today at 5, scotland yard says the police presence outside parliament is to be boosted — after some mps experienced abuse and intimidation. the conservative anna soubry was called a ‘nazi' and ‘scum' yesterday , because of her opposition to brexit, drawing this response today. in a democracy, we want people to be able to speak to the politicians and we want people to be able to protest. what has been happening has gone way beyond that, but it is a minority. a very small group of right—wing extremists. we'll have the latest from westminster, and we'll be talking to a former met police superintendent. the other main stories on bbc news at 5. the brexit secretary casts doubt on claims — that brexit could be delayed , if mps reject theresa may's withdrawal agreement, in next week's vote. a court rules that a scottish

government investigation, into complaints of sexual misconduct against former first minister alex salmond, was unlawful. and at least seven people have died and several others missing after heavy snow storms in the alps it's 5 o'clock. our main story is that the police presence, at westminster, is to be boosted, in the run—up to next week's main vote, on the government's brexit plans. it follows the intimidation and harassment experienced by some mps, outside the palace of westminster, in recent months, which culminated yesterday in the conservative mp anna soubry, being called a ‘nazi' and a ‘traitor‘, because of her opposition to brexit. the speaker of the commonsjohn bercow said the abuse amounted

to ‘a type of fascism', and called for a change of policing policy. the metropolitan police, who were heavily criticised for their handling of the situation, have said they are ready to ‘deal robustly‘, with any instances of criminal harassment. our correspondent ben ando has the latest. ina in a free democracy, it is a balancing act. when does legitimate public protest by those angry at their elected representatives crossed the line and become criminal intimidation, harassment or threatening behaviour? are you squared to answer the question? anna soubry was jostled and hustled and police appeared to do nothing. inside, the speaker of the house spoke out. it is frankly intolerable

if members of parliament and journalists go about their business in fear. this situation cannot stand. in answer to a question he went further. it is a type of fascism. let's be quite clear about that. women and ethnic minority citizens in particular are being targeted. the police say polarised opinions make theirjob harder. policing brexit as a child an issue for the police service. it is a contentious issue with opposing views from a number of people. our role in the police service is to make sure that we balance the needs of everybody, which includes politicians, members of our own

stuff, the public and those who wish to protest so that people can go about their business as usual. to protest so that people can go about their business as usuallj know that the police have the right powers and they have the skills and most of them have the common sense to know how to police, keep people safe whilst supporting democracy, they know how to do good. yesterday they know how to do good. yesterday they did not do it. there is a clear distinction between peaceful, lawful protest a nd distinction between peaceful, lawful protest and some of the things that we have seen in the last six weeks here. your viewers know that and so do the police. the problem is the lack of action by the police. ahead of next week's vote, it seems likely that the police and parliamentarians will face more of those who confuse lawful protest with harassment. with me is leroy logan , a former superintendent with the metropolitan police.

i'm also joined by catherine anderson , chief executive of the jo cox foundation. thank you both for being here. ifi if i can start with you, catherine. talk about the kind of political atmosphere that we have at the moment. as anna soubry said herself, the people really being focused on area the people really being focused on are a small group of people who have been responsible for a lot of these extremely unpleasant activities. does that say something bigger about the kind of political climate we are written? definitely. ithink the word that is always used as the bridle. —— is febrile. you are correct that it is small groups on the fringe who are engaging in this sort of behaviour, but it does highlight the fact it only takes one sort of crazed person to go beyond

that language and to do something much more dangerous. leroy, do you think some of the criticism directed at the metropolitan police as fair? i think we have few understand, where the officers were at the time. i know since the last terrorist attack on the palace of westminster, office rs attack on the palace of westminster, officers are very strictly deployed and so too is stray away from that is going to attract criticism. like everything, you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. from what i could see, there was definitely a breach of peace, there was definitely some public order offe nces definitely some public order offences and the officers who happen to be patrolling by... unfortunately there wasn't, only the static

office rs there wasn't, only the static officers at the palace of westminster. i would like to think that we will have high visibility patrols which in itself will calm things down. as we have seen, there isa things down. as we have seen, there is a balance between accessibility and security. we don't want to reduce accessibility of mps. at the same time we have to keep them secure. same time we have to keep them secure. these are scenes that we saw yesterday, although anna soubry is smiling we know that there were unpleasant things being shouted at her. the police are in a difficult position, if they intervene it is controversial and if they don't that is controversial. that is not an excuse for not intervening is busy behaviour that they think is not acceptable. i think in some respects, the mp did so welljust to laugh it off. she kept her

