you're watching bbc newsroom live, it's11am and these are the main stories this morning: president trump makes his state of the union speech and hails ‘the great american comeback‘, just hours before he's expected to be acquitted in his impeachment trial. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging and our country is thriving and highly respected again. the democrat house speaker, nancy pelosi, clashes with president trump. she's seen ripping up her copy of his speech behind him. injapan, ten passengers are taken off a quarantined cruise ship

after testing positive for coronavirus. the government launches a consultation on decriminalising the non—payment of the tv licence fee. more than a0 people are arrested as police crackdown on courier fraud, with thousands of victims in the last two years. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. i'm joanna gosling. in dramatic scenes in the us congress overnight, president trump has set out his case for another four years in office, and hailed what he called "the great american comeback". republicans chanted in support at the annual state of the union address. but the democrat speaker nancy pelosi was seen ripping up her copy of the speech. the economy was at the core of the president's speech. he cited deregulation, tax cuts and new trade agreements

as his recipe for prosperity. he also highlighted his success on immigration, saying that the wall along the south border continued to be built. and he outlined how his policies had helped minority groups. it was night of a tension and drama, nancy pelosi ripping up her speech, president trump refusing to shake her hand — and a number of democrats either walking out or not showing up at all. from washington, our correspondent ben wright reports. even before president trump spoke, this felt more like a republican party rally than a solemn state of the union address. "four more years," chanted republican lawmakers, while democrats looked angry and glum. in a striking snub of the most senior democrat in the chamber, president trump refused to shake nancy pelosi's hand, someone who pushed hard for his impeachment. donald trump then fired out lines

that will form the crux of his re—election campaign. jobs are booming. incomes are soaring. poverty is plummeting. crime is falling. confidence is surging. and our country is thriving and highly respected again. applause. the speech was bombastic, boastful, and partisan. my fellow americans, the best is yet to come. thank you. and then, at the end — this. nancy pelosi ripping up the president's speech in disgust. washington has rarely looked so bitter. because it was a manifesto of mistruths. and what do you think about him not shaking your hand? we always extend the hand of friendship. if he takes it, that's up to him. and the partisan divide will only deepen later on today when, as everybody expects, the republican—led senate clears president trump of abusing his power

and obstructing congress. in this election year, the next nine months will be fiercely fought and this may not be president trump's last state of the union address. ben wright, bbc news, washington. meanwhile, democrats are finally getting a clearer understanding of who won the first caucus of the primary season that will decide who runs against president trump in november. the first stage, the iowa caucuses, has been a fiasco with results delayed more than 2a hours. with about 71% of the vote in iowa declared, the youngest candidate, 38—year—old pete buttegieg, is leading, closely followed by left—winger bernie sanders. mr buttigieg is the first self—identified gay candidate to try and win the presidency. our correspondent nick bryant has been in iowa and has this analysis of the results. these returns are very good news, of course, for pete buttigieg, the former mayor of south bend, indiana, a man who is hoping

to become the first openly gay occupant of the white house. the youngest candidate in the field. but a candidate with a very strong cv. a graduate of harvard, a graduate of oxford. a man who was in the us military as well. it has sometimes felt like he has been preparing for this moment all of his life. the other leader in the polls right now is bernie sanders, the left—wing candidate in the field. the 78—year—old. a man who only in october had a heart attack. he has appeal for the young. he offers them free college tuition, to legalise marijuana, free health care for everyone. that is a very compelling message, especially for young people. the person who has had a very disappointing iowa caucus, clearly, whatever the rest of the results is, because they won't significantly improve his standing, isjoe biden,

the former vice president for 8 years, of course, the deputy to barack obama. the moderate in this race. the man who says he is the man capable of beating donald trump in november. he has always claimed this electability is linked to his likeability. but he has performed very poorly. and for those who have seen joe biden here delivering his speech in a very halting way, he often doesn't finish sentences, he often doesn't finishes thoughts, they will think whether he will have the capability to really mount a serious and viable long—term challenge. he will move on to states where he stands a better chance in terms of the demographics. he is popular among african—americans, such a key constituency in the democratic party. he knows he will be better in states like south carolina. but a lot of veteran and seasoned commentators looking atjoe biden here in iowa,

as the iowans will themselves, will be wondering, hasjoe biden done his dash? well a little earlier — i spoke to our washington correspondent ben wright, who gave us the latest on the reaction to president trump's state of the union speech. it is a remarkable day, a week of crunched political drama, you are right, joanna. the state of the union speech was pretty extraordinary. we are used to talking about the polarisation of american politics, but this was completely toxic. and it was surreal, in many ways, that donald trump was there in the same chamber, the house of representatives, that had impeached him only seven or eight weeks ago. he didn't actually mention impeachment at all. instead, this was an absolutely brazen re—election pitch from donald trump, who knows that in a few hours, here, the senators on capitol hill will acquit him, they will throw out the charges,

the house have sent over of abusing his power and obstructing congress. the republican—led senate will give him the all clear. and then he hopes to bounce on into full throttle real relection campaign mode. and you heard all of the themes he is going to be relying on over the next nine months. spelt out today. at the centre of it, the economy. america does have a pretty buoyant economy, the unemployment rate is at a 50 year low. he talked about a blue—collar boom. a pitch directly to his base. he thinks the economy will get him a second time in the white house. and how much of an advantage does the incumbent have particularly when you see that he has this platform to talk about the record of his last four years and what is happening in iowa with the democratic campaign, obviously, coming a bit unstuck at that point and it will be some time before we know who will be taking on president trump? yes, there is clearly some chaos within the democratic party, it is not at all clear which way they're going to go.

whether they will go for a candidate on the left — a bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, buttigieg, or a biden. even a bloomberg. there is so much uncertainty on the democratic wing of this and i think that is a degree of chaos and uncertainty that president trump will exploit. the view is that for an incumbent president fighting an election with an economy in the state it is in the moment, which is very good, and americans feeling optimistic about the economy, it is a pretty hard election to lose in normal circumstances. but nothing in american politics is very normal at the moment. presidents trump's approval rating has never got more than 50%, it is about 48 at the moment. he hasn't really increased his base of support very much at all. to guarantee victory, he needs to find new supporters. he attempted to with some of the themes he was talking about here.

he talked about african—americans and help he said he has given to hispanic workers in the economy. i think it is going to be more than that to broaden his base. but i think he does feel that going into this election year he is in a relatively strong position and he certainly looked confident today. the state of the union will be remembered for nancy pelosi tearing up the speech and donald trump refusing to shake her hand. absolutely symbolising the polarisation running through american politics. and don't forget you can join christian fraser and katty kay for a bbc news special this evening live from capitol hill in washington as the impeachment trial of us president donald trump concludes with a final vote in the senate. that's live on the bbc news channel from 8:30pm this evening. how should the bbc be funded? at the moment, tv services are covered by the licence fee and if you don't pay, you could be fined or even sent to prison. but this morning, the government is looking at whether that should change. our assistant political editor norman smith is in central london where the culture secretary has been speaking in the past hour. what was said, norman?”

what was said, norman? i think nicky morgan's basic message was for the bbc was change or die. the bbc has to rethink in this new broadcasting environment, she thinks, with massive digital streaming services like netflix and amazon and part of that, she believes, is decriminalising the licence fee. she thinks it cannot be sustainable or a cce pta ble thinks it cannot be sustainable or acceptable to prosecute people for not having a licence fee, she think it is unfairand not having a licence fee, she think it is unfair and takes up to much court time. there is no book support for it. so the bbc has got to think of other ways, alternative mechanisms. that includes an alternative to the licence fee itself, which he made clear. —— she made clear. but even with this help from the government, there remain legitimate concerns

that the criminal sanction for tv licence fee evasion is unfair and disproportionate. the licence fee will remain in place until 2027, however, we must all be open—minded about the future of the licence fee beyond this point. they we re licence fee beyond this point. they were a flurry of questions given the tension between downing street and the bbc over whether the real purpose here was to inflict a punishment beating on the bbc for its alleged misdemeanours, as the government sees it, during the brexit referendum and the general election. lady morgan vehemently denied that political payback was what was going on here. she insisted that she was trying to ensure the bbc was placed to cope with a changing media environment. that said, the bbc say if you deacon the licence fee, that will cost an extra

£200 million extra as avoidance increases. in other words, from the bbc‘s point of view, far from strengthening the position amongst these giants, it weakens the bbc. decriminalisation obviously doesn't mean the licence fee immediately becomes an optional thing for people to decide. there would still be punishment if someone didn't pay. well, that is a very good question. it isn't entirely clear in the sense that if you decriminalise it, what is going to be the sanction that you impose upon people who choose not to pay it? one option, and the easy option, which is open to netflix, amazon etc, is to turn off their servers. the bbc cannot do that. nicky morgan was talking about the bbc taking civil action and pursuing people through the courts and the bbc is not keen on doing that at

all. in just bbc is not keen on doing that at all. injust a bbc is not keen on doing that at all. in just a few moments i will be talking to the national chair of the magistrates association for the respective from magistrates‘ court on how many cases involving licence fee going through magistrates courts. right now we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. more than a0 people have been arrested during a crackdown on courier fraud. it‘s where people are tricked into withdrawing large sums of money to then hand it over to someone posing as a courier or police officer. city of london police say there have been 3000 victims over the last two years, many of them elderly people. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw reports. early morning in central london, police are out in force for a raid on a flat in king‘s cross. shouting. it‘s part of an operation targeting criminal gangs involved in courierfraud. a sniffer dog is brought in to find items that may be hidden like mobile phones,

sim cards, and memory sticks. carol norton was a victim of courierfraud. she was tricked into handing over £4,000 in cash after being phoned by a man who said he was a detective and needed her help on an undercover investigation. i believed every word he said. he really sounded... he was concerned about me. he did say he was concerned about my husband and he just seemed a genuine police officer. when you learned that it was a scam, how did you feel? what was your reaction? i just cried, it was awful. i really felt upset because i‘d let my husband down. police believe courier fraud is a growing problem across england and wales. in the past two years, there‘ve been over 3,100 victims. £12 million has been stolen, with some people losing hundreds of thousands in pensions and savings. in police raids since november, 44 people have been arrested, including two men at the flat in london.

