the government is heavily criticised for its handling of both. britain's most senior police officer, cressida dick, says the decision to pay police less than recommended has hit staffing and morale. how can i recruit, how can i retain, and how can i make my officers and staff feel that i really value them? because i think this is a punch on the nose. and the public spending watchdog has accused the home office of ignoring and failing to understand the impact of budget cuts. also tonight: mark carney agrees to stay on until 2020 as governor of the bank of england to try to help a smooth brexit. saved by her husband — the wife of one of the westminster terror attack victims tells an inquest of his last moments. england have won the test match. england win the fifth test against india, as james anderson becomes the most successful fast bowler in test cricket. revealed again after the summer heatwave — homes in a lost valley in cornwall re—emerge after more than 50 years underwater.

and coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news: scottish football is staying in glasgow, as the sfa do a deal to buy hampden park. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. britain's most senior police officer says the government's refusal to increase police pay by 3% was like a punch on the nose. cressida dick says she was "extremely disappointed" by the decision to give police a 2% rise — despite an independent panel recommending it should be more. the home secretary, sajid javid, said he understood the pressures facing the police, but had to consider affordability

and fairness to taxpayers. it comes as a public spending watchdog called the government's approach to police funding "ineffective". our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, reports from birmingham. any other units, please, that can assist... modern policing. four words — doing more with less. well, our role is reactive response. sergeant phil mccall is on duty in birmingham, but limited resources mean he's doing 999 calls. only. and there are plenty of those. come and have a chat, then. this one's come from both a shopkeeper and his unhappy customer. not an emergency, but the police have to check. cancel the other cars, it's a civil dispute. no police offences. the central government funding which makes up 80% of this force's budget is falling. we're not keeping up with criminality, we're not keeping

up with the cuts and the cuts are really inflicting a huge blow on our ability particularly to prevent crime, as well as dealing with some of the serious situations which the police have to respond to. £8.6 billion a year is the amount the government spends directly on police forces in england and wales. but nearlyi billion was allocated last year to national projects like better technology, leaving 7.7 billion. despite extra income from council tax, overall, police funding has come down by i9% since 2010. and there are 15% fewer officers. running a police force with limited resources is clearly a huge challenge. you would expect the home office would have a clear picture of how challenging it is and what the risks might be of failing. well, today's report says you'd be wrong. in fact, the financial watchdog says the home office has "no overarching strategy for policing, limiting its ability to plan investment and programmes of work

over the longer term." in leicester today, speaking to police superintendents, the relatively new home secretary made an admission. there is a need for more resources and that's why i've said the best way really for me to make a big difference here, and especially to try and move away from some of the year—on—year changes, the annual changes, move to some longer—term settlements, is through the upcoming spending review, which will start next year. and i've already said quite clearly that my priority, for me, will be policing. even britain's most senior police officer is piling on the pressure, angry at a recent decision to increase police pay by 2%, rather than three. but i do feel disappointed by the decision and i will keep on saying so. and meanwhile, i need to think, how can my officers... how can i recruit, how can i retain, and how can i make my officers and staff feel that i really value them? because i think this is a punch on the nose. police work is changing.

increasingly, it's about dealing with society's problems. but today's report says it's as much a challenge for the government as officers on the front line. tom symonds, bbc news, birmingham. our home editor, mark easton, is outside the home office. stinging criticism of the government's handling the police, how damaging is it? the home office has faced a double whammy today. first, the official auditor in one of the most critical report i can remember really accuses the home office of failing to ensure effective oversight of the billions they spend on policing in england and wales and that failure coming at and wales and that failure coming at a time, of course, when ministers are demanding big cuts to police budgets. that is number one. and then this afternoon, cressida dick, then this afternoon, cressida dick, the most senior police officer in the most senior police officer in the country, accuses the home office of acting irrationally and wrongly by not implementing in full the recommendation of the pay review

