hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2... lawyers at the grenfell inquiry say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began was left terrified by threats of reprisals. whatever the precise cause or origin of the fire in his kitchen, it was accidental, and he hears of the fire in his kitchen, it was accidental, and he bears no responsibility, directly or indirectly, for the fire. the prime minister and labour leader clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon. it is nowhere to be seen, no answer as to when it will be published. when we published a white paper, we are able to negotiate with the european commission. tsb's boss faces mps — as the financial regulator investigates the bank's online computer failure which hit nearly two million customers. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with tim hague.

we will be talking about racism in russia after danny rose has told his family not to travel and that he is none to racism. tomasz schafernaker is on a dog walk... ona tomasz schafernaker is on a dog walk... on a what? a double! yes, it's nice and bright at there, little change, more later on. that went better in rehearsals! also coming up... dramatic footage emerges of police chasing a "stolen tank" in the united states. just the one armoured vehicle — but an awful lot of police cars involved. we'll tell you how it ended. hello, welcome. and and simon mccoy.

the public inquiry into the grenfell tower disaster has heard that the man who lived in the flat where the fire began ‘did the right thing from start to finish‘. speaking on the third day of evidence, the lawyer for behailu kebede said his client phoned 999, and alerted his fourth floor neighbours as soon as he saw smoke. but the inquiry also heard that mr kebede was left terrified by threats of reprisals, and police suggested he could go into witness protection. richard galpin reports. it's the third day of evidence into the grenfell fire, and lawyers representing the victims have again been condemning the authorities and companies caught up in the case, and also some media outlets. this is the voice of behailu kebede, a resident of the tower block,

calling for help after he saw smoke in his kitchen. the fire later spread through the building. the inquiry heard today he had subsequently been vilified by some media, and his lawyer wants the record to be corrected. whatever the precise cause or origin of the fire, in mr kebede's kitchen, it was accidental, and mr kebede bears no responsibility, directly or indirectly, for the fire, its spread or the dreadful consequences that followed. another theme being presented to the inquiry today is that the catastrophic failures in fire safety which led to the deaths of 72 people in a social housing block has also to be seen as an issue of class and race. it is no coincidence that this fire occurred in a building consisting of social housing and former social housing purchased under the right to buy scheme, and not in one of the many posh swanky high—rise residential buildings around london that cater to the extremely wealthy.

so race and class are at the heart of the grenfell story, whether we like it or not, whether the inquiry acknowledge it or not, whether the terms of reference are extended or not. consequently, we say that what happened at the grenfell tower in the early hours of the 14th ofjune last year was as political as it gets, and symbolic of a quality in our society. from other lawyers representing the families of those killed in the fire and the survivors, there were more angry words, accusing the authorities and companies hired to refurbish the tower block of persistent failures. the refurbishment. we say this. that those responsible for allowing this situation to get to the stage where 72 souls were lost in the most horrendous and awful way should hang their heads

in collective shame. by design, complacency, error or all of these, the state palpably failed in its primary duty to protect its citizens. and as for the corporates, silence speaks a thousand words. so now the inquiry is under intense pressure to fully expose the causes of the fire and to do so quickly. if not, it will be accused of being a whitewash. richard galpin, bbc news. tom burridge is outside the inquiry hearing in central london those new themes emerging today of injustice and inequality? yes, very

much so. i think one of the main new themes we have heard, the dominant themes we have heard, the dominant themes this morning was that this was not just themes this morning was that this was notjust the worst themes this morning was that this was not just the worst fire themes this morning was that this was notjust the worst fire in a residential block in britain since the second world war, the fire, the refurbishment of the block and the fa ct refurbishment of the block and the fact that those warnings from residents were ignored was, the enquiry heard this morning, symptomatic of injustice and inequality in our society today. that people were forgotten while a wea k state that people were forgotten while a weak state has bowed to corporate greed. that there was scant regard forfire greed. that there was scant regard for fire safety in this refurbishment and that the building was wrapped in cladding with a flammable plastic core, representing the culture that poor and marginalised people living in the g re nfell tower were marginalised people living in the grenfell tower were ignored and suffered the ultimate price. the theme, if you like, of social, cultural and racial inequality and

injustice is not a topic in its own right for the public enquiry to consider as things stand. but what the relatives of those killed and survivors and other residents in the area hope is that by highlighting theissue area hope is that by highlighting the issue in such stark terms this morning that they can put pressure ultimately on the government so the public enquiry in the coming months considers the topic more when it continues with its work. tom burridge, thank you very much. the government's latest proposals on the brexit backstop — the model for customs and rules and regulations if no trade deal is struck — has been circulated to key ministers. it suggests the uk would respect the remit of the european court ofjustice. the new proposal comes as the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said labour remain divided over whether to remain in the eu's single market. our political correspondent ben wright reports. are you bungling brexit, prime minister? a prime minister under pressure. at the end of the month, theresa may will go to brussels looking for a breakthrough. time is short, cabinet divisions

obvious, and we are still waiting for the government to publish its plan, asjeremy corbyn pointed out in the commons this lunchtime. we were told, mr speaker, three weeks ago to a great deal of fanfare that this document, this white paper, would set out the government's ambition for the uk's future relationship with the eu, and their vision for a future role in the world. it's nowhere to be seen, no answer is there as to when it will be published. the cabinet is also trying to agree which of the two customs options to negotiate with the eu, but the prime minister insisted the white paper plan would come soon. my right honourable friend the brexit secretary and i agree that we want to publish a white paper that goes beyond the speeches... that goes beyond the speeches and the papers that have been given and published so far, that does go into more details, and that ensures that when we publish that white paper, we are able to negotiate with our european union and european commission colleagues on that.

when? shouted opposition mps, incredulous at how tight the timetable is getting. from this government in the negotiations, jobs have been an afterthought. the irish border has been an afterthought. the economy at all costs has been an afterthought. he talks about the northern ireland border. the leader of the opposition claims that we are giving too much attention to getting the answer right for the northern ireland border, and the leader of the scottish national party says we are using it as an afterthought. we are committed to ensuring that there is no hard border between northern ireland and ireland. the european union wants to know how the uk will keep the border between northern ireland and the republic open if the two sides fail to come up with a better long—term plan. it's the so—called backstop option. this morning, the government's customs plan was circulated around the cabinet's brexit committee. sources who have seen

the four page document on the bbc say it is anodyne and includes no specific time limit, and the remit of the european court of human justice would apply. that is likely to anger brexiteer tories. outside parliament, the referendum arguments rage on, but the two main parties are undecided too, on how the uk should trade with the eu after brexit. a number of mps say that their party's plan for sticking close to the eu after brexit doesn't go close enough. this will dominate again next tuesday when mps will have the chance to vote and potentially shape the course of brexit. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. our political correspondent eleanor garnier is in westminster. this backstop document makes interesting reading? yes, it does, we've been talking about divisions in the conservative party for months when it comes to brexit not only in

divisions but how deep they are. on one side there are the hard—core remainers, they want to stay as close as possible to the eu, and the hard—core mac brexiteers. so far we have seen the prime minister pushing decisions down the road which has kept the sides together but with this document, perhaps we are seeing the opening of a can of worms? and perhaps that unity that theresa may has so far been able to reign over could be coming to an end because this document contains some crucial thing is that, for brexiteers, could be red lines. there is, for example, no specific time limit when it comes to this backstop option. what brexiteers worry about is that it will not go on for months but years, so will not go on for months but years, so in effect we will not be leaving the eu in the time frame set out. theresa may has always said that it

would be time limited and now they are getting worried about it. they also say there should be a role for the european court ofjustice in some areas and it goes on to talk about this backstop arrangement, that should be in place until the new arrangement is agreed. so it is properly sorted and in place. all of this will make brexiteers extremely nervous. in fact, this will make brexiteers extremely nervous. infact, one this will make brexiteers extremely nervous. in fact, one source has told the bbc that it is like "hotel california", you can check out but you never properly leave! this is starting to create some mumbles among brexiteers. they are kind of the right words, in the right order... you mentioned prime minister's questions, jeremy corbyn's party, divisions there were evident today. he wants to hear the

government's proposals and theresa may did not have an answer?” government's proposals and theresa may did not have an answer? i think in these questions, jeremy corbyn came out on top. he definitely gave the prime minister it hard time and we did not get those answers to some of the questions that he put to her. as you say, labour is also divided when it comes to brexit. in the last 24 when it comes to brexit. in the last 2a hours, when it comes to the single market and labour and the big boats we have in the house of commons, it will not be backing plans to stay in what is called the european economic area, the eea. that has provided a lot of tension, for those remain labour mps who wa nted for those remain labour mps who wanted to back that element, they are wanted to back that element, they a re pretty wanted to back that element, they are pretty infuriated that labour leadership has backed away from that, putting in its stead its own amendments, they say it is not strong enough or good enough so now we see not only the conservative

party is divided that labour is clearly divided too. and in a ghani, who can check out any time but can never leave! checkout, you can never leave! the financial watchdog has begun a full investigation into the failure of online banking at tsb. the systems problem in april caused disruption for almost million people using the bank's digital and mobile banking services, and left many customers unable to access their accounts. this afternoon the bank's bosses will face questioning by mps. our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz has more. for weeks, tsb customers had trouble logging in to their accounts. the service is better now, but it is still unstable. and customers phoning for help are having to wait for half an hour on average, or being cut off completely. customers like photographer paul clark, shut out of his account for long periods, in the confusion falling victim to a fraudster who stole more than £10,000.

spending three days on the phone to get the money back. i have lost all confidence now that tsb have got a grip on this. i don't know the situation of my accounts, i can't get in there, i have no confidence in their ability either to answer phones, or to get my account back into a secure position. in the firing line for the failure is is the chief executive paul pester. he's directly criticised in the letter published today from the financial watchdog the fca, announcing a full investigation. the letter says, at the height of the crisis paul pester gave mps and optimistic view of services which was too positive. to customers, the bank was not open and transparent, claiming the vast majority could use their online accounts, when only half could. and there is concern about an increase in customers impacted by fraud, not all getting refunds as quickly as they are supposed to. the fca's investigation into tsb will look at why the board approved

the ill—fated upgrade, why it was so chaotic afterwards, and why there was no plan b. and the fca has a big stick. it can impose unlimited fines on banks, it can fine individuals, and ban them from working in the business. more than a month ago, we showed this essex delivery business, which couldn't pay staff from its tsb account. today the boss is still having to pay them from a personal account with another bank. consumer groups say even claiming compensation is a nightmare. the bank isn't clear enough about what it will do to put things right for people that have been suffering stress and inconvenience. the regulator is right to investigate, it must sort this mess out really quickly now. at one point, tsb admitted it was "on its knees". today directors face a grilling from mps on how they can get this bank up and running properly. simon gompertz, bbc news.

and at 2.30, the commons treasury select committee is holding session on the service disruption at tsb — we'll bring you that live. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: lawyers at the grenfell inquiry say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began, was left terrified by threats of reprisals. the prime minister and labour leader clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon. tsb's boss is quizzed by mps — following the banks online computer failure which hit nearly two million customers. in the sport, danny rose tells his family not to travel to watch him at this summer's world cup because of racism in russia. aston villa owed the taxman £4 million and face a winding up order if they do not pay it quickly. and after almost a year

outcome andy murray delays his return to tennis but still hopes to be fit for wimbledon. i'll be back with more on those stories in a few minutes... police at airports and ports are to be given new powers to stop, question, search and detain suspected foreign intelligence agents at the border. it's part of the counter terrorism and border security bill introduced into parliament by the home office. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford is with me. this comes after salisbury? the bill was published this afternoon. normally it would have been a counterterror bill introducing twea ks to counterterror bill introducing tweaks to the terrorism legislation, increasing sentences here and making a couple of other changes there. it has become a counterterror and border security bill because the home office has concluded they need to have the same powers for dealing with foreign intelligence agents, in this case essentially russian agents, that they have for dealing with terrorists. if you are

suspected of being a terrorist, you can be stopped at the border by police customs or immigration officers, they can be questioned or detained and the home office want to have the same powers for dealing with what is known as hostile state actors, people acting on behalf of a hostile foreign state. the home office is clear on this, introduced asa office is clear on this, introduced as a direct result is what happened —— after what happened in salisbury. this attack may not have got through had this bill not been imposed years ago? there is no suggestion of that, they have taken a hit and are looking at their defences, that is where britain is at the moment, looking at what they have to do to increase defence. when someone they are worried about comes in, they wa nt to are worried about comes in, they want to be able to hold them and question them at the airport. essentially we are talking about other countries, they are linked to direct concerns about russia, the

country that is about to host the world cup. the timing of this, you will have hundreds of thousands of people in this country going to russia, and russia doesn't tend to let these things go by? and historically, during the soviet era, russia has been on the opposite side of arguments to britain but this means people potentially acting on behalf of russia, thinking of them as terrorists rather than soldiers. it isa as terrorists rather than soldiers. it is a different scenario to what we saw in the cold war. this comes into effect today, have we had a response from the border agencies? no, this is a bill that has been introduced. it will go through all the parliamentary procedures but essentially it will have a major effect on people dealing with the borders. it means as well as having the power to deal with terrorists, now they can deal with suspected russian agents too. daniel sandford, thank you. a 100—year—old woman whose neck

was broken in a street robbery has died. zofija kaczan's distinctive handbag was stolen in the attack last week in normanton in derby. police confirm that the pensioner died in the early hours of this morning after suffering multiple injuries. derbyshire police say the investigation is focussed around an abandoned beige seat leon car. a 39—year—old man arrested in connection with the incident has been released under investigation. a teenager has been arrested in wolverhampton in connection with the murder of 15—year—old keelan wilson. keelan died following reports of a fight in strathfield walk in the city on may 29th. west midlands police said a 16—year—old man was arrested and is due to be questioned. there have been fresh volcanic eruptions in guatemala, prompting a new wave of evacuations of people living on the slopes below. nearly 200 people are now believed to be missing, after the fuego volcano erupted on sunday, killing 75 people. attempts to recover bodies are being hampered by thick layers of ash. will grant sent us this report from the village of el rodeo at the foot of the fuego volcano. it isa

it is a scene that they know all too well in this part of guatemala. fuego spewing smoke and ash, and desperate families running for their lives. just days after the massive volcanic eruption destroyed entire villages, the volcano began to smoke again and the emergency services decided to evacuate. following the huge pyroclastic lava flows, the ground beneath them were still dangerously hot and too precarious to keep searching for survivors. in the end, they made everyone but essential personnel leave the mountain. this tiny community high on the mountain slopes will never be the same again. some lost their homes here in el rodeo, others their

