hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines... the brexit party leader, nigel farage, says he is not going to stand as a candidate in the general election. this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 3pm: do i find a seat, try and get myself into parliament, or do i serve the cause better the brexit party leader, nigel farage, traversing the length and says he won't be a candidate in next the breadth of the united kingdom, supporting 600 candidates? i've decided that the latter is the right one. month's general election. the government confirms the benefits freeze introduced by the conservatives three years ago do i find a seat, try and get myself into parliament, will end next april. or do i serve the cause better traversing the length and the breadth of the united kingdom, income tax will rise for the top 5% supporting 600 candidates? of earners and there'll be increases to corporation tax, i've decided that the latter under a labour government, is the right one. according to shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell. ministers confirm the vietnamese community comes that the benefits freeze introduced by the conservatives three years ago togetherfor a vigil for the 39 people found dead will end next april. income tax will rise for the top 5 per cent of earners in a lorry in essex. and corporation tax will increase, under a labour government, delhi's toxic smog forces according to shadow airports to cancel flights — the city's chief minister says chancellor, john mcdonnell. the air has become unbearable. the uk vietnamese community comes togetherfor a vigil now on bbc news, the victoria for the 39 people found dead

in a lorry in essex. delhi's toxic smog forces derbyshire programme week in review. airports to cancel flights, the city's chief minister says the air has become unbearable. lewis hamilton will start the us formula one grand prix in fifth position on the grid, hello and welcome to our programme. but is still poised to win the world drivers‘ championship. within the next half an hour we will bring you some of the highlights and original and shocking living journalism from our show conditions exposed by over the last week. the victoria derbyshire programme. on tuesday, we exposed the shocking conditions that some that's in half an hour, families in the capital city of the fifth—largest here on bbc news. economy in the world, london, are living in. families in the last remaining block of flats of a huge regeneration scheme in barnet are coping with cockroaches, damp, mould and flooding. while drug addicts inject heroin on the stairs. good afternoon. residents told us exclusively they feel they are being left to rot. sean has this exclusive report. we cannot carry on living here. the leader of the brexit party, nigel farage, has announced he won't be a candidate at next month's general election. mr farage, who has tried to become an mp seven times, says he'll focus instead on touring

the country to support his pa rty‘s candidates. the announcement comes after he offered an electoral alliance with the conservative party, an offer which was quickly rejected by the prime minister borisjohnson. here's our political correspondentjessica parker. walking into this election, nigel farage says borisjohnson‘s brexit deal is a gigantic con and that the brexit party is ready to field hundreds of candidates who will say so. but he won't be one of them. do i find a seat, try and get myself into parliament? or do i serve the cause better traversing the length and breadth of the uk supporting 600 candidates? i've decided the latter course is the right one. so, you aren't going to stand yourself? no, it's very difficult to do both. some will say he's running scared, after being turned down by the tories for a leave alliance.

do you think as a party there is anything you can offer nigel farage at this stage? i don't think we're interested in offering anything. what i would say is nigel has spent his entire career fighting for brexit, the prime minister has now negotiated a very good brexit deal. he says it isn't brexit at all. i campaigned for leave. away from brexit, borisjohnson is trying not to be on the back foot when it comes to spending pledges. today, serving up an end to the freeze on working age benefits from next year, scheduled to happen anyway... ..labour says it's a cynical election ploy. but they have some spending plans too, a £60 billion programme of energy—saving upgrades for low income households. 27 million homes will be fitted to ensure they are fully insulated, and that will be part of our contribution towards zero emissions. it will happen very quickly. it's early days in this campaign, all parties are trying out their opening pitches. i'm a candidate to be prime minister in this election, and frankly, when you look at the way

boris johnson and jeremy corbyn are carrying on, i think i could do a betterjob than either of them. we will be fighting hard for every vote, every constituency, putting forward a very strong prospectus about the future of scotland. parliament hasn't even been dissolved yet, that happens this week. then, those after your vote will be out across the uk, hoping for a chance to work here and work out where the country goes next. and a little earlierjessica gave us this update. he says the reason he is not standing as he thinks his efforts would be better spent going across the country and helping the 600 odd brexit candidates across england, wales and scotland.

he might have chosen, the conservative party would have thrown a lot of resources at that seat as they have before so maybe he thought it would be something of a distraction. he gave the conservative party, i think until mid—november to decide whether they wanted to take him up on this leave alliance. his offer was that if they ditched borisjohnson‘s brexit deal then maybe they could come up with some sort of electoral pact. as far as it is concerned between the brexit party and the conservative party at the moment it seems to be game on. the difficulty for the brexit party is that the campaign moves beyond brexit quite quickly into other policy areas. this party has only been formed for a few months and was formed originally to fight the european parliament elections. and did very well in those. did very well in those elections.

