this is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at 11: the serial sex attackerjohn worboys is expected to appear at the high court to hear a legal challenge against his release. tesco is facing britain's largest ever equal pay claim as thousands of female shop workers say they're paid less than men working in warehouses. the prime minister will chair the first of two key brexit meetings with her senior ministers. the world's most powerful rocket, funded by the american billionaire elon musk, successfully launches in florida. also, meet cheddar man. he lived 10,000 years ago and is sometimes described as the first modern briton. scientists conclude that he had dark to black skin after carrying out dna analysis. and could a deposit system boost the recycling rate of plastic bottles? the government is looking at schemes like this one in norway. good morning.

it's wednesday 7th february. i'm annita mcveigh. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the serial sex attacker john worboys will appear at the high court this morning for the start of a legal challenge this morning against his release. pictures of him just arriving have just come into us in the last few moments. last month the parole board was criticised when it announced that worboys would be freed after less than nine years in prison. in 2009 worboys was given an indeterminate jail sentence, with a minimum term of at least eight years. last november the parole board approved his release, but their reasoning remained confidential. that decision was made public last month to a furious reaction. campaigners hoped the government would apply for a judicial review,

but the justice secretary said lawyers had advised against it. just over a week later, two of worboys' victims won a legal challenge to stop him being released, but only temporarily. the first stage of their legal challenge to keep him behind bars begun today. a review has found failings in the way probation staff maintained contact with most of the victims ofjohn worboys. one of worboys' victims spoke to radio 4's today programme. she explains that soon after she got into his cab, she was offered a drink. ijust drunk itjust because you got in that situation. drink the drink, ta ke in that situation. drink the drink, take me home. and then he pulled over. no, he asked me if i wanted a

cigarette and then he pulled over and said he was going to have a cigarette as well. i remember him getting in the back of the cab with me, but that was it. i don't remember anything other than waking up remember anything other than waking up in hospital the next morning. i know i was raped. i knew as soon as i woke know i was raped. i knew as soon as iwoke up know i was raped. i knew as soon as i woke up i had been raped. the chair of the parole board is being questioned about the transparency of parole board decisions. he said he would welcome changes to what the public are told, but the needs of the victims come first. it is quite clear that some victims don't want details of the case rehashed in public again and again. if we took about four instance a case where we were turning the prisoner down, he would come back before the parole board every two yea rs. before the parole board every two years. that would mean every two

yea rs years. that would mean every two years we were putting the details are perhaps a horrible domestic family case which was terribly messy into the public domain, despite the victims not wanting it. i think there issues around candour. there is information about this the victims that are sensitive. we also need to make sure that witnesses is to give evidence to the parole board can give us the honest opinion and don't feel pressured into saying what they think might be popular. all of those things need to be thought through. i don't want that

to be misunderstood. i think we can go further in explaining our decisions. they may not like or agree with what we have done, but at least they will have some information. when we think about a possible challenge,, at least they will know what they are challenging. more information about the stacey report that has been released. it's about whether timely information was given to the victims of worboys and whether they have the opportunity to contribute their views beforejohn

worboys applied for release. you are seeing pictures of him arriving at court. the report says initially be probation service appears to have complied with the relevant instructions, but in 2010 contact lapsed for no clear reason to women who had opted in to be part of the scheme. in 2012 the report found that the quality of the correspondence was poor. messages we re correspondence was poor. messages were not conveyed clearly. the report says it was significant at the time when the women had the opportunity to contribute their views to be worboys parole hearing. 0ne views to be worboys parole hearing. one final point. the report found that the news to release worboys broke in the media before some of

those in receipt official notification. tesco is facing britain's largest equal pay law suit which could affect up to 200,000 mostly female shop floor workers. the women say they're paid less than men who work in the company's distribution centres, even though their work is of the same value. lawyers estimate tesco could be liable for up to £4 billion in back pay if it loses. 0ur economics editor kamal ahmed has more. tesco hasjoined a long list of organisations facing controversies over equal pay. among retailers, asda and sainsbury are facing similar legal battles. birmingham city council has already agreed to over £1 billion worth of payments for women cleaners and carers and the bbc has been accused of not paying men and women equally. tesco, as one of the country's largest employers, is now facing a series of test cases, which could lead to the largest equal pay claim in employment history. lawyers for tesco's supermarket workers said that female staff on hourly rates earn considerably less than men even though the value of the work is comparable.

kim element and pamjenkins have worked for tesco for over 20 years. i think that although we think we have equal rights, there are times where there are such discrepancies that you can't explain them. and i think tesco's just one of many companies that aren't addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. tesco said that all their staff could progress equally and were paid fairly, whatever their gender or background. in a statement, the supermarket said: this is the start of a long legal battle. tesco just the latest business to be caught up in a fight over equal pay. joining me now is employment lawyer paula leigh, who is representing

the female tesco workers. thank you for your time today. you are not saying, you, that thejob that the shop workers do is precisely the same as the job that workers in the warehouses do? no, absolutely not. equal work for equal berian falls into three categories. works rated as equivalent, which we see in the public sector or the nhs. the category we are looking at is work of equal value and that allows people, men and women, equal pay act does go both ways, but this is about a woman doing one particularjob to compare herself to a man doing the

same or equally demanding job. we break that down into the component parts of what the demands looked like. to dude that we will look at the qualifications of the working conditions, the level of responsibility. —— to do that. the work of equal value, the law permits you to compare your role with a different role and even if the —— and even in a different environment. do you take into consideration whether that work is of equal value in terms of tesco as a store. whether that work is of equal value in terms of tesco as a storelj would leave that to the experts to decide. what we do is break it down and in agreement with the other side look at the component parts and then

the experts go away, analyse that and give each component part a score. the scores are added up and if they are equal or the women's is higher, she will succeed. it's still open to the employer to defend that. are you aware of men working in the stores and women working in the warehouses, although obviously it is mainly women who work in the shops are men who work in the warehouses, are men who work in the warehouses, are you aware if they are paid the same rates? i'm not aware of that, but it's a good point. there will be no reason why a but it's a good point. there will be no reason why a man but it's a good point. there will be no reason why a man could not have started this claim is a shop worker comparing himself to a female in a distribution centre. we need to be clear about that. the pay provisions apply both ways. men can take full advantage of them and they do in this case. what we see in situations like this where you are having more and more men working in areas that have been predominantly female, they can take advantage of the success

women may have a week or that piggyback claims. how similar is this to the birmingham city council case? that council settled with women who were working as cleaners and carers who said they should be paid the same as men who were working as refuse workers. this is similarto working as refuse workers. this is similar to the as the case which my firm is running, looking at shop workers and distribution centres. it's similar to that case, but what makes this different is the scale of it. tesco is one of the largest employers, so this game of it will make things different. thank you. theresa may is to meet

senior ministers later to try to agree the government's approach for the next stage of the brexit negotiations. it comes after leaked documents show the european union wants to be able to restrict the uk's access to the single market if there is a dispute after brexit. the power to suspend "certain benefits" would apply during the post—brexit transition phase. in a moment, we'll take to norman smith in westminster. first, to adam fleming who's in brussels. adam, what more can you tell us about the leaked document and what it suggests about the sort of sanctions that the eu might have in the transition phase? it is not a lea ked the transition phase? it is not a leaked document any more because it has just been published officially by the european commission's brexit task force on their website. it's important ina task force on their website. it's important in a symbolic way because it is the first draft of legal wording that will end up in the final withdrawal agreement, the brexit treaty that will field the uk's departure from the eu. before

we have had position papers and directive guidelines. these are words that will go into that important treaty. that's the first reason it is important. secondly, buried away in footnote number four at the bottom of one the pages were it says there will have to be a mechanism whereby if the uk does not stick to the eu's is doing the transition period and that issue cannot be solved in time by the european court of justice cannot be solved in time by the european court ofjustice because it will take too long then the eu will be able to say right, that is it, we are suspending your access to some parts of the single market. to some people that sounds threatening. the other people it is reasonable. it's the sort of thing that the eu puts into all of its international agreements with other countries, because that is what the uk will be, and other country. i must point out that this is just a draft. the other 27 member states have to go through

it and they will talk about it on friday. then there will be negotiations and it could change again. it is important, but it is just a first draft. adam, thank you very much. let's cross to norman smith in westminster. so no doubt that will be discussed today amongst other things, but we note the government and cabinet ministers, there is a lot of disagreement about there is a lot of disagreement about the best approach to the transition talks. how much is that this agreement going to have on the meetings that theresa may is having today and tomorrow? it's hugely significant and is probably the key reason that i would not expect any final decision will be taken by the end of the week. we might not get a final decision for several weeks yet got there are profound differences about the sort of relationship we should have with the eu. the chancellor philip hammond believes

we have to stay close to the eu and the roles of the single market and customs union to minimise the potential damage to british businesses. and there are those like the foreign secretary who believes we should cut loose to maximise our ability to strike new free trade deals because that's where global growth will be in the next century. those are two very clear different views about what is in britain's long—term interests, so trying to mash them together will be difficult and what might be difficult is language. finding a form of words that both sides can agree with, even if that perpetuates the ambiguity about britain's position. you get a sense of the frustration amongst mps. just listening to the former chancellor kenneth clarke sounding exasperated about the lack of detail. i wished downing street spokesmen would shut up sometimes, because they put out completely meaningless statements. apparently it's going to be frictionless and we're quite happy