entire families. buried under the ash lives and livelihoods. few who returned to this village will find they have been spared grief. this man lost his wife and her family, and now has nowhere to turn. translation: nobody told us anything. nobody came by to tell us to evacuate. nothing. people got out however they could. those who got out did and those who couldn't, well, god rest them. the emergency services are working around the clock. some literally until they drop. but they are struggling to cope. the disaster has left a trail of destruction that will take months to ove rco m e of destruction that will take months to overcome in what is already one of the poorest countries in the americas. the search for survivors continues in el rodeo but with every passing hour the likelihood of success passing hour the likelihood of su ccess gi’ows passing hour the likelihood of success grows slimmer. and for those families waiting for good news

further down the mountainside, prospects are looking grim. will grant, bbc news, el rodeo, guatemala. president trump and kim jong un are preparing to meet in singapore next week. chinese influence has played a role in getting the two sides together. china has long been north korea's strongest ally — but in recent months has imposed its toughest sanctions ever on its unruly neighbour, helping to propel kimjong un to the negotiating table. our china correspondent john sudworth reports now on the state of play in the chinese—korean alliance. four times a week passengers at this beijing station crowd onto an overnight service bound for pyongyang. the train is an embodiment of china's ties to north korea. geographically, politically, and economically. i'm going on holiday, this chinese woman tells me. do you worry that it has nuclear weapons? i don't think it will be a problem, the situation is good, she tells me. anyway, isn't that a sensitive

question, she adds. it's a friendship sealed in blood. china's intervention on the north side in the korean war cost the lives of at least 180,000 chinese soldiers. more than six decades on, there is still a shared worldview. chinese people may on occasion feel unnerved by the nuclear brinksmanship on their border, but there is sympathy, too. north korea's logic is, after all, china's logic. atomic weapons as a security guarantee against a us rival. as this man prepares for his summit with the us leader in a matter ofjust weeks, he has held two with the chinese president. both men, analysts suggest, sensing opportunity to get away from sanctions and back to business. regardless of how much nuclear

process is made during the summit, china has the more important long term strategic goal. which is to help north korea grow its economy and transform itself from an isolated pariah state into a more normal and more open country in the long run. in another sign of the deep cultural ties, china has its own sizeable ethnic korean population. they speak — and sing — in korean and have little time for donald trump. trump's methods are wrong, this man says. if you want to help north korea, you should help it, not suppress it. china is watching its close neighbour's moment in the sun with interest. and perhaps some hope. but it knows well that on the korean peninsula, glimmers of hope can quickly disappear.

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. a soldier in the united states has been arrested after stealing an armoured military vehicle and leading police on a two—hour chase through a busy city. the vehicle was taken from the ford pickett national guard base in virginia on tuesday and was driven at speed through the state capital, richmond. footage posted on social media showed more than a dozen police cars in pursuit of the personnel carrier, which was not equipped with any weapons. no injuries or crashes were reported. the driver got out and started wandering around before he was arrested. a look at the weather. i was telling tomasz about police chasing a tank and you asked what had happened to the fish? i talked about -- i thought you were talking about a glass tank! did they catch him in

the end? you weren't listening! they did. let's talk about the weather, there isn't much going on here. which is why you have shown the pictures of france? yeah, and actually this sort of weather, this is from... it will come up in a minute... say it again? it isn't a million mars away from paris, rouen, this weather has been hit and miss across europe for the last month, some would say that summer has arrived early. we get this over the course of summer arrived early. we get this over the course of summer months, july, august and september, but it has been very warm across scandinavia. they have been beating records. we have had those tremendous thunderstorms. france and places like spain, they have actually been

a lot colder than they should be... all of the places people were going for half term! a lot of us were thinking it has been so warm, nearly 30 degrees in the uk, you go toward spain, you think surely down south it would be even better than 30 degrees but this is what produced floods in france, where ijust showed you... in rouen? yes. this pa rt showed you... in rouen? yes. this part of europe has been very unlucky for the last month. it has been a lot cooler. everywhere in the north has been warmer. it's the usual thing in meteorology. if one area warms up, thing in meteorology. if one area warms up, the other has two cool down. it is that balance. you cannot haveit down. it is that balance. you cannot have it all, if you like. this pattern, the more settled weather in this part of europe, it will still continue for a little while. one of the reasons why. .. continue for a little while. one of the reasons why... it's the jet stream! absolutely, we always talk about it. that current of air that

drives our weather system. it is currently over greenland and down into scandinavia. now, you are going to ask me, will this continue? are we heading for yen or yang? which is bad, which is good? i can't remember, i will have to look! this pattern is clearly very different. the jet stream, let me move out the way, over here, you cannot see on the screen but this comes from montreal, new york. and it moves making a beeline for us. imagine the jet stream will be carrying weather systems and weather fronts, rain, the thinking is that it's going to turn somewhat more unsettled. that also means in turn that the web will probably improve down south. spain, portugal... if anyone is planning a trip to the rest of the mediterranean next week hopefully the weather will be a bit better

than! and what about us? the headlines as dry with some sunshine, so little change. do you have to wear contacts? laughter one thing we would like to emphasise is the fact that uv levels are very high across the uk right now. in fa ct, high across the uk right now. in fact, as high as they get in our latitude. that is a commendation of various things, the fact the sun is very high in the, about as high as it gets this time of year. we are not far away from the point of the higher son in june, but not far away from the point of the higher son injune, but the fact that the ozone layer is pretty low over us that the ozone layer is pretty low over us right now is that allows those harmful rays to get through. you could even burn with a very thin t—shirt on, it is possible, it does happen. there is the weather happily churning away. this is still the

u nsettled churning away. this is still the unsettled weather on thursday, when i showed you thatjet stream at the beginning, these are the storms. we are to the north of that. just a hint that the southern counties tomorrow almost catches the edge of that turbulence thundery weather in the south. we might fetch some. 24 tomorrow in london, 23 in edinburgh. second half of the week, high pressure still in charge. still from the uk all the way to scandinavia. when you have high—pressure stuck across this part of the world, the only wheel trouble with forecasting is the amount of cloud. it is of the one hardest things to forecast. it looks like they will maintain that low grade cloud. if you live in the

north sea coast you are very familiar with the sort of weather. no change into saturday, europe still very stormy, little blobs of blue, they are the shower clouds, we're still in the dry weather. as i indicated at the beginning as we have through the weekend into next week, looks like there might be a bit of a wobble in the jet stream, which may finally send somewhat the systems in our direction. just how much rain we are going to get, still too early to say. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. a defence lawyer at the grenfell tower inquiry says the man who lived in the flat where the fire started was left terrified by threats of reprisals. the prime minister and the labour leader have clashed in the commons over brexit, with theresa may under pressure to publish her proposals. the financial regulator is investigating tsb after an it meltdown caused almost 2 million customers to lose access to online banking. more volcanic eruptions

in guatemala have forced people living on the slopes below to evacuate the area. the disaster has claimed the lives of 75 people — 200 are missing. in a moment... the boss of one of england's most criticised rail companies explains why the timetable change is still causing passengers so much angst. sport now on afternoon live with tim. some strong words from england's danny rose on racism in russia ahead of the world cup? really strong words from the spurs full—back. he has told his family not to travel to watch him at the world cup and has no faith in football's authorities to stop racism either. speaking to the london evening standard, rose says he he is he is tim one to racial

abuse. aston villa face a winding up order. two things happened yesterday at villa park that have hurt the clu b at villa park that have hurt the club into a difficult situation. they suspended their ceo with immediate effect. that the same time it emerged aston villa were having problems with her majesty's revenue and customs over an unpaid tax bill. it has been stressed to me better those matters are completely unconnected, however what they do do is add to a club already in turmoil. the owner doctor tony shah has a re ce pta cle the owner doctor tony shah has a receptacle faces what he called severe challenges having not been able to secure promotions to the premier league and they still remain. the owner is a chinese businessman, severely restricted on the amount of money he can take out of china and put into his english foot ball of china and put into his english football club. that is not going to change any time soon. the challenges are still there for aston villa and

the problem seemed to be getting even bigger and bigger. yesterday they put out their pre—season friendly, and all of these issues will have to be set out today. a restriction on the owner as to how much money he can take out of china to invest in aston villa football club. whichever way you shake it, you would think even administration is not entirely out of the question for what would be or what is one of the most famous names in english football. dark days at villa park. manchester united have confirmed the signing of teenager diego manchester united have confirmed the signing of teenager diogo dalot from porto for 19 million pounds. managerjose mourinho has called him the "best young full—back in europe".

he's signed on a five—year deal. worries about andy murray's fitness at wimbledon. we hoped he would be there but he has been out for nearly a year now. slipped to 47th in the world and has not played for 12 months because of that hip injury. he has pulled out of an event in the netherlands next week because he says he hopes and wants to be back in time for wimbledon. russell fuller can tell us more. murray says he is not quite ready to return but does say he is still aiming to play in the coming weeks, which doesn't give too much away. the next event murray could feature in is at queen's club in just murray could feature in is at queen's club injust under two weeks' time. the question is, does he have long enough to get himself in the sort of shape required? murray has not played on the tour for nearly a year. he had hip surgery on for nearly a year. he had hip surgery onjanuary for nearly a year. he had hip surgery on january eight, he for nearly a year. he had hip surgery onjanuary eight, he did get to return to the practice court for around three weeks from late march but the hip problem flared up again and it is only in the last few days he has been able to get back on the practice court. it seems difficult

to make a case for him being truly competitive during this grass court season. but the critical thing is how the hip response when he starts to up his intensity, plays practice shots against other atp players. there are a couple of quarterfinals to bring you up—to—date with at the french open, former champion garbine muguruza has outplayed maria sharapova. 6—2, 6—1, over injustan hour. simona halep, world number one, isa hour. simona halep, world number one, is a set down to angelique kerber. the winner of that one will face muguruza in the last four. i will see soon. not if! see face muguruza in the last four. i will see soon. not if i see you first! the prime minister of norway is in london to meet the prime minister and discuss brexit and security. norway is a member of the european economic area. this group includes eu members and non—eu members like norway,

iceland and liechtenstein. becoming a member would automatically give the uk full access to the single market but would also bind it to eu rules. erna solberg has been talking to my colleague christian fraser, he started by asking her if she was warming to the idea of britainjoining the european economic area. if britain would want to participate in the eea, of course i don't think we should say no, but i have also said over time that i don't think thatis said over time that i don't think that is an option that for me is natural after the principles of why we left —— why you left, why we have brexit. not in keeping with the boat? no, for us the most supportive thing is we will not change the eea to accommodate for example britain, because for us the four freedoms are vital and important, the fact we have this institution that makes

decisions outside the natural countries to make sure we follow the same rules as the rest of the eu, and that the eu in fact decides on the directive so that we are walking in the same, at the same tempo. you follow all the rules, i am bound to ask you what you make of labour's new position, they want a bespoke single market for britain, under which we would have full access but we wouldn't be bound by the rules that we don't like, such as freedom of movement? how would an eea member feel about that? it is difficult to see that that is possible, in a way, because if you are going to have full access to the service market for example, if you want to post workers in other countries, if you wa nt to

workers in other countries, if you want to deliver it knowledge—based systems but you don't offer what maybe other countries can get out of this. with a big brother like britain alongside you you might have more clout in brussels, because at the moment you are a rule tae koh, and if britain was part of the eea e fta and if britain was part of the eea efta movement, then you might have more say? yes, and that would be one of the benefits, the prose, for that, and then there are some cuts. —— some cons. it might be more challenging, because a different type of economic activity might be easier to get a free trade agreement with another country because we don't look as big into their economy as britain does. you have to weigh these pros and cons and then britain has to decide what they want. that is what a lot of us are waiting for. the head of one the country's most criticised rail companies has been meeting mps. charles horton — who's chief executive of govia thameslink railway —

has been explaining how they plan to stabilise rail services we are very sorry for the delay is an consolation is. commuters are calling for fresh leadership at govia thameslink, are you going to resign? iam govia thameslink, are you going to resign? i am committed to staying and sorting things out as best as we can. what we are trying to do at the moment is to make much more stability in services from one—day to the next there is not the variability of service from one—day to the next. we are also working in parallel with colleagues across the industry to work at an amended timetable, and our plan is to put that in place in the course of the summer. that in place in the course of the summer. govia thameslink can't seem to deliver this own service, even your own staff are embarrassed to work for you, surely something has to change at a management level? so

our staff are doing an incredibly good, difficultjob at the moment, they are working extremely hard in they are working extremely hard in the most difficult of circumstances. iam the most difficult of circumstances. i am absolutely committed to tackling the issues we are facing here and making sure that we deliver the improvements for customers as they want to see. so you're not going to resign, eventually govia thameslink, the threat is you might lose the contract. do you think govia thameslink should lose the contract after this performance? so ourjobis contract after this performance? so ourjob is to get services to be much better to customers, and that our is priority. we're working on that at the moment. our nextjob is to actually put in place a better timetable that delivers progressive improvements from the summer onwards, and also to make sure that customers get the essential improvements that we plan to have delivered to them, the improvements in connectivity between places, the additional new trains, a much more reliable, punctual service and the increasing capacity, because that is what customers really need. anita

about that, commuters will be laughing because the service has deteriorated, you have not been able to deliver that service. surely you admit govia thameslink, as a franchise is hanging by a thread and it is very likely you will lose it? we have delivered substantial improvement in terms of new trains, we have delivered more new trains than any other franchise of the country. we have also delivered in service and a number of other things, but i do accept that this timetable change has delivered at this stage a level of punctuality and reliability for customers that is not good enough on thames link great northern and that is what we are determined to put right. in a moment, all of the business news,. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. lawyers at the grenfell inquiry say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began, was left terrified by threats of reprisals. the prime minister and labour leader clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon.

