attitude in the defeat as huddersfield as worse than

ina defeat as huddersfield as worse than in a friendly. the season leaves them five points behind man city after they won at home to burnley. the best team won. simple. and you giving huddersfield credit as well as may be disappointment at your team's performance ?|j as may be disappointment at your team's performance? i have to give them credit, of course i have to give them read it, at least i give them credit to have a different attitude, desire, motivation than we had. they deserve, i think everyone at the stadium could feel the first couple of minutes, but one team wa nts to com pete couple of minutes, but one team wants to compete and one team wants to be aggressive and one team wants and is ready to give absolutely everything and the other team was not ready for that. so, the best tea m not ready for that. so, the best team won. to be games in the premier league today, late kick off, liverpool travel to wembley to face spurs in their temporary home, before that struggling everton host arsenal with the toffees boss under pressure. the position on the table

is not the position where we need to stay in the position in the table, thatis stay in the position in the table, that is what we need to change. and i still believe in the players, the signings what we did in the summer. australia have won the opening one—day game of the women's ashes series by two wickets. post said a target of 228 in brisbane, they achieved, five balls remaining. it gives australia 2—1 lead in the multi—format series ahead of the second one—day game on thursday. is this the day lewis hamilton racks up a fourth formula i this the day lewis hamilton racks up a fourth formula 1 world title? he's given himself every chance and is on pole position for the us grand prix this evening in texas. main championship rival sebastian vettel alongside him on the front row, hamilton must finish at least first second to stand any chance of wrapping up the title with three races to spare. two—time olympic

champion jade jones praised the races to spare. two—time olympic championjadejones praised the loud london crowd as she won her first title of the year. competing for the first time in the capital since london 2012 she was in brilliant form to win her world grand prix final against the world champion. it avenges her defeat to the south korean and a world championships backin korean and a world championships back in june. the way and belt, i wa nt to back in june. the way and belt, i want to get gold all the time, it's quite hard when you get silver and you're used to getting gold to do it in london and to beat the girl i beaten world championships, bittersweet, yes, it's nice. what a win for bianca walked in, underlining her status at the moment is one of the best in the world. she got a gold medal in the over 67 kilograms class easily beating her opponent to claim her third grand prix win of the season. what a great result. that's all the sport for now, more on all the stories on the bbc website. more specifically, the bbc website. more specifically, the bbc spotlight site, more coming up

in the next hour. —— the bbc sports website. a eurosceptic billionaire businessman in the czech republic has won the general election. andrej babis, the country's second—richest man, won 30% of the vote. it's not enough to govern alone, but it puts him far ahead of his rivals. rob cameron has more from prague. this is what success looks like for a man who's already tasted so much of it. his business empire controls much of czech agriculture, chemicals and the media. but now he's set his sights much higher. after almost four years at the finance ministry, the slovak—born business tycoon is on the brink of becoming prime minister. translation: i've already congratulated all the chairman who got into parliament, they we hope they will be willing to deal with us. i think it would be good to have a stable government for our country, which will fight for our interests. it was a result few had predicted. andrej babis' prospects had dimmed in recent months

after a string of scandals. two separate criminal investigations into claims he fraudulently obtained eu funds for a luxury resort. he said all of that was a campaign against him, a political witch hunt by an establishment terrified of his pledge to clean up corruption. trust me, he said — and the voters believes him. populist, mildly eurosceptic and hostile to immigration, despite his non—czech origins, he's left the established centre—left and centre—right parties in tatters. instead, a host of new protest parties, including the far right spd. they want to ban islam in the czech republic, and also hold a referendum on leaving the european union. they're unlikely to get one, but attitudes are hardening here to the eu and to migrants.

and andrej babis has tapped into them. but let's get more on one of the top stories this morning, the shadow brexit secretary warning on as the government makes changes to the eu withdrawal bill labour will side withdrawal bill labour will side with conservative rebels to try and block it. we were joined by labour in the chuka umunna who was a strong supporterfor the remainder in the chuka umunna who was a strong supporter for the remainder campaign and has concerns about the bill and what we know about it, you haven't seen the legislation because it hasn't come forward for proper debate. do you think it makes it more or less likely the government is going to move fast? we have seen the bill, the eu withdrawal bill husband published, we had the second reading, the first part of the debate on that and how we are going through committee stage which for your viewers, is the point you go line by line, sentence by sentence

through the bill and there have been 300 amendments tabled to the bill. keir starmer has said that the labour position today and highlighted some of the issues people have with the bill. for example, it gives ministers the ability to make powers, laws by decree almost which is clearly unacceptable decree almost which is clearly u na cce pta ble forever you decree almost which is clearly unacceptable forever you are on the spectrum and of course sir keir starmer should do that, we have to have an alternative. the key thing here though the extent to which the government backbenchers were to support any cross—party moves to change this bill. and whilst there isn't co—operation between the labour front bench and the conservative bench is unprecedented levels of co—operation between back dangerous of all parties to try and change this bill in the national interest so it doesn't offend our constitution. when sir keir starmer says we will work with tory rebels, that would almost be undermining the authority of their own government but presumably they can work with

