this you're watching bbc news at 9am with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: two years on from the grenfell tower fire survivors and relatives of the 72 dead come together today to remember the tragedy. it is very hard to believe it has happened. even though you know and you have seen death certificates and everything else you find it very hard to accept. the latest figures show that hundreds of high—rise buildings still have cladding similar to the type used on grenfell tower. one of the conservative leadership candidates — matt hancock — is considering quitting the contest, as borisjohnson‘s rivals put pressure on him to take part in televised debates.

the us releases video which it says proves iran was behind attacks on two tankers in the gulf of oman. oven pride — so easy a man can do it. a ban on offensive gender stereotypical adverts comes into force from today. and england and scotland are both back in action at the women's world cup for the second of their group games. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at 9am. memorial services and vigils are to be held throughout the day to mark the second anniversary

of the grenfell tower fire in which 72 people died. two years on from the disaster, three—quarters of tall buildings with cladding categorised as unsafe still haven't had it removed or modified. the latest government figures suggest work hasn't yet started on more than half of those buildings, many of them privately of them privately owned. out of 328 buildings in england that still have aluminium composite material cladding, 221 buildings are awaiting work to start. these include private, social housing, student accommodation, hotels and public buildings. our correspondent richard galpin is in kensington in west london. tell us how the victims are being remembered. it is going to be a day of remembrance. it is going to be an emotional time. the service starts

at 11 ian and at the service will be survivors and those who lost loved ones in the fire two years ago. there will be representatives from the government, government ministers, the mp for kensington will also be attending. it will be a very emotional time. one person for whom it is particularly painful was not in the building at the time but he lost six members of his family. he has been talking to us about why it is important to hold these anniversaries. it is to make sure they are never forgotten and to give our players,

“ prayers forgotten and to give our players, —— prayers and stick by each other you have to go to get the justice we are looking for. pa rt part of the quest for justice part of the quest forjustice is to make sure something like this could never happen again which is why they are disturbed by these figures showing that so many buildings still have this unsafe cladding and in many cases what has not begun to remove it. these are shocking statistics which have emerged. more than 200 buildings across england where work has not even started and they have there is a very dangerous cladding surrounding each of those buildings. it is of huge concern. the fire brigade has been talking about the issues. they are launching about the issues. they are launching a campaign saying there has to be greater fire safety regulations brought in. overall people will be very concerned about this. these

buildings which still have the cladding you are talking about tens of thousands of people who are at risk inside those buildings. thank you. a government spokesperson from the ministry of housing, communities and local government said... we can speak now to the mp john healey, who's labour's shadow housing secretary. you said a few days ago that many of

the owners of the private tower blocks, and these are many of the blocks, and these are many of the blocks in question which have not started work on removing cladding, have shown the door sign of replacing it and you say ministers are letting them drag their feet. is case they have shown no sign replacing it —— there has been a row over who would pay. it is two years alone. nine out of ten of those high—rise blocks with private owners have those same grenfell style cladding and many do not have a plan in place to get their work done. two yea rs in place to get their work done. two years on the government has to get tough with these blog owners and name those with the cladding on the side and set a tough deadline by the end of the year to get the work done. it needs to give the council stronger powers to levy heavy fines and take over these blogs where private owners will not do the work and it must overhaul the legislation so and it must overhaul the legislation so that we have a building safety

system for the future that gives people the confidence that a fire such as grenfell cannot happen again. the government has said it will fully fund the replacement of this aluminium composite material cladding on these high—rise blocks. is it about putting pressure on the owners to get on with that work and to name and shame them if necessary? it is. the government have put money aside for this work to be done but they have been urging owners to get they have been urging owners to get the work done for over a year and many are dragging their feet and not just on the spot on every front the government action has been too weak and too slow. too little has changed over these two long years. there are still grenfell families in temporary accommodation. we have hundreds of

building still with this unsafe cladding on the site. we have still not had this legislation to overhaul the building safety regulations and rules to make them fit for the future. how does labour's five point plan to make these high—rise homes safe differ from what the government has already done or is saying it will do? the government for two yea rs has will do? the government for two years has led to the private block owners who have a moral duty to do this work and pay for that. they have finally put forward a fund which is not yet available and open to help deal with the cost of that but simply these are block owners who more than 70 do not have a plan in place after two years and the government has to get tough and only the government can make sure this work is done. only the government can get all the survivors into new homes and only the government can change the legislation for the future. this is going to be a big

test of the new tory leader and the new prime minister to step up and make good the failures of theresa may over the past two years. would you like to see the government making additional funding available for lease owners in these private residential blocks to help them pay for other fire safety measures, because many lease owners say they are going to bed at night afraid about the cost of these additional safety measures beyond removal or modification of cladding is going to run into thousands of pounds?m modification of cladding is going to run into thousands of pounds? it is necessary the government holds these block owners to their legal duty and obligation to make the building safe. that has not happened yet and must happen now. otherwise... i desperately want this to be the last anniversary of grenfell where survivors are still waiting for justice and we are still having to press the government for essential changes to make sure that we can see

