hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm ben brown. today at 2pm: a blow for president trump as the democrats take a senate seat in alabama for the first time in a quarter of a century. the prime minister promises mps that they will get a vote on any final brexit deal as she tries to avert a possible government defeat tonight. we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead of the european parliament so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 20 19. and britain's most prolific drug smuggling gang who used drones to get drugs and weapons into prisons. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with katherine downes. more on the controversy around chris froome. and we will get the weather. going

to get a bit more mild? isli and we will get the weather. going to get a bit more mild? isl am going to be talking about the sport, seemed to be having some problems, we will talk about the controversy around chris brennan after double the amount of illegal asthma drug was found in his un, chris brunt says he has not broken any rules but the world governing body of cycling has demanded some answers. let's see what the weather is doing. we got there eventually. the cold has gone, this is the hard work of those beautiful crafted snowmen, it is less cold out there, in fact it's turned to rain, some of it quite heavy, but things could be tricky as we go into the evening, more from me coming up in less than half an hour. hello everyone — this

is afternoon live — i'm ben brown. he was the candidate endorsed by president trump, despite facing a string of allegations of sexual misconduct, one of them against a 14—year—old girl. well now roy moore has narrowly lost a crucial senate race in alabama — a deeply conservative state in the american south. the seat has gone to the democrats for the first time in a quarter of a century, and it's a blow for mr trump because it cuts the republicans‘ very narrow majority in the senate. roy moore was a hugely controversial candidate — an evangelaical christian who says homosexuality should be illegal and muslims banned from congress. from alabama, gary o'donoghue. it was a stunning political upset. doug jones, a former federal prosecutor, is the first democrat to be elected to the senate in this conservative southern state in a quarter of a century. his victory reduces the already razor thin republican majority in the senate to just one seat. as dr king liked to quote:

"the moral arch of the universe is long but it bends towards justice. " cheering. if trump is losing in his deepest of red states, in his republican states, then the swing states, the blue states, this should send an ominous warning to mr donald trump that this is not your country. i think they destroyed a good man. so i'm feeling bad for roy moore. because roy moore was a good christian person. and i believe he would have been a great senator. more, perhaps, than the strengths of the victor this defeat points to the weaknesses of his opponent, republican candidate roy moore. a firebrand evangelical who believes homosexuality is immoral and muslims should not be allowed to serve in congress. he saw his sizeable lead in the polls start to falter after a string of women came forward to claim that he had sexually assaulted them, in one case, when the accuser was just 1a. roy moore denies the allegations.

part of the problem with this campaign is we've been painted in an unfavourable and un...faithful light. we've been put in the hole, if you will,... despite calls from senior members of his own party for him to withdraw from the race, mr moore continued to enjoy the support of president trump who tweeted tonight, "congratulations to doug jones on a hard—fought victory. "the write—in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win." those so—called write—in votes could prove significant. in a further twist to a long and often ugly campaign, the vanquished candidate is refusing to concede defeat. for this deep south state to prefer a pro—choice, pro—gay rights candidate like doug jones over a hardline conservative

such as roy moore is a reflection, not only of the weakness of the republican candidate but a major snub to the president who backed him. it will also be seen by some as a victory for the victims of sexual assault whose claims roy moore has consistently dismissed as "fake news". david willis, bbc news, washington. gary o'donoghue is in montgomery in alabama. has roy miller conceded yet? he has not. he came onto the stage last night and said he would not concede, he he is clutching at straws. he is a point and he is clutching at straws. he is a pointand a he is clutching at straws. he is a point and a half behind doug jones. the gap is more than 20,000 votes.

there are still some votes to count, they are people who will be in the military, out—of—state votes, but to give you an indication, around 8000 people in the services from alabama, evenif people in the services from alabama, even if they all voted for roy moore he is nowhere near overtaking doug jones. nowhere near getting into the half percent margin which if you do get into this state conduct the recount. the republican party here in alabama have issued a statement saying they are very disappointed but respect the election process and if you read between the lines they think it is over even if roy roy moore is not prepared to accept it is over. the prime minister has promised that both mps and the house of lords will get a vote on a final brexit deal. ministers are trying to avert

a possible defeat on its brexit legislation tonight. conservative rebels want to insert a legal guarantee that mps will have a vote on the brexit deal. here's our political correspondent ben wright. fired up in the cold and ready for a fight. this morning mps from opposition parties were demanding parliament has the final say on how britain leaves the eu. all we are asking on behalf of our constituents is for the ability to sign off on what our withdrawal arrangements from the eu are. whether you voted leave or remain, i think that is a very reasonable demand. but the reason ministers are sweating is because a number of conservative mps seem likely to vote with the opposition this evening. they are urging ministers to guarantee in law a meaningful vote for mps and peers on the final deal done with brussels. and a former tory attorney general is leading the charge. putting down the crucial amendment that will be voted upon later. the government should show great flexibility in the way it approached mps raising legitimate issues and i am quite sure that if we do that,

we should be able to resolve this without my having to rebel against the government, something which on an issue of national importance, i have never done in the course of my career. a defeat for the government this evening would not mean brexit is derailed, but it would beef up the power of parliament to scrutinise, approve or even reject the brexit deal theresa may is hoping to get with the eu. and at the moment, potential tory rebels are not backing down. which is why ministers are trying to turn the screws, persuade and cajole tory mps to stay in line. and this morning the brexit secretary david davis wrote this letter to his colleagues, promising them a meaningful vote as soon as the negotiations in brussels are done. the government has also promised that there will be a separate bill on the final withdrawal agreement. are you facing defeat, prime minister? and this lunchtime theresa may tried to reassure her own side. we will put the final withdrawal agreement between the uk and the eu to a vote in both houses of parliament before it comes into force. as we have said, we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead

of the european parliament, so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. but with no overall majority in the commons, just a handful of tory rebels could inflict defeat on the prime minister and potentially change the course brexit will take. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. our chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. are we heading for a showdown this evening? i think we are. there has been a number of occasions where people have wondered what the rebellion might be like and i have to say i have not seen a group of more reluctant rebels for a very long time. they have talked a lot about how they are going to vote, if they will vote against the government, but there are signs on this particular issue that this is the one which really matters and so

far we understand several of them are planning on voting against the government. as was made clear, listening to dominic grieve, this is a big dealfor many of them listening to dominic grieve, this is a big deal for many of them who listening to dominic grieve, this is a big dealfor many of them who have not voted against their government before. they do feel this is the moment where mps had to insist on having some kind of meaningful say over how we leave the european union. one of those, anna soubry, has been one of the rebels, talking about that in the past. today she says it's what she's going to do tonight, defy her government and she had the chance to ask the prime minister question this lunchtime. the prime minister and minister question this lunchtime. the prime ministerand i minister question this lunchtime. the prime minister and i have minister question this lunchtime. the prime ministerand i have many things in common including if i may say being proud of being called bloody difficult women. my right honourable and learned friend the memberfor honourable and learned friend the member for beaconsfield is not in that category for many, many reasons. he is honestly a man. he is

a respected, seasoned parliamentarian. and like many on these benches has been for many decades loyal to his party. nobody wants to be disloyal or to bring about more disunity. the prime minister says she wants a meaningful vote on brexit before we leave the european union. even at this last moment, would she be so good as to acce pt moment, would she be so good as to accept the right honourable and learn old gentleman's amendment seven in the spirit of unity for everyone here and in the country? my right honourable friend makes an important point about the concerns people have had in this house about having a meaningful vote on this issue before we complete the deal. asl issue before we complete the deal. as i set out in the earlier answer i gave to my right honourable friend the member for chesham and amersham it is what we will have, we will ensure there is a meaningful vote on this, in this house which will then mean an opportunity for parliament

to look at the withdrawal agreement and implementation bill. the fact there will be has been set out in a written ministerial statement today. we we re pretty written ministerial statement today. we were pretty clear we will not until the vote has taken place but as currently drafted what the amendment says is we should not make, put any of those instruments into place until the withdrawal agreement and implement is an bill has reached the statute book. that could be at a very late stage in proceedings which could mean we are not able to have the orderly and smooth exit from the european union we wish to have. what mps like anna soubry are concerned about is they do not want parliament to be effectively given a take it or leave it option, the only option you vote down the deal theresa may has got and then you are left with no deal

at all which is not what most people in this place want. on the other side of it there are mps who accuse anna soubry and others of trying to frustrate the will of the people. they say that them and some of the labour party want to stay in the single market and are not intent on leaving the european union at all. what we are getting from the government is more a what we are getting from the government is more a sense what we are getting from the government is more a sense of how they will do this in terms of legislation and there will be opportunities for mps to vote, many times. there will be at least two agreements one is the divorce bill for example how we leave, the terms, there will be another one on the terms of our future arrangement with the european union but this one we think at seven o'clock this evening we think will be the vote so far where there has been the most rebels on the tory side saying they are still prepared to defy the government. meanwhile, the european parliament

has voted in favour of starting the next phase of brexit negotiations. this will include negotiating a transition period, and then the future relationship, including trade. but some meps accused britain's chief brexit negotiator david davis of undermining trust, by suggesting that a key preliminary agreement was merely a statement of intent. this was german green mep ska keller. even though we had an agreement is, thenit even though we had an agreement is, then it was put into question, in london and that raises a lot of questions on any sort of agreement we are making, that you're making here with your counterparts and i would say especially about the future relationship because if you cannot trust one another, if you are not sure that whatever you agree is actually going to hold then this is going to put a major strain on any future relationship. i would not add

just to the european union but if the uk wants to be a global player and find new friends elsewhere it's going to bejust and find new friends elsewhere it's going to be just as tricky, or more tricky. that is the german green mep. let's go back to the united states and the top story, a huge political upset, doug jones becoming the first democrat and a quarter of the first democrat and a quarter of the century to win the senate seat of alabama, laura becker is our correspondent in washington, the significance of this for donald trump is it cuts his republican majority in the senate. donald trump has already been on twitter are trying to distance himself from roy moore who he backed, saying he knew he would never win, that he did not back him in the first place. this is a significant roadblock for president trump, it is already difficult for him to get his policies through the senate back now the republican majority here has

been slashed to just one. things like tax reform, health reform and building that border wall which he has promised, that hasjust building that border wall which he has promised, that has just got that much harder. he is going to have to work closely with the republican party and with moderates within the party and with moderates within the party if he wants to get anything done. as for republicans, you get this sense there is a bit of a collective sigh of relief. when it comes to the controversial candidate, roy moore, he was going to be very difficult to stomach, republicans who had distanced themselves and refused to endorse him at the start. they kind of managed to avoid an investigation into his sexual harassment allegations and when it comes to him coming to the senate they have managed to avoid that. it has come ata managed to avoid that. it has come at a cost. they know the road ahead is going to be difficult and are looking into 2018 and those midterms and wondering how they can pull it back. thank you very much laura.

with me in the studio is former republican party strategist mallory factor. are you surprised by this defeat? not overly surprised. first of all, the defeat it was coming not as a repudiation of donald trump but it's a very flawed candidate. when you have flawed candidates we are things can happen. flawed because of the sexual misconduct allegations or the things he has said about homosexuality should be illegal and muslims should not be allowed in congress? he is not a mainstream candidate. donald trump did not support him originally, he supported, in the primary, he supported, in the primary, he supported luther strange who ran against him. donald trump came only for him in the 11th hour and the reason for that has nothing to do

with him being pro—roy moore or anti—roy moore, his agenda, donald trump's agenda is in trouble because his majority has shrunk by 50%, from 52 to 51 in the senate. he's not going to be able to move forward. this race is more important than that, you have a look at where the money came from. first of all the rewards are huge amount of money, more than £100 per vote was spent. most of the money came from florida, california... so it became a national race? which is extraordinary. extraordinary. doug jones spend more than two and a half times what roy moore spent because roy moore was not supported by the republican mainstream. they feel he

will be gone in ten and a half months. why do you think he lost in the end, this controversial candidate because despite the allegations it appears a lot of white women for example voted for him but the african—american vote was almost universally, male and female, was against him. you make a strong point. it is similar to what happens in this country, if you look at the brexit vote, you had london, oxford and cambridge voting overwhelmingly against brexit. in alabama you had the cities, african—americans dominate those, voting against roy moore. then you had the rural vote not been turned out for him. american elections, turnout is what determines the election. more than most people realise. and roy moore did not energise his base. jones energised the base throughout the entire country of the democrats and that is

why he was elected. but the last democrat to get elected in alabama became a republican. richard shelby. if he wants to get re—elected, if jones wants to get re—elected he will have to either do some amazing things as a democrat, to show he is kind of a republican or he is going to lose in ten and a half months. on the national picture as we were discussing with laura in washington, i hear what you are saying, it's not a huge blow for trump in the sense he did not initially support roy moore but it cuts the senate majority? steel it sure does. it's not a huge blow for trump in terms of his reputation or style of politics. executable of his agenda which is very different. do you think that the tide is starting to

turn against the trump agenda? this election is not a repudiation of trump. the democrats would like to make it so but it's really a repudiation of a candidate who is fairly extreme. that is what you have to focus on. so you are saying it isa have to focus on. so you are saying it is a one off? it is, and there will be more. the democrats desperately want to control the senate in the next upcoming election and will have a very hard time. 25 of their senators up against ten of the republicans, it's not going to be that easy. america is fundamentally conservative nation and people have understand that. great to hear your views and analysis, thank you coming in. the ringleader of the most prolific gang to be caught smuggling drugs and phones into prisons using drones has been sentenced to more than seven years in jail. the gang was run from inside prison by a former armed robber craig hickinbottom.