composure , laugh it off. she kept her composure, i know that when jones was also subjected to read. he just laughed it off. if you take the temperature from the alleged perpetrators, you definitely need to step in. i would like to think the high visibility patrols that you will get now will calm things down and stop it. and prevented, even before it gets to that high temperature. catherine, are you more critical of the police or not?” temperature. catherine, are you more critical of the police or not? i am less critical of the police. they have a hard job, less critical of the police. they have a hardjob, i less critical of the police. they have a hard job, i am less critical of the police. they have a hardjob, iam no less critical of the police. they have a hard job, i am no expert, less critical of the police. they have a hard job, iam no expert, but they have tojudge have a hard job, iam no expert, but they have to judge when to intervene. what concerns me more is that this sort of behaviour, this sort of language that is being used is being broadcast across the country and to an extent it does legitimise it. i would hate to live ina legitimise it. i would hate to live in a world where we had to see more police on the streets, that would be

awful. because you represent the jo cox foundation. are we reading too much into this by introducing that? i think that we need to intervene, not just i think that we need to intervene, notjust in i think that we need to intervene, not just in changing i think that we need to intervene, notjust in changing the way that the policing happens in and around westminster, but we have to think about how, in our society, we call this behaviour out. if we saw what happened to anna soubry in our high street or in a supermarket, would we feel that we could call it out? culturally, we should be thinking about calling this out wherever we find it. i think there is a wider conversation about, we as an orderly

society, we police ourselves. we have boundaries. unfortunately, with social media and with brexit, it seems to legitimise peoples vitriol taping or fable which has to be locked out. it is a bad example to other children, so don't be surprised when our children act in that way. more importantly, we can not have the public space, everyone being in fear because of the extent to which people might deal with things or overreact. it is that of a reaction that we need to deal with. we can have a disagreement and agree to disagree without it being absolutely disgusting behaviour or comments. a question of resources, because we have discussed a lot about police resources in recent yea rs, about police resources in recent years, there is an issue there about how police are deployed, when they are deployed. will there be a much

more increased sense of pressure within the metropolitan police to be seen within the metropolitan police to be seen to be visibly deploying in these areas in a way that they might have been more measured before?” think they have to react to events, and informed their strategy for future events. when you have iconic points like palace green, they will think, we have gone past the boundary where we let people intermingle without reverting to a critical incidents. i think you will start seeing that. there will be a risk assessment. also, the palace of westminster security footprint, they will say we cannot just say it is inside the bar lads, it might be across the road —— we cannotjust say it is inside the bollards. do

think we will look back at yesterday asa think we will look back at yesterday as a kind of turning point or simply as a kind of turning point or simply a milestone on this path that we run. i fear a milestone, but hopefully one in the right direction. i can't see the language or the rhetoric toning down any time soon, but i hope it will eventually add life deal that will be linked with how long the brexit negotiations rumble on four and for how long that remains the thing that most people are talking about. you can't arrest your way out of the problem. you have got to have intervention, prevention, and hopefully people will understand that this could get worse and we don't want to do. thank you for joining us. the time is 12 minutes past five. the brexit secretary has cast doubt on claims that british and eu officials are talking about delaying brexit if mps reject theresa may's withdrawal agreement in the vote next week. his remarks came as one minister

suggested article 50 might have to be extended in order to stop a no—deal brexit if mrs may's deal was rejected by parliament. ministers have also been keen to play down the likely impact of an amendment to the finance bill, tabled by opponents of a no—deal brexit, and due to be debated in the commons today. it's a cross—party amendment, tabled by former cabinet ministers yvette cooper and nicky morgan, would would restrict the government's freedom to make tax changes related to brexit. quite if you —— quite a few developments. in a a few developments. what is your guidance on that? i saw mickey morgan a couple of moments ago rushing in to vote on something

else. she says she is still not certain whether the government will accept that amendment or whether it will go to a vote. if that is what all of this is about. you have got a cross— party all of this is about. you have got a cross—party working. yvette cooper and mickey morgan working on this. thenin and mickey morgan working on this. then in another building you have got cross—party working, mps representing constituencies in the midlands. that is what this is mainly telling us. we hear a lot of people telling us that the default position is a no deal scenario f theresa may horse—mac deal is voted down. planning changes to laws that might

tough to come through in the next couple of months. i think it shows how difficult it would be for a government to go down that path of no deal without a majority, which, of course theresa may does not have. what they are saying is if it were to go through, it would mean that they had to tweak legislation that is taking out references to the european economic area and putting an references to the uk. it would not be catastrophic, but highly inconvenient. i think this kind of give alert warfare is what they are trying to prevent. are you detecting in the corridors

that that there is any change of mood among those mps you have big misgivings about the deal that she has put together? no, there hasn't been from what i can tell. that could change, of course, in another week but i think she's going to have to come forward with something. downing street say it is a ongoing process and that any reassurances which they are seeking from the eu, mps will get to know about and debate them before they hold that vote next tuesday. at the moment, there does not seem to be that huge shift in numbers that downing street we re shift in numbers that downing street were hoping for that by not going ahead with the vote in december, there were hoping that more would come back having changed their minds but this issue of that backstop of trying to prevent a hard border

