hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2... high stakes at chequers — theresa may and her senior ministers try to hammer out a deal over the government's approach to brexit. the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade. give us some of our tuition fees back — student anger as university lecturers across the uk begin a series of strikes over pension provision. # yo theresa may, where's the money for grenfell? # what, you thought we just forgot about grenfell? downing street reacts to that blistering political attack from grime artist stormzy — at last night's brit awards. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — hugh? our curlers? yes, not great news. they won silver, the men, four years ago. it is a new team, they could not even manage a place in the semifinal. real disappointment, we will have more later in the hour. stav has all the weather.

the weather is set to turn much colder in the next few days, siberian air pouring in across the continent and it will reach our shores. we will see some sunshine, but there is a snow as well. join me later and i will have the details. also coming up — as president trump tells families and survivors of last week's school shooting that one way to respond is to arm the teachers, we'll be hearing reaction from the influential us gun lobby group the nra. crucial, decisive, momentous, urgent — pick any of those words and they would probably apply to what's going on the prime minister's country retreat right now. theresa may is surrounded by her closest ministers at a meeting of the brexit inner—cabinet. she wants unity — and a common approach to britain's negotiating position with the eu.

but those words — unity, conservative, and europe very rarely appear in the same sentence. theresa may has a long day ahead of her — and already we're being told the meeting could go well into tonight. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. the official country residence of british prime ministers since 1921. chequers in the buckinghamshire countryside, hosting a meeting of the government's most senior figures involved in making brexit happen. the chance for them to work out what they see our long—term relationship with the eu looking like. questions to the secretary of state for international trade. back at westminster, brexit dominates everything. liam fox faced questions this morning, as did the prime minister's de facto deputy, who tried to talk things down. this is one of a number of meetings of cabinet ministers to talk through how we approach the forthcoming negotiations. obviously everybody brings

their particular departmental interests to the table but if you look at what happened back before the december european summit there was a lot of speculation the cabinet would not reach agreement. we all agreed the position the prime minister took to brussels and got a successful outcome and we are determined to get the best possible deal. but there are continuing rows about precisely how long the transition period immediately after brexit next year should be. and crucially there are differences of instinct around the cabinet table about what the uk's long—term relationship with the eu after brexit should look like and those differences won't melt away easily. the prime minister has got to keep brexiteer backbenchers onside. the brexit cabinet all fought the last election on a manifesto of leaving the european union and that's basically what they are talking about, the structure as to how we do that. the prime minister enunciated

yesterday the main principles about taking back control of our laws and money, leaving the single market and customs union. labour has faced criticism is itself about a lack of clarity about what it wants but is now saying... we have been evolving and deepening our policy over the last few months. the key issue is to say to the government you got to have the transition period of these two years, but also for the long—term look at the potential of a customs union. we think europe would be open to that. the cameras won't get much closer to chequers than this today. spectacular views, yes, but don't expect spectacular political theatre. the process of negotiating brexit at home and abroad is a slow and grinding one. alex forsyth is therefore us. are

they all there, has it got under way? we think so. in the last ten minutes or so we have seen a whole series of motor cars arriving and sweeping through the gates into the pm's country residence, surrounded by police officers. i think it's pretty safe to assume that if not the prime minister herself, some of her senior ministers have arrived for the start of these talks. these talks which we expect to go on for some time, because the job in talks which we expect to go on for some time, because thejob in hand isa some time, because thejob in hand is a difficult one. as chris mason was saying, they are trying to decide what the uk wants from its future relationship with the eu. they want to know what that will be beyond the transition period, in the longer term. the tricky part is the trading relationship and what the discussions will likely centre on is how close the uk wants to remain to the eu once it has left the block. there are differences of opinion, which reflect the differences of

opinion across parliament and the country. you might be there quite a while. is it a given that at the end of this process, however long it does take, there has to be a unified document, if you like? well, there is no given in any of these negotiations so far. there is an ambition that they will reach some sort of compromise so at least the cabinet can come out and say it is clear on what its position is. of course, that position may be subject to negotiation with brussels. what they are discussing today is only what the uk wants to achieve from the negotiations. there are 27 other countries that have two factor into this as well. from theresa may's perspective, what she will want is some sort of unified position and to be able to answer the demands for clarity that have been growing, not just from mps in westminster, but from the other eu 27 countries as well, who say the only way the talks can progress is if we are clear as to what the uk wants and then we can start discussing how feasible that

is in the longer term. i think the prime minister will be hoping the atmosphere around the table today is atmosphere around the table today is a little bit warmer than the web at chequers. —— the weather. a little bit warmer than the web at chequers. -- the weather. we have had yea rs of chequers. -- the weather. we have had years of austerity, that is not the house behind you? it is a gatehouse? it is just the house behind you? it is a gatehouse? it isjust a gatehouse, i would love to show you the full house, but i am not allowed up there. get that patch of grass and make it yours, it is yours for a while! i've claimed that! the eu seems to have rejected a key british proposal. our reporter adam fleming has been looking at them so adam, what's the eu been saying? it is ok for theresa may to try and get her ducks in a row, but there are some over there as well?m get her ducks in a row, but there are some over there as well? it is the concept that has been floated by theresa may, in her florence speech last year, which has got the nickname the three baskets. it

envisages areas where the eu and the uk have the same goal, through the same rules and regulations. number two, areas of the economy where they have the same goal but richard through different methods, and areas where they diverged coakley and have different roles altogether. eu officials discussed that approach a couple of weeks ago. a document emerged from the european commission showing that brexit negotiators said the concept was incompatible with the concept was incompatible with the eu's brexit guidelines, designed to protect the integrity of the single market. so, pouring cold water on the idea, even before it gets out of the blocks with the british cabinet. as alex was saying, this is all about formulating an open meeting for the british government, let alone actually getting down to the hard graft of negotiating it with brussels. 0k, adam, for now, thank you very much. the number of european union nationals leaving the uk is at its highest level for a decade. new figures show that 130,000

eu nationals emigrated in the year to last september. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw is here. danny how significant are these statistics? i think these are very significant figures. what they appear to show us that there is a brexit effect. if you look at the figures leading up to the referendum injune 2016, what you see is the number of people coming from eu countries, the number leaving, at pretty much the same level as they have been for the past couple of years. since then, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of eu citizens that are leaving the uk. the figure was 130,000 in the 12 months to last september, and that is the highest figure that there has been since 2008. those are the number of people who are emigrating from the uk, who are eu nationals. in terms of those arriving, the number was 220,000 eu

nationals arriving. that is the smallest figure for about five yea rs. smallest figure for about five years. almost four years, in fact. what that means is that the net migration figure, in terms of eu migration, is falling. in terms of overall net migration, eu nationals, people from outside the european union, the net migration figure is 244000 and that is still way above the government's target of 100,000. the figure of those in from outside the eu is up? the number coming from outside the european union is going up. it remains to be seen if that is just a blip, because it is being driven by a sharp rise in student numbers. that might be because the figure last year was unusually quite low. but that will be something that the government will want to look at as to whether or not the fact that perhaps there are fewer people coming from the eu than there were

before is creating vacancies and companies are now looking outside europe to fill those vacancies. but there are restrictions, of course, an immigration from outside europe. thank you very much. the uk economy expanded by less than previously thought in the final three months of last year, official figures reveal. gross domestic product — or gdp — grew by 0.4% in the 0ctober—to—december period, down from the initial estimate of 0.5%. the office for national statistics said the downgrade was due to slower growth in production industries. university lecturers across the uk are beginning a series of strikes in protest at planned changes to their pension scheme, which they say will leave them worse off in retirement. 0ur correspondent tomos morgan has sent this report from cardiff — where hundreds of university staff are taking action. know ifs, no buts, no pension cuts. picket lines, rallies, and protests, the scene at universities across the country. staff walking out in a dispute over pensions.

institutions say there's a £6.1 billion deficit in the current scheme, which is unsustainable. they say changes must be made. but after 35 meetings over the past year, the university and college union says the strikes were inevitable is the proposed new scheme would be far less generous. we are saying changes to the scheme should be fair. we are in the scheme which the staff and employers are committed to. they employers have now junked that approach and are going for something where the staff are being shoved aside. with lectures being affected by the strikes there a danger that student degrees will be impacted. there are suggestions exams may have to be modified or marking relaxed. the thousands of students that have come out today to protest across the country are doing so alongside their lecturers. their frustration is aimed at their institutions. they are seen as consumers in the eyes of regulators

and the courts and if this deadlock continues students believe they deserve some compensation from universities for the loss of teaching time. students across the country have begun petitions, calling for universities to recognise that they are not receiving a service paid for by their tuition fees. the petition here in cardiff has already had almost 5000 signatures. it's an opportunity to focus on financial compensation, we believe that academic compensation is more beneficial. we don't believe in the long—running financial compensation will benefit students and changes to exam feedback or deadlines benefits is more. educational compensation is much better. the union says senior lecturers could be £10,000 a year worse off under the proposed new scheme. universities uk, the body that represents institutions, says that they are making every effort to minimise the impact of industrial action on students, adding that changes proposed will make the pension scheme secure and sustainable, safeguarding the future of universities.

currently, 14 days of protests are planned. but unless a deal can be reached soon, unions say more strike action stretching into the summer exam period is inevitable. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. phil bodmer is outside leeds university. there was a time when lecturers walking out was a cause of celebration among students, now they wa nt celebration among students, now they want compensation? indeed, there is an element of sympathy among students, certainly the ones we spoke to win leeds earlier on today. the number of students joined a rally of 200 or 300 lecturers assembling on the steps of the building, and they had a picket line from about 8am. they set off on this rally through the city centre rob leeds to meet at the town hall, where they held the rally, listening

toa number of where they held the rally, listening to a number of speeches. clearly, the mood is one of defiance. they are unhappy about these proposed changes to what they call switching from a defined benefit pension scheme to a contribution scheme. they claim that is the result of them being worse 0ff they claim that is the result of them being worse off in retirement. for their part, the vice chancellors did not make any comment today. but universities generally say that the current system is an affordable, and that is why the change needs to be made. as thomas said in that report, with 14 days ahead we could see a spring dispute between the two sides and it could go on for some time to come. thank you very much. and our correspondent katie hunter is outside glasgow university. no fees for scots, i wonder if that

changes the sympathy level among students? good afternoon from glasgow university. it is much quieter this afternoon and it was this morning. there are about 200 people on a picket line, and they are allangry people on a picket line, and they are all angry about changes to pensions. glasgow university is one of nine that will be taking part in the action. the union estimates 145,000 students will be affected. it varied, some were not aware of the action and it did not bother them too much. 0thers the action and it did not bother them too much. others are very supportive of the lecturers. i spoke to the president of the university and college union, and he said that the action was a last resort. katie, thank you very much. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines... high stakes at chequers — theresa may and her senior ministers try to hammer out a deal over the government's approach to brexit. the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade.

give us some of our tuition fees back — student anger as university lecturers across the uk begin a series of strikes over pension provision. in sport, the team gb men are out of at the winter olympics. silver medallists from four years ago, but they were beaten 9—5 against switzerland in the play—off match earlier. nathan hughes will start at number eight for england in this weekend four six nations clash against scotland. he replaces the injured sam simmonds. propjoe marler returns on the bench. and mercedes reveal their new car for the new formula 1 season. defending champion lewis hamilton says he will quickly get used to the new hail designed to protect drivers. president trump has tried to clarify comments about the arming of school teachers, tweeting that he had never said he wanted to give guns to teachers. the president did say teachers

with firearms training could have concealed weapons in the classroom. in a previous tweet, he said teachers could then "fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions". his comments came after he met survivors of the latest massacre and previous shootings. barbara plett—usher reports from florida. the people demand a hearing. in florida telling their lawmakers loud and clear, they don't want this mass shooting to drop off the political agenda like all the others have. at the white house, president trump was listening, to victims of the parkland school attack, but also those that came before it. andrew pollack's18—year—old daughter meadow was killed last week. it doesn't make sense, fix it, should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. because my daughter, i'm not going to see again. she's not here, she's not here. she's in north lauderdale

at whatever it is, king david cemetery, that's where i go to see my kid now. it doesn't make sense to her schoolmate samuel zeif either, especially the gunman's access to a semiautomatic rifle. i don't understand. i turned 18 the day after, woke up to the news that my best friend was gone and i don't understand why i could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war. the president has responded to calls for tougher gun laws with promises of strong background checks, but also more guns. it's called concealed carry, where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them. they'd go for special training. they would be there and you would no longer have a gun—free zone. there is some support for that argument, but students who survived the attack flooded florida's state legislature, demanding a ban

on assault rifles. lawmakers may make it harder for a teenager to buy one, but not more than that. all: never again! still, that's movement in an unmoving debate. the students aim to harness that momentum and turn it into a national campaign. this feels like something new. the students seem to have captured a moment. they're giving a face and a voice to widespread anger and frustration about mass shootings. but whether their movement has the power to bring real change will be the story of the coming months. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, tallahassee, florida. 0ur north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue gave us this update from maryland, where later today the head of the national rifle association is making his first speech since the florida school shooting. the nra has a pattern to these things when these shootings happened. it goes very quiet in the immediate aftermath, and that is

what has happened this time. this will be the first public comments by the head of the nra says the head of the head of the nra says the head of the parkland shooting more than a week ago. there are lots of things address. there is pressure for a ban 0h address. there is pressure for a ban on assault rifles, which they will not support. there is a pressure on raising the age at which you can buy such guns, that is one of the questions in the florida house. then you have a question about what you do with people with mental health problems, and their access to guns. this is a conservative conference, he will be talking among friends, it isa he will be talking among friends, it is a right—wing conference. i think he will get a lot of support. but bearin he will get a lot of support. but bear in mind that his organisation is extraordinarily powerful. it spends a lot of money lobbying and giving money to congressmen for their runs. they know that. in terms

