this is bbc news. the headlines at 6pm: northamptonshire council imposes emergency spending controls because of what it describes as severe financial challenges the head the head of the fbi defends its work — after a classified memo was released accusing it of bias against president trump — and abuse of power. it's emerged tonight that two more women have reported harvey weinstein to the met police over allegations of sexual assault. after getting caught in a scuffle with protesters last night, conservative mpjacob rees—mogg accuses the treasury of ‘fiddling' its figures on brexit. six migrants have been injured after a gunman opened fire from a car in the central italian city of macerata. the gunman has been arrested. the airlines regulator says

it's beginning a review into airline seating policies — after complaints that passenger groups were being split up deliberately and wales get off to flying start in the six nations rugby — as they beat scotland 3a points to seven in the opening match of the tournament. good evening and welcome to bbc news. a local council has taken the rare step of imposing emergency spending controls because of what it describes as severe financial challenges. no new expenditure will be allowed at the conservative—led northamptonshire county council — except for work protecting vulnerable people.

the labour leaderjeremy corbyn said austerity was causing chaos in local government. jane—frances kelly reports. northamptonshire county council's new headquarters cost £53 million and was opened just last year but the building could be up for sale soon to help the authority balance its books. it is now banning all new expenditure although services safeguarding vulnerable people will be protected. staff pay will be unaffected. the leader of the council blamed cuts handed down to it from central government. we have been in a perfect storm of huge increases in demand for our services and at the same time significant reductions in funding from central government. we have said to government since 2013 that we could not sustain all of our services with the level of reduction in funding. the council said that rising demand for adult social care services had driven much of the £10 million

overspend on the budget this year. cuts under consideration include bus subsidies and library services. at the labour local government conference the party leader condemned government austerity. what more evidence do we need? austerity is unleashing chaos across our country. squeezing our local authorities and putting jobs and the vital services they deliver at risk. experts say northamptonshire‘s position is due to a number of factors, some particular to the county, but it could indicate a wider problem. ministers and civil servants will worry that northamptonshire is a leading indicator of something that could happen more generally. we have had eight years of cuts to council budgets, a far greater impact on them than say the nhs or welfare budget and the question is how far you can go with that policy before it begins

to produce results like this? the implications for communities in northamptonshire are due to be discussed at a council meeting later in the month. government inspectors have been appointed to investigate whether the authority is managing its finances correctly. jane—frances kelly, bbc news. president trump says his decision to release a classified memo accusing the fbi of political bias has ‘totally vindicated' him in the inquiry into his alleged links with russia. the memo, which accuses the bureau of an abuse of power, was written by republican members of congress. it says the fbi received permission to tap the phone of one of mr trump's advisers — by using evidence which had been paid for by his political opponents. in a tweet, the president again denied collusion with russia, calling the probe a ‘witch hunt‘ and an ‘american disgrace‘. daniela relph reports.

the memo is out. a controversial gop document on the russia investigation is released... they are the headlines that tell of a vicious fight at the heart of the united states government. for president trump his decision to release a memo accusing the fbi of working against him is totally justified. i think it is a disgrace what is happening in our country. but for his opponents this is a president and a republican party who have engineered a political stunt. under attack the head of the fbi is defiant. addressing his staff christopher wray said, talk is cheap. the work that you do is what will endure. we will keep doing that work because we know who and what we are. because we know oui’ mission comes first. the american people come first. the memo written by republicans describes a politically biased justice department and fbi who were determined to ensure donald trump lost the election.