between northern ireland and ireland still seems to be a sticking point. whatever happens, theresa may is going to need some labour votes as she was going to get this through and at the moment there is no sign of that. they are just suggestions being made in the telegraph newspaper. we have not been able to track down any officials on the eu side about these feelers that have apparently been put out. it is still a suggestion at the moment and it is probably very tentative if it is happening. it would be a pretty logical thing for uk officials to do. the uk could ask

the eu to extend the two—year timetable. it is totally possible if all of the other countries agree. when you speak to eu officials and private, they say that they would probably approve an extension of article 50 if it was because the uk needed a bit more time to lay the groundwork in parliament and to get the legislation in place so that it works. or, if there was a massive sea works. or, if there was a massive sea change in british politics or a massive change of the government's possession going forward. however, it is not on the table now because the uk has not officially asked for road. thank you very much. last year was one of the worst for knife crime —

with violent offences in england and wales at their highest since 2011. most people caught carrying a knife are adults. but the latest figures show one in five was under the age of 18. one mother we've spoken to says she's living in fear of her 14—year—old son soon becoming a target. the family have been speaking exclusively to our correspondent adina campbell. we've disguised their identities and their words i have had to scale back on work in order to ensure that i know where my sun is, because i believe these risks are very real. this single mother is terrified that her sun could soon be killed by gangs.” mother is terrified that her sun could soon be killed by gangs. i am fea rful could soon be killed by gangs. i am fearful scared and i wonder whether this is going to be the last time that my sun will come back. it is not long before things get heated with between mother and sun. there are people who want to target you. what people? i did not grow up at 14

and see anyone murdered or stabbed on the floor. you said this was normal but you were seeing?“ on the floor. you said this was normal but you were seeing? if i heard tomorrow that somebody was stabbed to death, you would feel sorry, but you would... at the same time people get stabbed everyday.- you ever worry? you worry all of the time where your children are. how many friends have you lost? two. do you ever worry about you being heard? you can't always stop it. i don't really think about it. i would ratherjust don't really think about it. i would rather just live my life don't really think about it. i would ratherjust live my life than be worried 20 47 if i am going to die. the 14—year—old boy is no longer school after being excluded, but his mother says he was unfairly treated.

the bbc has seen documents showing her efforts to get him back into school. as time goes on, she fears the worst. children are dying for the worst. children are dying for the silliest reasons, because somebody doesn't like somebody. because of where somebody lives. you have allowed them to be in environments where they can get hold of marijuana. i smoke because i am stressed, because my friend is dead. we have also seen evidence from police confirming he has been the victim of several unprovoked attacks, including being chased by boys with masks armed with knives. you can get stabbed at any time, you can't stop it. you don't know when you will die. what is it like hearing him saying this? we are failing these children. do you feel iq are losing your sun? yes. i am

losing him to the streets. the time is 5:22pm. let's return now to westminster, where a cross party amendment has been tabled that would limit the government's financial powers in the event of a no deal brexit. lots of brexit news first consider today. a business minister is joining us now. just to start on this amendment that mickey morgan, and yvette cooper are putting forward , and yvette cooper are putting forward, how concerned are you about the potential impact of it? not very concerned. i think it is the kind of thing that the government can get around. iam thing that the government can get around. i am concerned about the most important thing which is that the deal that the prime minister is putting forward is passed next week.

that is critically important. the most important decision that the people in that chamber will have two meg in their political lifetime.“ reminisced has been very clear about the importance of it from her view. give us your assessment on the state of opinion from your own ventures, because until now, everyone is telling us that those faults are not there. logically and rationally from what people have said before christmas, your assessment is correct. however, they once said, doctorjohnson once said that when a man knows he is executed it certainly concentrates the mind. that vote is coming next week. from the point of view of brexit supporters, this is their only chance to get brexit. what they want at the end of march will happen. otherwise, anything could happen as the prime minister said in her interview on sunday, she referred to

it as uncharted waters. parliament will the side, the government will be one way or the other mandated by parliament, egos that is what happens in a parliamentary majority. there is no majority for a crash out ora hard there is no majority for a crash out or a hard rack there is no majority for a crash out ora hard rack said. the there is no majority for a crash out or a hard rack said. the people that wa nt to or a hard rack said. the people that want to crush out are a minority of a minority and i believe that is true of the population generally. the message you gave us just if you minutes ago about the importance of brexit supporters to realise this is their chance. what do your collea g u es their chance. what do your colleagues say when you put this to them? the time has not yet come. all they want more than anything else is for us to leave the european union and that is how people voted. their only way to achieve that is to support the prime minister's deal.