to have a customs arrangement, but we're not going in the customs union and we're not going in the single market. that is completely contradictory. it's like talking about the irish border, saying we're going to have a completely open border, but we're not going to have a customs union and we're not going to have regulatory conversions on both sides. one half of that contradicts the second half. now, despite the exasperation of those like mr clarke, the key reason why it matters to get some sort of clarity is because of the richest government not setting out its position clearly and the likely would is that the eu will step into that vacuum and begin to spell out what they think britain should accept. in other words, they seize the initiative is in the brexit negotiations in britain ends up having to respond to what they say. thank you very much for that update. norman smith in westminster. the headlines on bbc newsroom live: the serial sex attackerjohn worboys

arrives at the high court to hear a legal challenge against his release. tesco is facing britain's largest ever equal pay claim as thousands of female shop workers say they are paid female shop workers say they are pa id less female shop workers say they are paid less than men working warehouses. the prime minister will chair first of two key brexit meetings with her key ministers. time now for the sport. australia are chasing 156 to beat england in their twenty20 match in hobart. it's england's first match of a tri—series tournament with the aussies and new zealand. dawid malan gave england a good start with 50 off 36 balls. but the rest of the batsmen struggled to pick the slower deliveries. and ashton agar took a couple of catches off his own bowling. chrisjordan helped england reach 155 for nine off the final ball of their 20 overs. and then a great opening over from david willey — two wickets in his first four balls — put them on top. however, that brought glenn maxwell

to the crease. he has just reached his half—century. 90—3 in hobart. british sprinter nigel levine has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. the european indoor relay gold medallist has not competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash last january. and it was reported in december, he'd allegedly tested positive for the banned asthma drug clenbuterol. great britain begin their fed cup campaign in estonia later. they play the estonians and portuguese teams as they attempt to get through the europe and africa group. that would take them to the next level of world tennis for the first time since 1993. jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics after being selected for the track cycling world champoinships in the netherlands. since increasing their gold medal

haul to 10 between them in rio, the couple have got married and had a baby, albie, just over six months ago. jason also retired briefly before returning to competitive cycling last month. you can follow the cricket via the bbc sport website or on radio 5 live sports extra. but that's all the sport for now. jon venables, one of two men convicted of killing james bulger, has pleaded guilty to having indecent images of children for a second time. the 35—year—old, who served eight years for the murder of james bulger in 1993, was recalled to prison last year. 0ur correspondent richard galpin is at the old bailey. richard, take us through what has been happening in court. the man

formerly known asjon venables has pleaded guilty on four counts. three of those counts of making indecent pictures of children. in total, more than 1000 pictures, some of them videos. he has also pleaded guilty toa videos. he has also pleaded guilty to a fourth count of possession of a paedophile manual found on to a fourth count of possession of a paedophile manualfound on his laptop, which was giving advice on abusing children sexually. now his defence lawyer has said in court that venables accepts he downloaded indecent images for his personal use and that he accepts what he called he the wrongness and the bees involved in making the pictures. the court heard that there is no evidence that venables had abusive contact with children and he said he wa nts contact with children and he said he wants or needs help to understand his actions and he said it's my own fault and i have let people down again. he also apologised to the family ofjamie again. he also apologised to the family of jamie bolger for the distress he has cause. and as you

we re distress he has cause. and as you were saying, sentencing is expected in the next few minutes. —— jamie bulger. reports from germany say chancellor merkel‘s conservative group has agreed to form a new coalition government with the centre—left social democrats. the deal would bring to an end more than four months of wrangling since inconclusive elections in september. 0ur correspondent damien mcguiness is in berlin. we arejust seeing we are just seeing that the leader of the social democrats is planning to quit that post. is this in fact a done deal? what we seem to have now reached is an agreement over which ministries will go to which party and that is really what tends to happen here in germany right at the end of the whole coalition agreement process. so we have now have more or less all the details of the coalition agreement wrangled over between these two groups of parties

over the last few weeks. now they have worked through all the points it is pretty much a done deal and the ministries have been doled out and that is important because depending which party gets which ministry, that gives a good idea of what sort of government germany will have for the next four years and what is of interest to people outside of germany is the finance ministry because that has a large impact on european financial policy in general. it looks as if the ministry is going to the centre—left democrats which could mean that germany could be more lenient when it comes to supporting other eurozone countries. that would be good news to president macon as it will support his ambitious eu reform programme. and reports that the foreign ministry is going to the

social democrats as well. what does that mean in the context of brexit? well, i think the difference between the two main parties here, the centre—right and the centre—left over brexit is minimal, virtually nonexistent. both sides have the same line and they support brussels. they have supported brussels every step of the way when it comes to negotiations. what it does mean is if these negotiations are officially announced, the deal is officially announced, the deal is officially announced today, if both parties sign of the deal and we end up with a government in germany in easter, it means there is a stable government in berlin, a lot of unity in the eu and that potentially would be good for britain when it comes to brexit because what would be, one worst—case scenario would be eight divided eu and an unstable germany. it would mean that germany and the eu in general will be in no position

to be generous to britain when it comes to a trade deal. it's not a competition really between the eu and britain when it comes to brexit. in order to get a good deal over brexit, according to the german position, you need a strong united eu to come up with a strong united position when it comes to any kind of trade deals with britons. 0ver the next few weeks we will see the ce ntre—left the next few weeks we will see the centre—left voting on whether this deal will come through. if they do vote yes, we could have a government in berlin by easter. thank you very much. president trump is reported to have asked for a large—scale military parade to showcase american might. the white house press secretary, sarah sanders, said the president had asked defence chiefs to plan an event where americans could show their appreciation for the armed forces. the world's most powerful rocket, the falcon heavy, has successfully launched for the first time.

american billionaire elon musk, whose company space x is behind the project, has called it a game changer for space travel. keith doyle reports. # this is ground control to major tom...# this is not a scene from a science fiction film. this actually is a car and an astronaut dummy in space with david bowie playing on its music system. far above the world. # now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare...# this bizarre but very real image came after the launch of the falcon heavy rocket from the kennedy space center in florida last night. the successful launch of the most powerful and largest rocket since the shuttle has been called a game—changer in space exploration. in part, due to its reusable boosters which have returned to earth. two spectacularly landing together in florida, the third had a less successful landing, crashing into the sea. but getting bigger and heavier payloads into space is a major breakthrough for this commercial space company.

seeing the two boosters land synchronised really like the simulation... it makes you think it can be a scalable approach. you could imagine large numbers of those just coming in and landing, taking off, landing, doing many flights per day. when the story of man's exploration of mars and beyond is written, this may well be seen as the moment it was all made possible. keith doyle, bbc news, planet earth. a brief update on thejohn worboys case. we are hearing that one of the judges has said that he is minded to

grant permission for a judicial review hearing, but it's not a final decision. a solicitor has been appointed to worboys in the two judges are taking a break whilst worboys talks to his solicitor. the headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. in a moment we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. first, we leave you with for a look at the weather. a bitter. to the day with lots of sunshine. in cumbria we had some of the lowest temperatures last night, down to minus nine degrees. cloud rolling in and outbreaks of rain across scotland. snow over the higher ground is primarily. maximum temperatures between two and six, 7 degrees. in the sunshine it will feel pleasant. the night, another

cold and frosty night across central and eastern areas. “— cold and frosty night across central and eastern areas. —— the night. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the serial sex attackerjohn worboys is to appear at the high court to hear a legal challenge against his release. last month, the parole board was criticised after announcing he would be freed, with some of his victims only finding out from the media. lawyers say tesco could face a bill of up to £4 billion as a result of britain's largest ever equal pay claim. they argue that up to 200,000 mostly female shop floor workers should receive back pay, because they receive a lower hourly wage than male warehouse staff — even though their work has the same value. the prime minister will chair the first of two key brexit meetings with her senior ministers this afternoon. separately, the british chambers of commerce has written to theresa may calling for more clarity on the government's approach to leaving the eu. the world's most powerful

rocket, the falcon heavy, has successfully launched for the first time in florida. american billionaire elon musk, whose company spacex is behind the project, has called the near flawless blast—off a game changer. and in sport, england need to keep taking wickets like this to prevent australia chasing down 156 to win the tri— series match in hobart —— hobart. british sprinter nigel lavigne has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. he has not competed since he broke his pelvis ina competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash last january. and jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics in the netherlands. they have got married, had a baby and jason has briefly retired since rio. i'll be back with all of those stories soon. the uk could adopt a deposit—based

system for recycling plastic bottles, after a ministerial delegation visited norway to see how a scheme there operates. the consumer pays a deposit then returns it empty to a special machine where they receive a coupon for the money. our environment analysis has been to see how it works. the world has a problem with plastic. here in norway, we think we have a solution. most places, an empty bottle like this would just be thrown in the bin or maybe even chucked on the street but not here in norway. i've come back inside the shop and this machine is going to reward me for bringing my bottle back. when we buy a bottle of soda or something, we pay one krone extra and when we put it in the machine, we get that money back again. it's a relief because if you recycle, it's good for the environment.

a bottle can be recycled more than one time. it can actually be recycled... 12 times. we separate the clear bottles from the coloured bottles. the clear bottles can be used to new bottles, the coloured bottles can be used to new plastic material. if soft drink producers join our system, they pay less tax. everyone wins. a group of children in glasgow are waging war on plastic — in particular, straws. they've already persuaded scotland's biggest council to ditch single—use straws, and convinced the entire village of ullapool to scrap them. now they're taking their campaign further afield. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordonjoined them on the isle of arran. they call themselves the ocean defenders — passionate about nature

and conservation, and on a mission to end the use of plastic straws. now, they are heading across the water to arran, in a bid to spread the word. i care about it because there are animals out there who are in danger, because they're eating plastic. what do you hope to do with this campaign? try and stop plastic straws from being used, and start using paper straws. it's our future, and we need to make sure that it's not all gone when we grow up. their campaign is having an impact. the company which operates the ferry they are travelling on has signed up. do you have the straws? we only have paper ones. would you like some? but the youthful campaigners from sunnyside primary think that key to their nationwide battle against plastic is getting other children, including those on arran, involved as well. i haven't really thought about it.