he organised at least 49 flights, smuggling contraband estimated to be worth more than a million pounds. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has this exclusive report. cameras originally set up to take pictures of wildlife, catching instead britain's most prolific drone smuggling gang. recording the pilot mervyn foster time and again flying a drone from a field outside hewell prison in worcestershire. its illegal cargo hanging underneath on fishing line. from the field, the smugglers had a view directly into the jail and the prison block where the drone's cargo was pulled in through the windows. over the months the gang grew in confidence and sophistication. they had started by simply throwing the drugs over the prison wall. but then they started using drones and they added to the contraband, mobile phones, weapons, screwdrivers, and even a freeview box with a remote control. cameras inside hewell prison caught

one of the ringleaders, john hickinbottom, with an improvised hook used to catch the fishing line and recover the contra band. the contents of the loads were specifically ordered by inmates. the officer who caught the gang told me they had organised the least 49 flights into jails as far away as scotland. it was across like i say, the west midlands region primarily, hmp featherstone, birmingham, stoke heath, obviously here. but we have also had stuff up in hmp manchester, liverpool and like i say, as far north as hmp perth. all from the same group of people? yes. the epidemic of drones being used to airlift contra band into prison grew from nothing injust four years. we didn't see this one coming so the drones literally came from nowhere. they were flown in and it actually just was a game changer for us. so we had to relook at our systems, our procedures and methods

of gathering intelligence. and it gave the gangs an opportunity to actually breach the secure perimeters almost effortlessly. to crack this case, officers downloaded the memories of the drones they seized and linked that to the mobile phone calls the smugglers were making. the prisons ministers had to invest millions of pounds in a new national network of police and prison officers working together, which helped catch this gang. what we have shown here is this is the most prolific gang we have come across and we have been able to deal with them. they're going to be serving jail time and that is a huge success. the gang, led by armed robber craig hickinbottom, is thought to have smuggled contraband worth between £600,000 and over £1 million, continuing even after they had been arrested and charged. with such huge profits being made, keeping drones away from prisons is going to be a lengthy battle. daniel sandford, bbc news, at hmp hewell in worcestershire.

the comedian, peter kay, has cancelled his first stand—up tourfor eight years and all other personal appearances. he's blamed what he called "unforeseen family circumstances", and asked for privacy. tickets for the tour, which had been due to start in april and go on into 2019 — sold out almost immediately, and extra dates had been added. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson can tell us more. this was going to be a huge tour and the first for ages and now it is off? this is big news because it affects over 1 million off? this is big news because it affects over1 million people, that is how big it was, 112 dates starting in birmingham next april going through to 2019. when tickets went on sale two months ago they all went, and absolute sell—out. so many

people today will be disappointed but it is worth reading this statement because it's all we know at the moment. this comes from peter kay today. due to unforeseen family circumstances i deeply regret having to cancel my upcoming projects. this includes my upcoming stand—up tour, dance for life shows which are charity dance events he was putting on in coventry next year, in manchester and liverpool, and any outstanding live work commitments. my outstanding live work commitments. my sincerest apologies, this decision has not been taken lightly and you must understand my family will always come first. i have a lwa ys will always come first. i have always endeavoured to protect their privacy and i hope the media will continue to respect our privacy. once againi continue to respect our privacy. once again i am very sorry. it's that bit at the start, due to unforeseen circumstances. keeps not done live shows for years but had been busy on tv. very prolific in 2017, car she came back, he

announced on children in need that it will come back in 2018 for one unscripted episode and one final episode. we understand those are com plete episode. we understand those are complete and will be shown in 2018. in september i was at the reopening in manchester arena where he was one of the com peers, he introduced a headline act by saying he is mr manchester, all the way from london, noel gallagher, it went down very well. he was on children in need the next night, he was on strictly come dancing reading the terms and conditions which has become a bit of a tradition. it's part of the reason why it's become such as shock, he has been so out there in the past few months and so many people will have been looking forward to this and now they'll have to get a refund. do we know how that works, how those million people get their money? what a procedure that is going to have to be. we are told customers go back to their original point of per purchased to get their

money back. and because the dance floor life event is for charity, they are suggesting people who bought those tickets perhaps should not try to get the money back. for the moment, thanks for bringing us up the moment, thanks for bringing us up to date on that. a 15—year—old boy has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving of five people who died when a stolen car crashed into a tree in leeds. the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared via video link at leeds crown court this morning. he was remanded in custody for reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing next month. five people, including three children, died in the crash in november. a man and a woman have appeared in court charged with the murder of three children, who died in a fire at a house in greater manchester on monday. they're also accused of four counts of attempted murder and one of arson. they were remanded in custody. our correspondent dave guest

was at salford magistrates court. two men faced three charges of murder, they relate to the deaths of 1a—year—old, eight—year—old and seven—year—old children who died as fire swept through their home in greater manchester during the early hours of monday morning. the other pair in the dock are also accused of arson and attempting to murder the dead children's mother, she is currently seriously ill in hospital. there are three further charges of attempted murder relating to a three—year—old girl and two boys of 16 who were also in the house at the time. we are not allowed to identify those three for legal reasons. the districtjudge says those three for legal reasons. the district judge says these those three for legal reasons. the districtjudge says these were clearly matters too serious to be dealt with at the magistrates' court and remanded the pier in custody for and remanded the pier in custody for a further appearance at manchester

crown court which will happen tomorrow. the headlines coming up are you in a few moments, we will bring you the latest on brexit, theresa may saying the final brexit withdrawal agreement will be put to a vote in both houses of parliament and also the latest from alabama in the united states where roy moore, the united states where roy moore, the republican candidate, so controversial, has been beaten. he has not yet conceded defeat but we will be talking about the ramifications of all that, but let's stop about the ramifications of the weather, so—called, let's get, that is not the uk is it? we have had a lot of snow, and people are thinking to christmas. my now some people absolutely hated. i will onto some late in the afternoon, but lots of people go away for christmas and they go to the alps. look at this, this was a year ago, one of the worst starts,

there was no snow relief of a christmas we get all. but i have aggxfifiwji ‘ 7' wu 5; skier. has?” “you askier. has been 7' you askier. some there has been some really good early snowfall in the last couple of weeks, so actually it is going to be a great start to the season. it is cold as well and they are very good once they get a base across these alpine resorts of managing to keep it, so i suspect there will not be the disappointment this year. mutch are you a skier? i am, i love it. it has been so cold but it feels like it is getting milder. is that the pattern? a little bit. it is a mess out there, again i am apologising. let's ta ke out there, again i am apologising. let's take a look at the weather forecast, a little bit of what we call a wintry mix. we have rain coming in, poor old ‘s christmas robin, not sitting on the fence with snow, it is heavy rain. temperatures will stop the fall away and that could complicate things just a little bit. but this has been rain piling in from the west so far

today. is that main band clears away today. is that main band clears away to the south—east, behind it here to the north—west, you can see we will start to see a bit more of a wintry flavour, rain, sleet, snow, hail, even some thunder mixed in. for the early evening rush hour, it could be a bit tricky. anywhere north of the m4 corridor could start to see a wintry flavour starting to push in from wales and eventually into the midlands. it will be wet snow. we not expecting it to cause too much ofan not expecting it to cause too much of an issue, but nevertheless it is worth bearing in mind, it will make this tricky driving conditions for hour or so. some sleet and snow showers, scotland and northern ireland, we are expecting the snow to settle anywhere about a 100 metres, as figure two overnight period, gale force gusts of wind is driving those showers in and then the temperatures continue to fall away. with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, ice could bea around the freezing mark, ice could be a problem again first thing in the morning, particularly whether showers keep coming. a glimpse of good news, and less messy for

tomorrow. the wins and gales will start to ease down and that will allow fewer showers —— winds. anywhere through central and eastern areas here, a little more shelter, a little more sunshine, still cold, but in comparison to the last few days, not too bad. two to 7 degrees. thursday to friday, the winds come straight back down from the north, so it will feel quite cold out there yet again. but it will be quiet again, showers will be chiefly along north coasts and a good deal of dry, sunny weather in the story. top temperatures for the 6 degrees. the cold air, though, is not set to stay with us. that is the start of the weekend, by sunday, mild airfloods in from the atlantic. that means a weather front and it means things could turn pretty unsettled. saturday, the best day, in terms of usable weather, dry, sunny, lovely, a little more cloud around, rain gradually pushing in from the west.

tomorrow we will be broadcasting live from st paul's cathedral ahead of the national memorial service for the victims and survivors of the g re nfell tower the victims and survivors of the grenfell tower fire. join us then. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. in a major upset, voters in alabama have elected the democrat doug jones as their new senator, dealing a blow to president trump and the republican party. theresa may says mps will be given a vote on the final brexit deal. ministers are trying to avert a possible defeat on their brexit legislation tonight. a man and a woman accused of murdering three children in a house fire in worsley have appeared in court, charged with murder, attempted murder and arson. the ringleader of a gang, which used drones to smuggle drugs and phones

into prisons, has been sentenced to an extra seven years in jail. the comedian, peter kay, has cancelled all work commitments because of ‘unforeseen family circumstances.‘ he was due to start a uk wide tour in the new year. and coming up later — the stars were out in force last night as excitement builds over the release of the of the latest star wars film. sport now on afternoon live, with katherine downes — and chris froome has some questions to answer? yes, some big questions for one of the biggest cyclists particularly who have represented britain on two wheels. four—time tour de france winner, he won the vuelta espana and the tour de france, the first briton to do so, this year. he managed both

of those feats and he was the first briton ever to do that. but during the vuelta espana earlier this year he tested positive for a legal asthma drug, but he had double the amount allowed in his you‘re in. so the uci, world cycling was like governing body, asking for answers from chris froome. chris froome says he has not broken any rules, let‘s here all the details. he stands alone as britain‘s best cyclist. a fourth tour de france title was claimed earlier this year, swiftly followed by an historic victory in the spanish grand tour. but chris froome‘s reputation is now under threat, like never before. that‘s because the team sky rider was found to have exceeded the permitted level of the asthma drug salbutamol when tested in september. froome says, on doctors‘ advice, he did increase his dosage due to asthma but insists it was still within the legal limits. in a statement, he said... team sky says froome

has had asthma since childhood and regularly uses an inhaler. salbutamol is permitted under anti—doping rules when inhaled up to a limit of 1600 micrograms over a 24—hour period. and no more than 800 micrograms over 12 hours. froome is said to have tested at 2000 nanograms but his team say the complex way the body processes the substance can sometimes give results from europe that require further explanation. different people respond to salbutamol differently. if you gave the same dose to ten different people, you'd get different concentrations in their urine. so, that's part of the problem, they'll certainly be bringing that forward as a defence but i think, actually, sky have quite a serious

problem and i think they may struggle to make it go away. scrutiny on team sky involving parliamentary hearings has increased this year. it follows an ultimately inconclusive investigation into allegations, all denied, that centred on sir bradley wiggins and performance enhancing drug use in 2011. froome, though, has taken a strong moral stance on doping issues and has been outspoken on the matter of gaining medical exemptions, known as tues, for usually banned substances. i didn‘t feel as if having a tue in the last week of the tour de france was something i was prepared to... itjust didn‘t sit well morally with me. that was something i was going to do. 2018 was billed as the year chris froome would attempt to seal a famous hat—trick of grand tour wins in italy, france, and spain. instead, the potential ban and the loss of his spanish title both possible, he is merely riding into an uncertain future. richard conway, bbc news. jonny bairstow has moved up the

batting order to six as england had named and unnamed —— unchanged team. australia lead the series 2—0 and if england lose, then the series is lost. hanlon had not lost in perth for nearly a0 years. joe root says he believes his team do have a chance to change that. it has been spoken to about a lot. i believe we have a really good opportunity here and we have done some really good things in practice, and we have spoken really well as a group. it is just making sure we put that into practice and guys stand up and deliver when it really matters. another one of those evenings when you wake up and decide whether you would dare to fear the result of the first day. we will pick up on the

chris froome story. for times tour de france champion —— four times, being investigated by the world governing audio after that adverse tricksters. he had more than double of the allowed level of that asthma drug during this is an‘s on tour of spain. let‘s discuss it with the director of the centre of the sports and exercise science at the university of essex, professor chris cooper. thank you for being with us. tell us a bit more about this investigation, and in particular salbutomol, and asthma wonder drug. the claim is that different people react to it in different ways, is that right? i mean, yes, potentially, in terms of how it is metabolised in the body. it is in the blue inhalers, that you take,

most people will be familiar with it. if you feel your breasts are too shallow. it is called a reliever, many people take the stroke, it is used by people who suffer from asthma, many people in elite sports suffer from asthma. in terms of the normal amount of use of the drug, there is no evidence it is formed to enhancing, so the anti—doping agencies have said in terms of inhalation that is fine that you ta ke inhalation that is fine that you take it, and these are the amounts you are supposed to take then do a translation by the amount of asthma inhaler you are allowed to take, essentially eight doses over a 12 hour period, they would expect your you‘re in levels of this drug to be below a certain amount. what seems to have had another case of chris froome, he insists he has taken the right man but his you‘re in level a bit higher. it may well be there is

an individual variation of metabolism, there is some evidence that if you exercise strenuously it affects the metabolism. if you get dehydrated it can affect the drug is mac reading. i am assuming there is a discussion between team sky at the moment and the anti—doping agencies about how exactly are the levels could have been this high, assuming he took the drug of the legal form, and inhalation. that is where we are. they will have data over the rest of the dwell espana showing that he was below the level, they will know when he took different amounts of inhalations. it will all be in the details of whether it is feasible this could have occurred naturally. so we should notjump to adverse conclusions at the moment.

