this is bbc news. the headlines at 11pm: the welsh secretary, alun cairns, is accused of a cover up after denying that he knew about the role of one of his staff in the collapse of a rape trial. the lib dems launch their election campiagn, claiming the uk would get a "remain bonus" of £50 billion over five years if brexit was stopped. when i look at borisjohnson and jeremy corbyn, i am absolutely certain i could do a betterjob than either of them. cabinet ministerjacob rees—mogg apologises for suggesting that residents of grenfell tower should have used "common sense" and left the building, instead of listening to fire brigade. and at 11:30pm we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers —

the ceo of the association of chartered certified accountants, helen brand, and political commentator lance price. stay with us for that. good evening, welcome to bbc news. on the eve of the launch of the conservative election campaign, a member of boris johnson's cabinet, alun cairns, the welsh secretary, has been urged to resign, by a victim of rape. the victim, who can't be named, says mr cairns should step down because of his links to a man who sabotaged her trial. ross england, who served as an aide to the welsh secretary, was heavily criticised by a judge for his role in wrecking the trial last year. mr england was subsequently selected as a conservative candidate for the welsh assembly in 2021. mr cairns had denied

knowledge of the events. but bbc news has seen an e—mail sent to him, mentioning the issue. our wales political editor felicity evans has the story. alun cairns arriving at the last cabinet meeting before the election, just hours before he faced calls for his resignation. he has been under pressure over what he knew about this man, ross england, a former aide who was a witness in a rape trial in april last year. mr england's evidence caused the trial to collapse. thejudge, stephen hopkins qc, told him... "you have managed single—handed, and i have no doubt it was deliberate on your part, to sabotage this trial. get out of my court." eight months later, the conservative party in wales selected ross england as a candidate for the welsh assembly elections in 2021. alun cairns endorsed him as a friend and colleague with whom it will be a pleasure to campaign. last week, when his role in the collapse of the trial came to light, the party suspended ross england and alun cairns said he became aware of the collapse of the trial some considerable time

afterwards, and had no knowledge of the role of ross england. but it has emerged that last summer mr cairns‘ special advisor sent him an e—mail which said: "i have spoken to ross and he is confident no action will be taken by the court." how do you feel we can best do that? that was four months before mr cairns endorsed him as a candidate. alun cairns has not given an interview or a statement today but the conservative party in wales has issued a statement. they said, "there is no new information in this leaked document confirming an informal conversation which took place a considerable time after the trial collapsed and is consistent with statements made." but the woman who was raped has called on mr cairns to step down. she told us: "if he had come out and condemned ross in the first instance, he would not be in this position. i cannot believe that not one senior welsh conservative has said that

what he did was wrong." speaking last week, she spoke of her anger that the party had selected mr england as a candidate. for them to make him a candidate in a target seat for the welsh assembly proves to me how little respect they have for me, how little respect they have for the criminaljustice system. why would you notjust give the victim a fair chance of actually justice to prevail? why wouldn't you just let a jury decide on the facts? with a general election under way, mr cairns‘ political opponents are echoing calls for his resignation. it's time for alun cairns to look at his position and to think about whether he should step down now, for the sake of the country and for the sake of his party. but senior conservatives are trying not to get drawn in. the person who was involved has been suspended. alun is a fantastic secretary of state, deeply respected and effective. i don't have the full details on this. obviously it is a very, very sensitive issue,

i don't want to speculate. for the moment, mr cairns is digging in. but with a campaign launch tomorrow, the party will want this row settled, and fast. felicity evans, bbc news. in another development today involving a cabinet minister, the leader of the commons, jacob rees—mogg, has apologised after suggesting that people living in grenfell tower might have used "common sense" on the night of the fire two years ago and left the tower block despite the fire brigade‘s advice to stay in the building until help arrived. 72 people died in the fire in the summer of 2017. our special corrspondent lucy manning reports. if there's one tragedy it's easy to show sympathy with and be sensitive about, it's grenfell. the inquiry finding just last week, residents shouldn't have been told to stay put in their flats for so long, yet one government minister has managed to upset the survivors. the more one's read over the weekend about the report and about the chances of people surviving, if you just ignore what you're told and leave, you are so much safer.

