good afternoon. hello this is bbc news with shaun ley. millions of workers will see a bigger chunk of their wages automatically diverted there is cautious optimism over into a pension, starting with their next pay packet. brexit after the talks broke up last from today, the minumum night without progress. there has contribution rate goes up from 3% of earnings to 5%. been no movement from the government on the actual concept of the employers and the government will also pay more. simon gompertz has the details. political declaration, and that is key. the talks are continuing, and this is a tale of two hairdressers. one, chloe, full—time and ready we expect to exchange more text with the labour party today, so this is to have 5% clipped off her wage an ongoing process and i'm optimistic that we will reach some for her work pension after today's increase. form of i just think that a little bit of money that i don't see, you know, it goes straight out of my wages before i even see it, and ijust think, well, for the future you may need it. ‘cause you won't be working. and you'll need to top up for your old age and enjoy doing things as you get older. and this is taneika, who's been blown out of the pension scheme after having a baby and coming back part—time. pensions are tricky for new parents to afford. i think once you've had a baby you're put kind of put to the side

and that's how it is. you don't really have much say. it's like you've had a baby, you don't want to do this, you want a lower wage, and that's it. and then there's a danger you get a lower pension. yes. it's notjust the cost. employers aren't obliged to sign up people like taneika, who earn less than £10,000 a year. to be fair, it's a challenge to the boss as well. the business has to contribute a top up, which has gone up to 3% of pay. for the majority of small businesses it is an onerous burden that's just going to get worse and worse and worse. and i think something like 70% of people work for a small business in this country, so it'll have an impact on the employment of whether people will actually take people on. right now the challenge for savers like chloe is how to afford today's higher pension payments. the government says it's letting us earn more before income tax kicks in and raising minimum wages and that should help. simon gompertz, bbc news. the chancellor, philip hammond, says he's optimistic brexit talks between the government and the labour party can reach

"some form of agreement". mr hammond said ministers had "no red lines", and an open mind. last night, discussions broke up with no progress. matt cole is our political correspondent. matt, both sides say they're talking, but they're not meeting. indeed. it's interesting. the chancellor said this morning he was optimistic an arrangement could be reached with labour but also it could lead to a positive outcome at wednesday's emergency eu summit. that claim that talks are continuing this weekend, well, labour have told me none are scheduled at all. philip hammond has been in bucharest meeting eu finance ministers. from there, he said the government is open to all ideas and has no red lines. labour says the lack of progress has been because the government won't compromise, they won't change. if no arrangement is reached, the prime minister will have to hope mps can vote for

something in votes early in the week. that's because eu members have made it clear when theresa may arrives in brussels on wednesday to request a delay to brexit day beyond next friday the 12th, that request has to be for something, to do something, to achieve something. 0therwise, something, to achieve something. otherwise, they could be minded to say no and britain could be facing a no—deal brexit at the end of the week. banking. there has been widespread condemnation of a military offensive launched in libya against the capital tripoli. both the un security council and the g7 group of countries have criticised the attempt by the self—described "libyan national army" to take control of the country's capital from the internationally recognised unity government. un troops in tripoli have been placed on high alert. more evacuations are planned in south—western iran where further rain is expected to worsen flooding that has already killed dozens of people.

women and children are being moved from the affected areas. men are being asked to stay behind to help with rescue efforts. 70 people have died so far across 15 provinces, and hundreds of towns and cities have been inundated. the aircraft manufacturer boeing says it's temporarily reducing production of its 737 airliner after two crashes in ethiopia and indonesia. production will be cut from 52 planes a month to 42, while the firm works on changes to its max variant. it was involved in both crashes. the max 737 is currently grounded, after preliminary findings suggested it's anti—stall system may have been at fault. the developer persimmon has announced an independent review into its housing quality, after increasing concerns about the standard of its new builds. but the property advice group the homeowners alliance, has told the bbc that issues with new homes aren't limited to just one developer. here's our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith. this was supposed to be justin's dream home. door bell rings.