people like you, those tory mps who are worried about rick set and uncomfortable with the concept of a ha rd uncomfortable with the concept of a hard brexit, as it's called? in practical terms what do you think you're most likely to be able to change, is that things like those so—called henry viii powers that allow the government to change legislation without having to come back to parliament. there were a number of things people from all sides of the house have concerns about, one is the henry viii power, the things which gives ministers the ability to make powers by decree. that is one. ensuring the bill does not preclude the uk government agreeing a transitional arrangement with the eu, and at the moment has drafted, it could do that, there's also a very big issue, parliament should get a vote on the final deal that we do with the european union. theresa villiers saying that academic when she was here about an hour ago, she says is like a treaty, there is bound to be a vote, there

is not an issue. no, it isn'tjust like any old treaty. this is fundamentally going to change the trajectory of this country and the demand is for us to have a separate act of parliament approving the final deal. and so for the government hasn't agreed to that, thatis government hasn't agreed to that, that is what is... that would be separate to the withdrawal bill, a kind of formal easing off at you call it? that's right. a number of other issues about how you enforce environmental issues which are enforced at european level, at a uk level. if they are being transferred across isn't that implicit in the process ? across isn't that implicit in the process? the problem is is very uk agency to pick up the reins and forced the rules? a broad point i would make from the labour front bench position you will decide is how the government is doing this, confidently? but there is a bigger issue, increasingly as the facts are coming to light, brexit in the form that it was sold to your viewers is proving to be impossible to deliver

and when you look at the key elements on which brexit was sold to people, £350 million extra a week for the nhs, the exact same economic benefits once we left the eu as we do when we're in is, a massive reduction in the number of eu citizens coming to the country, we won't have the same immigration, on all those three things the fact are showing that they are not going to happen, you're not going to get £350 million per week extra going to the nhs because we have to pay into the european union, continued access the single market. everybody accepts 3 million eu citizens who live in our country should be able to stay and the eu chief negotiator michel barnier is absolutely clear you are not going to get the same economic benefit as she did as a member of the club, otherwise why would anybody be a member of the club? let me put something to you that liam fox the international trade secretary said after being interviewed this morning. he said

when emmanuel macron suggested britain was bluffing and talked about being willing to walk away without a deal, it wasn't, britain and the cabinet is quite serious, prepared for their to be no deal? do you think they are bluffing?” prepared for their to be no deal? do you think they are bluffing? i don't know whether they are bluffing or not but what i do know is that the chat and talk of being no deal promoted by boris johnson, chat and talk of being no deal promoted by borisjohnson, liam fox and others is grossly responsible. you do not reach an agreement with your counterparty by sitting at the negotiating table and saying i don't wa nt to negotiating table and saying i don't want to do a deal with you. that is the mood music many eu ambassadors and ministers get from our government and that is unhelpful because what it is, if we get no deal you will have my long queues at ports like dover, a situation where we wa nt ports like dover, a situation where we want no further the airlines can fly our aircraft in and out of eu countries... when it came to things like that, a pragmatic solution would be found, nobody is going to leave hundreds of thousands of people plaque that micro—standard at

the airports. you say that the clip that what the british airline pilots association says, they say there is no deal there is a risk of that. and theissue no deal there is a risk of that. and the issue of tariffs... 28% of the project your viewers go and buy in the corner shop comes from the eu. if we have had tariffs and we would do, if there is no deal, the goods they would via the shop, the goods that they buy at the cornershop will go that they buy at the cornershop will 9° up that they buy at the cornershop will go up in price even further. chuka umunna, thank you very much. right, let's ta ke umunna, thank you very much. right, let's take a look at the weather. good morning, storm ryan wiggling, wet weather around, drier and brighter as the day goes on, showers pushing up across south—west england and on to south wales. the best of the sunshine, the north wales, the midlands, south east england by this

afternoon, temperatures down compared to yesterday, ii—ilid. to mike, showers fading, dry and clear for a mike, showers fading, dry and clear fora time, mike, showers fading, dry and clear for a time, here is the longest in north—east england, eastern scotland, rural spots reaching single figures. rain coming back to northern ireland, western scotland by the end of the night, wales and western england, mild are coming with this which will take rain eased across the uk tomorrow, low cloud untilfog. in across the uk tomorrow, low cloud until fog. in the afternoon still close to southern and eastern parts of the afternoon, brighter skies coming back elsewhere, feeling a little warmer. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the government's considering ways of making buying and selling houses faster and less stressful in england and wales. the shadow brexit secretary, sir keir starmer, has warned that unless the government makes changes to the eu withdrawal bill,