this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley, the headlines at 6. the health secretary says he'll block any attempts by gps to have home visits removed from their contracts. it isn't going to wash, it isn't going to happen. they say they want to negotiate to end home visits, but of course gps need to do home visits. the conservaitves and lib dems attackjeremy corbyn for saying he'll stay neutral in any future brexit referendum. but the labour leader says it's the right thing to do: i think being an honest broker and listening to everyone is actually a sign of strength and a sign of maturity. the authorities in hong kong threaten to suspend voting in tomorrow's local elections — in case of serious disruption at polling stations. back on track — the model display destroyed

by vandals — now on show once more thanks to help from sir rod stewart and thousands of other supporters. and coming up in sport at 6.30 on sportsday — jose mourinho‘s first game in charge at tottenham ends in a 3—2 win at west ham. gps have voted to reduce visits to patients‘ homes, saying they "no longer have the capacity" to offer them. doctors supported the proposal at a meeting of english local medical committees yesterday. but — the health secretary, matt hancock, said the idea of taking home visits out of gps‘ contracts was a "complete non—starter". jenny kumah reports. family doctors say their workload is on the rise and this, coupled with

falling gdp numbers, mean something has to give. and his surgery in leeds this doctor is bellamy of the challenges facing surgeries like his. one of the daily pressures that gp practices are under is the obligation to do home visits. what would be much better is if we had a dedicated home visiting team with people with the time to be able to do this throughout the day, rather than gps having to squeeze it in. under the proposals home visits would not be scrapped completely but delivered by a separate service. similar to the way out—of—hours care has been contracted out. sometimes a gp has to go and see someone and they might be too frail to travel. and that has always been part of the vocation of being a gp and it will continue. so these proposals won't go any further, but what we will do is train, fund and recruit more gps.

they are saying, as a point of desperation, they can no longer continue those home visits. this is a siren call to all of us, that the funding of the nhs has to be increased so that gps can undertake those home visits. doctors say they recognise that vulnerable, complex and end—of—life patients will need home visits. they just want to see a change of policy to ensure patients get a suitable service. jenny kumah, bbc news. earlier i spoke to dr rebecca fisher, a gp and senior policy fellow at the independent charity, the health foundation. i asked her what pressures gps are facing in terms of what they can and can't do for patients. i think it's clear we're feeling pressures in general practice now at an unprecedented level. it's been a decade of significant underfunding for the nhs as a whole, but particularly in general practice relative to the volume of work that we do for the nhs. we see about 90% of patient

contacts, but with less than 10% of the funding over the last decade. that's translated into more gp leaving the profession than we have had entering. so we've got real funding constraints and real workforce pressures. the difficulty, i suppose, in terms of kind of the practical alternatives to gp visits is if we don't have the capacity of enough gps and the government talking about training more and there's an acceptance that the numbers have dropped considerably, not least because older gp have been retiring as well. that combination shortage one end and shortage at the other. how would how would it be possible to create do you think, a new additional service similar to the one that exists for out of ours? it's a real challenge, isn't it? because you have to ask who is going to start that additional service? i think there's no doubt that allied health professionals can play a part and are playing an increasing role. for example, where i worked as a gp

in oxford, we have a home visiting service that is staffed by some fantastic paramedics. it's important that where those services exist, they're not drawing on other parts of the nhs, which themselves are in need of those staff. so that's one thing to consider. the other, i think, is how we provide continuity of care for patients who really do need it. so it shouldn't be a substitution and more an addition to. i suppose this is difficult, isn't it? because obviously the language of the statement agreed by the conference yesterday, the local gp conference for england, part of the bma, was to say, remove from the contract, people will think oh no. that means my doctor will no longer do home visits. but he's actually saying we could continue to do them in certain circumstances. such is what we don't want us to be required or mandated to do them because we're afraid it's reducing the service we're offering elsewhere. yeah, and i think viewers will understand there's a lot of nuance here because for a start, this doesn't necessarily reflect the view of all gp. this is the view of a group of gps

who do represent gps, but not everybody will be of the opinion that home visits should be taken out of the core contract. what i think we can say is that it's in some ways a cry for help from a profession that is really feeling the effects of underfunding and understaffing and desperately wants to deliver good safe care for patients and is trying to work out how we do that within the resources that we currently have. and mindful that, for example, the pledge to get 5,000 extra gp in 2015just hasn't been met. in fact, we have fewer full time equivalent gp is working for the nhs now than we did then. the locum plays an important part in many gp surgeries and presumably there are a number of doctors who actually effectively are making careers as locums rather than deciding to sign up to a practice full time. is it locums that in the end would have to provide the service? i think it's probably too early to be looking at how these services would be provided. it is clearly a long way to go between the vote taken at yesterday's conference and this actually happening.