but now, the presentation has taught me a lot more about it, and it's very different now. the most surprising and interesting thing is how much this does affect the environment. you wouldn't expect that from wee tiny plastic straws. we can speak to some of the cafes on the island, because i know that a lot of the cafes do sell plastic straws. so, if we could maybe get them to change to the paper straws, that would be really good. there is always litter on the beaches, and plastic litter, in particular... they work hard on arran to keep their waters and beaches clean. these blue things are in fact cotton bud sticks. but plastic waste, once it enters the sea, can travel far, injuring and killing marine life in the process. even here, we find plastic, despite all the cleaning that goes on. you clean, a storm comes in, and there'll be more plastic washed up.

how do you feel about that? i really dislike it. everyone can do something to try and help the marine environment, and issues of plastics. school by school, and business by business, the children's message is being heard. we are trying to make people stop expecting a straw in a drink... these primary school pupils, with a passion to reduce plastic waste, have had much success already. the kids were fantastic. they're so knowledgeable, and they're really confident and passionate in the way they speak. and did you find their arguments persuasive? i mean, you have got the plastic straws. absolutely, this is my naughty pot. naughty pot no more. the children's hope now — that arran will become scotland's first island to ditch plastic straws for good. now, new dna analysis of britain's

old est now, new dna analysis of britain's oldest complete skeleton has found he had much darker skin than previously thought and blue eyes. the man pars—mac 10,000 previously thought and blue eyes. the man pars—mac10,000 —year—old remains were unearthed at cheddar gorge more than 100 years ago. scientists at the natural history museum have created this image of what he would have looked like before he died. it was initially thought he would have paler skin and fair hair. this is what researchers initially came up with. there isn't much resemblance compared to the latest model. and we can talk now to professor ian barnes, the research leader at the natural history museum. great to have you with us. as we were just showing to our viewers, no resemblance between that early model and this latest reconstruction, if that is the correct term to use. why the change? so, we have been working on cheddar

man and lots of other skeletons from britain over the last three years or so as part of a big project to look at the people of the british isles over the last 10,000 years and how they have adapted to changes in their environment. cheddar man is probably the oldest skeleton we have worked with and turns out to have very good dna preservation, or certainly very good for a man of his age, as it were. you extracted that dna by drilling a small hole in the inner ear bone, i understand? yes, that's right. 0ne inner ear bone, i understand? yes, that's right. one of the things that has happened over the lifetime of the project we have been working on is that we and other researchers have got a much better understanding of how to recover dna from ancient skeletal remains, ancient human remains, like watch we have been working on. one problem we have is

that when someone is buried in the ground for a long time, a lot of the dna we recover at the end of that is actually from bacteria and fungi that live in the soil. it turns out that live in the soil. it turns out that this particular spot in the inner ear isa that this particular spot in the inner ear is a really good source for human dna and that is why we have been focused particularly on that. given that you originally thought he had much fairer skin and sandy had, how surprised were all be working on this project to see that he had darker skin and blue eyes, very unlike your original interpretation? some of those interpretations, those reconstructions go back well before i started working at the museum. i think the most recent one is probably from the 1980s. but in the last few years, we have started to develop a better understanding of how skeletons like this mesolithic people actually might have looked.

the last attempt to look at skin colour or skin pigmentation of someone of about cheddar man pars—mac age was a few years ago and if you look at that reconstruction from northern spain, they look a bit darker but not... no, they look pretty much like somebody from northern spain. so can we say that many britons living 10,000 years ago had this complexion and blue eyes or is that too much to extrapolate from this? what has happened in the last few years or really in the last year or so is that we have a much better understanding of how skin pigmentation works. we now realise that there are many genes involved in itand that there are many genes involved in it and the work we have done with cheddar man has taken all of that data into account and we find he has much darker skin than we really would have realised. we think probably that that would be the

norm, at least four people in north—western europe at this time, between 6000 and 10,000 years ago. well, professor ian barnes, very interesting to speak to you. i'm sure it was very interesting when you came face—to—face with cheddar man. professor ian barnes at the natural history museum, thank you. now, let's hear more of the appearance ofjohn worboys at the high court to hear really good challenge to his release. 0ur correspondent has been there. tell us correspondent has been there. tell us what has been happening because initially he didn't have a solicitor with him, did he? that is right. this has been a very unusual hearing in so many ways. certainly what we weren't expecting was to seejohn worboys, who has now changed his name to john radford, worboys, who has now changed his name tojohn radford, here at court at the royal courts ofjustice here in person. the reason for that is because the seniorjudge who is conducting these proceedings brian

deveson decided it was very important that warboys, who is the prisoner at the centre of all of this, was certainly present for the proceedings and it was intending that he would appear via video link from prison where he is being held, but because of problems with the video link in another case yesterday, sir bryan decided that worboys should have to appear in person. he entered the dock wearing a grey shirt accompanied by prison officers and looks very different from those mugshots you have seen. he is now 60 years of age, looks older, short grey hair and he wore a grey shirt and jeans and spoke quite softly and nodded when sir brian deveson asked him if he was able to follow the proceedings and took him through the proceedings. there was a short break in the proceedings and

at that point, worboys stood up, sipped a cup of water and chatted to the prison officers alongside him. then we heard that a lawyer from the association of prison lawyers was present in court and had agreed to give worboys some advice about the procedure and what is going to happen now. so brian leveson said he would allow some time for that to happen so be solicitor and worboys are having half an hour to do that. but we think will happen here is that a full hearing will be allowed to test the parole boards decision to test the parole boards decision to allow worboys to be released. this is just to allow worboys to be released. this isjust a permission hearing and if the judges give this isjust a permission hearing and if thejudges give permission this isjust a permission hearing and if the judges give permission to go to and if the judges give permission to gotoa and if the judges give permission to go to a full hearing, that will take place probably towards the end of next month. 0k, danny, thanks for that. danny shaw for us.

let's get more now on the world's most powerful rocket, the falcon heavy, has successfully launched for the first time. joining me now is libbyjackson, human spaceflight programme manager at the uk space agency no doubt you are absolutely glued to the tv watching this last night as i was. elon musk output big caveats out there, 70, about what might go wrong. in the end, it all went right. it all went right. they missed one out of the three booster landings, the one on the barge, but that was a minor thing. it was a wonderful thing to see this test launch successful. any new flight of a rocket will always have question marks over it. you have done all the tests at the simulations but until you put it on the pad, you never know what will happen. it was a great spectacle and it was brilliant to see a new heavy rocket that's going to change exploration and also look to change what we can do back

here on earth in terms of rocket travel. explain to us on that point what rockets of this bulk, of this size could do compared to what is happening now in terms of commercial space activity and so forth. it can ta ke space activity and so forth. it can take about twice as much load up into what we call low earth orbit, the space of orbitjust above us, 200 kilometres up —— 400 kilometres up. that would allow bigger satellites to go up if they are needed. when you look at perhaps sending humans back onto the moon or onto mars as we would like to do and to study mars scientifically, we will need to send cargo that and it's always difficult to get things into space. this rocket would allow us into space. this rocket would allow us to send more onto mars and because of the reusability bit, it's crucially bringing down the price of rocket launchers. so, next time we see vulcan heavy go up, could it have a payload of the sort of equipment you are talking about,

rather than tesla car, or will it need lots more tests before it sta rts need lots more tests before it starts to carry anything in terms of commercial activity up into space?” don't know spacex's plans for their payload customers. it certainly could take things into space. the rocket we thought is based on the falcon nine rocket which is their work course, taking cargo to be international space station, so they will be pleased with this performance but there will be things they will learn and they will see if there is a customer willing to take a risk on that second launch. 0k, libby jackson from the a risk on that second launch. 0k, libbyjackson from the u:k.'s bait agency, thank you. —— the u:k.'s space agency. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour but first — the headlines on bbc newsroom live. john worboys appears in person at the high court to hear a legal challenge against his release. gasquet gave faces a possible bill

of £4 billion as —— tesco faces a possible bill of £4 billion over an equal pay legal challenge. and theresa may will meet with ministers later over brexit. hello, i'm ben thompson, these are the business stories. tesco is facing britain's largest ever equal pay claim — that could cost the supermarket £4 billion. thousands of women are demanding parity with male colleagues who work in the company's warehouses. tesco says it worked hard to ensure all staff were paid ‘fairly and equally‘ but could be forced to pay £20,000 to each worker if the claim is successful. the government has promised an overhaul of employment rights to improve conditions for millions of workers, including those in the gig economy. the changes include stricter enforcement of holiday and sick pay rights, and higher fines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff. european stock markets have recovered ground as a rally in asia

ran out of steam after three days of frantic trading. london's ftse100 opened up by 0.7%, while in paris and frankfurt markets were 0.5% higher. in paris after the rollercoaster day on global markets yesterday, there's a little more calm today. shares have bounced back, after gains on wall street. japan's nikkei rose more than 3% after falling nearly 7% in the previous session. it's ended pretty flat. earlier, we spoke to our asia business correspondent, karishma vaswani. the anxiety that we saw on asian markets yesterday has abated somewhat to day but it was a mixed session and i think that sense of