the question is whether it has the policy range it would need for a general election campaign. a general selection of policies will need to be available from all parties. this may hinge on how much it is an election about brexit or how much other parties like labour can steer it onto other issues. it does depend to some extent as to whether this is a brexit election or an election on other issues. it seems likely that the public will want to hear about a range of topics. it will be interesting when the brexit party manifesto comes out to see what they will have there in black and white. we will have to wait a bit longer before we get the full policies.

it sounds quite an expensive pledge. i think the labour party, with a number of their plans, have some quite big figures attached. they think it is worth it in the long run and would generate jobs and taxes and revenue for the treasury. i think it is interesting to see borisjohnson, when he has been out and about recently, he seemed to start the election campaign before it was even confirmed by mps. he has gone to hospitals, schools, police stations he wants to talk about investment in public services. i think they want to fend off the idea that they are a party of austerity. labour led a successful campaign in 2017 where they talked a lot about austerity and investment in public services and so i think boris johnson is going on the attack of that one. they might go in a bidding

war about how much they are going to spend but the questions will inevitably come of where you are getting the money from and will this be a load of borrowing to make these pledges happen. earlier i spoke to helen barnard, deputy director for policy from thejoseph rowntree foundation, which is a think tank focused on tackling poverty in the uk. she explained what this announcement means in practical terms. i think we hoped that it was coming but the government had refused to confirm it which was worrying. we need to understand that there has been a rising tide of poverty across the country for a number of years and this freeze on benefits has been the single biggest factor pulling families under, when we talk about families and what difference it makes, one family said they could onlyjust keep their head above water but as the benefits freeze tightened then she couldn't make the money cover food

and bills and adjust the essentials. there have been hundreds of thousands of people pulled into poverty because of it. more and more people pulled deeper into hardship. it is great to know that that is ending. of course, that doesn't turn back the rising tide that we already seen so i think that what this shows is that all parties know they have got to give a good offer to low income voters who are one of the biggest swing groups of voters but this has just got to be the start. people need to be able to rely on it. you can't get back the money you weren't given in the first place. the question that is raised by this good news story that the restriction of the growth of benefits is to end and that is good news to people who are in receipt of them, is how much poorer they are

real terms than if this was never introduced. basically, what it has meant is that average low income families have been losing around £560 from their income every year and that is about three months worth of food shopping. 0bviously, people having to make much less money stretch across those essentials and that does mean that some people get called into debt and have to go without essentials and that really tightens that grip. one of the things that is a real shame is that it undercut some of the good policies like raising minimum wage. that is a great thing to do but for many families they would have felt pretty much no benefit from that because at the same time, we have been weakening the social security that for people who are locked in by low pay and high rents, that is how you make it work for you as a family so that needs to be just as strong as what the parties are all offering on minimum wage.

what impact has it had on the benefit and welfare system more generally? has it helped to shrink the proportion of the national wealth that is going into welfare because that has always been an ambition that governments have had and they wanted to find other ways to support people rather than the benefits system? i think it has certainly saved money from the welfare budget but we need to question whether that is actually the right way to do that. when you think the majority of people who have been pulled under by this are in work already and the minimum wage has been going up, there has been a lot of good news on that side. it has just been such a shame to have really pulled the rug out from under all those good policies by knocking out the thing that people who are stuck on low pay, who are trying to bring up kids, really need to rely on. i spoke to one mother who said that she works two jobs but she has to fit in a trip to a food bank in between those jobs

because she still can't make the money stretch across the essentials. we know that that is not what any of us want for our society because that is not compassionate and just. i think this is a good start to say let's reset and we are going to fund it like our other public services. we want the nhs funded so we can rely on it and many of us will have to rely on social security when we have when we have young kids, when we are ill, when we are caring for someone, when we are on low pay, when we are trying to pay high rents and we need to be able to rely on that as a public service alongside all the others. a mass has been taking place in the catholic vietnamese church in london to remember the 39 people who were found dead in a refrigerated lorry in essex ten days ago. police have not confirmed the individual identities of the victims, but believe they were all from vietnam. another mass has been taking place today, our correspondent chi chi izundu was at the service and sent this update.