that all our people, this is a basic duty of government, to make sure our citizens are safe. thank you. we will have more on this grenfell second anniversary later in the programme. we will be speaking to the general secretary of the fire brigades union about their campaign. iran says it "categorically rejects" us claims that it was behind attacks on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. the denial comes after the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, said intelligence about the type of weapons used indicated iranian forces were involved. speaking on state radio in the last few hours, an iranian foreign ministry spokesman said "we are in charge of maintaining security of the strait." he went on to say, "we rescued the crew of those attacked tankers in the shortest possible time." and he added, "us secretary of state pompeo's accusations towards

iran are alarming." it's the second such attack on tankers using the strategically important waterway — which separates iran from the arabian peninsula — in the last month. crude oil prices have risen in response. gareth barlow has the latest. crew members from the targeted tankers appearing on iranian state tv. one after another, they tell the camera, they have hosted us really well, everyone has taken care of us. a narrative iran will be keen to promote, as it denies any involvement in the attacks. a narrative strongly opposed by the united states, which has released footage it claims shows iran's military removing a mine from the side of one of the tankers. the united states assesses that iran is responsible for these attacks. no proxy group in the area has the resources or skill to act with this level of sophistication. iran, however, has the weapons, the expertise and the requisite

intelligence information to pull this off. as both sides promote their version of events, iranian state tv broadcast these images, reportedly showing a rescue boat tackling a fire on the norwegian tanker. wrapped in flames, one of the two vessels hit by a blast on thursday morning, as tensions between washington and tehran continue to rise following the collapse of the iranian nuclear deal. there isn't absolute evidence at this point. but we can assume the most likely suspect, which is probably hardline elements inside iran, or those operating outside, that want to make sure that there are not negotiations that are renewed between the united states and iran. the straits of hormuz are critically important for the world's oil supply, and also for both sides. as iran uses the power of its press and possible political factions,

america is flexing the power of its planes. both countries say they don't want war, but both do want the upper hand. it's believed that one of the remaining candidates to become conservative leader — matt hancock — is considering withdrawing from the race, but he and his office are yet to comment. seven mps made it through the first round of voting yesterday, with borisjohnson the clear favourite. meanwhile, chuka umunna — the former labour frontbencher who helped form change uk earlier this year — has joined the liberal democrats. our political correspondent chris mason joins us now. matt hancock, what is the thinking behind the idea he might withdraw and what would that change about the race? the thinking boils down to he is concluding he does not have a hope of winning. he is mulling over

pulling out. we should not be surprised if he does do that. a deadline for lunchtime for candidates to say they want to go through to the next round of voting. it isa through to the next round of voting. it is a window where matt hancock can decide to discreetly reverse out of this contest. he got 20 votes yesterday and finished sixth. boris johnson got 114. matt hancock has probably concluded it might be a struggle to get over the line next week where you would have to get 33 to go ahead to third round. therefore perhaps best to volunteer defeats rather than the arithmetic forcing it upon you and a couple of days. what is going on amongst the also—rans, frankly days. what is going on amongst the also—ra ns, frankly the days. what is going on amongst the also—rans, frankly the other candidates were also runs yesterday when you look at the numbers, is to try to work out how to respond to how well boris johnson has try to work out how to respond to how well borisjohnson has done. they are not all on the same side, those who came second, third,

fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. they all believe their vision is better than the next. there are lots of conversations going on and the desire amongst some that the conversation whittles itself down pretty quickly and it is likely that by lunchtime a list that was ten and ten seven will be sex. —— six. by lunchtime a list that was ten and ten seven will be sex. -- six. boris johnson, whether he is feeling pressure to take part in televised debates. how worried are you think he and his team are about whether he ta kes he and his team are about whether he takes part and what the implications could be that he doesn't take part? it isa could be that he doesn't take part? it is a big strategic decision because what is very striking about boris johnson's campaign against three years ago when he had that brief aborted attempt to take over from david cameron is they are

disciplined, organised and cautious. it is that caution that is informing their reluctance at the moment to definitively commit to taking part in these tv debates but there is a danger in not taking part because critics are saying this is that contest where a small proportion of the electorate get see, fewer than 200,000 members of the party. if there is candidate does not put themselves up to scrutiny it gets a bigger voice to those who say that the new prime minister doesn't have a mandate and doesn't have legitimacy. all of the other candidates have signed a joint statement saying they are going to ta ke statement saying they are going to take part in the channel for hustings debate going on on sunday evening. amongst them, one of the contenders, the international development secretary rory stewart.