they‘ve since been released while investigations continue. 14 others have been charged as police continue to tackle what they say is a despicable crime. danny shaw, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... president trump makes his state of the union speech and hails ‘the great american comeback‘, just hours before he‘s expected to be acquitted in his impeachment trial. the democrat house speaker, nancy pelosi, clashes with president trump — she‘s seen ripping up her copy of his speech. in japan, ten passengers are taken off a quarantined cruise ship after testing positive for coronavirus. and positive for coronavirus. in sport, liverpool‘s young ever and in sport, liverpool‘s youngest ever side not shrewsbury out of the fa cup. despite heavy criticism, the video assistant referee is going nowhere according to the premier league chief executive. richard masters has told the bbc that improvements are needed, though.

and england skipper eoin morgan said they were outplayed in every department as the world champions were beaten by seven wickets by south africa in the first one—dayer in cape town. i‘ll have a full round up after half past. british citizens are once again being urged to leave wuhan, the chinese city at the centre of the new coronavirus outbreak. the foreign secretary says a second and final flight is being chartered to help those wishing to leave. 94 uk nationals and family members have already been evacuated. the death toll has risen to 490 with over 20,000 people infected. in japan, 10 people on a cruise ship have contracted the virus. hong kong have announced that all visitors from mainland china will be quarantined for 14 days. let‘s take a closer look at the decision to instruct

britons to leave china due to the spread of the virus. the foreign office estimates there are just under 30,000 britons living in china, with 600,000 visiting each year. and in nearby hong kong, 35,000 britons currently live there — with 570,000 brits visiting each year. the hong chief executive carrie lam has confirmed this morning. there are 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus. well this morning health secretary matt hancock has said the government is doing all it can to prevent the spread of virus in the uk. the principle we are taking is that we want to take no chances with this virus. we want to take a science—led approach. the approach we have been taking has been very much driven by the advice of the chief medical officer. and this is a very serious virus and having a very serious impact in china. as you say, there are two cases here in the uk.

but we do expect more and so we are taking no chances. wuhan is the epicentre of this epidemic. and for those who we have brought back from wuhan, we‘re putting them into quarantine. there are almost 100 people in arrowe park on the wirral and i want to thank the staff there who have done an amazing job in supporting those. but the current likelihood of getting a case of coronavirus in wuhan itself is much, much higher than in the rest of china. so, because of that difference in risk, we think it is appropriate that if you are brought back by the government, because there because there are no flights out of wuhan, then you need to go into quarantine. but we recommend that people come back from the rest of china and that they don‘t go to china unless it is absolutely essential, because...

and then they should self isolate, if they have symptoms, and make sure that, as i say, anybody with a concern should dial 111. let‘s get more on that cruise ship injapan where ten passengers have tested positive for the virus. british tourist david abel remains on—board the ship where a strict quarantine is being enforced. the last 2a hours has changed quite considerably. having enjoyed a wonderful cruise, when we arrived in okinawa four orfive days ago, we had to go through a quarantine procedure and since then, it has been really downhill with regard to what is happening to passengers on the ship. 6:30am this morning japanese time, so nine hours ago, we were informed by the captain that every passenger

had to remain in their cabin — i would imagine in the next five days, every passenger is going to be tested again to see whether anyone is proving positive to the virus. until then, we are all confined to our cabins. we are one of the fortunate folk, or one of the many fortunate folk, that we have a cabin with a balcony, so we can open the door, get fresh air, enjoy the view. the people that i am feeling really bad about are the passengers who have inside cabins. they have got no natural light, no windows to look out of, and all they‘re got is the air conditioning. for them, it must be hell on earth. i think there is a wee bit of anxiety, because what i don‘t want to hear is that another passenger has come down with it, certainly not me or my wife. so there is the anxiety over that, the ten passages that got

off that were infected, have they pass anything onto any people on board? we just don‘t know yet. that is why i think there will be more testing. so there is anxiety, i think there will be quite a bit of boredom coming up. if you were to talk to me in 14 days‘ time, you would perhaps not see the same smile as today. more on the news that the culture secretary, nicky morgan, has said the bbc needs to move with the times or it could become obsolete. lady morgan has given a speech on the future of broadcasting in which she launched a public consultation on whether failing to pay the tv licence fee should continue to be a criminal offence. she said the increasing availability of channels and platforms meant the current system of funding the bbc needed to be looked at. many cases go through the magistrates‘ court. john bache is the national chair of the magistrate‘s association and joins me now. how many cases how many cases go how many cases go through the magistrates‘ court? how many cases go through the

magistrates' court? something like 130,000 a year. it is something like that. quite a significant number. but they are dealt with very quickly by what is called a single justice procedure. they are only seen by one magistrate, not three. and although there are a lot of cases, approximate 9% of the total workload of the magistrates‘ court is tv licences, the actual time spent is fights more than that. probably less than 1%, with magistrates taking a bedtime with tv licences. what is the outcome in most of those cases? about 99% of dealt with by way of a fine. the fine is a maximum of £1000, but most well below that. it depends on certain factors, including the income of the defendant, whether he or she has been without a licence for a significant length or time, and those are the main factor that taken into account when deciding the

length of the fine. we have sentencing guidelines, which guide us as sentencing guidelines, which guide us as to the appropriate level of the fine. they can be sent to prison for this, how often does that happen? i think, i have for this, how often does that happen? ithink, i have never for this, how often does that happen? i think, i have never known anybody to be sent to prison for nonpayment of a tv licence. what does happen is that occasionally, people accumulate fines for various reasons, not only tv licences, and the ultimate deterrent is to send them to custody. that is very rare for any fines and particularly for nonpayment of tv licence. that would be disproportionate, not having a tv licence really shouldn‘t involve a custodial sentence. in itself, licence really shouldn‘t involve a custodialsentence. in itself, it licence really shouldn‘t involve a custodial sentence. in itself, it is not custodial. you cannot send them to custody. but if they were to be sent to custody, it would be because of nonpayment of fines rather than from the tv licence. the you have a

view on whether it should be a custodial offence? it is not up to me to have a view. magistrates administer the law and parliament decides the law. it wouldn‘t be right for me to have a view on that. not having a tv licence is a non—imprisonable offence. the usual sentence is a fine. nonpayment of a fine, ultimately, can result in a custodial sentence. but as i said before, it is probably notjust due to just two nonpayment. before, it is probably notjust due tojust two nonpayment. they probably have fines for other reasons. we rarely send people to custody for nonpayment of fines. it is extremely rare. you said in terms of the amount of time it takes in magistrates‘ court it is around about 1% of total time, but that is because of the way these cases are candle. the actual workload is about 10% of the total workload with these

130,000 cases each year. what a difference would it make to magistrates courts functioning if that‘s workload were to be taken away? it would make a minimal difference. it is less than 1% of the time spent. it would be an insignificant difference. we would hardly notice it. in terms of imposing fines when somebody... before a magistrate... they have not paid their licence because they can‘t afford to pay it when a magistrate hands—on and fine over something like that, does it feel at the right thing to do? you have no option. there has to be some kind of sanction and it is a totally disproportionate thing to send them into custody or give them a community sentence. you are left with the fine. the problem we have there is that if they had the money, they wouldn‘t pay the tv licence or whatever it is in the first place. what you usually do is, although the fine is payable in theory, what you actually do is ask them what they

cannot and settle on a payment which must be made to the court, perhaps £5 or £10 a week or deducted from benefits if they are on that. if we go out of our way to make sure that the defendants campaign, but also to make sure the state gets the money it is due. national chair of the magistrates association, thank you. the former prime minister, david cameron, has rejected an offer to lead preparations for the international climate change conference in glasgow in november. the decisions follows the sack of claire o‘neill, an ex—minister, who was told by downing street that she couldn‘t chair the glasgow meeting because she was no longer a minister. but sources close to mrs o‘neill say they think she was fired for criticising government failings. mr cameron has been speaking this morning about why he turned down the job. it was an honour to be asked to do thatjob and i was very grateful to be asked. but i think it is best in these situations if you have a government minister doing thejob.

you then have one line of command rather than two people doing the same thing. i thought that was best but it was an honour to be asked. i‘ve also got a lot of things i‘ve already agreed to do this year, not least the work i do for alzheimer‘s research uk, so i thought it was important that i carry on with that work. but i wish the government well and i wish the climate change conference well because it‘s absolutely vital. and i‘m sure there will be a government minister or someone who will be able to do the job and do it very well. the government has my backing as they go forward. the metroplitan police has confirmed that an officer has been taken off operational duties and is being investigated after it emerged that a gun was left in an airplane‘s toilet by a bodyguard for the former prime minister david cameron. our correspondent nicola morrison is with me now. it wasn‘t just a it wasn‘tjust a gun, it was a fully loaded gun and also, david cameron‘s passport and the passport of the production officer. yes, find by the passenger. we don‘t know if that has

served as some kind of reassurance, the fact there was a passport or a former prime minister, did that reassure them in thinking it wasn‘t a terror attack? still quite a harrowing experience and quite an embarrassing situation for the metropolitan police as well. people might be surprised that a loaded gun is allowed on a plane. what are the rules ? is allowed on a plane. what are the rules? well, we don't know specifically what the airline rules are around close operatives. we know that essentially no loaded guns are allowed on airlines. but we don‘t know specifically around close detection for public figures. although i am sure they will now be concerns around is that practical with acid is on board miss safe is it when the security is that easy to be breached? now it‘s time for a look at the weather. it is fairly quiet out there weather—wise today. some of us have started off with sunshine but there has been fog around as well. that is

stubborn to go away. the fog may just lift up into low cloud and it will stay quite cloudy where we have had fog this morning. sunny spells across eastern scotland, to the east of northern ireland and these western areas will have the cloud and showers moving in. maximum temperature is around seven to nine celsius, but chillier where there is cloud and fog. through this evening we keep light wins and that means there will be some fog reforming across south and southern areas. they will be frost around in the morning as well. further north—west they will not be as cold temperatures. friday will have dry weather again and sunny spells and fog will lift up into low cloud. stay tuned for the weekend because storm hero is set to —— storm hero

is set to bring some damage over the weekend. hello, this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines: president trump makes his state of the union speech and hails ‘the great american comeback‘ just hours before he‘s expected to be acquitted in his impeachment trial. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging and our country is thriving and highly respected again. the democrat house speaker, nancy pelosi, clashes with president trump. she‘s seen ripping up her copy of his speech behind him. injapan, ten passengers are taken off a quarantined cruise ship after testing positive for coronavirus in the port of yokohama. according to a local broadcaster, all ten cases are in those over the age of 50.