body in their pay recommendations for police officers and she says that will damage morale and make it much more difficult to recruit desperately needed police officers. so. mole that a double whammy and in normal circumstances, the home office might be on the ropes like —— ona office might be on the ropes like —— on a day like today but there is understanding sajid javid is still getting his feet under the table. but the public is getting more concerned about crime with the threat still from terrorism and i don't think he will be able to dodge these questions for that much longer. mark easton, thank you. the wife of a man run down and killed in last year's westminster bridge terror attack has told an inquest she remembers hearing a revving engine, but doesn't recall her husband pushing her out of the way. americans kurt and melissa cochran had flown to europe to celebrate their wedding anniversary. they'd only been in london for two and a half hours when the attack happened, leaving five people dead. daniel sandford reports. it was a task no wife would want. melissa cochran, still limping from her own serious injuries, arriving to give evidence

at the inquest into the death of her husband, who she now calls her hero. she told the court they were touring europe to mark their wedding anniversary. they'd just been to westminster abbey. they'd only been in london for two and a half hours, and they'd almost crossed the bridge when khalid masood began his attack. it was just after twenty to three. "i remember hearing a car revving," she said today. "i remember seeing the front of the vehicle. the next thing i remember, being on the ground." she spent three and a half weeks in hospital in london, but kurt died, as big ben struck three o'clock. schoolteacher kylie smith was in westminster that day with a group of teenage pupils. kurt and melissa had caught her eye as they walked hand—in—hand when, suddenly, she heard the revving of masood's car. in tears at times, she told the inquest, "the man tried

to pull his girlfriend behind him, tried to shield her from the impact." she saw kurt knocked into the air by the car and then chaos on the bridge. she told her pupils to run. they all made it safely home. the next witness, neil hulbert — who was walking with his nephew on the embankment by the river thames — described seeing kurt cochran flying through the air and landing with an awful thud at their feet, his head hitting the pavement. despite the efforts of a nurse, a paramedic and a doctor, who all arrived within minutes, he died where he had fallen. the next fatal injury was to leslie rhodes, a retired window cleaner, who was walking away from the car when he was hit — turning at the last moment when he heard the revving. he died the next day from a head injury. lawyers for his family asked why the emergency helicopter wasn't used to take him to hospital, as originally planned. it's thought the helicopter team were treating pc keith palmer, who was dying nearby from stab wounds. daniel sanford, bbc news,

at the old bailey. the governor of the bank of england, mark carney, has agreed to remain in the job untiljanuary 2020 — that's 18 months longer than expected. the chancellor, philip hammond, told mps that mr carney said he would "serve a little longer", to ensure continuity through what he said "could be quite a turbulent period" for the economy next summer. our economics editor, kamal ahmed, is here. how useful is this going to prove to be for the chancellor? if you imagine the chancellor's in tray, he has some troublesome problems. he has some troublesome problems. he has brexit and the possible effects on the economy now and what will our relationship look like in the future with the european union? where does he find all that money for the nhs that has been pledged? that will come up in the budget later this year. third big problem, finding a new boss for the bank of england. the institution that is most important in our financial relationship with the european union, or banking relationship with

the european union. well, today, frankly, he talked about continuity, but that is pretty much code for, thatis but that is pretty much code for, that is something else i don't have to worry about. you can put that to one side out of those three big issues now. the governor says he wa nts to issues now. the governor says he wants to help deliver a successful brexit and frankly, mr hammond is probably glad of that given the critics of the present system. but the big issue is now all he doesn't have to look for a new governor and thatis have to look for a new governor and that is a process that is run by the treasury. he does not have to spark that process until next autumn, well after britain is scheduled to leave the european union. thank you. there are more than 100,000 jobs that need to be filled in the nhs in england. that number went up between april and june by almost 10%. nhs improvement, which monitors the health service, says the staff vacancies are down to rising patient demand and more staff leaving. we can go to our health editor, hugh pym, who's outside university college hospital. hugh, what does this say about the state of the nhs?

