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tv   BBC News  BBC News  June 17, 2018 3:00pm-3:31pm BST

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this is bbc news. the headlines at three. theresa may promises a £20 billion a year real—terms increase to the nhs in england by 2023. labour says it's not enough. we're making the nhs our priority, we're putting this significant amount of extra money into it. we need to make sure that money is spent wisely. we're saying you could go further and if the government made the taxation changes we are prepared to make you could be giving even more to the nhs. so, labour will be spending more on the nhs than the tories. hundreds of migrants who've been the focus of a european dispute over immigration arrive in spain more than a week after being rescued. calls for a change in the law, after the home office allows a boy with severe epilepsy to be treated with an illegal form of cannabis oil. also in an hour's time, germany's world cup campaign begins as they hope to be the first country since brazil to win back—to—back tournaments. and brazil, the favourites to win the competition this time round, take on switzerland in their first
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game of the tournament. scouring the depths of loch ness. scientists use new technology to discover what lurks beneath the surface. and... zombies, dinosaurs and fluffy cloud candyfloss trees! click is at the biggest gaming event of the year — in half an hour, here on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. theresa may says the nhs in england will get an extra £20 billion a year in real—terms funding by 2023. in a bbc interview today the prime minister said some of the money would come from savings made when britain stops paying into the eu budget. she also suggested the rest would have to come from higher taxation. labour say the government was relying on a "hypothetical" windfall.
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0ur health correspondent dominic hughes reports. as the pressure on the nhs has grown, so too have calls for more money for the health service. finally, after weeks of tough talks in whitehall, the prime minister has revealed the nhs budget will grow — paid for partly by the so—called "brexit dividend", but also possibly higher taxes. at the moment, as a member of the european union, every year we send significant amounts of money — we spend significant amounts of money — on our subscription, if you like, to the eu. when we leave, we won't be doing that. so the question is timing, isn't it? it's right that we use that money to spend on our priorities. and the nhs is our number one priority. absolutely. the new plan for nhs england covers the next five years. it will involve average annual increases of 3.4% in real terms. the budget for day—to—day running costs is around £115 billion this year. under the plan, there will be £20 billion more by 2023.
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but the independent institute for fiscal studies says the public finances will not benefit from any brexit dividend, and labour argues the increase falls short of what is needed. they told us they're going to pay for it from a brexit dividend. we don't really know what that means, because we don't know what the deal is going to be and what the overall effect on the economy is going to be. and, actually, whether brexit is going to end up costing us a great deal of money, or whether we can strike the sort of deal that would do us some good. and across the nhs there's a feeling this settlement is onlyjust enough to keep pace with rising demand. it does fall short of the independent assessment that we've had done, which suggests we need 4% a year. this is only going to be 3.4%. so, it is a good step forward, but we're still going to have to make hard choices at the end of the day. scotland, wales and northern ireland will also get extra funds, but the devolved administrations will decide how they're spent. this announcement leaves some big questions unanswered,
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not least the funding of social care, which has such a profound impact on the health service. without those details, there are no guarantees even this extra money will significantly ease the long—term pressures on the nhs. dominic hughes, bbc news. joining me now from bushey, near watford, is nigel edwards, chief executive of the nuffield trust. thank the nuffield trust. you very much forjoining us this thank you very much forjoining us this afternoon. how much of a difference will this extra money that the prime minister has talked about today really make to the nhs in england? the nhs has had a really tough time over the last seven or eight years where it has been getting much less than it has been used to and certainly much less than you would expect it to get, giving the growing level of demand that it has been facing with people getting older and bigger over this time. so
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it will alleviate many of the most pressing problems. it will allow some of the increases in waiting lists which have developed perhaps to be dealt with. but as you heard in the report earlier, it's less than people were saying is really required to meet some of the challenges, to really create the type of world—class health service that the prime minister was talking about on the andrew marr programme this morning. as far as your calculations are concerned, how much does the nhs need to put it into the condition that you think it should be in so that waiting times come down and patients just don't have the kind of experience that they're having at the moment? well, actually patients are still getting on the whole pretty good treatments. waiting times have started to creep up. there is a pretty broad consensus amongst all people who have done analysis on this that around 4% real was what was required