of the president himself, he is saying this morning that it really does have to be the time when teachers get guns in order to stop what he calls sickos from shooting people in schools. britain's biggest energy supplier — centrica — says it's cutting 4,000 jobs over the next couple of years. it follows a big drop in profits, down by 17 % last year. the group — which owns british gas — has blamed its performance in north america as well in the uk. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. it's been a disappointing yearfor britain's biggest energy supplier. today, the hard numbers will stop centrica's group profits down 17% come at a £1.25 billion. it also lost 1.4 million british gas customer accounts and more cost—cutting is on the way, with 4000 jobs to go. and those cuts, the boss told me, are partly down to the government's looming price cap on bills. it's about competition and it's about competition and what customers are wanting,

but there's a third reason. there is a link between our cost efficiency programme and preparing for price cap in the uk. we've got to be competitive and this measure means that we've got to drive more efficiency. the posts will go over the next three years, mainly in its uk residential business. it's only a couple of years ago that i was talking to the chief executive around 5500 job losses and that being the necessary action required, and now here we are again with a further 4000 job cuts being announced. it's very, very concerning. the government says britain's energy market isn't working, customers are being overcharged. that's why it wants to cap the most expensive energy bills. its a move which could put another squeeze on centrica's profits,

so are price rises on the cards? i can't make any guarantees other than we watch the input costs closely and we are trying to make our energy as competitive as possible. from government intervention to increasing competition, the whole industry is in the midst of change, but will it come at a price, and for whom? emma simpson, bbc news. new research shows that antidepressants are effective and many more people could benefit from taking them. the lancet found 21, antidepressants were more effective than placebos. how did the chicken cross the road? comedian christian talbot makes a career out of making people laugh. ..to feel safe. but off the stage he takes antidepressants in order to get from one day to the next. it did feel literally

like a weight off my shoulders. i was less anxious. and i sort of feltjust more even, you know, not happy, but even. antidepressants are some of our most commonly—used drugs. 64 million prescriptions were handed out in england in 2016 and, yet, they are the source of huge debate. so many people take antidepressants that it seems remarkable there could be serious questions about whether they work, but some trials have hinted they have no affect, and for the fiercest critics, antidepressants are snake oil. but scientists think they have finally answered the question in a huge study. they analysed more than 500 clinical trials, including previously unpublished data held by drug companies. we found that all the most commonly prescribed antidepressants work for major depression, and for people with moderate to severe depression and also we found that some of them are more effective than others, or better tolerated than others.

the study assessed whether these drugs are effective in the short term. more work is underway to see how long any benefits last. however, there are still patients that don't respond to any form of treatment. the patient can be reassured that if they need antidepressants and they take antidepressants they are doing the right thing, but we can move on to the new most important questions, which is what we do with patients who don't respond to all available antidepressants. the study included 21 drugs, yet some to patients do not respond to any of them. how can we help them? another concern is too few people with depression get treatment. researchers estimate at least one million more people in the uk would benefit from therapies including antidepressants. james gallagher, bbc news. downing street has insisted theresa may is "absolutely committed" to supporting people affected by the grenfell tower tragedy after she was criticised by grime artist stormzy at the brit awards last night, this is what he had to say stormzy‘s # yo, theresa may, where's

the money for grenfell? # what, you thought we just forgot about grenfell? # you're criminals and you've got the cheek to call us savages stormzy‘s performance followed a triumphant night for him, taking home two prizes for best british male and british album. now let's look at the weather. for some while we have been talking about the potential is very cold air pushing from the east. that is certainly what is developing now. you can see the blue colours indicating that very cold air, which is pouring out of siberia. it is spreading across much of europe, and reaching our shores, particularly as we head into the weekend and next week, you really will notice it is going to be bitterly cold, widespread morning frost and there is even a chance of some snow in the forecast as well. that said, there should be a good deal of sunshine around from day—to—day, because it is high pressure that is largely dominating, keeping the weather

fronts and they in the atlantic. for the rest of this evening and into the rest of this evening and into the overnight, there will be plenty of clear spells, patchy cloud here and there, the odd patch of mist and fog. under the clear skies, temperatures are really falling, back to harder frost than we have seen over the last couple of nights, maybe down to —54 minus six celsius. we start friday morning on a cold note. a good deal of sunshine around. cloud coming and going here and there. the breezes coming in from east will be fresher, temperature wise we are looking at four, six or seven celsius. if you have some clout, it is going to feel even colder. as we are heading into the weekend, high pressure still dominating the scene, bringing colder air across the continent, ever closer to our shores. temperatures will be falling away as the weekend wears on. keeping weather fronts at bay. it looks like it is going to be another dry day for saturday. a cold, frosty start.

we should see some good spells of sunshine here and there. generally mighty wind, but it will be fresh across eastern coastal areas, feeling quite cold. again, temperature wise, five or seven celsius. this is sunday's picture, starting to turn cold and we are really starting to poll in cold air. a little bit of cloud across the north—east of the uk, rolling in off the north sea. most places dry with some good spells of sunshine. it will be on sunday when we really start to feel that bite in the wind. the daytime maximum is two will four celsius. adding on the wind, it will feel like subzero. you really celsius. adding on the wind, it will feel ito subzero. you really celsius. adding on the wind, it will feel|to sub; up. you really this is bbc news — our latest headlines. theresa may hosts crucial talks with her cabinet at chequers. the prime minister is under pressure to get senior ministers to agree a deal over the government's approach to brexit. meanwhile the number of european union citizens leaving the uk is at its highest level for a decade. around 130,000 people left last year — which is thought to be partly due to brexit.

lecturers at nearly 60 universities across the uk have begun the first of a series of strikes in a row about pensions — meanwhile students have signed petitions asking for refunds for tuition fees. president trump suggests arming teachers with guns to help put an end to school shootings in america. he also called for improved background checks on people buying guns during a meeting with survivors of last week's shooting in florida the united nations security council is meeting to consider a resolution calling for a ceasefire in syria. it comes as the government bombardment of eastern ghouta continues for a fifth day. in a moment: the battle against plastic waste continues as we find which region of the uk is better than the rest at recycling household waste. sport now on afternoon live with hugh. and hugh, the winter 0lympics end this weekend. we were hoping for five medals. that

was the target, we have four at the moment, but as we get towards the end it gets to the point where people are looking to see what the general achievement was and whether the targets were met and there has been disappointments, like with these christy, but we still have some opportunities. the women's curling in the semifinal of their competition. but at the moment, after the biggest round of spending funding for the last 0lympic after the biggest round of spending funding for the last olympic and paralympic cycle, the target of anywhere between four and ten medals, in that flight team gb will be falling at the lower end of that so maybe disappointment cash it looks like team gb. it has been a busy day over at the winter 0lympics. dave riding was in the alpine skiing, finishing in eighth place. this is what he had to say. from great britain and northern ireland. dave the rocket riding.-

the gateway of olympic skiing, dave has followed an unconventional path but now he finds himself battling against the world's best. his final run propelled him to a ninth placed finish, britain's best alpine skiing result in over 25 years. a superb performance, but it won't quite be enough to get him on the podium. britain's wait for another medal at these winter games continues. i'm 31 but there is life in the old dog yet, it motivates me for another four years and i know i can improve. curling has become one of the country's main sources of olympic success , country's main sources of olympic success, the men taking silver in sochi four years ago, but this is a new team and they leave empty—handed

after an agonising defeat by switzerland. leading 5—4 with two ends to go and a semifinal place at sta ke ends to go and a semifinal place at stake they capitulated to lose 9—5. we had a good game today but it wasn't to be, sadly. a few things did not go our way and a few half shots, that's all it takes. meanwhile there was confirmation that the russian mixed doubles pair have been stripped of their curling bonds medal after one of them was found guilty of doping for the day was incredible drama in the ice hockey as the united states and canada went to a sudden—death shoot out for the having claimed each of the four last titles, canada were left devastated as the usa celebrated a famous triumph. there was even more drama out on the

ice. that is the event that christie was disqualified from, of course, but there is a small positive note for her. her boyfriend doing ray well. her boyfriend sandor shaolin liu has just won a gold for hungary in the men's short track skate 5,000 metres relay final. eddiejones has made one change to his starting xv for the six nations meeting with scotland at murrayfield on saturday. number eight nathan hughes makes his first appearance in this year's competition, replacing the injured sam simmonds in the back row. propjoe marler comes in on the bench having missed the opening two wins with suspension. mercedes have revealed the new car

they hope will claim a record—equalling fifth consecutive world championship double this year. it's been unveiled at silverstone this afternoon. as with all the cars for this season it has the new halo safety device, designed to protect drivers from loose wheels and other items of large debris. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. the latest immigration figures are out today, and they show the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest level for a decade. the office for national statistics estimates that 130,000 eu nationals emigrated in the 12 months to last september. to help us make sense of these figures i'm joined by the bbc‘s head of statistics robert cuffe. take us through the numbers. how accurate are the figures? they are based on a survey and you don't want to read too much into the detail of a quarter to quarter year—to—year change and you want to look at the long—term picture, so we can look at that. we thought that at the end of the finishing september last year, uk took in about 250,000

migrants globally. we walk back to the eu shortly. there is a slight blip up and down, not that reliable, but if you compare back to the longer term trend, the long—term trend we saw from 2012 until 2016, there was a drift upwards to a peak of 330000 and then a sharp drop around the brexit referendum, they are more reliable. this is all net migration? where is the... it looks fairly obvious that that is the brexit referendum, but is it? fairly obvious that that is the brexit referendum, but is mm fairly obvious that that is the brexit referendum, but is it? it is a combination of different things. these are the total figures, and so is combined of eu and british citizens leaving and coming back to the country, but the headline figure is hiding a pattern. if you are outside the union macro, migration has gone up by about 40,000, that is

what i would call significant —— outside the eu. migration from outside the eu. migration from outside the eu is going down, cancelling each other out. in terms of the accuracy, what do you read into this? these numbers are based ona into this? these numbers are based on a survey, the office for national statistics, i don't know if you've ever been to heathrow and had some and asking questions, that is the international passenger survey and they asked the borders of a million people every year, where are you going, where are you coming from, and the people who say they are going to stay for more than a year, they are the migrants, but any opinion poll has margin for error, so you don't want to read to much into these peaks and troughs. you wa nt to into these peaks and troughs. you want to look at the long—term picture. the government have set a figure in the tens of thousands, we are not heading that way? even need

you account for the margin of eric there is no way that the number is near “— there is no way that the number is near —— even if you account for the margin of error. if it continues to drop, the migration from the eu, it is possible we could get there in a couple of years, but many things could happen over the future. it is ha rd to could happen over the future. it is hard to know if people are coming or leaving because of brexit, they are leaving because of brexit, they are leaving to look for work or by leaving to look for work or by leaving to look for work or by leaving to study, and so it is hard to compare this with the rest of the world. thanks forjoining us. the united nations security council will today consider a resolution calling for a ceasefire in syria. it comes as government forces in the country continue their intense bombardment of the rebel enclave of eastern ghouta, on the outskirts of damascus. the un have described the enclave as "hell on earth", and in the last few days hundreds of civilians, including many children, have been killed there.

a warning, this report from paul adams does include some distressing images. a massacre, hell on earth, a monstrous campaign of annihilation. the world is running out of ways to describe what's happening in eastern ghouta, but the bombs are still falling and the toll is dreadful. and medicalfacilities are not being spared. this children's hospital now wrecked. translation: the clinical care and surgery unit is out, the incubator unit is out, the paediatric section is out. all the departments of the hospital are out of service, the destruction is total. elsewhere, medical staff tried desperately to keep up with hundreds of casualties. the siege of eastern ghouta began five years ago. the situation was intolerable long before this terrible week. translation: these are hopeless cases, there's nothing we can do to save them.

these victims have suffered severe head and brain injuries. this one has stopped breathing. i'm worried about this boy, too, both need intensive care but we cannot operate because the bombing is relentless. where are the arabs? where are the muslims? do we have to appeal to israel instead to help? shame on you, this isjust a little boy who wants freedom. why are you doing this? i don't know what to do. can any of this be stopped through diplomacy? the un wants a ceasefire and there's a meeting at the security council this afternoon, but in geneva its envoy for syria doesn't sound optimistic. comment on whether you think there will be a deal today on a ceasefire resolution? i hope it will, but it is uphill.

it is very urgent. if there isn't one, what happens? we will have to push for it to take place as soon as possible because there is no alternative to a ceasefire and humanitarian access. russia says the real blame lies with terrorists firing out of ghouta into the capital. jihadi fighters, including some connected with al-anda, have been active in the area since the siege began. this for president assad is about securing damascus — there's no immediate sign of him stopping. britain is now half way towards its target of resettling 20,000 of the most vulnerable refugees from the syrian civil war. the home secretary, amber rudd, says 10,000 refugees have already come here, and she is looking at what to do after the scheme ends in two years' time. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. far from the horrors of the war in syria, we found khaled kara hasan playing football in his garden in coventry

with his sons, mahmood and zid. his family are some of the 10,000 people now given refuge in britain under the vulnerable person resettlement scheme. khaled, who was a pharmacy assistant in syria, now works part—time in waitrose. he told me he fled homs in 2012 after syrian government forces bombed first his neighbourhood and then a second area, where he'd taken refuge. i decided with my family to leave syria, turkey, because i like my family. to protect them. i remember my brothers, i remember my friend, my neighbours. here it's more safe, more safe, but in syria it's like, you know in syria it's like fighting, but it's still my country.

