hello, it‘s friday, it‘s 10am, i‘m joanna gosling. welcome to the programme. this you're watching bbc news at 9, programme has exclusively learned with me, annita mcveigh. the video sharing app tiktok is the headlines: being investigated by the information commissioner. it comes asa information commissioner. it comes as a bbc investigation found its the prime minister writes to the eu, failing to ban people from using the asking for an extension to article app after they have sent sexual or 50 until the end ofjune. it comes threatening messages to children. asa 50 until the end ofjune. it comes as a senior eu source says the and then, they were like, president of the european council "do not ignore me. "i know who you are..." wa nts to but swearing — "i know who you are president of the european council wants to offer the uk a 12 month and i‘ll come and get you." brexit extension, with the option to so, obviously, like, threatening a 10—year—old leave sooner. the attorney general with them sort of messages. meanwhile tells the bbc that theresa within the last hour it has emerged may will have little choice but to theresa may has written to the accept. now that the cooper—boles president of the european council bill is passing... asking for an extension to the in other words, ruling out no deal? it rules it out, therefore brexit process until the 30th of the prime minister would june. that means we could have to have little choice but to accept ta ke june. that means we could have to take part in european the extension that she is offered. and a third day of cross—party talks between labour and the conservatives continue today, with mps trying to break their brexit deadlock. in

other news, the gender pay gap has widened in favour of men of nearly half of uk companies in the past year. charging towards an electric future. the bbc finds large parts of the uk don't have adequate charging points for electric cars. and coming up points for electric cars. and coming up in sport, england defender danny rose says he can't wait to quit the game, saying racist abuse means he's had enough of football. hello, a very good morning to you and welcome to the bbc news at nine. in the last few minutes we have learned theresa may has written to the european council president, donald tusk, asking for a further extension to brexit. this is a copy

of the letter. in it, she request that the uk should be given until the 30th of june that the uk should be given until the 30th ofjune to ratify a deal. i'm just going to pick out a couple of lines from it for you. she writes, this impasse cannot be allowed to continue. in the uk it is creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics, while the european union has a legitimate desire to move on to decisions about its own future. she says, i am therefore writing to inform the european council that the united kingdom is seeking a further extension. the uk proposes that this period should end on the 30th of june 2019. if the parties are able to ratify before this date, the government proposes the period should be terminated early. meanwhile, donald tusk could offer the uka meanwhile, donald tusk could offer the uk a flexible exit date of one year. that plan is likely to be put to eu leaders at next week's plasma eu summit. the attorney general

geoffrey cox says there is likely to bea geoffrey cox says there is likely to be a lengthy brexit delay of talks between the government and labour don't succeed. we'll go to westminster to speak to our political correspondent alex forsyth about that letter shortly... but first, let's go to brussels and speak to our correspondent adam fleming... so, that letter perhaps on donald tusk‘s desk as we speak. meanwhile, he is proposing a flexible extension to brexit, what does that mean exactly? in simple terms, the idea donald tusk is putting on the table is article 50, the brexit process in the eu treaty, the date of that, which has already moved from 29th of march to the 29th of april, be moved to the end of march 2020. but there isa to the end of march 2020. but there is a little spin on this which is it would be very clear that if the uk parliament managed to get the brexit deal through, then the uk could leave on a date that was earlier than the end of march 2020. we have thought that might be the 22nd of

may but it sounds like theresa may is asking for it to be the 30th of june. you are right, the e—mailfrom downing street will have landed in donald tusk‘s inbox a few minutes ago. my reaction is, the eu won't go for this because they want a longer extension, so this... they have a clear end point rather than having to constantly having to revisit the end of the brexit process every couple of months. but i do wonder if actually, what they will do is write this 30th of june actually, what they will do is write this 30th ofjune date into their flexible brexit extension but then in the next paragraph say, if that doesn't work, brexit is extended until the end of march 2020 first of all these things away to come down to diaries. eu leaders don't want to keep coming back and forward to brussels looking for extensions to brexit. but there is an eu summit, a normal one, scheduled for the 20th ofjune. normal one, scheduled for the 20th of june. maybe they normal one, scheduled for the 20th ofjune. maybe they could potentially go for the idea of a short extension to the 30th ofjune

but revisiting it and working out if it is possible when they come back to brussels on the 20th ofjune. it is possible when they come back to brussels on the 20th ofjune. the uk and eu's proposal could be compatible, as you are explaining. glancing through this letter as we speak, the uk seems to accept for the first time, and i am reading a paragraph as i speak to you, that it may have to take part in the european parliament elections. the releva nt european parliament elections. the relevant paragraph says... it remains the government's view that despite this request to extend article 58 is in neither the interest of the uk or the eu that the uk holds elections to the european parliament. however, the uk accepts the european council's view that if the uk is still a member state of the european union on the 23rd of may 2019 it would be under a legal obligation to hold the elections. interesting. that is the government formally for the first time saying it accepts it will have to do hold european parliament elections if it stays in the eu beyond the date of those elections,

the 23rd of may. to me, that is not a huge surprise. the government had already started laying the groundwork for those elections to ta ke groundwork for those elections to take place. for example, david liddington, the de facto deputy prime minister, had written to the returning officers in the local authorities, the people that organise the polling stations in primary schools and leisure centres and get ballot boxes ready, saying if you incur expenses for the european parliament elections and they do end —— might not end up happening, the government will reimburse you for the costs. everyone took that as an incredibly clear signal that the government was preparing the groundwork to hold those elections. theresa may's letter confirms the government will actually table the official legal order in parliament was member of cabinet will have to do that in the next couple of days, which will be the official starting gun for the european parliament elections taking place, although the government will continue to insist they see a track by which the uk could be leaving by