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to really get the nhs back onto an even keel and 5% to perhaps do some of the development which people are hoping to see. i mean, we must take into account the state of the wider economy. there is not a brexit dividend to exploit, the economy may actually do worse, is what the forecasts seem to suggest. i think eve ryo ne forecasts seem to suggest. i think everyone recognises one is going into an uncertain time. so this settle m e nt into an uncertain time. so this settlement might be the best that one could hope for but it is as we have heard from quite a few commentators less than perhaps some we re commentators less than perhaps some were hoping for. of course, there's a difference of opinion about what money will be available post—brexit that we do not have to pay into the eu pot but how important is it to you how this is funded, where the money comes from, if it is to be taxation? the question of where the money comes from is slightly outside my main area of expertise. but there aren't very many sources at the
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moment other than various forms of taxation. the money that we send to brussels is not enough to cover, of course there is actually a ki of other people who've been promised some of that money back when we leave as well, farmers, for example, and of course there is a longer term payment that we've agreed to make into the eu post—leaving. so it is very likely that this is going to lead to an increase in national insurance and taxation, both personal income tax, there is a commitment to cut corporation tax, i wonder weather that will be revisited. a number of think—tanks, not ours but others, who specialise in this area, have also suggested to look at the national insurance contributions made by people of pension age who are still working. so there are a number of options but not that many. the institute for fiscal studies and the resolution foundation have both made the point
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that the headroom available to the chancellor is not great. how important to you is a commensurate increase in social care funding so that the nhs doesn't have to sort of perform that function, too?m that the nhs doesn't have to sort of perform that function, too? it is a very important point. the announcement that has been made today only actually applies to the co re today only actually applies to the core pa rt of today only actually applies to the core part of the nhs. it also does not deal with public health, a really important thing which needs to be improved if we are going to ta ke to be improved if we are going to take some of the pressure off the nhs. it doesn't include the training of new medical and nursing staff and crucially as you point out, it does not include new money for social care. councils have been under such pressure over the last eight or nine yea rs pressure over the last eight or nine years that they have substantially cut back the entitlement and availability of social care. a significant number of people have cropped out of being eligible for it and that puts pressure on the nhs. and it is notjust social care for older people, we have an increasing
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number of younger adults who need social care and support as well, and that demand is perhaps growing even faster. and the people who have studied this area suggest that social care needs and increase at least of the same size in percentage terms as what the nhs has received. and that will put further pressure on the system. just to put social ca re on the system. just to put social care right, back to where it was a few years ago, it needs probably £i.5 billion to £i.8 billion, it is cultivated. thank you so much for your time if a rescue ship which picked up hundreds of migrants off the coast of libya and sparked a diplomatic row has arrived in spain. the aquarius was initially turned away by italy and malta and it has now docked in the spanish port of valencia. 0ur europe correspondent damian grammaticas reports sunrise, and the private rescue ship the aquarius and its convoy were finally nearing a welcoming port. spain, and valencia, coming into sight. a european country, prepared to take them in. the 630 people who were
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on the aquarius have been at sea since they were picked up off the coast of libya over a week ago. behind them, a journey of more than 1000 miles, halfway across the mediterranean, after italy and malta refused them entry. the aquarius had reignited a european—wide debate about migration. by welcoming the ship, spain hopes to change the terms of the argument. by taking in this ship, spain's new socialist government wants to demonstrate what a new type of migration policy for europe can look like. 0ne it says where it's both possible to control your borders and respect human rights. that's why it's going to give every person on these ships a hearing for their asylum applications. we thank the spanish government for welcoming people in need, at times when many others are rejecting them or turning them away. this is what we need in these times, an expression of solidarity,
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an expression of support an expression of humanity. more than 1,000 red cross volunteers were waiting on the quayside, along with doctors and immigration officials. spain will give them permits to stay for 45 days, free medical treatment and the opportunity to make their asylum claims. italy, meanwhile, says it is closing its ports to private rescue boats. but doctors without borders, who operate the aquarius, say saving lives will come first. europe's arguments about migration are taking centre stage once more, and the divisions are deeper than ever. damian grammaticas, bbc news, valencia. sajid javid has revealed he was a victim of a moped mugging before he became home secretary. he told a newspaper his phone was snatched outside london's euston station. mrjavid, who is now in charge of britain's policing, said the theft left him "angry and upset". he says he's looking at how to give officers more powers to chase moped thieves. campaigners are calling
