authorities are prepared. more than a million people have been told to evacuate their homes. landfall is expected in north and south carolina in the next 2a to 36 hours. vladimir putin says the men suspected by britain of carrying out a nerve agent attack in the english town salisbury are not russian spies. he said the pair, who are accused of targetting sergei skripal and his daughter in march, are ordinary civilians and not criminals. us open tennis champion naomi osaka has returned to tokyo after her win against serena williams. before leaving the us, osaka who was born injapan but raised in america. she is the only japanese player to ta ke she is the only japanese player to take the title but her achievement was overshadowed by a dispute between serena williams and the umpire. it'sjust gone 2:30. time now for wednesday in parliament. hello there and welcome

to the day in parliament. coming up, a prime minister's questions, jeremy corbyn says the government's key welfare policy, universal credit, is flawed. children forced to use food banks, and the prime minister wants to put 2 million more people onto this. but theresa may defends the government's record. what we are doing is seeing 3.3 million more people injobs as a result of our balanced approach to the economy. a home office minister says the government understands the pressures on police forces following a critical report by the spending watchdog. and there's a call for more to be done to protect england's historic battlefields. we should, for the future, be creating areas of national historic importance that would recognise historical sites and their surroundings

as areas that we wish, and need, to conserve for the future. but let's start with prime minister's questions — often a noisy, shouty affair, and this week was a particularly rowdy session. on thursday, parliament breaks for three weeks for the annual autumn party conference season, so this wasjeremy corbyn‘s last chance to scrutinise government policy for a while. and he started with what sounded like a trick question. the national farmers union, the federation of small businesses, the national audit office, the national housing federation, gingerbread and the royal society of arts. does the prime minister know what these organisations have in common? after a lot of noise and a bit of a pause, theresa may answered. i can tell the right honourable gentleman what that those

organisations all have in common is that, across a variety of areas of activity, they give excellent service, they promote the interests of those that they represent and they are bodies with which this government interacts and to which this government listens. jeremy corbyn! i am truly grateful to the prime minister for that answer, the first part of which i wholly agree. is but what they also have... it's all right. but what they also have in common, mr speaker, is that they're telling this government its flagship benefits policy, universal credit, is flawed and failing hundreds of thousands of people both in work and out of work. the government knows this policy is flawed and failing. their own survey on universal credit found many were in debt, a third in arrears with their rent, half fallen behind with their bills. does the prime minister dispute her own government's survey or dispute the experience of the claimants? prime minister!

the experience of some of the claimants. roberta, who said my work coach helped turn my life around. he tailored his support to my situation, and thanks to him, i found my dream job. ryan. i'm happy with the new universal credit. my work coach has been great. i didn't expect to have a job so soon. universal credit gave me the flexibility to take on additional hours without the stress of thinking this might stop my benefits straightaway. we have gone from a situation under the labour party where1.4 million people, 1.4 million people, spent most of the decade trapped on benefits. we are helping get people into work, and that's why earlier this week,

we saw unemployment, yet again, at a record low. the government's brexit negotiations are an abject failure. i can see that by the sullen faces behind her. and that's notjust the erg group, it's the whole lot of them! but everywhere you look, mr speaker, this government is failing. 1 million families using food banks, a million workers on zero—hours contracts, 4 million children in poverty, wages lower today than ten years ago. and on top of that, there's the flawed and failing universal credit. disabled people risk losing their homes and vital support. children forced to use food banks. and the prime minister wants to put 2 million more people onto this. mr speaker, the prime minister is not, is not challenging

the burning injustices in our society. she's pouring petrol on the crisis. when will she stop inflicting misery on the people of this country? prime minister! what we are doing is seeing 3.3 million more people injobs as a result of our balanced approach to the economy. and what have we seen from labour over the past few days? iranian state tv broadcasting no—confidence votes against labour members of parliaments, police investigating anonymous and threatening letters about the de—selection of labour mps sent to labour offices. and most shamefully, most shamefully of all... and most shamefully of all, the honourable member for streatham saying that the labour party is now an institutionally racist party.