he'd saved up for a new build... good morning. we've got zero insulation. ..thinking he wouldn't need to do any work to it. we've moved out twice. every ceiling in the entire property has been removed. justin bought his house from one of the biggest developers, taylor wimpey, under the help to buy scheme. it's well below standard, and trying to negotiate with the builders has been an endless trauma from day one. insulation issues, damp issues, cold bridging issues. a couple of doors up, lynn lives in an identical home with her partner and three daughters. this is not isolated to this particular property or this estate. it's got to be national. the developer taylor wimpey say they sincerely apologise to justin and lynn and have taken action to put things right. more generally, they say...

at this solicitors, timothy takes new calls nearly every day from people battling against a host of different developers right across the country. he thinks the problems with new builds are down to lack of skills in the workforce. people are making mistakes, potentially because they don't realise the significance of what they're doing due to a lack of training, a lack of experience and a lack of supervision overall. developers are under pressure to build lots of homes, and quickly. on top of that, every building company i've spoken to in recent years have told me that it's a nightmare trying to get hold of enough staff with the right level of skill. what new—build homeowners are now living with is the consequences of that. taylor wimpey say last year they increased the number of workers they hire directly by nearly 30%. the government say they're trying to tackle the issue by creating a new homes ombudsman and spending more on new construction training hubs.

but there are now calls for a new law to let owners hang onto some of their final payment for a couple of years. coletta smith, bbc news, in norwich. with all the sport now, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. £150 million are set to be bet on this year's grand national — and there is one horse that stands out in the a0 runners, and it's one that could make history. last year's winner tiger roll is favourite to complete back to back victories since red rum 45 years ago. his irish trainer gordon elliott, has a race—record ii runners. he is in good form, and he is well, but we are probably going to have ten or 12 runners in the race, but it would be a big ask to come back and win a national for the second time, but he is in good form and we couldn't be happier with him. he might not be one of the best horses i have ever trained, but he is definitely one

of the favourites. he is a character and everyone likes him around the place, so we are very lucky to have him. our correspondent andy swiss is at aintree in what could be historic day. welcome to aintree. glorious conditions for the 70,000 fans here. all eyes will be on tiger roll as he bids to become the first horse since red rum in 1974 to win back—to—back grand national patients. the funds think he has a decent chance, he is set to start as the hottest grand national favourite in decades. should he win, it could cost bookmakers up to 200 million. as ever, there is no shortage of competition with 40 horses due to compete over the famous grand national fences. rath compete over the famous grand nationalfences. rath lyndon written by ruby walsh next in the betting. could we see a female jockey winning the grand national. teeth for two written by lizzie kelly getting a lot of support. also keep an eye out for rachel blackmore. tiger roll is

the horse everyone is watching, find out this afternoon. manchester city will look to continue their march to an unprecedented quadruple when they face brighton at wembley in the first of the weekend's fa cup semifinals. the city manager says he's been taking inspiration from teams through history who've won multiple trophies in one season, including manchester united's treble winners in 1999. i'm quite curious about the teams, the players, the athletes when they achieve something good. it's the way they have done it. it's clear that it is always tough. there are always moments when being lucky, personalities and big moments can help to achieve it. you can watch the game live on bbc one. match of the day starts at 5:10, with kick—off at 5:30.

norwich have now scored three goals in the first half at home to qpr as they look to extend their lead at they look to extend their lead at the top of the championship. while in scotland, the edinburgh derby is also aapproaching halftime, and it's1—1 between hearts and hibernian. despite tightened security, there have been flares and objects thrown onto the pitch including a coconut. one of the oldest sporting events in the world takes place tomorrow, the oxford cambridge boat race. it will also see the oldest competitor in the history of this famous event that's been going on for 190 years. james cracknell, who won two olympic rowing gold medals for great britain, will be part of the cambridge crew aged 46. that breaks the previous record by eight years. it's 13 years since cracknell retired from elite rowing, and he says getting into the team has been a "humbling experience". definitely a lot harder. i don't bounce back in the same way. you can't burn the candle at both ends.