i think what is clear is that as a home, we don't have as many as a whole, we don't have as many gps of any type partners, salaried locums as we need. we need to be looking at how we can work with other allied health professions. so, for example, paramedic specialist nurses to deliver services to patients. i don't think there's any doubt that we need a home visiting service, but i think we do also need to be thinking about how we better support general practice and what all those core components of practice, general practice that we really need to retain. jeremy corbyn has defended his decision to remain neutral in any future brexit referendum if labour wins power. he told last night's bbc question time leaders' special he wouldn't campaign to leave or remain in the eu. the labour leader said it would allow him to "credibly" carry out what voters then decide. prime minister boris johnson questioned how mr corbyn could be "indifferent" on the issue. 0ur political correspondent

nick eardley reports. whatever your priority at this election, brexit is one of the biggest issues facing the country. for months, labour has walked a political tightrope, trying to keep everyone leave and remain happy. ifjeremy corbyn wins power, he's promising a new deal and another referendum. but he's now confirmed he won't pick a side. you're telling us tonight you will remain neutral on the issue of whether or not we should remain within the eu. some see that as weak, others indecisive. mr corbyn says it's the opposite. i think being an honest broker and listening to everyone is actually a sign of strength and a sign of maturity. our country has to come together. we can't go on forever being divided by how people voted in 2016. borisjohnson faced pressure, too, on the question of trust, and he would love to keep the election focus on brexit, saying his deal is ready to go. and after months of bitter splits,

his party is uniting around it. 0n the critical question of our times on brexit, we've got a clear plan agreed with the eu ready to go. and in sharp contrast to what we saw in this debate last night ofjeremy corbyn saying that he has decided to be indecisive on brexit. absolutely. yeah. she agrees even if she is on the other side of the debate. jo swinson says she'll stop brexit right away in the unlikely event she wins power. last night, she faced pressure from some who'd branded that anti—democratic, but the lib dem leader says she did not. jeremy corbyn is the champion of laws who want to cancel brexit. they want a leader, not a bystander. i think it is just beggars belief that somebody who is standing for the rule of leading our country can then say that on the biggest issue that we have faced for generations they're not going to take a position for a total

abdication of leadership. the snp, who could be crucial in a hung parliament, are scathing too. i do think people have a right to expect from somebody aspiring to be prime minister, say where they stand on the issue of should the uk be in or out of the european union? and i think that sort of statement of so—called neutrality will simply feed the suspicion that maybe people have jeremy corbyn actually wants the uk to be a european union, to be out the european union, but it simply isn't willing to say that. because we know whose side we the labour party are on. jeremy corbyn has been taking sides on many issues, promising to take on the elite on behalf of what he calls the many. but on brexit, the labour leader is keeping his cards close to his chest. in other election news... the conservatives have promised to double the funding for dementia research over the next decade. the extra £83 million a year has been described by the party as the ‘largest boost to dementia research ever‘. more than 850,000 people suffer from dementia in the uk. labour has pledged to put an extra

tax on foreign companies and trusts buying property in the uk. (00v) if it wins and trusts buying property in the uk. if it wins the general election — the party impose an additional charge of 20% on the purchase. labour estimates it would raise £35 billion a year. millions of people in hong kong are preparing to vote in local elections on sunday. the vote is being seen as an important measure of public feeling, after almost six months of pro—democracy protests. earlier this week there were more violent clashes between demonstrators and police outside hong kong‘s polytechnic university. the authorities have threatened to suspend voting if there‘s more violence. earlier, our correspondent stephen mcdonnell gave us this update. it is pretty quiet in hong kong this weekend apart from that truck, as people prepare to go to the ballot box rather than the barricades. candidates and their supporters are still out in the streets asking for people‘s support in crucial district council elections tomorrow which are being seen as a barometer of sentiment in the city