you miss it a bit, yeah? yeah. but the old syria is gone. this mobile phone footage sent by a friend shows what their flat in homs looks like today. hello, what's your name? the scheme to resettle refugees from syria is overseen by the home secretary, amber rudd, who was in a camp in lebanon this week. the uk has promised to give homes to 20,000 of the most vulnerable by the end of 2020 and is now halfway to that target. i think that the british public can be very proud of that, proud of the fact they've been able to reach that commitment, that these families are being resettled in the community and are being looked after. but campaigners say britain could still be doing much more. there are more than 5 million syrian refugees living in neighbouring countries, some in terrible conditions. like this woman, who has three children under ten and whose husband is missing. a couple of years ago she had the chance to go to germany. "i was afraid at the time,

as my children were still young, so i declined the offer", she told the bbc. with a return to syria still impossible, it's a decision she now bitterly regrets. daniel sandford, bbc news. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. high stakes at chequers — theresa may and her senior ministers try to hammer out a deal over the government's approach to brexit. the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade. give us some of our tuition fees back — student anger as university lecturers across the uk begin a series of strikes over pension provision. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the uk economy grew less

than previously thought n the last three months of 2017, according to revised figures from the office for national statistics. the british economy grew by 0.4% between october and december, below the initial estimate of 0.5%. it means in 2017 as a whole, the economy grew by 1.7% the weakest growth rate since 2012. passenger numbers are up and expansion must be prepared for take off — that's the announcement from europe's biggest airport this morning as heathrow posted full year figures. the number of customers passing through the airport grew 3.1% to 78 million. and chief executivejohn holland—kaye told the government to "crack on" with heathrow expansion calling for a vote in parliament before the summer. barclays bank has revealed one off costs prompted it to lose 1.9 billion last year. this includes an £127 million loss related to the collapse of construction firm carillion, to which barclays was a key lender. but when these one off factors are stripped out, the bank's underlying profits actually rose to £3.5 billion, up 10%.

more on that shortly. yesterday we were looking ahead to the minutes from the federal reserve committee meeting. which happened at end of january. yes, the meeting took place three weeks ago on the 30th and 31st of january, and that meeting happened just before strong economic figures frightens the us markets and markets around the world by consequence, and though strong figures made it look like interest rates in the us could rise more quickly and by larger percentages than had been previously expected and the reason investors wa nted expected and the reason investors wanted to see these minutes because these were the minutes from the meeting with the people who make these decisions. the dow jones fell 160 points by the close — so what did they say.

let's ask yogita. the top line of the minutes was that they were expecting better economic growth this year than they had anticipated earlier and also confidence that inflation will now come up to what the target is the federal reserve desires which is about 2%, and as far as interest rates are concerned, the opinions between the members of the committee seem to be divided and there were some who thought they need to be more hawkish and others who thought they need to be more patient, and it is that confusion which also use or hear on the markets because right after the minutes came out the markets were going up but then they started going down —— which you also see here on the market. looking at it now, as the markets open, it was 118 billion —— it now, as the markets open, it was 118 billion -- 150 it now, as the markets open, it was 118 billion —— 150 points up so we have seen a range of about 300

points on the dowjones and that volatility is what traders say they are expecting to continue for a few months. someone i spoke to said he doesn't expect that we have seen the lowest low yet and he expects that is going to happen. in the second half of the year is when you might see the markets go back on that steady upward path we saw for most of la st steady upward path we saw for most of last year. when is the next federal reserve meeting and what are investors expecting to happen? maybe a rate rise? the next meeting is in march and it will be the first meeting chaired by jerome powell, the new chair of the federal reserve, and it is widely expected that there will be a rate rise and also they will have at their disposal the new wage growth data that we saw, in, the jobs numbers coming in, and the cpi which is the main measure of inflation that the fed reserve looks at, that data has

been pretty strong, as well, and before that meeting you also had another set of numbers being released and in that sense you will have more detail to look at and we might be able to see what they indicate for the months ahead. thanks forjoining us. it's a big banking week — all reporting their figures — barclays turn today — how have they done? yes, the headline from them, they are out of pocket, £1.9 billion. that sounds pretty bad, but what about the share price? it has gone up. of course! but there were come big one off reason for that loss — — lost £2.5 billion related to the sale of barclays africa group and a £900 million charge related to changes in us tax rules. the collapse of outsourcing giant carillion has cost

barclays £127 million. that is interesting because people thought that barclays were the least exposed to karelia —— the problems at carillion. when these one off factors are stripped out, the bank's underlying profits actually rose to £3.5 billion, up 10%. and that is what investors will focus on. also the fact that they plan to double dividend pay—outs. that explains why the ftse 100 is actually down, they are targeting six and a half p for 2018 and that is pending regulatory approval, the bank of england stress test and other things, but this is a real confidence booster, they are taking casts out and some of these one—offs like the african write—down, and this is a signal that he believes profits will advance going forwards.

there are issues to address the whistle—blowing there are issues to address the whistle— blowing case, there are issues to address the whistle—blowing case, the serious fraud office investigation into the qatari fundraising and the mis—selling of mortgage bank securities, so there is still potentially some big finds out there waiting, and that could in the worst case it scenario constrain the ability of the bank to pay the dividend but clearly they don't think that will be the case. and now to the markets. the ftse100 is down nearly a percent, they have had disappointing results. anglo american fell 4% following its full year update. though the miner reported a 45% increase in annual earnings and halved its net debt, analysts pointed to the fact that anglo's shares had gained 16% in 2018 ahead of the announcement, on top of last year's 33.6% rally.

ba rclays was barclays was the bright spot. go and get some rest and we will see you later. in the past few months, the battle against plastic has been brought into sharp focus, in part thanks to the television series blue planet ii. later today, annual waste statistics will be published. in recent years wales has outperformed the rest of the uk at recycling household waste. john maguire reports. lorry reversing beep it's bin day in bridgend, and on the curbside, a rainbow of refuse. orange bags for cardboard, white for paper, brown for food. there are even bags for nappies — purple — and just two blue bags of non—recyclables collected every other week. residents who transgress risk being fined, but locals here seem happy. good, yeah. good for the environment and everything, keeps everyone on their toes. very good, yeah. i've got a child that's eight as well and he finds it quite odd 'cause he automaticallyjust chucks everything in the bin butjust getting him used to it.

once you're used to it, you're all right? yeah, it's fine then, yeah. bridgend council is achieving rates other parts of the uk dream of, reaching 74%. the recycling level in wales is 64% against a uk average of 44%. the pretty coastal village of aberporth is cutting down on single—use plastic, and has been awarded a special status by the environmental campaign group, surfers against sewage. at the local shop, the owner mike allen shows me around. milk bottles, glass milk bottles... they haven't banned plastics, they're offering alternatives — wooden clothes pegs, looseleaf tea, and even a toothbrush made from bamboo. wooden toothbrushes. those are probably our second biggest seller, after the glass bottles of milk. they seem to have attracted people's attention. we have the option of the plastic then with those as well. there are around 150 dolphins living out in cardigan bay. the environment here

is jealously guarded, and it was a concern about ocean plastics that inspired resident gail tudor to rally community support. you look at the beautiful beach, and you think, yeah, it looks pretty clean, but when you start going down and you see the stuff that's washed up, and plastic bags washed up in the seaweed, it's not all stuff left by holidaymakers or local people here. a lot of it is washed in. but it still needs to come out of the sea. the talk here is that cutting down on waste, especially plastic, can spread to the next village, the next county, the next country. plastics are under attack from people power. john maguire, bbc news, aberporth. we have some remarkable pictures from egypt. the moment a policeman catches a child who has fallen from the third floor of the building. there is a boy clinging to a

balcony. three police officers standing outside a bank spot the boy clinging to a balcony. they scramble for help, grabbing a rug with the intention of catching him in it. as the child falls he is caught by one of the officers. amazingly, the boy was unharmed and the policeman was treated for minor injuries. let's watch that one more time. we've slowed it down too, so you can get a sense of the speed the child was travelling. maybe we will show you that later on. anyway, remarkable images from egypt. we are looking at a conference in maryland where the head of the national rifle association is about to speak. donald trump has said on twitter once again about the issue of guns and gun control. he has said this.

i want to show you this donald trump, as well. this was from him on twitter as well. considerable backing already for the nra from donald trump. that is the scene in meriden. they will be introducing the boss of the nra —— thatis introducing the boss of the nra —— that is the scene in maryland. time for a look at the weather. here's stav. we are heading into a cold spell which could be very long—lived, you will notice the temperatures, the

cold air pouring out of siberia, spreading across continental europe and reaching our shores, but high pressure is dominating the scene so it should be largely dry with some sunshine, keeping the rain away. overnight there will be lengthy clear spells and temperatures will really fall away, a hard frost in places. friday starting of very cold and frosty, plenty of sunshine around, cloud coming and going from time to time, winds coming in from the east and south—east, 4—6 in terms of the temperature. similar day on saturday, plenty of sunshine, cloud, and again feeling very cold, and by sunday the club macro will begin to fall away and you will notice it next week —— the temperatures will begin to fall away. hello, you're watching

afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 3... anyone for chequers? theresa may and her senior ministers prepare to "draught" out an agreement over the way forward for the brexit negotiations the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade. give us some of our tuition fees back — student anger as university lecturers across the uk begin a series of strikes over pension provision. # yo theresa may, where's the money for grenfell? # what, you thought we just forgot about grenfell? downing street reacts to that blistering political attack from grime artist stormzy at last night's brit awards. and we have the sport, the winter olympics drawing to a close? well team gb's medal opportunities are shrinking as we start to move towards the end of

the winter olympics. the men's curlers won't follow up silver in sochi with another medal in pyeongchang after being knocked out. we will have all of the news later the hour. we will also have a full weather update. the weather will turn much colder in the next few days, siberian air pouring in across the continent will reach our shores. you shall see some sunshine, but there is some snow as well. also coming up — as president trump tells families and survivors of last week's school shooting that one way to respond is to arm the teachers we'll be hearing reaction from the influential us gun lobby group the nra. they are speaking live now in maryland. we can hearfrom they are speaking live now in maryland. we can hear from wayne la pierre, the executive vice president. to exploit tragedy for political gain. the break back speed of calls for more gun control laws

and the breathless national media, eager to smear the nra. think about that. in the midst of genuine grief, and a very understandable passion, as millions of americans search for meaningful solutions, what do we find? chris murphy, nancy pelosi and more, cheered on by the national media, eager to blame the nra and call for even more government control. they hate the nra. they hate the second amendment. they hate individual freedom. hate the second amendment. they hate individualfreedom. in the rush of calls for more government, they have also revealed their true selves. the elites do not care, not one whit about america's school system. and schoolchildren. if they truly cared, what they would do is they would

protect them. for them, what they would do is they would protect them. forthem, it what they would do is they would protect them. for them, it is not a safety issue. it is a political issue. they care more about control, and more of it. their goal is to eliminate the second amendment, and our firearms freedoms, so they can eradicate all individual freedoms. applause what they want are more restrictions on the law—abiding. think about that. their solution is to make you, all of you, less free. they want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of school security, the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of america's mental—health system. even the unbelievable failure of the fbi. applause they fantasise

they fa ntasise about they fantasise about more laws stopping what other laws fail to stop. the truth is, laws succeed only when pablo —— when people obey them. that is what the law—abiding community practices. once again, some in the existing laws were ignored. their laws don't stop illegal criminals from crossing our borders every single day. their laws don't stop the scourge of gang violence and drug crime that savages baltimore. chicago. their laws have not stopped the plague of opioids, chinese fentanyl from mexico that floods american streets and kills victims every single day in this country. no wonder law—abiding

americans all over this country revere their second amendment freedom to protect themselves more than ever. they don't care if their laws work or not. theyjust want to get more laws, to get more control over people. but the nra, the nra does care. applause we at the nra are americans who continue to mourn and care, and work every day at contributing real solutions to this very real problem. real, practical action to truly protect our children. think about it. it is a bizarre fact that in this country ourjewellery it. it is a bizarre fact that in this country our jewellery stores

all over this country are more important than our children. our banks, our airports, important than our children. our banks, ourairports, our important than our children. our banks, our airports, our nba games, our nfl games, our office buildings, our nfl games, our office buildings, our movie stars, our politicians. they are all more protected than our children at school. does that make any sense!? children at school. does that make any sense! ? to anybody? do we really love our money and our celebrities more than we love our children? can we a nswer more than we love our children? can we answer that question honestly, any of us, can we answer that question honestly, knowing that we surround and protect so much with armed security, while we drop our kids off at school that are so—called gun free zones, wide—open targets for any crazy madman bent on

evil to come theirfirst? in every community in america, school districts, ptas, local law enforcement, mums and dads, they must come together to permit the very best strategy to harden their schools, including effective, trained, armed security that will absolutely protect every innocent child in this country. applause that has to happen now. evil walks among us, and god help us if we don't harden our schools and protect our kids. the whole idea from some of our opponents that an security

makes us less safe is completely ridiculous. if that is true... just think about this, if that is true, armed security makes us less safe, let's just go ahead and remove it from everywhere. let's remove it from everywhere. let's remove it from the white house. from capitol hill. remove it from all of hollywood. applause any american school that needs immediate, professional consultation and help with organising and defining these solutions should call the national rifle association school shield programme. and we will provide immediate assistance, and we will also provide it absolutely free to any school in america. i'll tell you this, that is more

than anybody at the democratic national committee, or nbc news, or the washington post is offering. you know what? the shameful politicisation of tragedy is a classic strategy, right out of the playbook of a poisonous movement. in my three decades of leading the nra, i have had the pleasure of working with a number of democrats who believed america can be the greatest country in the world, because of our free—market capitalism and because of our individual liberties. but during the last decade, the obama decade, many of those leaders have been forced out as a tidal wave of

new european style socialists seized control of the democratic party. obama promise a fundamental transformation of our country. you know what? it began with his own national party, a party that is now infested with saboteurs who do not believe in capitalism, don't believe in the constitution, don't believe in ourfreedom in the constitution, don't believe in our freedom and in the constitution, don't believe in ourfreedom and don't in the constitution, don't believe in our freedom and don't believe in the constitution, don't believe in ourfreedom and don't believe in america as we know it. obama may be gone, but their utopian dream, it marches on. president trump's election, while crucial, cannot turn away the wave of these new european style socialists bearing down upon us. i'm notjust talking about bernie sanders. i mean, he is near the end of his career. but how about