the fact that volatility has come into both the us markets and out here in asia, that is not going away any time soon. if you think about it, it makes total sense. with the fa ct it, it makes total sense. with the fact that in the united states there is this anticipation that interest rates will be rising at a faster rates will be rising at a faster rate than many people had expected, what that results in is the fact that money gets pulled out of riskier asset than one of those risky assets has been emerging market equities. many markets in asia have benefited from foreign funds flowing in over the last seven or eight years from places like the united states and what we have seen over the last couple of days is anxiety about the fact that money might be being pulled out and what that will result in in terms of share price volatility over the coming days. let's now speak to stuart cook, head of trading. the word i heard

yesterday a lot was correction. the word i am hearing a lot today is volatility and the question is how long will that volatility last? volatility is the keyword. there are lots of reasons why we have run up and there are more reasons you could argue why we should come down but ultimately this correction over the last few days has been driven more bya last few days has been driven more by a technical reason rather than interest rate expectations or anything else. i think that was the key catalyst but there are these huge positions in the background in volatility which basically you can trade and there are these funds specifically in the us where people have taken huge bets on the fact the market was either going up or down but it would remain subdued and when you look at things online, this came to for last september in the us specifically when an ex—manager of target came out saying he made multiple millions on this strategy

called short fault and that is people just trying to price in the fa ct people just trying to price in the fact that the market wasn't going to rally, or rally but in a quiet fashion. that has basically been unwound over the past couple of days and that's why you have seen these huge moves so quickly as well. it's also interesting when you look at why it has moved, because normally we would talk about it being bad knees and investors getting nervous about something they have seen in the latest growth figures but actually this was caused by better figures, wasn't it? yes. let's face it, we have run up a hell of a long way from the credit crunch. it has been the most hated bull market in history and it's only the last few months where people have actually believed this thing will go higher. there's a whole dailyjob numbers, things like acquisitions, at record highs and the reason for that is good news. the tax bill as well was

good news. the tax bill as well was good news. the tax bill as well was good news for equities, certainly in the us. it comes down to positioning. the problems with these investments is just that you can't really see how much is behind them and what happens with them, but a couple of these, you know, indexes have been wiped out and a number of these retail investors and far more professional funds would have these retail investors and far more professionalfunds would have been wiped out in the last couple of days, so that is why we have the move not yesterday but the day before in the us, all the action showed that the after hours moves we re eve n showed that the after hours moves were even worse, and that says something. 0nce were even worse, and that says something. once the volatility comes down, we can perhaps return to normality in the markets. a lot of people hoping for that. thank you for explaining that. as we've been hearing, millions of workers could see an improvement in their working conditions as part of an overhaul of the gig economy. so, what is at stake?

our business correspondent, theo leggett has been looking at the details. up up to upto5 up to 5 million people are thought to earn a living in the so—called "me. companies like google and yodel offer money on a job byjob basis and other companies like fast food outlets like to use people employed by agencies or run 0—hours contracts. it lets them have staff when they need them or cut costs when they need them or cut costs when they need them or cut costs when they don't. in his review, matthew taylor said flexibility in the workplace was important but it often put too much power into the hands of employers. he said change was needed to make sure people didn'tjust was needed to make sure people didn't just tap work was needed to make sure people didn'tjust tap work but was needed to make sure people didn't just tap work but what was needed to make sure people didn'tjust tap work but what he called good work. the government has accepted most of his recommendations. for example, it says it will make sure that workers who are entitled to holiday and sick pay actually receive it. it's promised to clamp down on companies which are legally make unpaid

intense do the work of employees. and it will ask the low pay commission to consider raising the wages of those odd 0—hours contracts. matthew taylor himself as welcomed the proposals although he said more will need to be done to help vulnerable workers. the tuc has accused the government of taking baby accused the government of taking ba by ste ps accused the government of taking baby steps when it needed to make a giant leap. the leggett, bbc news. a reminder, as always, there is much more on the website including all the stories from our business live team. there is also the story on there, you may remember at christmas, pound land had what it called the naughty of campaign. well, that has been deemed irresponsible by the advertising standards authority. it got 85 complaints about those adverts, so if you want to know more about that, check out the website. any do, back to you. breaking news coming from the old

bailey where james bolger‘s killer jon venables has beenjailed bailey where james bolger‘s killer jon venables has been jailed for 14 months after he admitted having more than a thousand indecent images of children and what was described as a children and what was described as a child abuse manual. jon venables is one of the killers of james child abuse manual. jon venables is one of the killers ofjames bulger. this is the second time he has admitted having those images. he was recalled to prison last time for breaching the terms of his licence, after serving eight years for the murder of the toddler. after admitting these recent charges, he has been jailed for 40 admitting these recent charges, he has beenjailed for 40 months. prime minister's questions is due at midday in the house of commons. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. norman, obviously a big day, a big week for brexit discussions with theresa may later on today chairing the first of two important meetings

on brexit with her senior team. is that going to be a big subject for pmq ‘s as well? that going to be a big subject for pmq 's as well? probably not from jeremy corbyn, i wouldn't think, because he tends to shy away from brexit with his own tensions and divisions over brexit. he tends to leave m rs divisions over brexit. he tends to leave mrs may to stew in harrowing tory problems either brexit. it may be raised by one or two tory backbenchers. i am guessing mr corbyn may well go on trains. what i mean by that is the east coast mainline which slightly slipped under the political radar on monday when the transport secretary chris grayling announced that the stagecoach virgin operation was in dire difficulties and only had weeks to run. this of course after they we re to run. this of course after they were allowed to hand back the contract early at a cost to the taxpayer. now one option which mr grayling has mooted is bringing it back into public ownership. that would absolutely play to mr corbyn's narrative. so i am thinking, jeremy corbyn, trains. 0k, norman, thank

you very much. time now for the weather with the new weather graphics. i absolutely love our new weather graphics. look at these beautiful scenes this morning across the uk. it is cold and frosty this morning, temperatures well below freezing, down as low as parts of —— down as low as —10 in parts of the north. we have also had snow in the south—east of england. this is recently in eastbourne in east sussex. you can see b snow settling on the ground back and that snow was brought in by quite a few showers coming in off the north sea down to the south of england. from the satellite imagery you can see this mass of cloud towards northern and western areas which is gradually moving in. with that, some outbreaks of rain this afternoon across scotla nd of rain this afternoon across scotland and northern ireland. there will be a little bit of snow over higher ground. elsewhere, you might see growled —— cloud increasing. the

green map here shows clear skies across central and eastern areas. lots of sunshine and temperatures up to three to seven or 8 degrees. we did the rain continuing in a far north and west overnight, but in the east you can see the green showing clear skies and beneath the clear skies, it will turn cold and frosty once again. tomorrow morning, there's temperatures well below freezing across the south—east of england. if you are on the roads first thing, bear in mind those temperatures could be down as low as minus six degrees. further west, those green colours show that temperatures are above freezing and that's because we have had this cloud around just blanketing things touch. now, going through this area of cloud will move

further eastwards meaning sunnier spells in scotland and northern ireland. a few showers in here, a few showers in the south—east of england with breaks in the cloud. the central areas seeing quite a bit of rain, particularly for central areas later in the afternoon. that band of rain will continue to move down to the south—east as we go into friday. this little weather front behind it showing a view wintry showers behind that for western areas on friday. but really for many on friday, it will be dry, lots of sunshine around, some snow showers coming into western scotland throughout the day, but there's temperatures dropping down just a touch from thursday at between four and 7 degrees. going into the weekend, we will see things turn a bit wet and windy during saturday. by bit wet and windy during saturday. by sunday, that should be cleared away but it's turning colder again. check out the website. i'll see you later. bye—bye. this is bbc news and these are the top stories

developing at midday. the serial sex attackerjohn worboys appears at the high court to hear whether the decision to release him will face a legal challenge. tesco is facing britain's largest ever equal pay claim as thousands of female shop workers say they're paid less than men working in warehouses. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger, is due to be sentenced for having indecent images of children for a second time. and this is the scene live in the house of commons where theresa may will be taking mps' questions shortly. good afternoon.

welcome to bbc newsroom live. let's take you live now to the house of commons, where prime minister's questions is about to begin. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. a busy day for theresa may. those brexit meetings after pmqs. what can we expect? well, anna soubry has said that it is time for theresa may to clear out people like borisjohnson theresa may to clear out people like boris johnson and jacob rees—mogg.