he is by far the front runner. the realjudgment he is by far the front runner. the real judgment members of he is by far the front runner. the realjudgment members of parliament have to makers who do they want going up against boris and there is only one way to judge that and that is by seeing him on stage against the other candidates. check out the nona is now alleged nnp. check out the nona is now alleged nnp. —— chuka umunna. -- chuka umunna. people have often belonged to their political parties for longer than they have known their spouses so that connection that people have with the political party is huge and leaving it is massive. chuka umunna left the labour party a few months ago and then there was change uk and then there was a peel away from some of

them from chains uk and now chuka umunna has signed up with the liberal democrats and will hold an event with vince cable at lunchtime today. he has concluded that he was wrong to believe that there was a desperate yearning amongst the electorate for a new political party. he says he recognises that the structure and infrastructure of political parties are important and if you set up a new outfit you do not have that and political brands are important that voters have an attachment to and they have a sense of what they stand for. chuka umunna is signing up with the liberal democrats and becomes the 12 member of parliament. televised debates involving the remaining leadership contenders for the conservative party who will

become the next prime minister. the leadership contender michael gold has been talking about the subject. he said he was delighted to be going through to the next round and is looking forward to debating his collea g u es looking forward to debating his colleagues in the coming days. are you looking forward to the tv debates? i am looking forward to the next round in the contest. i am pleased to have had support from my colleagues in such numbers and i am looking forward to exchanging thoughts with other candidates about how to make this country better. the headlines on bbc news: two years on from the grenfell tower fire survivors and relatives of the 72 dead come together today to remember the tragedy. one of the conservative leadership candidates — matt hancock — is considering quitting the contest, as borisjohnson's rivals put pressure on him to take part in televised debates. the us releases video which it says

proves iran was behind attacks on two tankers in the gulf of oman. it claims that iran's revolutionary guards can be seen removing an unexploded mine from the side of one of the vessels. england and scotland are both in action again today at the women's world cup. england play argentina and will reach the knockout stage with a victory. the chelsea manager is set to leave after only a year, potentially opening the door for frank lampard to return to chelsea. england's justin rose holds a one shot lead, after the first round of the us open. but rory mcilroy, tiger woods and brooks kepka, are all among the chasing pack at pebble beach. i'll be back with more on those stories, at 9:40am.

hundreds of passengers have been rescued from a train in northamptonshire overnight, after a landslide caused by heavy rain blocked the tracks. up to 20 flood warnings are in place across england and wales. in lincolnshire, raf helicopter crews worked through the night to repair a river which had burst its banks. one of the county's top police officers described the situation as one of the most challenging emergencies he's ever seen. charlotte simpson reports. passengers finally led to safety after almost eight hours stranded on the tracks. emergency services worked late into the night to rescue around 500 people on board this east midlands train from nottingham to london. the trouble began when the 1151; service was derailed by a landslide near corby in northamptonshire. a second train which came to rescue them then also got trapped by floodwater. they did have about 25, 30 network rail staff trying to dig through the landslide to make sure the ballast on the track was safe and we could go

through but, in the end, they made the safety decision to say, "no, we're going to take you off the train." in lincolnshire, the raf has been working throughout the night after the river steeping broke its banks, causing severe flooding in the village of wainfleet. the town received more than two months rain in two days, forcing over 100 people to leave their homes. lincolnshire police described it as one of the most challenging emergencies the county has faced in recent times. elsewhere, downpours continue to cause disruption in north wales, where the river alyn burst its banks on wednesday, while parts of shropshire have seen 16 inches of rainfall. despite the heavy rain, the met office says this month still has some way to go before it overtakes the uk's wettestjune when 149 millimetres of rain fell in 2012. the environment agency has issued up to 20 flood warnings across england and wales, with more wet weather forecast for today. charlotte simpson, bbc news.

the man accused of carrying out the terror attacks in christchurch has pleaded not guilty to all 92 charges against him. he appeared by video link at the high court. he denied 51 charges of murder, 30 charges of attempted murder and one charge of terrorism. donald trump has announced that his press secretary, sarah sanders, will leave her role at the end of this month. ms sanders has been a fierce defender of the president. she also broke with decades of tradition by abandoning the daily white house press briefing. mr trump said she'd done "an incredible job". her replacement is yet to be announced. i'll try not to get emotional because i know that crying can make us look weak sometimes, right? this has been the honour of a lifetime, the opportunity of a lifetime. i couldn't be prouder to have had the opportunity to serve my country, particularly to work for this

president. a ban on adverts featuring harmful or offensive gender stereotypes has come into force today. the uk's advertising watchdog says inaccurate preconceptions about gender should not be reinforced in advertising. lizo mzimba has more. oven pride — so easy a man can do it. it's phrases like this, stereotypes like this — girls doing ballet while boys do maths — and offensive preconceptions — women unable to handle diy tasks — that could well find themselves in trouble. women, don't expect any help on a thursday. print and online are covered, too, so ads like this, "think like a man if you want to be a boss" or this "are you beach body ready?" will be under the spotlight. the asa wants to prevent stereotypes that pressurise women and men into acting in a particular way. thanks, beautiful.

you're welcome. how can such a pretty wife make such bad coffee? i heard that! things have slowly changed since the early days of advertising. i hardly ever buy fairy liquid. but this is the first time that proper guidelines have come into force to tackle the harm potentially caused by gender stereotypes. well, the fire brigades union is launching a campaign today, calling for urgent action on a range of fire and building safety issues to prevent another grenfell tragedy. we can speak now to matt wrack, who's general secretary of the fbu.