tsb's boss will be quizzed by mps shortly — following the banks online computer failure which hit nearly million customers. 2 million customers. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the future of struggling discount retailer poundworld is in the balance after the main contender to buy the chain, alteri, investors, pulls out of talks. the possible closure of about 100 of outlets had been put on hold by poundworld's. the boss of qatar airways has issued what he called "heartfelt apologies for any offence caused" for saying that a woman could not do his job. akbar al—baker said on tuesday that the airline had to be led by a man "because it is a very challenging position". entrepeneur elon musk has survived an attempt to reform the management board at tesla. one investor wanted to strip the tesla founder and chief executive of his other role — as chairman. meanwhile the company also announced that its newest "gigafactory" —

or giant lithium—ion battery plant — would be built in shanghai. and electrifying meeting. right... facebook and data — what's happened this time? we talked about this yesterday. we talked about this yesterdaym isa we talked about this yesterdaym is a bit ofa we talked about this yesterdaym is a bit of a theme. facebook has confirmed it has a data—sharing partnership with chinese firms including huawei. huawei is a well—known telecoms firm and makes smartphones, tablets and so on — but is a company us intelligence previously flagged as a security threat. the agreements gave the chinese firms some access to users' data to help them build facebook "experiences" on their own platforms. facebook said all the data collected remained on users' phones not servers. huawei said its cooperation with facebook was to improve user services and has denied collecting or storing user data. this adds to the scrutiny that

facebook is already under about how it uses members' information. facebook has been blocked in china since 2009 but the company has been trying to find other ways to access the massive potential market. but it wasn'tjust huawei that facebook shared data with? no — the new york times reported earlier this week that facebook had given at least 60 device—makers access to users' data — and that of their facebook friends — without obtaining explicit consent and that in some cases the details were stored on the firms' own servers. facebook rejected claims that this had been a breach of privacy pledges that it had made to its members and a us regulator. joining us now from outside the new york stock exchange is our business reporter paul blake. what exactly was facebook sharing?

this is a super complicated one, i spent quite a bit of time on the phone last night with a facebook spokesperson trying to get my head around it. in 2007—8, when smartphones became more popular, there was also a pressure than the social media industry to get their content onto phones. one of the ways facebook did that early was to make these partnerships with various device manufacturers, and in that way you could essentially provide a facebook like experience on the phone. the concern is that you were polling data people were sharing on foot down onto these phones, and those phones could essentially siphon of that data to their servers. if you were to have some nefarious act is then potentially the data could fall into the wrong hands. facebook told me last night, given the interest from congress, we wa nt given the interest from congress, we want to make clear that all the

permission from these integrations with huawei was stored on the device, not on huawei's servers. facebook pushing back a bit on the new york times report there.|j mentioned the concerns that the us authority had about huawei, flagging it as authority had about huawei, flagging itasa authority had about huawei, flagging it as a security concern. what exactly is their worry? there are a numberof exactly is their worry? there are a number of concerns here, from a congressional and a us intelligence perspective, it is that huawei, which is the number one chinese telecommunications firm, could have links to the chase:, and that the devices could be used to some sort of spying. that is an allegation levelled at it by various members of us congress and intelligent agencies, and data pulled down from facebook could be siphoned off and shared with various chinese authorities, spy agencies. other concerns that privacy activists say facebook is not doing enough to make sure users of its platform know how their data is being used, where it is going, who is seeing it, who has

access to it. there are various concerns, but the big one from congress, this big geopolitical spying concern about huawei technology. thank you very much. we are looking at what happened at tsb and the financial regulator is being questioned by mps. this was back in april. you may remember when new computer systems were brought in, almost 2 million people, 1.9 million people, lost access to their online banking services and of course mps wa nt to banking services and of course mps want to know what went wrong, why did it go wrong, and presumably what is now in place to stop it happening ain? paul pester, had given an "optimistic view" of services. he has been very heavily criticised.

he has been very heavily criticised. he told mps on the treasury committee that most tsb customers could carry out transactions as normal. i am sure they will have some very tough questions for him. at the moment the financial conduct authority is being questioned. fca chief executive andrew bailey. we are waiting to hear from paul pesto. that could be quite uncomfortable for him. the disruption for businesses and just their accounts as well not working as they expecting them to, customers not having access to the money to spend money in shops and restaurants and so on. it does matter in the bigger picture to the economy. there will be tough questions. they will wa nt to will be tough questions. they will want to know what exactly went wrong to start going wrong again. width

now i look at the markets. the ftse 100 just about into positive territory, being helped by shares of wh smith, positive trading result from them. the biggestjump in their sales was reported in the travel branches, railways and airports. people trying to get out? maybe all that waiting at train stations with the disruption of the timetables, who knows? smurfit kappa group. the disruption of the timetables, who knows? smurfit kappa groupm sounds like a cartoon. it is actually europe was met leading corrugated packaging maker. you learn something new everyday. i shall talk to you again a little later on. as our lives increasingly move online, more and more of our information is held in vast data centres, which consume large

amounts of electricity. now in an experiment designed to work out how to improve energy efficiency, microsoft has sunk a small data centre in the sea, off the coast of orkney. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones explains. ever uploaded a photo, updated your facebook status, or maybe streamed some music? if so, you've probably used a data centre, where vast amounts of our personal information are now stored. but what if you could put all of that underwater? up in orkney, the tech giant microsoft is trying to do just that. this white cylinder is packed with computers. it was assembled in france, and then brought here to be sunk. we're on our way across scapa flow to the deployment site, but i have one nagging question. why sink a data centre? it's easier to cool data centres in water than on land. that means we use a lot less power to cool the data centre than we otherwise would. it is kind of a crazy experiment, but that's why we do research — to try these things and sort of push

us to new places. and, if this is successful, maybe we'll have the ability to deploy data centres anywhere in the world very rapidly, perhaps as little as 90 days. this is the exact point where the data centre is going to be sunk and on the ocean floor is a cable bringing power to it, and then taking its data ashore and connecting it to the wider internet. a day on, with conditions in the sometimes rough stretch of sea very calm, the painstaking operation to put the data centre on the ocean floor is under way. orkney was chosen partly because it is a centre for pioneering renewable energy research, generating electricity from wind and wave power. orkney‘s produced over 120% of its electricity needs from renewables every year since 2012. so this is a place that's basically running on renewables, and so bringing a project like this to orkney makes sense, because it'll be basically being powered by renewables. the data centre is heading ever so slowly to the bottom of the ocean. at the control room on shore, they are getting

ready to power it up. now, microsoft will monitor it for up to five years. this could prove to be the future of data storage, or maybe just a tourist attraction for the fish. u nless unless the computer memory gets rusty. a remarkable story. some new crew members are heading to the international space station a soyuz spacecraft carrying two astronauts and a cosmonaut blasted off from kazakhstan this morning. they are expected to arrive at the space station tomorrow, where they'lljoin up with three astronauts already there for a five—month mission. time for a look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. fairly quiet out there on the weather front. a lot of sunshine around, and actually over the next few days, very little change on the

weather front. generally speaking, few days, very little change on the weatherfront. generally speaking, a lot of fine, dry weather. not necessarily sunny everywhere, because it has been quite cloudy close to the north sea coast, and will remain so over the next day or so. will remain so over the next day or so. this is what is happening through this afternoon, still some cloud around the north sea where it is 15 in newcastle, and in hull, and where you have the sunshine, temperatures comfortable into the 20s, temperatures comfortable into the 205, 22 temperatures comfortable into the 20s, 22 or 23 degrees. you may have noticed how fresh this morning was, quite nifty actually in some areas. similar night on the way tonight with clear skies and temperatures down to single figures in some areas. we are also expecting some showers across the southern counties first thing in the morning on thursday. thursday across europe, some storms in france, germany, but we are in this window of, weather,

which is stretching all the way across southern parts of scandinavia as well. this is high pressure, all the way to denmark and into norway and sweden. we are in the quiet weather but just asking and sweden. we are in the quiet weather butjust asking to see some changes through thursday, across the south. there might be some showers trusting into the southern counties, maybe in one or two other areas. not a completely dry day, not 100%, but for most of us it will be a fine day. as i said through thursday into friday, very little change in the forecast. high—pressure stretching from way west of our neighbourhood across the uk into scandinavia, so that basically means more of the same for most of us. however, little showers are in the forecast on friday, quite a few of them gathering in the near continent, something that might be coming our way but not quite some time. quite fresh on the north sea coast again, 14 in newcastle, where the sun comes out, temperatures will be around the average for the time of the year. this is saturday's weather forecast,

again, probably a fair bit of cloud, saturday might start off quite grey and gloomy, but that sun works on the cloud and we should get some sunny spells. little change in the coming days. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 3. lawyers at the grenfell inquiry say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began was left terrified by threats of reprisals. what over the precise cause or origin of the fire in mr kebede's kitchen, it was accidental and mr kebede bears no responsibility directly or indirectly for the fire. the prime minister and labour leader clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon. if he wants to enter this debate next week in the right spirit, then he will dojust that next week in the right spirit, then he will do just that andy farrell out a second referendum! jeremy corbyn! vista speaker, it is not the

opposition that are conducting the negotiations. but very sadly, mr speaker, it's not the government, either! tsb's boss faces mps shortly, as the financial regulator investigates the bank's online computer failure which hit nearly 2 million customers. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport... yes, racism in russia has been a much debated topic ahead of the world cup and danny rose of england has told the media today he has absolutely no faith in the authorities to stop it or even address it. and tomasz schafernaker as the weather. the fine, settled weather continues for the rest of the week and i would point out that the week and i would point out that the sun is very strong right now, very high uv levels, so easy to burn, so keep protected. , ticked

footage has emerged of a police chase involving an armoured vehicle in the united states — we will tell you how it ended. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. the public inquiry into the grenfell tower disaster has heard that the man who lived in the flat where the fire began "did the right thing from start to finish". speaking on the third day of evidence, the lawyer for behailu kebede said his client phoned 999, and alerted his fourth floor neighbours as soon as he saw smoke. but the inquiry also heard that mr kebede was left terrified by threats of reprisals, and police suggested he could go into witness protection. richard galpin reports. it's the third day of evidence into the grenfell fire, and lawyers representing the victims have again been condemning the authorities and companies caught up in the case, and also some media outlets. this is the voice of

behailu kebede, a resident of the tower block, calling for help after he saw smoke in his kitchen. the fire later spread through the building. the inquiry heard today he had subsequently been vilified by some media, and his lawyer wants the record to be corrected. whatever the precise cause or origin of the fire, in mr kebede's kitchen, it was accidental, and mr kebede bears no responsibility, directly or indirectly, for the fire, its spread or the dreadful consequences that followed. another theme being presented to the inquiry today is that the catastrophic failures in fire safety which led to the deaths of 72 people in a social housing block has also to be seen

as an issue of class and race. it is no coincidence that this fire occurred in a building consisting of social housing and former social housing purchased under the right to buy scheme, and not in one of the many posh swanky, high—rise residential buildings around london that cater to the extremely wealthy. so, race and class are at the heart of the grenfell story, whether we like it or not, whether the inquiry acknowledges it or not, whether the terms of reference are extended or not. consequently, we say that what happened at the grenfell tower in the early hours of 14thjune last year was as political as it gets, and symbolic of a deep inequality in our society.

from other lawyers representing the families of those killed in the fire, and the survivors, there were more angry words, accusing the authorities and companies hired to refurbish the tower block of persistent failures. the refurbishment. we say this. that those responsible for allowing this situation to get to the stage where 72 souls were lost in the most horrendous and awful way should hang their heads in collective shame. by design, complacency, error, or all of these, the state palpably failed in its primary duty to protect its citizens. and as for the corporates, silence speaks a thousand words. so now the inquiry is under intense pressure to fully expose the causes of the fire and to do so quickly.

if not, it will be accused of being a whitewash. richard galpin, bbc news. tom burridge is outside the inquiry hearing in central london. we've been hearing a bit from the council today? yeah, we've been hearing a bit from the counciltoday? yeah, really significant. this afternoon, simon, a barrister on behalf of the council, kensington and chelsea borough council, and also the tenancy management organisation set up tenancy management organisation set up by tenancy management organisation set up by the council to run its social housing stock, and really oversee the refurbishment of grenfell tower, we have heard from legal representatives of both of those. so for the council we heard from james maxwell scott qc and he said it was not the council that entered into contracts not the council that entered into co ntra cts to not the council that entered into contracts to refurbish grenfell tower, it was the tenancy management organisation. now, he said he was not playing down the role that kensington and chelsea had, he was

not suggesting that kensington and chelsea did not have a role in the project but he did point out that the budget for the project was increased vastly from 2012 to 2014 and the final figure was more than £10 million. and he said those were not decisions of a council determined to build on the cheap. he did admit that the council had oversight of the tenant management organisation but he said the project was not about cuts, it was about spending, it money. he also pointed out that the tenancy management organisation was a separate legal entity. he said it was not a legal shield for the council but it was set up to increased tenant participation in running social housing throughout the borough. we then heard from the representative of the tenancy management organisation and he pointed out that it was a not—for—profit company, led by racial, it had no shares and all profits were put back into the running of social housing in that pa rt running of social housing in that part of london. —— he said the purpose overall of the refurbishment

was to improve the functionality and amenities of the building. he said the key driver of the project was to make building more energy efficient, more environmentally friendly, if you like. he said the tenancy management organisation were not specialists in design or construction, that's why they contractor pretty much all of the work out to a host of private companies. he said brydon were seen as the best bid and he said that the architects were the ones who identified the type of cladding which was finally used in the project back in 2012. and he said that the officials from the council had actually been presented samples of the cladding on various occasions over the years up until the actual project was carried out and finish. in the last few minutes we've been hearing from a legal were presented if of the us company that made the cladding and one of the arguments they put forward was that the company is creating the building materials used were not the ones that were responsible for making

sure that the building was compliant in terms of fire safety. i'm sure that some of those relatives of those killed in the fire, and the survivors, some of which are here, will have been listening to these arguments put forward by the council and by the tmo but this is what the inquiry is all about, it is about letting every side have their say and then the council and the tiempo and then the council and the tiempo and other organisations will be cross—examined by the inquiry in the months to come. tom burridge, thank you very much. the government's latest proposals on the brexit backstop — the model for customs and rules and regulations if no trade deal is struck — has been circulated to key ministers. it suggests the uk would respect the remit of the european court ofjustice. the new proposal comes as the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said labour remain divided over whether to remain in the eu's single market. our political correspondent ben wright reports. are you bungling brexit, prime minister? a prime minister under pressure. at the end of this month, theresa may will go to brussels

looking for a breakthrough ata summit. time is short, cabinet divisions are obvious, and we are still waiting for the government to publish its plan, asjeremy corbyn pointed out in the commons this lunchtime. we were told, mr speaker, three weeks ago, to a great deal of fanfare, that this document, this white paper, would set out the government's ambition for the uk's future relationship with the eu, and their vision for a future role in the world. it's nowhere to be seen, no answer is there as to when it will be published. the cabinet is also trying to agree which of two customs options it wants to negotiate with the eu, but the prime minister insisted the white paper plan would come soon. my right honourable friend the brexit secretary and i agree that we want to publish a white paper that goes beyond the speeches... that goes beyond the speeches and the papers that have been given and published so far, that does go into more details, and that ensures that when we publish that white paper,