the 22nd of may, which means those elections won't have to take place. think about it for a second. you could have a situation where you have leaflets, posters, party political broadcasts, postal votes, ballot papers all ready and on the stroke of midnight on the 22nd of may, they get ripped up because they we re may, they get ripped up because they were not needed. people said the european parliament elections would bea european parliament elections would be a bizarre process if they took place in this context. that is a sign of how it might feel. place in this context. that is a sign of how it might feellj place in this context. that is a sign of how it might feel. i don't think anyone would be surprised by what twists or turns this process could take next! thank you for that. let's go to westminster now and speak to our political correspondent alex forsyth. reading through this letter, just give us your initial thoughts, your initial assessment of what theresa may has written. i don't think it is hugely different from what we would have expected her to written. the prime minister already made clear she was going to seek an extension to this process because parliament and the prime minister had said they don't want the uk to leave without a

deal, which is what would happen next friday if there is not to be an extension. no surprise there. what she is effectively saying is, i want an extension until the 30th ofjune but i still hope to be able to get a deal through before that and if i can and if we can leave before the 23rd of may, we won't have to take pa rt 23rd of may, we won't have to take part in those european elections. that is something the prime minister absolutely does not want to do. she has consistently said it. as to adam alluded to, the feeling in government as it would be unpalatable to the public to be asked to vote in the european parliament elections three years after they said they wanted to leave the eu. she is still trying to avoid that foster wells is important in this letter if she expresses, as you might expect, a sense of frustration that there hasn't been a resolution to the brexit process yet. she talks very much about the efforts that she is making to reach a consensus. we know she is in discussion with the labour party, to see if they can find a compromise that could be put to parliament and she says to the eu, if that doesn't happen, if those

talks don't result in some firm outcome pretty soon, then she will do the idea of putting a whole series of options before parliament, to see if there is something mps can rally around. the whole tone of this letter if she is trying to say to the eu, look, i'm on the verge of getting something through, working ha rd to getting something through, working hard to do that, happy to compromise and build a consensus, ourfocus is on trying to get a deal before the 22nd of may so we can leave before the elections. however, i acknowledge that if we can't do that and we might not be able to, we will have to stay in a bit longer until the 30th of june have to stay in a bit longer until the 30th ofjune and will have to ta ke the 30th ofjune and will have to take part in those elections. with theresa may saying she will abide by the will of the house ofjeremy corbyn and she come to an agreement, does it put more pressure on labour in these talks that are continuing today? that is what she said in her statement that she made in downing street earlier this week when she set out her next steps. what she is effectively saying to labour is i'm asking you to help me get a brexit deal through and if we can't find a

compromise, we have to go to parliament to see if there is an option they can agree butjeremy corbyn, you have to back that. she is effectively setting labour up to labour opposes it rejects it, the accusation from the government will be labour has prevented the process moving forward and is their fault we end up leaving without a deal or brexit is delayed for a much longer period. labour would say it is may pleasa nt period. labour would say it is may pleasant handling of negotiations up until this point which has brought us until this point which has brought us to where we are. but i think it's worth noting, both sides of negotiations up until this point which has brought us to where we are. but i think it's worth noting, both sides are saying very clearly they are having these discussions to try and find a compromise in the most honest sense. they have been productive talks so far, meeting again today, they want to work the way through this but the political differences are still pretty stark and that is why theresa may is having to acknowledge at this point that having failed three times already to get her deal through parliament, there is a possibility that compromise can't be found and the extension could be longer. we could be looking at european parliamentary elections. a quick

thought, how do you think the idea ofa thought, how do you think the idea of a more flexible extension rather than a fixed longer extension will go down with mps? this is what theresa may is asking for and what donald tusk is apparently offering. the extension length is the thing is subject to debate. i think downing street will hope this may focus minds to get behind the prime minister does not deal rather than risk a longer extension but some senior brexiteers are suggesting they won't be pushed into backing they won't be pushed into backing the prime minister's deal if that is the prime minister's deal if that is the choice open to them. there is still a lot of anger here at the moment about the fact we are where we are in this process. a lot of people saying they will not be forced or cajoled into backing a deal they don't agree with. still a lot of uncertainty about even if labour and the conservatives can agree something, mps will rally round it. thank you very much for that. alex bull site in westminster. we just received this clip from the foreign secretary jeremy we just received this clip from the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt at raf northolt heading off to a g7 summit. he has been talking about a possible

extension to brexit. it is obviously not optimal to have any extension at all. we have a plan to leave the eu and deliver on the referendum result, which we put before parliament a number of times. we still hope to leave the eu in the next couple of months. that is our ambition. we don't have a majority in parliament and that means that we have to have these discussions with jeremy corbyn, to see if there is enough common ground to do that. could the cabinet accept that sort of extension? if we can't find a way through with parliament, we have no choice, that it is not our first choice. 0urfirst choice is choice, that it is not our first choice. our first choice is to leave quickly, cleanly, deliver the referendum result and allow britain to move forward. we are very optimistic that britain has a very successful post brexit future, but we have this challenge of a hung parliament and we need to overcome that in order to get there. the prime minister talking to labour, could you accept a customs union?