which is now in its sixth month of political crisis. those candidates backing the protesters, those calling for broad democratic reforms are hoping to do well because people are upset with the way in which carrie lam‘s administration has handled this crisis. however those in the pro—establishment camp are saying if you are fed up with the chaos and constant protest, you should choose our tickets. the government says if any polling places are sufficiently disrupted, voting will be suspended there, so for that reason people are trying their best do not give the authorities any excuse to call off the elections and it is more peaceful than it has been for months here. a group of orphaned british children, caught up in the war in syria, are said to be in good spirits, after they were brought back to the uk. they‘re the first to be repatriated from an area in the north east of the country, which was formally controlled by the group that called itself islamic state. 0rla minogue is from the charity save the children —

earlier she spoke to my colleague geeta guru—murthy there are as many as 60 british children remaining in these camps in north east syria, all of need who come home urgently, given the state of affairs that‘s in the camp. the conditions there are desperate, so we are talking about 60 very young children. what has been the blockage to that happening so far? well, there have been delays on the side of the british government, in terms of making the decision to repatriate. having said that, we welcome the shift in policy on the government‘s part over the last month, to say they would take steps to repatriate orphaned and unaccompanied children as a matter of urgency, and they would look at other children on a case by case basis. we have heard that a group of children have been repatriated, demonstrating that it‘s possible and feasible. now is time to bring home the rest of the children. how difficult are the conditions there? the conditions in the camp are desperate. there is severe overcrowding, there‘s 70,000 people in one of these camps alone. it is chaotic. people are living in flimsy tents, with little access to clean

water or health services. a lot of the children are sick, they have severe injuries from the bombing and shelling they have experienced, not to mention the psychological distress they have lived through and are going through now, given they are spending their formative years growing up in syria. the us state department has released documents setting out contacts between president trump‘s personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, and the secretary of state, mike pompeo, at a key point in the administration‘s attempts to put pressure on ukraine. the papers were obtained by the group, american 0versight, which claims they show a clear paper trail in the drive to smear the american ambassador in kiev. 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler explains the significance of these newly released documents. i‘m very aware always with tis impeachment inquiry there are so many names, so many allegations, but very, very simply. here‘s the whole issue. we are seen over the last few days the us secretary of state,

mike pompeo, being dragged into this impeachment inquiry. he is essentially trying to keep himself out of this. and many of the allegations have been about donald trump‘s personal attorney, rudy giuliani, who seems to have been leading this foreign policy or shadow foreign policy in ukraine, in which he‘s been pushing the ukrainian government to investigate donald trump‘s own personal political rivals in the us, including, of course, joe biden, who is one of the leading democrats looking to challenge him in 2020. now, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has tried to stay out of that. but what we‘ve seen in testimony over the last week is suggestions, for example, from the us ambassador to the european union that actually mike pompeo knew what was going on. he basically said that everyone was in the loop and suggested mike pompeo was one of those. and what we‘re seeing from these documents is there certainly seems to have been contact between donald trump‘s point man for this shadow foreign policy and ukraine, rudy

giuliani and mike pompeo. what i would say we‘ve got to be careful about is that these documents don‘t reveal exactly what was discussed in these calls. and while american oversight has been saying that, as far as it‘s concerned, it kind of links mike pompeo to a smear campaign against the us ambassador to the ukraine, potentially get him involved in all of this, we don‘t know what was in the phone calls and therefore, we don‘t know we don‘t know what was in the phone calls and therefore, we don‘t know how involved he was. the headlines on bbc news... the health secretary says he‘ll block any attempts by gps to have home visits removed from their contracts. the conservaitves and lib dems attackjeremy corbyn for saying he‘ll stay neutral in any future brexit referendum. but the labour leader says it‘s the right thing to do: the authorities in hong kong threaten to suspend voting in tomorrow‘s local elections — in case of serious disruption at polling stations.

as we‘ve been reporting — the conservatives are promising to significantly increasing funding for dementia research over the next ten years. and earlier this week the tories also announced they‘d be investing an additional billion pounds per year for social care in england — over the next five years. 0ur reality check correspondent sophie hutchinson has been looking at why social care is now attracting so much additional attention. there is no question that social care is a growing issue. in the past decade, the number of older people asking for help with washing and dressing, with eating and taking medication, has risen. but, unlike with the nhs, social care is means tested and there are different rules across the uk. when it comes to paying for a care home, the most generous policies are in scotland. in terms of getting help at home, in wales and northern ireland, those expenses are capped and england has the least generous system of all.