we are able to negotiate with our european union and european commission colleagues on that. when? shouted opposition mps, incredulous at how tight the timetable is getting. from this government in the negotiations, jobs have been an afterthought. the irish border has been an afterthought. the economy at all costs has been an afterthought. he talks about the northern ireland border. the leader of the opposition claims that we are giving too much attention to getting the answer right for the northern ireland border, and the leader of the scottish national party says we are using it as an afterthought. we are committed to ensuring that there is no hard border between northern ireland and ireland. the european union wants to know how the uk will keep the border between northern ireland and the republic open if the two sides fail to come up with a better long—term plan. it's the so—called backstop option. this morning, the government's customs plan was circulated around the cabinet's brexit committee. sources who have seen

the four page document told the bbc say it is anodyne, that it includes no specific time limit, and that the remit of the european court of human justice would still apply. that is likely to anger brexiteer tories. outside parliament, the referendum arguments rage on, but the two main parties are undecided, too, on how the uk should trade with the eu after brexit. a number of labourmps say that their party's plan for sticking close to the eu after brexit doesn't go close enough. to the eu after brexit doesn't go far enough. this will dominate again next tuesday, when mps will have the chance to vote and potentially shape the course of brexit. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. in a moment will talk to our europe correspondent damian grammaticas in brussels. first to our political correspondent eleanor garnier who's in westminster. time is running out? that's right. i

think so far theresa may has managed to keep her party in a fragile but together position because she has had time on her side. she has been not making those key decisions, those final decisions on what her plans are for what our customs arrangements with the eu will look like after brexit and on key brexit issues but as you point out, time is now really running out. she has been trying to keep all sides happy, the brexiteers and the remainers inside her party. but i think that fragile position could have got a whole lot more fragile with the circulation of this backstop position paper. the plan which may come into place if no other, better arrangement can be negotiated between the uk and the eu. the government says they do not expect it to come into play. but it needs to be there in the legal text which the uk agrees with eu on. and it is going to anger brexiteers because in it, it says that the uk

will abide by some of the eu's customs rules until our final trading deal is put in place. it also talks about the fact that this will be time limited but it does not put a specific time limit on this arrangement. theresa may has always said it would be time limited, but i think what the brexiteers are worrying about is that this will not last for months, which was the original suggestion, last for months, which was the originalsuggestion, but last for months, which was the original suggestion, but perhaps yea rs original suggestion, but perhaps years and years, and that's why they're getting so worried about it. one source told the bbc that it is a bit like hotel california, that you can check out any time but you can never leave. so, that's the sense which brexiteers are giving us in reacting to this axed opposition. and i think theresa may, it is a bit like she has got to the end of the road, time has run out, she cannot kick the can any further. —— axed opposition. it feels like the tension could be building and the position of the party could be

getting more fragile. the line is, you check out any time you like but you check out any time you like but you can never leave! i will never get it right, simon! the line before it is... that could be a brexiteer theme, really. we digress! let's go to damian grammaticus, who is in brussels for us. there may be some incredulity here about how far things have been pushed until the last minute but i wonder what they make of it there? well, real concern, make of it there? well, real concern, i think, make of it there? well, real concern, ithink, because make of it there? well, real concern, i think, because the feeling here is that time is running out, as we have heard, and we have these big summit here at the end of june which was meant to be the staging post, who injust a few weeks, when all of these issues were broadly going to be fixed so that the rest of the year could be spent fine—tune in the legal detail of this withdrawal treaty. now, the feeling here is that without this backstop detailed, without the detail about the future

relationship, those things will not be ina relationship, those things will not be in a position to have happened by thisjune be in a position to have happened by this june summit. everything be in a position to have happened by thisjune summit. everything then gets pushed forward over the summer months to one last summit in october, which was meant to be the sort of sign off summit. and it looks like the june summit might be a damp squib because there is nothing really done, and then october becomes the time when everything has to be done, but it risks failure because there is then no time, orvery risks failure because there is then no time, or very little time, to sort out any remaining issues. so, the concern is that progress is not happening on those big issues and thisjust increases the risk happening on those big issues and this just increases the risk of failure and the risk that there is not even a withdrawal agreement affect all of the problems which that could bring. elena allen i were talking about hotel california, there is the other line, this could be heaven or it could be hell and i think the feeling in brussels is that it think the feeling in brussels is thatitis think the feeling in brussels is that it is heading a certain way?”

think nobody really knows which way it is heading and that is the difficulty! what they have been very clear about is that they there's things to be nailed down, they need this legal text so that everybody knows what's happening on brexit day next year. but they are now starting to prepare for if that does not happen. so just yesterday had we the eu commissioner here putting out a paper which has been reflected by the dutch government recently as well, talking about what companies should do if things are not nailed down. and they're already talking about problems in trading and to do with customs, rules of origin, components made in the uk coming here, which could be problematic for many manufacturers here to use after march next year. they are kicking in with these warnings to manufacturers here about what could happen in march next year. so, the preparations are starting to happen

again they think they cannot just leave it and sit and wait. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. lawyers at the grenfell inquiry say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began, was left terrified by threats of reprisals. the prime minister and labour leader clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon. tsb's boss will be quizzed by mps shortly following the banks online computer failure which hit nearly 2 million customers. in the sport, england's danny rose tells his family not to travel to watch him at the world cup in russia because of racism. manchester united make their second signing in as many days, the defender from porto. and there will be no french open title for maria sharapova this year, she

is outplayed in the quarter—finals by garbine muguruza. the financial watchdog has begun a full investigation into the failure of online banking at tsb. the systems problem in april caused disruption for almost 2 million people using the bank's digital and mobile banking services, and left many customers unable to access their accounts. this afternoon the bank's bosses will face questioning by mps. our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz has more. for weeks, tsb customers had trouble logging in to their accounts. the service is better now, but it is still unstable. and customers phoning for help are having to wait for half an hour on average, or being cut off completely. customers like photographer paul clark, shut out of his account for long periods, in the confusion falling victim to a fraudster who stole more than £10,000. spending three days on the phone to get the money back. i have lost all confidence now that

tsb have got a grip on this. i don't know the situation of my accounts, i can't get in there, i have no confidence in their ability either to answer phones, or to get my account back into a secure position. in the firing line for the failures is the chief executive paul pester. he's directly criticised in the letter published today from the financial watchdog the fca, announcing a full investigation. the letter says, at the height of the crisis paul pester gave mps an optimistic view of services which was too positive. to customers, the bank was not open and transparent, claiming the vast majority could use their online accounts, when only half could. and there is concern about an increase in customers impacted by fraud, not all getting refunds as quickly as they are supposed to. the fca's investigation into tsb will look at why the board approved the ill—fated upgrade, why it was so chaotic afterwards, and why there was no plan b.

and the fca has a big stick. it can impose unlimited fines on banks, it can fine individuals, and ban them from working in the business. more than a month ago, we showed this essex delivery business, which couldn't pay staff from its tsb account. today the boss is still having to pay them from a personal account with another bank. consumer groups say even claiming compensation is a nightmare. the bank isn't clear enough about what it will do to put things right for people that have been suffering stress and inconvenience. the regulator is right to investigate, it must sort this mess out really quickly now. at one point, tsb admitted it was "on its knees". today, directors face a grilling from mps on how they can get this bank up and running properly. simon gompertz, bbc news. let's get some reaction this

harry rose, editor of which? money is with me. ijust wonder about i just wonder about your reaction to the fact that the fca has said it is investigating tsb? it tells us something about the significance of the problems we've seen with tsp. the fca are normally very tightlipped, talking about the companies it is investigating. the fa ct companies it is investigating. the fact that it has come out so publicly to say that it is looking into the situation at tsp speaks volumes. but what we really need now is solutions from tsp. and hopefully the mps will be getting answers this afternoon, particularly from the chief executive, if paul pester? yeah, and we will be expecting him to get a grilling which would be absolutely deserved in the situation. seven weeks of people contacting us and saying, i have not been able to get my cash, i have not been able to get my cash, i have not been able to see how much money i have got in my account, i have had bala nces have got in my account, i have had balances just disappear from my account, we had one person with

£10,000 disappearing and unjustly calling the bank to see what was going on and not being able to get through. so, people need to be compensated but we think tsp need to address some of the emotional stress for people as well. the issues created by their response or lack of it to the problem? yes. it is something they need to get a grip on very quickly now. stormers will want solutions. customers who aren't happy should actually switch bank accou nts happy should actually switch bank accounts now, it is much easier than it used to be and we think that would be original response in the circumstances. and yet there will be the suspicion that to some extent all banks are the same, they all have online problems every now and then, we have the committed many in recent yea rs, then, we have the committed many in recent years, nothing is foolproof? nothing is full proof, think the scale of the issues here, money going missing, we have got fraudsters entering the scene, sending very convincing, persuasive text messages, getting people to call them... text messages, getting people to call them. .. just explain that, because this is on the increase, isn't it? people already not being

able to get hold of the bank and suddenly get that this text message? yeah, imagine the situation, you have not heard from the bank, you know your account is in a mess, you then get a text message which appears in the same thread as the m essa 9 es appears in the same thread as the messages you normally get from tsp, and they want your security details so and they want your security details so that they can get into your account and ultimately maybe take your cash. that has been happening more and more over the last few weeks and sophisticated fraudsters willjump weeks and sophisticated fraudsters will jump on these weeks and sophisticated fraudsters willjump on these situations and tsp has given them the opportunity to do that. and the longer this goes on the more that will become a growing problem. what should they have done as soon as they realised how big the problem was, 2 million customers? of course they downplayed it to start with, which is why mps are now getting so agitated and recalling tsp to get up for them again. they downplayed it and they said most people were accessing their bank accounts fine and of course that was not true. so they really need to get a grip on it if

customers need to start switching. ultimately they will take that decision and we think they would be fair enough to do so. paul pester might be asked by mps where does the buck stop on this? he may well be. if he is the man to sort this out the customers then that's great, it needs to happen very, very quickly now, we need a sense of urgency from tsb, customers need reassurance. and it is up to him to resolve. thank you very much. a hundred year old woman whose neck was broken in a street robbery has died. her distinctive handbag was stolen in the attack last week in normanton in derby. police confirm that the pensioner died in the early hours of this morning after suffering multiple injuries. derbyshire police say the investigation is focused around an abandoned beige seat leon car. a 39—year—old man arrested in connection with the incident has been released under investigation. theresa may has welcomed the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, to downing street, amid tensions around the iran nuclear deal.

she has told him that the uk remains committed to the iran nuclear deal. mr netanyahu committed to the iran nuclear deal. mr neta nyahu was committed to the iran nuclear deal. mr netanyahu was opposed to the deal so mr netanyahu was opposed to the deal so he was focused on making sure it won't did not get a nuclear weapons. mrs may also raised concerns about the deaths of protesters in gaza. more than 100 political ends have been killed in recent weeks. mister netanyahu said responsibility for the violence lay with hamas and is well worth trying to minimise casualties. there have been fresh volcanic eruptions in guatemala, prompting a new wave of evacuations of people living on the slopes below. nearly 200 people are now believed to be missing, after the fuego volcano erupted on sunday, killing 75 people. attempts to recover bodies are being hampered by thick layers of ash. will grant sent us this report from the village of el rodeo at the foot of the fuego volcano. it is a scene they know all too well in this part of guatemala. fuego spewing smoke and ash, desperate families running for their lives. just days after the massive volcanic

eruption destroyed entire villages, the volcano began to smoke again and the emergency services decided to evacuate. following the huge pyroclastic lava flows, the ground beneath them is still dangerously hot and too precarious to keep searching for survivors. in the end they ordered everyone but essential personnel off the mountain. the tiny community of el rodeo, high on the mountain slope, will never be the same. some lost their homes, others their entire families. buried beneath the ash are lives and livelihoods. few who return to this village will find they have been spared the grief. bodes rodriguez lost his wife and herfamily and now has nowhere to turn. translation: no one told us anything, no one came

by to say, evacuate. nothing. people got out however they could. those who could get out did. and those who couldn't, well, god rest them. the emergency services are working around the clock, some literally until they drop. but they are struggling to cope. the disaster has left a trail of destruction that will take months to overcome in what is already one of the poorest countries in the americas. the search for survivors continues in el rodeo but with each passing hour the likelihood of success is growing slimmer. and for those families still waiting for news further down the mountainside, the prospects are looking grim. will grant, bbc news, el rodeo, guatemala. let's cross over to westminster, where members of the commons treasury committee are to questions members of the financial conduct authority about their investigation into tsb. they are asking him about what

compensation should be offered...m somebody sends an e—mail via online banking or goes to a branch and says they want to report fraud, what is they want to report fraud, what is the next step? if they go to the branch then the branch would contact ourfraud team. branch then the branch would contact our fraud team. if the customer went to the telephony centre we would do the same thing. it all ends up with the same thing. it all ends up with the fraud team. fraud team or fraud line? i do not want to seem to be being awkward, there can be different ways that the fraud team can be approached, they can come through the branch team or through the telephony... but they will all end up in the same place? yes, essential. so i think you could say that the fraud line is a core part of what tsb offers, isn't it? yes. and when it is broken the bank is effectively broken, too, because it cannot prevent fraud from taking

place, or compensate customers who have suffered? it can still prevent fraud from taking place, of course. because the systems that prevent fraud from taking place is the system that tracks transactions. that is patterns in transactions, unusual movements in money, a range of activities which lead to tsb putting blocks on accounts if we believe that there is a risk that that account could be subject to fraud. so, we have automated systems and normally we would save the sort of fraud we are discussing today ten or so attacks a day, and if we see many or so attacks a day, and if we see any or so attacks a day, and if we see many many more than the automated systems would kick in. so there are other ways than just reporting fraud. but customer reporting of fraud. but customer reporting of fraud is very important, of course. from a customer plus back perfect is perspective, to have the confidence to now when this but something potentially fraudulent, they will have someone who will take action and look into that. that system