given all of those variables, is it even possible for the governing body to come up with a definitive verdict, a definitive conclusion? when you have had an adverse analyticalfinding, it when you have had an adverse analytical finding, it is the onus for the person who had it to prove that could be a natural result of taking a legal amount of the inhaler. they will have to convince the authorities, rather than the other way round. that is where the onus lies. normally this would not become a media story until the decision had been taken, was this allowed or not, in terms of the particular metabolism. questions for him and forteam particular metabolism. questions for him and for team sky as welcome would you say? i am sure there are a lot of questions in the background about how this could have occurred. chris froome has admitted he took

more asthma inhaler at that time but within the legal amount. maybe he has a particularly high amount of your own concentration of the salbutomol, and they could see that from the rest of the vuelta, where perhaps when were taking the drug at a legal level. then it went over the legal limit when he was taking the larger but still larger amount, and thatis larger but still larger amount, and that is the kind of discussions that will be going on behind closed doors, iam will be going on behind closed doors, i am sure. we should not leap to any kind of conclusion until the data has been discussed. very good to talk to you. thank you for explaining all of that. chris cooper, professor at the university of essex. social media companies should take full legal responsibility for offensive and abusive material that appears on their platforms — that‘s according to an independent report commissioned by the prime minister. it found that social media was the most significant factor in driving harassment and intimidation of candidates in the general election. our media editor amol rajan reports. many mps have faced horrific abuse

on social media platforms. and twitter, in particular. stella creasy endured a torrent of hatred after supporting a campaign forjane austen to be on the new £10 note. after posters of maria caulfield mp were defaced, she too suffered a sustained campaign of intimidation on social media. i guess it started around the time of that syria vote. and it really ramped up then and the election we just had earlier this year is kind of when it really peaked. but, you know, on a day—to—day basis, it is routine to get abuse, threats, i‘ve had several death threats. i‘ve had my tyres slashed outside my home. i‘ve had my office graffitied with threats. the man who leads the committee on standards in public life wants to see tech companies take greater responsibility. we were not impressed by their takedown rates, we were not impressed

by their performance data. we do know that they are trying to do some good things but we think there has to be at least a discussion in parliament about the way in which they actually operate. twitter says it has introduced new tools to help users. the company is now taking action on ten times the number of accounts every day compared to the same time last year. and using new technology to suspend thousands of abusive of accounts. but while the report contains familiar statements about doing more to remove offensive material, it doesn‘t make clear how shifting vehicle responsibility for harmful content onto the companies would actually work. the sheer scale of material uploaded online, with a00 hours going on google—owned youtube every single minute, means that this stuff is impossible to control fully. and even if it were practical, asking the likes of facebook to censor material before it is published would fundamentally change the nature of the open web. the report‘s recommendations will now be considered by the government, who will then decide what if any action to take. a consensus is emerging that tech giants should take greater responsibility for harmful material, but there is no consensus on how. amol rajan, bbc news.

for star wars fans, the wait is nearly over. the eighth episode in the franchise, the lastjedi, gets its cinema release at midnight tonight. but last night, the film‘s stars, including british actors daisy ridley and john boyega, were on the red carpet in london for its european premiere. a warning, this report from our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, contains flash photography. the stars of star wars, cinema royalty on the red carpet with actual royalty. princes william and harry, such fans of the saga, during filming, they secretly played cameos as stormtroopers, much to the excitement of the cast. it was great, fantastic. fantastic. phenomenal. and they‘ve done an official visit as well. they got in an x—wing and all that kind of stuff so it was fun. the lastjedi is the ninth star wars film since the saga

began a0 years ago. it didn't scare me enough then. there‘s a huge degree of expectation from fans. what is star wars to you? star wars is everything, really. something i‘ve always obviously been interested in. it‘s almost a way of life, i think. i think it'sjust a cracking good story, it is all swashbuckling, it's fun and goodies versus that is, i think that is what it's fun and goodies versus baddies, i think that is what makes it so great. fan power like this has driven the franchise for a0 years and is also the reason why many expect this film to make more in the final two weeks of 2017 than any other film makes in the entirety of this year. the time is 12 minutes to three. banks say a rapid response scheme aimed at combating fraud has already saved customers millions of pounds in its first year, and led to more than a hundred arrests. under the scheme, police arrive at a bank branch within an hour, if staff fear someone

is being tricked into taking out a large sum of money to pay a criminal. simon gompertz reports. a rolls—royce. some people have their heart so set on getting one that things like this are prime bait used by criminals to get hold of your cash. when i came into this bit of inheritance, i thought right, i‘ve always wanted a rolls—royce. let‘s have a look. it was a dream carfor you? it‘s a dream car and they are so comfortable and so easy to drive. barry fox in essex had a lucky escape. thanks to swift action from his bank when he went to withdraw the money to buy another fictional rolls—royce in an ebay scam. the fraudsters tried to lure him into bringing cash to a pick—up in the middle of the countryside. so what was the danger, then? you might have gone there? i might have gone there... with ten grand in your pocket? with £10,000 in my pocket and been knocked over the head with a stick or something. no car there at all? and no car there at all.

warned off by the bank, he then got this car instead, from a local dealer. when barry popped into his local bank and asked for £10,000 in cash, there was immediately concern about him. now, banks often find it difficult to explain to customers that they might be being scammed. but under the new arrangements, they were able to call 999, quote banking protocol, and get a police officer round here within half an hour. while in the branch, the police checked out the car. the situation just didn‘t seem right. it wasn‘t where it should have been. this was all happening in blackpool and the car was then registered in bristol. and also we made checks to the business details against ebay. it was the correct business name but the contact details didn‘t match. banks say they have stopped customers being defrauded of £9 million in a year. however, that is just the ones going into branches. £100 million has been lost injust six months by people unwittingly paying fraudsters online.

this is obviously really good news for those that use their branch. they are often the most vulnerable, so everything that banks can do to help is good news. however, more and more of us now bank online and certainly have to bank online because bank branches are closing. so we want to see more done to protect consumers from being scammed online. automatic, preowned... but with the internet playing such a big part, it is still a good lesson to be wary of sellers asking for cash. i would tell people, if they want cash, don‘t buy. the bank—police tie—up, which meant barry did get his dream car, will soon be in place across the country. simon gompertz, bbc news, in essex. in a moment the business news with egon.

first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. doug jones becomes the first democrat in 25 years to win a us senate seat for alabama, after a bitter campaign against controversial candidate roy moore the prime minister promises mps they will be given a vote on any final brexit deal as she tries to avert a possible government defeat tonight. two people are charged with murder, over the deaths of three children at a house fire in worsley in greater manchester. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. unemployment fell to la million in the last quarter. so that means it‘s still the lowest it‘s been for more than a0 years. but it‘s not great news on wages — those aren‘t keeping up with inflation. we‘ll have a little more on that in a moment. profits at dixons carphone have slumped 60% in the first half of the year. apparently it‘s because we‘re putting off upgrading our phones —

and holding onto our old ones for longer. the bank of england plans to remove gendered language from its documentation. this means titles such as ‘chairman‘ become simply ‘chair‘. the bank of england has faced criticism for its lack of senior female managers. some encouraging news on unemployment. it has fallen by 26,000 in the last quarter. that means it‘s at a.3%, the lowest rate since 1975, but, as is the way in a lot of these things, there is a real sting in the tail, and that comes in the form of wages. they are going up but only by about 296. they are going up but only by about 2%. we found out inflation is going up 2%. we found out inflation is going up by 2%. we found out inflation is going up by about 3%, so you can see it is leading to a real squeeze on people‘s incomes. the big question is why aren‘t wages going on? that

is why aren‘t wages going on? that isa is why aren‘t wages going on? that is a question we have put the ruth gregory, an economist. bulega market figures were more disappointing than expected —— the labour market figures was that we saw a quarterly fall in employment growth, and unemployment only continued to fall because more people stopped looking for work during the ranks of the so—called inactive. as you said col wage growth only picked up a touch, and it would need to rise much further to match the recent rises in inflation we have seen. so, all in all, the backdrop for this festive period is pretty poor, really. let‘sjump let‘s jump across the atlantic and talk about the united states. decision day for the world‘s biggest economy. the federal reserve is meeting today, letting us know what they will do with interest rates. several indicators they might be putting them up, they have been raised

twice, the betting has always been there will be three rises this year. signs of inflation, we have already had signs that the employment rate is starting to look quite healthy. but the same as wage growth, they are not but the same as wage growth, they a re not really but the same as wage growth, they are not really keeping up the cost of living over there. but, are not really keeping up the cost of living overthere. but, by are not really keeping up the cost of living over there. but, by and large, people are thinking we are going to see a slight interest rate increase this time. and the markets? the ftse100 making moderate progress, the curious thing here is dixons carphone. profits have slumped here, so you think their share price would go down, but no. what investors are thinking is that they could be in the wind some sort of restructuring going on with their stores, and that, they think, could actually restore it to full—blown,

proper, great profitability. the company says we have no plans to restructure at this point, but we wait to see full stop so that is just a guess by investors. yes, it isa just a guess by investors. yes, it is a guess. egon, thank you very much. kensington palace has confirmed that meghan markle willjoin the queen and other senior members of the royal family for christmas at sandringham. meghan markle and prince harry will attend the traditional christmas day church service on the queen‘s private estate in norfolk. the couple got engaged last month and will marry in may. louise lear has the weather. good afternoon. a fairly messy weather story to try and tell for the rest of the day. one thing, though, it is mild out there, which is helping to thaw any lying snow that we have remaining. but it has

been a cloudy morning and there have been a cloudy morning and there have been outbreaks of rain, some of its heavy, at times moving in from the west. the window of brighter weather, before some showers start to develop, and these with a bit more of a wintry flavour. that will be the story for the end of evening rush—hour. worth bearing in mind, because it looks as though there will be a spell of wet weather anywhere from the ma corridor north, there could be some rain, some sleet, some wet snow, some hail in there as well. that could make for some tricky driving conditions. we‘re not expecting the beast now to be to disruptive but it is worth bearing in mind. a rather blustery if not gale force gusts of wind is for a time. so it is going to be a tricky story through the night as well. temperatures falling close to

freezing in some spots yet again, so ice could be an issue yet again first thing in the morning. we start off on thursday with a cold, icy start, but the winds will gradually start, but the winds will gradually start to ease down. that has an impact. that means most of the showers will combine themselves, further inland, the greater chance of seeing some sunshine. top temperatures at around one to 7 degrees, we might see nine into the channel isles. as we move out of thursday into friday, isobars start coming almost in a vertical position, northerly winds set to return, things get a bit colder, but noticeably quieter. not a bad day on friday. a good deal of dry weather and some sunshine with highs of four to nine degrees. a subtle change in the sunday, mild air set to return to stop that means it will be called with some sunshine around on

saturday, more cloud on sunday, indications of getting a little milder. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m ben brown. today at three: theresa may attempts to head off a backbench rebellion against the government‘s brexit plans — she promises they will get a vote on any final deal. we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead of the european parliament, so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. a blow for president trump — the democrats take a senate seat in alabama for the first time in 25 years. jailed — briton‘s most prolific prison smuggling gang, who used drones to get weapons and drugs into prisons. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport — katherine... questions for chris froome? yes,

after doubleday excepted out of an asthma drug was found in his urine. world cycling‘s governing body want an explanation. more in half an hour. —— double the accepted amount ofan hour. —— double the accepted amount of an asthma drug was found in his urine. thanks, katherine, and we‘ll be joining you for a full update just after half—past. louise lear has all the weather. it's it‘s quite a messy story out there today, but it‘s slightly less cold, and that means the lying snow is melting nicely. but the snow has been replaced by heavy rain, and thatis been replaced by heavy rain, and that is moving in from the west. more coming up. thanks, louise. also coming up — comedian peter kay cancels his first stand—up tour in eight years, blaming what he calls unforeseen family circumstances. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live.

theresa may has promised that mps will get a vote on the final brexit deal. she said it would come "well before" march 2019, the date britain is due to leave the eu. the government‘s trying to head off a possible defeat on its legislation in the commons this evening because conservative rebels want to insert a legal guarantee that the vote will happen. here‘s our political correspondent ben wright. fired up in the cold and ready for a fight. this morning, mps from opposition parties were demanding that parliament has the final say on how britain leaves the eu. all we are asking on behalf of our constituents is for the ability to sign off on what our withdrawal arrangements from the eu are. whether you voted leave or remain, i think that is a very reasonable demand. but the reason ministers are sweating is because a number of conservative mps seem likely to vote with the opposition this evening. they are urging ministers

to guarantee in law a meaningful vote for mps and peers on the final deal done with brussels. and a former tory attorney general is leading the charge. putting down the crucial amendment that will be voted upon later. the government should show great flexibility in the way it approaches mps raising legitimate issues, and i am quite sure that if we do that, we should be able to resolve this without my having to rebel against the government, something which on an issue of national importance, i have never done in the course of my career. a defeat for the government this evening would not mean brexit is derailed, but it would beef up the power of parliament to scrutinise, approve or even reject the brexit deal theresa may is hoping to get with the eu. and at the moment, potential tory rebels are not backing down, which is why ministers are trying to turn the screws, persuade and cajole tory mps to stay in line. and this morning, the brexit secretary david davis wrote this letter to his colleagues, promising them a meaningful vote as soon as the negotiations in brussels are done. the government has also promised

that there will be a separate bill on the final withdrawal agreement. are you facing defeat, prime minister? and this lunchtime, theresa may tried to reassure her own side. we will put the final withdrawal agreement between the uk and the eu to a vote in both houses of parliament before it comes into force. as we have said, we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead of the european parliament, so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. but with no overall majority in the commons, just a handful of tory rebels could inflict defeat on the prime minister and potentially change the course brexit will take. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. our chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. are we heading for a showdown in parliament this evening? are we heading for a showdown in parliament this evening ?|j are we heading for a showdown in parliament this evening? i think we

are. dominic grieve has made it clear that he is not going to withdraw the amendment, that he will pushit withdraw the amendment, that he will push it to a vote. in the past, he has decided at times that he will not confront the government, but on this issue, they do feel extremely strongly about this. they think there has to be a meaningful vote. they don‘t want to be given the option of take this deal or no deal at all. they don‘t want it to be so late in the day that it is meaningless. they want it written in that it meaningless. they want it written in thatitis meaningless. they want it written in that it is definitely going to happen in the form that they want. if you look back to the 90s, when you had the maastricht rebels, who we re you had the maastricht rebels, who were on the other side of the argument, they were a pretty ruthless lot. every night, they took the votes to the wire. they rebel repeatedly against the government. that is not what it is like this time. there are accusations that the remainers on the tory side have not put their money where their mouth is on all this, but tonight could be the one that changes. as if to indicate that the government does

feel it is in trouble, we can just look here at some pictures of two mps walking up the street to downing street. they are going in to see the prime minister, and this was what they had to say. can the prime minister win your backing? can you be persuaded not to rebel? what‘s it going to take? they are not saying much, but that is stephen hammond and bob neill, both conservative mps, not known to be roubles in the past, but they both feel strongly about this issue. they have clearly been asked to see the prime minister. what she will say to them, we will hopefully find out later. but it is a sign that they will have to persuade some on their own side to swing behind her. part of the argument from them will be that the prime minister has come back from brussels, she has managed to get this agreement to move onto

the next age of talks. is this really the moment to cause this embarrassment to her when she has to go off to brussels again this week and face the people from the european union? it would not be a very conservative supporting thing to do. that will be the argument. we will have to see whether they are persuaded by that. as things stand, it looks as if this will be an incredibly close vote at some point after seven o‘clock this evening. vicki young, thank you. meanwhile, the european parliament has voted in favour of starting the next phase of brexit negotiations. this will include negotiating a transition period, and then the future relationship, including trade. but some meps accused britain‘s chief brexit negotiator david davis of undermining trust, by suggesting last week‘s agreement between the uk and eu was merely a statement of intent. this was german green mep ska keller. even though we had an agreement, then it was put into question

in london, and that of course raises a lot of questions about any sort of agreement that we‘re making, that you are making here with your counterparts. and i would say especially also about the future relationship, because if you can‘t trust one another, if you‘re not sure that whatever you agree is actually going to hold, then this is going to put a major strain on any future relation. i would also add notjust for the european union, because if the uk wants to be a global player and find their new friends elsewhere, then that‘s going to be just as tricky or even more tricky. he was the candidate endorsed by president trump, despite facing a string of allegations of sexual misconduct, one of them against a 1a—year—old girl. well, now roy moore has narrowly lost a crucial senate race in alabama — a deeply conservative state in the american south. the seat has gone to the democrats for the first time in a quarter of a century, and it‘s a blow for mr trump because it cuts the republicans‘ very narrow majority in the senate.