have a look at this. this graph shows the number of people in england receiving long—term support from councils, from 2010 through to 2019. you can see a sharp decline here. it was 600,000 and it comes down to around 400,000 people. after that, the way the data is collected changed so we cannot really compare. this is what age uk had to say about it. there are around 1.5 million older people who have unmet needs for social care. in a lot of cases these people have significant needs, help getting out of bed and getting dressed and washed and having something to eat. all of those fundamentals we take for granted to live a decent life, and in many cases we know people are receiving help, often from family friends doing everything they can to support but it isn‘t enough. people cannot do it on their own and they are being utterly let down by a failing system. so is the problem

all about the money? have a look at this graph. this is spending by local authorities in england on adult social care going back from 2006 all the way up to 2019. you can see there is a slight decline but on the whole, spending levels have remained pretty static. what isn‘t static though are the costs. listen to what the think tank the health foundation has to say on this. a large part of providing care is to do with wages of staff and they have been going up, particularly since around 30% of people are on the national living wage. that has been increasing, it puts pressures on care providers. and look at these costs. the nhs estimates in 2016—17, the average weekly cost of residential care for a pensioner was £565. if we move just one year on, it becomes £604 — quite a hike. if you look at the numbers

of elderly people, from 2009—2018, the numbers in the population rose by 16.3% for those aged 65 and over. in terms of the very elderly population, throughout the same time period, 2009—2018, the increase was 17.4%. with the population getting very elderly, their needs are more complex and, of course, more intensive care is needed so it becomes more expensive. age uk is saying that if the current situation continues and there isn‘t an improvement, then we risk having more than 2 million elderly people without their social care needs met in the next ten years. we‘ve already heard big pledges from all of the major parties, and tomorrow we‘re expecting the conservatives to

unveil their official manifesto — in the west midlands. but, what policies would persuade people, in one of the south—west‘s most deprived constituencies, to vote for borisjohnson? jon kay has been finding out... avonmouth, an old port on the bristol channel, in a seat the conservatives hope to win back. on a corner, we find danny. battery flat, as well as his mood. 0rdinary working people like me just don‘t want to know. don‘t want to know the conservatives. danny‘s the kind of traditional labour voter that boris johnson needs to win over. the tories‘ manifesto promises on services and the nhs will be aimed at him. completely lost faith in them. but he will take some persuading. seen some new hospitals built, and it‘s lovely that we‘ve got them but they haven‘t got enough beds. the a&es aren‘t big enough. they haven‘t got enough staff. my daughter‘s a staff nurse at hospital. she keeps getting tickets on her car

because there is nowhere for the staff to park. it‘s just a never—ending round of hollow promises, as it seems to me. facing west, towards america, borisjohnson says this could become a free port after brexit, creating jobs in one of the more deprived areas of south—west england. oh, look! little baby rolls. would you like them? ajob is something emma would welcome. we find her at the food bank. a single mum, she wants policies on schools and welfare, but the most important thing she wants sorted... oh, to be honest, right, brexit. oh, it's doing my head in. it's worse than a child screaming in your ear for about five years. she tells me she might vote green, but will consider the conservative manifesto because of borisjohnson. the conservatives have been in power for nearly a decade now and you‘re here today using a food bank. some people might be surprised to hear somebody in your position

saying you quite like borisjohnson. you like what he stands for? it's not even what he stands for. it's him. he will fight for what he believes in. we've got lots of food. as emma heads home with enough for herfamily, we hit the road. there are wealthy parts of bristol north west, and as well as needing labour voters, the conservatives also need to keep their traditional base. the friendly club. most of the members here are tory supporters. i‘m quite happy, really. i‘m very fortunate that i am happy where we are. i think there should be more funds provided for the elderly, especially those who are in need, living alone. loads of things that have been let to go down under this austerity. but for once, i'm winning! look at this lot! christine, the gin rummy queen.