it's not a time when having these discussions to be putting down red lines. we have always been clear that the brexit future we want is outside the customs union, it's in oui’ outside the customs union, it's in our manifesto. we don't want to be in the customs union, that is why we are having these discussions, we wa nt to are having these discussions, we want to see what common ground there is. in other news... chief executive dennis muilenburg, made the statement promising to fix the fault after a preliminary report into the crash found the pilots "repeatedly" followed procedures recommended by boeing before the crash. as pilots have told us, erroneous activation of the mcas function can lead to a high load. it is our responsibility, we own it and we know how to do it. labour has held onto its seat in the constituency of newport west, in a by—election triggered

by the death of mp paul flynn. ruth jones won with a reduced majority. the conservatives also lost ground, while ukip tripled its vote share to 9%. tomos morgan reports. newport west remains in labour hands. and i hereby declare that the said ruth lorrainejones is duly elected as member of parliament for newport west. after 32 years in the hands of a welsh labour giant, the seat became vacant after the death of paul flynn in february. this by—election has taken place because of the sad passing of paul flynn, our friend. there have been many tributes to him over the weeks, but one thing stood out to me — everyone knew somebody helped by paul flynn. these words have been an inspiration to me throughout the campaign. after all, that's what we're here for — to do our utmost to help others. newport as a local authority voted to leave in the referendum, and brexit was a common theme on the doorstep.

by—election turnouts are usually lower than general elections. 67% voted here two years ago, but this time around only 37% of the constituency came out to vote. 11 candidates stood this time, with the conservatives coming in second and ukip third — increasing their share of the vote. tomos morgan, bbc news, newport. the headlines on bbc news: it is 9:15am. theresa may writes to the european council president donald tusk asking for an extension to article 50 until the end ofjune. meanwhile, cross—party talks between labour and the conservatives continued today to try to find an end to the brexit deadlock. and the gender pay gap has widened in favour of men at nearly half of large uk companies in the

past year. in the sport, i can't wait to see the back of football... so says danny rose, who has had enough of racist abuse in the game. super sunday shocks aintree as day one of the grand national meeting. and leeds struggles in the super league continues at this they were on the end of a seven try thrashing to hull kr last night. all those details at around 9:40am. see you then. thank you, mike. the man accused of killing 50 people in last month's terror attacks on two mosques in new zealand, has been ordered to undergo mental health tests. after brenton tarrant appeared in court via video link, thejudge ruled he would undergo psychiatric assessments to determine if he was fit to stand trial. he faces 50 murder charges and 39 attempted murder charges.

a large forest fire in south korea. several thousand people have been moved from their homes. president moonjae—in has told officials to liaise with north korea in case the fire spreads across the border. a man accused of carrying out a series of knife attacks last weekend has been charged with five counts of attempted murder. the attacks in edmonton in north london began on saturday night. the 29—year—old, jason kakaire, will appear before magistrates later today. the gender pay gap has widened in favour of men at nearly half of the uk's biggest employers over the past year, analysis by the bbc has found. overall, 78% of companies had a pay gap in favour of men, while just 14% favoured women. iamjoined by i am joined by charles cotton, with the cp id, the professional body for

hr, human resources and people development. good tabby with us. remind our viewers first of all what exactly the pay gap is. what does it mean? the gender pay gap is looking at the entire workforce of an organisation. so, comparing the average 01’ organisation. so, comparing the average or the median pay of all men with the average or median pay of all women. it is not to be confused with the equal pay gap, which is where you compare men and women doing the same or similarjobs. and this is only the second year of gender pay gap reporting. to what extent is that a factor in the results we are seeing today? yes, some of these factors that have caused the gender pay gap are going to ta ke caused the gender pay gap are going to take years to correct. for instance, where organisations haven't got gender balance, for insta nce haven't got gender balance, for instance they have 60—70% male or female in their organisation, they have to start focusing on

recruitment and retention initiatives, to ensure they are able to attract a more balanced workforce. how many of the firms had responded to the deadline of midnight last night to get the figures in? we estimated about 9796 of organisations who responded last time had responded this time, so more, but we are not quite sure, because some organisations have gone out of business, some may have lost some staff and therefore no longer in scope but others may have grown, got more employees and are now in scope. it is a moving target. listening to a debate on this this morning, someone was listening to a debate on this this morning, someone was talking about how some companies are still showing a greater disparity in gender pay, bigger gender pay gap than they might like to present, because more women were taking up benefit schemes offered by the company, involving some sort of salary sacrifice. what is the most important thing here, to narrow the gender pay gap will give employees, whether they are men or

women, what they want, in terms of benefit schemes? i think what's important is to explain the gender pay gap, explain why it is what it is and what steps organisations are going to take to narrow that gap over time. the issue around salary sacrifice is a quirk of how the gender pay gap is calculated. it may be when the government refuses is that in a few years' time, it may decide to treat that equally, so it doesn't distort the figures. what i'm getting at, is there a better way of presenting this information, to give us a more accurate picture of how men and women are paid, compared to one another? 0rganisations have the opportunity to do that through their narrative. u nfortu nately, to do that through their narrative. unfortunately, not all organisations have taken the opportunity and we are concerned if more organisations don't show willingness to say, this is why the gap is what it is and this is what we will do to tackle it, the government will step in and force organisations to do it. so in

terms of human resources, which is your area, what advisor you giving human resources departments, two companies, to get the information out there to their employees and to explain to their employees what they are doing to try and sort this out? what we're saying is, look at your recruitment and selection policies, how you are making yourjob is more appealing to women, for instance. and when you get them through the door, how well you retaining them? u nfortu nately, door, how well you retaining them? unfortunately, many women, once they have children, have to leave the organisation because their employer doesn't have flexible working arrangements, share. what we didn't show encourage companies to do is look at flexible working arrangements, sea look at flexible working arrangements, sea and introduce flexibility around job shares, around term time working, as well as flexible benefits, as well, such as organisation, employees being able to choose benefits that suit their needs best once they have children.