roy moore was a hugely controversial candidate — an evangelical christian who says homosexuality should be illegal and muslims banned from congress. david willis reports. it was a stunning political upset. doug jones, a former federal prosecutor, is the first democrat to be elected to the senate in this conservative southern state in a quarter of a century. his victory reduces the already razor—thin republican majority in the senate to just one seat. as dr king liked to quote: "the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice." cheering. if trump is losing in his deepest of red states, in his republican states, then the swing states, the blue states, this should send an ominous warning to mr donald trump that this is not your country. i think they destroyed a good man.

so i'm feeling bad for roy moore. because roy moore was a good christian person. and i believe he would have been a great senator. more, perhaps, than the strengths of the victor, this result speaks to the weaknesses of his opponent, republican roy moore, a firebrand evangelical who believes homosexuality is immoral and muslims should not be allowed to serve in congress, saw his sizeable lead in the polls start to falter after a string of women came forward to claim that he had sexually assaulted them, in one case, when the accuser was just 1a. roy moore denies the allegations. part of the problem with this campaign is, we‘ve been painted in an unfavourable and un...faithful light. we‘ve been put in the hole, if you will... despite calls from senior members of his own party for him to withdraw from the race,

mr moore continued to enjoy the support of president trump, who tweeted tonight, "congratulations to doug jones on a hard—fought victory. "the write—in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win." those so—called write—in votes could prove significant. in a further twist to a long and often ugly campaign, the vanquished candidate is refusing to concede defeat. for this deep south state to prefer a pro—choice, pro—gay rights candidate like doug jones over a hardline conservative such as roy moore is a reflection, not only of the weakness of the republican candidate, but a major snub to the president who backed him. it will also be seen by some as a victory for the victims of sexual assault whose claims roy moore has consistently dismissed as "fake news". david willis, bbc news, washington. our correspondent laura bicker is in washington.

talk us through the national implications of this extraordinary result, particularly on the maths in the senate? it means the republicans only hold the majority by one, which means that if president trump is trying to get his reforms through, tax reforms, health reforms, building at border wall, it has all just got that much harder. within the party, there are a number of moderate republicans, who have so far rebel against the more hardline conservative policies that donald trump has tried to implement. so now he has to work with them and find a way to get his policies through. when it comes to republicans, many of them, however, will be breathing a sigh of relief. they know it came ata a sigh of relief. they know it came at a cost, but they are relieved.

let me give you an example. the republican senator bob corker described this democratic victory as a great night for america. and when it comes to the man who pushed roy moore forward, who fought for him to win this senate seat, which was steve bannon, once president trump‘s right—hand man, another republican, pete king, has died banner needs to leave politics. he said, he looks like some dishevelled drunk who wandered onto the national stage. so when it comes to republicans pointing the finger, they are pointing the finger, they are pointing it firmly at steve bannon. they are saying this was a flawed candidate. donald trump has also tweeted in the last few minutes, saying if last night‘s election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up great republican candidates to increase the razor—thin margins in both the house and the senate. laura, thank you. let‘s talk more about this with dr adam quinn, a lecturer in

international politics at the university of birmingham. that is in england, not alabama! a really extraordinary result, because alabama is deeply conservative, and yet it has returned a democrat. was it just yet it has returned a democrat. was itjust a yet it has returned a democrat. was it just a case yet it has returned a democrat. was itjust a case of yet it has returned a democrat. was it just a case of a yet it has returned a democrat. was itjust a case of a bad candidate, orare itjust a case of a bad candidate, or are there real indications for donald trump? well, it's a bit of both. nationally, you have an unpopular president with a struggling republican majority in congress. they are running into the wind, but this was a terrible candidate to start with, for all sorts of reasons, that you have outlined. and then these sexual misconduct allegations made it worse. it has revealed that if you are ina worse. it has revealed that if you are in a difficult national environment and you are picking bad candidates because you have a problematic culture in your party, that means that even places that should be impossible to lose like alabama may not be safe. a bad candidate, but he was endorsed by donald trump. he was not his first choice, but he was endorsed by him.

donald trump is going to say he was not his first choice and he will try and make it sound like this is not on him, but he got right behind this candidate. he threw his full endorsement behind him. i don‘t think he can get out of it now. and he was a very trump type of candidate. a new loud, antiestablishment candidate with big problems on race and women. he held onto a base of white voters, mostly male, like donald trump has for himself. it is a sign that even a place like alabama, you can‘t win with just that base to fall back on. when you say he was a trumpy candidate, does that mean maybe the tide is turning against donald trump electorally? we have all been wondering for a long time if there isa wondering for a long time if there is a flaw here, if there is a certain level of crazy stuff and playing it as being antiestablishment but covering for

bad character and incompetence which if you fall below it, you can‘t be elected, even if you are in a party eve ryo ne elected, even if you are in a party everyone wants to collect. this shows that roy moore was beyond the pale even for the republican party in alabama. that is a sign for donald trump that perhaps the magic may not always work in all circumstances. maybe he got elected in 2016, but in different circumstances, he could be in a lot of electoral trouble and so could his candidates. it was interesting looking at the racial divide of the vote. despite him being a flawed candidate, he got a lot of white male and female votes. but when it came to the african—american vote, which was a big turnout, that went almost exclusively to the democratic candidate. you knew there was going to bea candidate. you knew there was going to be a majority of white votes in alabama going to the republican candidate. meant that that to stand a chance, the democratic candidate had to get a big turnout from african—americans. hillary clinton had a disappointing turnout from african—americans in 2016. this time around, the turnout was very high.

that has to be replicated in future elections for the democrats to do well. i will be interested to see a lot of reporting into what motivates african—american candidates to turnout in big numbers, the same kind are reporting that has gone into donald trump‘s constituency. that could be a big vote next time around. good to talk to you. adam quinn, senior lecturer in international politics at the university birmingham, on a fascinating result in alabama. these are the headlines: theresa may warns backbench rebels that they could endanger britain‘s smooth exit from the european union if they vote to amend a key brexit legislation tonight. the republican majority in the senate, as you havejust the republican majority in the senate, as you have just heard, the republican majority in the senate, as you havejust heard, has been cut to a whisker as bevjones becomes the first democrat to win in the state in a quarter of a century —— doug jones. two people out murder over the deaths of three children in a house fire in greater manchester. coming up, the ringleader of

britain‘s most prolific prison smuggling gang, who used drones to get weapons and drugs into prisons, sentenced to seven years. and in sport, questions for chris froome as double the allowed limit of an asthma drug is found in his urine. froome says he took the permissible dose, but cycling‘s governing body wa nt dose, but cycling‘s governing body wantan dose, but cycling‘s governing body want an explanation. england‘s ashes future hangs in the balance. and tyson fury says he wants to find ibf and heavyweight champion anthony joshua to reclaim titles that are rightfully his. he could have his licence reissued injanuary after serving a two—year ban for doping. more on those stories just after 3.30. a man and a woman have appeared in court charged with the murder of three children who died in a fire at a house in greater manchester on monday. they‘re also accused of four counts of attempted murder and one of arson. they were remanded in custody.

our correspondent dave guest was at manchester and salford magistrates court. zac bolland and courtney brierley face three charges of murder. those charges relate to the deaths of 1a—year—old demi pearson, her eight—year—old brother brandon and seven—year—old sister lacie. those three children died as fire swept through their home in walkden in greater manchester during the early hours of monday morning. the pair in the dock today are also accused of arson and of attempting to murder the dead children‘s mother, michelle pearson. she is currently seriously ill in hospital. in addition, there are three further charges of attempted murder relating to a three—year—old girl and two boys of 16 who were also in the house at the time of the fire. we are not allowed to identify those three for legal reasons. districtjudge khaled qureshi said that these were clearly matters too serious to be dealt with at the magistrates‘ court. he remanded the pair in custody for a further appearance

at manchester crown court. that will happen tomorrow. the comedian, peter kay, has cancelled his first stand—up tourfor eight years, and all other personal appearances. he‘s blamed what he called "unforeseen family circumstances", and asked for privacy. tickets for the tour, which had been due to start in april and go on into 2019 — sold out almost immediately, and extra dates had been added. a little earlier, i spoke to our entertainment correspondent colin paterson, who said it was going to be a huge task to refund all the fans who have bought tickets. this is affecting over a million people. that‘s how big this tour was. he was going to be doing 112 dates starting in birmingham next april, going right through to 2019. they would have finished in march. when the tickets went on sale two months ago, they all went. it was a sell—out. you could get some single tickets are 2019. so many people will be disappointed. but it is worth reading the statement out. this is from peter kay. "due to

unforeseen family circumstances, i regret i am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects. this u nfortu nately my upcoming work projects. this unfortunately includes my upcoming stand—up tour, dance for life shows", those are events he was putting on a charity injanuary in coventry, manchester and liverpool, "and any outstanding live work commitments. my sincere apologies. the decision has not been taken lightly and i am sure you understand my family must come first. i have a lwa ys my family must come first. i have always endeavoured to protect their privacy from the media. i hope the public respect our privacy at this time. once again, i am sorry". it is that bit about unforeseen circumstances which is all that we know at this stage. he had not done live shows for years, but he had been busy on tv. he has been so prolific in 2017. car share came

back the series two. he announced on children in need that it would come backin children in need that it would come back in 2018 for one unscripted episode and one finale. we understand that those are complete and will be shown in 2018, but in september, i was at the opening of manchester arena. he introduced by saying he is mr manchester, noel gallagher, all the way from london! he was on children in need the next night. he was on strictly come dancing from blackpool, doing his annual reading out of the terms and conditions for that show, which has become a tradition. that is why this isa become a tradition. that is why this is a shock. he has been so out there in the last couple of months and so many people will have been looking forward to this and now they will have to seek a refund for the tickets. do we know how that works? watto procedure. welcome customers who have bought tickets have to go back to the original point of purchase to get their money back. and for the dance for life event, because it is a charitable event in aid of cancer research uk, ticket

holders may still donate to cancer research uk. and he gives their website. so he‘s suggesting that people who have bought those tickets perhaps should not try and get their money back. the ringleader of the most prolific gang to be caught smuggling drugs and phones into prisons using drones has been sentenced to more than seven years in jail. the gang was run from inside prison by a former armed robber, craig hickinbottom. he organised at least a9 flights, smuggling contraband estimated to be worth more than a million pounds. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has this exclusive report. cameras originally set up to take pictures of wildlife, catching instead britain‘s most prolific drone smuggling gang. recording the pilot, mervyn foster, time and again flying a drone from a field outside

hewell prison in worcestershire, its illegal cargo hanging underneath on a fishing line. from the field, the smugglers had a view directly into the jail and the prison block where the drone‘s cargo was pulled in through the windows. over the months, the gang grew in confidence and sophistication. they had started by simply throwing the drugs over the prison wall. but then they started using drones and they added to the contraband mobile phones, weapons, screwdrivers, and even a freeview box with a remote control. cameras inside hewell prison caught one of the ringleaders, john hickinbottom, with an improvised hook used to catch the fishing line and recover the contra band. the contents of the loads were specifically ordered by inmates. the officer who caught the gang told me they had organised at least a9 flights into jails as far away as scotland. it was across, like i say, the west midlands region primarily, hmp featherstone, birmingham, stoke heath, obviously here. but we‘ve also had stuff up in hmp manchester, liverpool and like i say,

as far north as hmp perth. all from the same group of people? yes. the epidemic of drones being used to airlift contra band into prison grew from nothing injust four years. we didn‘t see this one coming, so the drones literally came from nowhere. they were flown in and it actually just was a game changer for us. so we had to relook at our systems, our procedures and methods of gathering intelligence. and it gave the gangs an opportunity to actually breach the secure perimeters almost effortlessly. to crack this case, officers downloaded the memories of the drones they seized and linked that to mobile phone calls the smugglers were making. the prisons ministers had to invest millions of pounds in a new national network of police and prison officers working together, which helped catch this gang. what we have shown here is this is the most prolific gang we have come across and we have been able to deal with them. they‘re going to be serving jail time and that is a huge success.

the gang, led by armed robber craig hickinbottom, is thought to have smuggled contraband worth between £600,000 and over £1 million, continuing even after they had been arrested and charged. with such huge profits being made, keeping drones away from prisons is going to be a lengthy battle. daniel sandford, bbc news, at hmp hewell in worcestershire. a 15—year—old boy has pleaded guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of five people who died when a stolen car crashed into a tree in leeds. the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared via video link at leeds crown court this morning. he was remanded in custody for reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing next month. five people, including three children, died in the crash in november. there will be disruption for some train passengers over christmas as staff at two train companies vote to take industrial action.