some may seek to pick up on that. the prime minister would go from pmqs, and she has probably spent a large amount of this morning prepping... that's enough from me. let's cross to the chamber. and the house willjoin me in kgb to dean sprouting in iraq, his death was not the cause of enemy activity. the house will join was not the cause of enemy activity. the house willjoin in offering condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time. yesterday, winning one the right to vote. i know the whole house, well, from a sedentary position, labour say someone, i'm pleased to say that universal suffrage did come for women ten years later under a conservative government. but i'm

sure mr speaker, the whole house will want tojoin sure mr speaker, the whole house will want to join me sure mr speaker, the whole house will want tojoin me in marking the heroic and tireless struggle that led to women having the vote because it forever changed our nation's future. mr speaker, this morning i had meetings with ministerial collea g u es had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, in addition to my duties in this house, i shall have further such meetings later today. my constituent, natasha, suffers from hank hanley anaemia, a debilitating disease which carries with it a high risk of cancer. natasha was on lifetime disability living allowance which was removed following her t20 assessment. when she appealed, she was told because she appealed, she was told because she has a degree she does not need as much support. i'm sure the prime minister is aware that disease and cancer are no respect is of disability and qualifications. —— following her pip assessment. i'm asking the prime minister what urgent action she will take to improve the quality and the standard

of pip assessments? obviously, the dwp is constantly looking at the standard of pip assessments that are being made. i'm sorry to hear the case the honourable lady has set out, i think those people would be very concerned at hearing that case and i'm surprised at the judgment that was given in relation to that individual, can i suggest she sent in the detail and i will make sure it is looked into? mr speaker, my right honourable friend will be aware of the ukip led thanet council's broken election promise to support the reopening of minced and airport. 0n the basis that the site was to be redesignated as mixed use with thousands of houses, the plan was sensibly rejected by local councillors and i salute them for doing so. and she give me her assurance that thanet should now be given as miserable a time as necessary , given as miserable a time as necessary, perhaps under a new administration. —— as reasonable time is necessary, perhaps under a new administration, to get it right. my new administration, to get it right. my honourable friend is right to

raise this matter on behalf of his constituents. i understand that thanet district council has not adopted a local plan since 2006. that is why my right honourable friend the housing secretary has written to the district council to begin the formal process of considering intervention and this is a very serious step which shows that the council has not been doing what it should be doing in relation to a local plan so my right honourable friend the secretary of state is now considering whether to intervene and he will be making an announcement in due course. jeremy corbyn. thank you mr speaker, ijoined due course. jeremy corbyn. thank you mr speaker, i joined the due course. jeremy corbyn. thank you mr speaker, ijoined the prime minister in paying tribute to captain dean sprouting from jarrow on his death and his family, hopefully they will accept our condolences after this terrible incident. it is of course the anniversary of women first getting the right to vote in 1918. i pay tribute to all those that campaign all over the country to achieve that right. we should understand that our rights come from the activities of

ordinary people doing extraordinary things to bring about democracy and justice within our society. and those women that suffered grievously, being force—fed in holloway prison in my constituency, and those that suffered so much, need to be remembered for all time. working—class women as well as many other women fought for that right and it is one we should all be proud of. mr speaker, with crime rising, does the prime minister regret cutting 21,000 police officers? can i first of cutting 21,000 police officers? can ifirst of all said cutting 21,000 police officers? can i first of all said to the right honourable gentleman that we should be saluting all of those who were involved in that struggle to ensure that women could get the right to vote. i was very pleased yesterday to have an opportunity to meet helen pankhurst, the great granddaughter of emmeline pankhurst and to see that the memory is being kept going and asi that the memory is being kept going and as i said yesterday in my speech, i myself heard about the fight by the suffragettes from my

late godmother, whose mother was a suffragette and both of whose pa rents suffragette and both of whose parents knew the pankhurst family. he raises the issue of police numbers and crime. what we actually have seen from the crime survey is that crime is now down at record low levels. that is what has been achieved and it has been achieved by a conservative government that at the same time has been protecting police budgets. jeremy corbyn. mr speaker, recorded crime is up by a fifth since 2010. violent crime is up fifth since 2010. violent crime is up by fifth since 2010. violent crime is up by 20% and during the period the prime minister was home secretary, £2.3 billion was cut from police budgets. her majesty ‘s inspectorate of constabulary warns neighbourhood policing risks being eroded and the shortage of detectives is at a national crisis. does the prime minister think the inspectorate is scaremongering? the right honourable

gentleman mentions the issue about recorded crime. 0ne gentleman mentions the issue about recorded crime. one of the challenges we have seen in the police in recent years is ensuring that we get proper recording of particularly certain tribes of crime —— types of crime and i'm pleased to say we have seen improvements in the last seven or eight years in the recording by police of certain types of crime. he also talks about the issue of police budgets. as i have said, this is a government that is actually protecting police budgets andi actually protecting police budgets and i might remind the right honourable gentleman that the labour pa rty‘s honourable gentleman that the labour party's former shadow home secretary, now the police and crime commission for greater manchester, intel said the police could take an up to 10% cut in their budgets. intel said the police could take an up to 1096 cut in their budgets. mr speaker, the inspectorate also found that the police are failing to properly record tens of thousands of offences and in addition to the gutting of 21,000 police officers, the government has also cut 6700

police community support officers. the chief constable of bedfordshire says, "we do not have the resources to keep residents safe. the position isa to keep residents safe. the position is a scandal". too many people don't feel safe and too many people aren't safe. we have just feel safe and too many people aren't safe. we havejust seen feel safe and too many people aren't safe. we have just seen the highest rise in recorded crime for a quarter ofa rise in recorded crime for a quarter of a century. the chief constable of lancashire said, "the government's police cuts have made it much more difficult to keep people safe". is he wrong? can i say to the right honourable gentleman, on the issue of recording crime, he mentions her majesty ‘s inspectorate of constabulary, it is precisely because when i was home secretary, i asked the inspectorate of co nsta bula ry asked the inspectorate of constabulary to look at the recording of police crime to make sure that police forces were doing it properly and indeed, some changes we re it properly and indeed, some changes were made as a result of that so we now see the better recording of crime. we also see £450 million extra being made available to the

police but what have we also seen over the last few years? the creation of the national crime agency, our police forces taking more notice of helping to support vulnerable victims, doing more on modern slavery, doing more domestic violence, taking issues seriously that they were not taking seriously before. mr speaker, if you ask the inspectorate and look at unrecorded crime and they tell you what is going on, the least you could do is act on what they tell you. mr speaker, if i could quote something at the prime minister, it might sound familiar to her, "the first duty of the government is to protect the public and keep them safe. i have to say to the government they are not putting enough focus on police resources". if you cast their rise to the bar back benches of the conservative party, she will see the memberfor conservative party, she will see the member for shipley. that is what he said about her government and what it is doing. gun crime, mr speaker, has increased by 20% in the last

year. the chief constable of merseyside said recently, "have i got sufficient resources to fight gun crime? no, i haven't". does the prime minister think he is crying wolf? the right honourable gentleman can't get away from the fact that what the government is doing is protecting police budgets, in fact, not just protecting protecting police budgets, in fact, notjust protecting police budgets, but increasing with £450 million extra. what we are also doing is ensuring that our police have the powers that they need to do the job that we want them to do. i seem to remember the right honourable gentleman does not have that good record when it comes to increasing the powers for the police to do theirjob. mr speaker, since 2015, direct government funding to the police has fallen by £413 million. the chief constable of the west midlands, dave thompson, said, "the current flat cash settlement for

policing means force budgets will fall in real terms". as well as police cuts, other public service cuts are clearly contributing to the rise in crime. 3600 youth workers have lost their jobs. rise in crime. 3600 youth workers have lost theirjobs. 600 youth centres have closed and been boarded up. probation service cut and privatised. re—offenders committing more offences. when it comes to tackling crime, prevention and cure our two sides of the same coin. so why is the government cutting both prevention and cure? why is the government cutting both prevention and cure ?|j why is the government cutting both prevention and cure? i have to say to the right honourable gentleman, we have put in place various pieces of work on anti—knife crime, on serious violence, on issues like domestic violence but i come back to the point i made in the last response, the leader of the 0pposition, the right honourable gentleman voted against changing the law so that anyone caught carrying a knife for a second time would face a

custodial sentence. he has called for much shorter sentences for those who break the law and he might want to reflect on the fact that when there was a conservative mayor in london, knife crime went down. now there is a lay—by mayor in london, knife crime is going up. jeremy corbyn. -- and labour mayor in london. mr speaker, i am very clear that crime is of course wrong but the way you deal with it is by an effective probation service, is by community service orders, is by the rehabilitation of offenders. and what she said goes to the heart of the prime minister's record. she, mr speaker, was home secretary physics yea rs. speaker, was home secretary physics years. crime is up, violent crime rising, police numbers down and chief constable saying they no longer have the resources to keep

communities safe. after seven years, seven years of cuts, will the prime minister today admit that her government's relentless cuts to police, probation services and social services have left us less safe ? social services have left us less safe? the reality is, you can't have public safety on the cheap. well, the right honourable gentleman really needs to reflect on what labour would be doing if they were in government. you can only pay for our public services if you have a strong economy and what would we see, what would we see with the labour party? well, we don't need to ask ourselves what we would see with the labour party because the shadow chancellor's adviser told us that the weekend. he said this, "we need to think about the obvious problems which might face a radical labour

government, such as capital flight for a government, such as capital flight fora run on government, such as capital flight for a run on the pound". that's what labour would do, bankrupt britain and the police would have less money under labour than under the conservatives. thank you mr speaker. travelling around the country and meeting people from diverse communities, members of thejewish and muslim community have raised the point for the coroner's act to specifically take into account people's faith considerations, as in their faith, loved ones people's faith considerations, as in theirfaith, loved ones must be buried within 24 hours. will the prime ministerjoin me and the honourable member for maidstone and faith communities to look at this important matter. can i say to my honourable friend, i would like to thank him for raising this point because he's doing so on behalf of communities across the country and he does so from a unique position with his own experience and understanding of these issues. it is important that we take into account

specific requirements of someone's faith, especially when they have lost a loved one and are grieving andi lost a loved one and are grieving and i know that although, as he will be aware, coroners are an independent judicial be aware, coroners are an independentjudicial office, i understand the ministry ofjustice is speaking to the chief coroner about this point, to see what more can be done and i am sure my right honourable friend the lord chancellor will be happy to meet and discuss this issue further with my honourable friend. yesterday it was announced that ten royal bank of scotland branches in scotla nd royal bank of scotland branches in scotland have been —— that were earmarked for closure are to be reprieved, news for which i am grateful, on the back of community pressure under the leadership shown by the scottish national party. 0n by the scottish national party. on three occasions i have asked the prime minister at prime minister ‘s questions to bring ross mcewan entered ten downing st. for the