and i think if either of us was in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. itjust seems the common sense thing to do. marcio gomes, his pregnant wife, and two daughters were trapped on the 21st floor. they filmed the smoke and the darkness that made it almost impossible to escape. their son, logan, was stillborn after the fire. operator: there is no way you can get out? floor 21? there's no way! there's no way. we have tried three times already. the fire's here! you know, i lost my son and, yeah, it was hurtful. it's not very nice for the survivors, the families, or even the community, as well, what he said. he certainly needs to start thinking a bit more about what he's saying. and if he wants to talk about common sense, then i can quite... you know, turn around and say it's common sense not to build houses or flats with flammable material.

as he left cabinet, mr rees—mogg was asked if he thought grenfell residents lacked common sense. that's not what i said. not what i said. reporter: do you regret your comments? that's not what i said. he later said: "i profoundly apologise. what i meant to say is that i would have also listened to the fire brigade's advice to stay and wait at the time. however, with what we know now and with hindsight, i wouldn't and i don't think anyone else would. i would hate to upset the people of grenfell if i was unclear in my comments." do you accept his apology for those comments? no, not really. i think it was just very insensitive. it shows how out of touch he is with everyone. at any time, jacob rees—mogg's comments would be seen as insensitive, but at the start of an election campaign, they suggest a government minister lacking empathy at the very time politicians are trying to connect with people. grenfell survivors again feeling let down by those in charge. lucy manning, bbc news.

the liberal democrats have launched their election campaign, claiming they're the only party with a clear—cut promise to stop brexit. the party leaderjo swinson said this election could bring about a "seismic change" in british politics and that the economy would benefit from a so—called ‘remain bonus‘, an extra £50 billion to spend on public services over the next five years. if brexit were to be stopped. brexit was also a prominent feature of both labour and conservatives campaigns today, as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. there are some flashing images coming up. 0ur liberal democrat candidate for prime minister, jo swinson. a liberal democrat candidate for prime minister? could jo swinson really transform a dozen from 2017 into a group who could govern? this is not a normal election. it‘s not a typical choice about whether you want the red team or the blue team to be in government.

her ranks have grown as brexit has rippled through the two big parties. but, as a tribe who unashamedly wants to keep us in the eu, the lib dems believe their best chance is now. i never thought that i would stand here and say that i‘m a candidate to be prime minister. but when i look at borisjohnson and jeremy corbyn, i am absolutely certain i could do a betterjob than either of them. honest whispers suggest number 10 is out of reach so, if no—one got a majority, would she — could she — prop up one of the others? i‘m absolutely, categorically ruling out liberal democrat votes putting jeremy corbyn into number 10. you said this morning you want to bring the country together. how would you do that if your plan is to disregard the vote of millions of people in the referendum of 2016?

as liberal democrats, we‘re standing up for what we believe in and being very honest and straightforward about that. i recognise there are differences of opinion on this issue. it's a new politics now and i do think they really have a chance to form a government. i'm very optimistic and it's a really good feeling, actually, going out on the doorstep. very, very positive feedback. if they get more than 50 to 80 plus, i‘d be happy with that. labour will come knocking with a different proposal for brexit. after months of internal agonies, they‘re suggesting, if they win, they‘d negotiate a different deal with brussels and then, within six months, give you another choice of leaving or staying in. a labour government will get brexit sorted within six months. it won‘t be a rerun of 2016. this time the choice will be between leaving with a sensible deal, or remaining in the eu.

that is the policy. it really isn‘t very complicated. # i'm a believer... believe it or not, the official campaign has not started but we‘re speeding through those kodak moments already. the snp refrain familiar, too. this is an election about who decides the future of scotland. if we allow westminster to do that, we risk being taken out of the eu against our will. of course, more than a third of people in scotland did vote to leave. and he‘s sent everyone to the polls because it hasn‘t happened yet. do you feel up for the campaign? yeah! i think you do, you look as though you‘re full of beans. however bouncy any of our politicians appear now, some of them have chosen this to be their last day. for those who want to stay, this election is a gamble that the grins can‘t hide.