the government launches a consultation on decriminalising the non—payment of the tv licence fee. more than a0 people are arrested as police crackdown on courierfraud, with thousands of vicitms in the last two years. sport now, and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good morning. he might not have been in the dugout but liverpool managerjurgen klopp was still sending messages of encouragement and congratulations to their young players as they beat shrewsbury1—nil in their fa cup fourth round replay. neil critchley took charge of their youngest ever side, with ro—shaun williams‘ own goal deciding the match. the manager and first team skipped the game due to the winter break, although critchley said klopp was still being influential. some words of advice and some support, which is fantastic. again,

a little bit at half—time and at the end as well. i think he is delighted with the performance and the result. now, that was a little bit of a message to the players before the game that chelsea away could be an opportunity for one or two of you to play any game like that. elsewhere, wayne rooney will face his old side manchester united in round five. he scored a penalty as derby beat northampton 11—2 in their replay. newcastle scraped through against league one oxford united. 3—2, oxford levelled the match to take it to extra time before allan saint maximin fired newcastle into the fifth round for the first time since 2006. also through are birmingham and reading. former tottenham playmaker christian eriksen feels that he was blamed for their slump in recent months and paid the price for being honest about his desire to leave the club. he made no secret of his desire to move away from tottenham and, after being linked with real madrid and manchester united, completed a £16 million move to inter milan at the end

of the january transfer window. if you have a short contract, you will be the black sheep, and of course i did the interview. i was very honest. i felt that i had to be honest. i did not want to hide stuff like a lot of players do, and they work in their own way, everybody is different. but i was honest, i wanted to try something new and i said that out loud. i did get the blame for a lot of stuff, for being the bad vibe. i didn't read all of the bad vibe. i didn't read all of the bad vibe. i didn't read all of the bad stuff, i did read something that the bad person in the changing room and ever since he said he wanted to leave he is no good. yesterday, a yougov survey found the majority of fans aren‘t enjoying var, but don‘t want to scrap it. well, the man in charge of the premier league says it is here to stay. richard masters was appointed as the new chief executive on a permanent basis in december and told our sports editor dan roan that they‘ll be working hard to improve the video assistants. obviously there are issues. there

are issues with consistency of decision—making, delay, which people don‘t like. decision—making, delay, which people don't like. should you scrap the whole system, do away with it and go back to the old system? no, i don't think that is an option. what we have to do is try to make ve are better. we have discussed that with clu bs, better. we have discussed that with clubs, ptm or under a certain things that we have already done. for example, we have tried to improve the munication in stadium by using different methodologies to munich a kid with fans about what is going on under going to have a debate with clu bs under going to have a debate with clubs in april about what sort of video assisted referee they would like season. mo farah has withdrawn from next month‘s london half marathon with an achilles injury. he‘s won the race for the last two years but after sustaining a minor injury in training, he‘s opted to continue his preparations for the summer in africa. he said he hoped to be back in the race next year. super league clubs are meeting this morning to discuss the controversial signing of israel folau by catalans dragons. several clubs have backed a letter from the hull kr owner to the dragons, warning

them of potential legal action if they suffer financially as a result of the signing. the former union star was sacked by rugby australia for his homophobic comments. after losing their first one day international since becoming world champions, england captain eoin morgan conceded they were way off the mark in their seven—wicket defeat to south africa. morgan was one of a number of batsmen who struggled as england posted 258 in their innings. morgan‘s opposite number quinton de kock led by example for the home side in cape town. he made 107 as south africa reached their target with more than two overs to spare. their second of three games is in durban on friday. that‘s all the sport for now. more throughout the afternoon. the leaders of the three largest parties in ireland have clashed in a tv debate before this weekend‘s general election. the current prime minister, leo varadkar, is behind in the polls in spite of having had a major profile in the brexit negotiations. our ireland correspondent, chris page, reports. ireland is a nation on the edge of europe, and the frontline of brexit.

it is the only country which has a land border with the uk. after a financial crisis a decade ago, it has recovered strongly, and now has the fastest growing economy in the eu. but opposition parties are highlighting issues like housing issues, hospital overcrowding, and the cost of living. in the last major tv debate before the election, the prime minister emphasised his role in the brexit talks, and claimed a change of government would be a risk. it‘s only half—time. brexit isn‘t done yet. the next big step is to negotiate a trade deal between the uk and the eu. that‘s absolutely essential for the 200,000 people who work in export industries in ireland, our rural economy, our agri—food sector, and our fishermen. but the leader of the main opposition party said he was up to the task, because all parties had the same approach to brexit. the idea that you can't change a government because of brexit, i think, makes absolutely no sense. governments change all of the time in europe, and there's always many key issues facing the european union and member states.

both mr martin and mr varadkar‘s parties are in the political centre ground. they have dominated irish politics for many decades. but they are being challenged by a left—wing party, sinn fein, which is performing strongly in opinion polls. the theme of this election that has emerged is a thirst for change. i am very clear what that change means. everywhere that i have gone, people have said to me that they recognise that fine gael and fianna fail are essentially identical parties, have had it all their way now for almost a century. the other leaders said they would not go into a coalition with sinn fein, mainly because the party had links to paramilitary violence during the conflict in northern ireland. sinn fein emphasises its role in the peace process. no group is expected to win an overall majority of seats in the irish parliament. complex negotiations to form a government are set to follow the general election,

which will be held on saturday. more than 340,000 primary school children are in ‘literary poverty‘, research shows. that‘s a term used by the charity booktrust for children who are read to for less than 15 minutes a week. the study conducted by the charity reveals that1 in 7 parents say they never read to their children before bed. the research also shows that around just1 in 3 children are reading for more than one hour a week. former children‘s laureate anne fine described reading as "the bedrock of education in all subjects", encouraging parents to share books with their children. however, many parents and carers do still consider reading with their child to be important, with nine in ten valuing their child reading for pleasure. earlier i spoke to the director of the book trust gemma malley. the benefits of shared reading and then reading for enjoyment are so huge to children. it is notjust educational attainment, although it is important for that. it is also

confidence, communication skills, empathy, resilience, all the things that as they grow up will become more and more important and if we do not get that reading habit in when they are young, it will not happen when they are older. is that right? it is not something that can be picked up at any point? we know that children that are redwell are much more likely to become readers, and if they read when they are young they are more likely to when they grow up. if you see yourself as a reader, if books are the thing you turn to and they become the fun thing at the end of the day, you are much more likely to have that same relationship with books as you grow older. the worry is that more and more families, as children go to school, the lovely, cuddly bedtime story is being replaced by phonics homework. which is very important. learning to read is really critical but, if we only do that, reading goes from being something we enjoy to something we have to do, which is very hard. then it is very easy to pushit

very hard. then it is very easy to push it away and go for, you know, the screen —based activities which area the screen —based activities which are a lot easier. so, what is your advice on somebodyjuggling, a household juggling work, homework, all of the different out devotees that need to happen, to set aside that need to happen, to set aside that time for it being pleasurable? when something becomes a chore in homework, it is quite hard to see it necessarily is something to do for pleasure as well. of course. our advice is always try to find that ten minutes. bedtime is a really great time, partly because reading is also very soporific. if you have young children and want them to get to sleep, reading is a good way of doing that, which is the extra incentive. the ten minutes a day can be any time. we are really big on the bedtime story. we are launching a massive event in skill where we wa nt a massive event in skill where we want children to wear their pyjamas, come to skill and celebrate the bedtime story. we hope that if children are demanding the bedtime story, that will make it easier for

pa rents, story, that will make it easier for parents, who get so many demands for screen time orjust the rest of this tv programme. if the children are asking for a bedtime story, it will probably incentivise us to give one. at what age should you be reading to your children until? there is really no stop age, but we find that as children get older, that is often when children stop reading. children might develop the reading ability but will not always have the understanding of what they are reading. sometimes, they will be reading. sometimes, they will be reading books and don‘t quite understand what is going on and it is so great for parents to dip in and out. when they‘re little it might be reading to them every day, as they get older, you mightjust sit and read a chapter of their book with them or have them read it to you so that you can talk about the themes and it becomes a really shared activity. in a moment, we‘ll have all the business news. but first, the headlines on bbc news. president trump makes his state of the union speech and hails ‘the great american comeback‘ just hours before he‘s expected to be acquitted

in his impeachment trial. the democrat house speaker, nancy pelosi, clashes with president trump. she‘s seen ripping up her copy of his speech behind him. in japan, ten passengers are taken off a quarantined cruise ship after testing positive for coronavirus. now, the business news. hong kong‘s flagship airline cathay pacific has asked staff to take three weeks of unpaid leave to help it cope with the impact of the coronavirus. the airline intends to cut services by about 30% over the next two months, including a 90% reduction in flights to mainland china. passenger numbers are already down following months of anti—government protests in hong kong. and, sticking with airlines, claims made by ryanair about its carbon emissions have been banned by the uk‘s advertising watchdog. europe‘s biggest airline by passenger numbers had billed itself as the region‘s "lowest emissions airline" and a "low