they have a warrant on someone in the trump campaign using opposition research paid for by the democratic party and the hillary clinton campaign... this began as an investigation into the trump campaign and its alleged links with russia. it has now put the relationship between the white house and the fbi at a new low with senior democrats warning of a constitutional crisis. daniela relph, bbc news. there‘s a lot of information we still don‘t know. it appears to have been perhaps formal abuse in the fa ct been perhaps formal abuse in the fact that the information that was used to get the warrant came from

this steel dossier, named after christopher steel, former mi6 officer could was being paid by the clinton campaign for intermediaries to investigate donald trump‘s ties to investigate donald trump‘s ties to russia. that‘s dossier played some role in surveilling codger paige, who was a former adviser for a brief period to the track campaign. but there was lots of other information that played a role in the fact that the fbi was able to get this to spy on carter page. the fact that he has previous contacts with russians in particular, even a spy, the fact that he visited moscow during the campaign, to deliver a speech attacking us foreign policy on russia. there were lots of reasons why the fbi might have been interested in him. i understand that the decision to surveil him was granted by them after he had already left the trump campaign.

there is no evidence that the fbi was spying on the trump campaign, per se. looking at this more broadly, can you give us a sense of how unprecedented this is? have you seen or heard anything like this before? there are concerns that the purpose of releasing this memo is to muddy the waters of the mueller investigation, which is being conducted by robert mueller, a republican himself. that investigation is into fraud, cooperation, possibly collusion, we don‘t know, between russia and the trump campaign. there are fears that in the future, donald in the future, donald trump might call upon the acting, the people in thejustice department, to squash this investigation. we might get into a potentially nixonian situation. in 1973, when richard nixon tried

to squash an investigation into his own wrongdoing with watergate. he had to fire two attorney generals because they refused to carry out his orders. his orders to fire a special counsel. gearing up to demand that the robert mueller investigation be squashed, and that he will ban fire officials at the justice department if they don‘t carry out his orders. that is the concern going down the line into the future. which is why the democrats are warning of the possibility of a constitutional crisis. how do you see this playing out? it‘s very difficult to make predictions. president trump was asked whether he still has confidence confidence in rod rosenstein, who the deputy attorney general and the one ever seeing the mueller investigation. as you recall, jeff sessions

the current attorney general, recused himself from the ritz mueller investigation. it‘s a lot to whether or not donald trump moves further in potentially firing people at the justice department. we can‘t make predictions at this point. thank you so much. what more can you tell us? we've got there were seven alleged victims who have made complaints to the police at scotland yard here in london. what we have learned is that in october, november, the end of october, november, the end of october and on november 13, two more victims came forward with three allegations. the one in october alleged butt and assault took place in the republic of ireland‘s. that information was passed on by the maps to the police error. the second victim in november suggested that

there have been an assault here in london, and also one abroad. in america, it has been reported those allegations have come from affirming, who said that while in london to promote the film kill bill, when steam tried to muscle in a hotel room. and also did something similar ina a hotel room. and also did something similar in a hotel room in paris. —— tried to assault her. the reason we are measuring about this now is that from the police point of view, they tend to only put information about if there is a policing reason. for example, if they‘re looking for new information or trying to trace a witness. in this instance they didn‘t really need to, so it‘s a question of waiting to be asked about these things. they don‘t deny it if asked but it seems that no one asks the question, are anymore alleged victims? weight and cute. a prominent conservative mp has stepped up his criticism of civil servants at the treasury — accusing them of "fiddling

the figures" in brexit forecasts — in order to make the case for the uk remaining in the eu‘s customs union. jacob rees mogg — who was caught up in a scuffle when protesters disrupted a meeting he was attending at a university in bristol last night — told bbc radio 4‘s today programme that treasury forecasts on the impact of brexit were "clearly politically influenced". with the referendum, and with the use, the treasury has gone back to making forecasts. it was politically advantageous for them in the past, it‘s the same now. so yes, i do think they are fiddling the figures. a short time ago, i spoke to our political correspondent eleanor garnier. she told me how the key for the conservatives to maintain party disciplining was balancing the two wings of the party when it comes to brexit. so far, theresa may has been able to keep

