hello it's wednesday, it's 10 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. good morning. a new pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero in the uk by 2050 is being made by the government. is it possible? this former labour energy secretary says yes. it is a massive undertaking changing the way we heat 27 million homes, taking a0 million petrol and diesel cars off the road, changing the ways we use our land. i think the fundamental thing i believe, though, is that this can create a better life for people. the front runner to become britain's next prime minister, borisjohnson, is launching his tory leadership campaign in an hour. in a moment, we'll be talking live to another candiate who wants the top job — andrea leadsom. how can she beat mrjohnson? and we'll hear exclusively from a woman who says she was forced to sell sex because she couldn't

survive on universal credit. also, a committee of mps will question the government today about powerful testimonies from women who say they've been forced to do the same. hello, welcome to the programme. we're live until 11ma this morning. andrea leadsom live in a moment — do get in touch as you're listening to her and i can put your comments to her live. victoria@bbc. co. uk or #victorialive. also later — love island — why has sherif been chucked out? what's your theory? first, annita mcveigh has the news.

greenhouse gas emissions will be cut to almost zero by 2050, the uk is the first g7 country to propose this and it has been described as historic but critics say the action is being taken too late and fear the target will never be met. what is so important is that across all parties, 190 mps signed up to say we should be legislating for net zero and all political parties have signed up and most tory leadership contenders have also signed up to making sure we commit to net zero by 2050 and we need the stability, the political stability for businesses to deliver by 2050. boris johnson officially launches his campaign to become conservative party leader today with a pledge to leave the eu in october the 31st no matter what. after he speaks, labour will lead a cross— party after he speaks, labour will lead a cross—party move to try to stop any future prime minister taking the uk out of europe without a deal. the home secretary sajid javid is also expected to launch his leadership

bid later. we will speak to another one of the candidates andrea leadsom in the next few minutes. thousands of protesters and police in hong kong are engaged in a stand—off as anger grows over a bill which would allow the city to extradite people for trial in mainland china. the bill was due to have a second reading today but authorities have delayed it. huge crowds have gathered blockading the government headquarters and main roads nearby. riot police have responded by using pepper spray and have said they are prepared to use force. the nhs fraud squad is investigating gps in england amid suspicions they may be claiming for nonexistent patients. doctors get £150 a year for each patient on their list but records show there were 3.6 million more patients in the system last year and there were people in england. the nhs counterfraud authority is now launching its own investigation. the future of some of the most famous names on the high street

could be decided by landlords today. they are meeting to vote on plans from sir philip green's arcadia group which owns topshop, miss selfridge and dorothy perkins among others and it wants the biggest landlords to accept cuts in their rents of up to 50%. if they refuse, arcadia could go into administration. whirlpool has been ordered by the government to recall half a million of its tumble dryers over fears they pose a fire safety risk and it comes after millions of dryers under whirlpool hotpoint, creda and indesit caused fires, including one in a tower block. whirlpool says safety is its number one priority. the united states recorded the biggest ever victory in the fifa women's world cup last night. commentator: she's got her goal! they crushed thailand 13—0. ten of the goals coming in the second half, alex morgan was the top scorer for the states with five goals.

that's it for the news summary. back to you, victoria. thank you very much. in an hour's time borisjohnson launches his campagin to be prime minister. in a moment we'll talk live to another of the candidates hoping to be your next pm, andrea leadsom. first here's a bit about her. the race is on to replace theresa may as the next leader of the conservative party. whoever it is will also get the keys to downing street and become your new prime minister. so who is in the running? one of the contenders is andrea leadsom. after university, she pursued a career in the financial sector whilst raising three children. she experienced postnatal depression after her first child was born. in 2010, she made a successful move into politics becoming conservative mp for south northamptonshire. she has held various government roles including energy minister, environment secretary, and most recently leader of the house. christianity is an important part of her life. she says it become impossible not to believe in god when herfirst child was born.

at university, she says she smoked cannabis, although she says she's never taken a class a drugs. what do we want? leadsom for leader! when do we want it? now! although she stood in the last tory leadership contest, she withdrew after making controversial comments about being a mum. you know, i mean, she possibly has nieces or nephews, you know, lots of people, but i have children. having campaigned to leave the eu, ledson played host to the leadsom played host to the infamous pizza plot party to block theresa may's brexit deal. she now hopes to negotiate a series of mini deals but would be willing to leave the eu without one at all. and, of course, she resigned from the cabinet this year over differences with theresa may on brexit. andrea leadsom, good morning. good morning. thank you forjoining us.

will you get through the first round of voting? i do have good support from colleagues and i'm extremely optimistic, yes. that's not the same asa optimistic, yes. that's not the same as a very confident, yes, i will get through. i think the point is you don't want to take colleagues' votes for granted but i'm extremely optimistic and i believe i have enough votes, and plenty of votes from colleagues. are you confident of getting at least 16? yes. why are your supporters being so quite about supporting you ? your supporters being so quite about supporting you? i've not wanted to get into that sort of contest of who has declared for whom. because you haven't got enough. the reality is some people have been put down a supporting one person and they have been very clear that they are not supporting that person but the only way to have them taken off that list is by declaring they are not supporting someone. it's a bit of a nasty game and i didn't want to get involved with that. why do you think borisjohnson is so far out in front at this stage? it's very hard to precisely pin down why it is. i do