well, it is the latest snapshot on the state of the nhs from the regulator nhs improvement, the official body and illustrates the continuing pressure on the system. one example, the number of visits to a&e units between april and june in england was 6.23 million, that was a record. trying to cope with that and other aspects of the rising workloads, the nhs has been trying to recruit more staff but finding it difficult. so we have got this figure for the april to june difficult. so we have got this figure for the april tojune period of more than 107,000 vacancies in the nhs in england out of a total workforce of more than a million and the regulator says that will continue to increase, one factor, more people are leaving, but they don't try to explain why. what about the state of the finances of the nhs in england? they don't look great based on these figures. they say the total deficit for all hospitals and

trusts was, and underlying figure of £4.3 billion for the year. they have not come up with that figure before, it is stripping out the one off bits of funding support. that is the difference between what comes into these trusts and what they have to spend on patient you. northern ireland is now the only part of the uk or ireland that bans same—sex marriage. now a number of major multinational companies have signed an open letter calling for its legalisation there — saying it would help them attract the best from around the world. emma vardy reports. jess and carly have been a couple for seven years. as professional wedding photographers, they have ca ptu red wedding photographers, they have captured hundreds of special days. but in northern ireland, marriage is something they themselves have been denied. we have been left out. we can be married in every other part of the uk but not home. we don't understand it. it is one little thing that will make so many people so thing that will make so many people so happy. and it isjust really

frustrating. jess and karolyn travelled to get married in california, but in northern ireland, they are only recognised as being in a civil partnership. the disparity between northern ireland and the rest of the uk was once again highlighted at this yea r‘s once again highlighted at this year's pride event in belfast. now multinational companies are highlighting what they believe are the economic arguments for bringing equal marriage to northern ireland. imagine if we had someone from the london office wanting to work over here that was married, in the uk, in england, and they turn up in northern ireland and all of a sudden, you are not married. so it is really about equality. northern ireland's strongly conservative party the dup has previously blocked attem pts party the dup has previously blocked atte m pts to party the dup has previously blocked attempts to have same—sex marriage but there is no government since power—sharing collapsed by ship. businesses have called on westminster to intervene. but northern ireland's strongest

political opponents of gay marriage say it must remain a devolved matter and would oppose any move by parliament to intervene. this is a matter for the assembly, for this building and elected representatives of northern ireland, it is not a matter for the business community, some of whom are not even based in northern ireland, they have offices elsewhere. it is believed there may no longer be the numbers to block same—sex married within the northern ireland assembly but couples like jess and karolyn must wait until the political parties kiss and make up. the time is 6.14pm. our top story this evening. forced to defend its decisions on police pay and funding cuts — the government is heavily criticised for its handling of both. we are live at a reservoir in cornwall where the long, dry summer is still revealing secrets from the past. coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news after a five—year spell at ferrari, the former world champion kimi raikonnen is on the move but he's staying

in formula one the squeeze on household budgets over the past few years means this decade is on course to be the worst for living standards for 200 years. but the latest figures have revealed that there was some relief for workers at the start of the summer when wages grew faster than expected and continued to outstrip inflation. and unemployment has continued to fall, and is at its lowest level for more than a0 years. here's our economics correspondent, andy verity. the firm that runs this construction site in salford has no shortage of work, but a shortage of skilled workers is a growing problem. until this year, its subcontractors could find the staff needed easily, mostly from the rest of the european union. we have got albanians working here now, the dry liners, joiners,

tylers, they tend to be eastern european, so when they leave it gets difficult to retain the british workforce on the site. from the construction firm's point of view, the labour market is on fire. even though profits are tight, they have to fight they —— to keep their workers would pay rises of ten or 20%. they don't, they may leave before the work is complete. mid—contract, people come along waving the cheque—book and we lose trades men. there's a lot of trades men working on a building contract. it's an old—fashioned business. and keeping those people on site on a tight programme, on tight margins, thatis tight programme, on tight margins, that is the challenge. last year, pay rises fell behind price rises meaning your money bought you less and less but in the spring of this year, inflation dropped and paid improved. as the squeeze on living standards loosened its grip. the supply of new workers is slowing down in other industries as well,

and staff asking for more pay can play a stronger hand. there are now more vacancies in the economy than there have been for 17 years, especially in industries like restau ra nts a nd especially in industries like restaurants and hotels. that's one reason workers have been able to push up their pay by an average of £14 per week, taking the average wage to £489 per week, working out at £25,000 400 a year. there has been a puzzle as to white workers have not been able to demand higher wage growth despite the fact the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest since the mid—19 70s. we would have expected wage growth to pick up more than it has so far. with unemployment at 843 year low, there are now more than 830,000 vacancies and many simply won't be filled. one side—effect is that you might have to wait a little longer to get served. people who work in the so—called gig economy, like cabbies, shopworkers and delivery drivers, shouldn't have to live with the levels of insecurity they currently experience because of zero—hour contracts — that's according to the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell.