it's quite fun to ride with 20—year—olds, the cultural references a re 20—year—olds, the cultural references are completely different. this has been a defining yearfor me mentally and i've proved a lot to myself. hopefully answer a few questions. what a comeback! that's all the sport for now. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at the earlier than usual time of 4:10. bye for now. hello, you're watching the bbc news channel. as we have been hearing, both labour and the conservative party so the hope brexit talks will continue over

the weekend, despite the discussions appearing to break down yesterday, when shadow secretary sir keir starmer is a government of refusing to consider changes to the political declaration. let's just remind you of exactly what the political declaration is — it is the ‘document which sets out proposals for how the uk's long term future relationship with the eu will work after brexit. the political declaration is not legally binding but will be worked up into a full agreement during the transition period.‘ if you without a deal on friday, as is currently scheduled, there will be no transition agreement. how it has been viewed in europe, and what consequences might it have at home? joining us as an independent member of the european parliament for the south—west. thank you for being with us. south—west. thank you for being with us. you're in this very strange place, arendt you? you thought you we re place, arendt you? you thought you were retiring eminently, and you could be finding yourself trying to

go back again for some undetermined period? yes, it's a very strange position to be in. i never thought we would be here. but for the last six months or so, that has become pretty obvious that big but probably end up having some sort of extension beyond march 29. i must say, it is only the last few weeks at the top there was a serious chance we would have to fight the european elections, so you can't really prepare for something if you are not really sure it is coming, so it is a bit of limbo. it is a microcosm of the country is. absolutely. a lot of uncertainty still. what is the mid you are picking up amongst your collea g u es you are picking up amongst your colleagues in brussels and strasbourg, because at the end, the agreement has been ratified by the european parliament. the assume that it will be if the political leaders have degraded. even so, what degree of frustration is there at that stage, that we still don't have a

final ship for this? i don't think there is a chance to permit direct this thing if it is agreed by the member state. that won't happen. most meps will go with the decision. i think the mep influence is much more subtle than that. so, meps talk to the member states and their home government all the time, and i think there is an absolute like now of any faith or trust that the uk can deliver anything but the parliament can agree on. the uk parliament is not held in contempt as opposed to, most of my time as a british mep, people used to come and ask advice asi people used to come and ask advice as i think should happen in a stable country. it is now the opposite. i think trust is gone. it is only loss scares me really the last three demons, but trust is gone. we just can't believe what is happening. we find it astonishing that it is in

such a mess. and it is very sad, it is tragic. what to you as a potential be out of this, if there is one? well, i have never come to the conclusion that... i am a declare, fervent remainder, so watchers need to know that. but i have always been ready to compromise, and i have always been ready... i don't want a cliff edge brexit, it will be a disaster. nobody thinks i will be a good idea, but i think we are now heading for either that, or remain by revoking article 50, are having a confirmatory referendum. i think if the prime minister were to offer scheduled to go back to parliament with the addition of a confirmatory referendum on the deal, that parliament could vote for it, and then the people would have our say on it. that would be acceptable in

brussels. we would then getting long extension to make that happen. i don't know if you could get through a referendum at the moment, the uk parliament still doesn't look as if it will accept that. but a general election would be another event that you look pretty except as being something that would allow for a long extension. but frankly, i don't think a general election is going to make any difference. a general election is the last thing we all need now. you mentioned the possibility of revocation of article 50, which is an option, and not on of thing, because then we could introduce it at some future stage if we felt we felt we wanted to leave at that point, but i wonder how much you worry about the kind of public reaction to that, particularly in a region like the south—west of england, which was and so strongly

in favour of lee. i come from the south—west, and i know the debate has been going on for a very long time in devon and cornwall and somerset in particular, about the evils, and inverted commas about the european union. i wonder how that would play. concentrating on the south—west of england, if we may, i do not warrant that any move like that, anything that effectively meant brexit didn't happen, but because such a strong public reaction that it may do more harm than any benefit you, as a demeanour, might see in it? no, i am not worried about that, and i will tell you why. i think we are driven now. we live in a society that is deeply divided. all we talk about is brexit. we are not moving forward on anything else, on any of the other things that we need to deal with as a society, we are absolutely frozen in time in 2016. so, i do not

