this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk economy shrank by more than a fifth in april — the first full month of lockdown — and the biggest fall since monthly records began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies. all sectors were affected making the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. what we now need to do is get

the economy starting up again, start reopening businesses, which we will see from next week. but doing that in a way that doesn't risk a damaging second wave. markets in europe and asia start to buck the downward trend sparked in the us overfears about the economic impact of coronavirus. the uk government's expected to drop its plans for full border controls immediately after brexit — with far less rigorous checks on goods coming in from the eu than planned. president trump renews his threat to intervene in seattle, after anti—racist protesters occupy the city centre. a group of a50 bereaved families in the uk are calling for an urgent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. northern ireland becomes the first uk nation to re—open high street stores and shopping centres today. and, out to grass, how the horses and soldiers of the artillary have

been responding to the cancellation of this year's traditional trooping the colour. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. i'm annita mcveigh. can get in touch on twitter about any of the stories we are covering today. official figures have revealed the scale of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus lockdown in the uk. in april, the first full month of the restrictions, the uk

economy shrank by 20.4% — the largest monthly contraction since records began in 1997. the fall is three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn. reacting to the figures, the uk chancellor rishi sunak said the drop was in line with many other economies suffering the impact of coronavirus. he said... markets in europe and asia have started to buck the downward trend sparked in the united states on thursday over fears about the recovery of the american economy. shares in asia rallied in late trading. despite opening down, the main european markets have turned positive. yesterday, us shares fell dramatically amid concern that it may take years

to replace the millions ofjobs that have been lost during the coronavirus crisis. president trump has dismissed calls for radical police reforms, despite two weeks of protests triggered by the killing of george floyd. speaking in texas, mr trump promised more money for guidelines on the use of force, but said as a whole the force contained only a few "bad apples". and the government here in the uk is expected to apply far less rigorous checks on goods coming into the uk from the european union when the brexit transition period finishes at the end of this year. the financial times reports ministers have dropped plans to introduce full border controls because of pressure from businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic. ben thompson, our business correspondent, is here. we can discuss the economic news in the studio now. clearly business under a vast amount of pressure especially as we look at the figures today saying the economy fell by 20.4% in april.

today saying the economy fell by 20.496 in april. on the one hand you might say it's not hugely surprising. the economy, as we know and like many across the world, ground to halt overnight as lockdown was enforced. but the fall in the uk is more significant than many had been expecting. they were thinking the figure would be closer to 15% and we have been told that for the month of april the economy shrank 20.4%. to put it into context on the graph, you can see a large fall in the month of april at the end of the graph. you might notice the red downward blobs in the middle of the graph, that's the 2008 financial crisis. from peak to trough, from prerecession levels to the worst of it, in 2008, the economy shrank by 796 it, in 2008, the economy shrank by 7% and at the time that was deemed to bea 7% and at the time that was deemed to be a huge fall. and you will see in comparison to what we have had in the month of april, that 20% for really putting into perspective where we are right

now. of course that's a backward —looking indicator and tells us what has happened. all the focus will now be on what happens next. what does it mean for oui’ happens next. what does it mean for ourjobs and income and quite clearly how long it will take for the economy to start to recover. what you think we can take from today's figures about what the recovery will look like and how long it will take? i have been speaking to all sorts of businesses in the last few weeks in all sorts of sectors, services, manufacturing, construction, and they tell me that in some respects they are trying to get back to normal. we know there is a phased approach to reopening business. 0n a phased approach to reopening business. on monday in the uk nonessential retailers will be able to open albeit with social distancing measures in place. i was ata distancing measures in place. i was at a factory estate that makes food, supplying both supermarkets and restau ra nts. — — supplying both supermarkets and restaurants. —— i was at a factory yesterday. the real problem is in areas like hospitality there is a

difficulty in reopening because if you are a restaurant or bar, you rely on it being busy, people squeezed in. with social distancing measures in place, and in the uk the two metre rule is still in force, meaning it is simply not viable for some restaurants and bars to reopen. whilst we might see some organisations getting back to some sort of normality, i think for many other businesses, particularly in the service sector, accounting for three quarters of our entire economy, it could prove much more difficult. is a recession on the way and are we in one perhaps? the chancellor in the uk, rishi sunak, has talked about it being very likely in his words that we are in a recession. we will get official confirmation of that when we get figures for the last quarter, the three months just figures for the last quarter, the three monthsjust gone. we figures for the last quarter, the three months just gone. we already know that for the first quarter of the year the economy shrank and if we get another consecutive quarter of negative growth, the economy shrinking, then we are officially in a recession. we get those figures at the end of the month and it's pretty