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for medicinal cannabis to be made legally available in the uk, after the home secretary intervened to help a 12—year—old suffering from epilepsy. sajid javid granted billy caldwell the right to use cannabis oil, after he was admitted to hospital with extreme seizures. billy's mother says he has responded well overnight to treatment, and she is now asking for a meeting with mrjavid to try to help other children. simonjones reports. a family's fight that they hope will benefit notjust billy caldwell, but others like him. on monday, they flew back into britain with cannabis oil they'd bought in canada to treat his epilepsy, but it contained an ingredient banned here. the drug, which they say has kept his seizures under control for almost a year, was confiscated. days later, he was back in hospital. the home secretary has now intervened, allowing billy to use the oil, but his mother has this message for sajid javid. i'm not going anywhere until this is put in place and this medicine is made accessible to all these
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other children who desperately need it. i'm asking sajid to please... i want to request a meeting with him in london as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow. i want to sit down with him in a dignified and democratic way. sajid javid, though, has not announced a change in the law. he said... but those who have been helping to care for billy caldwell believe mrjavid needs to go further. from here, it is a ripple effect. this means to me that there is hope, for notjust billy, which is why this campaign is so important, because it's for all the families who need it. the family of six—year—old alfie dingley have appealed to the prime minister for the same access to cannabis treatment for his epilepsy, saying it would be cruel to delay it any further. some experts point out that the use of marijuana for medical conditions
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isn't always straightforward, and more trials are needed. billy has been granted a special 20—day licence for cannabis oil. what happens after that, and to others, is unclear. simon jones, bbc news. the conservative mp at the centre of the upskirting controversy says he does support moves to criminalise it. in an interview with the bournemouth echo, sir christopher chope said he backs measures to make upskirting illegal, but not the way it was going to be achieved, through a private members bill. let's listen back to the moment he vetoed it. you can hear the deputy speaker discussing the bill and you can just about make out sir christopher shouting, object and other mps crying, shame. voyeurim 0ffences bill, second reading. object. objection taken, second reading. second reading, what date? 6th july.
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6thjuly. i'm joined by our political correspondentjessica parker. so, what is sir christopher chope saying in this interview with his local newspaper, by way of explanation? well, the outline is that he is saying he is not against criminalising upskirting which is this practice of taking a photograph underneath somebody‘s clothes without their consent. what he objects to as you were just saying is this process of private members' bill. there are and number of pills mps who let private members' bill is because they think they lack scrutiny because they often happen ona scrutiny because they often happen on a friday and a lot of mps have gone home and it is quite empty in the house of commons. so they object to the lack of scrutiny. but he is also saying that he think the government has been hijacking time which is rightfully that of backbenchers so this is about who controls the house of commons, the government cannotjust bring in what it once on a nod, we do not quite
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live in the putin era yet. the government has said it was given its backing to this bill, if in fact it was very backing to this bill, if in fact it was very popular on a cross—party basis. labour mps said they were supporting it as did mps from other parties, who were clearly quite cross after sir christopher chope shouted object in the house of commons on friday. so, what would an mp like sir christopher chope who objects to private members' bill, if for legislating to be brought forward , for legislating to be brought forward, if not by that route, what would it be? well, he says, my recommendation to the government is to ensure the fastest, fairest and surest passage to the statute book for a bill to outlaw upskirting, which i wholeheartedly support. he wa nts which i wholeheartedly support. he wants the government to introduce its own legislation without delay, but not via a private members' bill. one would think that sir christopher chope never brings forward a private members' bill himself? but he does and he even acknowledges this! he says, i support the bills before the
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house, 4—0 of the 26 pills which fell at the same time were my own. so some people might see contradiction in that position. —— four of the 26 pills. but sometimes people bring these to raise an issue which they want to raise in parliament, for example. and we are likely to see this upskirting bill coming back again? yes. and the important thing to point out is that the government are supporting this bill so it has got a lot of backing behind it, including from theresa may has often the headlines on bbc news: the prime minister promises a 20 billion pounds a year real—terms increase to the nhs in england by 2023. labour says it's not enough, and would more than match what the government is spending. the hundreds of migrants rescued off the libyan coast have now arrived in spain. their plight has sparked a row between european union member states over who should accept them. in sport, at the world cup, a sublime freekick from aleksandar kolarov seals victory for serbia. that was against croatia. meanwhile
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germany and mexico are preparing to start their match. england meanwhile are on the move, the team bus is leaving repino as they make the journey to volgograd for the opening game of england's tournament against tunisia. and fernando alonso won the 24 tunisia. and fernando alonso won the 2a hours of lamont at the first attempt. he now just 2a hours of lamont at the first attempt. he nowjust dates two at the indianapolis 500 to win motor racers triple crown. i will be back with more sport at about quarter past four. the government is being urged to clarify plans to increase nhs spending in england. asjonathan blake told us earlier, where the money comes from is not clear. it will go some way to paying for this increase in nhs spending.