believe that people think that he is sufficiently high profile to be able to lead the country. just because he's famous? i don't know but for myself i really want to take this country myself i really want to take this cou ntry forward myself i really want to take this country forward as somebody who is extremely decisive. i think i have proven my ability to get things done, to negotiate cross—party.” proven my ability to get things done, to negotiate cross-party. i am going to ask you about that, but i'm asking you what you think he has got that you haven't, and you are saying it is his level of fame. i'm not commenting on other candidates. i'm talking about my own pitch to be leader. i do believe i have a vision for a compassionate society in the united kingdom. when we leave the european union, the opportunities are enormous and i european union, the opportunities are enormous and i think there are some really radically different ways that we can take our society forward that's going to mean that every person who gets to be the chance to be the very best that they can be. person who gets to be the chance to be the very best that they can bell am definitely going to ask you about that, it is something you mentioned in yourlaunch, that, it is something you mentioned in your launch, but for the moment, your rival rory stewart asked this

last night. is borisjohnson the man you want writing the instructions to the nuclear submarines? would you trust boris johnson the nuclear submarines? would you trust borisjohnson with that responsibility? i mean, you know, boris is a good colleague, and i'm not supporting him for leader because i'm putting myself forward as leader of the country and i really don't want to get involved with criticising other candidates. i'm not asking you to criticise another candidate, it is an important question about his character and it also tells us something about your character. would you trust borisjohnson about dummett with that response ability? i'm sorry but i'm going to say i respect all of the candidates in this race and it is important we have a diverse range of candidates for people to choose from. but i also think it's going to be really important that there is a high level of scrutiny so that members of the public as well as those who are going to be voting for the next prime minister get the chance to properly scrutinise every single person who goes forward. i'm going to ask you again, because you want to ask you again, because you want to be prime minister, and this is an important question. do you believe, having worked alongside him, he is

trustworthy enough, sensible enough, smart enough, serious enough, to be the man who has responsibility for our nuclear weapons and how we use them? what i am going to say is i have the greatest regard for boris. do you trust him? i do trust boris, just all of the candidates, that they have the best interests of the nation at heart. but i'm going to say that i as leader of the country would actually be the most trustworthy and the most compassionate of leaders, able to empathise and reach out to people from all walks of life and able to represent truly a better united kingdom. and if you get the job of pm, would you be prepared to press the nuclear button? well, i went into politics as a result of a desire i had from age 13 to save the world from a nuclear war. it sounds a bit childish to look back on it but it really was the thing that drove me into becoming a member of parliament, was because i was so frightened as a kid when we got

public service notices from the government saying what to do in the event of a nuclear war, and so for me the whole issue of keeping our world safe has been something i literally grew up with. so it's my view that having our independent nuclear deterrent and a credible threat that we would use it if attacked or if severely under threat is what has kept us safe for all of these decades. so, yes, i do believe it's important that we have that independent nuclear deterrent and that we have the credible threat that we have the credible threat that we have the credible threat that we would use it if necessary. and would you ? that we would use it if necessary. and would you? yes. right. would you use nuclear weapons first or in retaliation? that is a matter of the circumstances at the time but there is no doubt... so you would use nuclear weapons first? it is a matter of the circumstances at the time. let's talk about brexit. i wa nt time. let's talk about brexit. i want you to explain to our audience how you would force through a no—deal brexit. i know that is not

your ideal scenario but it may come to that. how would you force a new deal brexit through parliament by 0ctober deal brexit through parliament by october 31, your hard red line, against the wishes of parliament? 0k, against the wishes of parliament? ok, so, i'm not proposing a no—deal brexit, i'm proposing a managed exit. the reason it wouldn't come to that under my leadership is because i would be bringing forward legislation on things that have already been agreed between the uk and the eu come on things like giving certainty to eu citizens in the uk, uk citizens in the eu, those are things that parliamentarians would support and the eu have already given their undertaking to support that multilateral agreement as well. there are lots of sensible measures that could be agreed between us by the end of october, that i would be really optimistic of uk parliament and the eu signing up to before we leave. 0k, uk parliament and the eu signing up to before we leave. ok, i will come back to the no—deal scenario in a moment. 0n back to the no—deal scenario in a moment. on your plan that you have just described, you've no idea if you're many deals would get through

parliament and you also have to get the agreement of the eu, and i've got a number of quotes that i can read to you from the eu saying there is no way you or anybody else can cherry pick from that withdrawal agreement. you cannot take out eu citizens‘ rights and gibraltar, it‘s not going to happen. the eu withdrawal agreement and the bill that came off it are dead. they have been tested to destruction. parliament will not vote for them. what we have to do now is to give certainty to businesses and citizens, and we have to respect our democracy by making sure we leave at the end of october. i understand. it is my view, and obviously the eu will have their views on this. exactly. they‘ve got to agree. they will not reopen anything and not let you cherry pick. they will not reopen anything. they will not let you cherry pick. it is my view, as elected politicians themselves, will wa nt to ta ke elected politicians themselves, will want to take steps that are in the interests of their citizens as well as our citizens. cherry picking is

not allowed. that is what it said but this is in negotiation. there is no more negotiation. there is, all your viewers will know that in a negotiation, when you are prepared to walk away, people come back to the table to see what can be scraped out of that deal, and what can be implemented that is in all of our interests. it is simply not credible to say that the eu willjust interests. it is simply not credible to say that the eu will just tell us to say that the eu will just tell us to go away when clearly it is in their interests that citizens‘ rights are protected, that the future for goods in circulation at the time of exit can be resolved, that air transport can be resolved. these are very sensible measures. it is not right that the eu will simply turn round and refuse on the basis of the suffering that that would cause in their economies as well as ours. you don't know that so it is a gamble. it is not a gamble, it is a probability with pragmatic politicians acting in the interests of their people. let's say that your plan doesn‘t work. how would you get ano plan doesn‘t work. how would you get a no deal through parliament against the wishes of their majority in