likely we are already on that and we'll get confirmation then. and on tuesday we will get the uk jobs figures and we will see how all the economic headlines affects the jobs market day to day for all the fuss, whether in work, and whether the furlough scheme in the uk that the chancellor has hailed as the saviour manyjobs, chancellor has hailed as the saviour many jobs, many firms will chancellor has hailed as the saviour manyjobs, many firms will now begin their consultation on redundancy and we will see if there are greater numbers of those when we getjobs figures on tuesday. ben thompson, thank you. let's get more from our political correspondent nick eardley. what have the government and the opposition been saying about today's figures? i suppose this shows the massive choices that governments have to make in balancing the health impact of this virus and as the number of cases come down, the economic impact that the lockdown is continuing to have in the uk. the argument that the government is

making this morning is that the slowdown here is basically in line with other countries, despite some studies suggesting the uk economy will be hit considerably harder than other western economies. they are saying they think it is in line. but also the schemes ben was talking about, they have been introduced to help shore up jobs and help companies keep people on their books and self—employed people get some support from the state as well. the chancellor here has been arguing it has put the uk in a better position to recover when the shutdown eventually ends. have a listen to health minister edward argar. the chancellor said that we would do whatever was necessary but it's right that what we now need to do is get the economy started up again, start reopening businesses, which we will see from next week.

but doing that in a way that doesn't risk a damaging second wave, which would be economically devastating if we experienced a significant second wave. so we are doing it in a measured way, protecting public health, and at the same time, step—by—step opening up different sectors of the economy to start getting the economy moving again. ido i do think there will be more pressure on the government to think about different ways it can get the economy running again. we know there are many conservative mps here who are many conservative mps here who are putting pressure on the government to talk about relaxing the two metre rule, may be reducing it to one metre in line with world health organization rules, although so far the health organization rules, although so farthe uk health organization rules, although so far the uk government has been relu cta nt to so far the uk government has been reluctant to do that, england and the devolved governments are relu cta nt the devolved governments are reluctant as well. labour are saying this morning that the government needs to think about extending some of the schemes that we have seen in the last few months to protectjobs, not least in those areas where coming out of lockdown might take a bit longer. here is the labour shadow chancellor anneliese dodds.

we have to get that test, track and isolate system working properly. if we don't have it functioning as well as in other nations then we risk seeing additional lockdowns and much slower reopening than would otherwise occur. and of course we risk seeing far lower consumer confidence and that is critically important now we push demand up. so really the government needs to get a grip on that system. it's holding us back economically as well as in health terms. the government under huge pressure from business in the pandemic and how much is that driving, and the government is not calling it a u—turn, but it is making changes for its plans for the end of the year in terms of the charges for goods coming in from outside the uk into the uk. we had expected there would be full checks on all products coming into the uk from europe when the transition period ends at the end of this year. later

today ministers will confirm that will not happen and actually there will be fairly light touch checks. that's because they recognise that businesses are already being absolutely hammered by coronavirus and extra pressure that might come from extra checks coming into the uk would make that even worse. but i have to say, it's only a small part of the puzzle because for businesses sending stuff to europe and selling products on the continent, there are still likely to be checks because they will be fitted to the european union which wants to protect the single market. on top of that there is still uncertainty for business because they don't know if there will be a comprehensive trade deal at the end of this year or whether we could be facing a no deal situation. ministers have been clear they will not extend the transition period and i think they will make that clear again today. that still leaves some uncertainty for those who want it. thank you, nick eardley at westminster.

we can get some analysis of the economic news today. allie renison is the head of eu and trade policy at the institute of directors. good morning and thank you for joining us. a lot of people didn't predict the shrinkage in the economy would be quite as big as 20.4% in april. are you surprised by the scale of it? not whatsoever. we have to remember, and perhaps numbers are needed to remind people, that the impact of the measures introduced effectively put the economy on ice andi effectively put the economy on ice and i think you have seen that reflected in that big a fall in gdp. it has tallied with what we saw in april in particular that demand in economic confidence were through the floor and the lowest since survey tracking began. we now need government to look ahead because i think what we don't want to happen is we get into a situation, as some schemes are winding down, and have many businesses, particularly among company directors who have not qualified for any relief, while