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and in doing that she is able to say that the promise on the side of the bus that we all saw during the eu referendum campaign, the £350 million a week which would be better spent on the nhs rather than going to the eu, that that promise has been kept, and in fact the government has gone further. but as you will have heard in our reporting on bbc news, there are economists and others who are queueing up to say, hold on, the brexit dividend does not really exist. if you take a look at broader picture in terms of how much money the money the government has got to spend, the payments to the eu budget have really already been accounted for in promises that the government has made in terms of keeping funding going for sectors which get money back from the eu and the level of taxation falling as a result of economic growth being what it is after brexit in the short—term, then that does not really leave you with much, if anything at all. so, the prime minister to an extent knows that that criticism is coming and has said that the country will have to contribute a little bit, which to decode that, means that taxes will have
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to rise to pay for it. but as to what taxes and when and by how much, we do not have the detail yet. labour think they have got a better way of doing it? they do, they have said they would match it and go further, putting £9 billion into the nhs extra this year alone. and over time increasing spending by 5% year on year. and they say that they would do that by reversing cuts to corporation tax. how popular, or acceptable to voters, would an increase in tax be if that is what it came to? it's a very good question. i think the public in general don't like tax rises. none of us like paying more tax than we have to. but if there is one thing you could ask most people that they would like to see in better shape than it is in now and which they would be prepared to perhaps pay a bit more tax to fund, it would be the nhs. but we will see polling on that in the coming weeks and months i'm sure. and no tax rise will necessarily be popular but the prime minister
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clearly feels that the nhs is so well regarded and loved and prized by the electorate that she is willing to, if you like, go against traditional conservative political thinking and put taxes up to pay for it. jonathan, thank you very much. experts now fear it may not be possible to save the world—famous glasgow school of art, following the huge fire which devastated the site on friday. fire crews have spent a second night at the scene, tackling the final pockets of the blaze. it's the second fire there in four years. catriona renton has been at the scene and has been speaking to the emergency services there. well, you will see that there is still very much a lot of activity happening here, still fighting, in firefighting mode, as the fire service say, and i'm joined by the chief officer, alasdair hay. alasdair, tell us what exactly is happening now, is it still burning in there? good morning, first of all i would like to echo the words of the first minister yesterday.
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this is heartbreaking to see such devastation of such an iconic building. we're still very much in a firefighting phase at this moment in time. we've extinguished the main fire, however there are still pockets. what our crews are doing in a technical term, they're turning over and they're dampening downjust to make sure there is no possibility of the fire flaring up and affecting any other properties within the vicinity. we've heard all these suggestions that it might not be restorable this time, what do you feel about that, are we anywhere near to being able to say that? we're still in the very early stages of tackling this incident. we've established a fire investigation team and the full facts and circumstances, they will work on that as we go through this week. but i really want to at this stage emphasise this has been a very difficult fire, the firefighters have been as always outstanding, supported by their colleagues within control but also i think i need to shout out to our partners police scotland,
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scottish ambulance service, the salvation army and in fact the people and the businesses of glasgow who have offered up their support to us. and it is really heartfelt from them and appreciated by our firefighters. obviously there are concerns for the structural safety of the building — is it likely to have anything demolished sooner rather than later, is there anything particularly unsafe at the moment? this is a heartbreaking incident. if we can take any solace from it, there has been no injuries. and what we want to absolutely avoid at this stage is for anybody to get injured. so we're being very cautious, we are working with our partners in glasgow city council building control, we've got structural engineers advising us as we continue with the firefighting phase of this operation. chief officer, thank you very much for talking to us. the operations are still ongoing here, the investigation is ongoing now. and it will be several weeks probably before the building is safe enough for forensic investigators to be able to get in and around that