kamal harris, mr murphy, keith ellison? they are not democrats in the mould ofjohn f kennedy water —— ortip the mould ofjohn f kennedy water —— or tip o'neill. they hide behind labels like democrat or progressive to make their agenda more palatable. that is terrifying. that should terrify every citizen who values the american ideal in this country of individual liberty. they politicise the department of justice, they weaponised the internal revenue service, the dpa,

perhaps crippled the fbi and seized an embedded leadership in all of them to advance their agenda. absolute control in every corner of our government is their ultimate dream. these intellectual elites, they think they are smarter than we are. they think they are smarter than the rest of us and they think they are better than we are. they truly believe it, and you know it. the privileged and the powerful, they think they deserve to be in charge of every lever of power. you know what? the united states constitution makes it absolutely clear that they are not in charge. we, the people, are in charge of this country. applause washington, this city, it likes to

ignore that. our intelligence community shrouds everything in secrecy, driving into darkness every dirty memo, and every dirty institutional secret and memory, in the name of national security. but when the leaks come, as so often occurs, in the light of day, it reveals nothing about the security of our country, and it reveals everything about the corruption of those in power. applause that is because, in a captive society, the lost of transparency results in the loss of truth. they also eliminate internal

resista nce they also eliminate internal resistance to wrongdoing in these institutions. there is no stronger supporter of our law enforcement than the national rifle association. we are one of the largest law enforcement organisations in the united states, if you look at our membership. we are proud of that. everywhere i go, i get a police officer coming up to me, thanking me and saying, i rememberyour organisation —— i am a member of the organisation, keep up what you're doing. there are tens of thousands of incredible men and women at the fbi, honourable, decent, hard—working people fbi, honourable, decent, ha rd—working people and fbi, honourable, decent, hard—working people and they are dedicated to keeping our country safe every single day. and we are proud of them. and we thank them. but, as we have learned in recent months, even the fbi is not free of its own corruption, and its own unethical agents. look, and

its own corruption, and its own unethicalagents. look, and i its own corruption, and its own unethical agents. look, and i know you probably share the sentiment, andi you probably share the sentiment, and i get people tell me from coast to coast, they shake their heads when they say it to me. i can understand a few bad apples in an organisation as large as the fbi. what is hard to understand is why nobody at the fbi studer and called bs on the road leadership. —— stood up bs on the road leadership. —— stood up and called bs on the rogue leadership. where was the repulsion that should protect any powerful institution that serves us? the lowest ranting marinos to resist an unlawful order. the rank and file in must every powerful institution must police its own leadership.

everybody keeps their mouth closed and ‘ heads everybody keeps their mouth closed and - heads down. that everybody keeps their mouth closed and i how ads down. that everybody keeps their mouth closed and i how socialistic that everybody keeps their mouth closed and i how socialistic societies exactly how socialistic societies function. liz. do exactly how socialistic societies function. do whatever want, when resistance and the concept. and the concept of i and the concept of moral:he concept of the 'al :he concept of the state the i concept of the state the day concept of the state the day cont anyone |e state the day cont anyone who ate rules the day and anyone who attem pts rules the day and anyone who attempts . resist is rules the day and anyone who attempts resist is right you into submission. yes. you know it. yes, the . of. smear. we do yes, the art of the smear. we do live in a socialistic age of the art of the smear. it doesn't have to be true. itjust of the smear. it doesn't have to be true. it just has of the smear. it doesn't have to be true. itjust has to stick someone, anyone. it is designed to degrade, destroy, and it is all over the national media, to serve their

agenda. socialism is a movement that loves a smear. racist, misogynist, sexist, xenophobe and more. these are the weapons and vitriol, the character assassination scream to create a growing segment of victims. socialism feeds off manipulated victims. you name the group and they will find a way to turn them into victims. they keep their movement growing by finding someone to be offended by something every minute offended by something every minute of every day. from the occupy movement, black lives matter, antifa, they agitate the offended, promote and civil discourse and ignore any sense of due process and fairness to destroy their enemies.

the elimination of due process is the very gold standard of the socialist state. imagine this. this happened, it is true. imagine telling an elderly couple that because they sought help to do their taxes that they could no longer exercise their fundamental second amendment right. that is exactly what obama did. a social security recipient who granted financial authority to a family member, friend orfinancial authority to a family member, friend or financial professional, and they we re or financial professional, and they were banned from purchasing a firearm. no questions asked, just like that. good, law—abiding people we re like that. good, law—abiding people were automatically and unjustly

declared mentally incompetent and put on a new government list. oh, how socialists love to make lists, especially lists that can be used to deny citizens their basic freedoms. now some people are calling for a new list of anyone who has sought mental health care to deny them their second amendment rights. look, this is really important, and you never hear this on the national media, soi never hear this on the national media, so i want to say it to all of you now, and i need your help in telling all of america this because it is the truth. the national rifle association originated the checks system. it was our bill. nobody on the prohibited persons list should ever have a ccess the prohibited persons list should ever have access to a firearm. no killer, no felon, no drug dealer.

applause and anyone who adjudicated as mentally incompetent or a danger to society should be added to the checks system and prevented from getting their hands a gun. but watch what i released three yea rs but watch what i released three years ago, and the media machine all over the country, they so callously and completely ignored it. watch this. this is what the media will not tell you. the nra has fought for 20 years to put the records of those adjudicated mentally incompetent into the national checks system. until the politicians demand that they are submitted, killers who are prohibited from owning firearms will walk into gun stores and pass every background check they take. so, if they really wanted to make a

difference, the media would lead every newscast with a reminder that the names of millions of violent felons, criminal gang members... the names of millions of violent felons, criminal gang members. . ij felons, criminal gang members. . ii will felons, criminal gang members. . i will pull away from that, wayne long peer of the nra, talking specifically about the shooting, when we were horrified by an american tragedy. each and every member of the nra mourns the loss of the innocent. when it came to pointing a finger at those responsible, he said that there was a clear failure responsible, he said that there was a clearfailure in school responsible, he said that there was a clear failure in school security, a clear failure in school security, a clearfailure in the a clear failure in the system in the united states, and a failure in the fbi. he said if an security makes us less safe, let's remove it from everywhere, remove it from the white house, from the capital, and remove it from all of hollywood. we will keep an eye on the conference that is going on. mike pence, the deputy

president, the vice president, is scheduled to speak in the next few minutes. crucial, decisive, momentous, urgent — pick any of those words and they would probably apply to what's going on the prime minister's country retreat right now. theresa may is surrounded by her closest ministers at a meeting of the brexit inner—cabinet. she wants unity — and a common approach to britain's negotiating position with the eu. but those words — unity, conservative, and europe very rarely appear in the same sentence. theresa may has a long day ahead of her — and already we're being told the meeting could go well into tonight. that is bad news for alex forsyth, because she is outside and will remain so until the talks finish. are you getting any idea what is happening inside? not yet, frankly, no. we are not hearing anything about the conversations that are currently taking place at prime

minister's country retreat behind me. we know that the senior cabinet figures are here. we saw the m oto rca d es figures are here. we saw the motorcades arriving sometime ago, with a police escort, as you would expect. they will be trying to thrash out what the uk is hoping to achieve from its negotiations with brussels. what the meeting is all about, the reason it is so important, is that theresa may is trying to get some sort of unity, some sort of agreement on the starting position that the uk government wants about what the eu and uk future trading relationships will look like. the real difficulty for her, as you alluded to, is that there is, of course, fundamental disagreements within the conservative party, let alone when you take into account the other parties as well, about what that relationship should look like. it all boils down to how closely aligned the eu should be with the uk, and what it is prepared to trade off in terms of the uk's own sovereignty to gain access to the eu markets. a very long day around the table in chequers, where they are trying to reach some sort of

agreement on that. after months of bickering, i was going to say, but really it is years within the conservative party working out where they stand on europe. are we really expecting that that can be hammered out injust one expecting that that can be hammered out in just one day? you are quite right. the conservatives and europe, it has been a thorn in the side of the conservative party. prime minister after prime minister, margaret thatcher, john major, theresa may, david cameron hoped to settle the issue with the referendum and it burst it wide open. theresa may is not just and it burst it wide open. theresa may is notjust having to contend with difficulties in her top team, when you have people like boris johnson, who campaigned for brexit, amber ruud wanted the uk to stay in the eu, she has to manage those views. then she has the wider party, and we were hearing from people that we re and we were hearing from people that were avid supporters brexit for some time, like jacob rees—mogg, the chairman of the european research group, saying that there to be a clea n group, saying that there to be a clean brexit, a clean breakfrom the european union. there are others in

the conservative party that wanted the conservative party that wanted the prime minister to stay. the best prime minister and hope for today is some big philosophical agreements about the of travel. if she can at least get senior minister stephen sign off on something, she is heading in the right direction. —— senior ministers to sign off. next week we may get more clarity, that the key point is that whatever they are great, that is what the uk government hopes to achieve. then they have got to go and negotiate with brussels. there are 27 other countries involved. this is the start of what has been and will continue to be a very long process. i will be talking to you later and many others will be doing that as well. thank you very much. conservative mp peter bone as part of the advisory board of the leave means of the advisory board of the leave m ea ns leave of the advisory board of the leave means leave pressure group. hejoins

me now. do you have any hopes of this meeting at chequers? inevitably, if there is any agreement, it means both sides will have to compromise? well, it is 400 days exactly until when we leave the european union superstate. the direction of the government is very clear. what we are talking about is the detail of the end relationship. we know, for instance, that we are going to end free movement. we are not going to pay billions of pounds to the eu every year and we are going to make our own laws, in our own country, judged by our own judges. if we deliver on that, we will deliver on what the british people want. the country has been divided on europe, as the political parties have been. that was the point of the referendum. the referendum settled the issue. as the chancellor said, we are all brexiteers now. it is good news and i hope they all come out smiling. then we will move forward, i think the deal has to be done by october of this year. in that statement you

just made, you did not mention trade, the single market, or the customs union. these are the issues, aren't they? something has got to give? these are the technical issues that came out from the referendum. it is right that parliament and government thrashes it out and decides. i am quite happy with that. doi decides. i am quite happy with that. do i agree with an implantation period? no. doi do i agree with an implantation period? no. do i agree with giving £39 billion to the eu over the next couple of years? no. if that is the collective approach and result in what we want, the ending of free movement and everything we have spoken about, this is what we should discuss and i guess that is what they are doing over tea and biscuits at the moment. would you accept a climb—down on regulations for eu citizens living here, and extension of how long they can stay here for? i know it is the detail, but this is where we have seen real problems in your party alone? just on the party

situation, i have never seen the conservative party more united over europe than we are now, partly because of the referendum. the labour party is in a dreadful state, andi labour party is in a dreadful state, and i feel labour party is in a dreadful state, and ifeel a labour party is in a dreadful state, and i feel a little labour party is in a dreadful state, and ifeel a little bit sorry for jeremy corbyn. i think he's making his 25th decision on policy on monday. he has a hopeless task. i think what we are doing is delivering what the british people wanted. all of the things you're talking about are quite important things, but they are detail surrounding the fundamental issues. making our own laws in our own country. deliver that, deliver what the people want. of course there should be debate about the technical things surrounding it. apart from what happens at chequers and within the government, the europeans could quite easily turn around and say, non, or whatever language they want that day? i think it is more likely that day? i think it is more likely

that the european union will not do a deal with us, because they have a political project, not based on economics. i think we will come out at the end of the day, without a trade agreement, on world trade organisation rules, that would benefit us far more than it would benefit us far more than it would benefit the european union. i accept that would happen. crashing out would benefit us? that might be bbc language, i would would benefit us? that might be bbc language, iwould not would benefit us? that might be bbc language, i would not say crashing out. crashing out of something when we knew we were coming out of the european union in 2016 and leaving in march 2019, that does not sound to me something like crashing out. but you are right to say, if the implication is that we must know whether we are going to do a deal fairly quickly, i think the end of march is the time for the limitation period to be agreed, if that can be done, and the end of october is when everything finally has to be done. you are right that it could end up with no deal. the government back i’ow with no deal. the government back row hopes it will get a deal. they

are being very reasonable on it. european union colleagues are not basing it on economics, they are basing it on economics, they are basing it on politics, and that is a bad thing for negotiations. thanks for talking to us. the number of european union nationals leaving the uk is at its highest level for a decade. new figures show that 130,000 eu nationals emigrated in the year to last september. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw is here. danny how significant are these statistics? these figures are significant, i think, because they appear to confirm what evidence has suggested, anecdotal evidence, that there is a brexit effect, from the referendum, that the number of eu nationals coming to live here it is in decline and those who are emigrating is rising. if you look at the figures for the number of people who are leaving the uk, eu nationals, 130,000 in the 12 months to september last year, the highest

number since 2008 and it has been steadily going up since the referendum. if you look at the number of arrivals, that was 220,000 which is the highest numberfor several years and that suggests that although there are people coming in, it is beginning to slow down. there's a slowdown in terms of people from poland, for example, just 8000 which is the lowest number since at least 2007, so it appears that for whatever reason britain is becoming a less attractive place for eu nationals. looking at the overall figure, eu migration and migration from outside europe, and the net figure, the number was 244,000 which is well above the controversial target set by the government of less than 100,000. that suggests more

people are coming here from outside the eu? those numbers are going up, those numbers do fluctuate from year to year seven can't draw too many conclusions —— so we can't. there is something to do with a rise in the number of international siddons and because some companies are looking beyond europe to fill the vacancies which some people are now saying are starting to arise in the uk because of brexit —— the number of international students. thanks for joining us. sport now on afternoon live with hugh. and hugh, the winter olympics end this weekend. we were hoping for five medals. there are high hopes for the women in the curling, they are left in the semifinals tomorrow morning, but it was a disappointing couple of days for the men's team who could not match the women by reaching the semifinals. difficult match for them