social distancing guidelines are in place. we need to avoid a perfect storm in the summer. what does this say to you about the shape of the recovery, there has been discussion about whether it would be a relatively sharp v shaped recovery ora relatively sharp v shaped recovery or a more gradual u shaped recovery. what's your interpretation? being able to project that is linked to how much longer and to what scale the social distancing guidelines are in place in a wider sense. it's not just about what business is allowed and not allowed to do, it's about the wider guidelines put in place for people when they come in. do they have to stay two metres apart? there was some discussion in the lead up to this segment talking about the who recommendation of one metre and we need to keep those things constantly under review. the government has to be agile and responsive. it's worth mentioning that the contribution they have made is significant. we don't have income protection schemes in the usa for example so they have done a lot. but a lot of people have fallen between the cracks he will continue to struggle if those guidelines are not

reviewed and we have to remember that the quarantine system is coming into place and so when you combine that with businesses thinking about from a trade perspective, supply chain is changing on a daily and weekly basis, we need to make sure weekly basis, we need to make sure we don't add to businesses' burden and everything the government does for economic measures is looking ahead. and also for the business community, how will brexit feed into this? it's only a couple of weeks until the opportunity, if the uk wa nted until the opportunity, if the uk wanted to, to extend the transition period, ends. the government has said it will not do that, but do you think that option would still be on the table given everything that has happened with the pandemic? we have said the most important thing for business from a exit perspective and the changes coming in is to have enough time for businesses to adjust. whether that's by extending the transition or implementation period is less relevant for businesses to stop the content and output is what matters most. both sides have not particularly had a

trade continuity protection as high up trade continuity protection as high up on the agenda as they should have and both sides also need to think about, this is not a uk problem and the eu also needs to think about from a trade perspective, how much disruption at the end of the year if we don't have enough adjustment time. it is standard on all trade agreements to have an adjustment time. at the moment it is a moving target for businesses to be able to plan and it's very difficult for a business in agri—food for example to know exactly what the state of play will be with suppliers at the end of the year so we need a commitment from both sides that they will be enough time for businesses to adjust and we need that commitment not at the end of the year. from the institute of directors, thank you. how does the uk compare to other countries as economies emerge from lockdown? a few days ago the organisation for economic co—operation and development released its predictions for the rest of the year. accoring to them britain's economy is likely to slump by 11.5%

2020, slightly more than italy and france. in what it called a single—hit scenario, with no second peak, italy and france are expected to take a hit of 11.3 and 11.4% respectively. and for the world's largest economy —— the united states —— the 0ecd predicts a drop of 7.3% for the year. while germany's decline in gross domestic product is forecast to be 6.6% for the whole of 2020. the headlines on bbc news... the uk economy shrank by more than a fifth in april — the first full month of lockdown and the biggest fall since monthly records began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies — all sectors were affected making

the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. global stock markets fall after an increase in coronavirus cases in the us fuels fears about the economic impact. but there are signs of rallying on some markets. president trump has renewed his threat to intervene in seattle, where hundreds of anti—racist protesters have taken over the city centre and declared an autonomous zone. the city centre and declared he said he was ready to "go in" if the governor of washington state failed to act. after two weeks of national protests triggered by the killing of george floyd, mr trump promised more money for police training, but dismissed calls for defunding the police as an "extreme agenda". 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. 0n the streets of one of america's most liberal cities, peaceful protesters are posing a major challenge to the authorities. in the wake of the death of george floyd, hundreds of them have moved into seattle's capitol hill district and set up camp, declaring the police department a place of the people and the area itself a cop—free zone. officials have said the occupation

has to end, but haven't said how they plan to deal with it. they can't afford a repeat of the scenes in washington, dc, where a peaceful protest against police brutality led to more of the same. at a roundtable event in texas, president trump denounced those who have called for defunding of the police. he said more money, not less, was needed for police training and added later that if local officials were unable to sort the situation out in seattle, he'd do it himself. no, no, we are not going to let this happen in seattle. if we have to go in, we are going to go in. the governor is either going to do it... let the governor do it. he's got great national guard troops, he can do it. one way or the other, it's going to get done. these people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city. we do not want anyone, including the president, to try and sow further divide,

further distress and misinformation. the threat to invade seattle, to divide and incite violence on our city is not only unwelcome, it would be illegal. elsewhere, the appetite for confrontation appears to be diminishing. america's top military officer, general mark milley, says he was wrong to join president trump in that controversial walk to a damaged church last week. dressed in military fatigues, general milley said it's sending the wrong message and that the military shouldn't involve itself domestic politics. cheering. across this country, protests against racism and police brutality continue with the toppling of statues erected in honour of confederate generals. president trump seems determined to stick up for the police and stay true to his self—defined role as the president law and order. david willis, bbc news,