co2 emissions airline". but it‘s been ruled that ryanair‘s claims could not be backed up. sign—ups for disney‘s new streaming service have exceeded expectations with about 28.6 million people signing up for disney plus since it started in november. the on—demand video service, which costs $6.99 per month, is an attempt to challenge industry leader netflix. ryanair is not the only company getting rapped on the knuckles by the advertising standards authority today. an advert for fashion retailer pretty little thing which featured women wearing exposing lingerie has been banned for being "offensive". according to the asa, the youtube ad presented the firm‘s products in an "overly—sexualised way" and depicted women as sex objects. pretty little thing said it "in no way meant to cause any offence"

but the retailer is just one of several online fast fashion companies to have been called out for their racy marketing. joanne yulanjong is the founder of yulan creative, a fashion brand consulting agency. many thanks for joining many thanks forjoining me on the programme. do you think that the asa was right to ban this advert?|j was right to ban this advert?” think it is very unregulated territory, one of many cases that i am sure will come up in the future. i think it was right because it is actually borderline offensive, and whilst fashion companies are using different media, like video for instance, and it is broadcasting to such a broad audience, i mean, there is2 such a broad audience, i mean, there is 2 billion youtube users per month. this is a very wide message on social media and i think there needs to be regulations. interestingly mention that because past fashion brands, of which pretty little thing is one, they are much

more likely, research suggests, to use celebrities, influencers, these new sorts of media, well, sort of knew, to advertise their wares, as opposed to a traditional high street retailer. is there is an area, i know you have written about this, that requires greater regulation or is this simply that the regulation that currently exists is out of date? it is completely out of date. i would say that there is a real difference in the fashion industry to influencers and fast fashion businesses as to the wider fashion business. when it comes to influencer businesses and past fashion, they use sexualisation in a fast and loose, and at times it really does cross the lines and can be offensive. really, they are outdated. this whole movement, the # media movement, and the empowerment

of women, and their impairment of sexuality is refreshing and wonderful to see but just sexuality is refreshing and wonderful to see butjust as sustainability is used in companies to greenwashing through messaging, so as the words empowerment of women and their sexuality is overused and misused in this sense. but eli between empowerment and the objectification of women, it is a subjective one, is it not? —— the line between. it differs according to what all you are, what background you are from. it begs the question as to whether, as you say, the rules are simply outdated when it comes to these newer sorts of fashion brands and the audiences that they are trying to target. yes, i think it really is outdated in the sense that, when you look at the feet of fashion influencers and musicians, they are highly sexualised it works, drives traffic and it pulls leavers in terms of advertising and marketing clicks, which is all that

is affected now. it is the online interaction and engagement under that does drive engagement and sales. if you look at the fact that we are now, as i have written in my book, communicating with four different generations online and they all have different opinions and different expectations, as i said, this is going to be one of many complaints of a similar problem, that we are communicating across so many different mediums with so many different generations. there is bound to be grey areas across the business. as you said earlier, regulation clearly needs to catch—up because pretty little thing is by no means alone in getting wrapped on the knuckles by the asa. a previous advert by pretty little thing was also banned in 2017. rival, misguided, as did boo—hoo, which owns pretty little thing. in their defence, the company does time said, asi defence, the company does time said, as i said earlier, they by no means meant to cause offence and instead what they were trying to do was

celebrate all women and body types. we are due think they went wrong? where do you think other retailers can learn to keep the right side of the law? i think with the whole fashion business looking at the metoo and what clothing means, and how to exploit sexuality and sensuality including, there is that fine line between what is sexual and what isn‘t. the influencers use that to their advantage very well, but when you look at a musician who is perhaps doing a very kind of overt music video, that is creative direction, expressing their brand personality, their personal brand personality. but when you transpose that imagery into fashion, without any kind of other layer of creative thought, it can just become tacky

and overt and offensive. such an interesting area of discussion. in other business stories, we‘ve been following... over 11,000 euros cars were registered in january over 11,000 euros cars were registered injanuary during the same month in 2019. confusion over diesel and cleaner zones is being, along with consumer confidence. alternatively fuelled vehicles reached a record market share of nearly 12% in january. reached a record market share of nearly 12% injanuary. also, the co—founder of rockstar games is leaving the firm that he started with his brother back in 1998 for sub he was aiming creative force between two behind two of the firm‘s biggest series, grand theft auto and red dead. it comes after an extended

rake, according to their parent company. and lastly, let‘s flag up an agreement to share network equipment to try to improve on coverage a cross equipment to try to improve on coverage across the uk‘s rural areas. it has hit a stumbling block over costs. rival operators are unhappy at the price that bt owned ee as asking them to pay insurance equipment. bbc has learned that a key meeting is due to take place on wednesday to try to out some details. london‘s blue chips ftse 100 index staying strong in mid—morning — although some stocks were hit by those disappointing new car sales figures. but sentiment is still being bouyed by a morning caffeine shot provided by data on the uk‘s crucial service sector showing a post—election boost. that‘s all the business news. let‘s return to the story that police in britain have confirmed that an officer has been taken off operational duties and is being investigated after reports that a gun was left in an airplane‘s toilet by a bodyguard for the former

prime minister, david cameron. the pistol — reportedly loaded — was found by a passenger just before take—off, along with mr cameron‘s passport. we have just had a statement through from british airways saying, we follow caa rules, civil aviation authority, which allow uk police to carry firearms on and specific controlled circumstances. our crew dealt with the issue quickly before departure and the flight continued as normal. it seems some of those on board were not happy about their being a loaded gun and it was taken off the flight. let‘s speak now to former head of royal protection, dai davies. thank you forjoining us. if billy loaded gun, the passport of the person carrying it, the protection officer, and the passport of the person they are protecting. —— a fully loaded gun to what was your reaction when you find those heard these things were found in a toilet question mark obviously i was

concerned about the lack of discipline of the fact that this officer, per some reason, forgot. your bisley was doing his business at one point and for some reason to his gun away from whatever he was doing andi his gun away from whatever he was doing and i am just astonished that ina very doing and i am just astonished that in a very small confined such as a toilet on an aeroplane that this could have happened. clearly, it did. it is concerning and no doubt my colleagues, orformer did. it is concerning and no doubt my colleagues, or former colleagues, in the met will be investigating it. it is fairto in the met will be investigating it. it is fair to say. we are all human but, unfortunately, being a police officer and be inhuman to not always go together when you‘re carrying a gun. —— and being human. clearly this is unacceptable. it has happened at least once or twice in the past. it obviously is embarrassing, particularly after his collea g u es embarrassing, particularly after his colleagues on the other side of surveillance that such a magnificent job tackling the terrorist. -- did such a magnificentjob. obviously,

it can make the mind wonder as to what might have happened if it got into the wrong hands, but it did not. somebody picked it up, handed it in. according to reports, the pilot explained what was going on and some of the passengers on the plane were really uncomfortable about travelling with a loaded gun, so it was taken off the plane. we have not had confirmation of that in the british airways statement. they say it was dealt with before the departure. the flight continued as normal. how unusual is that for a loaded gun to be allowed on a plane. is that something that you have done in your work previously?” is that something that you have done in your work previously? i have never carried a gun on a plane, that is pressure, and certainly, when i was responsible, at that time, guns we re was responsible, at that time, guns were normally handed over to the captain. again, each airline has a different policy. my understanding isn‘t different policy. my understanding isn't 9/11 that different policy. my understanding isn‘t 9/11 that policy has been amended by the caa, and clearly now they are allowed to carry guns. clearly the passengers would be even

more upset had there been a terrorist on board and somehow somebody was attacking mr cameron and there was no defence mechanism. you cannot have it both ways. clearly, this was a mistake. it will be looked at, and i would be looking at who the officer was. his experience, has he got problems? all manner of things would go into it before i hung him out to dry, frankly. what is the potential sanction? again, it is a discipline offence to lose any item of equipment, but particularly so if you lose a glock 19, equipment, but particularly so if you lose a glock19, as i understand it. it is a lethal weapon. my understanding also was it was fully loaded. again, these factors, as you said in your earlier report, we are still awaiting confirmation whether a not the captain authorised the gun to go off. that would leave mr cameron, and let‘s face it all ex prime ministers are at risk, because of the action they have taken whilst

in office. i would be very surprised that was the case and if there was just one officer. i would have thought there would be at least a tea m thought there would be at least a team of officers accompanying him. the former head of royal protection, thank you. my pleasure. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. mixed fortunes today across the uk. for some of us, started off with some fog which has been a bit stubborn to clear away for for others, started with some sunshine and still have some sunny spells in herefordshire. high pressure in charge. that is why things won‘t change a great deal for light winds for many full stops still breezy across the far north of scotland and you‘re just across the far north of scotland and you‘rejust dragging in across the far north of scotland and you‘re just dragging in some cloud. one or two showers in the west of scotland. further east, some sunny spells. a bit of sunshine for northern ireland and much of england and wales. where you have had the fog, still lingering around the london area, mightjust lift up. chilly elsewhere. through tonight,

because of those light winds, some fog returns. but more so towards east anglia, parts of the south midlands into southern areas of england. that is where there will also be risk of some frost going into some in the morning. temperatures close to if not below freezing. that will continue throughout the day on thursday. it should be a little bit drier, not too many showers around here. elsewhere, some sunny spells. very similar conditions today. fog in the morning, starting to —— stubborn to clear, might lift up into low cloud. chilly beneath that. elsewhere, temperatures on thursday around about 7—9 celsius. into friday, this area of high pressure moves a bit further eastwards. it will start to allow one or two weather fronts moving away in across the west. we will see the cloud just gradually increase but plenty of sunshine. more of a breeze on friday so fog will not be so much of an issue but eventually, some patchy rain moving