parliament? you are inviting me to be very technical here as leader of the commons and i‘ve presided over the commons and i‘ve presided over the legislation for the last two yea rs the legislation for the last two years and what is clear to me if you bring in the two bills that i‘m talking about, then the only capability parliament has is not to legislate against something, they have to legislate for something because the legal default position is that we leave the eu at the end of october. so parliament could indeed put forward an amendment in one of the two bills i‘m talking about that says we need to have a second referendum and we need to extend article 50. i will pause you there because we are seeing moves today in parliament to take control injune 25 today in parliament to take control in june 25 where legislation today in parliament to take control injune 25 where legislation could be introduced to stop a no deal. injune 25 where legislation could be introduced to stop a no deatm is my view parliament will not support that and if parliament is support that and if parliament is support that and if parliament is support that then what you would have on june the support that then what you would have onjune the 25th is potentially a proposal that would allow the parliament to take control of the order paper, and then what has to happen then is something that legislates for something. you can‘t

just legislate against something because the legal default, the law says we are leaving the eu at the end of october so you would have to legislate for something. parliament could legislate to revoke article 50. but in all of the votes we have seenin 50. but in all of the votes we have seen in the last few months. what about a prime minister having to bring a deal back to parliament. about a prime minister having to bring a deal back to parliamentm could be but then you would have to define what is no deal. it is not beyond the realms of possibility. define what is no deal. it is not beyond the realms of possibilitym is beyond the realms of possibility. what make it is not. it is because in legislating it has to be something clearly set out and in the event of no deal each of the eu 27 countries and the uk have deals that are in place. i suppose what i'm asking you is... no deal is extra ordinarily difficult. it doesn't mean it is not possible. if you were prime minister, would you face down a majority of mps in parliament to get through a no deal?|j a majority of mps in parliament to get through a no deal? i would be putting forward a managed exit and it is my view that parliament would support that because it is sensible

measures. and if it doesn't? if parliament deliberately goes against that i would absolutely be leaving the eu at the end of october. because, the reality is, you might say you are going to face down parliament, that‘s an appalling thing to do, but the reality is it is for the government to put forward legislation and it is for parliament to amend or reject it. it is for the executive to decide to undertake, to commit to what the people voted for. that‘s the most important thing of all. what is the mandate for a nudie brexit. people voted... people voted to leave the european union. that is not no deal. you cannot say to me, even the government of the day is that if you vote to leave there would be 500,000 job losses and cuts to the nhs and none of that happened. that did not happen, and yet people still voted to leave, and it is my view, even if we left without a deal, that would not come to pass. i believe that there is a fantastic future that awaits us when we leave the eu with more

opportunities forjobs, we leave the eu with more opportunities for jobs, trading around the world, skills and opportunities for young people. let me ask you, how manyjobs will be lost if the uk leaves with no deal? if the uk leaves with no deal it very much depends on what the specific arrangements are. but you have already said they will be winners and losers and i want to ask you... that's businesses, i'm not talking about people, that was a lib deliberate misunderstanding. what i was saying is in business as they would be winners and losers. that is not there, you said there would be winners and losers with a no—deal brexit, i‘ve watched every interview you have done. i was talking about the business prospects, because if there was no deal, businesses with complicated supply chains that would be interrupted would potentially need to find new suppliers. so there might bejob need to find new suppliers. so there might be job losses. businesses that are net exporters. who should be worried about losing their job? are net exporters. who should be worried about losing theirjob?|j are net exporters. who should be worried about losing theirjob? i do not think people should be worried about losing theirjobs, not think people should be worried about losing their jobs, even not think people should be worried about losing theirjobs, even in a no—deal brexit they will be huge opportunities. let‘s be clear, what is happening right now is the

business uncertainty. will it be the lorry driver in scotland? no. will it be the meat processor in northern ireland. there will not be a big job losses ? ireland. there will not be a big job losses? so there will be some? i am talking about winners and losers in business, every day of the year, day in day out. people switch from businesses that are struggling to those that are succeeded. would it be the farm in cumbria? no, because if we left the european union without any arrangements at all we would be able to put in place fiscal stimulus, protections for particular sensitive sectors. in the run—up to march 29... sensitive sectors. in the run—up to march 29. .. you just told me they will not be big job losses, which implies there will be job losses. can wejust implies there will be job losses. can we just be practical about this? every day of the week people leave onejob and every day of the week people leave one job and go to anotherjob. nobody voted for a new deal brexit, and now you are saying that some people will lose theirjobs. i‘m

asking you, because you want to be a prime minister, you have a responsibility to tell our viewers who should be worried. and what i'm saying is people should not be worried about leaving the european union without a deal. there will be huge opportunities. it will unlock huge opportunities. it will unlock huge investment in the united kingdom, which at the moment is being halted precisely because of the uncertainty around brexit. so there will be vast opportunities for people once we leave the european union, and! people once we leave the european union, and i do not think people should be worried aboutjob losses or about their ownjob should be worried aboutjob losses or about their own job security. you talked at your launch yesterday about how our earliest experiences really shape our lives. and you also said that you have seen children going hungry in the school holidays. iam going going hungry in the school holidays. i am going to ask you to reflect on that for a moment. after nine years ofa that for a moment. after nine years of a conservative government, there are british children going hungry in the school holidays. you must be absolutely appalled by that. well, i am, and the reason why i would like