0ur political correspondent jessica parkerjoins me from westminster. jessica, burning the midnight oil, the last night of the old parliament. let me ask you about alun cairns, the gathering little storm around him, this pressure on him to resign. i think there is pressure on him to resign. the prime minister‘s spokesman said boris johnson did have confidence in alun cairns, but didn‘t say much else. it wasn‘t exactly a long endorsement andi wasn‘t exactly a long endorsement and i think alun cairns‘ position is uncertain ina and i think alun cairns‘ position is uncertain in a sense because there has been some radio silence from him. so he made me want to watch over the coming couple of days. and i noticed the westminster leader of plaid cymru has written to boris johnson urging him to remove alun cairns from the cabinet and prevent him from standing as a candidate. so considerable pressure on mr cairns

and may remind you as well, during and may remind you as well, during and election campaign, headlines can cause an unpredictable campaign for any party. speaking of candidates and their endorsements, dominic grieve is will be an independent in his constituency in the next election, he had this role as head ofan election, he had this role as head of an intelligence committee. he‘s been very angry about this report, russian interference into our elections not being published, there is no sign of it coming. there's a bit of he says, she says going on. dominic grieve, chair of the committee, very keen that that report into alleged interference would be published before parliament dissolved. he is concerned, i think, if it isn‘t published before this parliament dissolved than it may never be published and he believes that having handed the report in, that having handed the report in, that downing street have had plenty

of time to go through all the necessary processes and publish it. my necessary processes and publish it. my understanding from number ten‘s point of view is the processes are quite lengthy and they absolutely deny sitting on this report. i‘ve had it suggested it will be published in due course. but we don‘t know what‘s in it, a lot of people would be interested to find out. i can imagine. jessica, this is the last night of this parliament, mps in the parliament ceased to be mps in the parliament ceased to be mps at midnight tonight. you will be locking the doors and turning off the lights on their behalf. how do you think this short parliament is going to be looked back on? we had the long parliamentary session following what turned out to be an incredibly short parliamentary session. this parliament will be looked back on as one that has been defined to some great extent by its brexit battles. borisjohnson was

saying it was a parliament that couldn‘t agree on anything on that topic. parliamentarians would see that differently, they managed to pass legislation effectively blocking a no—deal brexit. but it has been a stormy time in westminster and it will be very interesting to see who comes back in december. i mean, iwas in parliament earlier today, there was an emotional atmosphere on the last day. some mps leave knowing they won‘t come back because they may be retiring. i saw some mps embracing and saying there final goodbyes and people go after campaign not knowing whether they might win the election and their seat. but as you say, one minute past midnight tonight parliament officially dissolves, there are no mps until 650 of them are returned in december. the government of course continues regardless. that's right. the government continues functioning, but yes, it will continue running the country, people will be relieved to hear during the election

campaign. jessica parker, have a great campaign. thank you very much. jessica parker there at westminster. somebody else will not be returning to the house of commons regardless will be philip hammond. the former conservative chancellor philip hammond says he will leave parliament with "great sadness" after deciding not to stand as an independent candidate in his surrey constituency. mr hammond lost the conservative whip after defying borisjohnson over plans for a no—deal brexit. he said he wouldn‘t run as an independent as that would be a "direct challenge" to the party he loved. the outgoing head of the european commission — jean—claude juncker — has told the bbc he believes the uk will leave the eu by the end of january, the end of the current extension period. mrjuncker admitted he regretted not speaking out at the time of the european referendum, so our europe editor katya adler has put to him some of the promises made by the parties in the run—up to this election to get his reaction.

if we start with boris johnson, because he‘s still our prime minister... i like him, by the way. 0k. so, he says if he wins the election and the withdrawal bill is passed, then he thinks it‘s possible to get a new trade deal negotiated by the end of 2020. so, you know, in less than 12 months. is that possible? i don‘t want to be a prisoner of this tight framework. but is it even possible, it took seven years to negotiate a deal with canada, for example? it takes time to negotiate a free—trade agreement. sometimes, i have the impression that in britain, people... ..parliamentary representatives, governmental representatives do think that this is an easy thing to be done. it‘s not easy, because we are negotiating for years with canada. it will take time. can i have a look now at some other claims being made?

so, the labour party, for example, says if it wins the general election, it will renegotiate once again. so, a third brexit deal. i will no longer be in office when this happens. so, it will be up to the next commission to decide if yes or no there is room for manoeuvre of a new deal, a new treaty. honestly spoken, i don‘t think that this is a realistic approach. would you like there to be another referendum and the uk to give brexit another thought? the question if yes or no there should be a second referendum... ..is a british issue. i don‘t think that there will be a second referendum. the brexit party says the new brexit withdrawal agreement is not brexit, they say, it‘s just brexit in name only. is that a fair thing to say about boris johnson‘s deal with your commission? no, it‘s brexit. i‘m not a supporter of mr farage.