workers on greater anglia will strike on december 27th, while south western railway staff will strike on new year‘s eve in disputes over the role of guards, according to the rmt. social media companies should take full legal responsibility for offensive and abusive material that appears on their platforms — that‘s according to an independent report commissioned by the prime minister. it found that social media was the most significant factor in driving harassment and intimidation of candidates in the general election. our media editor amol rajan reports. many mps have faced horrific abuse on social media platforms, and twitter in particular. stella creasy endured a torrent of hatred after supporting a campaign forjane austen to be on the new £10 note. after posters of maria caulfield mp were defaced, she too suffered a sustained campaign of intimidation on social media. i guess it started around the time of the syria vote.

and it really ramped up then and the election we just had earlier this year is kind of when it really peaked. but, you know, on a day—to—day basis, it is routine to get abuse, threats, i‘ve had several death threats. i‘ve had my tyres slashed outside my home. i‘ve had my office graffitied with threats. the man who leads the committee on standards in public life wants to see tech companies take greater responsibility. we were not impressed by their takedown rates, we weren‘t impressed by their performance data. we do know that they are trying to do some good things, but we think there has to be at least a discussion in parliament about the way in which they actually operate. twitter says it has introduced new tools to help users. the company is now taking action on ten times the number of accounts every day compared to the same time last year and using new technology to suspend thousands of abusive accounts. but while the report contains familiar statements about doing more to remove offensive material, it doesn‘t make clear how shifting legal responsibility for harmful

content onto the companies would actually work. the sheer scale of material uploaded online, with a00 hours going on google—owned youtube every single minute, means that this stuff is impossible to control fully. and even if it were practical, asking the likes of facebook to censor material before it is published would fundamentally change the nature of the open web. the report‘s recommendations will now be considered by the government, who will then decide what if any action to take. a consensus is emerging that tech giants should take greater responsibility for harmful material, but there is no consensus on how. amol rajan, bbc news. kensington palace has confirmed that meghan markle willjoin the queen and other senior members of the royal family for christmas at sandringham. ms markle and prince harry will attend the traditional christmas day church service on the queen‘s private estate in norfolk. the couple got engaged last month and will marry in may. time for a look at the weather...

here‘s louise lear. lying snow is thawing thick and fast, so i suspect weather watcher pictures like this that were sent in this morning, well, the smiley face will no doubt turn to a frown this afternoon as we have had some rain crossing from west to east. it clears away in the south—east, a brighter spell behind, but as we go into the evening, there will be more showers. this time, a wintry mix of sleet, snow and hail as well and some blustery to gale force winds on exposed coasts. quite a messy scenario through the night. the snow shouldn‘t cause much of an issue, with temperatures to freezing, icy stretches could be an issue first thing tomorrow morning. the winds will gradually ease down

and that will confine showers towards north and west facing coasts. further inland, there will be fewer showers and more sunshine. as we move out of thursday into the start of the weekend, friday and saturday will be largely quiet and dry, with decent spells of sunshine, clouding over for sunday. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. theresa may says mps will be given a vote on the final brexit deal. ministers are trying to avert a possible defeat on their brexit legislation tonight. in a major upset, voters in alabama have elected the democrat doug jones as their new senator — dealing a blow to president trump and the republican party. the ringleader of a gang, which used drones to smuggle drugs into prisons, has been sentenced to an extra seven yea rs prisons, has been sentenced to an extra seven years in jail. the comedian peter kay has cancelled all work commitments because of ‘unforeseen family circumstances‘. he was due to start a uk—wide

tour in the new year. and in a moment, cracking down on fraud — banks say they‘ve saved customers hundreds of millions of pounds with a new scam prevention system. sport now on afternoon live with katherine downes — and chris froome has some questions to answer? yes, some pretty serious ones as well. this is all about a legal asthma drug, chris froome suffers from asthma, and was really struggling with it according to him during the vuelta a espana this year. he says a team doctor told him to up the dosage he was taking, double the allowed amount of that asthma drug appeared in a year in test. chris froome said he did not break the rules but the uci, the world governing body of cycling, say they want an explanation from the

four time tour de france champion. richard conway has more details. he stands alone as britain‘s best cyclist. a fourth tour de france title was claimed earlier this year, swiftly followed by an historic victory in the spanish grand tour. but chris froome‘s reputation is now under threat, like never before. that‘s because the team sky rider was found to have exceeded the permitted level of the asthma drug salbutamol when tested in september. froome says, on doctors‘ advice, he did increase his dosage due to asthma but insists it was still within the legal limits. in a statement, he said... team sky says froome has had asthma since childhood and regularly uses an inhaler. salbutamol is permitted under anti—doping rules when inhaled up

to a limit of 1600 micrograms over a 2a—hour period. and no more than 800 micrograms over 12 hours. results from europe that require further explanation. different people respond to salbutamol differently. if you gave the same dose to ten different people, you'd get different concentrations in theirurine. so, that's part of the problem, they'll certainly be bringing that forward as a defence but i think, actually, sky have quite a serious problem and i think they may struggle to make it go away. scrutiny on team sky involving parliamentary hearings has increased this year. it follows an ultimately inconclusive investigation into allegations, all denied, that centred on sir bradley wiggins and performance enhancing drug use in 2011. froome, though, has taken a strong moral stance on doping issues and has been outspoken on the matter of gaining medical exemptions, known as tues, for usually banned substances. i didn‘t feel as if having a tue

in the last week of the tour de france was something i was prepared to... it just didn‘t sit well morally with me. that was something i was going to do. 2018 was billed as the year chris froome would attempt to seal a famous hat—trick of grand tour wins in italy, france, and spain. instead, the potential ban and the loss of his spanish title both possible, he is merely riding into an uncertain future. richard conway, bbc news. more on that come from team sky. jonny bairstow will move up the batting order the sixth as england name an unchanged team for the test which touched the night in perth. if england lose this match, the series is lost, and the signs aren‘t good.

england haven‘t won fanelli a0 years at the waca. captain joe england haven‘t won fanelli a0 years at the waca. captainjoe root england haven‘t won fanelli a0 years at the waca. captain joe root says he believes the team have a chance to change that. it has obviously been spoken about quite a lot. as a group, i genuinely believe we have a really good opportunity here, and we have done some really good things in practice, and we have spoken really well as a group we know exactly how well as a group we know exactly how we need to go about things this week. it is just making sure we put that into practice, and guys stand up that into practice, and guys stand up and deliver whenever the matters. that is all the sport for now. been knocked over with a stick. warned off by the bank, he then got this car instead from a local

dealer. when barry popped into his local bank and ask the £10,000 in cash, there was an immediately concerned about it. banks often find it difficult to explain to customers that they might be being scammed. but under the new arrangements, they we re but under the new arrangements, they were able to call 999 and get a police officer around within half an hour. the car was not where it should have been. the car was registered in bristol. this is obviously good news for

those who use their branch. they are often the most vulnerable, so everything banks can do to help is good news. however, more and more of us now good news. however, more and more of us now back online and have two bank online, because bank branches are closing. so we want to see more done to protect consumers from being scammed online. but with the internet playing such a big part, it‘s still a good lesson to be wary of sellers asking for cash. it‘s still a good lesson to be wary of sellers asking for cashlj it‘s still a good lesson to be wary of sellers asking for cash. i would tell people, if they want cash, don‘t buy. tell people, if they want cash, don't buy. the bank police tie-up, which meant barry did get his dream car, will soon be in place across the country. a baby born with her heart outside her body has survived surgery at a hospital in leicester. vanellope hope wilkins was delivered three weeks ago and has had three operations to place her heart back in her chest. the rare condition was picked up in early scans. earlier, vanellope‘s mum naomi findlay and her consultant, frances bu‘lock, spoke

to my colleague victoria derbyshire. naomi started by sharing what chances the medical team had given her daughter before she was born. literally next to none. there was a very, very slim chance that she would survive at all. either she would survive at all. either she would die in the womb, or when she was born, through delivery, she wouldn‘t survive. was born, through delivery, she wouldn't survive. and how did you and your husband respond to that? um... not very well, to be honest. it wasn‘t something we particularly wa nt to it wasn‘t something we particularly want to hear. but as time went on and scans we went to, the more we saw her go and her heart beat, it

wasn‘t something that we believed wasn‘t something that we believed was actually going to happen. we believed that she was a fighter. obviously, the first ten minutes when she arrived, it was a very crucial point. nobody knew how she would cope with being outside the womb. so for the first ten minutes, everybody was holding their breath, even the medics. but she came out covering her own heart. it was like she had her hand over her heart, protecting it. she came out kicking and screaming, and it was a real sense of relief. that was when we decided it was all right to breathe for ourselves. the biggest hurdle, as naomi has said, was getting her born safely and getting things

arranged so that the right people we re arranged so that the right people were around at the right time to manage that. there was a big logistical organisational discussion to her delivered at the cardiac unit. they had the obstetricians there, the neonatal specialists. and then the cardiac team, to get the baby out safely, and then swap naomi out of the theatre and bring vanellope into the theatre and start repatriating her vanellope into the theatre and start re patriating her heart vanellope into the theatre and start repatriating her heart to where it should have been. and how would you say she is now? she is doing well. she's certainly very active. she had a rough week the week before, when we got the skin closed. that was a big operation for her and caused a lot of swelling. she's getting over that. she opens her eyes, she

wriggles. she is showing considerable promise. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the republican majority in the senate is cut to a whisker as doug jones becomes the first democrat to win in the state in a quarter of a century. two people are charged with murder over the death of three children at a house fire in worsley, greater manchester. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. unemployment fell to la million in the last quarter. so that means it‘s still the lowest

it‘s been for more than a0 years. but it‘s not great news on wages — those aren‘t keeping up with inflation. we‘ll have a little more on that in a moment. profits at dixons carphone have slumped 60% in the first half of the year. apparently it‘s because we‘re putting off upgrading our phones — and holding onto our old ones for longer. the bank of england plans to remove gendered language from its documentation. this means titles such as ‘chairman‘ become simply ‘chair‘. the bank of england has faced criticism for its lack of seniorfemale managers. the unemployment figures, they have fallen again. that's right. to about a.3%, about 260,000 people over the course of the last quarter, the lowest it has been since 1975, but,

sorry to rain on your parade. lowest it has been since 1975, but, sorry to rain on your paradem lowest it has been since 1975, but, sorry to rain on your parade. it is not my parade! it is all of our parade, really. wages are only going up parade, really. wages are only going up by parade, really. wages are only going up by 2.6%, and when you consider the fact that prices are going up by 396, the fact that prices are going up by 3%, you can see there is a real squeeze. so why aren‘t let‘s talk to annie quick, from the new economics foundation . so many reasons. the first thing to say is there is nothing inevitable about the incredible low wages we have in the uk. at the moment, half of the people who are living in poverty in the uk at the moment are living in households with somebody working. that is not the case across—the—board. there are a number of policy decisions that have been made that have exacerbated the situation. so if we look at the assault on trade unions and the clamping down on the ability for workers to increase their wages, thatis

workers to increase their wages, that is an important cause. the increase in the minimum wage recently was a genuine help in reducing the amount of people who are working in poverty, but that could be going much further. we know that even the current increase national minimum wage daughter is not enough to live on. we do quite a lot of work with low income cleaners and drivers, and they know that in many ways having a job that is really dared, that is insecure, that doesn‘t pay enough, could be worse for well—being than not having a job at all. sorry to jump in, for well—being than not having a job at all. sorry tojump in, but isn't one of the big issue is the lack of productivity? i don't accept that productivity? i don't accept that productivity is a problem. we are still one of the richest countries of the world, the levels of poverty we see are completely unacceptable, and we also have very high wage inequality. yes, it has dropped very slightly recently, but we are still

looking at incredibly high levels of taipei. so what we have in the uk is an hourglass economy with people on very high wages, lots of people on very high wages, lots of people on very low wages. one of the things the government could be doing, it is great to see you there work on industrial strategy, but u nfortu nately a lot industrial strategy, but unfortunately a lot of the investment is on shiny bits of the economy. we need investment in the everyday economy. aspects of social ca re everyday economy. aspects of social care that people are living in and working in everyday. thank you very much. we could be in for cheaper water bills — but not for some time. yes, the regulator says bills could come down by as much as £25, they are clamping down on their costs. he

is the boss for the council on water. it is a good start. we have been pushing off to be far less generous with the water companies than they have been since privatisation, so this is a good start. i would privatisation, so this is a good start. iwould mention privatisation, so this is a good start. i would mention two buts. it is before inflation, so a couple of inflation rises could wipe out the money. ofwat are arranging incentives to companies. the important thing is to make sure those are for really tough enforcement —— those are for really tough enforcement — — performance improvement and not just another means of them getting generosity by the back door. isn't there a danger that if you restrain how much of these costs can be put on the people who are using the services that there is going to be a problem with garnering investment? if ofwat to shoot down too far, that would be

the case, —— push it down too far. but we have done some research to show that in the past, companies have invested £20 billion of capital expenditure every five years, and we expect that to continue into the future. just quickly, up to £25 being saved off annual bills, do you think there doesn‘t seem particularly generous, or is it about right? as a start point, in terms of what the sharing is between customers and investors, thatis is between customers and investors, that is a pretty good start, we think. certainly within the range of what we were hoping for. now the trick is to make sure that the things that come out of the company's things that come out of the compa ny's plans things that come out of the company's plans are focused only on what customers actually want. thank you, very much indeed. now a quick

look at the market numbers. as you can see, the ftse100 making slight progress. a bit of a loss on the european markets, but back here in britain dixons carphone, it is doing quite well i‘m share wise, despite its profits going down because investors inspected to take quite swift action to restore itself to full profitability. think it very much indeed, see you later. a line of breaking news coming into us from greater manchester. we are hearing a three—year—old girl has become the fourth child victim of that house fire in wesley in greater manchester. so, a three—year—old girl has become the fourth child victim of the house fire in worsley, in greater manchester. that is just m, in greater manchester. that is just in, we will bring you more details on that as we get them, but a three—year—old girl becoming the fourth child victim of that house fire in wesley.