to see a holiday hunger alleviation programme, so pilot schemes provided by local areas to supply school meals for children in the holidays is because it is so vital for young people to be properly nourished. it is not always the case that that is simply because parents can‘t afford it. we do have a fundamental problem for young people with the earliest relationships, and that‘s why i really wa nt relationships, and that‘s why i really want to invest in early support for new families. do you ta ke support for new families. do you take responsibility as a member of a conservative government that has beenin conservative government that has been in powerfor nine years, fifth richest economy in the world come on your party‘s watch, there are some kids who go hungry in the school holidays? i think the issue for all children... do you take response ability? | children... do you take response ability? i would want to seek ways to deal with the issue of holiday hunger. i'm asking you, as a member of this conservative government which has been in powerfor so long now, and you said matter—of—factly,

i have met children who in the school holidays go hungry, do you ta ke school holidays go hungry, do you take responsibility as being part of this government for that? the children in all families across the united kingdom should be well fed and well nourished. they are not, you told us that yesterday. we know that they are not under question, therefore, is, is that around what is going on in our society? is that around not enough support for families to make sure that parents understand the importance of good nutrition for the children? 0r understand the importance of good nutrition for the children? or is it the responsibility of government? for me, parents are responsible for their children and government needs to give parents opportunities and the support they need to be good pa rents to the support they need to be good parents to be able to support, and yes, provide good nourishment for their children. the state cannot raise children, families need to raise children, families need to raise children. but if they haven't got enough money to buy food for the children then the state is responsible in part. that is the question. whetherfamilies responsible in part. that is the question. whether families really are making the right priorities, and what we need to do... could be

something to do with austerity? nine yea rs of something to do with austerity? nine years of austerity? nine years of trying to sort out our finances after 13 years of a labour government that really destroyed our economy, destroy jobs, government that really destroyed our economy, destroyjobs, destroy livelihoods, the great news is... do you know how many children are in poverty in this country?|j you know how many children are in poverty in this country? i know that there are very many fewer, something like 700,000 fewer workless families, which means that many more children who have... so in absolute poverty that has been a real reduction in absolute poverty levels in this country. children in workless households, which is a real measure of children in poverty, are significantly lower. around 700,000. 70% of children are in poverty are from working families and that‘s gone up from 67% on the previous year. no, the reality is, victoria, is that there are 700,000 fewer children in workless families, so families with the security of a pay

packet. that is much betterfor children‘s upbringing. we know that children‘s upbringing. we know that children who come from workless families have far worse outcomes in their lives. of those that are in relative poverty, 4.1 million, 70% of them are from working families. the reality is that the absolute poverty levels have fallen under this government. do you know what, if you are in poverty, you don‘t ca re if if you are in poverty, you don‘t care if it is a relative or absolute, do you ? care if it is a relative or absolute, do you? i agree with you and that‘s why it is vital that we continue with the extraordinary economic growth, where 3.5 million more people are in work than they we re more people are in work than they were in 2010, real wages rising, we have introduced the national living wage, which gives more people not only the security of a job at a decent pay packet will stop one of the things i would like to do is to look at what more we can do to promote the national living wage, not the national minimum wage, so that more people have the independence and freedom as well as thejob opportunities, independence and freedom as well as the job opportunities, but really importantly going back to families, because you raised this and it is something that is very dear to my

heart. it is my view that families in that very earliest period, in the critical 1001 days from conception to age two need far more support for getting into a good routine with their children so that families are securely attached to their children so that we are dealing with the poor mental health problems that sometimes arise through postnatal depression so that we are dealing with the very often parental conflict, something like 35% of domestic violence starts when she is pregnant. so, many more measures in place to help families get into a good start with their babies, and what i can tell you is that families who do have that secure attachment to their infants, those children then go on to have far better results in life in terms of whether they are well nourished, well cared for, whether they go on to have mental health problems or not, whether they go on to join gangs. all of these outcomes for children are so impacted by the earliest experiences, so for me i would

really wa nt experiences, so for me i would really want to see a raft of new measures to support the earliest yea rs, measures to support the earliest years, which includes building on the excellent chiltern‘s centre sure sta rt the excellent chiltern‘s centre sure start programmes. on lgbt relationship lessons, you have said pa rents relationship lessons, you have said parents should be free to decide the moment at which their children become exposed to that information. what information? what i was talking about was sex education of all sorts. my view of relationships is that it sorts. my view of relationships is thatitis sorts. my view of relationships is that it is vital that every child right across our country gets to understand about the fairness and equality and diversity of our society, and i think it is absolutely vital that all children understand the importance of all different relationships. you are not backing parents who want to take their children out of primary school relationship lessons? no, i'm not. but when it comes to sexual relationships, it is vital that the context is there, that parents are closely consulted with on all forms of sexual relationships, and some

children are more able to learn at a younger age than others. there is issues of child protection. but there is also issues of respecting what parents feel is right for their children at the time. but when it comes to lgbt relationships, i do believe that all relationships in this country should be celebrated. we should celebrate commitment and love in all of its forms. it is interesting you say that because you abstained on the vote when it came to the vote on legalising same—sex marriage in 2013. do you regret that? i positively abstained, which means i voted for the same—sex marriage and i voted against it. my concern at the time was that it wasn‘t equal, and in fact, my good friend tim lawton, mp for east worthing and shoreham, has made that equality in a recent private members‘ bill by introducing civil partnerships for opposite sex couples, so now as a same—sex couple... you said my own view that marriage in the biblical sense is clearly from the many christians who write to me can only be between a