you made a bet at the time of the referendum... yes. ..with the uk commission, and you pointed out that you thought that remain would lose the referendum, you bet him £1. yeah, yeah. so, just going back to the 31st january, this latest brexit extension, would you bet the £1 that the uk will be out by the 31st january, no more brexit extensions, you think? i do think that it will happen but this is a too long story. it has to be brought to an end. you know, you‘ve been in this job for a long time. would you be tempted to stay in your office until brexit is done, or at least this phase of brexit? no, no, no. i had brexit enough in my life. presidentjuncker, thank you very much for your time. thank you, it was a pleasure. thank you, thank you. a valedictory interview there with the president of the european commission jean—claude juncker with katya adler. you can hear katya

adler on brexit cast on thursdays on the bbc news channel. the headlines on bbc news: the conservative cabinet minister alun cairns is accused of a cover—up after denying that he knew about the role of one of his staff in the collapse of a rape trial. the liberal democrats claim the uk will get a remain bonus of £50 billion over five years if brexit is stopped, as they launch their general election campaign. the senior conservative jacob rees—mogg apologises for saying that residents of grenfell tower should have used common sense and left the building instead of listening to fire brigade advice. thousands of scientists from around the world have joined forces to declare a global climate emergency. they say that without deep and lasting change the world is facing "untold human suffering" and that governments are failing to address the crisis. so how important will the issue of climate change be in this uk election and what can the next government hope to do about it? 0ur science editor

david shukman reports. with a new series, david attenborough is, once again, attracting huge audiences with revelations about the natural world. climate change now has a profile like never before. so, do people care about it? protests by extinction rebellion were annoying for some, but inspiring for many others. we love you! and the school strikes showed a growing concern that‘s reflected in some opinion polls. the environment is of particular concern to younger voters. in fact, in our most recent poll, it was seen as being the second most important issue to these voters, second only to the issue of brexit. and i think over this election campaign, politicians are going to have to start discussing the issue of the environment, if they want to win over the support of those youngest voters. so, what needs to be done?

this solar farm in sussex is one relatively small part of the answer as the uk tries to go low carbon, and no longer add to the rise in temperatures. all the main parties have committed to tackling climate change, more or less rapidly, so whoever ends up in charge faces a monumental challenge. and notjust overseeing many more of these, but also wind energy. thousands more turbines out at sea and maybe on the land as well. greening our homes, moving away from gas as the main source of heat, and cleaning up how we get around, ditching diesel and petrol. it‘s a huge task. but is this transformation possible? the modern british economy was founded on carbon — burning fossilfuels. changing that will touch every aspect of our lives. but the government‘s climate advisers say that must be attempted. when we think about the things that need to be done to get to that goal of net zero emissions,

it is absolutely enormous. it involves things in every sector of the economy and, of course, we need government policies in every sector of the economy to deliver that. and we will need to see in the manifestos that come forth in the next election whether those policy commitments are there. it‘s essential that they are. this comes as we hear that the past month was the hottest 0ctober ever recorded. and as 11,000 scientists have banded together to warn that we are facing a climate emergency and that the world has so far failed to respond. david shukman, bbc news. throughout the election campaign, the bbc reality check team will be checking facts about the parties‘ claims, looking at whether the data backs them up. you can find more details at bbc.co.uk/news or on the bbc news app. let‘s take a look at some of today‘s other news. the uk business of mothercare is being wound down after formally entering administration this evening. all 79 stores will close over the coming weeks and months, a move which will affect some 2,900 jobs. the business has been hit hard by intense competition

from supermarkets and online retailers. more than a hundred families with children at a nursery in south devon have been contacted by police following the arrest of one of its employees in relation to allegations of sexual offences. police began a major investigation in july after one family reported their child had alerted them to an incident at the jack and jill childcare nursery in torquay, which is now closed. bristol is set to become the first city in the uk to restrict diesel vehicles in its city centre. the city‘s council approved the plans in an bid to cut air pollution, banning diesel cars, lorries and buses from certain areas during the day. it is due to come in to force in two years‘ time. people living with illness or disability, or having problems with benefits, are most likely to rely on foodbanks. that‘s according to research carried out by heriot—watt university for the charity the trussell trust. it described 94% of people who use foodbanks as "destitute",

