‘dry and eastern parts, largely dry and bright, towards the northwest more cloud bringing outbreaks of rain, temperatures still on the cool side but back into double figures, around eight to 10 degrees. goodbye for 110w. a new salvo from britain towards russia, the foreign secretary says russia, the foreign secretary says russia has been making and stockpiling nerve agents. two weeks after the salisbury poisoning — the government believes russia's interest in the deadly substances was for the purpose of assassination. from moscow vladimir putin has dismissed the allegations — as the presidential election gives him another six years in office. with international chemical weapons experts due to arrive in the uk — we'll have the latest. also tonight. a breakthrough in the treatment of multiple sclerosis after a medical trial involving stem cell transplants. a sunday whiteout as driving snow, biting winds and ice much of the country. and the million dollar teacher from

london who has scooped up a global award. good evening. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has accused russia of making and stockpiling the nerve agents known as novichok, used in the salisbury poisoning two weeks ago. sergei skripal and his daughter remain critically ill, but today president putin said it was nonsense to say that russia was responsible. we'll hear from our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg in a moment — but first our diplomatic correspondent james robbins. whatever their whether the

decontamination work in salisbury goes on. two weeks after the chemical attack on circus ago and his daughter yulia it is clear that one focus of the inquiry is in bmw with suggestions that the agent might have been placed there to ensure that the occupants were poisoned. a team of international chemical weapons experts from the global body which polices their prohibition arrives in salisbury tomorrow. they will begin a further independent investigation. today the foreign secretary went further than ever, blaming russia and lifting the veil a little on secret intelligence. borisjohnson says it shows russia has been making nerve agent within the past decade. we had evidence within the last ten years that russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been

creating and stockpiling novichok. the foreign secretary also dismissed and derided a suggestion from one of russia's most senior diplomats that the nerve agent used in salisbury could have come from britain's own military research facility at porton down. porton down as we know or know is the largest military facility in the alighted kingdom that has been dealing with chemicals weapons research. and it's only eight miles from salisbury. you are not suggesting that porton down is responsible for business agent?” don't know. but theresa may's government got solid support from the labour shadow chancellor after criticism ofjeremy corbyn is more questioning approach. putin has questions to answer because this is likely it could be a state execution. but in this country we don't leap to conclusions about the evidence. as the investigation goes on in the next days the government

will focus on broadening international backing from britain's stance. 0n international backing from britain's stance. on tuesday ministers on the international security council would discuss whether to launch a second round of measures against moscow at the risk of an endless tit—for—tat. whatever precisely happened in salisbury, one consequence is that russia's international reputation, already very fragile, does seem to have been weakened still further. britain is having little trouble gathering in strong messages of support from overseas, although action against russia is harder to mobilise. but vladimir putin shows no sign of changing course. james, thank you. this evening president putin said claims that his country was behind the skripal poisoning were ‘nonsense' but that russia will work with the uk. he was speaking after winning another term in office in the presidential election. steve rosenberg has the latest from moscow. he has been centrestage in russia

for the last 18 years. tonight by the kremlin vladimir putin thanked his people for re—electing him their president. we are destined to succeed, he said. russia, russia, they chanted. but imputing's fourth term are russia and the west destined for a cold war. later the president dismissed accusations that he was behind the nerve agent attack in salisbury. it is rubbish, drivel, nonsense to think russia would do something like that head of a presidential election and the world cup. is pitched to voters had been, stick with me and russia will be strong. and many russians believe that. he's a genius commissioners. putin wants russia to prosper and

russians to live in happiness. it is thanks to putin, she says, that russia still exists. but critics of the kremlin say the election was fixed, that only those candidates who stood no chance of unseating putin were allowed to run. the problem is there's no such things russian politics. politics. politics has been eliminated in a show together. there's only one political institution in russia, the physical body of vladimir putin. which was white vladimir putin was always going to win this fight. this election wasn't about choosing a new president, it was about reappointing the old one. and although many russians to support putin crucially it is the political system that he has built in russia that guarantees him a landslide win. but these images are embarrassing, caught on cctv woman stuffs a ballot box near