man and a woman. in write to me can only be between a man and a woman. |i1 a write to me can only be between a man and a woman. in a biblical sense, yes, that‘s correct. but what i‘m saying is equality means that now as a heterosexual couple you can either have a civil partnership or a marriage, and as a same—sex couple you can have a civil partnership or a marriage, so i do believe that equality is now complete. i‘m delighted by that. ok. some very quick almost yes or no answers if you would. thank you for giving us your time this morning. is a vote for you vote for a scottish independence referendum and the potential break—up of the uk? independence referendum and the potential break-up of the uk? no, absolutely not. yesterday you said it was a possibility. i didn't say it was a possibility. i didn't say it was a possibly at all, would absolutely not support a second referendum. i wouldn‘t support one for scotland, i wouldn‘t support one for scotland, i wouldn‘t support one for the uk cosmic membership of the eu. we have to respect the result of the referendum and it was a clear decision by the scots to remain part of the uk. why did you say never say never say never? i was trying to be courteous to devolution. it is

difficult for an eggless politician... i was trying to be courteous and respect devolution but i want to be clear on my watch —— english politician. you don't respect devolution that much?|j english politician. you don't respect devolution that much? i want to be clear about my views. apart from smoking cannabis, have you ever broken any other laws?|j from smoking cannabis, have you ever broken any other laws? i may have inadvertently... that‘s a very difficult question. most people know if they have broken the law. there are issues around speeding inadvertently, littering... ithink people will occasionally break bylaws. i may have cycled on a pavement as a child, so that‘s a difficult question. there are lots of laws and i would always attempt to ensure that i was strictly abiding by the laws of the land, and is one of the rule makers that‘s absolutely vital that we all do that. there is nothing you are not telling us? there is nothing on my conscience, absolutely nothing. but i want to say i‘m extremely concerned about the whole issue of drugs and i‘m not proud of my own

experiment at university. but i do wa nt to experiment at university. but i do want to say that i have learned as an adult how very serious cannabis taking can be for your mental health. it can really impact on your own mental health. have you said that your children? absolutely. it can have a really profound impacts and i‘m very concerned, not only about the impact of the taker of drugs but also on the whole of society of those who get caught up in drug taking and the violence, gang crime, human trafficking, the illegality, it is an appalling issue and it is not something i condone in any way. how often do you pray? it isa any way. how often do you pray? it is a private matter. i am a christian and it is a private matter for me. should the bbc reverse its decision to scrap the licence fee for some over—755? decision to scrap the licence fee for some over-75s? yes. 31st of all country first? country first. sure? absolutely positive. what personal choices have you made to help with the climate crisis? as an x energy minister i want to see a cabinet

subcommittee tasked with coming up with an action plan for decarbonisation at the latest by 2050. number two, i decarbonisation at the latest by 2050. numbertwo, iwant decarbonisation at the latest by 2050. number two, i want to pitch ha rd 2050. number two, i want to pitch hard for the uk to host the next climate change conference. number three, i want to use overseas development aid to ensure that we are helping overseas developing countries. and in your own personal life? sorry, i misunderstood the question. i have tried to participate in the giving up plastic, so we have had a big give up plastic, so we have had a big give up plastics for lent campaign in parliament and i was one of those who signed up for that. i have bought recyclable coffee cups for my leaders office team which have got leaders office team which have got leaders office team which have got leaders office written on them so we don‘t use plastic or paper cups any longer. i have made significant choices, i recycle everything i can, so i‘m a big fan of recycling and protecting our environment. crispin asks, andi protecting our environment. crispin asks, and i got to give my audience are winning for what we are about to show, it is a photograph of you yesterday holding up a sign involving a rude word. now i have

given that warning i think we can our audience. . crispin says, is that the sort of thing you consider prime ministerial material? it was a joke. i was guest speaker at the press gallery lunch. the tradition is that you do your speech filled with jokes. i was making a joke based on a sign that the speaker has on his car which is that word, to brexit. because i didn‘t want to say the word i held up didn‘t want to say the word i held up the sign so it was simply a joke. thank you very much. thank you, appreciate it. still to come, the question everyone is asking. why was sherif kicked out of the love island villa? and we‘ll hear from a woman who says she was forced to sell herself for sex after claiming universal

credit. in halfan in half an hour, borisjohnson will launch his campaign for tory leader, as will the home secretary, sajid javid. this afternoon you will be able to watch both of them live on bbc news channel. we will be looking at what the tory leadership candidates have in the bank. daniel prayed from the bbc political research unit is here, what do you know? all mps get a base salary of £79,000. anything they get on top of this, they have to make public. this includes other income, free trips abroad and donations. so we looked at the income and cash flow of each of the conservative leadership candidates there is one candidate who is leading the field: borisjohnson. since the election in 2017 he has raked in more than all the other candidates combined, totalling £974,000. and is there anything

wrong with this? no, it‘s important to stress that this is not against the rules. know underhand tactics. also, due to strict rules for ministers, cabinet ministers qualify for an extra £70,000 on top of their mp salary of £79,468 — although some don‘t claim it. that‘s why some of the candidates such as andrea leadsom and michael gove are ten, because they have both beenin gove are ten, because they have both been in cabinet position since the general election. where is borisjohnson‘s money coming from? johnson‘s main source of income has been from speeches at private events, earning more than £400,000 since last november. it is quite a big sum. these include speeches across the world, including one in new delhi, for which he was

