this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00. the prime minister has signalled he will ask for a general election if mps vote to stop a no—deal brexit. an emergency meeting of the cabinet was called this afternoon. they were told an early election could be an option. as conservative mps were being entertained in the garden of number 10, boris johnson urged colleagues not to side with the opposition. i don't want an election, you don't wa nt i don't want an election, you don't wantan i don't want an election, you don't want an election. let's get on with the people ‘s agenda. a few yards away in whitehall, protesters accused the prime minister of mounting a coup as labour said it welcomed the prospect of a general election.

i will be delighted. when the election comes, i'm ready for it, you are ready for it, will be ready for it. i will take the message out there and above all, we will win for there and above all, we will win for the people of this country! hurricane dorian batters the bahamas, with thousands of homes destroyed. a man admits to the manslaughter of three—year—old alfie lamb after crushing him behind his car seat last year. and at 11.30 we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, ros altmann and mihir bose. stay with us for that. good evening. at the start of a hugely significant week in the brexit process,

earlier today the prime minister emerged from number 10 to urge mps not to try to delay the brexit process, and he hinted that if they did, the result could be a general election, though he claimed he wasn't keen on that prospect. borisjohnson was aiming his remarks primarily at some conservative colleagues who are ready to join forces with the opposition this week to prevent a no—deal brexit. the prime minister was speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting at downing street as our political editor, laura kuenssberg, reports. boris, boris... 0ut, out, out. conflict and confrontation, the soundtrack to recent days around downing street already. behind the gates, the prime minister stepping forward, perhaps to stoke it up. the official—like turn is only deployed for moments that matter.

not that he wants to admit it, there might be an election on the way. as we come to the brexit deadline, i am encouraged by the progress we are making but if they're one thing could hold us back from these talks is the sense in brussels that mps might find some way to cancel the referendum or that tomorrow, mps will vote withjeremy corbyn for yet another pointless delay. 0pposition and some tory mps want emergency votes to make it impossible for him to take us out of the european union without a deal. number ten is trying everything to stop them. if they do, they will plainly chop the legs out from under the uk position and make any further negotiation absolutely impossible. there are no circumstances in which i will ask brussels to delay. we are leaving on the 31st of october, no ifs or buts. let's let our negotiators

get on with their work without that sword of damocles over the next and without an election, without an election. i don't want an election. you don't want an election. he might have rushed back in without it coming from his lips, but if mps change the law this week, it is clear the lectern will be out to call an election within days. did the prime ministerjust announce a general election without announcing a general election? he is not ready to spell it out but it is as clear as day from senior sources, if rebel mps defeat number ten this week, they are ready to call a rapid election on october the 14th. while demonstrators were at the front, tory mps wear out the back, being schmoozed in the number ten garden. ignore the charm and threats and there will be an election called and some brexiteers tonight are right behind the prime minister. it is disappointing the same mps who appear not to have recognised and respected

the referendum results are not respecting the fact borisjohnson is now prime minister and he had a huge mandate from the membership. he doesn't want an early general election, wants to everybody to get behind him as he negotiates the exit from the european union. but many of the likely conservative rebels will simply not be persuaded, even if it means being chucked out of their own party. myjob is to represent my community and i am going to stand firm in doing that. they are concerned about the damage of no deal to the economy and i think rather than almost attacking mps who are representing their constituents' concerns, the better thing to do would be to addressing those fees properly for a change. i want to introduce you to the socialist who will go into number ten in a matter of weeks, jeremy corbyn. it is notjust up to the tories. labour is rallying to the cause of preventing us from leaving without a deal and technically

they could stand in the way of calling an election. their leader didn't sound much like he would try to stop one tonight. when the election comes, i am ready for it, you are ready for it, we will take the message out there and we will win for the people of this country. we will defeat this lot and bring about the sense ofjustice and equality. that is what our movement was founded to achieve. salford, thank you very much. although some labour mps and voices from the party's past one an election before we leave the eu could simply be a number ten trick. jeremy corbyn has behaved responsibly and if he continues to put the country first, it will benefit the country and himself. he can now play a decisive role in how brexit develops. but he should see an election before brexit is decided for the elephant trap that it is.