believe that we can carry on like this. i think that we need to break this. i think that we need to break this brexit deadlock. revoking article 50 is the simplest way of breaking it, and i meet people all the time, and i don't suggest that they represent a majority, unlike some politicians, i do realise the people i meet on the train are just individuals, but what i do here perhaps the most is, for goodness cape, can we just perhaps the most is, for goodness cape, can wejust make it stop? i don't people have really properly considered that the way of making a stop to revoke article 50 and remain in the european union, and continue oui’ in the european union, and continue ourfight to in the european union, and continue our fight to change the european union from within. and i honestly think the fact that the argument about leaving is now just think the fact that the argument about leaving is nowjust focusing on the local democratic deficit, democratic betrayal. nobody is looking any more about the benefits of leaving the european union, far from it. it is most people who have

accepted that there are no benefits, and it has now become an end in itself. this is about the so—called democratic betrayal. i think it is a perversion of the discussion. it is not very grown—up. be better off in 01’ not very grown—up. be better off in or out? i think we are absolutely better of n, and we start with that argument again, revoke article 50 and start talking about it like sensible runners. you may well have months or perhaps a year to make that argument. thank you very much for being with us on bbc news this afternoon. let's get more now on the news that the developer persimmon has announced an independent review into its housing quality, after increasing concerns about the standard of its new builds. earlier i spoke to steve turner from the home builders federation. he says he welcomes this move. the industry has been on a huge improvement drive over recent years as it has increase volume, two address the housing shortage we have got. we have got to ensure that as

we more, got. we have got to ensure that as we - more, the quality and we build more, the quality and procedures are in place to ensure that homes are of the quality of the people expect, and overwhelmingly, oui’ people expect, and overwhelmingly, our survey show, people expect, and overwhelmingly, oui’ survey show, over people expect, and overwhelmingly, our survey show, over 90% of people who buy a new—build property would recommend that building to a friend. in the majority of cases, we are getting things right. in the incident is when it doesn't, it is a builders responsibility to the customer to go on and rectify the problems. consumers are protected by the two guarantee from the builder and a structural warranty. in a survey four years ago now, they 92% of buyers reporting problems, and of those, 35% reported— these are new builds i am talking about — 35% reported 11 or more problems. what has been done that could get is from that first set of figures to your more positive sets of figures? what has changed in four years? presumably, nothing has changed in terms of government regulation of

the industry, so there must be something within the industry? as volume increase steadily between 2013 and 2017, there was a dip in build quality and customer service. the industry was heavily and quite rightly criticised for that. there has been a huge amount of work going on atan has been a huge amount of work going on at an industry level and within individual companies to address that, and we are now seeing improved levels of quality and customer service coming through across the board. why are you so keen on the id ofan board. why are you so keen on the id of an ombudsman? in some ways, i can understand why consumer organisations are, but often when companies are involved and they have to deal with a new regulator, it is the last thing they want. i wonder what your industry is enthusiastic about this idea ombudsman. we sell a product to consumers. we want to ensure they have confidence in what we are building, and it is quite right that as we saw something that is as big a purchase as a house that

they provide the address that customers quite rightly expect. we wa nt to customers quite rightly expect. we want to work but all parties, all stakeholders. we are engaged with discussions with them on the best way to put an ombudsman in place. we are drafting a new industry code that the industry is committed to that the industry is committed to that will drive up quality further and improve things and end when things go home. sceptics might want to bother the industry is keen on the idea because it pushes resolving complaints the gorge, you can see, if you are not happy with our response, go to the ombudsman, that is months away before it gets dealt with. it might actually increase consumer frustration, with. it might actually increase consumerfrustration, not with. it might actually increase consumer frustration, not improve it. there will be a clear process. ultimately, the builder is responsible for any issues that a customer has with a new—build home. the first port of cover will always be the builder, under warranty providers also provide dispute resolution service for cases where consumers are not happy with what the builder has done. what we want

to do, is pretty further step in place, that if a consumer is still not happy with any issues, they have got the ultimate recourse to go to an ombudsman, it can levy fines against a builder. it is improving redress of the industry. at the same time, though, we are putting in further steps in the inspection progress, in terms of the builders, to ensure that the product is right first time. builders want to provide, and overwhelmingly are, building a house that customers are satisfied with. police are letting off people who use drugs without warning, because of not wanting to "harm their life chances". officers are being told not to charge or even issuing warnings to everyone caught with cannabis for recreational use. the west midlands has been called the "cannabis capital" of the uk because home office figures say more cannabis plants are grown there than anywhere else in britain. west midlands police's chief constable dave thompson told the home affairs committee last week that his officers often found ‘huge amounts of cannabis‘ when carrying