moscow. suddenly two of them are at it and giving the vote count in siberia balloons are moved to cover the camera. election officials say they will investigate but the results will not change. neither will the name of russia's president. steve rosenberg bbc news moscow. as the government here blames russia for stockpiling novichok nerve agents, a group of international chemical weapons experts is due to arrive in the uk tomorrow 0ur security correspondent gordon corera is at the foreign office now. gordon — what was behind that assessment from the foreign secretary today. today boris johnson today borisjohnson deliberately revealed a piece of sensitive intelligence, the claim that russia has been stockpiling, creating novichok and looking at using it for assassinations. why did he do that? because there's a battle going on over information and the credibility. british officials

believe that the kremlin ‘s plan will be to muddy the waters and create confusion, pointing to including comments from the russian ambassador to the eu today, suggesting that perhaps porton down had created the novichok and for some reason relisted in its own backyard. the british government is trying to put the russians on the back foot by asserting that they are in contravention of the chemical weapons convention by having this secret chemical warfare chemical assassination programme at some point in the last ten years. we will get that independent inspection coming from the 0pc w but it's likely to be the next battle ground over credibility. they will look at samples, perhaps blood samples from the victims, and whatever their conclusions, they may be clear, they may be disputed, questions may be asked about whether the results were tampered with, that will be the next

battle ground of the credibility. gordon, at the foreign office, thank you. scientists say they've achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, after the results of an international trial involving stem cell transplants. doctors in sheffield were part of the study, which showed an improvement in symptoms and the progress of the neurological condition halted. around 100,000 people in the uk are affected by ms, as our medical correspondent fergus walsh explains. so nice to finally get out. it feels like my diagnosis was just a bad dream. before the transplant, louise willetts from rotherham had severe relapses, attacks of multiple sclerosis. at one point she was in a wheelchair. it also affected her mind. she struggled to read and follow conversations. now she's com pletely follow conversations. now she's completely well and has a newborn daughter as well. it does feel like

a miracle, i must have to pinch myself and ask if it is real, has it gone will it ever come back. i don't live in fear any more. i live every day the wake i want to rather than around my ms. ms is caused by a fa u lty around my ms. ms is caused by a faulty immune system attacking the brain and spinal—cord. symptoms include balance and muscle problems, fatigue and loss of vision. panorama followed louise ‘s treatment. 0riginally developed for cancer patients. a high dose of chemotherapy was given to knock out her immune system. then these healthy stem cells taken from louise's blood and bone marrow were infused. not affected by ms, the stem cells rebuild her immune system. stem cells rebuild her immune syste m. n ow stem cells rebuild her immune system. now more than two years on, she is back at sheffield ‘s royal hallamshire hospitalfor a she is back at sheffield ‘s royal hallamshire hospital for a checkup. hi louise, thank you for coming. the

mri hi louise, thank you for coming. the m r i shows there is no active disease in her brain. i'm delighted that this has been so successful, this is really good news. it is, i'm delighted as well. results from a trial of over 100 ms patients show that in the half given the stem cell transplant there was only one relapse after one year, compared to 39 among those given standard drug treatment. transplant patients were ten times less likely to see their treatment fail after three years and their level of disability reduced. the results of this trial are simply stunning. it should mean that many more ms patients are offered a stem cell transplant with the hope of stopping their disease in its tracks. this is a game changer. it can fundamentally alter the course of patients with ms who have got

resista nt of patients with ms who have got resistant disabling disease. the stem cell transplant involves a one—off cost of £30,000. no more expensive than the yearly fee for some drugs. it is not suitable for all ms patients but the life changing results with louise and others are plain to see. ferguson is here, extraordinary salt, has much people with ms benefit from this? it will take time to scale as up and train the teams, three trusts, sheffield, kings and imperial offering this. 150 ms patients in the uk have had it, more than any other country in the above except for sweden and italy but is only scratching the surface. many neurologists have been sceptical and they've been waiting over a decade for the results of this trial we are reporting tonight. the results are convincing but the beauty of the

treatment is, it is the patient healing themselves. their