thank you for your time, charles cotton. a line to bring you in relation to brexit. we are hearing from sources close to the french president, emmanuel macron, he is saying london, the uk, needs to provide a clear plan and the way ahead by tuesday. that isn't a surprise because we know the european council meeting is happening on wednesday. and the pressure is certainly on the uk to provide a plan for the way ahead by then. but, nonetheless, president emmanuel macron, who has been pretty tough on this in public, according to sources, is reminding the uk again there is no letup in that pressure, that the uk needs to provide a clear plan on the path ahead for brexit by tuesday of next week. 0ne one or two hour garlic drinks a day is enough to increase the chances of having a stroke, according to a new study. —— make one or two alcoholic

drinksa study. —— make one or two alcoholic drinks a day. researchers from china and the university of oxford say their findings disprove previous claims that light to moderate drinking may protect against the condition. it found even a small amount of alcohol can raise blood pressure and boost the risk of a stroke by as much as 15%. the milk you put on your cereal or in your tea this morning has almost certainly been pasteurised. but more and more people have taken to drinking "raw" milk. 3 million litres were sold last year, but there are concerns over its safety. john maguire reports. like his father and grandfather before him, jonny crickmore is a dairy farmer, but trying to make money from milk these days has never been harder, so at the moment around 40% of his production is focused on raw milk sold directly to the public. it's like the old days when you used to get really good milk at school. that flavour is back with this sort of thing. you can use it for all types of cooking as well. i tried it first in france

when i was over there, and the taste was phenomenal, so to have somewhere local now is really, really good for me, so i can get this. the milk we buy normally is pasteurised, heated to destroy any harmful bacteria it may contain. producing raw milk means hygiene standards have to be high. the thing you do is you want to have a visual look at the milk, make sure it's the right colour and there's nothing, no infection in the cows' quarter. secondly, you would use this surgery sort of disinfectant, that goes on the cow's teat and then you go over it afterwards with this wood wool and that will get the teat as clean as you could possibly get it before you put the unit on. the past five years have seen an explosion in the demand for raw milk — a fivefold increase from around 600,000 litres in 2012 to more than 3 million last year. in england, wales and northern ireland, raw drinking milk can only be bought by consumers directly from the dairy farmers — so no supermarkets, for example — and in scotland it's banned from sale.

now, the food standards agency is undergoing a consultation looking at how the burgeoning industry should be controlled. there is no reason why we shouldn't. if we go about the next few years and prove that we can confidently sell raw milk and it can be sold anywhere in the uk safe, we shouldn't be able to allow coffee shops or, like you say, retailers to sell raw milk alongside other milks, but the great thing about it is it gives the farmer the chance to sell his products to the public again. at the fsa headquarters, dr kevin hargin points out the increase in the number of producers up to around 180. it is, though, treated as a risky product. between 2015 and 2017, there were five outbreaks related to raw drinking milk involving over 100 people and many of them were children, and we had quite a few hospitalisations from those

outbreaks as well, so it is a risky product. direct farm sales mean raw drinking milk is measured not in food miles but in food feet, but its being allowed to travel further afield to shops and larger retailers remains a fair distance away. we canjoin we can join john on we can joinjohn on that farm we canjoinjohn on that farm in stroud. are we really talking about raw milk revolution or do you think consumers in general will be listening to those safety concerns? i think it is such a small proportion of the overall amount of milk that we will drink across the uk. of course, it's always worth stressing still banned in scotland. but it is very much growing. we are in stroud at the stroud micro dairy. this works as a small, it has a

community supported agriculture scheme. let me show you inside. there are around 230 subscribers, investors if you like, and they can come in here and get their raw milk. this is how it works. it's basically ona this is how it works. it's basically on a shed joined to the back of a converted trailer. you get your bottle, press a button and there is your raw, unpasteurised milk. i must say, it is absolutely delicious. i know it sounds daft but the best way to describe it is it tastes very milky. people talk about old—fashioned milk the way it used to taste, as that chap was talking to taste, as that chap was talking to us in my film the other day. as you can see, just bolted onto the back of this converted container that i will take you to introduce you to the farmer, grabbed the microphone. he hasjust you to the farmer, grabbed the microphone. he has just finished milking for the morning, an open—air milking for the morning, an open—air milking parlour, who has seen one of those before? good morning. we know the food standards agency are running this consultation process at the moment. what would you like to see as a result of the process?

i would like to see cooperation between the raw milk producers association and the fsa and work together to actually ensure that the quality of milk and the safety of milk we have now continues as the industry continues to grow and we can all enjoy raw milk together soon. is there a risk perhaps that you might become a victim of your own success , might become a victim of your own success, if the industry gets too big, you might lose some of the things that really attract people to this product? there are certain things inherent with legislation that kind of keeps barriers to that for the moment. they are quite healthy. but i think if we organise as a group, and to learn and get better as we go, then hopefully that will mitigate any of thoseissues hopefully that will mitigate any of those issues going forward. thank you very much indeed, good to see you this morning. a very busy morning, a one—man band, milking about a dozen cows this morning. they have all gone through and will be milk again tomorrow morning. as we said in the film, we are not

talking about food miles, food inches really. the milk there at the open—air parlour goes into the tanks here, bottles, customers come and get them and take them back home to their houses in stroud. very much a small but very important, in terms of the whole industry, around 180 producers of raw milk in the uk. 0ne thatis producers of raw milk in the uk. 0ne that is growing quite rapidly. back to you. thank you, very interesting story. the fossil of a 43 million year old rail with four legs, webbed feet and hooves has been discovered in peru. palaeontologists believe the marine mammal‘s four—metre—long body was adapted to swim and walk on land. researchers believe the discovery could shed light on the evolution of the whale and how it spread. in a moment the weather, but first let's join joanna gosling to find out what she's got coming up in the victoria derbyshire programme at 10. good morning, joanna.