through northern ireland, western scotla nd through northern ireland, western scotland into the isle of man for the maximum temperatures around 10 degrees. during saturday, for the bulk of the day, largely dry. some sunshine. rain moving its way into northern and western areas in the wind will start to pick up later on saturday. that is all linked into a storm. that one weather system moves through on saturday and it is this area of low pressure that moves in. look at the right lines across the uk, very, very windy conditions. saturday night into sunday. we could see severe gales, heavy rain, disruption is likely to travel over the weekend and damage is certainly possible as well it is well worth staying tuned to the forecast over the next few days as we firm up the details of where we will see the strongest of those winds and the most impact, and some warnings perhaps being issued. one brought warning for the uk, finer details to be worked out. borisjohnson will face

questions from mps at midday. norman smith is standing by in the houses of parliament. we by in the houses of parliament. can join we by in the houses of parliament. canjoin him, what expecting? maybe a little bit of brexit stuff. we had boris johnson‘s maybe a little bit of brexit stuff. we had borisjohnson‘s plans for a new trade, trade deal with the eu for we are not going to abide by eu rules, some of the labour folk might ta ke rules, some of the labour folk might take that up. we might get mr johnson being pressed for more details about is new counterterrorism plans in the week of that terrible attack in streatham. we have not really had much detail about the longer prison sentences and how that is going to be implemented for people already in prison. we may get some stuff on andy, the bbc being told this morning that there will be a consultation about decriminalising the licence fee. there is also bit ofa the licence fee. there is also bit of a story around downing street‘s relations with the media for we had an urgent question on the other day. my an urgent question on the other day. my top tip is climate change. i say

that because as we know, jeremy corbyn, it is a big issue for him andi corbyn, it is a big issue for him and i would not be at all surprised if he hones in on that planned climate change conference in glasgow. cop26 seems to be in total shambles that has not got anybody running it after the former tory minister was sacked and then said some buried as obliging things about borisjohnson, in some buried as obliging things about boris johnson, in effect that some buried as obliging things about borisjohnson, in effect that he does not really care about climate change, and doesn‘t get it. we now know that david cameron has said he does not want the job. it is a real headache for boris johnson does not want the job. it is a real headache for borisjohnson to try does not want the job. it is a real headache for boris johnson to try to get somebody in place. it is viewed as a big event as wheeze parade ourselves as global britain. let‘s go into the chamber. this appalling incident makes plain the case for immediate action and we will shortly introduce emergency

legislation to make sure we do everything to protect the public. mr speaker, this morning i had meetings with colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in the house, i will have further meetings today. mr speaker, on behalf of my constituents in bridgend, may i warmly congratulate the prime minister for delivering on the promise made to the british people that we will leave the european union? will he reassure my constituents that now that we are taking back control of our money, borders and laws, that every effort will be made to bring jobs and investment to areas such as bridgend, which feel left behind?” can give him that assurance and i can give him that assurance and i can tell him that with better education, infrastructure, high technology, we will unite and level up technology, we will unite and level up this country and deliver, as he

is doing, for the people of bridgend. is the speaker, we were all appalled by the terror attack on sunday and i want to join the prime minister in paying tribute to the bravery and dedication of the police, said security services and the other emergency response staff in the way they dealt with a terrifying and terrible situation. last friday this country left the european union, britain‘s place in the world is at a crossroads. while there are different views across this country, we will be holding this country, we will be holding this government to account as the negotiations begin. but i hope is that we now truly come together to shape our that we now truly come together to shape our common that we now truly come together to shape our common future and build an internationalist, diverse and outward —looking country. indeed, we will get an opportunity to do that when britain hosts the un climate change conference later this year.

despite the fact that we are the 11th hour to save the planet, the former tory minister and now ex—president of the conference, claire o‘neill, said and i quote, there has been a huge lack of leadership and engagement from this government. what on earth did she mean? mr speaker, ithink if government. what on earth did she mean? mr speaker, i think if you look at what this government is achieving and has achieved on climate change, it is quite phenomenal. he will know, mr speaker, last year was the first year on record that renewables produced more of the energy of this country than fossil fuels. he will know that since this government got in power in 2010, 90 9% of all of the solar panels that miracle were installed under this government. we are delivering for the people of this government elite might country. what you are producing is a load of

hot. the problem is that the government‘s own figures show it is missing the carbon budget, let alone by 2050, it will be 2099 before this country meets net zero. we discovered this morning that two former conservative leaders have also turned down the job formally done by his minister. maybe he could be third time lucky. maybe we could make a third approach for another member. he is here in the chamber already for it. his own former tory minister said we should have clear actions and an agreed plan, a road map for the year of action. but we do not. so why is the prime minister failing so spectacularly to measure up failing so spectacularly to measure up to the scale of the climate crisis that this country and planet is facing? this is beyond satire.

this is the first country, the first major economy in the world to have set a target of carbon neutral by 2050. it is an absolutely fantastic thing, we are leading the world in our ambitions and we will have a wonderful summit in glasgow, one of the most fantastic cities in our country at the end of the year. this country at the end of the year. this country isn‘t meeting its targets. it isn‘t due to meet its target and i think the prime minister should recognise that. even the paris targets a re recognise that. even the paris targets are not enough. the un says we have just a targets are not enough. the un says we havejust a decade targets are not enough. the un says we have just a decade to change because if we are to avert a climate catastrophe. let‘s look at something else his ex minister said. the prime minister promised to lead from the front and guarantee there would be money and people. these promises are not close to being met. what on earth could she have been talking about? as so often, i'm not entirely

sure what the right honourable gentleman is talking about. if you look at what this government has actually delivered and our conservative policies have backed, green tie, innovation and supporting a dynamic market economy which is the solution to these problems, we have cut co2 emissions in this country since 2010 on 1990 levels by 4296. 4296! country since 2010 on 1990 levels by 42%. 42%! that is an astonishing achievement. at the same time, the economy has grown by 73% thanks to dynamic one nation conservativism. that is our approach, what is his? his former minister said my advice... well, you might not like it, but i‘m going to read it. my advice to anyone to whom the prime minister is making promises, whether

it is voters, world leaders, and esters, employees or family members, is get it in writing, make a lawyer look at it and make sure a money is in the bank. not my words, hers. the prime minister‘s failure in government means this country will not meet its net zero target until 99. this government has banned offshore wind and is funding billions on fossilfuel offshore wind and is funding billions on fossil fuel projects abroad. is this what his minister means by the absence of leadership? mr speaker, i think the grotesque failure of the leader of the opposition to understand what is happening in this country‘s economy and let alone in the fight against climate change is quite mind—boggling. ican climate change is quite mind—boggling. i can inform him today that this country is leading in notjust reducing the technology to generate offshore wind, but the north—east of this country leads the

world, the world in producing and designing those fantastic turbines. and it is because of that technological innovation that we are able to expand massively our renewables. i can tell him, and i think you may know this, in 1990, this country was 70% dependent on coal power. we are now, today, and by the way, he wanted to reopen the coalmines, today we are down to 3%. by coalmines, today we are down to 3%. by 2024, it will be zero. that is our plan, what is his? it was the labour party that proposed the climate change emergency motion that this house on the first. and the prime minister is quoting things that happened in 1990 and afterwards, during that time, of course, he was a climate sceptic you didn‘t say anything about this at all. full leadership is nothing new to this prime minister. when he was

foreign secretary, he cut the number of climate attaches across the world by 60% in our embassies and reportedly said, are you not going to spill out this to the media, are you, to his staff. considering his monument of failure in advance of the climate conference, is it not a continuation of his climate change denial statements that he was regularly making up until 2015? denial statements that he was regularly making up until2015? the right honourable gentleman is talking nonsense. this government is delivering a fantastic agenda in tackling climate change. we lead the world in going for a zero carbon approach. his own approach is utterly, utterly unclear. it has been condemned by the gmb is my disaster for the been condemned by the gmb is my disasterfor the uk. been condemned by the gmb is my disaster for the uk. he been condemned by the gmb is my disasterfor the uk. he would confiscate people‘s cars and prevent them from having foreign holidays. we have a plan that will allow the

uk economy to continue to grow, can create jobs and tackle climate change. i admire the prime minister‘s very vivid imagination. u nfortu nately, minister‘s very vivid imagination. unfortunately, his vivid imagination seems to have taken over from his memory. he might recall saying that climate change is a primitive fear without foundation. the prime minister of bangladesh said any consequence of failure to deliver a climate action plan must fall equally on every country. the cost of our inaction is devastating to every living person. but our prime minister is failing on the big stage on the most important issue of our time. his former minister is describing preparations in whitehall as whitehall not tying and inviting, obfuscation, petty political squabbles and black ops briefings. no wonder the prime minister is shutting out newspapers from number ten because he doesn‘t like the

briefings. when will he face up to the climate emergency and take the action necessary to turn glasgow into the turning point when this world will stop the levels of pollution and climate change we are having and go forward to a sustainable future? because his policies simply don‘t take us there. this government is showing world leadership in tackling climate change and we are going to have a fantastic summit at glasgow. i look forward to it. he mentions the media. they did an inquest about what having the general election and they discover that any labour party it wasn‘t the leadership at fault. it wasn‘t brexit. it was the media. they the media. i don‘t blame them. i‘m a journalist and i love journalism and i think that people

of this country, mr speaker, don‘t blame the media, they can see the media doing their best to represent the reality and the reality is that this government is delivering 40 new hospitals, 20,000 more police, tackling climate change, £30,000 starting salaries for every teacher in the country. it is not about the presentation of the facts, mr speaker, it is about the reality. he can‘t cope with the reality. speaker, it is about the reality. he can't cope with the reality. as mp4 broxtowe, i‘ m can't cope with the reality. as mp4 broxtowe, i‘m delighted that the funding has started to build new hospitals. such as the funding for nottingham university hospitals. does the prime minister agree with me that this conservative government is committed to fulfilling its ma nifesto is committed to fulfilling its manifesto pledges and will deliver for the nhs? indeed i do