no deal is not a viable alternative, it would be a disaster forjobs. no deal is not a viable alternative, it would be a disasterforjobs. my job would be almost impossible to do in the event of a no deal. what happens if that vote goes against the prime minister next week. i know that you want to wind, we understand that. what are the most likely options available, what would you say to colleagues that point? at that stage, the prime minister should rule out a no deal and look at what alternatives she can get a parliamentary consensus for. it may be that a combination of people accepting this reality that this is their only chance for brexit, combined with some changes she will get from brussels, i hope that that will be on offer. these suggestions today that british and eu officials

today that british and eu officials today might be talking about potentially extending article 50. do you sense that those talks are happening or not? i have no idea. the number ten spokesman said that that was not happening and that there is no possibility of extending article 50. i do not know. the government, of which i am included as there is less minister, the government will have to look at what options are available and it could be that extending article 50 is one of them. or revoking article 50, that would be to say that we will have another crack at it. i can't speculate on that because i don't know what will happen. what i do know what will happen. what i do know is that there is no parliamentary majority for crashing out. myself and quite a few other ministers will not be part of that. we wa nt ministers will not be part of that. we want to do our duty to those

people that wanted to leave. but we cannot do that unconditionally and we cannot do that at the price of chaos for people's jobs and the country as a whole. but extending article 50 would be a credible option in some circumstances?“ article 50 would be a credible option in some circumstances? it may be. it is not in my area to look at. we would have to look at what alternatives are available in the event that the deal is defeated. i think there may be another vote, but eventually parliamentarians, particularly those who want is to leave the european union, which is a substantial amount of people, they have got to realise that this is the correct way to direct. those on the opposition benches who are opposing the prime minister's deal purely on political grounds need to look at

themselves. people may have voted for brexit, but not unconditionally. thanks to him today forjoining us. a judge has ruled that the scottish government acted unlawfully while investigating claims of sexual harassment directed against the formerfirst minister alex salmond. the scottish government now admits it didn't properly follow its own procedures when it investigated the claims. a separate police inquiry is taking place into the allegations against mr salmond, all of which he denies. let's cross to our our scotland correspondent lorna gordon scotland's first minister nicola

sturgeon has been speaking here in the chamber, she has rejected accusations made by the conservatives that this is an snp civil war being played out at taxpayer expense. this has been a difficult day for the government and a costly one. they will have to pay mr salmond's expenses in this fight which could amount to around £500,000. alex salmond arriving at court for a hearing against the government he used to lead. a review into that government's handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against mr salmond, allegations which he denies. the last time mr salmond was in courtroom two in scotland's highest civil court, he was being sworn in as first minister. today, it was to hear submissions by his legal team to the charge lord pentland at the scottish government acted unlawfully while investigating the allegations and that the investigation be dismissed. the decision is unlawful in respect to it was taken in circumstances which were procedurally unfair and in respect that it was

tainted by apparent bias. the allegations date back to events alleged to have taken place five years ago in the run—up to the scottish referendum. when mr salmond left and worked here at bute house, the official residence of a serving first minister. mr salmond was accused of sexual misconduct by two female civil servants. in court, the scottish government admitted to one key mistake in its handling of the contents aren't agreed that its —— the complaint and agreed that the allegations must be set aside. the scottish government now accepts that in relation to one specific aspect of the procedure there was a failure which vitiates the investigation and hence the decision under challenge. mr salmond called on scotland's most senior civil servant, leslie evans who had been in charge of the investigation to resign. a former first minister of scotland requiring to take the

administration of the scottish government to court to establish that point should not have been necessary. and the person who is responsible for that, that institutional failure, the permanent secretary to the scottish government should consider her position and take the appropriate action. nicola sturgeon said she had full confidence in miss evans and echoed an apology that the permanent secretary made earlier. it is deeply reg retta ble, secretary made earlier. it is deeply regrettable, perhaps, but is an understatement, but as a result of failure in the proper application of one aspect of the procedure, the scottish government has had to settle this matter to date. the permanent secretary has this morning apologised to all involved in echoing that, i want to express my

regret in particularfor echoing that, i want to express my regret in particular for the difficult position that the complainant have been placed in. the scottish government has said it will consider reinvestigating the complements, but only once ongoing police enquiries have concluded. at that hour of legal submissions earlier dealt with the procedure is followed by the scottish government in their investigation into the sexual misconduct claims but it didn't deal with the substance of the allegations themselves, allegations which mr salmond strongly denies. but mr salmond, speaking outside court later, said he was happy to be vindicated, he thanked his family, his friends, he thanked the many thousands of people he said had contributed to his crowdfunding campaign. he said he will now take time to digest the legal decision