los angeles. 450 uk families who lost a relative to coronavirus are demanding an immediate public inquiry into how the government managed parts of the pandemic. ministers insist the priority right now is responding to the crisis. michael buchanan has been to meet the family of tony brown, who died in march. tony brown became ill in mid—march. the 65—year—old father of two took advice from the nhs111 service who told him to treat his high temperature with paracetamol. his condition fluctuated but one morning he woke up with chest pains. within minutes of him getting to hospital, he had a cardiac arrest and died shortly afterwards. he tested positive for coronavirus after his death. when you have gotten ill, when is the appropriate time to go to hospital? it wasn't clear. no—one knew that. we were trying to wait it out, everyone was trying to wait it out, he was trying to wait it out. and if you wait too long, it turns out it kills you really quickly. the covid—19 bereaved families forjustice group say an immediate public enquiry will prevent more deaths. decisions on everything from easing

the lockdown to a possible second spike will be improved, say the group, if they are exposed to external scrutiny, given they are likely to be subject to scientific disagreement and unreliable data. one of the real problems is that the government has lost the trust of the public and what that means is people are not really following the lockdown rules even if they understand them and what that means is more transmission and more deaths that can be avoided. the families highlight the taylor review, following the hillsborough disaster, as an example of what can be done. it prompted immediate improvements into safety at football grounds, while broader questions were answered later. a similar approach to the pandemic, they argue would prevent immediate mistakes. michael buchanan, bbc news. three men and a 13—year—old boy will appear in court today charged with assaulting emergency workers, following an alleged attack on two police officers in east london. a video of the incident

was widely circulated on social media, showing an officer pinned down on the ground and being kicked, while his colleague appeared to be pushed when she tried to intervene. both officers suffered minor injuries. suffolk police have apologised after two officers stopped a black couple for "driving a motor vehicle on the road." in footage of the incident that took place in ipswich on tuesday, the officers can be heard accusing the couple — who were in their driveway — ofjumping on the bandwagon of the black lives matters protests. suffolk police said they will do everything they can to learn from the incident. a week on from the murder of two sisters in a wembley park, detectives are now confident nicole smallman and beeba henry were killed by someone who was a stranger to them. the sisters were celebrating a birthday with a group of about 10 people onjune 5th. they were both reported missing the next day when they did not return home, and they were found dead two days

later. the world health organisation has warned that the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating in africa. there are now more than 200,000 confirmed cases in the continent, but the actual figure is likely to be much higher. in some countries there's not enough testing to get an accurate picture. in others, governments are reluctant to acknowledge the spread of the virus. in tanzania, for example, the government has stopped publishing case numbers, and insists that the pandemic there is over. andrew harding reports. secretive night—time burials in tanzania — evidence, it's alleged, of an official coronavirus cover—up. for over a month now the government here in the capital, dar es salaam, has refused to publish any data about infections or deaths. instead its populist president is actively urging people to socialise and claims the virus has almost disappeared.

but we have heard from several tanzania doctors, all too scared to be identified, who insist the virus is spreading fast. this silence, the misinformation is killing people? yes. and how does... i can hear a note of frustration in your voice. how are you feeling about all this? 0pposition politicians in tanzania accused the government of stifling dissent. this comedian, for example, was arrested simply for posting an image of himself laughing at the president. we are in a state of fear. very difficult to have tanzanians speaking out freely.

the president has decided that people's lives should not be protected. he has decided that let a few people die and others survive. some people have suggested that tanzania, indeed all of africa, might enjoy special protection from the virus because of hot weather or an exceptionally youthful population, but the experts say that's dangerous talk. i would be highly surprised that african countries don't suffer the same sort of fate as what's happening in the northern hemisphere. so it's just wishful thinking basically? without question, it's a disservice to the citizens of that particular country. in the meantime tanzania's neighbours are taking action, tightening borders, warning that tanzanian truck drivers are spreading the virus abroad, fearing that a government in denial is endangering an entire region. andrew harding, bbc news, south africa.

northern ireland will become the first of the uk nations to re—open high street stores and shopping centres as coronavirus restrictions start to ease today. the number of people from different households allowed to meet outdoors will also increase from six to ten. in england non—essential shops can re—open on monday. so far no date's been set for scotland or wales. earlier i spoke to our ireland correspondent, chris page... plenty of the shops that are opening today are staggering their opening hours to try to manage the flow of customers through their doors. it's a major moment, though, for the economy here in northern ireland. one in sixjobs here are in the retail sector so we will have shops opening throughout the course of the morning, including shopping centres. up until yesterday it was just shops with a door onto the street that were going to be allowed to open but yesterday the stormont executive, the devolved government, announced that shopping centres could open too, so all retailers in northern ireland can now get