paid £122,000 as well as transport and accommodation. there are other candidates who have registered outside income but it is on a slightly different scale. did you say £122,000, for one speech? on top of travel and accommodation. so yes it is quite a good gig. and the other is? on a different scale, you have candidates like rory stewart, who before being an mp wrote quite a few books, so since the election he has had an income of around £31,000. mark harper, another candidate, has been until recently an adviser to an international law firm, getting £3000 a month. interesting to look at other candidates such as michael gove. he is on zero because he has been a cabinet minister, but if you look at the time before the general election when he was briefly a backbencher, he did lots of speeches and made almost £150,000 on top of his salary. that is why andrea

leadsom is on zero, because she is in cabinet post. what about donations? this includes other income, free trips abroad and donations. borisjohnson is winning the race. behind him, dominic rob and jeremy hunt have raked in over £100,000 just in 2019. all ofjeremy hunt‘s money, £104,000 in donations has been raised since mid—may. money, £104,000 in donations has been raised since mid-may. that is really last minute increase for him and gives him a bit of momentum. 0n and gives him a bit of momentum. 0n a different level you have sajid javid and rory stewart who had raised over £50,000, and it is quite interesting, there is some overlap between candidates. you have one hedge fund manager, andrew law, who has given £150 million to the

conservative party but on one day he gave £10,000 to jeremy conservative party but on one day he gave £10,000 tojeremy hunt, the next day, £10,000 to sajid javid. borisjohnson is next day, £10,000 to sajid javid. boris johnson is ahead. next day, £10,000 to sajid javid. borisjohnson is ahead. the bulk of his money has come from a household name,jcb, his money has come from a household name, jcb, who has given him £50,000 on top of £20,000 from the chairman. and the rules around campaigning to be the leader of the party? reports of campaign spending limits of around £150,000. i try to get information from the conservative party and it is still a bit unclear, so we will wait to see on that. next we‘re going to hear from a woman who said she was forced to have survival sex because she couldn‘t get by on her universal credit payments. the government is appearing before mps today to respond to testimonies from women like harriet — not her real name — who‘s spoken exclusively to this programme. she says she had to sell herself

to three different men after racking up nearly £5,000 in debt while in receipt of universal credit. her words are spoken for her. and some of what you hear, you might find upsetting. it started when i broke up with my boyfriend. i moved into a shared house and, after a few months, one of my housemates sexually assaulted me. that night, i left with nothing more than a backpack. i had nowhere safe to live. i sofa surfed for weeks, and used my overdraft to pay for a youth hostel. after six weeks i was placed in a women‘s hostel and after another six weeks, i got my first universal credit payment ofjust over £200 a month. it went up a little, but the housing element of the credit was capped, because i‘m under 35. my universal credit payments didn‘t even cover half of cost of the hostel.

after months with no income, i was nearly £5,000 in debt and facing eviction from the hostel. i was in no fit state to work. for a while, i tried, but i didn‘t have any proper clothes or even enough money to buy shampoo. i couldn‘t go to work in that state. the sexual assault had triggered severe ptsd and made my underlying mental health condition worse. i was regularly self harming. i was disorientated and stressed because of the trauma. i made multiple suicide attempts. i started selling all my possessions, textbooks, my laptop, my grandmother‘s jewellery. but it still wasn‘t enough. so eventually i visited an online forum. i responded to adverts posted by men who were using coded terms such as, "older man seeking relationship with young woman for mutual gain."

it was obvious what that meant. i met up with one man regularly. he paid me to go with him to sex parties. men had to bring a woman is to get into these parties, so i was his entrance fee. when i was there i was expected to have sex with him, and other men. he only paid me £60 a night. myjob was to do whatever the men wanted. sometimes that was sex, sometimes it was to let them hit me or let them spit in my face while they did other sexual things to me. it was demeaning. 0ften physically painful, constantly terrifying. as well as sex parties, i occasionally visited individual men‘s houses. it paid me a bit more, but the experience was much more terrifying. i felt incredibly vulnerable. i was at their houses. i knew they could do whatever they liked to me.

and no—one would ever know. finally, eight months after all of this began, universal credit agreed to pay my full rent and even backdated it. it was enough to live on and enough to pay my rent, so i immediately stopped selling my body for sex. i moved into a councilflat a couple of months later and now i was living in a stable environment, i was able to get more intensive treatment to recover from my mental health condition. my experience with universal credit was terrible. the system was full of errors. delays, poor communication and benefit caps which made it impossible for me to have enough money to live safely, let alone in any way comfortably. whilst my experience was traumatic, i feel thankful it wasn‘t worse. many women become stuck in a cycle of needing to continue to sell sex to keep a roof over their heads. because the cost of living has become so high, and benefits

so frequently fail to cover it. well, junior dwp minister will quince will today answer questions from mps on the work and pensions committee who have been investigating this. i‘ve been speaking to frank field mp, the chair of that committee, and laura seebohm, who‘s from the charity changing lives, which supports vulnerable women across the north and the midlands — laura told me that "harriet‘s" story is not unusual. we work with 750 women across the north and midlands and five different services, supporting women who talk about selling sex, and... related to universal credit? notjust related to universal credit, but what our staff are saying is that, time and time again, increasingly we are having women coming to us and their number one issue they are raising is difficulties with universal credit. we are seeing women who may have

previously sold sex, one woman said she hadn't sold sex for 17 years, saying that she had gone back to selling sex, because of difficulties with her benefits. we have other women doing it for the first time, which is really worrying, and the key point we are seeing is, you could argue and i think dwp might argue, that women have turned to selling sex in times of poverty and i think there's some truth in that, but what we are seeing is very extreme financial hardship, to a level we haven't seen previously. but relating to benefits. directly related to universal credit. frank field, how did you first react when you were told initially about survival sex, as it is being described, and universal credit? i was asked to go and visit tomorrow‘s women in birkenhead who briefed me on this, and i was knocked sideways.