good morning, joanna. good morning. this programme has exclusively learned the video sharing app tick—tock is being investigated by the information commissioner. it comes as a bbc investigation found it is failing to ban people from using the app to send sexual or threatening messages to children. and then, they were like, do not ignore me, i know who you are, but swearing, i know who you are, i will come and get you. obviously threatening a ten—year—old with those sorts of messages. if your kids have had experience of it, get in touch in the usual ways and we will see you at 10am on bbc two, the bbc news channel and online. joanna, thank you very much. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. good morning, unsettled weather over the last few days, this area of pressure has been moving across the uk, it is positioned out towards the bay of biscay but you can see the weather front still wrapped around

it bringing cloud and outbreaks of rain particularly in the far north of scotla nd rain particularly in the far north of scotland and we will see showers frequently across south—west england, south—west wales and up into northern ireland. the further east you are it will be dry and brighter and just a bit warmer than it was over the last few days. maximum temperature is getting up to about 12—14d. tonight we will continue with some showers in the west but they will gradually continue moving their way out towards the west. we will see more cloud rolling in from eastern parts and temperatures overnight staying mostly and temperatures overnight staying m ostly a bove and temperatures overnight staying mostly above freezing through to six celsius, perhaps a touch of frost across the north of scotland. over the weekend quite cloudy, bit of sunshine especially in the west but a bit of rain as well. bye and bye. this is bbc news at nine with me and it -- this is bbc news at nine with me and it —— annita mcveigh. theresa may rights to european council president

donald tusk asking for an extension to article 50 until the end ofjune. it comes as eu officials suggest donald tusk had been considering offering the uk a year long extension, something the french president emmanuel macron was premature. meanwhile, prosper party talks between labour and the conservative party continued today as mps try and break the deadlock. —— cross party talks. the gender pay gap has widened in favour of men at nearly half of large uk companies in the past year. charging towards an electric future, the bbc finds large parts of the uk don't have adequate charging points for electric cars. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. now, you'll be well aware that the house of commons has been at the centre of recent brexit drama. but yesterday it was the turn of the upper chamber —

the house of lords — to play a leading role, as pro—brexit peers sought to frustrate plans initated in the commons to create a law to stop a no—deal brexit. the house of lords was locked in a seven—hour debate, as peers deployed the ancient art of filibustering, to try to prevent the legilsation form going through. lord andrew donis, former labour cabinet minister in support of the people's vote campaign spoke to the today programme a little earlier. along with lord andrew robathan, former conservative mp who defended his decision to deliberately waste time in the chamber. we have a constitution which i think is rather important to uphold, we have a government that is frankly in disarray. we have parliament that is in chaos, and suddenly people decide they will change all the checks and bala nces they will change all the checks and balances that we have in our constitution, and that includes the house of lords stopping unwise changes to procedures and well tried and tested guards against the constitution being usurped and this is what is happening at the moment. andrew donis, he has got a point,

hasn't he? if it weren't about brexit, if this were the tories trying to do what you're trying to do, ramp legislation through in a day, you'd be the first to shout. do, ramp legislation through in a day, you'd be the first to shoutm was an unprecedented situation in the lords yesterday, seven hours of filibustering, which is like having a riot in the morgue, it's not the sort of thing that happens in the house of lords. on the point of procedure of course we would like to have longer to discuss this bill but at the moment we leave the european union ina at the moment we leave the european union in a weak's time with no deal and this is a national emergency and parliament would be a dereliction of its duty if it didn't take precautionary measures which is what the yvette cooper bill does. the cautionary principle so that the prime minister applies for a long extension that avoids no deal and gives us an opportunity as a nation to avoid this crisis. as a former mp is that precisely what we elect people to do? take sane and rational decisions in the face of what senior people one could be a national crisis? first of all, may i point

out we have had over two years since triggering article 50 so i don't think things have to be rushed through in one day. the second point is, you talk about sane. people are going to be barking mad on both sides of the argument and i have to point out lord donis never accepted the result of the referendum three yea rs the result of the referendum three years ago, he wishes to overturn it, he looks down on the little people that have the nerve to evade the good advice that people like he had given. let me put your point to load a donis. you have always wanted to overturn brexit. you don't accept the democratically expressed desire of the electorate. what was being debated in the house of lords yesterday wasn't anything to do with whether brexit does or doesn't ultimately happen, it is whether we leave the european union in a weak's time with no deal, which the government has told us it mean six weeks of medical supplies, the port of dover not operating, the 20 being the biggest car park in europe and so on. the biggest car park in europe and so on. the intelligence agency which

monitors communications around the world is known for its vast headquarters in cheltenham which closely monitors those deemed to be legitimate targets for spying. but it has just revealed a secret it kept for many years — that it also had a base in london — a drab office block sandwiched between a pub and a branch of starbucks — opposite st james's park tube station in central london. despite the covert goings—on within, neighbours said the address's purpose was an open secret among locals — but gchq have only now publicly acknowledged the location now they have moved out of it. i think it's a single distinguishing architectural feature was that it was so architectural feature was that it was so unremarkable. and deliberately so, of course. well, it was built at a time when in london they were desperately trying to rebuild after the blitz. office accommodation was in very short supply. some spec builders built an office building and it camejust

supply. some spec builders built an office building and it came just at the time when gchq was moving to cheltenham but we also needed to relinquish the accommodation that had been taken up by government during the war. so the ministry of works offered us the lease on that building in 1953 works offered us the lease on that building in1953 and works offered us the lease on that building in 1953 and we took it. it was designed originally to make sure that we had a london foothold once we'd moved away most of the business from london, the security mission that went to east coast in west london and the main business which went to cheltenham. the directors have their offices there, it was a touch point for anybody who needed touch point for anybody who needed to go to meetings in london. —— eastcote. it was the place from which our intelligence material is distributed to london ministries. it also meant during the days before we had also meant during the days before we ha d a ccess also meant during the days before we had access to the communications we have today, that when there was a requirement to do a urgent support,