hejoins me from our central london newsroom. tell us about this grenfell never again campaign and what you want to happen. we have been campaigning on many fronts and this has been launched today because of the failure of central government to ta ke failure of central government to take serious action. your introduction explained that we still have hundreds of buildings with the same cladding as what was in place at grenfell. that contributed to such a devastating fire. we also have other forms of clotting which are flammable. people will recall the appalling flyer in barking in a block of flats, a completely different system and different cladding that fire safety not being taken seriously. there are other

fire safety failings in buildings up and down the country. at grenfell cladding was a key issue but there we re cladding was a key issue but there were other fire safety failings such as fire doors that did not work, smoke extraction system that did not work and so on. we are finding this is common in buildings across the country. some of this has been highlighted as a result of inspections that have taken place after g re nfell inspections that have taken place after grenfell and we believe that the action to address it is far too slow and not sufficient so we have set out a series of calls such as the removal of cladding, the investment to allow the fire service to undertake inspections and to train up and reverse the loss of specialist fire safety officers, listening to tenants, clearly a factor that seems to have been a key factor that seems to have been a key factor ignoring people at grenfell and in the barking fire. people are

being ignored by their landlords or by the welding landlords. two years on is there any reasonable or logical reason why work has not started on so many buildings as we have outlined today?|j started on so many buildings as we have outlined today? i am sure a key factor is cost. we were given all sorts of promises. notjust the fire service but residents and tenants in blocks of flats were given all sorts of promises by politicians but everything would be done to address this. the pace of change is painstakingly slow and utterly insufficient and while those measures are not addressed people still have those fears and we still have those fears. of course many members of your union were at g re nfell two yea rs members of your union were at grenfell two years ago. how are they recovering? clearly for the first responders the trauma was

significant. people react in many different ways and i am aware of people, some people are very seriously affected by the fire, other people do not want to talk about it and that is understandable. it was probably the worst night of their lives. other people are very angry and want to see the sort of changes we are trying to highlight today. not just for firefighters changes we are trying to highlight today. notjust forfirefighters but for the community, the pain of the sun the impact on people's health and well—being will go on for a very long time so it affects people in different ways. thank you. in a moment the weather but first here's joanna gosling with what she's got coming up in the victoria derbyshire programme at 10am. two years on from the grenfell disaster that claimed the lives of

72 people some families say they are still waiting to be rehoused. we will talk to some of those affected. and the mother of a severely autistic son who fears he may be made homeless because his complex needs are not being met. join us at 10am. we will see joanna needs are not being met. join us at 10am. we will seejoanna at 10am. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. rainfall causing sunny problems across the country. any respite in sight? they will be more sunshine across the uk, the rain easing off, still quite a lot across parts of the uk, the rain in the hebrides may be welcome but it is across parts of england and wales where it is still raining at the moment. this is in area seen raining at the moment. this is in area seen close raining at the moment. this is in area seen close to raining at the moment. this is in area seen close to three months of rainfall in the past seven days. the rainfall in the past seven days. the rain is easing off in intensity, notice how that area of persistent rain pushes out to the north sea, could clip aberdeenshire later but in its wake we will start to see sky

is bright and, better chance of sunny spells, not completely dried by any means, still some heavy showers and the odd rumble of thunder with those we see across england and where is, particularly thundery the showers across northern ireland and a few for scotland, so more of you will spend the bulk of the time dry this afternoon with a better chance of sunshine feeling one. tonight, some clearer skies for a while, more rain pushing into the west in the morning to produce a wet start for western areas on saturday morning before turning to sunshine and showers, eastern areas start bright. compared to the week so far it is looking a little bit drier thanit it is looking a little bit drier than it has been. bye for now. hello this is bbc news at 9:00. the headlines — two years on from the grenfell tower fire survivors and relatives of the 72 dead come together today to remember the tragedy.

it is very hard to believe it has happened. even though you know and you have seen death certificates and everything else you find it very hard to accept. the latest figures show that hundreds of high—rise buildings still have cladding similar to the type used on grenfell tower. one of the conservative leadership candidates — matt hancock — is considering quitting the contest — as borisjohnson's rivals put pressure on him to take part in televised debates. the us releases video which it says proves iran was behind attacks on two tankers in the gulf of oman. it claims that iran's revolutionary guards can be seen removing an unexploded mine from the side of one of the vessels. hundreds of passengers are rescued from a train overnight after heavy rain caused a landslide and widespread flooding in northamptonshire. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people

are watching, reading and sharing. we begin with the second anniversary of the grenfell fire has been dominating today's news agenda. the today programme has been hearing from the bishop of kensington, who's written a report called the social legacy of grenfell — and also from the chief executive of al manaar mosque, which was a central source of emergency support on the night of the fire. we've got some way to go. i feel, two years later, we haven't really addressed the real issues that led to the inadequacies that we witnessed during the fire and afterwards. we were expecting evaluation reports to have been conducted throughout the last two years, especially by the statutory sector, the local authority, the nhs and others. unfortunately, so far, as we have seen from bishop graham's report and earlierfrom muslim aid and theos, these are the non—state civil society organisations that