well, it has been an understandably emotional service for the vietnamese community here in britain that have congregated in the church just behind me. it started with a projection of the container containing those 39 bodies from that industrial park in grays being removed followed by a minutes silence. the mass is being led by bishop nicholas hudson who said that he wanted to offer prayers to some members of the congregation who could possibly be relatives of the dead and the victims. he also offered prayers for the emergency services that had to deal with that incident but he interestingly also offered prayers for the traffickers and said that he hoped, as a result of this tragedy, would have a change of heart. dozens of flights to the indian capital, delhi, have been diverted, because of poor visibility caused by toxic smog. schools are closed and a public health emergency is in place, in a city that's home to 20 million people. pratiksha ghildial

has sent this report. for a fifth day now, people in delhi are breathing the season's worst and most toxic air. pollution returns to delhi every winter but many are saying this is the worst they have ever seen. in many parts of the city, the pollution levels are more than 20 times their safe limit. these people have gathered outside the prime minister's house to demand a basic right, clean air. they believe there isn't enough political will to find a solution to the crisis. you can obviously see how terrible it is and it's actually scary you can't see things in front of you. patients are coming with more lung respiratory diseases like more affected with asthma. one of the main reasons for the pollution every year is the burning of crop stubble by farmers in delhi's neighbouring states. they say they don't have any other way to dispose of the crop residue.

german chancellor angela merkel, who was in the capital for a visit, chose not to wear amask. the visiting bangladeshi cricket team continued practising, despite the air quality. the worst sufferers are people who work on the streets like traffic policeman, tuk—tuk drivers and the homeless. the government says they are doing what they can and has banned construction activities, is limiting the number of cars on the road and has asked for schools to remain shut for a few days. but a long—term solution does not seem to be in the site and latest studies show that lung cancer and premature deaths are rising in the city. the headlines on bbc news... the brexit party leader,

nigel farage, says he is not going to stand as a candidate in next month's general election. the government confirms the benefits freeze introduced by the conservatives three years ago will end next april. income tax will rise for the top five % of earners and corporation tax will increase, under a labour government, according to shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell. and in sport... leicester city can move up to third in the table if they beat crystal palace. they're into the second half at selhurst park. leicester half at selhurst park. have just scored. england have lost the second t20 international on their tour of new zealand. the black caps won by 21 runs in wellington. it's now 1—1 in the five match series. lewis hamilton should win his sixth formula one world championship this evening. he'll start from fifth on the grid and needs a top eight finish

to guarantee the title. i'll be back with more on those stories later... airbnb, which allows people to rent property online, says it's banning bookings for so—called party houses. it follows the death of five people in a shooting in san francisco on halloween night. here's our north america correspondent chris buckler. parties have been a big issue for the company for a very long time, but what has led them to act was a party thrown at a home in 0rinda, which is an affluent suburb in san francisco last week. now a woman rented that house, claiming she wanted to find a place to allow her asthmatic family to escape from the smoke from the california wildfires. in fact, she threw a halloween party in which 100 people turned up and it descended into violence. in which there were shootings and five people died — in their 20s and late teens. now, airbnb has said that's completely unacceptable and they say

they are going to put in place new policies that will ban party houses. now that might prove difficult to do, but brian chesky, who is the co—founder and chief executive officer of airbnb has set out a number of things that they are going to do. he says they're going to create a dedicated party house rapid response team and that they're going to screen high risk reservations among other things. he's pretty blunt in this post on twitter. he says "we must do better and we will". at least four people have been injured in a knife attack in hong kong after another day of clashes between pro—democracy protesters and riot police. local media say that the assailant had been arguing over politics before taking out a knife. he was then turned on and subdued by an angry crowd. riot police had stormed the shopping centre in tai koo district earlier after some protesters forming a human chain inside and began vandalising restaurants.

our correspondent richard lister is here with the latest. we lister is here with the latest. have got the protests a we have got the protests and talk of a meeting in beijing. this is the 22nd weekend of protests so this has been a long—running drama plaguing hong kong. there are rallies outside multiple shopping centres outside hong kong. there are some protesters in this one incident that formed a human chain. eyewitnesses said restau ra nts human chain. eyewitnesses said restaurants were vandalised before riot police intervened and subdued some protesters with pepper spray. some of these seem to be sparked when sam went to argue with the pro—democracy protesters. —— some went. the pro—democracy councillor saw what was happening and after what followed, he seemed to have pa rt what followed, he seemed to have

part of his ear bitten off. some protesters turned on the original attacker. most of this was captured live by cameras that were following these protesters. there have been a number of arrests and as we also know, there are at least four people quite badly hurt. it gives you a sense of the intensity of these protests. today's weren't as violent as yesterday's when police were using tear gas, water gas as others we re using tear gas, water gas as others were setting fire to subway stations. what is the prospect of an end coming to these protests? we saw with the giletjaune protests that eventually they subsided. with the giletjaune protests that eventually they subsidedm with the giletjaune protests that