passionately with my honourable friend and i congratulate him on all he has done to campaign fully redevelop and of queens health centre and nottingham university hospital and i‘m delighted the money is flowing through to those projects. can i add my great -- grateful thanks to the police who had to react to the terrible terrorist incidents. in the first few days of brexit britain, this prime minister has sacked an official, taken an isolationist approach to trade, and banned the press from a downing street briefing. is he intentionally trying to impersonate donald trump? mr speaker, i don‘t think anybody listening to my speech, i think it

was on monday, could mistake it for anything but the most passionate, internationalist, global, open, outward —looking approach. there is only one party in this country that has nationalist in their name, mr speaker, that is them. that is there! they would break up the most successful political partnership of the last 300 years. he and his party should concentrate on the dayjob and doing a betterjob for the people of scotland. mr speaker, the prime minister doesn‘t even know the name of our party. the prime minister is on a dangerous trajectory. is it any wonder that poll after poll shows majority support for scottish independence? mr speaker, ourformer support for scottish independence? mr speaker, our former us support for scottish independence? mr speaker, ourformer us ambassador has made clear the threat of a tory trump trade deal, one that prices could so. this would see increased

pressure on our front line services. it is clear than ever that this government, this prime minister is a threat to our nhs. mr speaker, this afternoon, the snp will present our nhs protection bill to remove very real threat of tory privatisation. we‘ll be prime minister commit right now to supporting our legislation? mr speaker, i think it is very odd that he should denounce this country‘s wish to have trade deals around the world. i understand that their proposal is to try to rejoin their proposal is to try to rejoin the european union and therefore have a different currency, whose name they are yet to identify, perhaps they can elucidate to the house, to have a border at berwick and just after this country has taken back control, its outstanding

marine world, to hand it back to brussels. that is their policy and i really think should concentrate on doing a betterjob for the people of scotland. a strong society needs strong families, as our manifesto rightly said. it went on to say that we will champion family hopes to serve vulnerable families. we‘ll be prime minister prioritise family hopes and ensure that family hopes are linked to our early years strategy and the children services reform? indeed. that is why we have given another 106 the £5 million to extend the troubled families programme this year. in the past ten yea rs, programme this year. in the past ten years, violent crime has risen 152% across the towns of warwickshire. in the past two weeks of my constituency, two weeks have been killed in two separate events and

others remain seriously ill or injured. the government has promised to reinstate 20,000 police officers, but isn‘t it a simple truth that it is now our residents, through hikes in council tax of 12% last, 6% this year, who are picking up the whole bill for the old bill and it is the party opposite that are no longer be party opposite that are no longer be party of law and order but the party of disorder? he is making an important point about violent crime andi important point about violent crime and i share his anger. that is why we are putting an extra 20,000 police officers on our streets. that is why we are now tackling the cou nty is why we are now tackling the county lines drug gangs that are behind so much of this rise behind crime. the prime minister's conscious of widespread concern about involving huawei in our 5g

network and france are not including huawei in building their 5g network. australia are also doing it. can my right honourable friend confirm he wa nts to right honourable friend confirm he wants to reduce huawei‘s involvement over time? we are going to be reducing the involvement of huawei below the 35% market cap. he is also writing as general vision which i share, what is happened is that there is a failure on like—minded countries to come up with a alternative 5g network. that is why we are doubling the science budget and we will be working with the countries he mentions in order to produce exactly that diversification in the market. in november last year, the personal independence

payment assessment centre was moved to real and no notice was given of that change. the bus to get there from my constituency takes one hour and 44 minutes. the bus from barmouth hill takes five hours and 15 minutes. mr speaker, this is the reality in the prime minister‘s sordid global britain. will he amend this? i thank the honourable gentleman and we need to improve our bus services across the whole country and that is why we are investing another £220 into improving the services and my right honourable friend, the chancellor has many more such investments in the pipeline. sometimes we are the train, sometimes we are the track. just last week, we have taken

control back and does the prime minister agree with me that now is the time for us to be the track for a metrolink between manchester and bolton? yes, indeed stop that is why we have given the ok thanks to his campaign. we have given the mail campaign. we have given the mail campaign of bolton £300 million plus the local transport fund. we have given them the tools, let‘s hope that they follow his urgings and bill be metrolink e once. last friday i visited a school in my constituency and in 2020, the state of the school buildings was dickensian. leaking roofs, rusty shower rooms, multi changing rooms, when will this government understand that the cost of education is high, but it is a worthy investment in the future of our schools? whether a child is a whizz kid, whether a

child is a whizz kid, whether a child is a whizz kid, whether a child is needy, every child deserves to be at school in an excellent and inspiring school building. that is exactly why this government is investing £14 billion, a record £14 billion more in education, raising funding for primary schools to £4000 per head and £5,000 for every secondary school in the country. we can only do that because we are running a strong and dynamic marketer, and that is what we are going to do. to help spread opportunity across our country, can i encourage my right honourable friend to have a prebudget chat with his chancellor about extending the government‘s welcome plans to increase national insurance contributions for employees of ex service personnel to other groups who find it difficult to get a good job, including care leavers, ex offenders, those with a disability, and the long—term unemployed?”

thank him and his family for everything they do to encourage ex offenders into work. i will take up that suggestion with my right honourable friend, the chancellor. we cut national insurance, they would hike taxes and key people in welfare. it has been two years since the windrush scandal exposed wrongful detention and deportation of citizens. whilst we wait for the publication of the review, the government plans to deport 50 people to jamaica by charter flight next week. will be prime minister immediately suspend the flight until the lessons learnt review is published and the recommendations can be reflected on? the whole house will understand the people of this country will think it‘s right to

send back foreign national offenders stop. the incident last week reminds us stop. the incident last week reminds us that the rule of law remains a foundation of our democratic constitution. but the explosion of judicial review and judicial activism have led to a censorious nose and litigious and is in our society and distorted questions that ought to have remained political. how will my right honourable friend ensure that parliament remains the sovereign and legitimate source of law as we take back control? my right honourable friend is a distinguished lawyer and she is right to stick up for the immense value of our legal system. we must protectjudicial review. it is a vital part of our system. we should also ensure that it is not abuse, mr speaker, to conduct politics by other means or create a needless delay. for many years, we have been

promised a new inpatient mental health facility, especially since a wing was closed in 2017. yet patients are still travelling 20 miles to access services. will be prime minister explain how this demonstrate the parity of esteem in mental health care that his party promised in 2012? we are putting record investment into the nhs. £33.9 million and a total of £12 million going into health care. that isa million going into health care. that is a record sum. i would like to follow on my right honourable friend‘s question on huawei. the australian agencies have analysed the involvement of any of huawei and any involvement would lead to the risk of sabotage and espionage. can

he give a reassurance that we will lead and greater alternative to huawei over the next five years? yes, we of course will do nothing to endanger either our critical national security infrastructure or to prejudiced organisations orfive eyes partners as he has suggested. we will work to ensure that high risk lenders cannot dominate our market. the prime minister will know that under his government there has been a massive shortage of co nsulta nts been a massive shortage of consultants over the uk leading to a strain on our a&e services. how will he ensure, especially now we have left the eu, that consultants from overseas are encouraged to apply for nhs visas to work in hospitals across the uk? mr speaker, of course we have introduced nhs visas in order to attract talent from around the world, but i would remind her

andi the world, but i would remind her and i think she speaks from a welsh seat, that is a devolved matterfor the welsh labour government. the prime minister has rightly put keeping our country safe and the nhs at the heart of this government‘s lands. will he support my campaign for two new gp surgeries in my town and remind him that he is always welcome for a pork pie, a bitter, or some stilton. the short answer is yes and yes. last week, it was revealed that my constituent started to death after the dwp stopped as benefits. his body was only discovered when bailiffs woke down his front door to evict him. the first priority of government is to keep its citizens safe. —— broke

down his front door. how many more benefits claimants will have to die before his government starts to value their lives? this is a tragic case and she is right to raise it we have added £36 million including the creation of a new serious case panel so we can creation of a new serious case panel so we can scrutinise and learn lessons from tragic cases like this. as well as improving guidance for staff involved. will my right honourable friend join with me and on behalf of the whole house extend our sympathies and best wishes to those who were injured in the attack last week? may i welcome his attention to legislate as a consequence of this attack and will he agree that her majesty‘s government now has no option but to legislate to try to contain the threat of x terrorist offenders where they still pose a threat to

our country? i think my right honourable friend is entirely right and most of the people in this country would agree that the system of automatic early release of terrorist offenders has run out of road and it is time to find a way, as we are, to make sure they are properly scrutinised by a parole board or by an equivalent. thanks to the tireless work of my predecessor, the tireless work of my predecessor, the late great paul flynn, and my right honourable friend, the member for gower, and members of with children with epilepsy, medical cannabis is now legal. so can the government and the calls of who need medical cannabis as to when this medicine will be available and will they come to meet these family is and personally assure them he will do all he can to help? it was this

government and i right honourable friend these health secretary who did legalise medicinal cannabis. i can undertake that he will certainly be happy to meet your constituents this afternoon. buses are a vital lifeline for my constituents, but too often the buses are letting down the people of south yorkshire. will my prime minister confirmed that he will back buses to connect towns and cities across the north but also to unlock the potential of the valley and south yorkshire? this government is passionate about buses and i can assure him that we are massively going to improve our bus network in the valley above all and i thank him for the lobbying he is doing. we know the prime minister has form in

looking democratic scrutiny at any opportunity and his party is no stranger to receiving russian donations, but his refusal to publish the report into russian interference into british democracy is unjustifiable and unacceptable. can the prime minister tell us clearly, without bluff and bluster, when the report into russian interference will be published, wired has been delayed so long and when he will reconvene with the intelligence committee? the report will be published when the euro still, when the intelligence and security committee is reconstituted, and i think his conspiratorialframe of is reconstituted, and i think his conspiratorial frame of mind is like mike likely to be thoroughly disappointed by the results. commuters in watford are fed up with pure rail services making them late for