have taken again at the second time civil society organisations that have taken again the initiative for the second time to evaluate and assess what went wrong and what could have been done better. without this kind of assessment, i think the recovery process itself will be very much ineffective and it will not address the healing process as quickly and effectively as possible. bishop, do you agree? i do, i think we've got quite a long way to go in this. there are the short—term issues, which we have just heard about, the cladding issues around the country, which are exercising a lot of people in the local area in north kensington because they know what happened to them could happen to others as well. and because they know that if it's not done, or they sense that if it is not done in a timely manner, it is, in a sense, a commentary on how they are being treated...

exactly. ..and regarded. and that's one of the reasons why i think there is ongoing frustration in the local area. but i think there are, as abdurahman says, these deeper social issues. i remember at the time of the fire, it wasn't just about fire safety and building regulations. there were all kinds of other social questions being asked at the time. perhaps we've lost sight of some of those, and one of the reasons why i wrote this report was to try to draw attention to some of the bigger deeper social questions that groenefeld raises. like what? like the way we do local democracy. one of the stories i think that came out of grenfell, one of the things that i heard during the conversations that led up to this report was a deep sense of a community that didn't feel listened to or understood. and we haven't quite got right this sense of local people feeling able to have a say in the decisions that affect them. and civil society works best when people feel they have a stake and a say in the issues that really affect their lives. and we haven't really got that right at the moment. the right reverend dr graham tomlin and abdurahman sayed there. boris johnson is under mounting pressure to debate in televised tory leadership hustings, as criticism of his near blackout

on public speaking grows. one of his rivals in the race for the leadership, rory stewart, has been telling the today programme why it's so important that boris appears. he is by far the front runner in this race. he's going to be the person in the final two, and the real judgment the members of parliament have to make is who do they want going up against boris in the final two and there's only one way they can judge that, which is by seeing boris on the stage against the other candidates. what does it say about him if he doesn't turn up? well, i think it shows that he, well, i don't want to be too personal about this, but it feels as though he feels that he is doing well, that his winning, and that he that he's winning, and that he doesn't want to take any risk which could upset the campaign. but i think it's a great pity. he's a great public performer. the public need to see him, i do think it's also really important for the legitimacy of the choice of prime minister that this doesn't ta ke place in a smoke—filled

room, but that the public is able to see the candidates out in public. and, in fact, i think maybe it's a lesson from the last leadership race that we need to test the candidates on television in front of the public with rigorous questioning before they become prime minister. what questions has he not answered that he should, then? well, there are a number of questions i've asked which i haven't had an answer to. one of them is about the question of whether or not he'll say that he would never suspend parliament. i'd also like some clarity from him, and indeed, from other candidates, on whether they'll meet the chancellor's rules on debt and borrowing. i'm an economic conservative. i think it's very, very important for our party that we are fiscally prudent. that's important to our brand, it's going to be particularly important after brexit. but the most important question of all for boris, and indeed for some of the other candidates, is what is this no—deal brexit and how are they going to do it? the how. he keeps saying he will deliver brexit by the 31st october. but how? we need to get into the details of how it's going to happen. how is he going to renegotiate with europe? get it through parliament?

because this can'tjust be a blind act of faith. jeremy hunt came second, quite a long way back, but he came second. it is possible, isn't it, that people do rally round — we're hearing that matt hancock's considering pulling out — that people do rally round and he is the eventual second place candidate. does he have what it takes, do you think, to stop borisjohnson if it comes to that? one way of seeing that is going to be these television debates. i think it's going to be critical because boris is one of the greatest communicators in modern british political life. so the question is going to be, which one of us has the flair, the nimbleness, the minds and the communication ability to be able to challenge this formidable campaigner. and do you thinkjeremy hunt does potentially? i don't know. i think he's somebody who's been a very distinguished cabinet minister. but let's see on sunday. rory stewart. chuka ummuna has said he "massively underestimated" how difficult it is to set up a new party without existing infrastructure —

after he left the labour party to help set up change uk. he's been telling the today programme he thinks there isn't room for more than one centre—ground party and he's been explaining why he's taken the decision tojoin the lib dems. i'm a social democrat with liberal values. i believe in a free and fair society, a mixed economy that is fair to all, and i'm unapologetically an internationalist, which i think is why we need to stay in the european union. you have been very critical of the liberal democrats in the past. you said you could never forgive them for enabling tory austerity. well, the thing that has given me pause for thought, definitely, has been the time that the liberal democrats served in coalition and the austerity. but things have changed since then. the liberal democrats have voted against every single conservative budget since 2015. they stood on an anti—austerity 2017 manifesto saying that they would do things like reversing housing benefit and universal credit cuts. and, look, if you want to end austerity you cannot do that if you are going to sponsor brexit in the way that the two main