hasn't been working as a shed for the last few weeks? when we were subject to this attack, and to give you a sense of the scale, the volume of attacks went to approximately 70 times the normal level of attacks we would see the. that is andrew bailey said to you earlier clearly overwhelmed tsb and using the same numberfor customers overwhelmed tsb and using the same number for customers to report fraud turnout to be insufficient. we asked for a new line. iwasjust turnout to be insufficient. we asked for a new line. i was just rest to see reports of customers trying to get through to us, seeing money weaving out of their account. fraud isa weaving out of their account. fraud is a horrible experience for our customers, generally the last thing we wa nt customers, generally the last thing we want our customers to go through, evenif we want our customers to go through, even if we refund the money, the experience of having been defrauded loss while long time, it is a horrible experience. i asked the tea m horrible experience. i asked the team to put a new line in to give

priority to those customers reporting fraud. at the moment it is about a two to three minute wait time. we were overwhelmed, we saw 70 times uplift in the volume of attacks, and then we responded by putting in new ways for customers to get to us. obviously i apologise profusely to those customers who have been the subject of fraud. but how was it that putting in another line was going to help? presumably you had to staff up that additional line, so you have two fraud teams answering two different lines?m line, so you have two fraud teams answering two different lines? it is still the same fraud team, but they can face one of the digits on the automated system and, immediately through to the fraud line. within took some of our operators off of our standard banking telephone line, added them to the fraud line, we had already recruited more partners to work on the fraud line. so a common

mission of a specific number to enable customers to report new fraud, enabled us to respond much more quickly. let's talk about how long it has taken people to get through. the advice is to get in touch trade away, so how long have people waited on average over recent weeks to report online banking fraud? since the new line has come m, fraud? since the new line has come in, it is a very short waiting time, it isa in, it is a very short waiting time, it is a priority line, therefore it isa it is a priority line, therefore it is a matter of minutes that customers are waiting to get through to us. at the same time as putting that line in, we tightened up our fraud defences. as i know andrew bailey at the fsa didn't want to talk about into much detail of the exact nature of the frauds, each one has a solid different approach, this particular fraud enabled us has a solid different approach, this particularfraud enabled us to change our defences and reduce the amount of fraud. so we saw the volume go from 70 times the normal level sensually down to two or three times quite quickly. the

commendation of the falling volumes of fraud and the new telephony line means we are answering those enquiries very quickly now.” means we are answering those enquiries very quickly now. i asked you over recent weeks, i am sure you will be aware of the number of customers who would not agree with several minutes of a call being dealt with, something as serious as fraud. people are talking about waiting on your line for hours. that was the case before we put the new line in. i apologise profusely. it is completely unacceptable. putting a new line is completely unacceptable. putting a newline in is completely unacceptable. putting a new line in was the best way to get to a position where we could respond to that. we did not anticipate that volume of fraud attacks. as i put in my letter to you of yesterday evening, it is an unprecedented level of attack. we are working with a range of government agencies to attempt to

track down the perpetrators of this. it can't be completely unprecedented, except, because you say in your letter, we plan for a quadrupling of the intensity of ford attacks shortly after the migration and this assumption was prudent. so actually, in your planning, you would have anticipated, our migration of this size would lead to an increase in fraudulent activity? absolutely, it is a sad fact that whenever there is a change that happens in a bank, as andrew bailey said himself in his letter to you, that the uncertainty is used and exploited by criminals. we had recruited more people, we had prepared our defences on the day after we migrated we had ourfraud teams on high alert ready to deal with exactly this sort of issue. when the fraud attack did come, it was 70 times the level we were expecting, not the four times

typicalfor this sort of expecting, not the four times typical for this sort of migration. customers waiting hours on the phone, what is the longest you know of? i like you have been shocked to read of customers waiting for five yea rs, seven read of customers waiting for five years, seven hours, nine hours —— five hours. i apologise unreservedly. it is one of the reasons why when i immediately started seeing these reports, i said we had to fix these problems, we are not willing to see customers‘s savings being ta ken not willing to see customers‘s savings being taken from their bank, their life savings in some instances being taken from them. we have to resolve this. putting a new line into enable customers to get to us quickly was very important us. in your evidence, you talked about people waiting three minutes on the fraud line. which fraud line was that and why do that not take account, we heard before about the volatility in call handling at different times of the day? women

came to see you earlier we had not been subject to the fraud attack. it started commencing the first bank holiday in may and then peaked about 15th of may and came under control for us towards the end of may. when we came to see you first, right at the beginning of may, i think the 3rd of may, at that time we were not subject to a high level of fraud attack. we were at the levels we had expected or planned for. when you gave evidence on the 2nd of may, i askedif gave evidence on the 2nd of may, i asked if you're fraud reporting lines had been hit, and you responded no, they haven't. i am not aware of long times to access our fraud services, would you deem your evidence to be correct at that point? that was a true statement of the situation at the time. if you had asked us the time of the first bank holiday in may, i would have absolutely said to you that our fraud lines were overwhelmed, which is why we made that change to the system. on the day you gave evidence

average waiting times were five times longer than normal. a third of calls were being abandoned. sorry, is this the fraud line you're talking about? guess. guess. average waiting time is five times longer than normal. that doesn't sit very well with saying i am not aware of long times to access our fraud services. when i came before you i was not aware, i don't know if the data you are looking at, i did not have access on the day, i am very sorry if in any way i appear to have been under forthright in evidence but i gave you everything i had at the time. i will talk about a particular case in a moment. in your letter to me of yesterday, you talk about the period from 23rd of april two 31st of may, 2200 tsb customers had experienced attempts to cover my

spare tanks. when we asked the fca that question they talked about 10,600 incidents. iam that question they talked about 10,600 incidents. i am sure both figures are correct, but for any customer, it is not happening just once, but several times. customer, it is not happening just once, but severaltimes. in customer, it is not happening just once, but several times. in terms of the questions mr elphicke asked earlier that communications, isn't it typical of tsb the way they have handled this whole incident that every time you are asked a question about this, you try to be clever with the numbers? it would have been more honest just with the numbers? it would have been more honestjust say 10,600 incidents, because for every customer, doesn't matter how money customers, it is each incident is com pletely customers, it is each incident is completely devastating?” customers, it is each incident is completely devastating? i am very sorry if it appears as if we are not being truthful with you. it is not intentional and it is not the case. the two numbers you refer to are two very separate and distinct numbers. the number that the fca referred to we re the number that the fca referred to were the number of alerts we put on

accounts, alerts are generated by automated software tracking transaction patterns, and looking at transaction patterns, and looking at transaction patent and pointing out patterns that appear to be unusual. those alerts trigger a text message sent to the customer to ask if this was a valid reaction or not —— transaction or not and if they don't respond we will block the attack. the 10,000 are alerts we generated. the 10,000 are alerts we generated. the 2200 number i mentioned to you is the number of questions who have had attempts at defrauding them. it is different from the alerts numbers. 2200 is attempts at defrauding? how many customers, how many fraud incidents where people have had money out of their account, have had money out of their account, have taken have had money out of their account, have ta ken place? have had money out of their account, have taken place? in my letter to you, i explain 1300 have resulted in financial loss. that is a different,

financial loss. that is a different, financial loss. that is a different, financial loss is not clear... they have had money taken out of their accounts, 1300 people had money taken out of their account by fraudsters. i think you could be clearer. we will talk about the case of mr cassel, who i think you have been alerted to, a self—employed printmaker, who paid some funds into his account between the third and 14th of may. he wanted to access the money on the 15th of may and could not log onto internet banking. meanwhile telephone banking, had problems verifying his identity because of the security questions, things not matching. on the 16th of may, he gets a call on his mobile from somebody appearing to be from business banking, tsb staff advise him to take the call. he is so desperate that that is except what he does. later he suspect he might have been different or because he can't clear security, he can't confirm if the call was genuine,

what his balance was or if money had been transferred out? basically he and his wife were begging for assistance. after hours on the phone he finally took to the fraud team and was told that £24,550 has been taken from his account. he is told by tsb staff they do not know how long it will be before he gets his money back, not even if it is days, weeks or months, because there is, a, quote, backlog of fraud cases. on 17th and he goes into a branch and speaks to the manager who is extremely helpful, he rang the fraud line from his office, three hours 20 minutes later he is still on hold. eventually the staff member at the branch rings at 12 minutes past six to say he now has to go home, having been on hold for a total of five hours with no response. the manager said he had customers in today's tried to do the same, not getting hold of them for hours at a time. the customer received subsequent fraudulent e—mails and calls, and

attempted to report this new information to tsb but couldn't get through. on 21st of may he goes to his atm, checks his account and finds the £24,550 is back into his account but he is unable to check whether that is real, what the reliability of that is. the next day he goes in and take everything out of his account, i suspect he is one of his account, i suspect he is one of many switchers. yesterday he received a letter from tsb, which accepts his description of the events. it says tsb are not at fault in regards to the activity carried out on your account. he has been offered £192 in compensation, of which £42 is that the cost of phone calls. it states restriction on the account cannot be lifted until he sticks to the fraud department. he is worried about the flag on his credit file. it offers who should phone the fraud department offering £18 to cover the cost of waiting on the phone to do so, so they anticipated more delays, if you are offering money up front. he then

states tsb would review other financial losses but only the customer can find evidence —— only if the customer can find evidence. but the customer does not know what those restrictions are. you wrote in your letter yesterday that he would ensure every customer receives a fair outcome. is that a fair outcome? the details you are giving me are obviously deeply distressing to hear the customer, and for any customer that goes through a fraudulent activity and i deeply apologise for this. as you say, mr catterall was refunded on 21st of may. the reason there are blocks on his account is to protect him against furtherfraud. we his account is to protect him against further fraud. we of course will look at this case, i would love to ta ke will look at this case, i would love to take the details from you, and as with other cases i think you provided to us, address them. i can only apologise to mr catterall. this

was, unfortunately he was caught up in the attack we received. i can only apologise, we refunded in full, andi only apologise, we refunded in full, and i would like to take his case further. you told the committee last time that the way compensation will work is it takes into account factors such as distress and emotional distress more than inconvenience. do you think mr catterall‘s offer by tsb takes those things into account? clearly not. i have heard your account of what has happened to this customer, of which lam deeply happened to this customer, of which i am deeply sorry, and when we have met i said actually that i believe these fraud issues are absolutely horrid. i imagine what it must be like. it is the stress that goes with it and the whole consequences. that is why i answered as i have. i think the most important thing to say firstly is that the bank is

working very, very hard to compensate any of our customers who are defrauded. in mr catterall‘s case, i think it is important to recognise that we have refunded him in full, and just make the point, to reinforce what paul said, about the block on the account, that is to protect mr catterall, because clearly there is some former ability to his account that some fraudster had managed to get hold of so the block has remained. in terms of whether the payment offered to him are sufficient for distress and inconvenience, it is very difficult to comment. they don't sound to my mind, given the stress he has been under with £24,500, as the amount that was taken and the hours taken, either with our branch manager on the phone, necessarily to be a correct calculation, about half an hour every minute waiting, doesn't sound to be a correct calculation, but we are attempting to set a

framework of compensation, which takes into account stress and inconvenience, and they are much more difficult to that, what we call consequential loss. there will be a numberof consequential loss. there will be a number of cases where there will be consequential loss was stop personally i don't thing £192 in compensation is nearly sufficient, given that some of that is the cost of phone calls. the more important point, where i think tsb is tone deaf on these sorts of issues, is the turn of the lettering which it is all about the customer having to prove that they didn't do anything, when you know very well that the it migration, which you and your board signed off on, has led to people suffering these devastating consequences. i would like to make sure we are very, the ball we are with the terms of the letter, i absolutely get your point. i think one of the really important features about the way the bank is attempting to manage this issue is i think it is quite often in the industry where

fraudsters actually raid accounts, that the banks will contribute negligence or liability to customers, and say you were negligent, you provided your memorable data and therefore got defrauded. we are not doing that. we are in these instances compensating in full, without any desire or attempt to attribute liability to the customers. we are compensating in fullany the customers. we are compensating in full any customer of tsb who has been defrauded. why is that? can we recognise the significant uncertainties over the text to the migration have caused and created a const x on which fraudsters and criminal organisations can feed. we absolutely recognise that.” criminal organisations can feed. we absolutely recognise that. i want to move on but i would just say this, on the 2nd of may when you gave evidence, the day before, the official twitter tsb account said, ourfraud lines are official twitter tsb account said, our fraud lines are currently experiencing a higher volume of calls than usual. if the twitter account knew that, why did you not

know that? i am very sorry if i appeared to give any impression that i was not across the numbers last time. to the best of my knowledge, the number was what i had with me at the number was what i had with me at the time. there are people who have written truly horrendous stories online about their experiences. do you think that tsb deserves its new nickname of the truly shambolic bang? i think this whole situation of the migration for tsb has been a terrible situation to customers. the migration, the subsequent fraud attack, even when we send letters to customers, we have managed to put more letters in a single envelope, all collectively has created a terrible time for our tsb customers andi terrible time for our tsb customers and i apologise unreservedly for that. all i can do is to work flat out with the teams we have to bring

more resources into the business, to fix these problems for our customers as quickly as we can, and to bring tsb back to a level of service that our customers expect. i deeply apologise, it was a cumulative series of issues we have seen. mr pester, i hear your apology but i wa nt to pester, i hear your apology but i want to ask one question before i ask some specific questions about the treatment of customers arising from the chair‘s questions. the last time you came before this committee, either you knew about the scale of theissues either you knew about the scale of the issues on the forward line that had led to all of these delays, and people sitting on the telephone line for hours on end, either you knew then and you did not tell us the full picture, or you didn't know there was a serious problem with your bank's fraud line, for which

your bank's fraud line, for which you personally are accountable. which is it? i told you the information i had available at the time. my understanding on the reporting of new frauds was that the wait time was the number gave you. so it is the latter. yes, clearly i gave the wrong information, for which i apologise for stop so there was a serious problem with your fraud line, for which you are accountable, and you did not know about it? yes. ok, to be clear. studio: a difficult line of question for the boss of tsb, paul pester. he had already said 1300 customers have suffered financial loss due to fraudsters as a result of chaos in his bank. 2200 actual attempts at fraud, 10,600 fraud alerts, and claims that some people appear to have waited up to five hours of material be help lines, and still not getting proper responses. we

will pull away from thatjust not getting proper responses. we will pull away from that just for a moment because ben bland from our business unit is here. the original accusation that he perhaps had been accusation that he perhaps had been a little up heat about what was going on at the time, he has admitted and has apologised for that. yes, we heard him there in the face of some fairly stringent questioning, saying that he gave the figures that were to the best of his knowledge at the time. and just to run through some of the background to this, why the treasury committee is investigating tsb, there were computer failures that caused up to 1.9 million tsb customers to either have problems accessing their accounts, orfinding have problems accessing their accounts, or finding that payments we re accounts, or finding that payments were not going through or they could not make payments. it all began when tsb introduced a new it system in april. it has now been six weeks since that, and it left some customers, personal customers and