at the other end of the spectrum, the qualified offer of support from the brexit party — if the tories go for no deal, they won't gobble up their votes. tories, you cannot win without us. boris, if you do the right thing and we support you, you will be a national hero in the history of this nation. downing street might have welcomed its newest resident today, a rescue dog adopted by the prime minister and his partner. but how long he and his owners call this home, may soon be a question that is answered by us all. mps will return to house of commons tomorrow when the latest legislative move will take place to try to block a no—deal brexit. and if that succeeds, downing street is signalling that the prime minister would then try to call for a general election. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, has been looking at how

the next few days and weeks could unfold. westminster‘s preparing for a huge parliamentary battle. tomorrow, mps return from their summer break, and they're going to ask the speaker for an emergency debate and vote, which they hope will allow them to take control of business in the house of commons. then on wednesday, borisjohnson has his first prime minister's questions. that will be followed by the chancellor laying out the spending round, where he will announce more money for public services. then mps will try to change the law, forcing borisjohnson to ask for a delay to brexit, if a deal hasn't gone through parliament. at some point during the week, the house of lords would have to approve that as well. so, what happens next? well, the uk is due to leave the eu on 31st october. borisjohnson says that will happen even if there is no deal. but if mps have managed to change the law, then brexit could be delayed,

although the prime minister says he'd refuse do that, so we could be heading towards a general election. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. 0ur political correspondent, jessica parker, is at westminster. borisjohnson boris johnson says borisjohnson says he doesn't want an election. we don't want an election. is an election on october the 14th inevitable? i wouldn't say is inevitable, for a couple of reasons. first of all, what are we getting from government sources that if mps are successful, even just their initial efforts tomorrow to seize control of the order paper, then downing street will try to call a snap election, but first, mps need to be successful in doing that in order to make the government make that move. but then also, the government would need to win support of two—thirds of mps. as laura was

just referring to, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, seems fairly gung ho, as opposition leaders often are, because they say they can do a betterjob than the leader in post. but mps are worried, because they think that perhaps if they voted for a general election on the basis that it happened on october the 1ath, borisjohnson could theoretically turn around a little later and say actually, i think a better date would be november the first, for example, which would mean parliament isn't setting because it would be automatically dissolved in the run—up to that all—important brexit day. it is the second reason why 0ctober day. it is the second reason why october the 14th isn't necessarily guaranteed. i'm sure downing street would say, i'm sure it would expect that if it says around the 14th of 0ctober that if it says around the 14th of october that is what borisjohnson means, and he would stick to that pledge. but we are operating in environment at the moment where many people are suspicious of other people's motives, so i don't think

it is necessarily clear club that we will get an election on the 1ath, but it would be naive to think that if this stage it is not a strong possibility. looking ahead to events closer in time, i.e. the next couple of days, mps trying to get that legislation through the commons to block a no deal brexit, what other numbers looking like? do think the so—called rebel alliance have the numbers to get the legislation through? speaking to people who are pa rt through? speaking to people who are part of what someone describing as a rebel alliance, they seem pretty confident that they can get the legislation, at least through the commons, although it has to get through the house of lords and both chambers ina through the house of lords and both chambers in a pretty short space of time, because of course, thinking back to last week's big news, if you can remember, the talk was how boris johnson had sent three of its privy council is off to bell moral in order to ask the queen to suspend parliament starting at some point between the ninth and the 12th of

0ctober. —— bell balmoral. that in itself isn't guaranteed either, in order to push through that legislation. those pushing the idea seemed confident in the numbers, but borisjohnson has seemed confident in the numbers, but boris johnson has been seemed confident in the numbers, but borisjohnson has been trying to turn up heat tonight, coming out on the steps of downing street and saying that if conservative mp is back those cross—party moves to block a no deal brexit, that will hugely damage the uk's negotiating position, because he is holding out, and that you have to keep no deal on the table in order to get brussels to blink. sirjohn curtice is politics professor at the university of strathclyde and president of the british polling council,