when things were happening in the capital, we had a base from which people could work. this was not then, as you get in gchq, years ago you would have people with bakelite headphones monitoring radio messages and the like. these days, of course, it's almost all about what happens ona it's almost all about what happens on a computer. it is today. one of the reasons that we are able to leave palmer street is because we are now, through technology, prototyping a different kind of security where the mission that used to be totally separate, and intelligence mission on one side and a security mission on the other, are both being reinvented in a new way, saying, how do we provide a new sort of security by not treating all of these things as separate? and at that point, the requirement to have this sort of office building in london goes away. let's look at what

you are reading and watching on the bbc news app, that story about the rather anonymous office block in central london that was a base for gchq is at number two in the most read at the moment. no surprise probably that it is brexit that is at number one. the suggestion from donald tusk that there could be a flexible brexit delay, a flextension as it's been cold on social media. and as you know, we have been telling you that theresa may has written to the eu, to donald tusk come asking for a delay to brexit to the end ofjune —— called a flexte nsion. the end ofjune —— called a flextension. the other most read story is number five, flextension. the other most read story is numberfive, you flextension. the other most read story is number five, you are a gypsy, story is number five, you are a gypsy, are story is number five, you are a gypsy, are you going to leave school? a report by mps saying that teachers‘ entrenched attitudes could lead them to write off gypsy, roma and irish traveller children enabling prejudice to continue, the mps are saying. one woman told the equalities commission that her

teachers told her throughout the school, you are a gypsy, are you going to leave school? these children were underachieving, mps said, and almost half of them were missing at least a month of lessons every year. looking down at the most watched, just show you a little clip of this, a shark‘s eye view of a great white shark hunting, a strapped these cameras to a number of great white sharks and they have been filmed hunting amongst kelp for the first time according to the scientists behind the study. it has previously been believed that the great white sharks were too big to enter these areas of kelp and would wait to ambush seals at the seals left the kelp, left hiding places in the kelp. it is rather interesting and you see a sudden burst of speed from that great white as it thinks it has found its prey. that‘s amongst the most watched at the moment. that is it for today‘s morning briefing. we are going to

bring you sport in a couple of minutes, not straightaway, because first we are going to talk more about the letter that theresa may has written to the european council president donald tusk. in it she asks for a further extension to brexit, suggesting the uk should be given until the 30th of june to ratify a deal. meanwhile, it‘s thought mr tusk could offer the uk a "flexible" brexit extension of one year. we can speak to vice chair of the conservative party for the london area paul scully. thank you for your time this morning. lots to talk about, an awful lot going on this morning. how does this request from theresa may for an extension until the end ofjune fit with the idea of a flexible extension, this proposal a p pa re ntly a flexible extension, this proposal apparently donald tusk is talking about? i think it‘s a separate question. the end ofjune basically means that it goes until the new european parliament sits, so hopefully we can find a way of not having to go through the whole very expensive process of fighting the european elections. but nonetheless, we can still cancel it if we can get the

agreement between the two party leaders over the next couple of yea rs, leaders over the next couple of years, get the necessary legislation through parliament and then get on with the job that people want us to do, to leave the eu in an orderly way. if the eu 27 agree to this idea ofa way. if the eu 27 agree to this idea of a flexible extension that could possibly come as our correspondent in brussels said, the idea of a possible brexit date being the end ofjune could somehow be written into this, couldn‘t it? ofjune could somehow be written into this, couldn't it? we have got toa into this, couldn't it? we have got to a point now when we are reliant on the eu 27 to actually make the decisions for us because we didn‘t get together as a parliament and agree that which will agreement on the previous friday. so now we are having to come up with this solution between ourselves as the two main parties and, of course, appealing to the eu to make sure that they get the eu to make sure that they get the orderly exit that they want as well. do you think the idea of a flexible extension as opposed to a longer fixed extension might flexible extension as opposed to a longerfixed extension might be more

appealing to some of your mps? the problem with a flexible extension of a year, say, is what happens to the european elections? if we have to fight the elections, that‘s £100 million or so a lot of work that goes into that forjust million or so a lot of work that goes into that for just a million or so a lot of work that goes into that forjust a short period of time. if it doesn‘t mean that then it means we have a whole year of basically being within the european union without any representation. theresa may in her letter does seem to accept, however, she says the uk accepts the european council‘s view that if the uk is still a member state on the 23rd of may it would be under a legal obligation to hold the elections. it may just be obligation to hold the elections. it mayjust be something that the government has to deal with and the country has to deal with. for sure. asi country has to deal with. for sure. as i say, part of it is now out of our control because we failed to get the withdrawal agreement through, which is why we were trying to say, when i voted for it before, were trying to argue this case, especially to my side as someone who campaigned to leave, that that could have been within our control then. we are past that point now and so we have to make sure we can actually

still get something that respects the referendum, that gets us out as quickly as possible, so we can concentrate on what matters, and that‘s the future relationship with the eu. the talks you alluded to between labour and the conservatives continuing today for a third day. what sense do you have of how those talks are going? i have not been in them so nothing really has been leaking as far as i can see so i have been reliant on what i have seen, the mood music around the press coverage and speculation and these kind of things. it sounds encouraging that it is still going on, and that they are still trying to be constructive and professional about it. but we will have to wait and see and then judge next week. 0k, well, it does look like we are getting into next week now in terms of any next developments. but thank you for your time today. paul scully, vice chair of the conservative party for the london area. it is time for sport and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre with mike bushell. good morning. you are obviously talking about danny rose who has been worn down by racism. a terrible