business customers, struggling to make transactions and even just to see their balances. to make matters worse, 40% of customers were unable to get through on the phone. the chief executive of financial authority andrew bailey who was being questioned by the mps earlier today said that the bank's poor communication may have hit customers‘s trust in banking. communication may have hit customers's trust in banking. may? may, i would customers's trust in banking. may? may, iwould probably customers's trust in banking. may? may, i would probably hazard a guess and say as far as tsb is concerned, it's customers have been very disappointed by the handling of all of this. let's speak to sally francis miles, a money expert at money supermarket. she joins us now from the newsroom. some fairly tough questions for paul pester. i mean, the handling of it, i mean, to say the handling of it, i mean, to say the least, when so many people were having money taken out of their accounts, and trying to report it, it is almost a case study in how not

to deal with situations like this. absolutely, and to be honest the real test of a company, they bank, is when things go wrong, and tsb has shown everybody this is not the way you do it. communication has been shocking, by the fact there has not been any transparency. paul pester admitted he got his figures wrong in the last treasury committee meeting. and customers, a lot have been left in the dark, and severely out of pocket. and what could a bank that, you know, on the scale and size of tsb, do, to try and restore its reputation? i mean, it's got a lot of ground work to do to get customers back to the basic level of service. i think that is its first step. to get customers back through the door. it has lost a loved of customers who have now switched to other accounts. it has got to come back with something strong. time will help to prove that actually it has got the levels of customer

service that people were used to prior to this. and also just service that people were used to prior to this. and alsojust having those great products, people will come back eventually, but the real testis come back eventually, but the real test is how they will handle things after today. that is a tough line of questioning. personally i don't give was handled particularly well and i think time is the real factor that will help make things better. sally, thank you. you brought me lunch, very kind of you, but the salad is misplaced. laughter i know you work hard through the afternoon, did you write that! hang on! it is all about this, salad cream, or is it? they want to rebrand it as sandwich cream. sandwich cream ? it rebrand it as sandwich cream. sandwich cream? it is not quite the same. whenever there is a brand change like this, twitter, everybody has gone mad. imagine that, people angry on twitter. people say that

people use it more for sam salads. a sceptic might say this is a big marketing ploy, especially that given last year there was a 5% dip in sales of salad cream. give us some other examples. people remember some other examples. people remember so many of them, coco pops became jaco chris bese, not so good. opal fruits. pizza hut rebranded as pasta hut for a while to try and be healthier, and then they moved back. gif becoming sieve, the oil of your labour coming oil of ole, which of course you know all about. there have been loads. marathon, snickers, is the one people keep mentioning. people phil roper strongly about these brands. it is an assertion with childhood and what they remember. that is what they relate to. this is not a final decision, it is going to consultation, the final decision made in september. so watch

this space. they will need a bigger label. that is a very good point. thank you very much, see you in an hour, ben bland with all the business news. now look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. fairly quiet out there on the weather front, a lot fairly quiet out there on the weatherfront, a lot of fairly quiet out there on the weather front, a lot of sunshine around. over the next few days, very little change on the weather front. generally speaking a lot of fine, dry weather. not necessarily sunny everywhere because it is the jet strea m everywhere because it is the jet stream is stopping the weather front from coming our way. that is why we have very little rain in the forecast. 15 in newcastle, 15 in hull, and where you have the sunshine, temperatures comfortable in the 20s, 22, 23, topped abuja

today. you may have noticed how fresh this morning was, quite nippy, similar way to night. down to single figures in some areas. let's look at thursday across europe. some storms there. we are in this window of, whether, stretching all the way from scandinavia, high pressure all the way to denmark and norway and sweden. we are in the quiet weather but just starting to see some changes through thursday across the south, and there might be some showers trekking into the southern counties maybe in one or two other areas. not completely dry, not 100%, but for most of us it will bea not 100%, but for most of us it will be a fine day. as i said through thursday into friday, very little change in the forecast. here is that high—pressure stretching from way west of our neighbourhood across the uk into scandinavia. that basically

means more of the same for most of us. however, little showers in the forecast, quite a few of them gathering in the near continent, something that might be coming our way but not for quite some time. quite fresh on the north sea coast again on friday, 14 in newcastle where the sun comes out, temperatures will be average for the time of year. saturday, probably a fair bit of cloud, saturday might start off quite grey and gloomy but then that some works mcleod and we should get some sunny spells. —— works on the cloud. little change in the coming days. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 4. lawyers at the grenfell inquiry say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began, was left terrified by threats of reprisals. what ever the precise cause or origin of the fire in mr kebede's

kitchen, it was accidental and mr kebede there is no responsibility directly or indirectly for the fire. the prime minister and labour leader clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon. tsb's boss apologises unreservedly to customers, as the financial regulator investigates the bank's online computer failure. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport... thank you very much. england have plenty to think about with their first world cup match nowjust 12 days away. but for danny rose, racism is also on the agenda. he has told his family not to travel to russia because of it. and tomasz schafernaker has the weather. very quiet on the weather front, not really much change in the coming days. one thing to bear in mind is how strong the sunshine is, as strong as it gets, at this time of the year. also coming up — meet trevor the lonely peacock. he's been ruffling feathers

in county durham in his quest to find a mate — we'll hear more on news nationwide. hello everyone, this is afternoon live. the public inquiry into the grenfell tower disaster has heard that the man who lived in the flat where the fire began "did the right thing from start to finish". speaking on the third day of evidence, the lawyer for behailu kebede said his client phoned 999, and alerted his fourth floor neighbours as soon as he saw smoke. but the inquiry also heard that mr kebede was left terrified by threats of reprisals, and police suggested he could go into witness protection. richard galpin reports. it's the third day of evidence

into the grenfell fire, and lawyers representing the victims have again been condemning the authorities and companies caught up in the case, and also some media outlets. this is the voice of behailu kebede, a resident of the tower block, calling for help after he saw smoke in his kitchen. the fire later spread through the building. the inquiry heard today he had subsequently been vilified by some media, and his lawyer wants the record to be corrected. whatever the precise cause or origin of the fire, in mr kebede's kitchen, it was accidental, and mr kebede bears no responsibility, directly or indirectly, for the fire, its spread or the dreadful consequences that followed. another theme being presented to the inquiry today is that the

catastrophic failures in fire safety which led to the deaths of 72 people in a social housing block has also to be seen as an issue of class and race. it is no coincidence that this fire occurred in a building consisting of social housing and former social housing purchased under the right to buy scheme, and not in one of the many posh, swanky, high—rise residential buildings around london that cater to the extremely wealthy. so, race and class are at the heart of the grenfell story, whether we like it or not, whether the inquiry acknowledges it or not, whether the terms of reference are extended or not. consequently, we say that what happened at the grenfell tower in the early hours of 14thjune last year was as political as it gets, and symbolic of a deep inequality in our society. from other lawyers representing

the families of those killed in the fire, and the survivors, there were more angry words, accusing the authorities and companies hired to refurbish the tower block of persistent failures. the refurbishment. we say this. that those responsible for allowing this situation to get to the stage where 72 souls were lost in the most horrendous and awful way should hang their heads in collective shame. by design, complacency, error, or all of these, the state palpably failed in its primary duty to protect its citizens. and as for the corporates, silence speaks a thousand words. so now the inquiry is under intense

pressure to fully expose the causes of the fire and to do so quickly. if not, it will be accused of being a whitewash. richard galpin, bbc news. tom iurridge is outside the inquiry hearing in central london. this afternoon representatives of the council have been speaking? yeah, first we heard from representatives of the survivors and relatives and this afternoon we have had a degree of finger—pointing i think from some of the companies and the council involved with the refurbishment. the council first. kensington and chelsea council, their barrister set out this afternoon that the council was not the one which actually entered into

contracts in terms of the refurbishment — it was the tenancy management organisation, set up by the council in the 9090 is to manage its housing stock. we will come onto the tmo in a second. the council pointed out that it had on two occasions increased the budget for the project to over £10 million and there to see, james maxwell—scott, said, this was not the decision of a council determined to build on the cheap. he also pointed out that it was not a politically controversial project, it was not about cuts, it was about spending huge amounts of, it money. he also said that the te na nt it money. he also said that the tenant tenancy management organisation was a separate legal entity. he was saying not that it was a legal shield for the council but that it was an organisation set up but that it was an organisation set up to increase tenant participation because the tmo was and is in part run by people who rent social housing in the borough, tenants of the council, if you like. the tmo's legal representative went next and

he pointed out that the tmo was a non—profit organisation, company. led by residents, had no shares, all profits put into social housing in the borough. he said the purpose of the borough. he said the purpose of the refurbishment was to improve energy efficiency, that's why the clothing was put on, to make it more environmentally friendly, if you like. he said because the tenancy management organisation were not specialists themselves in instruction or design, that's why they contracted pretty much all of they contracted pretty much all of the work out, even the procurement process , the work out, even the procurement process, for example. they said interesting plea that it was the architect, studio e, who identified the type of clothing used back in 2012. and the tmo also pointed out interestingly that samples of the cladding were presented to officials at kensington and chelsea council on multiple occasions. we have also heard from cs stokes, a fire risk assessment company who carried out two fire risk assessments in 2016,

the year before the fire and they said those assessments were carried out in compliance with legislation. but interestingly they pointed out that they were not compelled to consider the external walls. so, the cladding in those assessments, and they asked whether that was an issue which the inquiry should consider. the government's latest proposals on the brexit backstop — the model for customs and rules and regulations if no trade deal is struck — has been circulated to key ministers. it suggests the uk would respect the remit of the european court ofjustice. the new proposal comes as the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said labour remain divided over whether to remain in the eu's single market. our political correspondent ben wright reports. are you bungling brexit, prime minister? a prime minister under pressure. at the end of this month, theresa may will go to a summit in brussels looking for a breakthrough. time is short, cabinet divisions are obvious, and we are still waiting for the government to publish

its plan, asjeremy corbyn pointed out in the commons this lunchtime. we were told, mr speaker, three weeks ago, to a great deal of fanfare, that this document, this white paper, would set out the government's ambition for the uk's future relationship with the eu, and their vision for a future role in the world. it's nowhere to be seen, no answer is there as to when it will be published. the cabinet is also trying to agree which of two customs options it wants to negotiate with the eu, but the prime minister insisted the white paper plan would come soon. yes, my right honourable friend the brexit secretary and i agree that we want to publish a white paper that goes beyond the speeches... that goes beyond the speeches and the papers that have been given and published so far, that does go into more details, and that ensures that when we publish that white paper, we are able to negotiate with our european union and european commission colleagues on that. when? shouted opposition mps, incredulous at how tight the timetable is getting.

for this government in the negotiations, jobs have been an afterthought. the irish border has been an afterthought. the economy at all costs has been an afterthought. he talks about the northern ireland border. the leader of the opposition complains that we are giving too much attention to getting the answer right for the northern ireland border, and the leader of the scottish national party says we are using it as an afterthought. we are committed to ensuring that there is no hard border between northern ireland and ireland. the european union wants to know how the uk will keep the border between northern ireland and the republic open if the two sides fail to come up with a better long—term plan. it's the so—called backstop option. this morning, the government's customs plan was circulated around the cabinet's brexit committee. sources who have seen the four page document told the bbc say it is anodyne, that it includes no specific time limit, and that the remit of the european court ofjustice would still apply.

that is likely to anger brexiteer tories. outside parliament, the referendum arguments rage on, but the two main parties are divided, too, on how the uk should trade with the eu after brexit. a number of labourmps say that their party's say that their party's latest plan for sticking close to the single market after brexit doesn't go far enough. this will dominate again next tuesday, when mps will have the chance to vote and potentially shape the course of brexit. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. the brexit secretary, david davis, is giving a speech and we can hear what he has got to say now...m will mean a new, different relationship with the eu. that should not, however, ignore the decades of trust, collaboration and co—operation that existed between us as if it never happened.

collaboration has benefits beyond the borders of europe out into the wider world. pan—european co—operation has kept people safe, it has kept people alive, it has protected the peace. we don't need to be members of the european union for this co—operation to continue. but for the relationship to enter your, we do need to leave the european union as friends and allies. friends who trust each other. and anyone frankly who suggests that the united kingdom cannot be trusted and isn't a proven friend of every single country in the european union needs to brush up on history. britain has always stepped up to its global responsibilities. we put our world leading military power and the service of our shared values and a lwa ys service of our shared values and always have done. we use our position as one of the world's most advanced economies to create jobs

and spread prosperity. and we celebrate our aspect it independent legal system, setting a global example of fair trials and stable laws. we are champions of a rules —based international system and work to defend the security of people both here and abroad. so, that's why we set out early and publicly, as the deputy director—general said, our proposals to continue security and co—operation with the european union. we are publishing detailed technical papers on specific issues such as galileo and internal security. discussions with continue between me and michel barnier next week. our offer remains unconditional. at its heart, a strategic partnership which allows us to tackle the full range of threats that we face. a partnership that respects the autonomy of the united kingdom and the european union but importantly allows us to continue to work together. because

the operational expertise that's currently shared between the uk and the countries in the european union has meant our people are safe and prosperous. agencies such as europol have helped break up criminal gangs and prevented drugs and guns ending up and prevented drugs and guns ending up on our streets. the european arrest warrant has brought dangerous people swiftly to justice and put them behind bars. meanwhile information sharing has helped stop cou ntless information sharing has helped stop countless terror attacks by making sure that critical information is picked up, shared quickly and acted upon at speed. these tools and systems don't work in isolation. it is the way they interact which means they're effective. because they've been designed carefully that way over time to respond to new threats. let me give an example. say a person radicalised online leads europe to train ina radicalised online leads europe to train in a terrorist camp in syria, intent on coming back to radicalise even more people and carry out a

deadly atrocity. there are multiple systems and tools in place which are able to pick up on suspicious behaviour, from facebook posts to travel bookings which link to the functioning of agencies. so, the european authorities can pick the terrorist up before they can target and kill innocent people. as the threats we face continue to evolve, so must our collaboration. because we must work together and quickly if we must work together and quickly if we wa nt we must work together and quickly if we want to avoid any gap in our operational capability, a gap which could put people in harm's way. the first duty of government is to keep its citizens safe. and it is the pursuit of that safety which made britain make that unconditional offer to the european union. and any move by others to place conditions on our offer would only serve to put the safety of everybody‘s citizens of risk. because when terrorists set off bombs or fire of risk. because when terrorists set