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building to find out exactly what happened here on friday night. greece and macedonia have signed a deal that, if ratified, will resolve a decades—old dispute concerning macedonia's name. the disagreement stems from greece already having a northern province called macedonia. according to the deal, the balkan state will be renamed the republic of north macedonia. our balkans correspodnent guy de launey reports. in a high end wedding picture which are risk lake, a romantic crossing by the macedonians and the greek hosts anticipating their guests' arrival. and of course one side will be changing its name. but there were no last—minute nerves for the two prime ministers, only joy and probably relief that a dispute stretching back three decades is finally nearing its conclusion. the eu commissioner for enlargement was among the guests. the name change will finally
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allow skopje to start membership negotiations now that athens has now pledged to end its objections. translation: this is to heal the wounds of the past and to pave the way for peace, fellowship, collaboration and mutual growth. not only for our countries but for the balkans, the whole of europe. translation: you cannot achieve anything without courage. courage is the greatest valour, followed by honour if signing signing the final agreement for the name is of strategic importance for the two countries and can move mountains. as the two prime ministers celebrated, the happiest man in the room may have been the un mediator who has spent a quarter
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of a century working on the name dispute. i think working out these problems over a long period of time has resulted in an agreement that really is fair, honourable and workable. and so, the happy couple sailed off, not into the sunset but to lunch. but there is no time for a honeymoon, they still face a referendum in macedonia and a parliamentary vote in greece. choppy waters possibly ahead. scientists are scouring the depths of scotland's loch ness... using some new technology to discover what lurks below. they're using environmental dna sampling, a tool to find tiny fragments of scales, skin and even fur left behind by animals, to gain a better understanding of native species in the lake. but it has some wondering if they'll also be able to prove once and for all whether nessie, the loch ness monster, does, or ever did, exist.
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rylee carlson explains. for hundreds of years, tales of loch ness have captured imaginations, and notjust because of its beauty. instead, people flock here hoping to find proof of a monster lurking beneath the water. now, scientists are hoping modern improvements in dna technology can help unravel the mystery. we're going to be taking some water samples at a variety of depths using this device here. neil gemmell is with the university of otago in new zealand. while analysing those water samples they will be samples he will be hunting for unknown dna. from half a litre of water we can get a very, very good catalogue of life within the loch. and we thought this would be a great place to showcase that technology, because of course there is this hook of, there may be something unknown to science lurking in those waters. but professor gemmell isn't the first to try. in this 1986 search, scientists tried using ultrasound but came up empty—handed.
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and just two years ago, a robotic submarine search turned up an old film prop of the beast, but nothing else. even those dedicated to nessie know the odds are slim. i'm sure that some species will be found which have probably not been described. now, they might be bacteria, in fact they're more likely than anything else to be bacteria. if you did find something, and i do emphasise the "if", then you would actually get quite a good handle on what sort of creature, what class of an animal you were looking at, whether it's fish, flesh or fowl. even though previous searches have struck out, tourists haven't stopped coming in — if anything it adds to the mystery. they're finding new plants and new animals in different places of the world all the time. so they still could find something here that we don't know about. so, will this e—dna test finally reveal the answer to a centuries—old
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question or will the elusive creature elude science yet again? let's have a look at the weather. we can get you right up to date with how we see the weather developing over the next 2a hours. quite a bit of cloud around today and where it thickens up we have had some bits and pieces of rain and that is likely to be the case again across some western nereo is as we conclude the day. much of that cloud through the day. much of that cloud through the nighttime hours pushing away into the north sea and it mightjust hang on, not a cold night by any means at all. but a dry one for the most part, as we start the new day on monday, but don't bank on it lasting, especially across the western areas, where a new area of cloud will come in from the atlantic
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and it will bring the odd bit of rain. not much more than that. the best of today's's sunshine will be out towards the east and look at this, the first signs of a trend which sees many central and southern parts warming up in the middle part of the week. it will, however, stay u nsettled of the week. it will, however, stay unsettled across scotland and northern ireland. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the prime minister announces an extra £20 billion a year in real terms for the nhs — labour says it's not enough. we are making the nhs our priority, we are putting a significant amount of extra money into it. we need to make sure that money is spent wisely. we are saying you can go further and if the government made the taxation changes we are prepared to make you could give

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