position for him to be in and it begs some big questions, doesn‘t it? yes, of course, and it comes after the last week we have seen two amateur teams taking their players off the field and matches being abandoned because of racist abuse aimed at players. that‘s at the amateur level, and at the professional level you have heard the likes of harry kane saying if it happens again he would take his england team off, indeed, now the defender danny rose says one of the problems is the punishments handed out to clubs whose fans are guilty of chanting racist abuse are basically not enough and makes the gamea basically not enough and makes the game a farce. he goes further. rose was one of the terms of racist chanting during england‘s europe 2020 win over montenegro last month and has told the bbc he can‘t actually wait to see the back of football because of all of this going on. at the minute, howl programme myself, i think i‘ve got five or six years left in football andi five or six years left in football and ijust five or six years left in football and i just can‘t wait to see the back of it. seeing how things are

donein back of it. seeing how things are done in the game at the minute, it‘s just whatever, isn‘t it? so ijust have to get on with it. that's sad. yes, i‘ve just have to get on with it. that's sad. yes, i‘vejust got have to get on with it. that's sad. yes, i‘ve just got to get on with it, and i‘ve got five or six years left and i just want to enjoy football as much as i can and, you know, there is so many politics and whatever in football and ijust can‘t wait to see the back of it, to be honest. england‘s women, play a world cup warm up against canada tonight and manager phil neville hopes he‘d be brave enough to take his players off the field, if he heard any racist abuse. we can no longer keep sweeping things under the carpet with a £10,000, £20,000 fine, empty stadium because we are not getting to the bottom of the issue so if we have the courage and the backing, more importantly, to bring a team off, stop the game, so this is not good enough, punish the supporters causing the problem is, then i think

i would hope i would have the courage to do that. this story has been all over social media as well this morning. troy townsend from kick it out, tweeted, "i for one stand by and salute danny rose for his honesty. the game should be completely embarrassed." and chief football writer, for the times henry winter posted saying, "i‘ve got five or six more years left in football and i just can‘t wait to see the back of it," danny rose. sad, shocking indictment of football‘s failure to tackle racism. #kickitout." now, on the field... liverpool can temporarily go back on top of the premier league tonight — they play at southampton tonight. the home side are currently lying 16th in the premier league but have won three of their past four matches. under a bit of a revival. and the liverpool manager jurgen klopp says liverpool with be wary of them. we have to be 100% spot on, we have to respect their strength, we have to respect their strength, we have to try to use the things that are maybe not that strong, maybe not a

lot, but we have to try and use them, put them under pressure and play our football. talking of liverpool, there was a surprise win at aintree in the feature race of the first day at the festival there. it is ladies‘ day today. but yesterday... the two—time cheltenham champion hurdle winner and favourite, buveur d‘air, was beaten in the aintree hurdle by supasundae, who‘s trained byjessica harrington and ridden by robbie power. the main event on saturday is, of course, the grand national. the a0 runners have been confirmed, including last year‘s winner tiger roll, who‘s the favourite. leeds rhinos remain stuck to the bottom of the super league after a heavy defeat at hull kingston rovers. the multiple super league winners looked anything but as they conceded seven tries including this in the last move of the game from ben crooks as they lost 45—26. hull kr move up to seventh in the table. in boxing, dillian whyte, says he thinks he is being frozen out of a world title fight. the heavyweight boxer,

has never had a chance at a title, and in a new documentary for bbc newsbeat he thinks that the world boxing council, might be trying to freeze him out. what would you say to people watching who think you have been offered a large chunk of money, if you believe you can beatjoshua and serious about being world heavyweight champion why wouldn‘t you take that fight? what is a large chunk of money to them and what is a large chunk of money are two different things. i'm not trying to sound arrogant but £4 million, i'm one of the top four fighters, you cannot offer theory 15 million and me four, he is not 15 times the drawer that i me four, he is not 15 times the drawerthat i am, me four, he is not 15 times the drawer that i am, and me four, he is not 15 times the drawerthat i am, and i know my value and what value i bring. —— theory. of course i believe i can be world champion, anything can happen, i believe it. they wanted to pay robisch money in the first fight, i beat him, they wanted the lion's share of the rematch, which i didn't think was right. i'm not a journey man and i've got options and i know my value and i know what i want.

while there, theory and me is the next big one. you can see the whole of that documentary dillian whyte: fighting to be champ — on the bbc newsbeat website. —— tyson — — tyson fury. and this evening on the bbc news channel we will have all the latest sports news and stories on sportsday from 6:30pm. that‘s all the sport for now. more from the bbc sport centre at 11:15am. thank you very much, mike. some news from the courts from the old bailey in the case of sally challen. sally challen has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to the murder of her husband richard challen, in herfirst appearance at the old bailey since her conviction was quashed by the court of appeal. just to repeat that line, sally challen has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to the murder of her husband richard chauhan in her first murder of her husband richard chauhan in herfirst appearance murder of her husband richard chauhan in her first appearance at the old bailey since the court of appeal quashed her conviction. ——

richard challen. drivers of electric ca rs face richard challen. drivers of electric cars face a postcode lottery of charging their vehicles according to new research by the bbc. the study found in some parts of the country, the number of charging points hasn‘t kept up with the number of vehicles on the road. the government says it plans to expand what‘s currently available. david gregory—kumar reports rush hour in birmingham and the only noise in this tesla is the windscreen wipers. well, the windscreen wipers. well, the windscreen wipers. well, the windscreen wipers and a familiar griping about the problems of finding somewhere in the city to charge the car. there is a lot more electric car owners, electric cars on the road, the charging point network hasn‘t improved on the streets and a lot of them are clapped out so it is virtually impossible now to find a charging point that actually works. new research from the bbc has for the first time combined data on the locations of public charging points with the number of electric vehicles registered in the same area. the result gives a ranking by council of electric car infrastructure and the second city crashes into the bottom