and consider his options. thanks for the update, lorna gordon. time for a look at the weather, with susan powell. hello, we haven't done too badly in terms of sunshine today, and it looks like clear skies will stay with us through this evening and overnight. northerly wind will also start to ease, and that is setting us start to ease, and that is setting us up perfectly for widespread frost to develop the the evening and overnight, still a chance of the odd shower drifting into northern scotland, a couple on the north sea coast bus is essentially a finite and by the small hours, the frost pretty widespread. not especially severe, lows of —3 in some more rural parts of scotland. some of the towns and cities will stayjust above freezing on wednesday. a good looking day with a lot of sunshine, more hazy towards the north sea,

some rain eventually pushing it in the north west of scotland in the afternoon. temperatures sliding further down into single figures, and we must factor in the wind on wednesday. for many of us, it will feel close to freezing. this is bbc news. the headlines: scotland yard says the police presence outside parliament is to be boosted after some mps, including the conservative anna soubry, experienced abuse and intimidation. in a democracy, we want people to be able to speak to the politicians and we want people to be able to protest. what has been happening has gone way beyond that, but it is a minority. a very small group of right—wing extremists. the brexit secretary casts doubt on claims that brexit could be delayed if mps reject theresa may's withdrawal agreement in next week's vote. a court rules that a scottish government investigation

into complaints of sexual misconduct against former first minister alex salmond was unlawful. so, why don't we catch up with the sport? wejoin so, why don't we catch up with the sport? we join sarah. ireland's padraig harrington has been handed the task of defending europe's ryder cup title in the united states in 2020. he succeeds denmark's thomas bjorn, who led the team to victory in paris last september. harrington had received high profile support from the likes of rory mcilroy in the lead up — and harrington in return heaped the praise on mcilroy and his importance to the team today. rory loves it, he has morphed into the playing captain of the team room. there is nothing like it, he loves it on the course, he loves the

adrenaline, he loves the bus, it is made for him, as it is for a number of europeans, there is no way he is going to miss out on the ryder cup, he is going to be there, front and centre, one of the leading lights of ourteam. tottenham host cheslea at wembley this evening in the first leg of their league cup semifinal. our reporter katie gornall is there for us. the one constant criticism of mauricio pochettino at tottenham is he hasn't won a trophy yet. how much does that add to the importance of this game? a lot of plaudits come his way for his style, but the chelsea manager has not won a major trophy yet so that adds an interesting subplot. maurizio sarri was asked about that enveloped the press conference and he implied there was more pressure on pochettino because they had been

at spurs forfour years. on pochettino because they had been at spurs for four years. some mind games playing perhaps. but i think the more immediate concern for it is your salary will be that his side atone for their recent defeat for spurs in november, and cast that day 3-1 at spurs in november, and cast that day 3—1 at wembley, it could have been worse and he will be hoping for a much better before months tonight. chelsea's fans have been under the microscope due to alleged racist and anti—semitic chanting — what steps are being taken to make sure there's not a repeat this evening? chelsea said they are bringing their own stewards to this match tonight, as part of a zero tolerance approach to any kind of hateful language. it follows two quite high profile incidents involving their fans before christmas. four fans who have been suspended by chelsea for allegedly racially abusing raheem sterling, and days later, reports of fa ns sterling, and days later, reports of fans making anti—semitic chants about spurs fans in a europa league

tie in hungary. so chelsea are desperate to stamp out that sort of behaviour. that is why they are enhancing the security operation here at wembley tonight, we believe the police are also going to warn both sets of fans about not using any kind of discriminatory language. katie, thank you forjoining us. meanwhile, tottenham midfielder mousa dembele is on the brink ofjoining the chinese super league club beijing guoan. he's not played for the spurs since injuring his ankle against wolves in november and is out of contract this summer. chairman daniel levy is believed to be keen to trim players from the first team squad — dutch striker vincent janssen is also likely to leave during this transfer window. the deal for dembele is thought to be worth around £11 million. pep guardiola has dismissed a claim he told manchester city ground staff to grow the grass longer for the game against liverpool. city won the game 2—1 at the etihad to end jurgen klopp's side's unbeaten start to the season. a liverpool fans podcast

suggested that city had grown the grass to hinder liverpool's counterattacking. but guardiola today denied that suggestion and insisted he's not a groundskeeper. asa as a manager, the conditions for both teams, i never put something tricky about that. we have to do the best for the game. that is to respect our rules. i have other issues in had to think about. we put the grass in the best condition for both teams. we'll have more for you in sportsday at 6.30. more now on our top story, police presence is to be stepped up in westminster in the run—up to next week's crucial brexit vote after intimidation and verbal