prime minister to accept responsibilities given that we on rbs. well the prime minister colin ross mcewan and join us and call for all the branches to remain open? —— call in ross mcewan? as i have said before of course it is important for customers, especially those vulnerable, to be able to call on the services they need. i welcome the services they need. i welcome the decision from the royal bank of scotland, and commercial decision for them. but if the right honourable gentleman is so keen on ensuring that communities and people perhaps in remote communities have access to the services they need, they should ask himself why it is they should ask himself why it is the scottish government has been such a failure in ensuring people in remote communities have broadband access to online banking. they need to get their act together because quite simply scotland under the nats is getting left behind. mr speaker, that was pathetic. the prime

minister hasn't answered. we have saved the banks. yesterday we celebrated the achievements of the suffragette movement, which was about democracy, equality and fairness for women. however today in the united kingdom, 3.8 million women are not receiving the pension they are entitled to. a vote in this house last november received unanimous cross—party support, 288 to zero, calling on the government in london to do the right thing. will the prime minister do her bit for gender equality, and end the injustice faced by 1950s women? for gender equality, and end the injustice faced by 19505 women?” say to the right honourable gentleman that as people are living longer it is important that we equalise the retirement leader pension age between men and women and we are doing that and doing it faster —— villa pension age between men and women. we are giving greater protection to the women involved and

an extra £1 billion has been put in to ensure no one will see their pension entitlement changed by more than 18 months. that was a real response to the issue that was being addressed, but i think if he wants to talk about equality, then he has to talk about equality, then he has to recognise the importance of the equality of the state pension age between men and women. thank you, mr speaker. i never thought i would see the day when where i read the leader of the 0pposition follows —— where i lead. there is clearly hope for them yet. laughter last year the government advertised for the post of disability commissioner. lord shinkwin, my noble friend, applied for the position and was appointed. yet only a few weeks later he was told by the

equality and human rights commission that the post had been abolished altogether. was the prime minister consulted about that decision? does she agree with the decision to abolish that post, and if not can i urge her to urge the commission to reinstate the post of disability commissioner and reinstall lord shinkwin to his rightful place on it? can i thank my honourable friend for raising this point? firstly, can i say for raising this point? firstly, can isayi for raising this point? firstly, can i say i have known the noble lord, lord shinkwin, for many years and he has been a valiant champion for the rights of disabled people over those years and i think his own experience and the example he set in his work in public life, and particularly in the other place, are a fine example of how disabled people can actually be standing up, speeding up, and ensure they are taking their rightful place in public life —— speaking up. the hrc is an independent body and it was their

decision to abolish the disability commissioner. the question is what is being done to help disabled people and how can we ensure we are helping disabled people? that is why we are committed to tackling the injustices that disabled people face. we are spending over £50 billion a year on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions, a record high. but of course we do want to ensure and i would urge the hrc to ensure and i would urge the hrc to ensure that in their work they are paying proper attention to the needs and rights of disabled people, because that is an important part of their remit. mr speaker, my constituent‘s son was killed by a learner driver taking a lesson. with one infour learner driver taking a lesson. with one in four young drivers being involved in an accident within the first two years of starting to drive, and 400 deaths or serious injuries on our roads involving young drivers each year, will the prime minister meet with me and my

constituents to hear their story and consider the introduction of a graduated licensing system for the uk as they have another countries? the honourable lady has obviously raised an important issue and i will certainly look at the request that she has made. and i will also ask the department for transport to look at this as an issue. as she says there are too many people who suffer a loss and tragedy at the hands of learner drivers in these circumstances and we will certainly look at that. the royal marines are the most adaptable of our elite infantry, central to our amphibious capability and they provide much of our special forces. does the prime minister agree with me that producing them further at this stage would be inconsistent with this government's strong record on defence and security? cani security? can i say to my honourable friend that the royal marines do indeed play a vital role in defending our country and i pay tribute to them

for all that they do. detecting the uk is of course our priority and as my honourable friend will know, we have in place a review, and organising defence programme, about ensuring the defence capabilities we have meet the rapidly changing and evolving threats that we face. i think that is the right thing for us to do, but of course any comments that have been made, any suggestions made, about cuts to defence or purely speculative. i would about cuts to defence or purely speculative. iwould remind my honourable friend and other members of this house that in fact we are committed to increasing our spending on defence. in offering him best wi5he5 on defence. in offering him best wishes for his birthday on sunday, i call mr dennis skinner. i didn't know about that. laughter i don't celebrate things like that. i don't celebrate things like that. i don't think you should celebrate age. anyway... laughter there are another group of people that need help, and they are the

people who work in the national health service. and what they told me last week was the best period that they ever experienced was in the labour government when they had the labour government when they had the money increased from £33 billion in 1997 to £100 billion in 2010. that was a golden period. why did they do it? how did they do it? the chancellor of the exchequer but 1% on the national insurance, and in hypothecation terms it went directly to the health service, and it is called long—term stability. under this government they don't know whether they are coming or going. it is high time this government did the

same as we did between 97 and 2010. yes, and happy birthday, dennis. cani yes, and happy birthday, dennis. can i say to the honourable gentleman, he says why were the labour party in that position of being able to spend more on public services. i will tell him. because the conservative government had left the conservative government had left the golden economic legacy. a golden economic legacy. the golden economic legacy. regardle55 regardless of how popular you are... thank you, mr speaker. the conservative lead district council

have refused the proposed expansion of the enormous logistics part in —— logistics park in my constituency. given the prime minister's recent welcome remarks about sustainable developments, will she please arrange for me to meet the relevant government ministers to discuss the creation of a national planning framework for the future location of these enormous logistics park ‘s? framework for the future location of these enormous logistics park 's? my honourable friend has raised an important point, and obviously it is a matter of considerable interest to his constituents. of course we need the right balance between enabling development and growth to take place while continuing to protect and enhance our natural environment. and the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to achieving that sustainable development, but regarding the very specific issue about these logistics parks, i'm sure one of the ministers from housing and communities and local government, indeed possibly my right honourable friend the housing

secretary, will be happy to meet and discuss it with them. is the prime minister were ever universal credit claimant forgets their username or password they must attend a face—to—face interview at thejob attend a face—to—face interview at the job centre to have them reset? the secretary of state can't give a date when this will be fixed so will the prime minister to commit to know for thejob the prime minister to commit to know for the job centre closures until universal credit claimants can access basic online functions as a available with hmrc? i'll ask the secretary of state responsible to look carefully at identifying a date when that change will be made. mr speaker, according to statistics around 3400 people in my constituency last year were diagnosed with cancer. cancer survival rates have meant there are 7000 people alive today who may not have been if the rates of 2010 were still in place. does my right honourable friend see this as a

testa m e nt to honourable friend see this as a testament to the nhs and that she recognised... well, i absolutely agree with my honourable friend. it is very good news there are 7000 more people alive today. cancer sufferers alive today, than would have been had we simply continued in the way we were in 2010. i am very happy tojoin the way we were in 2010. i am very happy to join him the way we were in 2010. i am very happy tojoin him in the way we were in 2010. i am very happy to join him in welcoming the way we were in 2010. i am very happy tojoin him in welcoming the news. cancer survival rates have increased year—on—year. 0f news. cancer survival rates have increased year—on—year. of course, we wa nt increased year—on—year. of course, we want them to increase even further. last year we had 7 million more diagnostic tests than in 2010 and 290,000 patients started treatment for cancer, 57,000 more than in 2010, but he is absolutely right. we should welcome the improvement that has been made, we should congratulate and thank the nhs staff for all they have been doing, but there is more for us to do and that is why we are backing up our plans for cancer with a further £600 million to implement the cancer strategy for england.

the prime minister, as we havejust heard, continues to be in denial about the rising level of crime and following police numbers. despite her repeated assurances budgets have not been protected for my local police force, with 80 million and 1000 police officers lost already. will she meet with me and a delegation of small businesses that do so much for my local economy yet have seen significant rises and brechins in crime as a result of these tory cuts? -- break-ins. 0bviously these tory cuts? -- break-ins. obviously i will look at his request but for those concerned about the way in which policing is being undertaken in their area, they should actually speak to the local police, who make operational decisions about what is happening. we protected overall police spending and we continue to protect it, and indeed more money is being put into the police. i remind the honourable gentleman that it was a labour shadow home secretary who said that

the police budgets could be cut by 10%. nhs figures show that in the south—west nhs funding, the growth in nhs funding, is 2.2% less than the national average. demographic and sparsity. does the prime minister agree with me that providers in the south—west, that they deserve their fair share of nhs funding, and will she take action to address this inequality? let address this inequality? me say to my honourable that let me say to my honourable friend that the national for me which is the basis for calculating funding does take into account a large number of factors including being rural and the demographics which other factors he has suggested rural and the demographics which otherfactors he has suggested needs to be considered. nhs curnow saw an increase in their funding this year and will see a further increase in theirfunding and will see a further increase in their funding next year,

and will see a further increase in theirfunding next year, taking funding to over £760 million. this is part of our commitment to ensuring we are putting extra funding in the nhs but of course, we continue to look at ensuring the distribution of that funding takes account of all the factors that need to do. leila moran. thank you, mr speaker, under the 1824 rate —— vagrancy act, rough sleeping is illegal and the act was used nearly 2000 times last year to drag homeless people before the courts. scotla nd homeless people before the courts. scotland and northern ireland have already repealed it is so will the prime minister support my bill that consigned this heartless dickensian law to the history books across the whole of the uk? what we are doing is recognising we need to take action in relation to rough sleeping. that is why we are putting more money into projects to reduce rough sleeping and indeed, projects like housing first, which are being put into place in a number of places in the country to ensure that we can provide for those rough sleeping. none of us want to see rough