ten. across the uk the general picture is patchy at best and that‘s a problem. obviously, vehicle emissions are a massive issue right now when you consider climate change and air pollution. however, from what we found, local authorities still have limited infrastructure for electric car drivers. the council told us... birmingham is not unique and this new survey means for the first time we can get a real sense of the councils who are charging towards an electric future, as well as the ones who have run out ofjuice. gregory kumar, bbc news, birmingham. the motoring journalist maria mccarthy joins me via webcam. welcome to you. why do you think there is this postcode lottery, as it is called?|j think postcode lottery, as it is called?” think there is a lot of different reasons. first of all, we have local

authority charging points. the government does offer local authorities grant to install these points but it does require a certain amount offunding points but it does require a certain amount of funding on behalf of the local authorities, which as we know are very stretched at the moment, so lots of authorities haven‘t taken that up to a very great extent. then, of course, we have got private charging points in supermarkets, in railway stations, national trust houses and so forth and that‘s all done on a very sort of ad hoc basis. the companies will look at how many electric cars might be around, whether or not they want to draw in customers by offering them these charging points. so, as was said earlier, it is all very sort of a lottery like, it is a very patchy sort of situation at the moment for electric vehicle owners. and in terms of someone having their own charging point in their house, or at their house, i should say, that‘s all very well if the journeys you do

are short journeys but all very well if the journeys you do are shortjourneys but if you want to travel longer distances, it requires a lot of planning and a lot of forethought, doesn‘t it? requires a lot of planning and a lot of forethought, doesn't it? that's right. we are so used to the idea that when going on a longerjourney you just get into your vehicle and drive away and there will be a fuel station along the way, and you perhaps look on your phone to find the nearest one and so forth. but because of these different companies, different private companies, different private companies operate these charging networks. often if you are a member of one that is fine but then you might travel and then need to use the charging network of another company, which means that you have to register with them, download their app onto your phone and so forth, so some sort of standardisation around that perhaps if they could be one app that all of the companies are on so that you can pay them via the one at, things like that would smooth things out. pay them via the one at, things like that would smooth things outm pay them via the one at, things like that would smooth things out. it is a bit ofa that would smooth things out. it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation, which came first, isn‘t it? because of people are concerned about whether they will be able to

charge the car to work for them, they may not buy an electric vehicle and if they don‘t buy the electric vehicle then they will not be the demand for more charging points. what is the solution here? if, as the uk has stated, it wants to have more of these vehicles on the roads, the government wants to get more charging points out there, how do we move this forward? having more in workplaces and places like leisure centres and shopping centres would really help, because there are actually some structural problems about having them in the streets in lots of places. if you have narrow pavements it might not really be possible to have them there because it will obstruct wheelchairs and buggies and so forth. so i think an increase in putting them in more local authority car parks, leisure centres, shopping centres, workplaces, all of that i think will help make it easierfor workplaces, all of that i think will help make it easier for people to charge their cars and assist with

uptake. ok, maria, thank you for your thoughts, motoring journalist maria mccarthy. conservationistjohn custer conservationist john custer has joined a chorus of actors and celebrities calling for the release of almost 100 whales held in russia‘s far east. dozens of beluga and killer whales are being held in a port in the sea of japan after being lawfully captured by russia for scientific and educational reasons. but environmentalists argue the animals are being badly kept in near arctic conditions and they‘re then sold to ocean theme parks in china. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. let‘s catch up with the latest. good morning, everyone, quite an u nsettled good morning, everyone, quite an unsettled picture again today, mainly across western areas of the uk, all courtesy of low pressure which has been with us over the last few days, you can see from the satellite imagery of this world of cloud around the area of low

pressure as it drifts further south and west but it is currently around the bay of biscay and it‘s giving us some showers but also some sunny spells, in the isle of wight, humourless congest us clouds —— cumulus clouds. more focused across wales, the south—west and northern ireland. the further east you are it is looking largely dry and there will be sunshine in the afternoon. the showers could be quite frequent across the south—west of england up through wales and a bit heavy at times, a few dry spells but certainly towards eastern areas, plenty of sunshine and that is where you will have the highest temperatures, 11—14dc, further west we have the cloud, the rain, quite breezy conditions, still quite chilly, decent temperatures across the north—west of scotland, 13 or 14 degrees with some sunshine. tonight, those showers in the south—west will continue drifting their way westwards, we will see more cloud and showers moving into north—eastern areas tonight. temperatures generally down to 4—6d

but perhaps a touch of frost in rural parts of scotland. over the weekend, it is going to be quite cloudy, there will be some sunshine especially in the west, but also a bit of rain, especially on sunday when they could be heavy showers. this is saturday‘s forecast, lots of cloud coming in off the north sea, bringing showers at times, the best of the sunshine will be across western england, wales, northern ireland, that‘s where we will have the highest temperatures. notice the greens in north—east england and eastern scotland, with an onshore wind it will feel chilly here, temperatures 7—10dc. further west where you have the sunshine you will see highs of 11—13 and may be 14 degrees. on into sunday, again, it is the eastern areas that will continue to have a few showers throughout the day. later on, though, those showers could turn heavy and thundery in the south—east, there will be some sunny spells in between especially in the west. temperatures, though, higher away from the coasts, 14—17d. it is

the boat race on sunday afternoon, risk of thunderstorms, lightning could cause a few problems and we will keep a close eye on that one. bye— bye.