scientists have warned that a warming arctic is the "new normal". the us national oceanic and atmospheric administration said the region did a great service to the planet — acting as a ‘refrigerator‘ — but one of its researchers said human beings had ‘left that fridge door open‘. the organisation was presenting its latest arctic report card at a meeting in new orleans. ambient music. hundreds of buildings and homes have been destroyed in fires across southern california. more than 100,000 people

have been forced to evacuate — crews who have been battling the wildfires for a week have now managed to slow the spread of the blazes. there have also been stories of people saving their houses — including this from one homeowner who set up sprinkler systems around his house, which withstood the fires. we have had them going forfour days straight along this hillside. i don‘t know if that has stopped it, but you can see they fire line where it stopped coming up the hill. i had this whole thing going, you can see another rain bird up their weather was a hotspot. and this morning there were hotspots under that oak tree, so we had rain bird is up here. i had rain bird is on this whole side and on the roof off and on forfour days whole side and on the roof off and on for four days before we had to evacuate yesterday. so that was the majority of trying to get things kind of cleared up, along with on our front balcony, we took every piece of wood furniture that you can kind of see actually i staged it up

here to get it off the balcony, so we had no wood anywhere around the house. and wherever possible we got rid of all the wood furniture. that is one homeowner in montecito in california. for star wars fans the wait is nearly over. the eighth episode in the franchise, the lastjedi, gets its cinema release at midnight tonight. but last night the film‘s stars, including british actors daisy ridley and john boyega, were on the red carpet in london for its european premiere. a warning, this report from our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, contains flash photography. the stars of star wars, cinema royalty on the red carpet with actual royalty. princes william and harry, such fans of the saga, during filming, they secretly played cameos as stormtroopers, much to the excitement of the cast. it was great, fantastic. fantastic. phenomenal. and they‘ve done an official visit as well. they got in an x—wing and all that

kind of stuff so it was fun. the lastjedi is the ninth star wars film since the saga began a0 years ago. it didn't scare me enough then. there‘s a huge degree of expectation from fans. what is star wars to you? star wars is everything, really. something i‘ve always obviously been interested in. it‘s almost a way of life, i think. i think it'sjust a cracking good story, it is all swashbuckling, it's all fun, and goodies versus baddies, i think that is what makes it so great. fan power like this has driven the franchise for a0 years and is also the reason why many expect this film to make more in the final two weeks of 2017 than any other film makes in the entirety of this year. time for a look at the weather... here‘s louise lear. getting a little bit milder, louise? it is, you are quite right, it is

getting a little bit milder, but at this time of year you need a decent movie, because it is dark and pretty miserable, and now the snow is starting to melt. we have seen some rain, some of its heavy in places, doesn‘t look that pretty. the rain will continue to move in from the west, and quite a wintry mix develops as we go through the night. this band of rain will clear through, cold air attacks in behind and it is these showers to the north and it is these showers to the north and west that can start to town with some rain, hail, sleet and snow mixed in. we close out the day with the rain clearing away from the south—east but it moves through quite quickly, just take a look at what is to expect, as we move into the evening rush hour, across wales, just to the north of the ma corridor, up into the midlands was that we are likely to see this wintry mix for the evening rush hour. that is worth bearing in mind was that we are not too concerned about the snow, but there will be some wet snow in there, some hail, some wet snow in there, some hail, some sleet, it could be quite tricky on the roads. a scattering of showers, turning increasingly wintry, so some wintry showers above

100 to 200 metres here, and that will settle. it will be rain close to the coast. as we go through the night, gale force gusts of wind is blowing in those showers from west to east. temperatures will fall away, ice could be an issue first thing tomorrow morning with temperatures hovering close to freezing. another tricky one first thing if you are up and off on the roads, particularly those rural untreated roads, take a little bit of extra ca re. untreated roads, take a little bit of extra care. as we go through the day, the difference tomorrow is the wind should form a little lighter and not so many showers, and not so far inland as we have seen today, chiefly sticking towards west facing coasts. further east, dried, still not particularly what dunn warm, but compared to the weekend, better. into the start of friday, the isobars swing in a vertical direction, things are set to get colder again but there will be fewer showers around stop friday is actually not shipping out to be too

bad a day. try. there will be some sunshine and highs of three to 6 degrees. the cold air will not hang around for very long, milder air in france will move in from the atlantic, bringing more clout for the second half of the weekend. enjoy the sun we have got on saturday, a quieter, cooler story, milder on sunday but some rain starting to push on from the west. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m ben brown. today at four: theresa may attempts to head off a backbench rebellion against the government‘s brexit plans — she promises they will get a vote on any final deal. we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead of the european parliament, so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. a blow for president trump — the democrats take a senate seat in alabama for the first time in 25 years. a three—year—old girl has died in hospital — the fourth child victim of a fire at a house in worsley. lincolnshire council

defends its decision to use £2.5 million of taxpayers‘ money to invest in a hotel in north yorkshire. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport — with lots of questions for chris froome to answer. yes, chris froome and team sky are under more scrutiny, this time because of chris froome‘s illegal use of an asthma drug. double the accented amount has been found in his urine. louise lear has all the weather. the snow is melting, but it is pretty miserable as bands of showers or longer spells of rain move from west to east. more coming up. thanks, louise. also coming up — comedian peter kay cancels his first stand—up tour in eight years,

as well as all his future work projects, blaming what he calls unforeseen family circumstances. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. theresa may has promised that mps will get a vote on the final brexit deal. she said it would come "well before" march 2019, the date britain is due to leave the eu. the government‘s trying to head off a possible defeat on its legislation in the commons this evening because conservative rebels want to insert a legal guarantee that the vote will happen. here‘s our political correspondent ben wright. fired up in the cold and ready for a fight. this morning, mps from opposition parties were

demanding that parliament has the final say on how britain leaves the eu. all we are asking on behalf of our constituents is for the ability to sign off on what our withdrawal arrangements from the eu are. whether you voted leave or remain, i think that is a very reasonable demand. but the reason ministers are sweating is because a number of conservative mps seem likely to vote with the opposition this evening. they are urging ministers to guarantee in law a meaningful vote for mps and peers on the final deal done with brussels. and a former tory attorney general is leading the charge, putting down the crucial amendment that will be voted upon later. the government should show great flexibility in the way it approaches mps raising legitimate issues, and i am quite sure that if we do that, we should be able to resolve this without my having to rebel against the government, something which on an issue of national importance, i have never done in the course of my career.

a defeat for the government this evening would not mean brexit is derailed, but it would beef up the power of parliament to scrutinise, approve or even reject the brexit deal theresa may is hoping to get with the eu. and at the moment, potential tory rebels are not backing down, which is why ministers are trying to turn the screws, persuade and cajole tory mps to stay in line. and this morning, the brexit secretary david davis wrote this letter to his colleagues, promising them a meaningful vote as soon as the negotiations in brussels are done. the government has also promised that there will be a separate bill on the final withdrawal agreement. are you facing defeat, prime minister? and this lunchtime, theresa may tried to reassure her own side. we will put the final withdrawal agreement between the uk and the eu to a vote in both houses of parliament before it comes into force. as we have said, we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead of the european parliament, so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. but with no overall majority in the commons, just a handful

of tory rebels could inflict defeat on the prime minister and potentially change the course brexit will take. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. our chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. lots of arm—twisting going on, vicki. any indication yet as to which way this crucial vote might go? not really, apart from the fact that it go? not really, apart from the fact thatitis go? not really, apart from the fact that it is incredibly close. it‘s a lwa ys that it is incredibly close. it‘s always difficult to know exact members. but on this of all issues, there are members of the conservative party who feel that it is so important that they will have two defy the government. it gets very technical. basically, we are talking about mps who fear that the government will have too much power to implement the brexit deal without the close scrutiny of mps of this place. as they would put it, those on the brexit side have always argued about bringing back control, making sure that this place is sovereign. they would say it‘s not

if mps and peers can‘t look at the details of any deal or any withdrawal agreement and potentially make changes to it. that is what we are talking about. this afternoon, this debate has been going on in the commons and this was what the minister had to say about how the government sees all this. it is actually very clear in the written ministerial statement that we have published today that the meaningful vote will come after the negotiations have concluded, but before ratification. on one side of the argument are those who have always been in favour of withdrawal from the eu. they are angry about this. they think that those in the opposition parties and some in their own party are simply trying to make sure that brexit doesn‘t happen. they haven‘t got over the referendum result, and this is their way of trying to get out of it. this was what bernard jenkin had to say. if there is to be legislation to

approve a withdrawal agreement before march 2019, what happens if the agreement is reached too late to allow that legislation to go through allow that legislation to go through all its stages? or... is this a plan to delay the brexit date ? i thought the honourable gentleman, partway through, was finally coming out with a sensible point, which is... i have no control over the timing of the government's negotiations. i hope they get on with this fast and the eu will get on with this fast, because in particular, we need the transitional agreement pinned down as early as possible because businesses need certainty. they need it in my constituency as much as in his. so i hope there will be plenty of time for all of these debates to take place.

in the event, and the government has said it doesn't want this, but in the event, against the government's will, that this ends up being a late deal, then actually, parliament should have the opportunity to say to the government, ask to extend article 50 for a couple of months in order to be able to implement it properly. the government have come up against some formidable opponents on their own side, including the attorney general dominic grieve. he is not happy with what the government have said to try and calm the nerves of those in the conservative party. he doesn‘t think that goes far enough. this afternoon in the commons, he made that clear. apart from hsz, i don't think i have ever rebelled against the government in my 20 years and is house. i find

it entertaining that some who criticise me for speaking my mind on this matter are individuals who appear to have exercised the luxury of rebellion on many, many occasions. but that having been said, there is a time for everybody to stand up and be counted. as churchill said, he's a good party man. he put the party before himself and the country before his party. and that's what i intend to do. as you say, the persuasion, the arm—twisting, whatever you want to call it, is still happening. the city conservative mps going into number ten to see the prime minister this afternoon. —— this is two conservative mps. i don‘t know if they were summoned or not: but clearly, the government is trying to do all it can to persuade people to back them. stephen hammond is with

me. you have had an interesting afternoon. has the prime minister persuaded you to back the government? i have a private meeting with the prime minister, and i prefer to keep that private. nevertheless, you feel strongly about this and presumably it is not easy for you. i have never voted against my government before and i hope i don't have two tonight. but this is a point of principle. i it gets technical in the detail, but this is about whether or not parliament has control over the say and have a say in the end over the deal. that is what this represents. but the government would say you are going to get a vote on that. they will give you a vote on the deal. why is that not good enough?” will give you a vote on the deal. why is that not good enough? i trust the government, but things can change. the key thing is to have a vote which is done by way of a bill rather than a vote in the house commons. i'm delighted to have a vote in the house of commons, but why don't they accept amendments

seven? dominic grieve, myself and others will work with them to ensure that amendments seven is acceptable to them by the time we get to the next age of the bill, and then everybody will be happy. that is the way we could move forward. but have you had any sense from them that they are willing to move? it feels like a stand—off. there are many amongst your group who have not rebelled against their own party before. how does it feel to have to contemplate doing that? if i am frank, it's pretty unpleasant. i never frank, it's pretty unpleasant. i never hoped to be in this situation. but a never hoped to be in this situation. buta numberof never hoped to be in this situation. but a number of us have made the point for the last three months that this is the amendment that we think is incredibly important. it is a point of principle. i hope that in the short and, the government may be able to find a way of keeping the party together. but you are willing at this point to vote for that amendment? at the moment, and unless the government makes a significant concession at the dispatch box or

acce pt concession at the dispatch box or accept it, i think i will be walking into the lobby to support the amendment, along with a number of my colleagues. thank you. that vote is likely to happen around seven o‘clock. likely to happen around seven o'clock. vicki, thank you for with us. a man and a woman have appeared in court charged with the murder of three children who died in a fire at a house in greater manchester on monday. they‘re also accused of four counts of attempted murder and one of arson. they were remanded in custody. he was the candidate endorsed by president trump, despite facing a string of allegations of sexual misconduct, one of them against a 1a—year—old girl. well, now roy moore has narrowly lost a crucial senate race in alabama —

a deeply conservative state in the american south. the seat has gone to the democrats for the first time in a quarter of a century, and it‘s a blow for mr trump because it cuts the republicans‘ very narrow majority in the senate. roy moore was a hugely controversial candidate — an evangelical christian who says homosexuality should be illegal and muslims banned from congress. david willis reports. it was a stunning political upset. doug jones, a former federal prosecutor, is the first democrat to be elected to the senate in this conservative southern state in a quarter of a century. his victory reduces the already razor—thin republican majority in the senate to just one seat. "the moral arc of the universe is long, "but it bends towards justice." cheering. if trump is losing in his deepest of red states, in his republican states, then the swing states, the blue states, this should send an ominous warning to mr donald trump that this is not your country.