in theirfinal semifinals. difficult match for them in their final round semifinals. difficult match for them in theirfinal round robin group stage match, they have that in their control but they lost it in the end and the same story again, they had a play—off against switzerland and they were in control of the game, beaten 9—5. the swiss had a 5—point end which is something you don't normally see. this is big disappointment for uk sport as they chased the five medal target. this was our first olympics and we gave it our best shot and we made the play—off spot in the end we had a good game but it wasn't to be, sadly. a few things did not go our way and a few half shots, that's all it takes against a side as good as them, but there is plenty to look forward to going forward and we just

need to take some time and reflect on this experience and what we can ta ke on this experience and what we can take from it. however, there were some positive news for dave ryding. he finished ninth in the men's slalom and vowed to come back and challenge for a medal in beijing in four years' time. ryding believes he can return to do the same as today's gold medallist. we will now talk about the europa league, celtic are in action, taking on selling —— zenit st petersburg, they did win the first leg, 1—0, but a gap of two months for the russians before going into that game as they had a winter break, and they will be

a lot sharper, says their manager roberto mancini. if celtic make it into the lasting stain it will be the first time they have done that since 2004 —— make it into the last 16. it is -21 degrees in st petersburg, absolutely stunning but absolutely freezing cold. the winter palace isjust over here and just here isa palace isjust over here and just here is a man who never feels the cold, the former celtic goalkeeper pat bonner. can celtic do it? they can, but they will need of a former, they played very well at celtic park, every single player, 90 minutes, and they will have to do that again tonight. roberto mancini will change his team and they will increase their tempo and they will push the wingers high up the pitch. celtic might have to change their shape little bit just celtic might have to change their shape little bitjust to celtic might have to change their shape little bit just to combat what they are going to do, but if they

play the way they did at celtic park they are capable of doing it. do celtic change their tactics question not they played a diamond at celtic park and they used the free play in the middle very well, but they may have to change because they might get exposed in the wide areas. whatever brendan rodgers comes up with, he's a tactical magician, at times, he comes up with the right formation at the right time, and he did that in the first leg and he will have to do that again tonight. it will be very interesting in how they set up because they are away from home. for now, thanks for joining us. as i mentioned, it is freezing cold here but it will be warm inside the stadium, it has a roof, thankfully. early kick—off but bbc radio scotland has got it cove red bbc radio scotland has got it covered and the game is live on there. he should have worn a hat! mercedes have revealed the new car they hope will claim

a record—equalling fifth consecutive world championship double this year. it's been unveiled at silverstone this afternoon. as with all the cars for this season it has the new halo safety device, designed to protect drivers from loose wheels and other items of large debris. that's all the sport for now. studio: thanks for joining studio: thanks forjoining us. let's get more now on the meeting at chequers, where theresa may and her senior ministers are hammering out a deal over the government's approach to brexit. documents released on the eve of the chequers gathering suggest european commission negotiators will not approve of a uk proposal that seeks to select which eu rules to follow and which to diverge from. but what are the options under discussion? i'm joined by bbc reality check correspondent chris morris. there was a big sigh before you mentioned my name. no, it isjust complex for the win they say things like the basket, you lose the will

to live, but what are the options which are here? it goes back to the speech theresa may gave in florence, and we're starting to reach a conclusion, but is what she said. there will be areas of policy and regulation which are out of the scope of our economic relations where they should be straightforward, there are areas which affect our economic relations where we and our european friends might have different goals and where we share the same goals but want to achieve them through different means. they will be areas where we wa nt means. they will be areas where we want to achieve the same goals in the same ways because it makes sense for our economies. that is clarity. yes, those of the three baskets. —— those are. let's say you want to stick closely to eu rules but i want to divergent completely. you are basket number one, same rules and same outcomes, and in this respect

it makes it easier for business, but i'm in basket number two where we wa nt to i'm in basket number two where we want to do things completely differently and we can negotiate free—trade agreements around the world. there's a third basket in the middle where we want do many of the same things, in the regulation of medicine, we want to regulate medicine, we want to regulate medicine in the same way but maybe we wa nt medicine in the same way but maybe we want to do this a slightly different way. that is basket number two in the middle. if you are going to have a group of people around the table that don't agree, you will give someone a little bit, and give mea give someone a little bit, and give me a little bit, and then a little bit in the middle. so those are the three baskets, but what about the eu? they could turn around and say, that's very nice but no. yes, we have three baskets but they have 27 countries and we know they are not keen on this approach. last night they released a series of slides which had been shown by the european commission to member states and you can see, what it says, in summary,

the three basket approach is not compatible with the principles of the european union's guidelines, it says it would undermine the integrity of the single market and that gets back to the age—old argument about trying to cherry pick the best bits. it would also, they fear, and our other countries to say, hang on, if uk has this special relationship, we want some of this. it also says it would be more difficult for the eu to make decisions after brexit because it would be hamstrung by this strange new relationship with the uk. the game, we should always stress, we are at the beginning of this part of the negotiation —— again. these are shots against the boughs, but we should not expect to see something decisive emerging out of chequers, because this has got to be agreed with the rest of europe, as well.

that looks fairly decisive coming out of europe, it has to be said. yes, that was the recommendation of the european commission and there are differences of opinion within the eu, by not as strong as the government sometimes would like to make out, but a country like ireland has an enormous amount to lose if we don't have a good trade deal because 80% of their exports come to or through the uk, and the country like portugal or estonia has less to lose. there are differences of opinion but it may not be a good idea for us to divide and rule because if you have 27 separate deals that is even more complex, and it isa deals that is even more complex, and it is a good thing if the eu is sticking in one place although this is not ideally in the place the british government would like it to be. you have a series on the radio, radio 4, going through this? yes, brexit, a guide for the perplexed, and if you are perplexed, you are

not alone. nice to see you. thanks for joining not alone. nice to see you. thanks forjoining us. university lecturers across the uk have begun a series of strikes in protest at planned changes to their pension scheme, which they say will leave them worse off in retirement. our correspondent tomos morgan has sent this report from cardiff — where hundreds of university staff are taking action. no ifs, no buts, no pension cuts. picket lines, rallies, protests, the scene the same at universities across the country. staff walking out in a dispute over pensions. institutions say there's a £6.1 billion deficit in the current scheme, which is unsustainable. they say changes must be made. but after 35 meetings over the past year, the university and college union says the strikes were inevitable as the proposed new scheme would be far less generous. we are saying changes to the scheme should be fair. we are in the scheme which both the staff

and employers are committed to. the employers have now, as it were, junked that approach and are going for something where the staff are being shoved aside. with lectures being affected by the strikes there's a danger that student degrees will be impacted. there are suggestions exams may have to be modified or marking relaxed. the thousands of students that have come out today to protest across the country are doing so alongside their lecturers. their frustration is aimed at their institutions. they are seen as consumers in the eyes of regulators and the courts, and if this deadlock continues students believe they deserve some compensation from universities for their loss of teaching time. students across the country have begun petitions, calling for universities to recognise that they are not receiving a service paid for by their tuition fees. the petition here in cardiff has already had almost 5,000 signatures. a lot of petitions are focused on financial compensation, whether it's £300 here or £800 there. but we believe academic compensation

is much more beneficial. we don't believe in the long—run financial compensation will benefit students, and believe changes to exam feedback or essay deadlines benefits students much more. hence we believe educational compensation is much better. the union says senior lecturers could be £10,000 a year worse off under the proposed new scheme. universities uk, the body that represents institutions, says that they are making every effort to minimise the impact of industrial action on students, adding the changes proposed will make the pension scheme secure and sustainable, safeguarding the future of universities. currently, 14 days of protests are planned. but unless a deal can be reached soon, unions say more strike action stretching into the summer exam period is inevitable. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. in the wake of last

week's florida shooting, america's gun lobby — the nra — backs president trump's calls for armed staff in us schools. high stakes at chequers — theresa may and her senior ministers try to hammer out a deal over the government's approach to brexit. the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the uk economy grew less than previously thought n the last three months of 2017, according to revised figures from the office for national statistics. the british economy grew by 0.4% between october and december, below the initial estimate of 0.5%. it means in 2017 as a whole, the economy grew by 1.7% the weakest growth rate since 2012. barclays bank has revealed one off costs prompted it to lose £1.9 billion last year.

this includes an £127 million loss related to the collapse of construction firm carillion. but when these one off factors are stripped out, the bank's underlying profits actually rose to £3.5 billion, up 10%. today the bank also admitted that on average they pay their male employees 43.5% more than female workers. almost 700 of kfc's 900 uk outlets have now reopened following the chicken supply fiasco that began about a week ago, forcing many stores to shut their doors. however, the fast—food chain has not said how many are serving a full menu. the closures followed kfc‘s decision to switch suppliers from bidvest to dhl, which is using a single warehouse near rugby for deliveries nationwide. that was a little nugget of kfc information! continued... laughter is there more? i'm going to stop. let's talk about passenger numbers taking off at heathrow?

0h! laughter that's right — we've had full year figures from 2017 out from heathrow this morning — europe's biggest airport. passengers numbers grew 3.1% — meaning 78 million people passed through the airport and it sounds like they should have enjoyed their journey. the airport retained its position as europe's top—rated major airport for the third year running. pre—tax profit was down but revenue was up. i mentioned heathrow is europe's biggest airport — but this morning chief executive john holland—kaye has been warning that rivals could over take if the government does not "crack on" with expansion plans. here's what he said to me earlier. i asked him about the increased passenger numbers. the growth we have seen the issue has been from a number of markets, especially domestic markets, you routes to aberdeen and edinburgh —— new routes. significant growth in

domestic as liz and that is on top of the reduction in domestic routes —— in domestic passengers. we have also seen a growth in the americas and asia especially china and that reflects the way in which the world market is changing and we are increasing our look to the far east for growth in the world economy. brexit has not had a significant impact on our performance so far and the exchange rates have probably helped to boost the body must we have seen to the airport, up 10% la st have seen to the airport, up 10% last year, and that is a reminder of what a significant role heathrow plays as the uk's biggest airport, helping british exporters get to global markets. we have had a good year growth but our competitors paris, frankfurt, even amsterdam, they have been growing faster, and they have been growing faster, and they will overtake heathrow within they will overtake heathrow within the next five years, and that is a big warning sign as we plan our

future outside the eu, we need to make sure that the uk has a well—connected global hub airport and that is why it is vital that the government gets on with the vote to expand heathrow in the summer so we can deliver the new capacity for the uk as quickly as possible. that was the chief executive of heathrow. job cuts have been announced from centrica who own british gas. they had will be cutting —— they will be cutting 4000 jobs. play one of the big six, of course. —— they are one of the big six, of course. centrica and british gas also operate in north america and ireland but when theyissued north america and ireland but when they issued their profits this morning, profits down 17% and that doesn't sound very good. last year british gas lost

750,000 domestic customers that amounts to a fall of about 9%, with the company now left with 7.8 million uk domestic customers. one of the reason centrica has given for thejobs cuts is the proposed price cap. what is that? the government says some people are paying over the odds on their energy bills and there should be a limit on how much people have to pay, but this is proving controversial, and some have said this is not the way to help the market. earlier i spoke to jane lucy founder and ceo of the price comparison service labrador. she believes that a price cap would stop people from switching which being from a comparison service website she believes is the best way to get the best deal. in terms of getting the cheapest prices in the market, fixed tariffs

are likely to come up and you risk seeing more customer g which is not what the market needs. —— more customer nath rg. and now the markets? yes,. anglo—american did post healthy figures, and they have posted strong figures, and they have posted strong figures, one of the reasons they were down only come investors tour they had gained a lot of value already. —— thought by howard. investors have liked what they have heard from barclays, despite the £1.9 billion hole in their pocket, they have promised to double the dividend and shareholders see that asa sign dividend and shareholders see that as a sign of confidence from the bank in their future earnings. we are done? yes, i will be back in one

hour. in china, celebrations for the lunar new year are taking place. it's an opportunity for families to spend time together — and enjoy themselves. but in the province of hebei — not far from beijing — that enjoyment was for hardier souls only — as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. snaking through the mountains of northern china, for some people, this is their idea of fun. the world's longest glass suspension bridge has only been open a matter of weeks. this is the first time it welcomed guests for the lunar new year. spanning nearly 500 metres, with a vertical drop of more than 200 metres. it is supposed to represent a dragon flying through the valley. translation: it is like an adventure to me. you look down and you see such a beautiful landscape. translation: it is scary, very scary. it is too high for me. it is four metres wide and made of 1,077 glass panels. each one is only four centimetres thick.

the whole thing weighs 70 tonnes. it's designed to take up to 2,000 people at a time, but they only let 500 on, just to be safe. thousands turn up every day, even if the climb up can be a little arduous. fun for all of the family, but only the bravest dare look down. tim allman, bbc news. in the past few months, the battle against plastic has been brought into sharp focus, in part thanks to the television series blue planet ii. later today, annual waste statistics will be published. in recent years wales has outperformed the rest of the uk at recycling household waste. john maguire reports. lorry reversing beep it's bin day in bridgend, and on the curbside a rainbow of refuse. orange bags for cardboard, white for paper, brown for food. there are even bags for nappies — purple — and just two blue bags of non—recyclables collected

every other week. residents who transgress risk being fined, but locals here seem happy. good, yeah. good for the environment and everything, keeps everyone on their toes. very good, yeah. i've got a child that's eight as well and he finds it quite odd 'cos he automaticallyjust chucks everything in the bin butjust getting him used to it. once you're used to it, you're all right? yeah, it's fine then, yeah. bridgend council is achieving rates other parts of the uk dream of, reaching 74%. the recycling level in wales is 64% against a uk average of 44%. the pretty coastal village of aberporth is cutting down on single—use plastic, and has been awarded a special status by the environmental campaign group, surfers against sewage. at the local shop, the owner mike allen shows me around. milk bottles, glass milk bottles... they haven't banned plastics, they're offering alternatives — wooden clothes pegs, looseleaf tea, and even

a toothbrush made from bamboo. wooden toothbrushes. those are probably our second biggest seller, after the glass bottles of milk. they seem to have attracted people's attention. we have the option of the plastic then with those as well. there are around 150 dolphins living out in cardigan bay. the environment here is jealously guarded, and it was a concern about ocean plastics that inspired resident gail tudor to rally community support. you look at the beautiful beach, and you think, yeah, it looks pretty clean, but when you start going down and you see the stuff that's washed up, and plastic bags washed up in the seaweed, it's not all stuff left by holidaymakers or local people here. a lot of it is washed in. but it still needs to come out of the sea. the talk here is that cutting down on waste, especially plastic, can spread to the next village, the next county, the next country. plastics are under attack from people power. john maguire, bbc news, aberporth.