off bombs orfire guns, be it on the streets of paris or london or manchester or brussels, they don't check the passports of their victims first. so, in approaching the trade—offs of brexit, the united kingdom made a choice, we decided that europe's safety was far too important to be negotiated away. and so while we know things must change when we leave the eu, that cannot be at the expense of citizens‘ security. now, that means, of course, that we will make appropriate contributions to the cost of the programs we want to remain involved in. and when participating in the eu agencies the uk will respect the remit of the european court of justice. uk will respect the remit of the european court ofjustice. that will need a solution to close legal co—operation which respects our unique status as a third country with our own sovereign legal order. we have presented serious, considered options about the shape of that future security partnership, designed to respect the decision—making autonomy of the

european union as well as the united kingdom. however, it is sometimes said that the limits of our corporation have been set by the united kingdom, that on leaving the european union and not being under the jurisdiction european union and not being under thejurisdiction of european union and not being under the jurisdiction of the european court ofjustice, there will be an automatic crop in security co—operation. but we are the only one with a choice of. i do not agree. the european union does have choices. and when i see the position proposed by the commission i see choices being taken there. choices which are leaning towards the protection of legal precedents above operational capability. this may be deliberate. it may be where the eu sees us ending up. but there is an alternative path, one which sees the institutional architecture of the eu asa institutional architecture of the eu as a means to an end, not an end in itself, one which leads to a partnership which reflects the reality of mutual gains available to

the united kingdom and the european union and its member states. as the home secretary said on monday, there is not a single european interior minister who once to reduce the level of co—operation on security that we have now. take, for example, the european arrest warrant. it has played a crucial role in security co—operation not least in northern ireland and ireland. when i travel across europe speaking to my counterparts, i hear how much they value this scheme and the weight but the uk brings to it. before it came into force in 2004, fewer than 60 criminals each year were extradited. since then we have extradited more than... we are just going to since then we have extradited more than... we arejust going to pull away from this because i want to show you what‘s happening, we have got some live pictures from knightsbridge in the heart of london, the london fire brigade saying they are dealing with a fire, reports that it is at a hotel, that

they say 15 fire engines have been called to the fire in knightsbridge. very visible fire, as you can see. the fire brigade taking 35 calls. very visible fire, as you can see. the fire brigade taking 35 callsm does appear now to be diminishing. a few minutes ago there was thick black smoke billowing into the sky. but it is changing its colour somewhat and it would appear that the efforts of the fire brigade are having an effect on that fire. we are hearing reports that it is a hotel, it is the mandarin oriental hotel, it is the mandarin oriental hotel, according to some on twitter. we cannot confirm that at this stage but we are hearing that a large number of fire engines and fire brigade officers have been at the scene. a number of people on twitter confirming that this is the mandarin oriental hotel. and some pictures on twitter show very much that it is

that hotel. the smoke appears to be coming from the roof. in the last few moments since we have brought you these pictures, that fire does seem you these pictures, that fire does seem to be in the course of being put out by the fire brigade. anymore news on that we bring it to you. let‘s go back to david davis who is speaking... law enforcement agencies may no longer be able to protect public if dangerous individuals move between the united kingdom and the european union. and it is through that need, that need to protect the public, that we must also look at how we test to operate over galileo, the european global navigation system. this will provide significant space capability for europe. once in place it will have

secure global coverage. it draws on uk hosted stations in the south atlantic. the project is making the european space sector more competitive. it will mean armed forces across europe can work better together, enabling us tojointly develop operating procedures in the most testing conditions. and weapons systems will be more effective other but are able to achieve their games with minimum collateral damage to innocent civilians. because galileo is so important, uk industry and military experts have been instrumental in its design. we‘ve spent hundreds of millions of pounds on the project and thousands of hours of work has been dedicated to make sure the system is secure. but now, the commission is suggesting that by being involved, the united kingdom poses a risk to the security interests of the european union. british companies are being disconnected against, blocked from applying the contracts to design and

manufacture parts of the system, and this is happening despite the fact that excluding uk industry would delay the project by up to three yea rs delay the project by up to three years and cost the programme an extra 1 billion euros. put simply, the commission‘s position seems to be shooting itself in the footjust to prove that the gun works. this is not an issue isolated to galileo. the same is at risk of happening with new european defence fund. the uk and our industry are already making a meaningful contribution. but the eu has approached the provisional regulation and co—operation in the and or more of these, unhelpful precedents and assumptions on how a third country should cooperate with the eu is hindering rejects which hindering rejects continent. dogmatic responses based on what has happened before do not help anyone. and actually when i hear that agreements with other countries will

have to be re—examined, my response is, why is that bad and if it makes our continent safer? so what we are promoting is a calibre to approach, one which goes beyond the existing agreement by recognising the combined success if we have had so far but proud of the role we play in making our continent safer. we have taken such action because we are friends and allies of the european union and its member states. europe‘s security is our security. our relationship can be different ca rs our relationship can be different cars it starts from a different place. when we leave the eu, our data sharing systems will be uniquely compatible with theirs and our operational processes will already be closely aligned. that makes it much easier to continue our existing co—operation rather than starting afresh. on galileo, we are proposing a framework which reflects our contribution to the programme and gives uk industry the ability to participate openly and fairly honest of element and usage, including the

crucial secure elements. we should be able as trusted allies and friends in europe to get an agreement which allows sensitive information to be shared. looking more widely, the security partnership with eu should enable us to work together on new tools for the future so that when criminal is on terrorists use new and emerging technology to try and evade capture, state and police systems can evolve at pace to tackle them. in our upcoming white paper we will say that our future security partnership should include formal, strategic and operational dialogue which allows the united kingdom and the european union to learn from each other. we will set out our ambition for our new reciprocal secondment programme for security experts as a way of sharing skills and expertise. and we wa nt sharing skills and expertise. and we want a comprehensive, deep partnership with the european union ona partnership with the european union on a whole range of matters which have an impact on our security. on counter—terrorism, where systems

include ones where we flagged to our european partners terrorists who have travelled to the uk and i directive which allows us to track individuals on terrorist watch lists and identify a complicit and their movements. on foreign defence policy we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies in europe. on addressing the migrant crisis in the mediterranean, where the uk has committed a ship and vital expertise to the operation which has helped save more than 30,000 lives. and we will look to carry over all eu sanctions at the time of our departure and continue to work with the european union to make sure we both implement effective sanctions in the future. because we must do whatever is most practical and pragmatic to provide security for all of europe‘s citizens. now, i‘ve spoken before about how the uk has always seen the european project from the. is

because we think differently about the eu. -- because we think differently about the eu. —— project differently. that is why the people of the united kingdom i think voted to leave. confident that we will be able to trade with our allies by taking back control of the country‘s own future. as well as partnership on security, we wa nt as well as partnership on security, we want a new economic partnership, too. many have suggested the only thing on offerfor the uk and the eu's thing on offerfor the uk and the eu‘s future trading relationship is an off—the—shelf model based on agreements made before. but what is important is that we agree a partnership which is broad and deep and balanced by mutual commitments. it is not a case of asking for special treatment, we are leaving the european union, we are leaving the european union, we are leaving the single market and customs union. it is not about trying to recreate everything the eu does for the benefit of one states. it is about recognising the centuries—old cultural, social and a colonic ties to exist between us. and the fact

that we will share those same laws and regulation is on the day that we leave. this unique starting point is a solid foundation of mutual trust for this new economic partnership. and also reflects the uk‘s position as one of the world‘s largest economies, one of the eu‘s closest trading partners and one of its most dependable allies. so, as well as security, our upcoming white paper will set out at length the steps we wa nt to ta ke will set out at length the steps we want to take to keep as close trading ties as we currently have and make sure that trading stays as frictionless as possible. it will tackle once and for all the heavily propagated myth that the uk doesn‘t know what it wants. while building on the premise to‘s speeches and our existing white papers and countless presentations made directly to the eu, one which recognises that the trade negotiations are completely unique in history. again we‘re going to need the european union to

recognise that the united kingdom is not your average third country. we are going to get trading agreement which defencejobs are going to get trading agreement which defence jobs across europe. our economies have the linkages in supply chains, aeroplanes, vehicles, chemicals cross the border several times during the production process. a typical car part might be moulded in the uk, painted in slovakia... studio: david davis says a new partnership with the eu after brexit must stand the test of time. he says the eu is shooting itself in the footin the eu is shooting itself in the foot in relation to opposition over galileo. on the whole, broadly promising, unconditional co—operation in the future over security. we‘re going to leave that there. just want to return to those scenes in the skies above knightsbridge in west london. 100

firefighters we have been told are tackling this large fire at the mandarin oriental hotel. 12 floors of the hotel. but pictures we saw earlier were... it appeared flames we re earlier were... it appeared flames were coming very much from the roof area of the fire. but let me just show you the latest from the fire brigade, they have tweeted in the last few minutes, 100 firefighters attacking a large fire in a hotel of 12 floors in the knightsbridge area. we‘ve seen other pictures from twitter users showing the flames coming very much from the roof area of the hotel. knightsbridge in the centre of london, where we are getting reports of traffic chaos with many roads closed. it is a busy tourist area. busy residential and commercial area. that is the roof of the hotel. that is the mandarin oriental, which we understand has

been the subject of some renovation work in the recent past. we will bring you more on that as we get it. iam i am looking at a live picture now which would seem seem to suggest, still black smoke are living into the sky. those hundreds of firefighters still have their work cut out. black sky over london as a result of that fire in london. tomas is here with the weather, are we about to see some sort of change? possibly but not until next week because actually, storms or not, and we all remember the big thunderstorms we had a week or so ago, the big thunderstorms we had a week or so ago, they lasted about a week. that was more typical of summertime weather. quite unusual to see so many thunderstorms. there are more across europe. this is zooming into

france. you can see the spinning clouds, rather a lot of storms across close to paris, we have seen pictures like this, something similarto pictures like this, something similar to what we saw here in the uk. flash flooding. the point i am trying to make is it is almost as if some came really early, about a month early, across europe, and we are starting to see potentially weather patterns changing a little bit. you are not saying summer has gone? don‘t do that! bit. you are not saying summer has gone? don't do that! no, it is not going away, that the idea is this pa rt going away, that the idea is this part of the world where you would really expect it to be nice and warm and sunny is in fact not. anybody hopping onto an aeroplane heading off to say barcelona or madrid thinking it will be blazing sunshine, it is not necessarily the case. i just want to show you the weather and what it is like across europe today, look at madrid, 20 celsius, 23 in london. lisbon, 21

degrees. these temperatures should be up here, it should be the other way round, which means the weather patterns are kind of split across europe. you asked whether there are changes on the way, and yes, there are. this is the pattern we have right now, the jet stream is are. this is the pattern we have right now, thejet stream is right over greenland. if you think of it asa over greenland. if you think of it as a conveyor belt in a supermarket, this is well the goods are going. they are coming out of fear and then the weather systems travel that sort of way, all the nice warm weather is here, but noticed there is just this little suggestion, a bit of an arm ofa little suggestion, a bit of an arm of a jet stream nudging into iberia but the pattern is likely to change. what is the supermarket conveyor belt doing next week? it is doing that. i would like you to do the weather once, you have a go at it! we will probably see weather systems coming our way. this time of the

year eve n coming our way. this time of the year even when the jet stream comes our way, it is a lot weaker than it is an wintertime. so the forecasters ? is an wintertime. so the forecasters? so the forecast is more of the same for the next few days, thatis of the same for the next few days, that is all it is. yes. ok. so what have we got? strong sunshine today. very high uv levels. the forecast for the second half of the afternoon, this is what it looks like around 6pm, temperatures in the low 20s in london, 22 in edinburgh. and the weather stays pretty cloudy during the course of the evening across eastern parts of the country, thatis across eastern parts of the country, that is that seifert we have had. pretty cool with clear skies across many parts of the uk, temperatures dipping down to single figures. and then a look at europe during the cause of thursday, still stormy across western part of europe and

the mediterranean, thunderstorms and one or two areas, there‘s a chance we will see some showers across the south during the course of thursday. southern counties, anywhere from kent through hampshire down towards the south—west, possibly southern parts of wales, but generally speaking it is more of the same, high—pressure is across the uk, so keeping weather fronts out there in the atlantic. this is the high i am talking about, all the way from south of iceland across the uk, into scandinavia. not much change across northern parts of the country here. againa northern parts of the country here. again a couple of showers, a risk of some southern areas, that is pretty much it. and the temperatures, end of the week, around 22 in london, the average for the time of the year. 20 expected in edinburgh. and then a quick sneak a peak of what we are expecting on saturday, looks like there could be some grey skies in the morning, so many of us might be waking up on saturday, pretty gloomy looking skies overhead, but thenit gloomy looking skies overhead, but then it looks as though the skies

will brighten up the weekend, the weather is looking pretty good, with temperatures of around 23 degrees in london, and the high teens for most of us. so the weather for the next few days, very little change, probably very little change into sunday, and then monday and tuesday we are potentially turning a little bit more unsettled but it will not be cold. 100 firefighters are fighting a blaze above the mandarin oriental hotel in the knightsbridge area of london. more on that in a moment. the prime minister and the labour leader have clashed in the commons over brexit ...with theresa may under pressure to publish her proposals. the grenfell tower inquiry has heard

the man who lived in the flat where the fire started was left terrified by threats of reprisals. his defence lawyer says the tenant is not to blame. back to the fire in central london, this is above the mandarin oriental hotel in knightsbridge. we can speak to an eyewitness, who works in a beauty salon next door to the hotel. what exactly has happened in the last 15 minutes, half an hour? at first, i was just last 15 minutes, half an hour? at first, i wasjust like, last 15 minutes, half an hour? at first, iwasjust like, we last 15 minutes, half an hour? at first, i was just like, we could smell a really strong smell of plastic outside. i could see lots of thick fire. it is still going on actually. quite thick smell around. just lots of fire cars going through and police and all the traffic is blocked. i think it is quite big. definitely quite a big fight going on in the hotel at the moment. i hope everything is ok and everyone said. we all do. i amjust hope everything is ok and everyone said. we all do. i am just wondering if the hotel is actually open, we