he's told the tuc conference that casual staff should be eligible for sick pay, maternity leave and other benefits. from manchester here's our political correspondent, iain watson. take a short car ride across manchester and you will see how much the so—called gig economy touches oui’ the so—called gig economy touches our everyday lives. the snack, order a takeaway, see a new building going up a takeaway, see a new building going up around you, you are probably seeing someone who is in insecure employment. for some people the irregular hours work. you start any time you want and stop any time you want. there is flexibility and freedom which is good. but casual work does not suit everyone. the unions say nearly 4 million people do not have a regular permanent, full—time contract and labour's message to the tuc is that if they get into government they will be giving new rights to the people in

the gig economy. we will extend full rights to all workers, entitling eve ryo ne rights to all workers, entitling everyone in insecure work to sickbay, maternity rights and the right against unfair dismissal —— sick pay. and he said employers will be given a new financial stake in the company and the job protection from the first day of employment.“ you were told you at taking a day off, you would be let go. ruth and charlie have both been in casual employment. ruth works in a care home and welcomes the plans from labour to extend sick pay. people going to work and are ill and tra nsfer going to work and are ill and transfer it to the whole company and if you work in a care home you are dealing with residents and that can lead to death. charlie would like the idea of greaterjob protection. when you are not being offered hours, or they are not regular, you wa nt hours, or they are not regular, you want as much work as you can get and being told halfway through the day you are no longer required, for a lot of people that is pretty soul crushing. some businesses warned

that labour's plans for more rights could lead to fewerjobs. it will affect those businesses who already struggle to recruit because of things like profits and if they have to improve the rights of those workers it makes it more difficult and more of a burden on the employer. after some of bad headlines, labour wants a fresh guard. expect a whole range of policy announcements coming your way soon french start. but you can also expect greater scrutiny —— a fresh start. a man has been charged with fraudulently claiming a £2.5 million lottery payout. edward putman allegedly used a fake ticket to claim the jackpot in 2009 and the prize money was paid out. detectives began investigating six years later after evidence emerged that the claim was not in fact legitimate. edward putnam was bailed to appear in court next month. the bbc‘s director general has said that the policy of providing a free tv licence for people over the age of 75 is to be reviewed. speaking to a committee of mps, tony hall said there would be a public consultation about what to do after the current

system ends injune 2020. he also said the disclosure of stars' salaries was one of the reasons chris evans left radio 2. the presidents of russia and china have spoken of the strengthening ties between their countries, as russia prepares to stage its biggest military exercise since the cold war. it's claimed 300,000 russian service personnel will be taking part, along with chinese troops, over five days in eastern siberia. hampden park is to remain the home of the scottish football after the sfa agreed to pay its owners, queen's park, five—million pounds for the stadium in glasgow. the governing body had considered moving internationals and some scottish cup matches from hampden to murrayfield in edinburgh, following an offer from the scottish rugby union. the national team have played home matches at hampden park since 1906. cricket, and england have beaten india by 118 runs to win the 5th and final test against india at the oval. it completes a 4—1 series victory.

james anderson made history by setting a new record for test wickets taken by a pace bowler. joe wilson has this report. in recent times, england cricket has built floodlights and left the highlights to james anderson, and not just his highlights to james anderson, and notjust his hair, but look at india. the final day of the english international some became a belated celebration of their batting. rahul‘s hundred featured his full range of tricks and flicks, and after the emotional monday, for england this was, yes, back down—to—earth. alistair cook was there on patrol, fielding, reflecting and generally watching an extraordinary exhibition of youthful exuberance. this is how pant arrived at his first test match century. he gone for it and he's got it. conditions here did feel decidedly like september and when the floodlights are on the sky is grey,

thatis floodlights are on the sky is grey, that is normally a james anderson kind of day. anderson wanted one wicket to become the most successful fast bowling in history and india we re fast bowling in history and india were not playing along with that. so, step forward adil rashid. rahul bold for 149. ben youngs pant chants to zampa once too often will stop moeen ali is under that isn't he? —— chanced his arm. now the race, could anderson get the magic moment before india will all out? the final wicket of the summer won the match and gave anderson the record. 564 career wickets and no test match has ever done ending is quite like this one. houses, walls, lanes and tree stumps — they've been hidden for decades underwater in cornwall. but this summer's heatwave has revealed the lost valley near penzance that was once home to a small community of people before they were forced to leave in the early 60s to make way for a reservoir.