with many living on less than £50 a week. in 2010, the trussell trust handed out 41,000 food parcels. by last year that had increased to 1.6 million. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan has been speaking to one woman in northern ireland who had to use foodbanks after falling ill. i mean, i was bedridden for a few weeks, and, yeah, that‘s when it started to hit that i needed to do something. misfortune can strike at any time. donna kennedy was working as a nursing auxiliary when she had two mini strokes. unable to work and with little income, money ran out for the single mum, forcing her to go to a local foodbank. it‘s being that person that‘s been providing for the family for so long and then, all of a sudden, it‘s just, through illness, it‘s been taken away. donna remembers clearly her first trip to the food bank, driving around, uncertain if she‘d go in, sitting outside in tears, feeling embarrassed.

feeling degraded, feeling sort of... has it had to come to this? you know, itjust wasn‘t... itjust didn‘t seem fair that it had come to this. at the foodbank in county londonderry, where donna now volunteers, demand for help has increased each year since it opened in 2015. here, as elsewhere in the uk, problems with benefits are a key reason people need food. the initial five week wait for universal credit creating particular difficulties. a lot of the families that we would see come to the food bank have tried to survive for five weeks and they‘ve borrowed from family members, from neighbours, from whoever they can to survive. but, actually, when the benefit then comes in, they owe money back to those people and then they find themselves in difficulties and they‘ve had to come to the food bank at that stage, then. today‘s research is intended,

in part, to tackle the argument that more people are using food banks because there are more of them. while that was a small factor, the major reasons people needed help were to do with a lack of benefits and living with an illness or disability. single parents were also at much greater risk. hunger isn‘t about food. it‘s about money and it‘s about how people do not have enough to afford the absolute basics. we found that the average household income of somebody who‘s been referred to a foodbank after they paid the rent is just £50 a week, and that is leaving people facing real destitution. there's no more cereal, so i have the last piece of toast. luckily, mum isn't hungry. this children‘s book was recently published about a family in need, a sign of how normal food banks have become. mum doesn't like going to the foodbank but i do. it‘s a no—money day helps explain why more than half a million food parcels were given to children last year. the topic is familiar to this school, as they collect supplies

for their own local foodbank. maybe one day me and mum won't have to worry, but tonight, because of kind people, our tummies are full. the government has emphasised they spend £95 billion annually what they call the welfare safety net, but the increasing use of food banks suggests it‘s not enough for many people. michael buchanan, bbc news. police have been attending a disturbance in leeds this evening. they have been called to the roundhay area. some are believed to have been attacked with fireworks and bricks. ian white centres this date from the scene. parts of leeds are sealed off this evening by the police. this is the roundhay road area of leeds. it is those to traffic now. the reason for that, quite simply, if you look into the distance many blue flashing lights and beyond those police in riot

gear. dozens of them. they have been confronted this evening by gangs of youths, hundreds of youths telling fireworks and missiles at them. so the police response was to get the helicopter up into this guy to keep a watch over what‘s going on and to try to move the crowd back. they have been doing that by using riot shields and police vans and police dogs stop quite incredible scenes here on bonfire night. you expect mischief in trouble in places like this at this time of year, but nothing quite like the scale, which perhaps has caught the emergency services by surprise denied. but the response has been overwhelming. many, many police officers here at the moment now trying to quell this disturbance. ian white in leeds. you can keep up with that story on the bbc news online. and we‘ll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers helen brand, chief executive of the association of chartered certified accountants, and the political commentator and former labour party director of communications, lance price. that‘s coming up after

the headlines at 11:30pm. now it‘s time for the weather with ben rich. hello. the evenings have been getting darker and darker. we have been mocking of the days on the calendar. we are heading ever deeper into the autumn —— marking. 0n the weather is getting colder. you can see this blue shower —— shehzad our ami‘s see this blue shower —— shehzad our am i ‘s charts. quite a widespread ground frost on wednesday morning. through the day comes an area of low pressure moving on from the atlantic, bringing some outbreaks of rain. starting off with some sunshine, the odd mist patch around. certainly a cold start with one or two showers. but then from the west we bring in this band of showers initially. and then a band of more persistent rain pushing into wards the end of the day. temperatures a touch below where they should be at this time of