out stop and searches for weapons. i don‘t sort out the strategy to criminalise lots of young people, are affects life challenges. if you can stop and search, return policy decisions about what to do about cannabis, because of the search for weapons, we know we will find huge amounts of cannabis. my answer is not to give everyone a cannabis warning, it is disastrous for the life chances. i spoke earlier to simon kempton, the police federation‘s operational policing lead and a sergeant with dorset police. i think it is a really interesting debate that has been started. i think, at the moment, we have a situation or prohibition in the uk, and the objective or prohibition is to stop people from taking drugs. and as we see from what has happened across the country, actually, it doesn‘t seem to be working at the moment. i think it is right that we start to have that debate about whether there is something else that we could be done. i suppose a positive ability for people is that it doesn‘t look like there has been a debate. it looks like police

officers in this case in the west midlands, amid a policy decision to do this, really without talking talking to the public about what is going on. actually, across the country, in a localised way, there has been, particularly where police and crime commissioners having kids in this issue, there has been that debate started. i think what you can so thomson has done is at a function of two things. firstly, as he said far better than i could, it is about life choices for people later on, but also it is about what we can expect people to do in the day and age. since austerity started, we have lost over 22,000 police officers. one of the worst part of myjob at the moment is having to say sorry to the public because we can‘t do everything that they want us can‘t do everything that they want us to do. it is so distraught. we have to decide where we put to scan police resources, and it‘s probably, most people would think a much better to put on by the most highest risk and the highest rate is. i hate having to say to an elderly lady who has been burgled, i am sorry, we

cannot come to you and at any time. particularly if one of my officers is dealing with a small amount of cannabis. it seems like that is not one of the best uses of my officers. but much of this is not a criticism of the police, but it is difficult to know to what extent the use of cannabis led some people to other drugs. there is a lot of debate about that, under always has been. therefore, if you don‘t interdict at the earliest possible stage, are you risking that that young person will be beginning on a journey that could end with him dealing with the far worst addiction? you are right. talks are inherently unsafe, we know that. but i joined talks are inherently unsafe, we know that. but ijoined the police to keep people safe and to keep criminals off the streets, and if i thought of an 18—year—old, for example, for a small amount of cannabis would help keep them safe, would make society better, i would do it all to long at the expense of

other things. but we have had prohibition since the first world warand it prohibition since the first world war and it has not budget. because we note that people still take drugs, and are still getting into drugs. if what we are currently doing is not keeping those teenagers, and everyone else, safe, it isn‘t helping them to take a step away from drugs, perhaps it is time to think what else might help them get away from drugs how big a problem as it in dorset? dorset it isa problem as it in dorset? dorset it is a safe place to live, it is a rural area, but it has got a big town, burma. long before it was a national issue, we saw the introduction of drugs in our areas, cou nty introduction of drugs in our areas, county lines as it is called now. dorset police have had to step up, and they have done it successfully, and they have done it successfully, and trying to interject that supply of drugs in our area. but we are trying to, i think, to an certain extent, role of hell. because as long as it is money to be made, people will bring drugs into what is a very safe area.

it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. you can see from the last few hours, the crowd breaking in wales, the south—west and northern ireland. the crowd breaking in wales, the south-west and northern ireland. we have thick cloud in scotland producing rain in central areas. it may produce one or two spots of drizzle. certainly cooler near the north sea coast. warmerfor the where we are getting the sunshine. temperature is 13 to 15 degrees. overnight, we will see claude pushing towards the rest. a chance of showers in the first south—west of showers in the first south—west of england. quite a lot of locale, submitand of england. quite a lot of locale, submit and hill fog. temperatures not as low as last night in scotland, and typically six or 7 degrees. sunday is rather cloudy. will not be as much in scotland, but

still some drizzle around. sunny spells developing. we have an area of showers that will push westwards, and it could be heavy and possibly thundery. most places will be dry in the afternoon. a bit warmer for england and rose, helping to produce those showers. still on the chilly side for the the north—east of england and eastern scotland.