sleepers on the street. that is why the government is taking action. thank you, mr speaker. today is the anniversary of the signing of the maastricht treaty. we have come a very long way. may i congratulate my right honourable friend on her approach to the customs union? may i also mention the fact that in the liaison committee last december, i warned her about ultimatums from the eu and again in my question only last week. would she be given to be very robust when discussing these matters in the brexit committee as i am sure she will be, in order to we repudiate any of these eu threats?” can assure my honourable friend the first, i suspect that at the time that the legislation was going through in this house, there were not many who would have thought that my honourable friend would be

standing up recognising the signing of the anniversary of the maastricht treaty. i suspect he only feels able to do so because we are coming out of the european union and i can assure you we will be robust in our arguments. as i have said right from the very beginning, we will hear noises find all sorts of things being said about positions being taken. what being said about positions being ta ken. what matters being said about positions being taken. what matters is the positions we ta ke taken. what matters is the positions we take in the negotiations, as we sit down and negotiate the best deal. we have shown we can do that. we did it in december and we are going to do it again. thank you, mr speaker. kirklees council, who serve my constituency, have already had their budget cut by nearly £200 million, with a possible £45 million of cuts to come. which of the following things would the prime minister recommend they cut next? ca re minister recommend they cut next? care foran minister recommend they cut next? care for an older person with dementia, emptying the bends, providing hot school meals for vulnerable children, libraries, leisure centres or museums, or

supporting the 24% of children living in poverty? your choice, prime minister. i would have thought that the honourable lady should have been welcoming the improvements that have taken place in her constituency. she should have welcomed them any more children who are in good for outstanding schools asa are in good for outstanding schools as a result of this government —— be many more children. she should have welcomed the extra help landing and more people... the prime minister is in the middle of giving her answer, order, members must not 5hout at the prime minister when she's giving her answer. prime minister when she's giving her an5wer. 0k. prime minister when she's giving her answer. ok. thank you, mr speaker. recent reports have suggested the european commission is asking that we enter into certain limited legally binding agreements in relation to bits of our exit in isolation. could the prime minister confirm it remains the government's policy that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and therefore, we will only enter into a legally

binding agreement in relation to the entire exit agreement and notjust pa rt entire exit agreement and notjust part of it as jamaat my honourable friend is right and it was reflected in thejoint report in the joint report that was published in december that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. the negotiations that are now taking place firstly, to put greater detail into the definition of the implementation period, and we expect to do that by the march european council. alongside that, there is looking at the legal basis of the withdrawal agreement which of course will have to come to this parliament for agreement for both the withdrawal agreement and the implementation built in due course. at that stage, i would expect to have the future relationship set out ina way have the future relationship set out in a way so people are able to look at the whole package when they come to make the decision. sir vincent cable. the prime minister knows that one of the key objectives of american trade negotiators in any future deal after brexit is to

secure a ccess future deal after brexit is to secure access for american companies to business in the nhs. can she give an absolute guarantee that in those negotiations, the nhs will be excluded from their scope? and can she confirmed that in her conversations with president drunk, she has made it absolutely clear to him that the nhs is not for sale question mark —— with president trump. i want to say to the right honourable gentleman that we are starting the discussions with the american administration, firstly looking at what we can do to increase trade between the us and uk already, even before a possibility any free trade agreement and he does not know what they are going to say their requirements for the free trade agreement, we will go into the negotiations to get the best possible dealfor negotiations to get the best possible deal for the uk. negotiations to get the best possible dealfor the uk. mr speaker, a recent report by open doors highlights the top countries that suffer horrific persecution against christians. we need to take action and send a signal to other

nations. these are countries that are nations. these are countries that a re often nations. these are countries that are often associated with luxury holidays. will the prime minister consider it a marking a specific fixed percentage of international aid to go towards tackling religious persecution? yes, well, i have to say to my honourable friend that this is an issue that i of concern to many members of this house and i was pleased a matter of weeks ago to meet father daniel from miniver and idlib, who talked about the very real persecution is congregation we re real persecution is congregation were suffering and had suffered in the past. he presented me with a bible which was burned, which had been rescued when a church had actually been set on fire. this is a real issue. we are, all of our aid is distributed on the basis of need to ensure civilians are not disconnected against on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. ——

discriminated against. we are working with governments, the international community and the un to support the rights of minorities and that ouraid to support the rights of minorities and that our aid reaches those in need but we will of course further explore whatmore support we can give —— what more support we can give to work against persecution of religious minorities. the prime minister will be aware that all free trade agreements involve some custom checks and therefore infrastructure at frontiers which would be completely incompatible with maintaining an open border between northern ireland and the republic. as the cabinet subcommittee has a p pa re ntly as the cabinet subcommittee has apparently today finally got around to discussing this, could the prime minister explain to the house why she is so opposed to the uk remaining in a customs union with the eu when not only would this be better for the british economy than a vague deep and special partnership, whatever that is but would help to ensure that the border remains as it is today which is everybody wants? wright uk is leaving the european union. that

means we are leaving the single market. we are leaving the customs union. if we were full members of the customs union, we would not be able to do trade deals around the rest of the world and we are going to have an independent trade policy and do those deals. he asks me about customs arrangements but i have to say to him that i suggest he looks to the paper that was published by the government last summer. thank you mr speaker. headway, the brain injury charity, says that a family recent had to pay £1500 over 15 weeks for hospital car parking charges, clic sargeant said families that have children with baghdad to pay £100, despite the government misses, hospital staff, pay £100, despite the government misses, hospitalstaff, nurses and borders have to pay car parking charges, given unanimous motion last week in the house of commons, will my honourable friend address this social injustice and abolish hospital car parking charges once and for all? i recognise this is an

issue my honourable friend has been campaigning on for some time. as he saysin campaigning on for some time. as he says in his question, we have of course set strong guidance —— sent strong guidance to hospital trusts on the issue of car parking charges and we of course look to ensure that those are being met. 0f and we of course look to ensure that those are being met. of course, individual hospitals are taking their own decisions in relation to this matter but i think it is right the government has set very clear guidelines to hospitals as to how they approach this. mr speaker, the prime minister has done much to tackle modern slavery but my constituent was trafficked here as a child, sold at least once on the long journey and then forced to work in the dark in a cannabis factory for years. now the home office is proposing to send him back to vietnam. will the prime minister intervened, not just in vietnam. will the prime minister intervened, notjust in this case but in this complex and confused

area of the law? i recognise as the honourable lady says that there are cases honourable lady says that there are cases which are complex in terms of the legal application. my right honourable friend the home secretary has heard the case the honourable lady as set out and i'm sure we will look at that particular issue, both the individual case but also the wider point that the honourable lady is making. i am sure we all want to ensure that actually, as we know, the best possible solution for this is people like her constituent not to be trafficked into the uk in the first place to be working in cannabis factories. like many, i'm delighted to note the good progress made in lifting the ban on beef exports to china. what is my right honourable friend doing to ensure that we are able to export scotch beef and other scottish products like whiskey to other parts or all parts of the world? can i say to my honourable friend i was very pleased

when i was in china last week, we we re when i was in china last week, we were able to work with the chinese government towards that opening up of the chinese market, particularly to beef products and also to dairy products, which are two key issues for the uk. but products, which are two key issues forthe uk. but also, i'm for the uk. but also, i'm pleased to say the chief executive of the scotch whisky association was on the business delegation with me and was doing everything that she does most ably to promote the interests of scotch whiskey and of course, the answer to his question is what we are doing is making sure we can have an independent trade policy, developing trade deals around the rest of the world which means that good scottish products and indeed good scottish products and indeed good products from the rest of uk can be sold around world. mr speaker, the centuries—old uk in, a world —class speaker, the centuries—old uk in, a world—class company, britain's third biggest engineering company is facing a hostile takeover by melrose, leading to break up, sell—off, closures and redundancies.

that would be to make a mockery of industrial strategy. can i ask the prime minister this, that government has the power to intervene because of the defence work carried out by gkn? will the prime minister act in the national interest and block this u nwa nted the national interest and block this unwanted takeover?” the national interest and block this unwanted takeover? i can say to the honourable gentleman that of course the business department will be looking closely and have been following closely the issue he has raised and i can assure him that i and the government as a whole will a lwa ys and the government as a whole will always act in the uk national interest. with the largest undeveloped brownfield sites in the country located in my constituency at stanton, will my right honourable friend explain to the house at the new housing infrastructure fund will help residents buy a new home? can i say to my honourable friend that i think the housing infrastructure fund is a very important development, one of the major complaints that constituent often have and residents have when they see the possibility of development

in theirarea is see the possibility of development in their area is lack of infrastructure. what the housing infrastructure. what the housing infrastructure fund enables is infrastructure fund enables is infrastructure to be built and put in place so it can support of elements in a way that helps support local residents. —— support developments. i'm pleased the announcement of nearly £900 million which the housing secretary announced last week, we are seeing real interest in the housing infrastructure fund, which is making a difference and enabling more homes to be built and more of her constituents to be able to buy her own ‘— constituents to be able to buy her own —— their own homes. constituents to be able to buy her own -- their own homes. my constituent is 58, she has the beauty, four pins in her leg, a walking frame and is just out of hospital after having clot her long billy dragged along, she got exactly do thejob centre, billy dragged along, she got exactly do the job centre, having found the government posted on friday, will she apologise for not having told any of the constituency bridgestone whose job centres were being closed, will she refund my constituent the £10 she spent on a taxi and wilshere apologise for this absolutely ridiculous situation?”