the two sides together, but as each day goes past we are getting closer and closer to the deadline before we need a deal done with brussels. what we are seeing now is these ardent brexiteers starting to flex their muscles. we heard them react pretty strongly when the chancellor, philip hammond, said the uk should move very modestly apart from the eu after brexit. if you like, that was a bit like a red rag to the brexit supporting bull. since that comments from mr hammonds, we have been hearing publicly but also privately lots of comments from these ardent brexiteers. i think these comments from jacob rees—mogg are putting pressure on theresa may ahead of a crucial week, next week. we have michel barnier, the chief negotiator coming to number ten on monday, and later in the week, some crucial meetings between senior ministers, where they will be focused on what exactly the final relationship with the eu should be after brexit. joining me now to discuss this is dave penman,

general secretary of the fda, a trade union representing senior members of the civil service. we are very grateful for your time. ijust want we are very grateful for your time. i just want to start by asking you, clearly audible servants, when they go to work, leave their political allegiances at the front door. is it possible that civil servants within the treasury could be manipulating evidence to achieve a particular objective in the brexit negotiations? i think we need to deal with the fact that just because jacob rees—mogg says it, doesn‘t make it so. he has produced no evidence of the accusations. what this is about is that people like jacob rees—mogg cannot understand how anyone can leave their own political allegiances aside and serve the public interest, because he is incapable of doing that. but that‘s what civil servants do. that‘s why we become civil servants. you understand that is the nature of

thejob. we serve you understand that is the nature of the job. we serve the government of any colour, provide the best advice possible, but ultimately ministers decide. you clearly take his accusations very seriously. what is your message to him? the constant sniping at the messenger because he doesn‘t like the message is not only undermining trust in the government, it is undermining trust in the civil service over the longer term. and the prime minister, as leader of the conservative party, has to get a grip of both her ministers, heward peddling these myths as well, and other conservative politicians. it should be the prime minister ministers who are here defending the civil service, and not me. steve baker, junior bags or minister, has apologised. that enough? steve baker stood in parliament on tuesday and said no matter what forecast the civil service produced, he wouldn‘t believe it. on wednesday he apologised and said he had the

utmost respect for civil servants. on thursday he paddled a myth that was proven to be untrue. on friday he was dragged back to comments to apologise. i don‘t think the warm words will be enough from steve baker to reassure civil servants of whether he trust them or not. so you wa nt whether he trust them or not. so you want nothing more than to read a major reassure them? the prime ministers have to be at the forefront of this. she is the leader of the conservatives and ultimately this is an issue with the conservative party. we have government ministers now standing at the dispatch box and undermining the government‘s own evidence. it is chaos. it will undermine trust over the longer term in the civil service. we must leave it there. thanks for your time. the headlines, without insurance council poses emergency spending controls because of what it describes as severe financial challenges. the head of the fbi has defended its work after

a classified memo was released accusing it of bias against president trump and abuse of power. it has emerged tonight but two more women have reported harvey weinstein to the metropolitan police over allegations of sexual assaults. six migrants have been injured after a gunman opened fire from a car in the central italian city of macerata. police say the attack appears to be racially motivated, with the shooter targeting african migrants — one man has been arrested. our rome correspondent james reynolds is following developments. as far as we can tell from the local media and from the police, the gunman opened fire from his car in the city of macerata and he targeted a group of people who appeared to be migrants from africa. the gunman was able

to continue going and continue firing against other groups of people. at that point, the authorities set out tweets telling people to stay indoors. the gunman was then arrested and as he was detained, there are reports that he gave a gesture which has been interpreted as a fascist salute. at the moment, the police will be wanting to interrogate him, to find out the exact motive for the attack. what is the background to this, james, because it is not the first attack there has been in macerata? a lot of people are looking at what happened earlier this week near macerata, and the dismembered body of an 18—year—old italian woman was found near the city. after her body was found, a nigerian migrant was arrested. so, that is the backdrop of what has been happening in our city. —— in the city. now, there is the shooting. of course, there are plenty in italy who are saying, that this finding of the body and the arresting of the nigerian migrant might have caused this particular attack, but it is be too soon to say that.