they gave exactly the same evidence as you have just heard. that people who had not been in survival sex, returning to it, and people for the first time undertaking survival sex. are you clear... it is linked to universal benefit, the money not coming through compounded by the fact that they don‘t get money, if it works well, which it often doesn‘t, for a five weeks, that money has to be paid back, and then the department roots around to see whether they are earning any other money and that money is piled on, so the size of benefit is curtailed significantly. you know that the dwp said in their submission to your committee, on the basis of the current evidence it is wrong to suggest that there is a direct causative link between universal credit specifically and an increase in prostitution or survival sex, and that is true, isn‘t it?

no, it is not. and i think since they published that, the secretary of state amber rudd is following up on people who gave evidence to us, both women themselves and other organisations and we have got a minister coming this morning and i would be very surprised if that initial response by the department probably drafted and not looked at very carefully by ministers, is one that they are prepared to stick by today. you think they are going to accept the links between survival sex and problems with universal credit? i think they will see that although one has not got yards and yards and yards of people saying i didn‘t get my universal credit, there is enough people saying problems with universal credit, the debts that that pushed them into actually resulted in survival sex.

i think, please god, we will today have from the ministers responsible for this area a change both in attitude and in policy. right. laura, can you just explain why you are describing this as a survival sex as opposed to prostitution? what is the difference? i think we at changing lives first actually coined the term survival sex, which is actually what one of the women we support described what she was doing. we never, to be honest, really thought it was going to be taken up as a kind of description at that time. but we do use it because so many of the women we support resort to selling sex to really meet their most basic needs. i mean, we have women who might sell sex because they need their laundry, for food, reallyjust for general welfare, basic welfare. can you explain why, you say it‘s a last resort, but why are they choosing to do that as opposed to working in another sector?

i think the women who maybe can, have the skills and the education and the background, who really can work in other ways often do. but the women we are talking about are a group of women who come with, i would say, existing vulnerabilities. so many of them have experienced adverse childhood experiences, so one of the women who gave evidence at the private session at frank field's select committee, she hadn't been to school since the age of ten, she is an extremely articulate, amazing woman but actually for her to get a job without that computer literacy was really challenging for her. 0k. and i think the other thing i would like to say is that for many of us, when we are in extreme hardship, we do have friends or family, or someone we can turn to. the women we are talking about, they don't have that cushion. frank field, some of the problems we have reported regularly on this programme with universal credit include waiting weeks for the first payment. the government did something about that. they‘ve put swift advanced

payments, emergency loans, if you like, in place. they have addressed some of the issues, have they not? they have in the sense that if people know about it they can actually ask for an advance, and we hope officers in local offices tell women about the advance but then comes the period of the repayment, so the benefits are reduced, and then comes the period that if in the past you‘ve owed the government any debt that is piled on as well. so you might then be getting benefit but at much lower level than parliament laid down and as you have made many times before, victoria, this is a benefit which takes money out of the system, doesn‘t put extra money in. what do you want the dwp to do? well, i hope today it will actually say they are looking seriously about whether the money can be paid from the first day so the benefit entitlement as you register, you‘ll get your money,

we‘ll sort things out later. so scrap five—week wait effectively for the first universal credit payment? absolutely, indeed. and i think they wouldn‘t have any problem at all in getting that through parliament. my guess is they‘d get it on the nod if they brought forward that proposal. i mean, i‘ve always wondered why they were able to give an advance payment pretty much on day one but not the first payment of universal credit on day one. because the system is about saving money and their target for saving money would actually be destroyed if they paid money from day one. but we would save lives and save the sort of stress that we‘ve been talking about this morning and about which we heard two weeks ago in our committee. thank you very much both of you. thanks for coming on the programme, frank field, chair of the work and pensions select committee, and laura seebohm, from changing lives. thank you. the government has announced a new, tougher target on climate change.

theresa may says that by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions must be cut to almost zero, making the uk the first major nation to give itself such a goal. 0ne senior climate negotiator has described the move as "historic". but critics say the action is being taken too late and fear the target will never be met. it comes as a new study by the world wildlife fund has found we‘re each consuming around 250g of plastic every year — through what we eat and drink — that‘s roughly the weight of a credit card every week. mm(!) let‘s bring in our reporter michael cowan who‘s been looking this comes after a leaked letter last week, by the chancellor. the chancellor warned this would cost £1 trillion to implement this

policy. a huge amount. but the promise today is that this will be made into law. it is notjust a pledge. it will be made into law. to do that will require significant investment. the devil with this is in the detail. until we know what sort of policies will be used to support this planet is going to be difficult to assess whether it is or not. what impact will it have on the way we live? huge impact, let's start with travel, cars, we need to make a huge shift away from diesel and petrol cars. almost have to eliminate them in favour of electric ca rs. eliminate them in favour of electric cars. they are fantastic. i don‘t know if you have been in one. they are great, very quiet, but lots of infrastructure is needed across the country to use them, so charging points will have to become as common as petrol stations, in our streets, that kind of thing. plus the money accosted by the car, that technology is coming down, but it is still quite expensive to the average consumer. so someone will have to