that's what he's done to labour. just think what he'd do to this country. theresa may. and if you're wondering, the stalks of wheat on mps' lapels are to show their support for british farmers. a former national security adviser to theresa may has said the government cannot keep its citizens safe from cyber attacks and terrorism. he reassured the lords international relations committee that the government could do a lot but relied heavily on companies and individuals to do their bit. the committee is investigating the current security threats to the uk, including russia. i certainly am struck by a relatively new development that the government can no longer keep its citizens safe from either cyber or terrorism. i put that very starkly,

but if you take the first duty of government to keep it citizens safe, what has happened here is the government relies increasingly on companies and individuals in order to help them keep the people safe. the government can do a lot, but particularly in terrorism and particularly in cyber, they rely very heavily on individuals and companies. whether that is vigilance on the underground with the slogans about "see it, say it, sort it," or whether it's through the prevent programme encouraging doctors and teachers to identify people who might be at risk of radicalisation, or whether it's trying to get the big communication service providers, the tech companies, to clean up their act and help governments stop terrorists using their websites,

they need other people. government structures are a target that, actually, are relatively well protected compared to individuals and companies. we've just seen this week with british airways, last week with british airways, that companies have to spend now millions, hundreds of millions of pounds in cyber security. the government can help setting up the national cyber security centre but its responsibility lies with the companies and related individuals. who in your committee has not seen scam e—mails from someone asking, trying to get your bank details? the companies cannot help with that. —— the government cannot help with that. this is a relatively new development. and it has led, i think, to a greater sense of personal security in this country, which is not necessarily consistent with the overall strategic threats, but people feel more vulnerable because they feel the government cannot solve all their problems. lord purvis, who flies regularly

with british airways raised the recent cyber attack on the company's database. how do i know there was a criminal band want it for credit cards —— how do i know there was a criminal gang wanting it for credit cards and not a vulnerability of our flag carrier, which is a major part of how you can see our national infrastructure? in the case of the attack you mention, it's hard to know which you mentioned is worse. in some ways, if it's not interested in more money, that's ok. that may be better. not when you're 30,000 feet above... it depends what they are doing. ithink... i think, unfortunately, it's not that simple anyway because, increasingly, we see an overlap between state and crime.

criminals may work for the government during the day and at night, at the same computer in the same building, work for crime. an unhealthy funding mechanism has developed. of course, on your final point, i think you see the russian government, and this has been publicised by the us and last year, targeting, because if you want to... if you want to tweak the tale of york at the sri, attacking a national airline or national energy supplier is a good way to do it. it's what you would have done on the ground 50 years ago. why would you not do in cyberspace? the committee wanted to know why the uk considered russia, but not china to be a threat. russia is deliberately trying to undermine the our system of government, our democracy, our institutions. for president putin, who... let us not forget that russia has

an economy one tenth the size of china, two thirds the size of the united kingdom. for him, to coin a phrase — "to make russia great again," he can only do it in his mind by weakening his enemies and he has identified his enemies as the united states, united kingdom. as well as nato and the eu. that is the fundamental trend of a declining power that has very strong hard power but virtually no allies around the world and no soft power. he said it was president putin trying to push back against the decline of russia. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. and don't forget, you can catch our round—up of the week on bbc parliament at friday night at 11pm. a home office minister has insisted that the government understands the pressures on police forces

in england and wales. despite a report from the spending watchdog suggesting the department doesn't know if this financially sustainable. the head of the national audit office warned that signs of forces are already expressing financial restraint and are struggling to deliver effective services to the public. the findings came on tuesday as sajid javid attended a meeting where the head of the met said the decision not to award officers a pay rise was a punch on the nose. it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this national audit office report is an indictment of successive conservative home secretaries and their handling of the financial sustainability of the police. does the minister now accept what the nao sets out, that total funding to police forces, a combination of central government funding and council tax, has fallen by i9% in real

terms since 2010—2011? yesterday, commissioner cressida dick, the head of the met police, said she did not want the government to wait until the police are struggling like the prison service. can the minister give this house that assurance? she asked me to confirm whether police budgets were reduced following 2010 and whether we have fewer police officers and that, "the numbers don't lie. the numbers are there". that is hardly news. what she omitted to mention was of course the timeline drive —— underlying drive of these decisions and 2010 resulted in the state of public finances inherited from the last government and the radical action that was needed... it's not desperate! it's not desperate, that's the stark economic facts that the coalition government faced in 2010 and it needed a radical action to get the public finances back into some sort of order. and that is an uncomfortable truth

that labour party continues to remain in denial on. england's most senior police officer, cressida dick, said yesterday that police are now, "taking up the slack of other public services that are struggling to deliver". so, would the home secretary, head of the budget, both argue for more cash for the police and argue that extra cash goes to the nhs for collaborative work with the police, especially for people with mental health issues? he raises an extremely important point. it is one of the clear measures coming out. it is a frustration about the amount of time that police officers spend in their words doing other people'sjobs. and away from core policing work and a large frustration is around the amount of time spent supporting people with mental health issues. the most expensive way to fund policing is through the mechanism of overtime which is now at its highest ever level. it's a nonsensical that rather than have hard—working police officers work longer hours and costing the taxpayer more

of the government actor revisits funding to policing and her first with the figures were when labour were in office in 2009—10. i do except annette said publicly for at least a year now that i have said that the police force needs more. ido i do accept and have said very publicly for at least a year now that i have said the police force needs more. that is exactly what we have the debug with an additional form the £60 million of her putting in the system is a country. over £1 billion more this year than in three years ago. it is not about resources. as a former minister he knows that. it is about a more efficient use of police time somewhat rushed upon the present environment couldn't have said "there is nothing criminal about the two men of the uk. russia's president has said there's nothing criminal about the two men suspected of... carrying out the salisbury attacks. former spies are disregarding his daughter yulia skripal, were poisoned.

