hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. the headlines: nigel farage gives in to pressure from fellow brexiteers and says his brexit party will not stand in tory held seats. the brexit party will not contest the 317 seats the conservatives won at the last election. but what we will do is concentrate our total effort into all of the seats that are held by the labour party.

a chinese firm confirms a rescue deal for british steel buying it for £70 million and saving 4000 jobs in scunthorpe and teesside. it's been a big concern, hasn't it? nobody knowing what's going to be happening, whether they've got a job, pay their mortgages, feed their families. it's great news. it's finally something positive, it's good. more rain is forecast in areas of england already hit by flooding. five severe flood warnings, meaning a threat to life, remain in place. a state of emergency has been declared in new south wales and queensland as bushfires continue to burn posing what authorities say, is a "catastrophic" threat. families in england will benefit from two cannabis based medicines approved for the nhs but others say they still won't get what they need.

in a moment it will be time for sportsday but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. at 8:30pm, adam fleming and the bbc‘s politics team bring you the essential guide to the 2019 uk general election with electioncast. severe weather warnings are in place as floods affect the north of england so we will be examining the effects on a village in south yorkshire later on bbc news. and at 10:1i0pm and 11:30pm this evening in ‘the papers'. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are asa bennett, the brexit commissioning editor at the telegraph and sienna rodgers, editor of labourlist. that's coming up on bbc news. first, sports day. hello, i'm 0lly foster. here's what's coming up

on sportsday this evening. 0fficials underfire. var is here to stay but it could be three years before they get it right the fa cup second round draw takes place tonight. maldon and tiptree from the eighth tier are in the hat after their win at leyton orient. and there was also a big win in london for stefanos tsitsipas as the atp tour finals continue at the 02 arena and coming up, we will hearfrom three men in a boat. tennis's big three men in a boat. tennis's big three tell us how much longer they have in the game. good evening. it's that old adage, isn't it? if you didn't notice the referee

then they must have done a good job. this season in the premier league, not a weekend has gone by without the video assistant becoming the story. blatant penalty appeals, checked, then waved away, handballs seemingly ignored, those marginal off—side decisions, the delays, the lack of communication with the fans. manchester city had a big shout for a penalty turned down at anfield yesterday, var under the spotlight again, as they went on to lose against liverpool. today neil swarbrick, who heads up the var team, joined me earlier. he gave his assessment of the system being used for the first time in the premier league this season. being used for the first time in the premier league this seasonli being used for the first time in the premier league this season. i think we are probably where we would expect to be. i mean, the most important thing to say is that we are 12 weeks in and we always said it was going to take quite a while for everyone to be comfortable

without implementing var in the premier league. it's a case of people expect everything to be corrected straightaway. they want 100% accuracy, they want decisions made quickly, changed if, in their opinion, it needs changing, but that was never going to happen. we did numerous presentations over the summer numerous presentations over the summer explaining that the one thing var would provide is 100% accuracy in football because there is so much subjectivity within it and obviously that has been the case. on saturday, there was a four minute delay which there was a four minute delay which the fans in their tottenham hotspur at stadium against sheffield united did not have a clue what was going on. all those worldwide audience didn't have a clue either. is it a thing about communication. have a look at this, when you look at rugby and how they just seem to look at this, when you look at rugby and how theyjust seem to get look at this, when you look at rugby and how they just seem to get this right all the time. the tmo, they may need to try to work out what has happened, this is the conversation

that happens. he has to show downward pressure of which there is none. so therefore, he has knocked the ball forward. i agree. none. so therefore, he has knocked the ball forward. iagree. hasn't shown any downward pressure, no ctrl as he places the ball, so are not on so as he places the ball, so are not on so blue scrum for a knock—on. good work. i take it that that was from recent times. show me 12 weeks into when they use tmo from the rugby union, ican when they use tmo from the rugby union, i can guarantee you would not hear that explanation that you heard there because they have evolved and we will probably evolve as well. we are 12 weeks in. but you should use other sports and take a short cut. if this is working for other sports, we do not need to evolve, let's just ta ke we do not need to evolve, let's just take that on board. we cannot use any referee comes by that because protocol does not allow us to, but i think going forward, it probably will progress. it took rugby union

six or seven will progress. it took rugby union six or seven years will progress. it took rugby union six or seven years to get to that position. the offside, armpits, toes, people have called it, the technology you have there, 50 frames a second on the camera, go from one frame to the next, it is impossible. there is such a margin of error there, greater than an armpit or are told, so even though you are saying bya told, so even though you are saying by a fraction this player is on or off side, that might still be wrong. you cannot say with any certainty that that is on or off side when you are talking about centimetres. all we can uses the technology at the moment that is provided to us. the technology provided as is more accurate than the human eye looking across and i and —— across a line and moving. it could still be wrong. we can only use the technology provided to us. i will go to another sport, in cricket, ball tracking is not 100% accurate. there is a degree

of how the software operates for a ball bouncing on a certain ground with spin. it is not 100% accurate, but everyone takes it for granted and uses it. we can only use the technology we have and that is what we can make decisions on. how long will this take before you feel it will this take before you feel it will be on top of this? getting things right? once again, when we did the presentations in may, june, july, we quite openly said it would probably take us two to three years to get in a really comfortable position where everyone is co mforta ble position where everyone is comfortable with our operation with var. bear in mind, this is probably the biggest change, you know, we have ever had within football officiating since live football has been shown on tv. there is a premier league stakeholders' meeting this thursday. and you will suggest that referees should not use the on field monitor is now? once again, we'd ta ke monitor is now? once again, we'd take a stance at the start of this season take a stance at the start of this season that we would use them sparingly. we haven't used it at