parties are doing and the liberal democrats have been clear about this from the very start. they not only want a people's vote but to remain in the european union. and that's absolutely fundamental. so what happened to the bright new dawn of change uk? well, i would say there are two things that i've learned from the last few months. i think, first of all, i massively underestimated just how difficult it is to set up a fully fledged new party without an existing infrastructure. that proved impossible to do. and, of course, the liberal democrats are an existing centre ground party. secondly, it's quite clear that there isn't room for more than one centre ground option, particularly under first—past—the—post in uk politics. i thought that the millions of politically homeless people in the radical centre ground in british politics wanted a new party, and i

was wrong about that. what people actually wanted us to do, and i heard this time and time again during the local and european elections, is to actually work together in the centre ground with existing forces to build the strongest possible vehicle to take our politics forward. so either you ignore what people are saying and what the voters are saying, or you ta ke what the voters are saying, or you take heed of that, hold your hands up take heed of that, hold your hands up if you've got something wrong and say this is a way forward, and i think this is what people want us to do. do you think there will be other mps from different parties, either from change uk, orfrom within the labour party, who will now decide to join the liberal democrats? we are ata join the liberal democrats? we are at a historic juncture join the liberal democrats? we are at a historicjuncture in our politics. our 2—party politics is broken. you've got an opposition and government who are failing to perform their constitutional duties in the right way and i think the british people are up for a pending back 2—party system in a way i haven't seen in my lifetime and i think there are lots of people in the two main parties who know that. they know that their parties are broken and they know they are

dysfunctional. but not lots of people are prepared to deflect. dysfunctional. but not lots of people are prepared to deflectlj could see certainly a number of mps both in the conservative and labour parties who are prepared to do that. how many would you say roughly? i'd say a good handful. leaving a political party is a huge thing, it isn't just about your politics, it's about your identity, people have family connections and social connections in those parties as well. it's a very, very difficult decision. and at it can look opportunistic? i find this thing bemusing, because ultimately, if what you are concerned about is your career and political security you don't leave one of the main parties. if you do, you are literally putting everything on the line, and the reason i left the labour party was because i put my values and principles and what i believe in and what's best for my community before absolutely everything else and if that means at some point i cease to bea that means at some point i cease to be a member of parliament, so be it, and that's what you've got to be prepared to do and i think that's what the public want you to do, and i think that's why ultimately i've chosen tojoin the

i think that's why ultimately i've chosen to join the liberal democrats, because i think they are going to be, and they are, spearheading a renewed centre ground internationalist, social democratic and liberal offer in this country. if that's what you want, join as well, that's what i would say. chuck and una. —— chuka umunna. one of the most watched items on the bbc online features the actor keanu reeves — one of the latest hollywood superstars to lend his voice, face and performance to a video game character. and he's been insisting gaming doesn't need legitimising. the star plastohnny silverhand in cyberpunk 2077, a futuristic action—adventure game which comes out in 2020. we have a city to burn. i'm kind of a guide, i'm kind ofa guide, but i'm kind of a guide, but i'm also... you have to do something butjohnny wa nts to you have to do something butjohnny wants to do something too, and so

there's this, am i yourfriend or am i a fellow? am i helping you? am i not helping you ? i a fellow? am i helping you? am i not helping you? are you in my way? —— photo. not helping you? are you in my way? -- photo. do you think having performers like yourself who can sell out hollywood theatre is easily for the more traditional industries in movies and things like that, working in games helps legitimise it in the entertainment world? does it even need legitimising ? in the entertainment world? does it even need legitimising? yeah, i would go with that thread, i don't think they need legitimising. if anything, i'd say it's gone the other way will stop it's more the influence gaming has had on, let's call it hollywood. certainly with the marvel universe. you know, right? but then gaming probably started in the beginning with hollywood, right. so i think these technologies have been talking to each other, and i think, i mean, marlon brando in the first superman,

i remember he was, like... i'm not going to do brando. i almost went to do brando, but i remember him saying now they can just digitise how i am, my look and do another performance andi my look and do another performance and i don't need to be there. that idea of the technology of image ca ptu re idea of the technology of image capture and performance we are seeing in hollywood now so many performances were they are either ageing, or making other performers younger, you know. so it's the elasticity of performance and time and what you look like and who you are is going to kind of more complex and a wider bandwidth of performance. keanu reeves. if you look at the bbc news app, you will see that that story, keanu reeves: games don't need legitimising, is

number one on the most watched. scrolling back up to the most read, number one is a story about a calendar firm, and if you look they have a photograph of one of their calendars with the words bad may written across, this is because the government has decided to move next yea r‘s early government has decided to move next year's early may bank holiday from monday the fourth to friday the eighth to mark ve day, victory in europe day, but with 400,000 of its calendars already printed for next year, this firm so this will cost them £200,000, and there is a quote from the manager saying it had probably been the single most stressful week in business, we are totally in agreement with changing the date, just not changing it with 11 months notice when you have had 74 years to prepare for this event. and then, let's look at one of the stories on the most watched, involving the harry potter star bonnie wright who played ginny