whatever the manifesto deals out on social care and tax breaks, she‘s voting blue forjust one reason. couldn't care less about the tories and their policies. i'm voting to get out of europe. and then, there‘s hilda. i‘m a conservative by heart. i have been for years. but now, i‘m living like this. she‘s wary of tory manifesto pledges. where‘s the money coming from? it‘s just a load of fibs, as far as i can see. 0r bypassing the truth, shall we say. yeah. i‘d like to punch him. punch him! well, he‘s been boxing, hasn‘t he? so maybe you could have a match. let‘s have some boxing lessons! jon kay, bbc news. these are all of the candidates standing in bristol north west. and you can find out which candidates are standing in your constituency on the bbc

news website. the south yorkshire village of fishlake has held its christmas fair today, barely a fortnight after devastating floods left many people homeless. for many local residents it was a break from the flood clean—up. alasdair gill reports. christmas in fishlake has not been canceled, at least the local fair hasn‘t. and it‘s a warm and welcome respite from flood recovery for the village‘s residents. as you can see, it‘s very full and very busy because of the determination here within fishlake to rebuild what we had to do our best to keep it alive. 11 days ago, much of this farm was under water. today looks a lot better, but the hidden cost is huge. farmer steven gilliard reckons he‘s looking at a bill of around a quarter of a million pounds.

contamination now, fuel burst, central heating tanks out. all that fuel flowed to me. and now such all over the grassland, which we need to graze and we're pedigree breeders, we're now going to vaccinate for diseases. what you wish you could get them from the grazing land. who pays for that? looking at me at this moment. community spirit here is what is getting people through. last week, the sheffield steelers ice hockey team came to lend a hand. tonight, they‘ve given free match tickets to fish lake residents. which is absolutely wonderful. away from the water for a little while at bay from reality, which is absolutely wonderful. we‘re hugely grateful to them. those tickets and the christmas fair are relatively small things, but they are a welcome escape from the hard realities so many people here are now facing. alister gill, bbc. look north fish lake. now a story to gladen the heart of model makers everywhere. decades of hard work was destroyed in a matter of minutes, after a group of teenagers broke

into a school hall in market deeping in lincolnshire and smashed up the model railways. the display was valued at £30,000. members of the market deeping model railway club refused to admit defeat. now, thanks to their dedication, and the generosity of other model railway enthusiats — including a certain sir rod stewart — it‘s all abord once again. nicola gilroy reports. a mindless attack that left more than the trains and layouts broken. my emotions took the better of me, i must admit. you can't replace the time you spent building these things. but six months on, the modellers from market deeping are back in business, displaying here at the largest model railway show in europe. this is the premier model railway exhibition in the country, and to be invited is really important. and it‘s even more special because the layout on display was one of those damaged in the attack. these buildings were totally wrecked, and rebuilt, part of the scenery damaged. some of the track down

here has been relaid, and the wiring was pulled out from underneath. it has taken 1000 hours of hard work and dedication to repair this layout. it‘s nearly 20—odd years since i was last here with a layout, and to come back again to this with it is a wonderful thrill. i'm very proud of what the guys have done. it's tremendous. the club continues to be overwhelmed with support, with £100,000 raised in crowdfunding, 10,000 from rod stewart, and next week they‘ll be able to say thank you in person when they appear with the man himself on the one show. nicola gilroy, east midlands today, birmingham. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. it has been a dull, damp saturday for many parts of the country. the heavier rain is moving its way north wards. through this evening and into the night it will be mainly affecting north east england and eastern scotland, particularly heavy rain over the hills.

you can see how that wetter weather is moving northwards. the rain we have seen in the south—east, that will tend to push towards the midlands and wales, tending to peter out. away from the north east, where it will be breezy and wet, it should be generally turning dry overnight. but some mist and fog in those lighter winds, and mild frost—free, six or seven degrees. tomorrow in the morning we have some rain across eastern scotland. that should peter out. the rain continues in the northern isles in the afternoon. one or two light showers around these irish sea coasts. 0n the whole, a much drier day than today, but a lot of cloud. the morning misty and murky in many parts, but maybe a bit of sunshine towards the south—east of england and east anglia. those temperatures very similar to what we are seeing today, but the mild and wet theme continues into monday, with more rain, especially for england and wales.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. the health secretary says he‘ll block any attempts by gps to have home visits removed from their contracts. it is not going to happen. they will say they want to negotiate home visits, but of course gps need to do home visits. the conservaitves and lib dems attackjeremy corbyn for saying