jon kay is there for us now. it might be the middle of september, but people have told us today they have never seen this reservoir so low. to get this an idea, normally the water would be at the top of the bank, about two metres above my head but over the last few months as the levels have dropped, it has revealed parts of cornwall‘s hidden history. this is how drift reservoir normally looks, the water 50 feet deep, but this summer's dry weather has seen the level fall dramatically, exposing ruined properties abandoned 60 years ago so the lake could be created. it's absolutely exquisite. today, margaret pengelly came back for the first time in years. she's the only person still alive who lived in nanquitho. and now the farmhouse where she grew up in the 1940s is visible once again.

it was a beautiful house, but in the wrong place. now in her 80s, margaret remembers the old granite property being surrounded by the beauty of cornwall. and the wildflowers, the butterflies, insects, the bats flying at twilight. oh, yes, the beauty was undoubted. it must be strange for you to be able to see your old house again this year, because the water's dropped. yes, yes, that's true. margaret and her parents were forced to leave nanquitho in the 1950s so a damn could be built and the valley flooded to provide water for the nearby town of penzance. but this unexpected sight has also brought back bad memories for margaret. i never, ever attended another child's birthday tea. she told me as an only child living in a remote farmhouse she was often desperate for friends.

i would listen for children's voices and sometimes i think i heard some and i would call, but what i heard, really, was the cry of a bird, because in the valley it was so beautiful, but you cannot live on beauty alone. for a short time, the lost valley, as it is known, has been found, but now the autumn rain is coming and margaret says she may never see her old home again. john kay, bbc news, cornwall. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller. the heatwave is long gone now. yes, at least we had sunshine here and there today. some in northern ireland and scotland but in south—west england and an area through the midlands and towards east anglia there was thicker cloud, damp and drizzly, and that strip of wet weather is still there this

evening and we will see another pulse of rain that might affect northern ireland running into england and wales, north of that, clear spells, a few showers and temperatures dipping into single figures. with a clear spells a chance of seeing the northern lights with the temperatures holding in double figures but this weather front is changing things through tomorrow where it continues to edge towards the south with some rain and the cooler, fresh air comes in behind its regional parts by the end of the day, particularly noticeable in southern england where it has been quite muggy. sitting above south wales and east anglia, then moving south, damp and drizzly towards sussex and kent on the coast, but elsewhere mainly dry afternoons, a few showers in northern ireland, north—west england, especially western scotland but on the wind, not as strong as the day with average speeds a bit stronger and temperatures are made or high teens so they will have come

down in southern england where we have been in the low 20s and heading out and about tomorrow, still a few showers running into western scotla nd showers running into western scotland but most places dry, clear going into thursday morning so it will be a cold night across the board. at the end of the week it is northern and western parts of the uk that have a greater chance of showers, not wet all the time, relatively dry towards the south and east and as hurricane florence heads towards the us, head to the website for more detail about the progress and the science behind it. a reminder of our top story... the government has been forced to defend its decisions on police pay and cuts after facing defend its decisions on police pay and cuts afterfacing heavy criticism for the handling of both. time tojoin the criticism for the handling of both. time to join the news teams where you are. hello this is bbc news. britain's most senior police officer has hit out at the pay award decided by ministers, and at the level of spending cuts. the home secretary, speaking at the same police conference,

said he would fight for resources, within government, on the police's behalf. the inquest into the westminster bridge terror attack has heard how american tourist kurt cochran lost his life, as he tried to save his wife. as leading brexiteers gather to set out their plans, the boss of jaguar land rover has warned a bad deal could result