eventually they subsided. if we cast oui’ eventually they subsided. if we cast our minds back tojune, that was the original source of these protests, the extradition proposal where it was proposed to make it easierfor mainland china to extradite some criminals are from hong kong. protesters went out in their millions back in june protesters went out in their millions back injune and in september it seems that beijing blinked and withdrew that bill but these have got momentum of their own. they want an amnesty for those arrested, they want an enquiry into police brutality and they are calling for universal suffrage. they are preparing to change with the way that they deal with these demonstrators but we don't know how. that'll be an interesting development when it does finally come. protests have continued on the streets of chile over the weekend, marking two weeks since major unrest began. at least 20 people have died

and thousands of people have been arrested since last month. the demonstrators are worried that planned economic reforms could leave them worse off. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson reports from santiago. the desire for change is still burning on the streets of santiago. two weeks in, and they are not giving up. families, children, people young and old committed to the protest movement that has suddenly taken hold of chile. they wa nt to suddenly taken hold of chile. they want to see a shake—up of politics and a more inclusive society. these people say they want dignity, respect and to be listened to. meanwhile, politicians met in recent days to find a way forward but so far little breakthrough. because macro we want to say to the government that we have a counter proposal. what the government has put on the table until now is not enough. this couple have not let the

protest getting their way, they got married two days ago and had their hen party at one of the demonstrations. we have come to protest to support people. if you stay inside, it is as if you are doing nothing. the privileges i have aren't just doing nothing. the privileges i have aren'tjust for me doing nothing. the privileges i have aren't just for me but for everyone. you could see that clearly on the streets this past weekend. the vast majority of chileans are protesting in peace but it seems like the police are acting tough. by early afternoon on saturday, before the protest had gathered momentum, water and tear gas were being used to liberty to disperse the crowd. —— deliberately. this man says he will not stop his protests until things change. lots of politicians think it is just change. lots of politicians think it isjust a poor change. lots of politicians think it is just a poor people complaining

but that is not true. there are a of professionals, engineers like me who are showing up. this comes across all society. we have never seen this in the chilly so the authorities are scared. defiance in the face of authority. just 30 years ago, the country was under dictatorship. chileans have country was under dictatorship. chilea ns have found country was under dictatorship. chileans have found their voice and they are determined to keep using it. as wildfires have raged across parts of eastern australia — there have been concerns over the fate of hundreds of koalas. many are believed to have died but there have been some survivors. tim allman has the story. his name, for reasons unexplained, is corduroy paul, and he's been very, very lucky indeed. he was found curled up in a ball, dehydrated and clinging to life. along with another koala called anwin, corduroy paul

survived the fires that have ravaged his habitat. thousands of hectares of land destroyed, trees and foliage turned to ash. koalas are especially vulnerable, often defenceless in the face of the flames. it's just gone straight through and very little would actually survive in there unscathed. wallabies, kangaroos, deer can get out because they can run, but koalas just really can't. in the last few days, sydney has been shrouded in smoke. the strong winds have fanned dozens of bushfires. they are an annual occurrence, but they have come unusually early this year. there are no reports so far of any injuries to people at least, but the scale of what's happening is frightening, nonetheless. very scary. we've been clearing out as much as we can of leaf litter and stuff like that, but what else can you do? this whole area is home to a very rare, genetically

diverse koala population. as these fires recede, they will look to see how many remain. corduroy paul may have survived, but for others, it could well be a different story. tim allman, bbc news. from a very valuable violin to a very valuable pair of trousers once worn by the singer olivia newton—john, whose best—known role was of course sandy in the film grease. the skinny black trousers she wore in the film have been bought at a charity auction for just over 314,000 pounds. she's previously said they were so tight, she had to be sewn into them for each day of filming. the identity of their buyer remains a secret but the auction raised rounghly 1.9 million pounds in totalfor 0livia's cancer treatment centre. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos.

pa rt part two of their weekend looks better than part one. the area of low pressure that brought the gales yesterday has eased. variable cloud around this afternoon and it stays wet and breezy though for the east of scotland. a little bit of rain for north—east england but good spells of sunshine for many. should see some drier spells at times. temperatures at 12 to 1a degrees with lighter winds actually feeling quite pleasant for some it turns windier and wetter across the southwest this evening, the next area of low pressure suites and so it has quite unsettled. some showers that will be quite heavy and it will state breezy across northern and eastern scotland. low pressure weather is for monday and it was a windy and wet across scotland. lots of showers for england and wales. signs of returning chillier as we hand through the next working week, struggling to make double figures by 00:27:58,867 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the end of the week.