work in the morning and late at home at night to see their families. about the prime minister agree with me that even new rail franchises that do not deliver cannot assume that do not deliver cannot assume that they will keep their contract if they do not sort out the issues as soon as if they do not sort out the issues as soon as possible? absolutely, which is why we are putting £48 billion into improving our railways, but never forget, that a lot would renationalise the railways, and when the railways were nationalised, one quarter of railway users deserted the network after privatisation, real use doubled. last week, we lost a political giant in seamus mallon. he was an outstanding parliamentarian and a seeker of justice for everyone full to one injustice that burned with him until his dying day was the murder of paul quinn. paul was beaten to death by nra gang in 2007. they broke every single bone in his body. so much so that his mother could not place rosary beads in his hands in his coffin. in the aftermath of that,

the finance minister conor murphy said that paul was linked to criminal. that was a lie. but the prime minister agree with me that that lie, and that conor murphy should retract that lie, publicly apologise and give any information he has two the psni about paul‘s murder? mr speaker, i... i hear the honourable gentleman and think the whole house will hear the passion with which he spoke about that injustice. i can tell... i can tell him that we will implement the stormont house agreement in such a way as to provide certainty for vetera ns way as to provide certainty for veterans and of course justice for victims as well. we now come to points of order, butler. mr speaker, the home office press team told journalists that everybody on the deportation flight to jamaica. .. done and dusted in 32 minutes, as we

are getting used to. let‘s go to norman smith, for his thoughts on what we had full subnormal, you said climate change and whatever happened with cop26. climate change and whatever happened with co p26. questions climate change and whatever happened with cop26. questions about journalism is as well. it isa journalism is as well. it is a rare day, i managed to predict what was going to happen.” don‘t think we got far with the spat over premature end. that may climate change. jeremy corbyn challenging him over the sacked head of the cop26 conference, him over the sacked head of the co p26 conference, claire him over the sacked head of the cop26 conference, claire o‘neill. the prime minister confirmed that the conference would go ahead in glasgow. claire o‘neill yesterday suggested such was the acrimony between the premised on the scottish government there was a? about whether it might move to england. borisjohnson whether it might move to england. boris johnson saying whether it might move to england. borisjohnson saying oh, it will be fantastic and will happen in glasgow. —— mike no. the two amusing things, maybe, we got confirmation

that the government will introduce emergency legislation to beef up counterterror laws in the wake of that counterterror attack —— make terror attack in streatham. the idea of automatic release for some terror prisoners had run its course. clearly, we‘ re prisoners had run its course. clearly, we‘re going to be to refund system were automatic release will no be applicable. the other thing i found interesting, far away. two politicians from the tory party is both unhappy about the role of huawei and 3g and that there had to be some sort of movement to ensure that the british government could have an alternative in time to huawei. why does it matter? because the government is going to have to introduce legislation to set up a new ofcom regime to police the new telecoms system. legislation provides critics with the opportunity to amend, repel, cause difficulties. i think there is quite a bit of trouble brewing for mr

johnson when it comes to huawei for a lot of senior tories, like damian green and david davis, clearly unhappy about his decision to give the go—ahead to huawei. thank you very much, norman. let‘s have a look at the weather. good afternoon. all calm on the weather front at the moment, fog for some of us this morning but generally, dry weather, spells of sunshine. staying calm for the next couple of days and then, for the weekend, a significant change. through the rest of this afternoon, largely dry weather, some spells of sunshine, the best across england and wales but also in eastern scotla nd and wales but also in eastern scotland doing quite nicely. further west, more cloud in some spots of rain and drizzle. temperatures generally 7—9dc. this evening, dry for most but keeping the feet of cloud into northern ireland and scotland. patchy drizzle in the far north—west. the old south patch in the south on what will be another fairly chilly night. through thursday and friday, the weather

staying calm. fog to contained within southern parts. more sunshine on friday as the breeze picks up. a quick word about the weekend. if you are travelling or have outdoor plants, it is worth staying tuned to the forecast. the met office has named storm keira. the threat of damaging winds for just about all parts of the uk. hello this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines: president trump makes his state of the union speech and hails ‘the great american comeback‘ just hours before he‘s expected to be acquitted in his impeachment trial. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging and our country is thriving and highly respected again. the democrat house speaker, nancy pelosi, clashes with president trump.

she‘s seen ripping up her copy of his speech behind him. injapan, ten passengers are taken off a quarantined cruise ship after testing positive for coronavirus in the port of yokohama. according to a local broadcaster, all ten cases are in those over the age of 50. the government launches a consultation on decriminalising the non—payment of the tv licence fee. more than 40 people are arrested as police crack down on courier fraud, with thousands of vicitms in the last two years. the trial of the brother of the manchester arena bomber continues old bailey today. yesterday, the jury was told that hashem abedi is just as guilty of the murders of 22 people in may 2017 as his older sibling. he denies the charges. dan johnson is outside the old bailey.

i understand that the case has come to an end for the day? it has. there was a short break about half—an—hour ago and after that break, the judge told the jury that break, the judge told the jury that hashem abedi was feeling unwell this morning. he said that following about an hour of the prosecution opening continuing today, hashem abedi was feeling worse, not better, and is in some painful stop he said the defendant was not able to carry on listening to the prosecution opening, so that would be the end of the case for today. he told the jury to return here tomorrow. before that break, thejury to return here tomorrow. before that break, the jury heard to return here tomorrow. before that break, thejury heard more evidence about the ways in which the prosecution alleges hashem abedi assisted and encouraged his brother in gathering the necessary equipment and chemicals, the components that we re and chemicals, the components that were needed to build that bomb which he detonated at manchester arena in may 2017. the jury heard that the brothers had approached friends and relatives to buy chemicals on their behalf because they knew that if

they did it themselves, that would raise suspicion. different friends and relatives used various online shopping accounts to buy the chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid. some friends, work colleagues bought those chemicals, had them delivered, and then there was evidence of money been deposited in their accounts to repay them for making those purchases. sometimes more than £100 ata time, purchases. sometimes more than £100 at a time, sometimes ten litres of chemicals. one friend had not been able to make a purchase because he did not have any funds in his account and went to his father and said he had been asked to buy severe acid and his dad said, that could be used to build explosives. he essentially warned his son off and after that, his son, who has not been named in court, did not have any further contact with the brother, didn‘t make any purchase on their behalf. that is as far as the evidence has got it today. this is not even relieve the official start of the evidence, just the prosecution laying out their case

against hashem abedi, who denies all of the charges against him. some breaking news — and a 23—year—old man has pleaded guilty to the murder of a pensioner in north london. he pleaded guilty on the third day of his trial, to a pensioner who had been beaten to death in august last year. he also pleaded guilty to 210 dumb accounts of sexually assaulting dorothy. the court formally found him guilty of murder and sexual assault on direction of the judge also be a previously considered guilty to manslaughter and the burglary of a purse but had denied other charges. on the third day of his trial, he has now pleaded guilty and found guilty of the charges of murder and sexual assault on the

direction of thejudge. murder and sexual assault on the direction of the judge. there will be sentencing at a later date. also a serious avalanche in turkey, on the border with iran. reports that 13 people have been killed. a lot of people on the mountainside, basically what happened was there was an earlier avalanche that had killed two people and a large rescue operation was dispatched. many rescue workers went to the highway near the mountain, on the border with iran, after, actually, it was five people killed in that initial avalanche yesterday, but while they we re avalanche yesterday, but while they were responding to that, around noon today the team were struck by another avalanche. the local mayor has said that eight rescuers‘ bodies have been recovered from the slopes,

and emergency teams are searching forup to 15 and emergency teams are searching for up to 15 colleagues who are still buried 30 emergency workers have either been rescued or escaped from under the snow and have been taken to hospital. no further information on their conditions. this unfolding... an awful avalanche there in turkey, on the border with iranfor there in turkey, on the border with iran for the rescue efforts still ongoing. now, all the business news. hong kong‘s flagship airline cathay pacific has asked staff to take three weeks of unpaid leave to help it cope with the impact of the coronavirus. more on this injust a moment. and sticking with airlines — claims made by ryanair about its carbon emissions have been banned by the uk‘s advertising watchdog. europe‘s biggest airline

by passenger numbers had billed itself as the region‘s "lowest emissions airline" and a "low co2 emissions airline". but its been ruled that ryanair‘s claims could not be backed up. sign—ups for disney‘s new streaming service have exceeded expectations with about 28.6 million people signing up for disney plus since it started in november. the on—demand video service, which costs $6.99 per month, is an attempt to challenge industry leader netflix. as fears around the coronavirus intensify, the airline industry is just one of many that‘s being hit hard. not only has cathay pacific asked staff to take unpaid leave — it‘s also said it intends to cut services by about 30% over the next two months, including a 90% reduction in flights to mainland china. passenger numbers are already down following months of anti—government protests in hong kong. airbus also says its closely monitoring the spread

of the virus following the world health organization travel advice. sally gethin is the editor of gethin‘s inflight news. sally, good to talk to you, how serious could this virus be for the airline industry? as we all know, airlines have to deal with a lot of economic uncertainty, but this is something completely out of left field that often appends them and will put a real dent into their profits, and also their turnover going forward. however, it is not unprecedented because they also had to deal with the sars virus. that is a long time ago now. obviously, they are caught on the back foot. as the virus spreads, it is notjust the practical aspect of the virus itself but it is the sense of panic and the