i thinkjeremy corbyn has a crucial decision to make tomorrow morning, which is whether or not indeed the labour party is going to be willing to acquiesce at a time when the party is atjust 25% in the opinion polls, even below where they stood under michael ford in 1983. 0rders does it decide to take some of the pressure off the tory rebels that they want to vote in favour of hilary benn‘s bill, and to make the prime minister's life more difficult by indicating that the labour party would not be willing to vote for a general election? it has to be said that it general election? it has to be said thatitis general election? it has to be said that it is not obvious that it is currently in the labour party's interest to go down that path, as tony blair was suggesting. the party has for months been insisting that the best way to resolve brexit is to hold a general election, but i think 110w hold a general election, but i think now it needs to sit down coolly and decide whether or not they will act

on that rhetoric. all weather in order to maintain the coalition that it hopes will avoid a no deal brexit, that in fact it should now indicate that it would not vote for a general election. if it was to ta ke a general election. if it was to take that stance, boris johnson's hopes of holding an election on the 14th of june at least hopes of holding an election on the 14th ofjune at least would then become much more difficult. he would have to try to overcome the fixed term parliament act, which would be a parliamentary battle in itself, and he has limited the amount of time he has left to do that because he is suspending parliament next week. bluntly we are saying that the labour party would lose a general election. tony blair is saying that an election now would be an elephant trap forjeremy corbyn of the labour party. there is no indication that an early election would propel jeremy corbyn into downing street. 2596 jeremy corbyn into downing street. 25% of the vote is a long way behind and there has been no sign at all of the labour party recovering to the

position it fell in the wake of the european elections. it has lost far too much ground to the liberal democrats. that said, there is no guarantee that the conservatives and borisjohnson would achieve their objective, which is to achieve an overall majority, and certainly to make sure there are more prone brexit mps and anti— brexit mps inside the house of commons. the truth is, if you take the current polls, and you assume, which is a big assumption, that the geography of each party's support is roughly what it was in 2017, you essentially discover that the eight point lead that the tories have at the moment, with the liberal democrats at 19, mightjust get boris with the liberal democrats at 19, might just get boris johnson with the liberal democrats at 19, mightjust get borisjohnson to 325 seats, in other words it is about a 50% chance of achieving an overall majority. mrjohnson definitely has a fight on his hand, but it would not be withjeremy corbyn, it would be with nigel farage. if he is going to turn this to his advantage he would have to squeeze further the

brexit party vote. the problem is, as he made clear on the steps of the house of commons this evening, he is still insisted he is going to get a deal. nigel farage is insistent that he wants a no deal brexit. therefore, there is at least a risk that nigel farage's brexit party will fight the conservative party ha rd will fight the conservative party hard for the leave vote, and although the conservatives have made considerable progress in advancing their position against nigel farage's determined opposition, they may find that making further progress p roves may find that making further progress proves to be quite difficult. what did you think of his address to the nation in downing street today? he was talking about — trying to sound very reasonable, saying he wants and a deal with brussels and says progress is being made, and also outline his spending commitments. making it clear in a way that the tory party is now no longer the party of austerity. that's right, he was insisting, and

attempt to try to persuade those tory mps who are minded perhaps to vote for the legislation this week this that he is on course to achieving a deal, although it is a claim that we have heard others, including hilary benn, dispute. what is also interesting is the other weapon that mrjohnson is clearly hoping to deploy in action is basically yes, the conservative party is no longer the party of tory austerity, as the labour party would like to put it, but rather the party that has a radical new agenda for domestic politics. the trouble is, so far at least, what his do or die position on brexit does look as though it has won him votes, there is no sign so far that his domestic agenda has helped him reach across

the divide and regain any ground among ravine —— remain voters. a government public information campaign is under way costing £100 million, urging people and businesses to make sure they are ready for brexit. this it comes as new figures show that uk manufacturing output fell last month, by the fastest rate in 7 years. the data firm markit says this is partly because of political uncertainty and global trade tensions. so how prepared for brexit are firms across the uk? our business editor simon jack has been finding out. the uk and the eu's deep trading relationship was on display today at this food fair in london. uk firms are being urged to prepare themselves for a no—deal brexit, as the most expensive government advertising campaign in history was launched this week. in all the newspapers today, new campaign, they are spending £100 million on this, telling you to get ready for brexit. we are not ready and the rest of europe isn't ready. we are trying to export

at the moment into europe and none of the european distributors will touch it until brexit has either gone through or not, so it's a really difficult time for us at the moment. we just want some clarity. in the stage of our sort of business, as i say, it is a small start—up. so, for now, brexit ready, yes? brexit ready, yes. yeah, bring it on. can we have a go? you want to start it? for the confused and unprepared, help is at hand. a new online questionnaire generates a company specific list of things you need to do. tea merchant ricky qatari filled it out and we looked at the results. set up a duty deferment account to pay your customs duty. you have one of those? no. no? duty deferment account? do you even know what that is? no. me neither. in total, there were 25 steps ricky needs to take to prepare.