apologise for this absolutely ridiculous situation? i say to the honourable lady that yes, we are seeing somejob being closed in scotland. there's not going to be any decrease in the level of service offered to the people of scotland. we are increasing the number of work coaches across the country. what we are doing is ensuring that we can continue to provide a good service to the people of scotland. thank you, mr speaker. intimidation on social media is a growing issue for many people across the country and yesterday, highlighted especially for women standing for election. can my right honourable friend update us on the progress being made and does she agree we should take no lessons from a party whose shadow chancellor has called for violence against women? yes, can i say to my honourable friend that i think this issueis honourable friend that i think this issue is a particularly important one. i announced yesterday, i said yesterday, as indeed my right honourable friend the home secretary said at the weekend, we are

consulting on a new offence of intimidation of election candidates and campaigners. that follows the report from the committee about the degree to which intimidation was done to at the last election, particularly women, bme and lgbt candidates. this is an absolute disgrace, it has no part in our public life and i would urge the shadow chancellor once again come he keeps refusing to do this, to apologise to the secretary of state for work and pensions for saying she should be lynched. order. there we have it. anotherfairly

lengthy prime minister's questions overfor lengthy prime minister's questions over for another week. jeremy corbyn asking the prime minister issue regretted cutting 21,000 police officersjobs. regretted cutting 21,000 police officers jobs. theresa regretted cutting 21,000 police officersjobs. theresa may saying this is a government promoting policing budgets. quite a smattering of other topics, too. let's speak to norman smith for his assessment of that prime minister's questions.” thought it was going to be our first because we got right to the end before we suddenly got the spate of brexit questions. not much further light, mrs may again confirming that we will not remain in a customs union in response to a question from sir bill cash that she would be robust in negotiations. the question i think will be followed up is the question from sir vince cable when

he asked her in any future negotiations with the united states would she rule out allowing american companies to bid for nhs contracts and she did not. there's a big row about this already alongside the teetered trade deal with the united states with concern that american companies could carve out some of the work done by the nhs for their private health care companies. mrs may appeared to lead that door open saying trade negotiations were to extend trade. i suspect that may well develop and be used by opposition countries put —— opposition countries put —— opposition parties. it became a tussle between mr corbyn and mrs may with regards to cuts in police numbers, the rise in recorded crime from mr corbyn, mrs may saying the only reason there was a increase in crime numbers was because she had

asked police to change the way they reported. in some ways, a surprising line forjeremy corbyn go under. also, because of her experience at the home office, mrs may comes pretty well briefed on the subject. now, while we were watching prime minister's questions, the news was coming in that the chief covered of all of police scotland has resigned with immediate effect. phil gormley had been on special leave since september amid a series of investigations into claims of gross misconduct. he denies any wrongdoing. the serial sex attackerjohn worboys has appeared at the high court for the start of a legal challenge against his release. last month, the parole board was criticised when it announced that worboys would be freed after less than nine years in prison. in 2009, worboys was given an indeterminate jail sentence, with a minimum term of at least eight years. last november, the parole board approved his release but their reasoning remained confidential. that decision was made public last

month, to a furious reaction. campaigners hoped the government would apply for a judicial review but the justice secretary said lawyers had advised against it. just over a week later, two of worboys' victims won a legal challenge to stop him being released — but only temporarily. the first stage of their legal challenge to keep him behind bars begun today. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, has been following what's been going on in court. this has been a very unusual hearing in so many different ways and certainly what we weren't expecting was to seejohn worboys, who has now changed his name tojohn radford, here at court at the royal courts of justice in person. the reason for thatis justice in person. the reason for that is because the seniorjudge who is conducting these proceedings sir brian leveson decided that it was very important that worboys, who is

the prisoner at the centre of all of this, was certainly present for the proceedings and it was intended that he would appeared via video link from wakefield prison where he is being held. but because of problems with the video link in another court case with the video link in another court case yesterday, sir brian leveson said he had taken the decision to getjohn worboys to come down from wakefield and appear in person. he entered the dock alongside for prison officers wearing a grey shirt, looked very different from the images we have seen from the mugshots and photographs from 2009. looks obviously much older. he is now 60 years of age, short grey hair and wore a grey shirt with jeans and spoke quite softly and nodded when sir brian leveson asked him if he was able to follow the proceedings and took him through the process. there was a short break in the proceedings and at that point worboys stood up, sipped a cup of

water and chatted to the prison officers alongside him. then we heard that a lawyer from the association of britain lawyers was present in court and had agreed to give worboys some advice about the procedure and what is going to happen now. sir brian leveson said he would allow half an hour for that to happen, said at the moment, worboys and this lawyer, somebody called mr king, are having a discussion about what happens next. what we think will happen is that judges will give permission for a full hearing of this course, a full hearing to test the parole boards decision to allow worboys to be released. this is just decision to allow worboys to be released. this isjust a permission hearing, the first stage, and if the judges as we expect them to do give permission to go to a full hearing, that will take place probably towards the end of next month. danny sure our home affairs correspondent there and the latest update is that

sir brian leveson is as we speak giving his ruling on the worboys case. giving his ruling on the worboys case. we will give you that ruling as soon as we hear what it is. right now though we will go back to the news that the chief constable of police scotland phil gormley is stepping down with immediate effect. he is under investigation over claims of gross misconduct. let's get the latest from our scotland editor sarah smith. sarah, why is he stepping down now? well, there are a total of seven complaints against phil gormley. he was put on special leave backin gormley. he was put on special leave back in september against allegations of bullying were made against him. he has been on full pay ever since then but he hasn't been at work and during that time other people have come forward with more complaints, meaning there are a total of seven investigations into his behaviour although i understand that now he has stood down, those investigations will be closed and not brought to a conclusion. interestingly, he was actually cleared to return to work back in

november by the scottish police authority who are the body that oversees police scotland but then the justice secretary oversees police scotland but then thejustice secretary intervened and asked them to overturn that decision because he thought inadequate safeguards had been put in place to protect the serving police officers who had made complaints against the chief constable, phil gormley. that decision was overturned and he remained on leave. today, he has decided to step down and he said in a statement that events since november have led me to the conclusion that it's impossible for me to resume my duties in a meaningful way. it leaves something of a crisis of leadership at the top of a crisis of leadership at the top of police scotland. the assistant chief const is also currently suspended over other allegations of misconduct. the previous two co nsta ble misconduct. the previous two constable stood down early after problems. it is the second largest police force in the uk, but one that has some problems. sarah, thank you. known as the gardener‘s friend,

the native hedgehog was once a common sight in britain but numbers of the spiky creatures are plummeting. wildlife charities say at least half the population has been lost over the last two decades as claire marshall reports. hedgehogs are shy, nocturnal creatures which makes them difficult to count. but conservationists have managed to build up a picture of the population across britain over the last 30 years, and it is not good news. their numbers have crashed. there are only half as many hedgehogs snuffling around the british countryside as there were 20 years ago. the hedgehog is, i hate to use a cliche, but it's a bit like a canary ina coal cliche, but it's a bit like a canary in a coal mine. the fact it is declining as it give us real reason for concern. the report looks at the reasons that hedgehogs might be disappearing. it says the cutting down of hedgerows and the use of pesticides has killed off the grubs and worms that hedgehogs eat, and it means they have fewer

places to shelter. roads are still a big issue. around 100,000 are killed by vehicles each year. they are also preyed on by badgers, and badger numbers are rising. but city—dwelling hedgehogs are more fortunate. their decline has stopped and numbers are increasing in some places. the charity say this might be down to garden owners becoming more aware that hedgehogs need holes in fences in order to roam and wild areas in which to nest. they say anybody who wants to help save the spiky creatures can sign up to be a hedgehog champion. in a moment, the news at one with ben brown. here is the here is the weather. here is the weather. despite the cold weather we have this afternoon, a good deal of sunshine to be enjoyed for many of us. here is a picture from shropshire where you can see the extent of the blue sky, with a little bit of snow over the high

ground. for many of us into the evening it will stay cold. the cloud will increase from the north—west where we will also see a little bit of rain and hill snow moving in as well. this weather front is heading in from the north front —— the north—west, meaning it clouds over for scotland and northern ireland with the arrival of patchy rain and sleet at low levels, some snow over the hills in scotland, but the remaining clear and cold towards the south—east of england. here, subzero temperatures, a widespread sharp frosts and icy conditions to watch out for, too. less frost west we'll have more clout and the patchy outbreaks of rain. to take us through thursday, we have this zone of fairly cloudy weather sitting through the central swathes of the country. a little bit milder, too. if we look at thursday morning,

clear skies working in, with rain and sleet showers here. under that zone of cloud for northern england, wales and central england, a view rain showers will become heavier later on, and for the south—east of england it will be a clear and chilly start to your thursday. this slow—moving front is straight through the middle of the country and it looks like it will pep up four times, with heavy bursts arriving at parts of the day. some sunshine and one or two showers will push into parts of scotland later in the day and the south—east also remains largely dry with variable amounts of cloud. temperatures certainly warmer than they have been the last few days. looking at the end of the week, things will be unsettled, windy, rain or hill snow at times, and things will be staying

cold. you can check the latest on our newly updated website. the black cab rapistjohn worboys appears in court to hear lawyers challenge the decision to free him from jail. thejudge the judge summons worboys from person to the court and apologises to victims who were not expecting to see him there. we'll have the latest from the high court. thejudge has the judge has granted thejudge has granted permission for a judicial review of the parole board's position. also this lunchtime: tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. there are such discrepancies that you can't explain them and i think tesco are just one of many companies that really aren't addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. one of the killers of the toddler, james bulger, admits having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables has been sentenced to just over three years in jail.