i think they destroyed a good man. so i'm feeling bad for roy moore, because roy moore was a good christian person. and i believe he would have been a great senator. more, perhaps, than the strengths of the victor, this result speaks to the weaknesses of his opponent, republican roy moore, a firebrand evangelical who believes homosexuality is immoral and muslims should not be allowed to serve in congress, saw his sizeable lead in the polls start to falter after a string of women came forward to claim that he had sexually assaulted them, in one case, when the accuser was just 1a. roy moore denies the allegations. fff a; gs. fithgféfi fffke f525 ffff

the support of president trump, who tweeted tonight, "congratulations to doug jones on a hard—fought victory. "the write—in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win." those so—called write—in votes could prove significant. in a further twist to a long and often ugly campaign, the vanquished candidate is refusing to concede defeat. for this deep south state to prefer a pro—choice, pro—gay rights candidate like doug jones over a hardline conservative such as roy moore is a reflection, not only of the weakness of the republican candidate, but a major snub to the president who backed him. it will also be seen by some as a victory for the victims of sexual assault whose claims roy moore has consistently dismissed as "fake news". david willis, bbc news, washington. joining me now from

washington is aaron blake, senior political reporter at the washington post. so as we were hearing, an extraordinary election. it has made headlines around the world. what do you think of the national implications in america and the implications in america and the implications for donald trump? certainly, this leaves the american president a deeply wounded political entity. the republican—controlled congress has already been struggling to enact legislation in the senate, where they have a 52—a8 majority. their majority will now be half as big as it was before. they of course came up big as it was before. they of course came up a big as it was before. they of course came up a couple of votes shy on health care reform. they are in the midst of is that

um president the president doesn‘t have the political capital to carry a controversial candidate across the line. this was not a state that republicans should be losing. the president endorsed this candidate when other republicans wouldn‘t, and that turned out to be a bad call. to what extent do you think roy moore was a kind of trumpist candidate, if ican was a kind of trumpist candidate, if i can put it like that, and does his defeat represent a rejection or the beginning of a tide turning against donald trump and his brand of politics, his kind of agenda? there are certainly differences between the two men. roy moore comes from an extremely conservative evangelical christian background. he has taken a number of standards holding the christian faith basically over the rule of law in the united states. that is how he became a national figure. and that was happening at a time when donald trump was still a democrat and was pro—choice on

abortion rights, for example. but the two of them have both become leaders of a kind of insurgent political movement in the united states that distrusts all the political institutions of our country, distrusts the political establishment. so they had a kind of kinship between them and that is a big reason why the president endorsed roy moore when other republicans wouldn‘t. so in that way, it is a setback to that insurgent republican attitude and it isa insurgent republican attitude and it is a big step back to the president as far as passing that kind of approach on long to fellow republicans who are seeking office. and why do you think he lost? alabama, so deeply conservative for so long, has not had a democrat elected to that seat for a quarter ofa elected to that seat for a quarter of a century. we are hearing there was a huge turnout of african—american voters. was it down to that? the democrats did a really good job of turning out

african—american voters, who have not been as easy to turnout since barack obama not been as easy to turnout since ba rack obama was not been as easy to turnout since barack obama was not on the ballot, as he was in 2008 and 2012. but we have also seen a very good environment building the democrats in congressional races across the country. we have seen it in special elections, which they have not necessarily won for the us house. we are also seeing it in polls, whether to stay by a double—digit margin that they prefer to vote for a democrat for congress rather than a republican. so there were certainly impact of the allegations against roy moore in this race, but you also had a bunch of other factors that put this in play in the first place, and that has turned out to be the fatal blow for his campaign. thanks for being with us aaron blake, senior political reporter the washington post. in the last hour, the democratic leader, chuck schumer, has been reacting to his party‘s surprise victory — promising there would be "many more alabamas" to come. the republican brand, even in deep

red alabama, is positively toxic. the president‘sapproval in a state he won by nearly 30 points a year ago, was dead even according to the exit polls. the president keeps talking like his help in the middle class, but his policy of the powerful —— helps the powerful and hurts the middle class. the american people and even some in the trump base are beginning to catch on. if they continue to run the government for the benefit of the few special powerful wealthy interests, there will be many more alabamas in 2018. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: theresa may warns backbench rebels they could endanger britain‘s smooth

exit from the eu if they vote to amend key brexit legislation tonight. the republican majority in the senate is cut to a whisker as doug jones becomes the first democrat to win in the state in a quarter of a century. three—year—old lia pearson comes the fourth child to die as a result of a house fire in worsley. and coming up... jailed for seven years — the ringleader of a gang who smuggled drugs and phones into prisons using drones. in sport, pressure mounts on chris froome after double the allowed limit ofan froome after double the allowed limit of an illegal drug is found in his urine. england‘s ashes defence hangs in the balance going into the third test in perth. australia will regain the urn if they win. and

tyson fury says he wants to fight ibf and wbo heavyweight champion anthonyjoshua ibf and wbo heavyweight champion anthony joshua and ibf and wbo heavyweight champion anthonyjoshua and reclaim titles that are rightfully his. he could have his licence reissued injanuary after serving a two—year ban for doping. morejust aftera.30. there will be disruption for some train passengers over christmas as staff at two train companies vote to take industrial action. workers on greater anglia will strike on december 27th, while south western railway staff will strike on new year‘s eve in disputes over the role of guards, according to the rmt. the ringleader of the most prolific gang to be caught smuggling drugs and phones into prisons using drones has been sentenced to more than seven years in jail. the gang was run from inside prison by a former armed robber, craig hickinbottom. he organised at least a9 flights, smuggling contraband estimated to be worth more than a million pounds.

our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has this exclusive report. cameras originally set up to take pictures of wildlife, catching instead britain‘s most prolific drone smuggling gang, recording the pilot, mervyn foster, time and again flying a drone from a field outside hewell prison in worcestershire, its illegal cargo hanging underneath on fishing line. from the field, the smugglers had a view directly into the jail and the prison block where the drone‘s cargo was pulled in through the windows. over the months, the gang grew in confidence and sophistication. they started by simply throwing the drugs over the prison wall. but then they started using drones and they added to the contraband mobile phones, weapons, screwdrivers, and even a freeview box with a remote control.

cameras inside hewell prison caught one of the ringleaders, john hickinbottom, with an improvised hook used to catch the fishing line and recover the contra band. the contents of the loads were specifically ordered by inmates. the officer who caught the gang told me they had organised at least a9 flights into jails as far away as scotland. it was across, like i say, the west midlands region primarily, hmp featherstone, birmingham, stoke heath, obviously here. but we‘ve also had stuff up in hmp manchester, liverpool and like i say, as far north as hmp perth. all from the same group of people? yes. the epidemic of drones being used to airlift contra band into prison grew from nothing injust four years. we didn‘t see this one coming, so the drones literally came from nowhere. they were flown in and it actually just was a game changer for us. so we had to relook at our systems, our procedures and methods

of gathering intelligence. and it gave the gangs an opportunity to actually breach the secure perimeters almost effortlessly. to crack this case, officers downloaded the memories of the drones they seized and linked that to mobile phone calls the smugglers were making. the prisons ministers had to invest millions of pounds in a new national network of police and prison officers working together, which helped catch this gang. what we have shown here is this is the most prolific gang we have come across and we have been able to deal with them. they‘re going to be serving jail time and that is a huge success. the gang, led by armed robber craig hickinbottom, is thought to have smuggled contraband worth between £600,000 and over £1 million, continuing even after they had been arrested and charged. with such huge profits being made, keeping drones away from prisons is going to be a lengthy battle. daniel sandford, bbc news, at hmp hewell in worcestershire. hundreds of buildings and homes have

been destroyed in fires across southern california. more than 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate. crews who have been battling the wildfires for a week have now managed to slow the spread of the blazes. there have also been stories of people saving their houses — including this from one homeowner who set up sprinkler systems around his house, which withstood the fires. we have had ‘em going forfour days straight all along this hillside. i don‘t know if that is what stopped it, but you can see the fire line right there am aware it stopped coming up the hill. and i had this whole thing going. you can see another rain bird there, where there was a hotspot. this morning, there

we re was a hotspot. this morning, there were hotspots under oak tree, so we had rain birds there. i had rain birds on this hillside and on the roof, on and off for four days before we had to evacuate yesterday. so that was the majority of trying to get things cleared up. on our front balcony, we took every piece of wood furniture away. so we had no wood anywhere around the house. wherever possible, we got rid of all the wood furniture. the comedian, peter kay, has cancelled his first stand—up tourfor eight years and all other personal appearances. he‘s blamed what he called "unforeseen family circumstances", and asked for privacy. tickets for the tour, which had been due to start in april and go on into 2019 — sold out almost immediately, and extra dates had been added. time for a look at the weather.

louise lear is with us. is it getting any less cold ? louise lear is with us. is it getting any less cold? it is, but not these kind of temperatures! where is that? disses the caribbean. a couple of hours ago, we were talking snow for the people who go skiing for their christmas breaks. last year, they had no snow in the alps at all over christmas unless you were really high in the glacier. this year, there is good snow, but i know people are bored to death with the talk of snow. you are just trying to make us feeljealous! skiing, the caribbean... listen, i am working over christmas. so am i.

so this is the average temperature in the caribbean. for those of you who want to be closer to home but still go for some winter sun, this is the average temperature in the canaries. are you selling holidays? no, iamjust canaries. are you selling holidays? no, i am just craving one! let‘s get back to reality. this is a picture of what we have got now. but the reality is not particularly pleasant. a lot of rain, some of it quite heavy. it will continue to move eastwards overnight. and once this batch has cleared through, it turns much colder. it could cause issues for a few hours. as it moves through wales and the midlands, we could see a wintry mix of rain, sleet, snow, hail and even thunder. it could be tricky driving conditions for those few hours and it will steadily clear away. but we could see a few centimetres of wet snow. behind it, we have snow showers in the north and west of scotla nd showers in the north and west of scotland and northern ireland. a cold night. icy stretches could be

an issue first thing in the morning. these showers will be blowing through and with temperatures close to freezing, there could be ice on untreated rural roads. it is going to bea untreated rural roads. it is going to be a cold start, not particularly pleasa nt to be a cold start, not particularly pleasant if you are waiting at the bus stop. but the winds will fall like in the afternoon. there will be fewer showers inland and through eastern areas. we will have a little more sunshine and it should not feel too bad. cold, but with the sunshine and lighter winds, four to 6 degrees. the cold northerly flow is set to return, but only briefly. there is a change to the weather story from sunday. friday looks likely to see a few scattered showers across the north coast. generally, a good deal of dry and sunny weather in the story. saturday

has a sunny weather in the story. saturday hasa similar sunny weather in the story. saturday has a similarfeel. sunny weather in the story. saturday has a similar feel. we sunny weather in the story. saturday has a similarfeel. we keep sunny weather in the story. saturday has a similar feel. we keep the cold air, into sunday, a weather front is pushing in from the atlantic and milderair is pushing in from the atlantic and milder air is set to return. so the cold snap is not as cold as it has been and it is quite fleeting. saturday will be dry with lots of sunshine. and then a lot of cloud with some rain pushing in from the west, but milder by sunday. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. theresa may says mps will be given a vote on the final brexit deal. ministers are trying to avert a possible defeat on their brexit legislation this evening. three—year—old lee pearson has become the fourth child to die as a result of a house fire at wasley in greater manchester. a man and woman have appeared in court charged murder, attempted murder and arson.

-- lia murder, attempted murder and arson. —— lia pearson. voters in alabama have elected the democrat thatjones is the new senator, dealing a blow to president trump in the republican party. the ringleader of a gang, which use drones to smuggle drugs and phones and prisons, has been sentenced to an extra seven years in jail. the comedian peter kay has cancelled a work and because of unforeseen family circumstances. he was due to start a uk wide tour in the new year. coming up, we find out why a council in lincolnshire has bought a travelodge hotel in west yorkshire —— 75 miles away! sport now with jessica. chris froome had double the allowed limit what was a legal asthma drug

in his you‘re in. the uci once more details from the team. david ornstein is at team sky‘s headquarters in manchester. first to just first tojust explain, first to just explain, you are allowed 2000 nanograms per millimetre of this substance, salbutamol, in your system, millimetre of this substance, salbutamol, in yoursystem, in millimetre of this substance, salbutamol, in your system, in your your in, and, sorry, you are allowed 1000 and chris froome was found to have had 2000, double the limit. he says this was an increased dosage under the team sky doctors‘s advice to treat his asthma. but there seems to treat his asthma. but there seems to bea to treat his asthma. but there seems to be a discrepancy between what is inhaled into your system and what potentially goes out. where does it leave chris froome? you need to provide some explanations for this and some fairly robust ones at that. some evidence, some record—keeping, which in the past team sky have perhaps not been so hot on. and also

potentially undergo some further testing before we know whether he will be found guilty or not. the sport of cycling seemed to be mending its reputation after the scandal of lance armstrong, but where does this leave the sport now? yes, cycling has a long and dark history of doping, especially around the armstrong era. but chris froome is now currently the top cyclist in the world, with four tour de france titles to his name, the first british rider to win the belter espana. he was attempting next summer “— espana. he was attempting next summer —— vuelta a espana. he was attempting to go for the giro d‘italia, so it is terrible for the reputation of team sky, for him, and for the sport as a whole. but we must remember this is not a failed drugs test, it is an adverse

analyticalfinding. chris drugs test, it is an adverse analytical finding. chris froome drugs test, it is an adverse analyticalfinding. chris froome has spoken today to sir dave brailsford, determine the corporate with the investigation and give all the evidence needed. chris froome is not suspended. this substance being in your system does not carry a suspension. it is not a band limit, but there is —— not a banned substance. but chris froome has exceeded the limit and will now need to explain why. packet of the update. in cricket, jonny bairstow has been moved up the batting order the sixth, with england naming an unchanged team for the crucial third ashes test. it gets underway in the early hours of tomorrow morning and australia leave the steering is 2—0. if england lose, the series is lost in stopping and have not won from nearly a0 years in perth but captain joe root says he believes his team have a chance to change that. joe root says he believes his team have a chance to change thatm joe root says he believes his team have a chance to change that. it is something that has been spoken about quite a lot. i genuinely believe we have a really good opportunity here.