the american vice president is talking a week after the shooting, he's talking to the nra. the second lady of the united states, which you give karen another round of applause for everything she does for the country. it is great to be back, in 2018. the largest gathering of conservatives in america every single year. thank you all for being here. applause before i begin, we talk about the progress we made, and allow me to ta ke progress we made, and allow me to take a moment to address what i know is on all of our minds, this morning. the terrible attack that

claimed the lives of 17 americans and injured more last week in florida. in america we mourn with those who mourn angry with those who grieve in yesterday president trump andi grieve in yesterday president trump and i met with families and other stu d e nts and i met with families and other students and families reeling from the attack in florida. we also met in the white house with families from other communities who have experienced the same violence first—hand. as the president said we will never forget it. we prayed with them and we listened as they poured out their hearts. as the president said, no charge, no teacher, should ever be in danger in american school. —— an american school. applause earlier this week president trump

called on congress to strengthen background checks and we collected the department ofjustice to do so —— redirected. we will make the safety of our nation's schools and our students our top national priority. applause ican our top national priority. applause i can assure you of this, president trump and the entire administration will continue to take strong action to make our schools safe and to give law enforcement and our families the tools they need to deal with those struggling with dangerous mental illness. as we move forward we will continue to work and we will continue to work and we will continue with all of you to pray for god's grace and comfort for all the families impacted. by this terrible

attack. and we will pray for god's wisdom that all of us in positions of authority might find a way to come together with american solutions to confront and end this evil in our time. so thank you. it is great to be back. i stand here with profound gratitude to say that because of all of you, because of the conservative majorities in congress that you helped elect, and because of the strong leadership of the president you put in the white house, 2017 was the most consequential year in the history of the conservative movement. we are

going to leave that conference in maryland where the vice president said that the top priority for him was the safety of schools and stu d e nts was the safety of schools and students in the us. you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. in the wake of last week's florida shooting, america's gun lobby — the nra — backs president trump's calls for armed staff in us schools. weighs around and protect so much with armed security while we drop our kids off at school that our so—called gun free zones that are wide open targets for any crazy madman bent on evil to come their first. —— we surround and protect. anyone for chequers? theresa may and her senior ministers draught out an agreement over over the way forward for the brexit negotiations. the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade.

# yo theresa may, where's the money for grenfell? # what, you thought we just forgot about grenfell? downing street reacts to that blistering political attack from grime artist stormzy — at last night's brit awards. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. almost at the end of the winter olympics. edging towards the end of the games but team gb are on track to reach their target of five medals, the one to watch is the women's curlers tomorrow, all of that and more from pyeongchang coming up. thank you. we will be feeling a bit blue i the look of - the soon and 3 an and of next and some snow next ¥§£:=z—ei:l — .. — — ,,... —

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that. their solution is to make you, all of you, less free. they want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of school security, the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of america's mental—health system. and even the unbelievable failure of the fbi. we surround and protect so much with armed security while we drop our kids off at school that our so—called gun free zones that are wide open targets for any crazy madman bent on evil to come their —— there first. in every community in america, school districts, ptas, teaching unions, local law enforcement, mums and dads, they all must come together to implement the

very best strategy to harden their schools, including effective, trained, armed security that will absolutely protect every innocent child in this country. our correspondent gary o'donghue is in maryland. we will talk to him in the next few minutes on afternoon live. crucial, decisive, momentous, urgent — pick any of those words and they would probably apply to what's going on at the prime minister's country retreat right now. theresa may is surrounded by her closest ministers at a meeting of the brexit inner—cabinet. she wants unity — and a common approach to britain's negotiating position with the eu. but those words — unity, conservative, and europe very rarely appear in the same sentence. theresa may has a long day ahead of her — already we're being told the meeting could go well into tonight. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. the awayday starts here, the prime minister leaving downing street and heading 40 miles north. cabinet

ministers began arriving shortly after lunchtime to be official country residence of the british prime minister since 1921. this is checkers in the buckinghamshire countryside and its hosting a meeting of the government's most seniorfigures involved in making brexit happen. a chance for them to gaze towards the horizon and work out what they see our long—term relationship with eu looking like. questions to the secretary of state for international development. back at westminster brexit dominates everything. liam fox, whose in today's meeting faced questions this morning as did the prime minister's de facto deputy who try to talk things down. this is one meeting of a whole number of meetings of cabinet ministers to talk through how we approach the forthcoming negotiations. obviously everybody brings their particular department all interests to the table. but if you look at what happened back

before the december european summit there was a lot of speculation that there was a lot of speculation that the cabinet would not reach agreement. we all agreed a position the prime minister took to brussels and gota the prime minister took to brussels and got a very successful outcome and got a very successful outcome and all others in the cabinet are determined to get the best possible dealfor determined to get the best possible deal for every determined to get the best possible dealfor every part of determined to get the best possible deal for every part of the united kingdom. but there are continuing rows at westminster about precisely how long the transition period immediately after brexit next year should be. and crucially, are differences around the cabinet table about what the uk's long—term relationship with the eu after brexit should look like. those differences will not melt away easily and the prime minister has to keep brexit dear backbenchers onside. —— brexiteer. keep brexit dear backbenchers onside. -- brexiteer. brexit cabinet fort the last election on a ma nifesto fort the last election on a manifesto of leaving the european union and that's what they are about, and the structure of how to do that and the prime minister enunciated at the dispatch box yesterday the main principles about taking back control of our laws, over our money not being decided by

the european courts, and the european union. labour has faced questions over its lack of clarity about what it wants but now says. we have been evolving and deepening our policy over recent months. the key issue for us is to say to the government you've got to have the transition period, the two years in the customs union and single market, but also look at the potential of a customs union in the long—term. we think europe would be open to that. the cameras will not get much closer to chequers than this today. spectacular views, yes, but don't expect spectacular political theatre. the process of negotiating brexit at home and abroad is a slow and grinding one. chris mason, bbc news. our political correspondent alex forsyth is at chequers. i know what it's like to stand outside a building and talk for hours when they are not telling you about what is going on inside. i'm showing you how it's done as we speak, simon. i'm still here, they are still in there and no white smoke so far but to be fair we

didn't expect it this early. this was always going to be a long meeting because putting it bluntly there is quite to discuss. as chris mentioned, the point of this high—level gathering in the countryside is to is to try to put flesh on the bones of what the uk's relationship with the eu is going to look like in the long—term, beyond the so—called implementation or transition period. the tricky point of that will come down to trade. the primers has been clear that the uk is going to leave the customs union, leave the single market. but the questions are around how closely aligned it might remain beyond that, and what trade—offs the uk is willing to make it to retain its sovereignty be from brexit in return for access to those markets. and on those points, fairly technical points, but there is disagreement around the cabinet table and also in the wider conservative party. what theresa may today will try and achieve is some sort of compromise among her senior ministers back and get the backing of the party that

she can then take to brussels. so, that's going to be the difficult bit, isn't it? we are already hearing from brussels they do not like what they hear now and that's before any agreement. precisely. whatever is negotiated today will only be the starting point for the talks. there are levels to these negotiations. theresa may must negotiate with her own party first if you like and then parliament and then onto the eu 27 countries. we have heard from brussels the approach muted so far, different types of alignment for different sectors of the economy, they are not that happy with that because they have said yet again that the uk cannot be in a position to cherry pick, to have the best bits of the european union without accepting the rules, regulations and obligations that come with it. i think what we can take away from this is really things are progressing as they have been, and that is pretty difficult negotiations around a hugely complex issue. what we expected here today issue. what we expected here today is perhaps no real detail about what

has or has not been agreed because the prime minister has been clear she doesn't want to conduct this negotiation in public and it isn't in your best interests to reveal all your cards but we expect a bit more flesh on the bones of next week the prime minister is expected to make a speech where she will lay out more detail on her vision, hopefully to a nswer detail on her vision, hopefully to answer the call for clarity and has been growing, but first she needs to get her top team to agreed to compromise. thank you, alex forsyth. more on the debate on gun control in the united states, conference in maryland has heard from the head of the nra in the last hour. gary o'donoghue is in maryland. you can clearly see the polarising of this debate after that school shooting last week. yeah. a real doubling down by the nra chief here today on his position. he spent a lot of his speech attacking the media, attacking what he called european

style socialism, which he said was taking over the united states and threatening the most basic of american god—given freedom is, in which he includes the right to own a gun. interestingly, he also echoed some of donald trump's tweets this morning saying that schools needed much more by way of armoured protection, more guns in schools and not a guns in schools. and he said effectively, this is their battle cry, always there battle cry, what it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun isa it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. now, he is, by the look of it, prepared to compromise in some other areas. things like the increased background checks, not so much increased background checks but tightening up the system of registers that currently is meant to stop people with a felony, or with some other restriction from getting a gun. he

said they have been calling for that for a long time. he also talked about the fact that people who are mentally incompetent, as he put it, shouldn't be able to have a gun either. certainly no talk about raising the age at which you can buy a gun. and any talk about banning things like the ar—15 assault rifle, he didn't mention it specifically, but the nra would be implacably opposed to that. the american vice president mike pence has been talking in the last few minutes. as the president has said, no child, no teacher should ever be in danger in an american school. applause earlier this week president trump called on congress to strengthen background checks and two days ago we directed the department of justice to expedite the regulation of bob stocks. later this week when the president meets with the nation's governors in our nation's

capital, we will make the safety of our nation's schools and our students are our top national priority. applause ican applause i can assure you all of this. president trump and our entire administration will continue to take strong action to make our schools safe, and to give law enforcement and our families the tools they need to deal with those struggling with dangerous mental illness. applause so as we move forward we will continue to work, and we will continue to work, and we will continue with all of you to pray for god's grace and comfort for all the families impacted by this terrible attack. and we will pray for god's wisdom that all of us in positions of authority might find a way to come together with american solutions to confront and end this

evil in ourtime. while all this is going on and you've got the students involved in last week's attack on the march. is there a sense that that is gaining traction, if you like, within the political argument?i traction, if you like, within the political argument? i think it's a very interesting phenomenon and this time around, and it is perhaps one thing that distinguishes it from the sort of pattern of how these things have played out in the past, that really the students and the young people's activities over the last week have maintained this right at the top of the agenda. by now, and i was in las vegas for the shooting there, america's worst mass shooting. by a week later that really had disappeared really from the news agenda largely. but this is still right up there. i think that isa still right up there. i think that is a testament, if you like, to the work those students and teachers

have done and the passion and the articulate way in which they have made their case. it looks as if they are planning to continue to do that. they've got some money. people have been giving them money. they went to tallahassee yesterday, the florida state capitol. and we know they are planning a big march in washington in the middle of next month. so there is something to this and we will see whether it is a momentum that can carry on. gary o'donoghue, thank you very much. you are watching afternoon live, these are the headlines. the national rifle association backs president trump's call for armed staff in us schools. high stakes at chequers, theresa may and senior ministers arrived to try and senior ministers arrived to try and hammer outa and senior ministers arrived to try and hammer out a deal over the government's approach to brexit. the number of eu citizens leaving the uk is at its highest for a decade. and in sport, another british medal hope out of the live pigs as team gb's meant miss out on a place in

the semifinals of the curling in pyeongchang. the silver medallist from four years ago lost 9—5 to switzerland in their play—off match. closer to home nathan hughes will start at number eight for england for this weekend's six nations clash with scotland replacing the injured sam simmonds with propjoe marler on the bench. and can celtic make it the bench. and can celtic make it the last 16 of the europa league for the last 16 of the europa league for the first time in 14 years? they face zenit st petersburg this evening. i will have more on those stories on afternoon live at 4:30pm. united nations security council will today consider a resolution calling for a ceasefire in syria. it comes as government forces in the country continue their intense bombardment of the rebel enclave of eastern ghouta, on the outskirts of damascus. the un have described the enclave as "hell on earth", and in the last few days hundreds of civilians, including many children, have been killed there. a warning, this report from paul adams does include some distressing images. a massacre, hell on earth, a monstrous campaign of annihilation.