abuse towards mps. in the last hour, tory mp anna soubry spoke to the bbc‘s danny shaw after being targeted outside parliament yesterday. i'm fine with going about my business, as i normally do, and am looking forward to getting to the chamber and voting in the finance bill very soon. what have the police told you about events yesterday and safety? their understanding of things is that there is no threat to my sophie —— safety and i take them at their word. the real threat is the threat to democracy, the idea is to shut people up like me and stop you guys from doing yourjob, which cannot be right in a free, robust democracy. i have no problem with people protesting, we can see them, these are the responsible majority of leave voters and remain

supporters, that has been going on for a long time, this is a very small troupe of far right extremists who just want to undermine democracy. i think especially when a lot of my colleagues, particularly labour colleagues who happy barry generous and supportive, is aboutjo cox because the person who murdered jo cox was not the sort of person who comes and hangs around parliament, but it has almost empowered those types of extreme... extremists in our society that u nfortu nately, extremists in our society that unfortunately, brexit uncovered, not created, just uncovered. it has was given people a feeling they have a right to speak and behave like that. ina right to speak and behave like that. in a free society, in a great democracy, they do not. they are trying to undermine democracy. feelings run high and passions run high and people can shout, or people can accuse you of a number of things. of course they can. of course they can. i certainly don't

have a problem at all with a good, lively, robust debate was one of my constituents came up to me before christmas and he gave it to meet with both barrels, telling me exactly. . . with both barrels, telling me exactly... i thought he was rather rude but i wouldn't complain about it for one moment. it wouldn't enter my head to ring the police make any form of complete. there is nothing wrong with that in a democracy, we wa nt wrong with that in a democracy, we want people to be able to speak to their politicians and we want people to be able to protest. what has been happening has gone way beyond that. but it's a minority, very small group of right—wing extremists, we know how they behave, they racially abuse people and they do seem to pick on women. although where they are coming from,. —— we all love. rather not big on the other side who have been attacking brexit supporters? i am not aware of the sort of behaviour, but it doesn't matter. it is all unacceptable. it doesn't matter who it is or who it is aimed at, it is unacceptable. i

have to say, i am not aware of broadcasters being targeted in the way that has happened. laura kuenssberg was cut off in december, kay burley, fayssal islam has been racially abuse. and your crews have had to put up with it as well. it is not acceptable in a modern democracy. there is a distension between peaceful, lawful protest, robust debate, holding a to account, and some of the scenes we have seen in the last six weeks here at parliament. your viewers know that and so do the police. the problem has been the lack of action by the police. i was going to ask about that. do you feel let down by the police, particularly yesterday? definitely yesterday. i know that the police have the right powers and they have the skills and most of them have the common sense to know how to police, keep people safe while supporting democracy, how to

do it. yesterday they did not. they did the wrong thing, where they com pletely did the wrong thing, where they completely refused to intervene. one of your producers, i knew nothing about this until afterwards, had said, ithink about this until afterwards, had said, i think you should escort her across the road. the police officers refused to do that. i think that speaks volumes. are you reassured by the police statement today about intervening when necessary?” the police statement today about intervening when necessary? i did not know that. it looks like they changed their policy decision. one of...a changed their policy decision. one of... a senior police officer in nottinghamshire, i will not say who, has contacted me and it is clear that nottinghamshire police would have behaved very different way. they would have maintained launderer, they would have allowed me to say what i wanted to say, that would have allowed broadcasters to carry on broadcasting and they would have allowed me to go unimpeded about my course of work. that's all we ask for. is this going to change

what you do, your habits, the route you take to parliament? because this debate is clearly going on for some days. well, i have been coming here toa days. well, i have been coming here to a different entrance but these people are not around today so i'm going absolutely to use the entrance that i normally use, i cannot be intimidated. this is a very small group of extremists. whether they are group of extremists. whether they a re left group of extremists. whether they are left or right we must not be intimidated and we must not let our great democracy be undermined in any way by these extremists. we have some breaking news from heathrow airport. reports there of flights being disrupted and departures being stopped. this is the statement. it is about possible drone activity. the heathrow spokesman saying, "we are currently responding to a drone siding at heathrow. we're working closely with

the metropolitan police to prevent any threat of operational safety. as any threat of operational safety. as a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate. we apologise to passengers for any inconvenience this may cause." if we are reading this may cause." if we are reading this correctly, heathrow have stopped departures, by which we assume they mean all departures, while they are being investigated. that clearly would be a major element of disruption at heathrow, which is in some measure the world's busiest airport in terms of comings and goings. all departures, we understand at the moment, have been stopped at heathrow, while they respond to reports of a drone sighting at heathrow. and of course, as we all know, it is a matter of weeks since he was major disruption at gatwick airport because of alleged sightings of drone activity there, though there has been a huge amount of confusion in the weeks