we can say that that is the backdrop to what people in macerata have been talking about. i know that people were being told to stay inside their homes. this must be a very worrying time for people living there? yes, and i think it is important to look at it in the context of the election that is coming up. and the fact that migration is become such a big issue, and now clearly the attack against people perceived to be migrants, today, will only add to that. right—wing parties have begun their campaign on a very anti—migrant message, on a message that migrants essentially should be kicked out of the country. remember, 600,000 people in recent years have made it across the mediterranean towards italy, and that is essentially changed the political landscape, here. the right—wing are saying, too many migrants, it‘s time for them to go. james reynolds in rome. three men have been charged with murder after the fatal stabbing of a prisoner. khader saleh died on wednesday at wormwood scrubs prison in west london.

ahmed kyre, kalif dibbassey and enton marku — all in their early 20s — are due to appear in court next week. the snp‘s deputy leader angus robertson has announced that he is stepping down with immediate effect. it comes eight months after he lost his westminster seat. the scottish first minister nicola sturgeon has paid tribute to mr. robertson, thanking him for contribution to the party. small businesses affected by the collapse of the construction giant carillion are being offered the chance to apply for government—backed loans from high street lenders. thousands of suppliers were left unpaid, after the firm went into liquidation last month. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. britain‘s second biggest construction company collapsed three weeks ago leaving debts of almost £1 billion and a pensions deficit ofa similaramount. apart from those directly employed at carillion, thousands of smaller suppliers and contractors faced ruin due to unpaid debts.

our main concerns are those payments are made. contractors and people‘s livelihoods of the main thing. this obviously impacted on them. now the government is providing guarantees to small firms worth £100 million through the state—backed british business bank. these will allow companies who lost money due to carillion get bank loans. but it also means taxpayers might be on the hook if someone defaults. additionally, the uk banking sector has promised to take the circumstances surrounding carillion into consideration if individuals face problems repaying loans, overdraft or mortgages. the extent of the damage to the wider uk economy of one firm‘s collapse is coming into sharp focus. joe lynam, bbc news. a russian fighterjet has reportedly been shot down in a rebel—held area near idlib in northern syria.

the syrian observatory for human rights monitoring group said the pilot ejected from the plane and was killed, but this has not yet been confirmed. video posted on social media appeared to show the plane being hit, while other video showed burning wreckage on the ground, with a red star on a wing. britain‘s civil aviation authority has announced a review into airlines‘ seating policies. it comes following concerns that some operators have deliberately been splitting up groups of passengers in order to force them to pay extra for allocated seating. our business correspondent vishala sri—pathma explained more earlier. now, if you book a flight on an a budget a—line, you would be made to pay some taxes sit with your families and friends, when you go on holiday.

they are looking into whether this seating algorithms are deliberately done to make people pay extra. and today yougov has released a result of a servey aimed that actually, ryanair passengers are more likely to be complain of being separated, so they are slightly under the spotlight, here. and have they said anything? they have and said that there is eating policy is very clear. they are happy to be participating in the review. it costs 2 euros to allocate a seat that you want on ryanair. they have actually had quite a few complaints on social media. a lot of people have been treating them, to find that out, and they have been dealing with a lot of competes over the last six months. easyjet are happy to participate. they say that they do their best to allocate family and friends together. that is in their algorithms. what is key is in their algorithms. oligarchs suspected of corruption will be forced to explain how

they fund their luxury lifestyles in britain. the security minister, ben wallace, has told the times that he wants to crackdown on criminals and fraudulent politicians who use britain to launder money gained through corruption. oligarchs suspected of corruption will be forced to explain how they fund their luxury lifestyles in britain. the security minister, ben wallace, has told the times that he wants to crackdown on criminals and fraudulent politicians who use britain to launder money gained through corruption. earlier, dal babu, a former chief superintendent at the metropolitan police, explained some of the thinking behind the new ‘unexplained wealth orders‘. i think what they want to do is establish where people have got their money, and if you have £50,000 or more, that‘s probably not going to affect the majority of us, then they want to have the opportunity to ask people were they got that money from. oligarchs and the big headline was, "we are coming after you." there is nothing this because what we have to remember, there are lots of oligarchs, many of them own football clubs here, many of them