and we have done some really good things in practice, and we have spoken really well as a group and we know exactly how we need to go about things this week. so it is just making sure you put that into practice, and guys stand up and deliver what it really matters. ronnie o‘sullivan has continued his excellent run of form with a a—1 demolition of the robert milkins in round two of the scottish open in glasgow, just three days after he racked up his sixth uk title. he defeated milkins four frames to one. victory with a century break, quite impressive. he will meet china‘s leigh hang in round 3a stop more sport for you in the next hour. a line coming into us at news, the uk information commissioner elizabeth denham has accused ukip of failing to be principal and answering her questions about the use of data analytics for political

purposes. the commissioner currently carrying out an investigation into the use of those kind of analytics for political purposes. obviously unhappy with the answers she has been getting from ukip. you are watching bbc afternoon live. now on afternoon live — let‘s go nationwide — and see what‘s happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. peter levy is in hull — he‘ll be telling me about the council in lincolnshire who have spent over £2 million on a travelodge. and in a moment i‘ll be speaking

to rogerjohnson in salford who will be talking about the cancellation of peter kay‘s comeback tour. but first to peter levy in hull...what made the council buy a travelodge in the first place? it isa it is a great story, west lindsey district council using taxpayers money to buy a travelodge in keighley, west yorkshire, 75 miles away. they say the £2.5 million will generate extra revenue. it has to be said, it is not unusualfor generate extra revenue. it has to be said, it is not unusual for councils to invest to make money, as local government looks at ways of finding money to deliver services, but this is quite a story. explaining this move to buy a hotel, this is the leader of west lindsey district council, jeff somers. in my mind, it isa council, jeff somers. in my mind, it is a case of survival for the council, as we have have these massive funding cuts, we have to re cover massive funding cuts, we have to recover this 2.5 million in other ways. to put our staff to good use,

the good work which generate an income for the council to reduce and hopefully eliminate to some extent the need to increase council tax in the need to increase council tax in the future has to be a great benefit to everyone. that is the leader of the council. apparently they considered buying a box at the albert hall but decided against that because it would not be as profitable. in a nutshell, lincolnshire council buys a hotel in another county with an investment of £2.5 million. one top investment company today has said councils might as well be buying shares with public money or betting on the 230 at ascot. it is totally inappropriate. keighley is an industrial town, it is not a honeypot where there will be loads of tourists. i like the choice, a travelodge or a box at the albert hall. what has been the reaction from local residents? people are not happy. they think the money should not being going out of lincolnshire and they say if there was £2.5

million in the bank it should be spent not by hotels but on gritting and potholes, as you might imagine. 0f and potholes, as you might imagine. of course, the proof will be in how much it secures for the council. they reckon it will generate £90,000 a year. next time you are in yorkshire you can check in. looking forward to it. i have been the plenty of travelodges! good to talk to you, peter. next, roger in salford took can tell us more about that peter kay comeback comedy tour, which apparently is not bound to happen unfortunately. why the cancellation, because this was going to be an absolutely massive tour, 100 odd dates? that's right, and it came off the back of his last tour eight years ago, which was the most successful stand—up talk in history, playing the 1.2 million people. this latest tour, have gags, will travel, was due to start in birmingham in april. initially he put 26 states

out, they were so popular, he extended a ghastly to more than 80, including 16 in his home city of man is to. he is actually from bolton, who calls themselves one of bolton‘s best comedians. his dance for life shows have also been cancelled, the first one was going to be in coventry in january. first one was going to be in coventry injanuary. dance first one was going to be in coventry in january. dance for life, all of the profits for that goes to cancer researchers that it was going to be at the ricoh arena injanuary. he said it is for personal reasons. the short statement, i will read it to you, joe to unforeseen family circumstances, i regret i am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects, licensors topologies, this decision has not been taken lightly. iam sure decision has not been taken lightly. i am sure you will understand my family must always come first. this appointment for many people. yes, because there was a huge take—up when these tickets went on sale, i think it was in november. absolutely

massive demand. what does it mean now offer ticket holders, what do they do? it basically means you get a name like this. i bought a ticket andi a name like this. i bought a ticket and i wasn‘t quick enough, i got some in the second tranche that were released, so i didn‘t manage to get a ticket until the show at the arena in manchester in may 2019, 18 months away. the e—mailjust says we have only issued a refund either need to take any action. you will see a credit onto the card you used within ten days. please note we will be refund and cost of the tickets and all associated fees. as. as long as that goes through as promised, and it goes back on the people fozz cards, it is a done deal, you will get your money back, and all you are left with is a little bit of disappointment but you won‘t get to see peter k. amarillo was a hugely popular song he did a fewer years ago. he has been a fantastically successful performer. car share was

a massive success. he and his co—star sean gibson announced they we re co—star sean gibson announced they were going to do a final effort of pull all the episodes together. that is not a live work commitment. there may be a glimmer of hope it will go ahead. he will do a children in need concert in blackpool. he said he would do a private gig this next yearin would do a private gig this next year in blackpool the children in need. hopefully that will still go ahead, but is that a live work commitment? i guess some clarification will come, but certainly disappointment for eve ryo ne certainly disappointment for everyone like me, that they will get their money back. they don‘t get to see peter k. what a shame! -- peter kay. more than 700 schools in england

have been struggling to improve for more than a decade, according to the chief inspector for schools. the annual report says there are around a hundred schools which have not reached "good" status in inspections since 2005. the government says it is spending nearly 300 million pounds to help schools in deprived areas. richard lister reports. do you want to tell me what you are working on? a physics lesson at saint peters secondary school in huntington. is that ofsted‘s chief inspector of schools. last year, ofsted displayed this school to be inadequate and put it on special measures. today it is ranked as good overall, which reflects the current trend. with nearly 2 million more children in good schools now than in

2010. today‘s ofsted report covers 21,000 state schools in england. it says 90% of primary is an almost 80% of secondaries are good or outstanding. but 130 schools have not earned a good rating in more than a decade. for 12 years now they have not been good in any point, so a child‘s time in a typical secondary school, five years, so a third generation through those schools who have never experienced being ina schools who have never experienced being in a good school, and we should not be happy with that. saint peters was turned around quickly but ofsted says other places can be too willing to blame local poverty for school stagnation. teachers say too that highlighting persistent failings can lead to a spiral of problems where schools can‘t attract engaged parents or committed staff. the schools would have been spending inordinate amounts of money in supplying agencies, bringing in staff short term. that will have the moral lies the students and will

have left communities which may be didn't have a huge amount of faith originally in education having even less. the education secretary meeting apprentices in london last month except that a more targeted approach is needed. the government is spending more than £70 million on so—called opportunity areas, and so—called opportunity areas, and so—called £280 million on school improvement. what we need to do in somerset and rural cambridgeshire to make sure school standards kit rising is subtly different to what winnie to do in all them, or what we might need to do in scarborough. that is why the opportunity areas work is really transformational. one ofa work is really transformational. one of a concern raised by ofsted is the behaviour of some religious schools. in october, this islamic school in birmingham was found to have been illegally segregating boys and girls. ofsted says a small number of faith schools are deliberately flouting british values and the law.

ina flouting british values and the law. in a moment all of the latest business news with egon in the studio. first, the latest headlines on bbc afternoon live. theresa may warns backbench rebels they could endanger britain‘s smooth exit from the eu if they vote to amend key brexit legislation tonight a blow for president trump — the democrats take a senate seat in alabama for the first time in 25 yea rs three—year—old lia pearson comes the fourth child to die as a result of a house fire in worsley here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. unemployment fell to la million in the last quarter. so that means it‘s still the lowest it‘s been for more than a0 years. but it‘s not great news on wages — those aren‘t keeping up with inflation. we‘ll have a little more

on that in a moment. profits at dixons carphone have slumped 60% in the first half of the year. apparently it‘s because we‘re putting off upgrading our phones — and holding onto our old ones for longer. the bank of england plans to remove gendered language from its documentation. this means titles such as ‘chairman‘ become simply ‘chair‘. the bank of england has been criticised for its lack of seniorfemale bosses. let‘s talk about those unemployment figures, quite encouraging news? we have seen the number come down to 260,000, by 260,000, that is a.3%, the lowest it has been since 1975. but the problem is that wages simply aren‘t keeping up with inflation. inflation is about 3%. wages are going up by about 2%, so you can see there is a real squeeze. but, in

contrast, wages are not going up, so that‘s bad news on the economic front? it is quite bad news, it means that people are really feeling the chill on their household incomes. one of the big questions is why aren‘t those wages going up? let‘s check that up with colin maclean, the managing director at svm asset management. why aren‘t we seeing wages go up? this is a pattern across the western world, so it is notjust the uk suffering from this. a lot of companies may feel they don't have the ability, given that a lot, probably the fall in the pound reversed last year, but there is not a lot of scope in company profitability to do this. what does this all mean about the prospect for another rise in interest rates?|j this all mean about the prospect for another rise in interest rates? i am not sure we are going to see a sharp rises in interest rates. inflation

should start to ease off next year. the pound itself has been quite a strong performer relatively this year, it has recovered some of that brexit fall, and to some extent that will cool down the economy a little bit. i don't think the bank of england will be quite as concerned about the economy overheating as it might have been earlier this year. let‘s talk about dixons carphone. profits down by about 60% and yet the share price goes up, what is going on with that? it was one of the best performers today. i think this was largely a relief bounce. the shares had fallen quite a bit in the summerwhen the shares had fallen quite a bit in the summer when the first warnings came out and investors feared the worst, perhaps that the mobile telephone business would be in almost terminal decline does the i think the company has given some reassurance it will beat the bottom range of profits forecast. it

reassurance it will beat the bottom range of profit ‘;"‘iast problem, i some plans to tackle the problem, andl some plans to tackle the problem, and i think this was just a relief rally. we are expecting the decision in the next few hours or so from the federal reserve in the united states on interest rates, what you think will they go up? yes, i think we are ona will they go up? yes, i think we are on a cycle in the us, and economy stronger than the uk and europe just now. it is nearer full employment. but some of the same considerations apply to the uk, there is not strong real wage growth, and i think we will see limited rate rises through next year. colin maclean, thank you. thank you very much, egon, the latest business news. kensington palace has confirmed that meghan markle willjoin the queen and other senior members of the royal family for christmas at sandringham. meghan markle and prince harry

will attend the traditional christmas day church service on the queen‘s private estate in norfolk. the couple got engaged last month and will marry in may. banks say a rapid response scheme aimed at combating fraud has already saved customers millions of pounds in its first year, and led to more than a hundred arrests. under the scheme, police arrive at a bank branch within an hour, if staff fear someone is being tricked into taking out a large sum of money to pay a criminal. simon gompertz reports. a rolls—royce. some people have their heart so set on getting one that things like this are prime bait used by criminals to get hold of your cash. when i came into this bit of inheritance, i thought, right, i‘ve always wanted a rolls—royce. let‘s have a look. it was a dream carfor you? it‘s a dream car and they are so comfortable and so easy to drive. barry fox in essex had a lucky escape. thanks to swift action from his bank when he went to withdraw the money

to buy another fictional rolls—royce in an ebay scam. the fraudsters tried to lure him into bringing cash to a pick—up in the middle of the countryside. so what was the danger, then? you might have gone there? i might have gone there... with ten grand in your pocket? with £10,000 in my pocket and been knocked over the head with a stick or something. no car there at all? and no car there at all. warned off by the bank, he then got this car instead, from a local dealer. when barry popped into his local bank and asked for £10,000 in cash, there was immediately concern about him. now, banks often find it difficult to explain to customers that they might be being scammed. but under the new arrangements, they were able to call 999, quote banking protocol, and get a police officer round here within half an hour. while in the branch, the police checked out the car. the situation just didn‘t seem right. it wasn‘t where it should have been. this was all happening in blackpool and the car was then registered in bristol.

and also we made checks to the business details against ebay. it was the correct business name but the contact details didn‘t match. banks say they have stopped customers being defrauded of £9 million in a year. however, that is just the ones going into branches. £100 million has been lost injust six months by people unwittingly paying fraudsters online. this is obviously really good news for those that use their branch. they are often the most vulnerable, so everything that banks can do to help is good news. however, more and more of us now bank online and certainly have to bank online because bank branches are closing. so we want to see more done to protect consumers from being scammed online. automatic, preowned... but with the internet playing such a big part, it is still a good lesson to be wary of sellers asking for cash. i would tell people, if they want cash, don‘t buy. the bank—police tie—up, which meant barry did get his dream car, will soon be in place

across the country. simon gompertz, bbc news, in essex. some news coming into us from woolwich crown court. we are hearing that a 21—year—old has been jailed for16 that a 21—year—old has been jailed for 16 years for preparing acts of terrorism in the uk, assisted by his wife. that is ummar mirza, you can see pictured, jailed for 16 years, for preparing acts of terrorism. a case at woolwich crown court were three members from the same family in birmingham had been convicted of terrorism offences. those two that we have just mentioned, terrorism offences. those two that we havejust mentioned, and also ummarmirza‘s we havejust mentioned, and also ummar mirza‘s sister, also found guilty back in october, but now we have just got those sentences. this was a husband and wife really who

plotted a terror attack in the uk. the court had heard how they used a lifelike dummy and a combat knife to practice their plans, and they have now been sentenced, those two. that is the wife who has been sentenced, she is 22, the wife of ummar mirza. she has been sentenced to ten years in prison for preparing acts of terrorism in the uk. that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five. time for a look at the weather... a fairly messy weather story to try to tell for the rest of the day. one thing, though, it is mild out there, helping to for any lying snow that we have remaining. but it has been a cloudy morning and there have been outbreaks of rain, some of it heavy at times, moving in from the west. these will continue through the

afternoon, and in fact it could be a rather wet end to the afternoon across the south—east. a window of brighter weather with some sunshine for a time before showers start to develop, these with a bit more of a wintry flavour. that will be the story for the early evening rush hour. worth bearing in mind, because it looks as though we could see a speu it looks as though we could see a spell of wet weather, anywhere from the ma corridor north there could be some rain, some sleet, somewhat snow, some alien errors well. that could make for some tricky driving conditions. —— some hail in there as well. a similar story in ireland, a wintry mix in there, and those showers will continue through the night. rather blustery, if not gale force, gusts of wind for a time. it will be a tricky story through the night as well. temperatures falling close to freezing in some spots, ice could be an issue first thing in the morning as well. we - on

could be an issue first thing in the morning as weé. we - start)n could be an issue first thing in the morning as weé. we| gradually| themselves f-gestacing' ,,— confine themselvestewest facing— and confine themselvestowest facing and fewer confine themselvestowest facing inland, "fefef ff ff f f confine themselvestowest facing inland, the "fefef ffff ff f f confine themselvestowest facing inland, the greaterféérff ffff ff f f confine themselvestowest facing inland, the greater chance f ff f f further inland, the greater chance of seeing a bit more sunshine coming through. top temperatures, one to 7 degrees, maybe nine in the channel isles. as we move out of thursday, into friday, isobars come in a vertical position almost, things get a bit colder. but noticeably quieter, not a bad day on friday. a good deal of dry weather and some sunshine around with highs of around four to 9 degrees, not quite as cold as we have just seen. the cold air will stay with us for the beginning of the week, but subtle change to the story as we move into sunday. mild airset to the story as we move into sunday. mild air set to return. that means it will be called with some sunshine around on saturday. more clout on sunday, indications of getting milder. today at five.

the government is fighting to avoid defeat in tonight‘s big vote on its main brexit legislation. some mps are insisting on a legal guarantee of a vote on any final deal — but the prime minister says there‘s a meaningful vote on offer in any case. we expect the uk parliament to vote ahead of the european parliament so we fully expect parliament to vote well before march 2019. the government should show greater flexibility in the way it approaches mps raising legitimate issues and if we do that we should be able to resolve that without my having to rebel against the government which i've never done in my career. we‘ll have the latest from the debate at westminster — and we‘ll be trying to gauge the latest prospects for the eu withdrawal bill. the other main stories on bbc news at 5.