the world is running out of ways to describe what's happening in eastern ghouta, but the bombs are still falling and the toll is dreadful. and medicalfacilities are not being spared. this children's hospital now wrecked. translation: the clinical care and surgery unit is out, the incubator unit is out, the paediatric section is out. all the departments of the hospital are out of service, the destruction is total. elsewhere, medical staff tried desperately to keep up with hundreds of casualties. the siege of eastern ghouta began five years ago. the situation was intolerable long before this terrible week. translation: these are hopeless cases, there's nothing we can do to save them. these victims have suffered severe

head and brain injuries. this one has stopped breathing. i'm worried about this boy's breathing, too, both need intensive care but we cannot operate because the bombing is relentless. translation: where are the arabs? where are the muslims? do we have to appeal to israel instead to help us? shame on you, this isjust a little boy who wants freedom. why are you doing this? i don't know what to do. can any of this be stopped through diplomacy? the un wants a ceasefire and there's a meeting at the security council this afternoon, but in geneva its envoy for syria doesn't sound optimistic. comment on whether you think there will be a deal today on a ceasefire resolution? on the security council i hope it

will. i hope it will, but it is uphill. it is very urgent. if there isn't one, what happens? we will have to push for it to take place as soon as possible because there is no alternative to a ceasefire and humanitarian access. russia says the real blame lies with terrorists firing out of ghouta into the capital. jihadi fighters, including some connected with al-qaeda, have been active in the area since the siege began. this for president assad is about securing damascus — there's no immediate sign of him stopping. sir mark lyall grant previously served as the uk's permanent representative to the un and hejoins me in the studio. we expect in the next hour the un to talk about this. we have been here before. how hopeful are you that a ceasefire can be called for here?i hope a ceasefire will be great and

the resolution adopted unanimously this afternoon but i don't think that's guaranteed. there is still a possibility that russia will veto the resolution, and if they do so then clearly nothing will happen on then clearly nothing will happen on the ground. at i think there is an additional risk, and that is that evenif additional risk, and that is that even if the resolution is adopted, previous resolutions have been adopted calling for ceasefires, and indeed ceasefires have held for one or two days but then the fighting has continued, and this particular resolution, the latest draft, does say that action can continue against un designated groups, and that means terrorist groups, such as al—nusra, which is the al-qaeda offshoot in syria, but also daesh, which is so called islamic state. now, given that assad claims the opposition in eastern ghouta is supported by, or even consists of some of these terrorist groups, will this resolution allow him to continue to make that claim and continue the bombardment? the difficulty with

that playing with words, which is what many people will see that as, having seen the pictures we are looking at now, people sitting at home saying, surely it cannot be beyond the wit of man for this to be stopped? it would appear the answer is no. the un, because one country can is no. the un, because one country ca n veto is no. the un, because one country can veto the resolution, is in effect powerless will stop well, it can be stopped and russia has the power to stop it and we must put the blame where it properly lies, which is with the assad regime and with the russian government.“ is with the assad regime and with the russian government. if president putin wanted to stop the bombardment of eastern ghouta he could make that happen because russia has that dominant position now in syria. so if he vetoes this resolution, or if the resolution is adopted but not implemented, i think the blame must lie with president putin. the doctor who we spoke to on bbc news yesterday morning, he said he felt while this was going on around him that this has been forgotten by the west, by the un, by all the

authorities. it is hard to argue against that when he sees nobody coming in to stop this. against that when he sees nobody coming in to stop thisi against that when he sees nobody coming in to stop this. i don't think that's fair. multiple efforts have been made by the west, by the united states, by the uk and other allies over the last seven years. whilst i was in new york there were five resolutions we put forward vetoed by russia, which could have put an end to this bloodshed well before hundreds of thousands of civilians were being killed. but if russia insists on protecting the assad regime, protecting its own defence assets in the country, it is true there is very little the international community can do about that. are you optimistic at all? i'm not optimistic. i hope russia will allow this resolution to pass and it may lead to a least a short—term ceasefire, which will allow some of the medical evacuations of the 700 civilians who need urgent medical action, maybe some humanitarian aid can come in and maybe the un can build on this ceasefire to start really su bsta ntive

build on this ceasefire to start really substantive political settlements, which is badly required. i can't say i'm optimistic. we have been here before, resolutions have been adopted in 2014 and 2016 similar tip today's and it hasn't lead to lasting peace in the region. two, thank you for coming in. i want to bring you breaking news from west midlands police. they say a two—year—old boy is dead and his brother who is six years old is critically ill in hospital after a hit and critically ill in hospital after a hitand run critically ill in hospital after a hit and run in coventry. that news has come in in the last minute from west midlands police, a two—year—old boy dead and his brother who is six yea rs old boy dead and his brother who is six years old critically ill in hospital after a hit and run years old critically ill in hospital aftera hitand run in years old critically ill in hospital after a hit and run in coventry. we will bring you more on that as we get it. i also want to bring you news from the old bailey, a couple who met on an internet dating site have been jailed for planning and who met on an internet dating site have beenjailed for planning and is inspired bomb attack in the uk, an asylu m inspired bomb attack in the uk, an asylum seeker from sudan inspired bomb attack in the uk, an asylum seekerfrom sudan has been given a life term and told he must

serve a given a life term and told he must servea minimum given a life term and told he must serve a minimum of 14 years. and a pharmacist and a divorced mother of two has been jailed pharmacist and a divorced mother of two has beenjailed for 12 pharmacist and a divorced mother of two has been jailed for 12 years with an extended life sentence of five years. they were convicted last month, they were said to have become bound by an emotional attachment and extremist ideology. this is the scene at the old bailey and we are awaiting a news conference. our correspondentjune awaiting a news conference. our correspondent june kelly awaiting a news conference. our correspondentjune kelly is in court and will come and tell us exactly what has happened. those two has been sentenced after the terrorist convictions. you're watching afternoon live. the number of european union nationals leaving the uk is at its highest level for a decade. new figures show that 130,000 eu nationals emigrated in the year to last september. earlier i spoke to our home affairs correspondent danny shaw about why these latest figures are so signficant. they appear to confirm what evidence has suggested up until now, anecdotal evidence has suggested,

that there is an affect from brexit, from the referendum, in that the number of eu nationals coming to live here is in decline and those who are emigrating is rising. if you look at the figures for the number of people who are leaving the uk, eu nationals, it was 130,000 in the 12 months to september last year. is the highest number since 2008, and it has been steadily going up since the referendum in june it has been steadily going up since the referendum injune 2016. if you look at the number of arrivals that was 220,000, which is the highest numberfor several was 220,000, which is the highest number for several years, and that suggests that although there are still considerable number of people coming in, it is beginning to slow down. there was particular slowdown in terms of people from poland, for example, who are looking for work. just 8000, which is the lowest number since at least 2007. so, it appears that for whatever reason britain is becoming a less attractive place for eu nationals to

come here. looking at the overall breaking figure, this is eu migration and migration from outside europe, and the net migration to get, the difference between people coming and people departing, the number was 244,000, which is well above the controversial target set by the government of less than 100,000. that suggests more people are coming here from outside the eu. yes, those numbers are going up and we have to be careful about those numbers because they do fluctuate from one year to the next so we cannot draw too many conclusions. it is something to do with a rise in the number of international students. it may be because some companies and recruiters are looking beyond europe to fill the vacancies which some people are now saying are starting to arise in the uk because of brexit. danny shaw talking to me a little earlier. let's get a full look at the weather. the united states, i

recognise the continent. those temperatures look rather strange. benighted states has had a massive temperature contrast for the last week, bitterly cold in the north—west with severe blizzards around, lots of heavy snow, but for the south—east quadrant, florida up towards the north—east, record—breaking temperatures, in florida in miami mid to low 30 celsius. at the most stunning point of this is new york reaching 26 degrees, 79 fahrenheit yesterday making that the warmest ever february day. and what has brought that about? warm winds from the tropics coming up warm winds from the tropics coming up from the caribbean northwards, a big area of high pressured to the north—west has been blocking the heat. but this is going to change dramatically tomorrow, looking at about 9 degrees. it is a short lived very hot spell. you have been warning us for days about this. it has turned today much, much colder.

it is set to turn a lot colder, in fa ct, it is set to turn a lot colder, in fact, simon. next week there is a massive area of high pressure blocking area of high—pressure steering weather systems in the atla ntic steering weather systems in the atlantic and the high pressure in the northern is hemisphere spins clockwise, dragging airfrom siberia, western russia across the european continent on to our shores as well, but notjust for us. look how far south the blue goes, the north of spain, italy, corsica, sardinia, greece, and into the bosporus. if you are planning on a trip to the mediterranean in the next few days you could be disappointed, temperatures particularly in italy and greece and big areas of high pressure steering low— pressure big areas of high pressure steering low—pressure systems into the mediterranean so it could be wet and windy and on the cool side and significant snow on higher ground. could be quite disappointing for those expecting an early spring break. you'd better tell us what is in store for us in the next couple of days. cold, set to turn much colder. good afternoon to you at home. this is the headline for the week, turning

colder from sunday onwards into next week, bitterly cold if you add on the winds, temperatures well below seasonal average, widespread frosts expected. for many of us we will have sunshine but there is snow in the forecast into next week so stay tuned to the forecast to see where the snow will be. as we head into the overnight period we are going to lose a lot of cloud, widespread clear skies, really cold, lose a lot of cloud, widespread clearskies, really cold, colder than last night with quite a hard frost expected particularly through central and northern areas, —4 and minus five celsius, so this going to bea minus five celsius, so this going to be a really cold start to tomorrow. a nice crisp bright one. they should be quite a good amount of sunshine. sylhet to today, quite a bit of cloud we chasing around, maybe central and north eastern parts of england into northern ireland once again. if you get the sunshine, not bad at all, temperatures 4—7dc but more disappointing where you hold on to the cloud. as we head into the weekend, that is the big area of high pressure continuing to build. is going to bring fairly brisk south—easterly winds dragging the

colder air into our shores faster, and it's also going to add a significant chill, wind—chill, as well. as we head into the weekend the trend is for us to see more in the trend is for us to see more in the way of sunshine and less cloud. temperatures are going to follow a further so we are down to 4—6d, quite widespread on saturday, despite the sunshine. it will be quite pleasant. significant frost saturday night fostered a touch colder on sunday and monday and tuesday temperatures will struggle to get above freezing for many. they will be sunshine but also some snow in the forecast too. next week it is going to be one of those days where you really need to wrap up well heading out, it is going to be a noticeable cold snap. simon. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. america's gun lobby — the national rifle association — backs president trump's call

for armed staff in us schools to help put an end to school shootings in america. crucial brexit talks are getting under way at chequers. home, where theresa may will be focused on getting her cabinet to agree a united deal over the way to proceed with brexit negotiations. meanwhile the number of european union citizens leaving the uk is at its highest level for a decade. around 130,000 people left last year — which is thought to be partly because of brexit. a couple who met online have been handed jail sentences for conspiring to cause a terrorist attack. the two—year—old boy has been killed and his brother is critically ill in hospital after hit and run in

coventry. now the sport with holly, the winter olympics are closing and we need to analyse our appearance. at times it has felt that it was not the most successful games for team gb, the injury to katie ormerod before the games even began and italy's christie crashing out again and again. but that has been plenty to celebrate and team gb are just one medalfrom reaching the magic numberfive. one medalfrom reaching the magic number five. that was their target when the squad went to pyeongchang. and tomorrow britain's main hopes of adding that fifth medal will be in the ring with eve muirhead, she will be hoping to literally glide the tea m be hoping to literally glide the team to gold in the women's curling. let's hope they don't go the same way as the men. more from pyeongchang where another british athlete has been making history in the slalom. david ornstein has the

latest. commentator: from great britain and northern ireland, dave "the rocket" ryding. at the gateway to olympic glory. from a dry ski slope in lancashire to the real stuff in south korea, dave ryding has followed an unconventional path, but now finds himself battling against the world's best. the rocket starts to get acceleration on the flat. ryding's final run here propelled him to a ninth place finish — britain's best olympic alpine skiing result in 30 years. that's a superb performance by dave ryding, but it won't quite be enough to get him on the podium, and britain's wait for another medal at these games goes on. i'm 31, but still life in the old dog yet, and it motivates me for another four years and i know i can improve on that still. curling has become one of the country's main sources of olympic success — the men taking silver in sochi four years ago. this, however, is a new team and they leave empty—handed,

after an agonising defeat by switzerland. leading 5—4 with just two ends to go and a semifinals place at stake, the brits capitulated to lose 9—5. we had a good game today, but it wasn't to be, sadly. a couple of things didn't go our way and a couple of half shots and that's all it takes against a team as good as them. meanwhile there was confirmation today that the russian mixed doubles pair of alexander krushelnitskiy and his wife anastasia bryzgalova have been stripped of their curling bronze medal after krushelnitskiy was found guilty of doping. in the women's ice hockey there was incredible drama as the united states and canada went to a sudden—death shoot out. commentator: saved, the usa win gold. having claimed each of the last four titles, canada were left devastated as the usa celebrated a famous victory. david ornstein, bbc news, pyeongchang. staying with the winter olympics,

there was more drama on the ice as the womens‘ 1,000 metres short track skating final was won by the dutchwoman suzanne schulting — with two south koreans crashing on the final lap in front of their home fans. that was the event elise christie was disqualified from. but there is a small, positive note for her — her boyfriend sandor shaolin liu has just won gold for hungary in the men's short track skate 5,000 metres relay final. british gymnasts have sacked the men's coach after allegations of misconduct. he was named the 2016 coach of the year, he was suspended last november after an investigation into his behaviour. british gymnasts discs is citing irreconcilable differences for the decision. europa league action tonight as arsenal

ta ke league action tonight as arsenal take a 3—0 lead to sweden. celtic face a tougher challenge as they have a slender 1—0 lead, they will play zenit st petersburg kick—off is just under one hour's time. that's all the sport now, more sport for you in the next hour. now on afternoon live let's go nationwide and see what's happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. from cambridge we're joined by janine machin, where northamptonshire county council has been warned by its auditors that it should not sign off its budget as it may be breaking the law. we'll be talking about that in just a moment. and in glasgow, sally magnusson is here with news of pickets on university campuses as staff begin a strike over pensions. first to cambridge. janine... one mp said no council in living memory has been in as bad a position as northamptonshire county council. what is going on? there have been

protests there today. the mbe is peter bogie mp for wellingborough. the council is in a mess, it's peter bogie mp for wellingborough. the council is in a mess, its run out of money. whose fault is it and what does it mean for the county. this is why there have been protests today. people are genuinely worried. to give you an idea of how bad things are the government has sent in inspectors to investigate claims of mismanagement. av weeks ago the council got a notice banning all new spending until april, they are the only council to do that in 20 years. a couple of days ago auditors told them the plans the next‘s budget might not be lawful because the badgers don't add up so they might have to go back to the drawing board. all mps are calling for the leadership there to go and people we re leadership there to go and people were angry about the prospect of more cuts and about the idea of