find that. then we need to look at housing. all new build houses from 2025 will be fitted with environmentally friendly ways of producing their own energy. but we need to retrofit all the old properties in the country. that is a huge cost, again, not achievable for the average consumer, so someone will have to find that so that‘s why this policy, for net zero emissions by 2050, without significant investment and a policy to fund it, people are unsure about how achievable it really is. as i mentioned in the introduction people think it should be done sooner than 2050 anyway. the thing is, experts say that the only way to halt climate changes do not go above 1.5 degrees. they are not sure if we are already too late to do that, but some experts say we should not stop crying so that is a bone of contention within the environmental community. plastics, what are we

doing? we are eating a credit card with a plastic every week. doing? we are eating a credit card with a plastic every weeklj doing? we are eating a credit card with a plastic every week. i cannot believe you haven‘t got one to show me. i have got one in my wallet. that is what they think. quite a strong estimate, they are not sure how realistic that is. in some countries like america and india they have a lot of plastic in the water and in food celsius, but in europe we are doing much better. 72% of water samples from europe have plastic in but then we need to compare that with america were 90% of samples contain plastic, and lebanon, when 98% contain plastic. we did a bit of research on this as pa rt we did a bit of research on this as part of another piece earlier this year on british tap water. take a look at what we found. the tests we re look at what we found. the tests were found at the university of portsmouth. we tested a small number of samples and the results are not conclusive. in our samples we found

between 118—203 microparticles suspected of being plastic. this was made up of microscopic pieces and fibres. putting this in context, pure water, which has no contamination has 60 microparticles in it meaning the lowest reading was virtually double that for the contaminated water. in one sample the plastic was identified as clingfilm and in another, as nylon. the vast majority of this plastic comes from water sources, tap and bottled, but also food. yes. what the study found was, it looked into how much plastic is in our food. the study found was, it looked into how much plastic is in ourfood. so, shellfish, big source of plastic. this is based on the average amount of each food product that they think we consume every week. it will differ marginally by country but thatis differ marginally by country but that is where it is. shellfish, if you eat it, you will consume 182 particles of micro plastic every

week. that is from, some prawns here to prove that, plastic degrades in the oceans, they are consumed by marine life and we, when we eat seafood meal consume them. also sought, the average consumption of salt each week you will consume 11 pieces of micro plastic from salt. and if you are a fan of the humble pint beer, as i am, you will get ten pieces of micro plastic per week. but that is all quite low level compared to water. water is still the biggest source of plastic. this report estimates that we are getting a weekly average of 1759 pieces of micro plastic from bottled water and tap water. yes or no, should we be worried? the answer is we don't know yet. the who has done a study on this and the results will be out in the summer. thank you very much,

cheers. love island‘s sherif is off the show! but we still don‘t know why. it was announced yesterday that he‘d been removed from the villa — with itv only saying that he had broken the programme‘s rules. following much speculation, fans thought they would get some answers during last night‘s episode. but this is all the presenter ian sterling had to say? earlier today, following conversations with producers, sherif left the villa. but for the other islanders it‘s another day in paradise. anna collinson is here to explain more. sherif, 20, semi professional rugby player, had been having a great time, really popular, coupled up with anna who had a crush on outside the villa, but it was announced yesterday he left. a spokesman said that after breaking rules he had conversations with producers and it was mutually agreed that he would

leave love island. there is no suggestion he has broken any of the main rules, smoking, nudity, unsafe sex. it has been described by some in the media is a silly mistake which did not involve police. there‘s been some speculation. people are hoping that there will be a nswe rs people are hoping that there will be answers on the episode last night. no sign of sherif, then a little glimpse of him in the distance and five minutes later, ian stirling in 17 said he‘s not coming back, he had left the villa and fans went wild speculation. any examples? we have got loads of time but this gives you an idea of the kind of thing people are saying. i absolutely need to know what happened to sherif, i‘m quite going crazy. that is a meme for something else. another says...

and just finally, this one... what was the reason? why did sherif leave the villa? what was said? said he had made the decision to a judgment, had made the decision to a judgment, had broken the rules, he had spoken to producers and he would learn from that mistake. thank you, anna. maybe the actual truth will emerge at some point, but not from the programme. thank you very much, coming up, details of boris johnson thank you very much, coming up, details of borisjohnson ‘s mac campaign launch on newsroom live. have a good day. hello there, good morning. we have more wet weather in the forecast over the next 24 are as. the rain has been heavy in northern and western areas of the uk. can see from the satellite imagery this zone of cloud is moving

further north and west. lots of cloud towards the near continent moving its way in, that will provide further heavy rain across east anglia. and some heavy and thundery showers developing in the south—east of england, bringing lots of rainfall ina of england, bringing lots of rainfall in a short space of time. that rain to the north and west eases, but for the east of scotland and north—east of england that we had into the afternoon, maximum temperatures, around 14—17. tonight this rain in the south—east pushes its way northwards and westwards into north wales and northern england. you can see from the blues and green colours heavy rain spreading northwards for north—east england and the south—east of scotla nd england and the south—east of scotland through the night. that rain also across parts of wales. thursday, remaining unsettled. still some showers and longer spells of rain. maximum temperatures around 18 celsius. goodbye for now.

you are watching bbc news, 11am, their main stories... borisjohnson prepares to make his pitch to become the next conservative party leader, he will promise to deliver brexit without delay. he is a positive optimistic person who will not only deliver brexit but make our country more successful and positive about the future. we will bring you the speech by borisjohnson live. new plan to tackle climate change, the uk commits to cut greenhouse gas emissions ten net zero by 2050, the first major nation to commit to the target. police in hong kong fired tear gas and rubber bullets at

protesters angry at plans to make