that followed about precisely what was seen or that followed about precisely what was seen or indeed, according to some people, whether their work even any drones there at all. at heathrow airport now, if you're justjoining us, heathrow airport saying that departures have been stopped for the time being because they are responding to a drone sighting at the airport. they are working closely with the metropolitan police to prevent any threat to operational safety a nd to prevent any threat to operational safety and they say as a precautionary measure, this is an official spokesperson for heathrow saying this, as a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate, we apologise to passengers for any inconvenience this may cause. this is all i have for you at the moment, but if we get any more details from the heathrow airport staff, we will bring those to you straightaway. president trump is to make his first primetime televised address to the nation, as the partial government shutdown in the united states continues. it's now in its 18th day, making it the second longest in history. the president is expected

to talk about his plans for a border wall with mexico as the question of funding the wall is at the centre of his political row with congress. well, ahead of that address to the nation, mr trump's vice president, mike pence, spoke to major garrett from cbs news. the president addresses the nation tonight. he'll be laying out the facts to the american people of what is a genuine humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. major, as we sit here today, nearly 60,000 people, over the past several months, have attempted to come into our country illegally, but for the first time, the predominant number are families and unaccompanied children, and it simply is overwhelming the ability of our customs and border patrol to deal with it. add to that human trafficking, the flow of narcotics, the apprehension in the last year of 17,000 individuals at our southern border with previous criminal histories,

and the american people will hear from the president tonight that we have a crisis. we can now cross to our washington correspondent, gary o'donoghue. what do you expect? well, i expect he will try and make the case for turning this into an argument about security and national security, rather than a dumb and shut down. he's getting punished in the polls over the shut down. —— a government shutdown. people are blaming him for the shut down. he is also getting punished by his own base for not getting this wall built. i think he will take the opportunity of the platform of the oval office, talking to all the major networks, all the attention that gets, to make this case and possibly take some of these emergency powers that could allow him to direct money and manpower to

start building that wall and reshaping the argument in that way. it's an incredibly important argument for him to win. this was central to his appeal to the base vote he got in 2016. it's an intriguing balance, whether he makes a very assertive or strident case in order to boston that base, or whether he tries to reach out and strike a note which may be in the past he would not have dreamt of striking. i think we have had a preview of some of that, because mike pence and others have been coming out and throwing these numbers around about people trying to get into the country illegally. the 4000 figure they talk about, actually, most of those people trying to get into this country that way on watch lists coming to your post. if you look at illegal immigrants in this country, the vast majority who come here illegally now come on visas overstayed, they are not coming across the border. there

isa not coming across the border. there is a drugs problem at the border, heroin coming over the mexican border is a significant problem and there is a humanitarian problem at there is a humanitarian problem at the border, a lot of democrats say the border, a lot of democrats say the humanitarian problem is being caused in part by the trump administration giving people from crossing and looking after them properly. and the extra changes to the asylum system. so there is a lot at stake here in terms of the politics of it, let alone the lives of people struggling and dying on the border. what is your assessment, you have given us a good sense of the republic in respect of, what is your sense of how the democrats will try to handle this? i think they are trying to break down the shutdown issue into various parts, get some of those government departments going again bypassing individual spending bills, and embarrassing the senate into not taking them to vote them through. but they have made a bit of a tactical mistake, they have started talking about the border wall as immoral, which will make it

ha rd wall as immoral, which will make it hard for them to do a deal that involves getting some of the things they want, for example a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants who are in the country at the moment, something they really want. it will be hard for them to get that in return for giving the president some money for border fencing. then they willjust be accused of caving into something that they have already described as immoral. gary, thanks very much. we will talk to you later. if you're just will talk to you later. if you'rejustjoining us, we got some new song heathrow airport a few minutes ago, from an official spokesperson, there have been drone sightings on or near the northern runway. "we are responding to a drone siding at heathrow by working closely with the met police to prevent closely with the met police to p reve nt a ny closely with the met police to prevent any threat to operational safety. those quote this is the statement they put out on social media. you think of how busy

heathrow is, especially at this time of day. so, we understand, according to my colleague tom burridge, our transport correspondent, this is to do with a drone sighting or possibly more than one sighting on or near to the northern runway at heathrow. flights have not currently been suspended, but the airport is currently in the process of working out what action to take, with the met police involved. but since tom told us that, they are saying is a precautionary measure they have stopped departures while the investigation goes on. that will involve dozens and dozens of flights, clearly, coming out of heathrow at about 6pm on a weekday evening so we heathrow at about 6pm on a weekday evening so we can heathrow at about 6pm on a weekday evening so we can imagine the kind of disruption that will cause the