some of which the government's website says will take more than four weeks. time ricky would rather spend in other ways. it's quite scary. the amount of items i've got to look at or potentially employ someone to now work with me on to get these things all resolved in time. we are busy with trade shows and meeting clients, trying to continue with the business. i think this is going to take some time to really go through. so some businesses here say they've done all they can, others say they feel very underprepared. most of them, frankly, don't know whether they are prepared for a no—deal brexit but there is a general level of frustration that businesses are being asked to spend time and money preparing for something that officially the government doesn't even want. two months isn't long, but it's long enough to make a difference, according to the founder of a small business network. small businesses have got two months to prepare and one of the big reasons why they haven't been doing any planning up until now is because they haven't known the answers to the questions they had.

they didn't know for what they were planning. we still don't but what the government is saying today is if you have a good, fit business, you will be in a much better position to get through brexit. the government's £100 million campaign message is simple. when it comes to brexit preparation, it's crunch time. simon jack, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: the prime minister signals he will ask for a general election if mps vote to stop a no—deal brexit. hurricane dorian batters the bahamas with thousands of homes destroyed. a man admits to the manslaughter of 3—year—old alfie lamb after crushing him behind his car seat last year. a man has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a three

and—a—half—year—old boy who was crushed behind a car seat in february last year. stephen waterson, who is 26, had denied any involvement in the death of alfie lamb at an earlier trial, in which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. richard lister was in court alfie lamb, described in court as the loveliest child you could ever meet, but his mother, adrian hoare, had taken him from one chaotic home to the next and alfie's father figure, stephen waterson, was an angry, controlling man with a history of violence. these are the last images of alfie, struggling to keep up with waterson and hoare on a shopping trip. they're with two more adults and another child, who all lived in waterson‘s flat. they seem almost oblivious to alfie and he's about to be placed in the rear footwell of waterson‘s overloaded car, between hoare's feet, for the drive home. by the time they arrived back at their flat here in croydon, it was clear something was very wrong. during the journey, stephen waterson had become annoyed with alfie crying, and pushed his

seat back against him. when they pulled the little boy out of the footwell, alfie wasn't breathing. stephen waterson rang for an ambulance, but pretended to be a passer—by. is there a door number you can see? no, it's a block of flats. i've just literally been driving past. right, 0k. and what's the telephone number you're calling from, please? it's... don't worry if you don't know, it's fine. giving evidence in february, alfie's mother, adrian hoare, said he'd cried, "mummy", when waterson moved his seat back. but she said waterson responded that he wasn't being told what to do by a three—year—old. the jury were unable to reach a verdict on waterson in that trial, though they found hoare guilty of child cruelty. as his retrial was due to get underway this afternoon, waterson finally admitted he was guilty of alfie's manslaughter. the happy, healthy little boy crushed behind a car seat. richard lister, bbc news.

the giant steel company tata is closing its 0rb electrical steels factory in newport in south wales. tata said it couldn't afford the £50 million upgrade needed to make the plant viable to produce steel for electric vehicles. it said it hoped to redeploy the 380 workers affected in its other welsh plants. comedian and actor kevin hart is recovering in hospital with serious back injuries after his vintage car crashed into a ditch in los angeles. hart, known for films such asjumanji and the secret life of pets, was a passenger in the car which was being driven by his financee at the time. dame barbara windsor met borisjohnson at downing street this afternoon to discuss dementia. the actress was diagnosed five years ago with alzheimer's. she delivered a letter to the prime minister signed by 100 thousand people calling for better