are a legitimate business people here, but there is a thread of individuals, if people have been watching the bbc mcmafia series, they will know there are afraid of individuals who are conducting affairs in a sort of unlawful way, and the difficulty is, i was speaking to the cab driver on the way in and he was saying you would be surprised how lady gaga has cancelled the last ten dates of the european leg of her world tour, because of "severe pain". shows in london and manchester are among those affected. in a statement posted on twitter she said she was devastated, but needed to put herself and her well—being first. the singer has fibromyalgia, a long—term condition which can cause pain all over the body. some of her fans have travelled from as far as brazil and denmark to see her on her uk dates — and are disappointed. i save money all the year for this. i don‘t blame her. the same way it hurts so much. going back home without seeing her again.

it has been five years. the first tour that has been cancelled and i have no idea. and booking flights and trains for hamburg and cologne and berlin and london and manchester. you were going to see all of the dates that have been cancelled ? yeah. her health is more important than my pleasure to see her on stage. i prefer to know that she is taking care of herself and getting well. i‘m quite sad but it‘s ok. she is one of those artists that gives her all. way that not many pop stars can say. clearly that comes at a bit of a cost. doctors orders, fibromyalgia. she has already cancelled previous concerts last year.

it is a huge shame for lots of people, but obviously very sensual. but obviously very essential. the decision clearly won‘t have been taken lightly. are you able to give us any sense of what kind of bill might be attached for cancelling these kinds of concerns? she isn‘t the first. we saw that adele had to cancel her concert at wembley stadium last year. much to the detriment of many fans. in terms of compensation, we know that tickets can be refunded, that‘s very clear. relatively straightforward. what we are talking about is hotel bills, flights. on top of the logistics, all these a list artists will be heavily insured. what conversations have to start happening is about lawyers who have paid millions of dollars to look at small print.

whether this was a pre—existing condition, and to what i‘m sure there will be lawyers on both sides. you mentioned adele berra. ijust wondered how rare it is great performers to cancel a tour of august bone a series of concerts? yes, we have heard of the few examples in recent years. adele was a big name. i think you notice when it is a world—class artist. in a way that perhaps, ,, but someone like peter kay has cancelled but someone like peter kay has cancelled his entire tour in this country, and that made headlines when it happens because of the sheer numbers of people involved. the wealth of disappointment. it‘s a price we pay for a loving these artists so dearly. when we don‘t get to see them, we take it very personally. i just want to ask you about the news that the spice girls are reuniting. how surprised are you?

we heard rumours for a few years. we did have three of the girls last year. but mel c made a point that it‘s not the spice girls unless you have all five. now here they are. what we have seen is that they have all had selecting successes in their solo world at different times. they have hit high spots and lows. was ever reason, the stars never mind so that all five of them, still similarly minded, that now is the time when it would serve them well. they‘re planning on working on new opportunities together. i wonder what that means. they have been deliberately vague. what we do know, all we hear, we don‘t know whether it‘s true, as posh spice, aged condition that she won‘t have to sing. it may not necessarily be a real reunion that the die—hard fans were hoping for, but it‘s certainly something

lucrative, iwould imagine. thank you. that‘s your latest forecast. thick cloud, dark, cold outbreaks of rain, sunday is looking a lot more cheerful. some sunshine on the way but not completely dry. this is what it looks like for the rest of the night. still a lot of cloud out there, but most of that rain is going to be fizzling away, temperatures whether you are in the south of the country or the far north will be more or less the same, say a couple of degrees above freezing. tomorrow starts off fairly bright. a touch of frost here and there but we are going to see an increasing wind blowing out of the north east, particularly round the north