weasley as many of you will note, joining in the campaign to think about plastic, how we use it and whether we need it in certain circumstances and in this case she is thinking about toys, and this is a campaign she has done in a special report for bbc radio 5 live, so she goes along to a school and asks children there to think about whether they can upcycle their plastic toys etc. never too young to start thinking about this subject. so, a really interesting watch involving the actress and greenpeace activist bonnie wright. that's it for today's morning briefing. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. he will be there. i am here! more action from the women's world cup for england and scotland. three matches in all but a big day for both scotland first of all and later on england. scotland played first when they take on the 2011 champions japan in rennes this afternoon and

that's exactly where we can cross live to our reporterjane dougall now. jane, despite that opening defeat to england, do you sense plenty of positivity in the scottish camp. definitely. out of the three group matches come in the quieter moments scotla nd matches come in the quieter moments scotland might have admitted to not really expecting to beat england so the fact they played so well against them, especially in the second half, scoring that first ever goal in a women's world cup for scotland through claire emslie and most importantly stopping england from playing their game, has been a lot of positives to take out of that first match, despite it being a defeat. the scotland squad have been staying at a very isolated chateau about an hour north of rennes, so they have had a lot of time to reflect on that defeat and to gather themselves. there has been a lot of tea m themselves. there has been a lot of team bonding. there isn't much wi—fi at this chateau in the middle of nowhere, so there have been players

playing board games, and they have been playing some stuff in training, a game called chicken run, which involves a squeaky rubber chicken. i won't go into too much detail about it, but they have definitely been enjoying the fact they have had a lot of time to spend together, and asi lot of time to spend together, and as i have said, they have reflected on that defeat. but really now they are looking forward to the japan match which they do have a good chance of getting something out of, far more than they did with the england game. talking ofjapan, 2011 champions, as i mentioned and world cup finalists four years ago, but against argentina showed in that goalless draw in their first match they are not the team they once were? that's true but japan still haven't to be underestimated, they are still seventh in the world and they are seventh in the world for a reason. as you mentioned they won the tournament in 2011 and they were runners—up in 2015. since then there has been a transitional period for the squad, loss of the younger players have come through and some of the older players have retired but shelley kerr acknowledged they

we re but shelley kerr acknowledged they were not a team to be underestimated. they are well organised and known for being technical as well and she and her coaching staff will have watched the match against argentina. yes, it was a lacklustre performance, it finished 0—0, and also earlier this yeari finished 0—0, and also earlier this year i watched them at the shebelieves cup in america where they didn't play terribly well against america and didn't play terribly well against england, but the thing is, a lot of teams peaked during a world cup and shelley kerr acknowledged that could be the case. and also, don't forget that it is crucial for both teams to get a result out of this match this afternoon. scotland at the moment are bottom of their group. if they lose in this match this afternoon they could be looking at a journey home. but on the other hand, if they win and they take a very important result from this afternoon's match, then they could be on their way to getting out of the group stages for the first time ever. we will have to leave it there, but fascinating stuff, especially the insight into what they have been doing in their hideaway chateau, games like chicken run. jane dougall in rennes. that

game between scotland and japan kicks off at 2pm and it is live on bbc one. england's game with argentina is at 8 and also live on bbc one. manager phil neville is looking forward to one of football's great rivalries, being renewed. what you have got with this game is the football history and rivalry. what you have got with this game is the football history and rivalrylj think that is what we have got to handle and when the draw was made the scotland— argentina games were the scotland— argentina games were the games where youthful we have to handle the occasion as well as the game, and all the emotion of the game, and all the emotion of the game and the rivalry of both scotla nd game and the rivalry of both scotland and argentina. this is another game where we will have to handle that kind of emotion. the football is bound to dominate the back pages tomorrow morning. for the day, though, the us open is the lead on many of the morning back pages. justin rose is the leader by one stroke in the us open making the telegraph. but it is rory on a roll with a picture of concentration on the face of rory mcilroy in the chasing pack, pack of three just one stroke off the lead.

the garden of eden is the headline in the guardian, reporting on eden hazard's arrival at real madrid. thousands of fans turned out to greet him, and he said it has always been his dream, since he was playing football in the garden as a child. and the express leads with the good news about chris froome, the four—time tour de france winner, who came around after an eight—hour operation after his crash in the week, to discover he could now be handed the vuelta a espana title from 2011 because the winner, faces being stripped of his crown for doping offences. that's the papers for you. well a really busy day of sport ahead. england take on the west indies, weather permitting, in southampton in the cricket world cup. there will be full commentary of that match on test match special on 5 live sports extra — coverage has just begun. you can also follow play on the bbc sport website where you can also find match highlights. we'll have reaction from the hampshire bowl in sportsday at 6:30pm. we'll also have reaction from scotland's women's world cup match with japan plus be live