care for fellow sufferers. more than 30 people are missing, feared dead, after their boat caught fire off the coast of california. the vessel, thought to have been used for scuba diving, put out a mayday call in the early hours of the morning. five crew members got on deck and managed to escape before the fire took hold. crews we re crews were fighting the fire when the boat sank in 64 feet of water offshore. five people were evacuated bya offshore. five people were evacuated by a good samaritan pleasure craft known as the great escape. currently, 34 people aboard the vessel are unaccounted for. hurricane dorian has caused unprecedented devastation in the bahamas according to the government there. there's been severe flooding and winds of up to 200mph. 13,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. it's a slow—moving hurricane, which was classified as a category five when it hit land yesterday, making it the second—strongest atlantic storm on record.

it's now weakened to a category four, but remains extremely dangerous with winds of up to 155mph and possible storm surges of up to 7 metres, that's 23 feet. the hurricane is now moving towards the east coast of america and carrying on upwards, with florida, georgia, north and south carolina all declaring states of emergency. 0ur correspondent aleem maqbool reports from florida. 0vernight, life was changed in the bahamas by the strongest storm ever recorded there. large areas of the low—lying islands totally submerged. abaco in the bahamas has been hit hard by dorian, the strongest storm ever recorded there. large areas of these low—lying

islands were totally submerged. when switching more than i had a 60 miles an hour with 0lsson surges recorded up to 23 feet high. scraps of footage posted online as the hurricane barrelled through, before power and communications went down, painting a terrifying picture. please, pray for us. the roof of the apartment block of the mother who took this video had been ripped off. she was clinging to the side of the building with her baby. some people, the water just took them. there has as yet been no update on her safety and no official for casualties. there have been reports of casualties and body seen, but we cannot confirm those until we go and look for ourselves. that is the water hitting my front window, which is extremely high. the place is completely flooded. that is my kitchen window, that water is

heading. that has to be a minimum of about 20 feet off the ground. among those helplessly watching the waters rise the minister of agriculture who filmed this. aid agencies say up to 13,000 times could have been destroyed as the storm moves through the bahamas at some point atjust one mile an hour. it could be days until help reaches many and as well as fears about lives lost and those injured, there are concerns that food and clean drinking water will be hard to come by. this is now the fourth year in a row in which there has been a category 5 hurricane in the atlantic, a record in the modern era, with experts attributing the increased frequency of these weather events to climate change. and dorian now heads towards florida, with projections this storm could remain hurricane

strength for as much as another five days. now it's time to look at the weather for the week ahead with chris fawkes. a quick word on hurricane dorian, of all the atlantic hurricane is there is only one that was stronger, hurricane alan back in 1980. this picture of monday, this massive category five storm has been pounding the island of grand bahama. winds were initially about 200 miles an hour but you get a sense of warming cloud tops, which tells you the peak of the storm is beginning to ease. the wind is still fierce, it is still a category five hurricane. for us, over the it is still a category five hurricane. for us, overthe next it is still a category five hurricane. for us, over the next few days a endeavouring to come through, temperatures running out or a little

bit lower this time of year. on tuesday, for many of us it will start on a cloudy note, perhaps a bit of early brightness for eastern scotla nd bit of early brightness for eastern scotland and central and eastern parts of england. 0therwise, scotland and central and eastern parts of england. otherwise, the cloud could be thick enough for some spots of rain, the afternoon sees the weather turning increasingly went the weather turning increasingly we nt a cross the weather turning increasingly went across the west of the country with heavy rain moving in. dry and bright towards the south—east, and thatis bright towards the south—east, and that is where there will be the highest temperatures, still into the low 20s. 0n highest temperatures, still into the low 20s. on tuesday night on wednesday, a couple of weather fronts moving south—east with across the uk. and both of these will have cooler air following. at first a cold front bringing the wet start for east anglia and the south—east. showers will follow, and then cooler and fresher air. then moving in to northern ireland, scotland and north wales, bringing a strip of rain with it, and chilly airfollowing wales, bringing a strip of rain with it, and chilly air following that one through. so, around 12 in aberdeen and 15 for edinburgh and belfast. taking a look at the charts for thursday, you can see we have north—westerly winds initially, but later in the day this warm front

edging and of the atlantic. that will bring