are getting some reports it is under renovation at the moment.” are getting some reports it is under renovation at the moment. i am not so renovation at the moment. i am not so sure, hopefully it is under renovation and no one is there. i cannot confirm any information about that, i don‘t know. but it seems like it is a big deal. have you seen any people who have been ordered to evacuate, perhaps? i haven't, is close not exactly there. all i can see is big thick smoke coming out of their and that‘s it. see is big thick smoke coming out of their and that's it. and a lot of fire engines and fire personnel on the scene? yes, all the traffic is blocked. sorry, it is kind of hard to say what is happening, there are just many police and firemen. we are talking of one of the smarter hotels in the middle of london. allan yes, i know, it is next to hyde park, it could be quite hard to handle the situation. the smoke is still coming, even 20 minutes later. i don‘t know what is happening there

at the moment but i hope they can handle it quick. it looked at one point as though the flames were under control, because there wasn‘t as much smoke but suddenly it is billowing back out again, isn‘t it? yes. just explain what is happening to us in the area, we are in rush hour, a busy part of london, it is causing considerable difficulty? absolutely. that is really good join us. tell me what your surname is, i will only get it wrong. thank you very much werejoining will only get it wrong. thank you very much were joining no worries. we will keep on these pictures, the plumes of smoke still going up into the sky over knightsbridge. as we we re the sky over knightsbridge. as we were saying, this is a 5—star hotel in the knightsbridge area, with some reports that it was undergoing refurbishment, scheduled in fact to be unveiled in the next few weeks. i do know if that is rated to what is

going on and what you are looking at right now, and we don‘t yet know if anybody has been involved in any way in that fire. we will bring you more on that, the london fire brigade saying 100 firefighters now tackling that large fire at the mandarin oriental. we will keep an eye on that, any more news we will bring it straight to you. the city watchdog has said there have been around ten thousand incidents of fraud linked to the computer problems which have affected customers of tsb. the boss of the bank, paul pester, is facing questions from mps — amid continuing criticism of the way tsb has handled the technical difficulties. mr pester said he wanted to apologise to all those who were targeted by fraudsters when the bank had its computer meltdown. iam i am deeply sorry to say that i think the issues we created as a consequence of migration were an opportunity that was exploited by criminals to target tsb customers. it isa

criminals to target tsb customers. it is a very sad fact that when the banks go through changes in the fraudsters tend to target customers but in particular we saw a very, very aggressive attack on tsb, soon after, about a week after migration. 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. harry gration in leeds, where the region has been saying goodbye to 1966 world cup legend ray wilson who died last month and who‘s funeral has taken place in huddersfield today. and in newcastle, carol malia joins us to tell us about a peacock that has been ruffling a few feathers in a county durham village. but first to harry. and the funeral of 1966 world cup winner ray wilson taking place today. a huge name in the sport.” a huge name in the sport. i know you like your football, a huge name in the sport. i know you like yourfootball, simon. let me tell you a little bit about the

background to reve. he was discovered by no less a person than bill shankly when bill shankly was manager of huddersfield back in 1952, and he saw in him a really significant talent. of course, many people regarded ray wilson as the best left—back england had ever had, and he played most of his time with huddersfield town. and that club itself was so desperately upset when they heard about his death a few weeks ago. and today, well, all i can say to you is that there has been a remarkable turnout of the surviving 1966 world cup heroes. both charlton brothers were there, jeff hurst was there, norman hunter, who did not play in the 66 final, but was part of the squad, was also there. and gordon banks, the greatest goalkeeper perhaps we had, paid a real tribute to ray wilson, who was not just paid a real tribute to ray wilson, who was notjust a great full—back, you was a great person, and that is what everybody wanted to say today.

and particularly the people of west yorkshire, for whom he meant a lot? he did mean an awful lot, i was lucky enough to meet it when my broadcasting career started back in 1970. bradford city manager, he was the caretaker manager, i interviewed him there. but of course the real claim to fame was the world cup, and you might not know this story but it is reported that ray wilson, along with the great bobby moore, was actually responsible for getting all the players, all 22 members of the squad, the same amount of money when they were given bonuses at the end. do you know how much money they actually received, each member? £1000. i hope if the current england side do well in russia in a few weeks‘ time that they will be sharing some money as well, but it will be a lot more than a thousand quid, went it? if they win it, you andi quid, went it? if they win it, you and i will both be sending some cash out there. you as well, that will be

surprising! thanks for that, harry! laughter and carol... tell us about the plight of a lonely peacock? i have to say this is and finally story for us, trevor, don't know who named him, trevor peacock, ditched by his girlfriend, a peahen called connie. he was sent packing, so he has gone off walking around a village in county durham trying to find a new love. he has caused quite a lot of problems. he has been on rooftops, where residents have been feeding him skondras and trying to attract him, tried to catch him, because he was resident for five years at a local care home. he wandered in their one—day, liked it so wandered in their one—day, liked it so much, and then stayed, and now has decided to go wandering off in search of love. feathers on full display but so far has not had any luck. he has been causing a bit of disruption in the efforts, though? yes, that is the problem, he is waking everybody up. the sound of a

peacock trying to attract a female is actually quite cutting, as the residents have described it. it is a bit of a cat call, you canjust about make it out. the care home say they have grown very fond of him, and the residents have too, but they just want him to return to his care home so they can have a sound night's sleep. the care home people have said really we just want him back. he has definitely caused a massive stir this year. everyone is interested in trevor, he has been stopping traffic and the racing. that is why we have been trying to get him back as we are concerned about going onto the roads. wejust wa nt to about going onto the roads. wejust want to keep him safe.” about going onto the roads. wejust want to keep him safe. i grew up near bristol zoo, and i know that sounds so well, because once you hear it, you neverforget sounds so well, because once you hear it, you never forget it, sounds so well, because once you hear it, you neverforget it, do you? do you still like it at four o'clock in the morning? if you think

iam ever o'clock in the morning? if you think i am ever awake at four o‘clock in the morning... i think we will leave it there, the laughter i am getting in my aa tells me i havejust overstepped something. harry, carol, thank you very much. that is nationwide —— i am getting in my ear. the head of one the country‘s most criticised rail companies has been meeting mps. charles horton — who‘s chief executive of govia thameslink railway — has been explaining how they plan to stabilise rail services. ourjob is to get a better service for rail customers. our nextjob is to deliver a better timetable that

delivers improvements from the summer delivers improvements from the summer onwards, and to make sure that customers get the essential improvements we had planned to deliver, the improvements in connectivity between places, the additional new trains, the much more punctual service increasing capacity because that is what customers really need. just back to knightsbridge, that fire is still raging. it appears to be at the mandarin oriental hotel, a 5—star hotel in the heart of london in the night bridge area. there is traffic chaos in the rush hour in the heart of the city. that fire seems to be out of control. i just want to show you pictures from earlier. that is the thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. appearing to come from the roof area of the hotel. reports it was undergoing some form of refurbishment so we don‘t know how money people were involved but it would suggest there

isa involved but it would suggest there is a considerable amount of building work going on at the hotel. this was a little earlier. if we show you the live pictures now, it would appear it has been under control, because it has been under control, because it looks much more like steam coming from now. reports the stage of any casualties. we will bring you more on that as we get more information. ina on that as we get more information. in a moment the business use, but first, the headlines. 15 fire engines and 97 firefighters and officers have been called to a fire at the mandarin oriental hotel in knightsbridge, central london. noidea no idea yet as to the cause of it. the labour leader and the prime minister clash in the commons over brexit — theresa may is urged to publish her brexit proposals soon. lawyers at the grenfell inquiry

say the man who lived in the flat where the fire began, was left terrified by threats of reprisals. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. the boss of qatar airways has issued what he called "heartfelt apologies for any offence caused" for saying that a woman could not do hisjob. akbar al—baker said on tuesday that the airline had to be led by a man "because it is a very challenging position". facebook is in hot water again, this time in china. the social media app has confirmed it had data—sharing partnerships with four chinese firms, including huawei that‘s been flagged as a a security threat by us authorities. facebook has been blocked in china since 2009, but the company has been trying to find other ways to access the massive potential market. entrepeneur elon musk has survived an attempt to reform the management board at tesla. one investor wanted to strip the tesla founder and chief executive of his other role — as chairman. meanwhile the company also announced

that its newest "gigafactory" — or giant lithium—ion battery plant — would be built in shanghai. so tsp, we have been talking about it, those online issues. the boss has been confronted in house of commons select committee. yes. this is all to do with the problems that tsb had to do with computer systems failures. it was trying to introduce a new it system, that was when it broke away as a separate bank. this affected 1.9 million out of its 5 million customers, so a big proportion. they lost access to banking services, they could not check payments or their balances. it began in april but six weeks on and

people still having difficulties just doing simple everyday banking. to make matters worse, 40% of customers said they were unable to get through on the phone to get help. the chief executive of the financial conduct authority andrew baggaley has said that is andrew bailey has said it it may have had customers‘s trust and banking. mr bailey also went on to say there we re bailey also went on to say there were frank conversations with tsb about the way it communicated information, but he said there is an owners in my view on over communicating in these situations. the details that emerged during the questioning by mps were that something like 1300 people had money taken out of their accounts. of course, they then tried to phone the helpline, and found that there were weights of five hours or more. so

people getting quite anxious about it, and some horrendous cases where wedding savings, life savings to go toa wedding, wedding savings, life savings to go to a wedding, were taken. partly because fraudsters latched onto the computer runs and wrecked people into giving them access to their accou nts into giving them access to their a ccou nts to into giving them access to their accounts to sort it out, so a real mess of a situation, which is why the mps had so many tough questions, not just for the fca the mps had so many tough questions, notjust for the fca but the mps had so many tough questions, not just for the fca but for the boss paul pester. that is move on. volkswagen warning it might have to temporarily shut some of its factories, why? it is blaming the new emissions test standards. sorry, a bit of follow laughter there, because that has been the subject of some. . . because that has been the subject of some... it has caused them big problems. the german car—maker is saying it has got to have these closure days to prevent a build—up of vehicles that have yet to be approved for sale. so the new more rigorous standards coming across the eu in september. they are designed

to replicate driving conditions more closely to make it harder for car—makers to cheat the emissions test. vw is saying it doesn‘t have enough testing equipment to cope and fears it could end up with a backlog of cars. that is why they are having these temporary closures of some of its factories in germany. a quick look at the markets. that is the picture across the european indices. the ftse100 being helped by the view which smith shares, for example, today. good trading from their travel stores, airports and railways, despite not quite so good performance, high street. and the commodity stocks also giving the ftse100 a boost. shall we leave it there for today? let's do that. pithy, punchy. thank you very much. let‘s talk more about that fire in london, nearly 100 firefighters are

tackling what was a very large fire at the mandarin oriental hotel in knightsbridge. the huge plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the sky earlier, just an hour or so ago. the london fire brigade said the blaze was very visible, 100 firefighters, 15 appliances at the scene, london ambulance and the metropolitan police also attending. this is the scene live, just a few moments ago, rather, that was the scene, thick black smoke going into the sky. mandarin oriental group has completed what it described as the most expensive restoration in its history. it no idea if it was related to the restoration. that would suggest that the hotel was not in any way fully occupied with guests. we are not hearing so far of any casualties as

a result of what has been a very large blaze. vanessa was at the scene large blaze. vanessa was at the scene when the emergency services arrived. i think you have been evacuated now? yes, everyone was out on the street. there were huge amounts of smoke in the building. everyone was standing around, it was quite chaotic. the traffic was at a com plete quite chaotic. the traffic was at a complete standstill. at its height, this was a big fire. absolutely. you have to stand and look at it because you couldn‘t quite believe what you we re you couldn‘t quite believe what you were seeing, and i think that is how everybody first looked at it, like something you would see on tv, rather than just like a normal fire. were the flames, the smoke, was it coming from a particular part of the hotel? it seems most of it is the roof area? yes, it did look like it was coming from the roof. and this is undergoing quite a refurbishment, it was scheduled to reopen in just a few weeks? yes, i believe so, it has

been undergoing refurbishment quite some time, such a shame this has happened right at the end when this was ready to reopen. and a very busy pa rt was ready to reopen. and a very busy part of london, traffic chaos, is there? completely. everything was being detoured, cars beeping, tourists and people just an income coming out of the shops, not quite sure what was going on. for me, my priority, i wasn‘t sure what was happening so i just priority, i wasn‘t sure what was happening so ijust wanted to get out of the area as quickly as possible. we're talking about a hotel that seems to have been undergoing refurbishment, so we are hoping there were not too many people inside of the time. are you aware anyone has been hurt?” haven‘t heard anything from identity was that heavily populated. we are talking of one of the plushest hotels in london. it is an absolutely beautiful hotel, it really is. do you have any idea how long this refurbishment has been going on? oh, gosh, i don't think!

can remember a time it wasn‘t, surely it must be the best part of a year, i think? that is very good of you tojoin ask year, i think? that is very good of you to join ask of vanessa, an eyewitness, describing the scene. as we look at it, the pictures from earlier, you can see how big a blaze this was with 100 firefighters at the scene. they were called, we understand, about 3pm. let‘sjust show you what the scene is now. that is the contrast you can see, the bellowing smoke has been replaced by it looks like just like the white smoke, steam coming as a result of the firefighting operation, which has been undergone for the last hour or so. has been undergone for the last hour or so. as we have been hearing, part of the side effects of this, massive traffic chaos in what is traditionally a very busy part of the capital. we will have more in the capital. we will have more in the five o‘clock our coming up next with jane hill. that is it from your

afternoon live team for today. let‘s get a weather update with tomasz schafernaker. another fine day across most of the uk, some very strong sunshine out there as well, the uv levels are very high at the moment but not absolutely everywhere. you can see closer to the north sea coast a bit more cloud, so here actually, it is cool and pretty dull in some areas. so big contrasts in the weather. so much sunshine in the south across west and northern areas too, this is like scarborough and hull often stuck underneath the cloud. the temperature contrast from 15 almost into the mid—20s across southern areas of the uk but overall a fine day across the country. this evening, a lot of clear sky out there and it will be a fresh night. this morning was pretty nippy out there if you were out early the morning. same on the way tomorrow morning. same on the way tomorrow morning. temperatures in some areas down to single figures and some

showers in the forecast tomorrow across the south of the country. today at 5, the latest from the inquiry into the grenfell tower fire. the lawyer for the man who lived in the flat where the fire began says his client was left terrified by threats of reprisals. whatever the precise cause or origin of the fire in mr kebede‘s kitchen, it was an accident and mr kebede bears no responsibility, directly or indirectly, for the fire. we‘ll have the latest from court. the other main stories on bbc news at 5... the government will produce backstop plans, including a "temporary customs arrangement" with the eu tomorrow. the brexit secretary david davis says ideas about how to avoid a hard border in ireland are still being discussed.