a couple died... britain says that the two men caused intact and say there are members of russia's intelligence agency. in a commons debate, a minister asked the students are about president putin's comments. —— asked of the security minister. i'm sure the house will be aware of the remarks made by president putin today that these are not criminals but citizens. will he agree with me that if the president is so assured of that statement, he might want to encourage those individuals to come to the uk for trial? hear, hear! i believe in the britishjustice system, and if they are innocent, they will be acquitted. so, yes, i have every faith, and so i would urge him to hand those individuals over for trial. they are suspects and they are innocent until proven guilty. ben wallace. the government's come under renewed pressure in the lord's to ban gambling advertising.

figures from the gambling commission show 45% of people gambled in the previous four weeks, and 95% of online gamers get what home. ministers argued the existing controls don't go far enough. years ago, the uk abolished the advertising of tobacco in anyform. when it's so evident that problem gambling and gambling amongst young people according to recent evidence is generating so much tragedy and potential disaster for individuals and families, why can't now, in 2018, we do the same with gambling? problem gambling has stayed static at under 1% of adults despite a steep rise in advertising since 2007. however, this is not the end of the story because we are seeking more research. more work needs to be done. the problem had been raised by the bishop of st albans. last week, the chief executive of nhs england,

simon stevens, raised the issue about costs to the nhs which problem gambling is causing. in the wake of these and other concerns, is it not time to bring in tougher regulations on online advertising and also to reconsider having a mandatory levy on gambling companies to contribute towards the cost of treating gambling addiction? specialist treatment for gambling addiction, including the nhs national problem gambling clinic, is funded by gamble aware, and we believe that this is a valuable addition to publicly funded treatment for other addictions and mental health conditions. gamble aware has published donations and pledges covering the first quarter of the year. on the right reverend's question on the levy, we are very clear that if the voluntary system does not provide sufficient funding, we will consider all options and that includes a mandatory levy. the time for talking is passed. when will we follow the lead provided by italy this summer

in banning all gambling advertisements on tv, radio and online? well, i know about the examples in italy and australia. but can ijust start off by saying that gambling is a legitimate leisure pursuit? so, it can be advertised. but, as i said earlier, strict rules about content and targeting of advertisements are there. we have outlined a package of measures to strengthen protections further and we will continue to monitor the situation carefully. particularly in respect to children, which is very important. lord younger. now let's go to prime minister's questions. the leader of the snp at westminster attacked the prime minister over the government's economic record and brexit. people are poorer. it's been the worst decade for which growth in over 200 years. households are struggling, and a no—deal brexit is to increase the annual cost—of—living for low income households by hundreds of pounds reportedly. yet this prime minister still wants to the brexit cliff edge.

—— to walk off. the prime minister is unfit for government she is incapable of leadership. we know it, the backbenchers know it and the country knows it. ten years after the economic crash the poorest are still bearing the brunt. it's as simple as simple as this. the prime minister should and her key programme or admit that her party is unfit. —— and her austerity programme. can i say to the right honourable gentleman, he mentions the question of brexit, and of course, we are working to get a good brexit deal for the whole of the united kingdom, including scotland. and can i suggest to the right honourable gentleman that he might listen to the views of the scottish nfu, who said this week that the plan for the government has put forward is something that certainly the agriculture, food and drinks sector can work with and that politicians from all sorts of parliaments and assemblies should actually get behind it. in a meeting on monday, the aluminium and steel industry

told leaders of opposition parties, with the exception of the leader of the labour party, who refused to attend, that thousands of jobs are to be put at risk by the british government's brexit policies and industrial strategy. is it not the case that she is prepared to dole out the p455 to manufacturing workers simply in order to appease the brexit extremists in her own party? prime minister! nothing... here portrayal of the situation couldn't be further from the case. what we have put forward in the chequers plan is a plan that delivers on the result of the referendum, ensures that we take control of our money, our borders and laws, but does so in way that protects jobs and livelihood, that is so in a way that protects jobs and livelihoods across the united kingdom. early in the exchanges, the prime minister had indicated she would