non—elected government commission is coming in to take over. why does the council say then that there is this mess? it's complicated. the problems started yea rs mess? it's complicated. the problems started years ago, northamptonshire once bragged that they had the lowest council tax in the country and didn't put it up for a long time, the downside was that when austerity had they had no reserves to fall back on. they admit it was short—sighted but say they were doing what the government wanted them to do. the other big factor is that they have genuinely seen a big rise in the number of adults and children needing care. they say the government refused to recognise this pressure properly. they have been fighting for what they call federal funding fora fighting for what they call federal funding for a long time, their leader has practically been on bended knee but nothing has materialised. some decisions are questionable, the library still runs things like subsidised bus services

in ruralareas, things like subsidised bus services in rural areas, the public wants them that the council cannot afford to run the show has cut them. the council has also built itself a new £53 million headquarters, they said it would save them money because they could close a dozen or so other buildings and expensive leases, but now they are in the position where they are trying to sell their headquarters and lease it back to make ends meet. like selling your car to pay your rent. the money will soon run out, so what happens then? where this becomes an issue for all of us is that other councils, both conservative and labour run, say that while northamptonshire might be the first in this mess, unless the government releases more funding in next years, more councils will go bust. tory mps in the counties that this isn't about money, this is about the way is being spent. thank you for that, more on look east. let's go to glasgow, a uk strike by

lecturers. what is happening. nine lecturers. what is happening. nine lecturers are taking part in the strike, two universities, edinburgh and stirling, are taking action next week for what they call timetabling reasons. it seems to have been well supported with big rallies in central glasgow and dundee. the issue is the same across the uk, concerned over the impact of a move away from a guaranteed pension, which universities uk say is simply not affordable. university and couege not affordable. university and college union scotland argues that it isn'tjust college union scotland argues that it isn't just about what lecturers will lose now, an average of £10,000 a year, they estimate, but the impact on the in the future. i think you can see from the number of people in the picket line is that this is really important to members, we've worked hard and supported our stu d e nts we've worked hard and supported our students but the guaranteed pension is part of the agreement, week can

ta ke is part of the agreement, week can take that well earned retirement and then plan for it and enjoy that retirement, having worked hard in higher education over the years. sally, there was a time when a strike by lecturers would have brought student parties around the country. things have changed, the stu d e nts country. things have changed, the students say, we want some of our tuition fees back, is that different north of the border because they don't pay tuition fees in terms of how they are supporting this action? it's an interesting question but it is hard to say whether the fact that scottish diddums don't pay tuition fees affects this. they still have to find considerable living costs of course. we spoke to dozens of students today. we found a great deal of support for lecturers, although it wasn't universal and

there was ambivalence and some students were definitely worried about the impact on their studies. sally, thank you very much. and jenin. to see more on any of those stories, access them via the bbc i play. we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 430 here on afternoon live. new research shows anti—depressa nts are effective and that many more people could benefit from taking them. the study, in the medicaljournal, the lancet, found 21 common anti—depressants were more effective than placebos at reducing symptoms of acute depression. here's our health correspondent james gallagher. how did the chicken cross the road? comedian christian talbot makes a career out of making people laugh. ..to feel safe. but off the stage he takes antidepressants in order to get from one day to the next.

it did feel literally like a weight off my shoulders. i was less anxious. and i sort of feltjust more even, you know, not happy, but even. antidepressants are some of our most commonly—used drugs. 64 million prescriptions were handed out in england in 2016 and, yet, they are the source of huge debate. so many people take antidepressants that it seems remarkable there could be serious questions about whether they work, but some trials have hinted they have no affect, and for the fiercest critics, antidepressants are snake oil. but scientists think they have finally answered the question in a huge study. they analysed more than 500 clinical trials, including previously unpublished data held by drug companies. we found that all the most commonly prescribed antidepressants work

for major depression and for people with moderate to severe depression and also we found that some of them are more effective than others, or better tolerated than others. the study assessed whether these drugs are effective in the short term. more work is under way to see how long any benefits last. however, there are still patients that don't respond to any form of treatment. the patient can be reassured that if they need antidepressants and they take antidepressants they are doing the right thing, but we can move on to the new most important questions, which is what we do with patients who don't respond to all available antidepressants. the study included 21 drugs, yet some patients do not respond to any of them. how can we help them? another concern is too few people with depression get treatment. researchers estimate at least one million more people in the uk would benefit from therapies including antidepressants. james gallagher, bbc news. this is afternoon live. more now on

the sentencing of a couple convicted last month of planning acts of terrorism. they were found guilty of planning and isis style attack on the uk. we have been following the case at the old bailey. they have been sentenced. that's right, this couple met on a muslim dating site, munir targeted this woman because she was a pharmacist and he needed her help. thejudge ruled that she was a pharmacist and he needed her help. the judge ruled that she was not a victim, she knew what you was not a victim, she knew what you was getting involved in. this couple we re was getting involved in. this couple were convicted and came back today for sentencing. thejudge were convicted and came back today for sentencing. the judge said that munir mohammed posed a serious risk

to the public and they had both showed a greater interest in isis ideology. but one point rowaida el—hassan had baked rowaida el—hassan had baked rowaida el—hassan to send her more —— had begged him to send more information about terrorism. the sentencing reflects the severity of the sentences for which munir mohammed and rowaida el— hassan sentences for which munir mohammed and rowaida el—hassan have been convicted. they were dangerous and calculating individuals intent on causing harm to our communities. our communications did not reveal the full extent of their plans, only they knew their full intentions clearly. nevertheless they were clearly. nevertheless they were clearly conspiring to conduct up and attack somewhere in the uk. tha nkfully attack somewhere in the uk. thankfully the north—east counterterrorism unit working alongside dubbed jubilees and the east midlands special operations unit could intervene before their plans became reality. it is vital we

continue to work with our partners and the public and to act at an early stage about concerns of any suspicious activity or behaviour. i would urge the public to report any such activity as soon as possible, as doing so could save lives. the public may report its concerns by hotline, or they concede further information on the uk government website. in an emergency, the public should always dial 999. munir mohammed was given a life term and told he must serve a minimum of 14 yea rs. told he must serve a minimum of 14 years. rowaida el—hassan was given a jail term of 12 years and an extended licence period of five yea rs. extended licence period of five years. munir mohammed is an asylum seeker. he came here from saddam. rowaida el—hassan is a divorced mother of two and also has a connection with sudan. the court heard that her two small children

have gone back there to live with family members. june kelly, at the old bailey, thank you very much. just to update you on the breaking news, two—year—old boy has been killed and his brother, aged six, is critically ill after a hit and run in coventry. just getting more detail on that. the boys were both taken to hospital with life—threatening injuries, the two—year—old died in hospital, the six—year—old remains in critical condition, a black ford focus was found abandoned a short time after the crash. this happened in mcdonald in stoke. a man and a woman aged 41 have been arrested. police are still trying to establish how the tragic incident happened. a parent's worst nightmare, impossible to imagine their grief, although specialist officers will support them as the investigation continues, say the police. the business news in a

moment, first the headlines on afternoon live. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. passenger numbers are up and expansion must be prepared for take off — that's the announcement from europes busiest airport this morning as heathrow posted full year figures. the number of customers passing through the airport grew 3.1% to £78 million. and chief executivejohn holland—kaye told the government to "crack on" with heathrow expansion calling for a vote in parliament before the summer. the head of ford's us operations, raj nair, is leaving the company immediately following an internal investigation into inappropriate behaviour towards colleagues. ford did not specify why the investigation was started nor what it uncovered. mr nair said he "sincerely" regrets certain behaviour. almost 700 of kfc's 900 uk outlets have now reopened following the chicken supply fiasco that began about a week ago, forcing many stores to shut their doors. however, the fast—food chain has not said how many are serving a full menu.

the closures followed kfc‘s decision to switch suppliers from bidvest to dhl. ba rclays, a barclays, a £1.9 million hole in their accounts, and yet the share price goes up. the irony of the markets. the ftse overall is down to date, with some bright spots, but his was one, up at over 5% at one point. overall, when they brought in all their figures point. overall, when they brought in all theirfigures from point. overall, when they brought in all their figures from last, point. overall, when they brought in all theirfigures from last, they had a £1.9 billion hole in their pockets. that was due to some big one—off costs, including a 2.5 billion charge related to the sale of ba rclays africa billion charge related to the sale of barclays africa group. a £900 million hole regarding to changes in us tax law and loans that will go unpaid. but when you look at the

underlying profits if we take away those costs, they were up 10%, three and a half billion pounds, this is what investors are focusing on. and parties promised to double their dividends. that given investors confidence that the bank is confident in its future earnings. another bright spot was sent to go, one of the big six energy companies. they have just announced that 4000 jobs will go and they are losing customers and you call it a bright point! this is the way investors interpret things. it doesn't sound good for the group but on the markets they are looking ahead and it is what centrica is doing to the problems, the legacies that have caused them to lose customers, they will cutjobs and caused them to lose customers, they will cut jobs and make caused them to lose customers, they will cutjobs and make savings and investors will think by going forward , investors will think by going forward, this company will turn

things around. now the uk economy grew by less than we thought. when the office for national statistics give the figures we get the first estimate and then a second run and then a finalfigure. estimate and then a second run and then a final figure. at one point we we re then a final figure. at one point we were told that they reckoned gdp grew by 4%, the first estimate had been no .5%, so that had come down and it meant older video uk growth was 1.7%. and it meant older video uk growth was1.7%. our and it meant older video uk growth was 1.7%. our weakest growth since 2012. george godber is fund manager at polar capital. thank you for joining us. any reaction to those cut in growth figures? know, people are well aware as to what is the driver between the uk being the fastest growing economy to the most sluggish and it won't change, we know the reasons about, and it won't change until we get clarity around brexiteer. yet the uk is performing

better than the doomsday has adjusted, growth is good and we are still a global and trading nation. the numbers are not as bad as some feared. let's talk about barclays, we mentioned the figures and the reasons behind them, they also appointed today on the gender pay gap, they said female employees are earning 40% less than male employees. this relates to the investment bank division, barclays international, at the uk retail bank women earn 40% left about barclays services the holding company its 29% less. the government has asked big businesses to report their gender pay businesses to report their gender pgy gaps. businesses to report their gender pay gaps. while those figures something the markets look at, or react something the markets look at, or rea ct to ? something the markets look at, or react to? it's difficult to say there's been any evidence of it. i think we must look at it in two ways. firstly if there are examples ofa ways. firstly if there are examples of a like job with the gender pay gap people expect that sorted

immediately, not at some point in the fridge. that's an imperative, we'd all want that. the bigger long—term structural issue, whether or women long—term structural issue, whether orwomen in long—term structural issue, whether or women in lower paid jobs, the country and the economy needs to deal with that. it is imperative and assorted. this will be a story we won't be talking about in a couple of years' time, hopefully because it will have been fixed. and sent headlines of 4000 job cuts and profits down and yet the share prices rise, why do investors have confidence in them. markets look forward , confidence in them. markets look forward, not back. shares in centrica have been awful in the last two years. it is a reflection of what has gone on and the company. they've been backed into a corner, forced to make huge cuts to the business to survive. this is what they have come outwith business to survive. this is what they have come out with today and they have come out with today and the market is saying, at least that isa the market is saying, at least that is a credible plan for this business to survive. unfortunately for any

utility business, they are in a difficult position, it is politically not acceptable for them to make the returns they need, not out yet but centrica are making a good effort to get out of this. george godber, of polar capital, thank you. let's look at the markets. the owner of ba and some other spanish airlines, and william hill, they are giving the results tomorrow so that is what will be talking about tomorrow. see you tomorrow. i wouldn't be in! o. abby nice weekend. downing street has insisted theresa may is committed to supporting people affected by the g re nfell tower supporting people affected by the grenfell tower tragedy after grime artist stormzy criticised at the brit awards last night. # your, theresa may, where's the money for grenfell his performance followed a triumphant night for him

taking them to prizes for best british male and best british album. they need to fix the roof. that's it from afternoon live today. next, the news at five with hugh. his stuff with the weather. for why we've been talking about the potential of cold air pushing in from the east, that is certainly developing now, the blue colours indicate that cold air pouring out of siberia, western russia spreading across much of europe and reading our shores, particularly as we reach the end of the weekend and into next week, you will notice it will be bitterly cold, widespread morning frost, even the chance of snow in the forecast as well. that said, they should be a good deal of sunshine around from day to day because high pressure is largely dominating, keeping out all these weather fronts at bay in the atlantic. for the rest of this evening and into overnight, plenty of clear spells, just patchy cloud

here and there, the odd misty fog patch, and those clear skies temperatures plummeting, harder than what we have seen in the past few nights, hard frost, minus six degrees in central areas, so we start friday very cold, frosty start, there should be sunshine around with cloud coming and going here and there. the breeze coming in from the east of the south—east will be fairly fresh, it's going to feel cold temperature wise, we are looking at around four to six or seven celsius, if we have clouded will feel even colder. into the week high pressure still dominates, bringing in this cold across the continent, the cluster our shores so temperatures will fall away as the weekend wears on. again keeping the weather fronts at bay is will be another dry day, they called frosty start, we should see good spells of sunshine, generally light winds although it will be fresh across

eastern coastal areas which will make it feel cold. temperature wise between five and seven celsius. this is the picture on sunday, turning colder, we are pulling in this very colder, we are pulling in this very cold air across most areas. a bit of cloud across the north—east part of the uk running in off the north sea. most the uk running in off the north sea. m ost pla ces the uk running in off the north sea. most places again dry with good spells of sunshine. it's beyond sunday where we really feel that bite in the wind, the data enrique pena nieto between two and four celsius, on the wind it will feel subzero so you really will need to wrap up if you heading out. today at five: america's all—powerful national rifle association backs the president's call for armed security at schools across the united states. the call was made by the head of the nra in the wake of last week's shooting in florida, when 17 people were killed. we surround and protect so much with armed security, while we drop our kids off at school that are so called gun—free zones, that are wide open targets for any crazy mad man to come there first.

we'll have the latest from the us on the latest stage of the debate on tougher controls on guns. the other main stories on bbc news at five: the un calls for a ceasefire in syria as government forces continue their intense bombardment of eastern ghouta for a fifth day.