sense of a deterrent to actually wa nt to sense of a deterrent to actually want to fly. this is something that airlines will have to deal with on those two fronts. you reference the sars virus. since that time, the chinese economy has grown considerably. as has the number of routes and international planes going into china. how important is china itself to the global airline industry? china is very important, and actually, in terms of its own domestic market share, america, the united states, is only ahead of it. so, it is second in that sort of global market. it has seen steady growth. in november, for example, it saw traffic climb 3.1%, which is very good set against the backdrop of other airlines. so, very good set against the backdrop of otherairlines. so, it very good set against the backdrop of other airlines. so, it is very important. the asia—pacific region asa important. the asia—pacific region as a whole accounts for more than one third of all the global air

traffic. bisley, china sits within that and it is really integral and important. to see big target market for most commercial airlines today, especially long haul, intercontinental, international airlines. another result of the coronavirus is we have had this meeting of the oil producing countries and their allies today, talking about putting forwards a more aggressive cuts to oil production following a decrease in demand, led by what is happening in china at the moment, which then could lead to a spike in the price of oil. that will be another headwind for the airline industry. do you think as a result of all of this we could start to see major global airlines getting injury financial trouble? well, they will be any position now in many meeting rooms and boardrooms whether to take preventative action already. for example, virgin atlantic flies to

shanghai and has entered that the chinese market. where an airline has a spread of different routes and destinations they will be looking to possibly put a hold on that one and concentrate on the rest of their portfolio. where an airline, for example cathay pacific, is right at the seat of the core of all of the activity, that is going to be very difficult to medicate because it could supported crisis management. —— to mitigate. some airlines are more viable and sustainable financially, they have a big history behind them, for example the two airlines that we have named, virgin and cafe. there will be other airlines that will be more original, short—haul. —— virgin atlantic and cathay pacific they will be just making a turnover or profit on a much more marginal way than those larger airlines. we may see a shake—out in the coming weeks. larger airlines. we may see a shake-out in the coming weeks. watch this space. sally, good to talk to

you. in other business stories we‘ve been following: demand for new cars fell by 7.3% last month — so says the society of motor manufacturers and traders. over 11,000 fewer new cars were registered injanuary than during the same month in 2019. the smmt blamed confusion over diesel and clean air zones, and weak consumer and business confidence. sales of diesel and petrol models were both down, while alternatively—fuelled vehicles reached a record market share of nearly 12% injanuary. the co—founder of rockstar games, dan houser, is leaving the firm he started with his brother sam in 1998. mr houser was a main creative force behind two of the firm‘s biggest series, grand theft auto and red dead. his departure comes after an "extended break" — that‘s according to rockstar‘s parent company ta ke—two interactive. an agreement to share network equipment in order

to improve phone coverage in rural areas has hit a stumbling block over costs. rival operators, including 02, are unhappy at the price bt—owned ee is asking them to pay to share its equipment. the bbc has learned that a key meeting is due to take place on wednesday to hammer out the details. london‘s blue chips ftse100 index staying strong in mid—morning — although some stocks were hit by those disappointing new car sales figures. but sentiment is still being bouyed by a morning caffeine shot provided by data on the uk‘s crucial service sector showing a post—election boost. that‘s all the business news. let‘s return to the story that police in britain have confirmed that an officer has been taken off operational duties and is being investigated after reports that

a gun was left in an aeroplane‘s toilet by a bodyguard for the former prime minister, david cameron. the pistol — reportedly loaded — was found by a passenger just before take—off, along with mr cameron‘s passport. earlier we were joined by former head of royal protection dai davies, who reacted through the lens of his experience in security. obviously, like everyone else, i was concerned at the lapse in discipline, if you like, of the fact that this officer, for some reason, forgot... he of history was doing his business at one point, for some reason to his gun away from whatever he was doing and i am just astonished, really, that any really small confined such as a toilet on an aeroplane that this could have happened, but clearly it did. it is concerning and no doubt my colleagues, orformer colleagues, in the met will be investigating it. it is fairto the met will be investigating it. it is fair to say we are all human, but u nfortu nately is fair to say we are all human, but unfortunately been a police officer and being human don‘t always go together when you‘re carrying a gun.

clearly, this is unacceptable. it has happened, in my understanding, at least once or twice in the past, but it is obviously embarrassing, particularly after his colleagues on the other side of the surveillance did such a magnificentjob tackling the terrorist in streatham. it can make the mind wonder as to what might have happened if it got into the wrong hands but it didn‘t. somebody picked it up, handed it in, and according to reports, the pilot explained what was going on and some of the passengers on the plane were really u nco mforta ble of the passengers on the plane were really uncomfortable about travelling with a loaded gun, so they can was taken off the plane for we have not had confirmation of that in the british airways statement but they say it was dealt with before they say it was dealt with before the departure. the flight continued as normal. how unusual is it for a loaded gun to be allowed on a plane? is that something that you have done and your work previously? well, i have never carried a gun on a plane,

thatis have never carried a gun on a plane, that is for sure, and certainly, when i was responsible, at that time, guns were normally handed over to the captain. again, each airline has a different policy but my understanding is since 9/11, that policy has been amended by the civil aviation authority and clearly now they are allowed to carry guns, and clearly the passengers would be even more upset if there had been a terrorist on—board more upset if there had been a terrorist on—boa rd and more upset if there had been a terrorist on—board and somehow somebody was attacking mr cameron and there was no defence mechanism. you cannot have it both ways. clearly, this was a mistake, it will be looked at, and i will be looking at who the officer was, his experience, has he got problems? all kind of manner of things would go into it before i hung him out to dry, frankly. what is the potential sanction? well, again, it is a discipline offence to lose any item of equipment, but particularly so if you lose a glock19, as i understand it. it is a leaf or weapon. my

understanding also as it was fully loaded. but, again, these factors as you have said in your earlier report, we are still waiting confirmation whether not the captain authorised the country go of. that would leave mr cameron, and let‘s face it, all experiments are at risk because of the actions they have taken whilst in office. i would be very surprised that was the case. i would also be surprised if there is just one officer. i would have thought there would be at least 18 of officers him. the leaders of the three largest parties in ireland have clashed in a tv debate before this weekend‘s general election. the current prime minister, leo varadkar, is behind in the polls in spite of having had a major profile in the brexit negotiations. our ireland correspondent, chris page, reports.

ireland is a nation on the edge of europe, and the frontline of brexit. it is the only country which has a land border with the uk. after a financial crisis a decade ago, it has recovered strongly, and now has the fastest growing economy in the eu. but opposition parties are highlighting issues like housing issues, hospital overcrowding, and the cost of living. in the last major tv debate before the election, the prime minister emphasised his role in the brexit talks, and claimed a change of government would be a risk. it‘s only half—time. brexit isn‘t done yet. the next big step is to negotiate a trade deal between the uk and the eu. that‘s absolutely essential for the 200,000 people who work in export industries in ireland, our rural economy, our agri—food sector, and our fishermen. but the leader of the main opposition party said he was up to the task, because all parties had the same approach to brexit. the idea that you can't change a government because of brexit, i think, makes absolutely no sense. governments change all of the time in europe, and there's always many key issues facing the european union and member states. both mr martin and mr varadkar‘s parties are in the political centre ground. they have dominated irish politics for many decades. but they are being challenged by a left—wing party, sinn fein,

which is performing strongly in opinion polls. the theme of this election that has emerged is a thirst for change. i am very clear what that change means. everywhere that i have gone, people have said to me that they recognise that fine gael and fianna fail — essentially identical parties — have had it all their way now for almost a century. the other leaders said they would not go into a coalition with sinn fein, mainly because the party had links to paramilitary violence during the conflict in northern ireland. sinn fein emphasises its role in the peace process. no group is expected to win an overall majority of seats in the irish parliament. complex negotiations to form a government are set to follow the general election, which will be held on saturday. jane hill will be here shortly with the bbc news at one. now, though, it‘s time for a look

at the weather with ben rich. good afternoon. some of us had some fog to contend with this morning, but for the most part, the weather at the moment is calm. it stays that way until friday. after that, there is something very different on the way for the weekend. the rest of this afternoon, it is mainly fine out there. the best of the sunshine generally across southern areas. further north you are, more in the way of cloud, even some spots of rain and drizzle for the north—west of scotland. temperatures generally between seven and 9 degrees. and this evening and tonight, it stays largely fine as well. the best of the clear spells to be found down towards the south. further north and in west there is more of that cloud and a spot of drizzle on what will be a fairly chilly night, not desperately cold for the time of year, but some spots will drop below freezing. some will see frost. and also the potential for some fog patches across southern and central parts of england and parts of wales. some of that fog could be fairly slow to clear as we go through the day. there will be some fairly large

areas of cloud around as well, equally some sunny spells. a decent chance of seeing some sunny spells particularly across north east scotland through the day tomorrow. the fog lingers for a length of time and it will stay quite chilly, maybe four or 5 degrees, generally seven to nine. and then for friday, a fighting chance we will see more in the way of sunshine. but then, we see some showers pushing in to the west, more persistent rainjust behind, it starts to turn quite breezy, starts turning a little bit milder by this stage as well. during friday night, the weather starts to turn more active and we see this frontal system pushing eastwards. a quieter zone of weather for a time on saturday before rain returns from the west. with this rain, we will start to see sway of gales developing across northern and western parts of the uk. and then we get into sunday. sunday‘s weather is currently forming across the south of the usa. some rain and snow here. but that area of rain and snow will be picked up by a powerful jet stream, winds high up in the atmosphere,

blowing potentially as high as 270 mph, super charging the atmosphere, bringing this unsettled weather away, spinning up a deep area of low pressure. you can see a lot of white lines, a lot of isobars on this chart. this has already been named by the met office, storm kiera. it is a little way ahead, but through saturday night and sunday, just about any of us can see damaging winds. it is worth staying tuned to the forecast.

president trump says his time in office has produced a great american comeback. the president of the united states! in his state of the union address mr trump set out his case for another four years in power. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging, and our country is thriving and highly respected again. but the senior democrat rips up a copy of the speech, after her offer of a handshake was apparently snubbed. we‘ll have the latest reaction live from washington. also on today‘s programme...