all, no, when we looked at various competitions that have used it, because the premier league is different to other competitions, as i previously said, pace and intensity, we want to reduce the time for utilising var as much as possible, so if that meant not going over to the screen then that is kind of how we have looked at it, going forward , of how we have looked at it, going forward, will that change? possibly. i know it's a tough job, hugely convex with the technology you are using. give yourselves a mark out of ten? i give us around seven -ish. we know we will be scrutinised, people will look at our every move, but the position i'm in, i'm comfortable with where we are and i have no doubt there is room for improvement, speed —wise, etc, we will get there, but for me, it has been a good work in progress. one thing that i saw that i have never seen before at a football ground, both sets of fans at tottenham chanting in unison exactly what they thought about var,

so exactly what they thought about var, so it is bringing fans together. laughter is that a positive? absolutely! our thanks to neil they are for fronting up, really, and defending the ai. chris, you had a candid interview there, obviously defending the system. where are you at three months into the season with the ar? i agree with neil fronting up. i think that's very good of him to do so, talking about seven out of ten at the end there. it clearly has not worked and i was an advocate of var andl worked and i was an advocate of var and i thought it should have been givena and i thought it should have been given a chance, but they are making such a mess of it. i do feel at this moment in time that they should scrap it, scrap everything because there are so many big decisions that they have got wrong. it is not working and yesterday, i think one of the biggest things i took out of yesterday when i was commentating on the game is communication to the

fans in the stadium. it's absolutely key and rugby, you know, we need to copy from rugby because they get it right. it is not that every fan in the ground would necessarily have agreed with what michael 0liver's decision was yesterday because clearly that was subjective, but at least there would be an understanding if he interpreted why he made a decision of why that decision was made. they are not going to scrap it, though, are they? there is no going back. know, but it has been that bad is that if something is not working, why not? why not scrap it? it is not working. it was brought in to make the game better and has it made the game better? it has made it more confusing. maybe this season should have a little asterix saying that this is when the officials were introducing var, so do not take it at face value. the title race, whether without the var debate, liverpool looked too good city, didn't say? they did. i thought

yesterday was a huge, huge game. pressure on liverpool in many respects here in terms of can they make that extra step this season? champions league winners, they were. i think they gained confidence from that and it is catch us if you can to manchester city and the rest. the big narrative has been nine points as the leads now, jurgen klopp has said he could never imagine being nine points ahead at this stage. i will be disrespectful and glossing over the fact that leicester and chelsea are only eight points behind? yes, i think so. if, chelsea are only eight points behind? yes, ithink so. if, as is regarded especially in this country, everyone is saying this is the best league in the world, then we cannot say that the title race is over after 12 games. we have to take chelsea and leicester seriously. we saw what leicester did not so long ago, so it is certainly not over. liverpool have been a drug or not this season, but they will have a blip at some point. what city have doneis blip at some point. what city have done is put massive pressure on themselves. they went 16 games on

themselves. they went 16 games on the spin winning everyone last season, so the spin winning everyone last season, so that told you that they are capable, but there is no margin for error any more. chris sutton speaking to me earlier. much more from him on five live. pep guardiola will not be sanctioned by the fa for those animated, some might say sarcastic thank youse to the officials on the pitch yesterday. let's have a quick look a few other of the day's football stories. neil warnock has left his job as manager of cardiff city by mutual agreement with the club. he took over three years ago and led them to promotion to the premier league in 2018, but they went straight back down again last season and they're currently 14th in the championship. liam cooper has been forced to withdraw from the scotland squad for their upcoming euro 2020 qualifiers. the leeds united captain suffered a muscle tear in his groin, during leeds' win over blackburn on saturday. ellen white is one of four players who will be missing from the england squad for tomorrow's friendly against the czech republic. she scored in their defeat to germany on saturday —

her first international match since her return from a knee injury. we're into the last week of the tennis year. the eight best men in the world are in london at the atp tour finals. it's day two at the o2 arena. sue barker and the bbc sport team are there. what an entertaining match that was. to of the rising stars of the game, but high quality tennis. extremely high quality tennis and i think a little bit of an upset. 0bvious, when you look at the head coming in, medvedev had won all five of their previous encounters, but i was so impressed the way that tsitsipas brought a lot of variety to his game. he finished, i think, brought a lot of variety to his game. he finished, ithink, about brought a lot of variety to his game. he finished, i think, about 24 points to the net. he won 20 of them, using the severn volley at different times. he changed the pace with the sliced backhand that he was able to change that level footie sets and was thoroughly deserving coming out on top. you admire his game, don't you? medvedev did not

know what was coming next.|j game, don't you? medvedev did not know what was coming next. i think the challenge with medvedev is that he probably only has a plan a and there is not necessarily a plan b, but plan a has been so effective. we saw his results through the american ha rd core saw his results through the american hardcore season of the american open where he made four finals in a row, winning the masters 1000 in montreal, continuing to back it up indoors, brilliant tennis, but today he just came up against an inspired opponent and tsitsipas will be delighted to have his first win not only against medvedev but in the atp world tour final. he spoke afterwards about how much he loves playing here at the 02 and it was a lwa ys playing here at the 02 and it was always a dream. today's match, rafi and adele up against the defending champion, but everything is up about his returning fitness will stop you had to pull out of paris. we do not know what will happen. having seen him in practice of the last couple of days, he looks fit and ready to go, but once you get out on a match course, go, but once you get out on a match course , you go, but once you get out on a match course, you do not know. is there ever will be looking to continue

from where he left off