rethink the idea of paying for £39 billion brexit divorce bill if the uk couldn't agree a deal with the european union. we are very clear that we need to have a link between the future relationship and the withdrawal agreement. but we are a country that honours our obligations. we believe in the rule of law, and therefore, we believe in abiding by our lead the legal obligations. however, my honourable friend is right, that the specific offer was made in the spirit of our desire to reach a deal with the european union. and on the basis as the eu themselves have said that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, without a deal, the position changes. theresa may. finally, there's a new fight under way over the future of one of england's most famous battlefields. now, as you will remember from your school history, the battle of bosworth is where henryjuda defeated richard iii in 11185, ending the plantagenet era and ushering in the plantagenet era and ushering in the tudors. but now an application has been put into build a driverless vehicle test track on part of the

site. conservative mp, author and historian chris skidmore argued it's a site that should be preserved. the battle of bosworth is one of our nation's most historic, important battles. it is where the last english king to have been killed fighting in battle, richard iii, fell. it is where the tudor dynasty under henry vii was born and it is a battle that truly changed the course of english history. the fact that recent evidence both archaeological and documential has been able to demonstrate that the location site of the battle of bosworth is crucially far wider and is in that different location around fenn lane than was previously in the registered battlefield location, overwhelmingly proves the need to take caution in preserving the existing battlefield area and its surroundings for the future. so much is not visible to the naked eye. the dead, their remains and their relics remain buried. so we're faced with what is unknown rather than what is known. if we knew what was there hidden beneath the fields, then we would preserve. yet, not to know currently allows for battlefields to be thrown into the mix.

into the planning process. to argue, therefore, thatjust1% of a battlefield might be affected by a development is entirely to miss the point. this could be the 1% of the battlefield which witnessed the most important stages of combat. he argued this application could set a national precedent. i believe that a new review of how we can best preserve our historic battlefields and landscapes should be considered. just as we have areas of outstanding natural beauty, it is worth considering whether we should for the future be creating national areas of national historic importance that we would recognise as historical sites and their surroundings as areas that we wish, and need, to conserve for the future. just as we do with parks. the minister for arts heritage and tourism said battlefields were precious and unique. wherever they are located, historic battlefields provide an important anchor to the evolution of this country. they are a reminder of our past.

their conservation is therefore integral to understanding this country's heritage. but he said these were local decisions and it would be inappropriate for him to comment. but in every case, i trust and expect that the benefits of development will be very carefully balanced against the hum by the local planning authority. michael ellis. and that's it from me for now. do join me tomorrow at the same time for another round up of the day here at westminster. from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello there. this morning is starting off on a chilly note after lengthy clear skies overnight.

lots of sunshine this morning for most of us and lasting through the day, across england and wales, but showers in the forecast. and more cloud across scotland and northern ireland. from the word go, we'll have this weak weather front here. to the north of it, showery bursts in the northern isles, more of a breeze but some sunshine around through the morning. more clout in central and eastern scotland and into northern ireland which our rate bursts of rain for much of england and wales, a dry start. —— showery bursts. in the afternoon we will see fairweather cloud building up across northern and western areas, but in parts of scotland and northern ireland, holding onto the weak weather front so thick cloud at times with light, showery bursts of rain. mid—teens in the north. after the cool start in the south, 20 or 21 in the south—east. that's the weather front bringing be showery

bursts of rain to northern areas. as we head on into friday, it's replaced by something more significant from the north—west. along with it, some strong winds. friday more of a disappointing day for large parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england. the heaviest rain will move off in the afternoon, we will see sunshine and blustery showers moving in later on. still quite cool here, 12 to 15 degrees. in the south, stayed dry —— staying dry with sunny spells, 19 or 20. at the start of the weekend, a ridge of high pressure will keep things buying and settled for most of england and wales and to an extent the east of scotla nd wales and to an extent the east of scotland —— will keep things finance settled. west of scotland and eastern scotland will —— will keep things finance settled. there's our area of high—pressure. influencing the south—east quadrant of england into sunday. this area of low pressure will bring wetter and windier weather to northern and western areas. some of this rain

could be quite heavy. strong winds. edit of sunshine, a few showers for scotla nd edit of sunshine, a few showers for scotland and northern ireland into the afternoon —— a bit of sunshine. blustery and cool here but further south, not a bad day again. 22 or maybe 23 in the south—east. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: if you don't get out, you're on your own. more than a million people are told to evacuate as hurricane florence approaches. we are ready that this will be one of the biggest ones to ever hit our country. residents in the path of these devastating storms should comply with all of that late in orders and other emergency instructions. —— all evacuation orders. us open winner naomi osaka arrives back injapan as she speaks

out over that win against serena williams. and the fastest man afloat.