in le havre ahead of england's game with argentina tonight. and also wherejustin rose leads at pebble beach. and the toronto raptors have won the nba, for the first time in their history, after defeating the defending champions, the golden state warriors, 114—110. these were the scenes, in the ontario city, as fans reacted to the victory after game six of the play offs last night. they are the first canadian team to take home a major us sports title since the toronto bluejays won the mlb in 1993. global music star and raptors super fan drake also couldn't help butjoin in. maybe he will pen a new song about that. that's all the sport for now. more from the bbc sport centre at 11:15am. great pictures, thank you, mike, see you soon. a nationwide women's strike takes place in switzerland today with demonstrations across the country. marches were held 28 years ago for pay equality but campaigners

say little has changed and discrimination in the workplace still exists. imogen foulkes reports from berne. june 14th, 1991, 500,000 swiss women took to the streets to protest against inequality. they had no right to maternity leave, and not a single woman in the swiss government. dore heim was there. 1991 was a real big bang. i think it was like a wake—up call for our politics, and since then, we have achieved a lot. we have more women being politicians, we have more laws for women, for example paid maternity leave. so that day, almost 30 years ago, did achieve some things. but for a century, swiss women have complained that equality is moving at a snail‘s pace. they didn't even get the vote until 1971. today, combining work and family remains a huge challenge. swiss women earn an average of 20% less than men.

for pensions, the gap is 37%. that's why women not even born in the last strike are preparing for another one, and hoping for a change. there are so many things i wish could be achieved after this strike. one is, like, equal pay for equal work, less discrimination in the workplace, and also in everyday life, just because of your gender. hundreds of thousands of women are expected out on the streets for the strike, and swiss employers are taking a relaxed attitude. no—one is expected to be penalised for leaving work. the question really is what will change in the long—term, especially around that pay gap. imogen foulkes, bbc news, berne. the

time is 950 —— 9:55am.just —— 9:55am. just before the weather. this weekend, france's most famous orangutan turns 50. nanette arrived at the zoo in paris in 1972 when she was just three years old. she loves painting and drawing and her artwork has sold for thousands of pounds. she creates art several times a week, sometimes using paper and sometimes painting on the glass which separates her from visitors. she'll have a party on sunday and will even enjoy a slice of animal friendly birthday cake. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. any sign of the rain stopping? here is simon king. something many of us have been waiting to happen, the rain will eventually clear away today and it will become drier, not completely dry, but drier. that's the picture this morning. for england and wales it has been a soggy start to the day. even now, that rain is easing

and breaking up across southern areas, so and breaking up across southern areas, so while we have that rain still across england and wales, it is clearing and there will be sunny spells and showers throughout the afternoon. in fact, for scotland we have some sunny spells, many of us haven't seen blue skies for a long time. a very different scene in the scottish borders compared to yesterday. and through the afternoon, as you can see, the rain sta rts afternoon, as you can see, the rain starts clearing, there will still be showers as i mentioned, some of them on the heavy side throughout the afternoon, but sunny spells developing and there will be that mixture of sunny spells and showers across scotland. still the odd heavy shower into the afternoon but for most it will be dry, dry with sunny spells in northern ireland and a few showers here, showers dotted around england and wales, but certainly not that heavy, persistent rain we have been seeing over the last few days. temperatures getting up to around 16-19d. it is temperatures getting up to around 16—19d. it is going to feel quite pleasa nt 16—19d. it is going to feel quite pleasant when the sun comes out. through tonight, though, more cloud and another band of rain will start moving into the west, through

northern ireland and into western scotland, wales and the south—west of england. overnight temperatures down to around 6—12dc, fairly similarto down to around 6—12dc, fairly similar to what they have been for much of this week. we start the weekend with a bit of cloud and rain in the west, but that will break up quite quickly and showery rain will push to eastern areas during the afternoon. there will be some sunshine either side of that band of cloud moving eastwards, and again when the sun comes out those temperatures getting up into the mid to high teens feeling warmer than it has done recently. low pressure still in charge of the weather over the weekend, certainly into sunday. it is drifting its way further westward, so while we still have some showers and a bit of rain moving its way north and east would throughout sunday, especially so for scotla nd throughout sunday, especially so for scotland with a bit of rain moving through here, showers elsewhere but again there will be some sunny spells throughout much of sunday, and with that, temperatures getting up and with that, temperatures getting up to about 17—20dc. those temperatures will rise even further as we go through next week,

particularly in southern areas. on tuesday, look at that, 25 degrees in london, much dry as you can see for many parts of the uk although still one or two showers dotted around, so still a little unsettled but certainly not as bad as it has been recently. bye

hello, it's 10 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. —— joanna gosling. three—quarters of tall buildings with unsafe cladding unsafe still haven't had it removed or modified — two years after the grenfell tower fire in london killed 72 people. and survivors say some residents still haven't got a permant place to live, where they feel safe. it's like a sad dream. it hasn't felt real. we've had to come together and start to become solutions to a problem that should never have happened. the mother of an autistic man says she's worried he'll be made homeless today because the family can no longer afford to pay for a hotel for him, and two different councils have been unable to find anywhere suitable for him to live. twice he's ended up travelling

around the railways for days on end,