hundreds of thousands of passengers. if we look at the way we are tracking fights at the moment online, this will tell you something about the kind of activity in the area. but ijust want about the kind of activity in the area. but i just want to about the kind of activity in the area. but ijust want to underline that all departures from heathrow. .. there is no mention of arrivals, but all departures from heathrow have been halted, according to the airport. some doubt about whether it was one drone sighting, or more than one. wejust don't was one drone sighting, or more than one. we just don't know. but at the moment, all we know is that there has been one drone sighting at least. john grantjoins has been one drone sighting at least. john grant joins us, has been one drone sighting at least. john grantjoins us, and industry adviser to the divination data specialist oag. thanks for being with us. what do you make of this? it is happy new year for every traveller! it was almost inevitable, post—gatwick, that we would have a heightened state of awareness of

this type of incidents, and it could occur again. we were just reporting on what they had been telling us in the past few minutes, and that is to do with the precautionary measure, working closely, it is a drone sighting, they are not confirming anything but clearly they have to be concerned to some extent given what happened at gatwick, which was a bit of confusion, to say the least, just before christmas. they must really before christmas. they must really be concerned that the drone sighting is credible at this point which lri would think so. you cannot compromise aviation security and safety whatsoever. i'm sure there is a degree of caution and it's prudent to do what they are doing. i suspect that because obviously heathrow has two runways rather than one, there isa two runways rather than one, there is a bit more flexibility and a bit more easter du —— to keep some kind of operation running. but clearly this is going to disrupt the rest of

the evening at the very least and perhaps tomorrow morning.” the evening at the very least and perhaps tomorrow morning. i have seen references perhaps tomorrow morning. i have seen references only to departures, does that make sense? no mention of arrivals. there will be aircraft in the london space that are slaughtered in for arrival into heathrow now and they will be trying to get those on the ground as quickly as possible, assess the situation as it stands and probably move to a second phase of action that will combine both arrivals and departures delays. but with aircraft from as far away as asia in bad at this moment to heat the —— to heathrow, i think the priority is to get those aircraft onto the ground rather than to get aircraft to depart. there have been reports on new plans to govern the way guns are used, the du —— to do with compass and he tests. —— drones are used. and having exclusion zones of up to

three miles around these airports. the pressure for that must be even more intense now? absolutely. this is something that is potentially going to ramble on for a couple of months until we get processes and procedures in place, presidents have been created, the authorities know how to handle these situations, and we always have to be conscious of the safety of the aircraft, the passengers in the skies on those flights. just a sense of the kind of logistical challenge that the heathrow authorities are facing? well, passengers will be expecting to depart, there will probably be in the region of 40 to 50 scheduled flights departing in the next hour and a half, probably about 180 passengers, probably in the region of 9000 passengers that will be disrupted in the next hour. if those fights can get away, that's

brilliant. later this evening. fights can get away, that's brilliant. laterthis evening. —— those flights. but there is the potential for some flight cancellations and as always, the advice for everyone should be to contact her airline and listen to what the airport authorities are saying to you. john, thank you very much. john grant from oag. we can talk to one of my colleagues, cathy long, you are on a plane currently has blue yes, i am sitting on the tarmac at heathrow. i believe the waiting for clearance depart here. it isa waiting for clearance depart here. it is a large flight, we are supposed to be on the way to beijing, but all we know at the moment is that we will have to wait to find out more. kaveh mentioned anything about the possible reasons? not as far as i am aware. there has beena not as far as i am aware. there has been a passenger announcement but it

was a little hard to hear. we are waiting for more information. as i understand, they will tell us more as soon as understand, they will tell us more as soon as they can. you probably know anyway, but the airport statement is to do with a possible drone sighting on one of the ru nways. drone sighting on one of the runways. but you have had no sense of that? no, ithink runways. but you have had no sense of that? no, i think we are at the stage where people are starting to see the breaking news alerts coming through on their phones, but we have had no official confirmation of what the delay is. we will have to wait and find out more. at the moment we are told we are not going anywhere. i have —— i hope you have a safe journey. more details coming up with fiona on bbc news at six and i will be back at ten o'clock. thanks for watching. police step up their presence around westminster after m ps

complain about abuse from protestors. ido i do object to being called a nazi, actually. chanting: "soubry is a nazi!" mps condemn the harassment and intimidation of conservative anna soubry, among others. in a democracy we want people to be able to speak to their politicians, and we want people to be able to protest. what's been happening has gone way beyond that. scotland yard say they are investigating to see if any crime has been committed. also tonight... in the last few minutes heathrow has stopped all planes taking off while police investigate a sighting of a drone. former scotland first minister alex salmond wins his legal battle against the government he used to lead. the day after eight migrants were picked up after crossing the channel, we hearfrom one who made the crossing