back to business today. in south belfast we are outside an independent book store, no alibis, that has just reopened. they are restricting the number of customers that can come in to three at any one time, so they already have a full complement of customers in there. like so many small shops they've redesigned their premises. they have made it easier for people to stay two metres apart and have put perspex up on the counter. they have a hand sanitising station on the way in. this is very much a new way of doing things for retailers. they've had to put a lot of work in in the last few days. but now ahead, of the rest of the uk, northern irish retailers are returning to trading here. they are not expecting a bumper day, they expect it will be some time before people feel the confidence to come out and shop again, but nonetheless they are looking forward to getting customers back onto their shop floors. well, let's get more now on non—essential retail shops being allowed to open from next week

in england, with the retail industry preparing to make things safe for customers. it's part of the government's three—stage plan to ease lockdown measures. the jarrold department store in norwich will be reopening on monday. its ceo, minnie moll, is with us now. thank you forjoining us. you are an independent, family—owned store, celebrating 250 years in business. it looks really lovely behind you there. what can customers expect on monday when they come back to you? we of course are following all the government guidelines. a lot of the things people have become used to. perspex screens, stickers on the floor to help keep distancing. we are also doing other things to go above and beyond, like taking temperatures of colleagues when they come in each morning. we will go totally cashless to start, just to ta ke totally cashless to start, just to take another possible risk factor out. i think the

biggest thing for us out. i think the biggest thing for us is preparing colleagues. so that they feel comfortable and confident to be able to give the really warm welcome that we are so famous for here. how many customers do you anticipate being able to accommodate at any one time? we are a large department store, around 90,000 square feet, so we worked out around 200, but we will be cautious and start at 180 customers at any one time. it's very much, wait and see and be flexible with that. you mentioned training staff. will they potentially intervene if they think some people are standing too close to one another or will that be up to customers to manage their own behaviour? i think it's a bit of both. we have all our colleagues in today, training them today. we really hope customers will take responsibility but if we feel people

really are not adhering then we will ask colleagues to gently step in and we will have senior people on the floor as well and we also have our security guys as well to help support. we will be taking a very gentle approach to that. you will monitor customer behaviour, i imagine, and adjusting as you go along where necessary. we will. we have a loyal customer base. we did quite a bit of research before we opened. what you expect, why we are important. a week after opening we will do some more online research. how do we deal? how was it? is there anything else we can do to support you? it is a really key time to be listening to customers, to make them feel comfortable and confident and our colleagues also co mforta ble confident and our colleagues also comfortable and confident. and ultimately, do you think the customers are going to come back at

least in the first instance? going shopping, especially to somewhere like a department store, is always all about the experience, browsing, taking your time to go to a restau ra nt taking your time to go to a restaurant or coffee shop. another one you have will not be open initially. if shopping is much more functional, do you think people will actually want to come back?|j functional, do you think people will actually want to come back? i do. i think browsing will be different. but one of the things that we are hugely looking for is we have a lighter, large, beautiful airy building. ithink lighter, large, beautiful airy building. i think that helps. we have wide walkways. the floors are very have wide walkways. the floors are very generous. have wide walkways. the floors are very generous. a store like ours is lucky in that respect. people will feel they have space. without question, behaviours will change. behaviours will be changing. we will be watching them very closely. we are super lucky. norwich is a fantastic city and its got a very strong retail sector. and i think next week i am quietly confident we

will be quite busy because a lot of people want to come back and support their city and their retailers. well good luck for next week to you and your staff. as the ceo of the department store in norwich. thank you. hello, this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. the headlines: the uk economy shrank by more than a fifth in april — the first full month of lockdown and the biggest fall since monthly records began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies — all sectors were affected making the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. markets in europe and asia start to buck the downward trend sparked in the us overfears about the economic impact of coronavirus. the uk government's expected to drop its plans for full border controls immediately after brexit, with far less rigorous checks on goods coming in from the eu than planned.

president trump renews his threat to intervene in seattle, after anti—racist protesters occupy the city centre. a group of 450 bereaved families in the uk are calling for an urgent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. northern ireland becomes the first uk nation to re—open high street stores and shopping centres today. let's return now to the us, where state authorities in the north—western state of washington have hit back after president donald trump threatened to "take back" a police—free district controlled by protesters in seattle. governorjay inslee said mr trump should stay out of the state's business, and seattle's mayor said any invasion of the city would be illegal. police abandoned a precinct there on monday after days of clashes. 0ur north america correspondent david willis told us more about president

trump's reaction. he has called the protesters anarchists, very much the robust sort of language that we've come to expect from president trump as far as these protests are concerned. as you say, threatening to send in the national guard if necessary. we heard from the seattle mayor there who said that doing so would be not only illegal and unwelcome, it would be a travesty for the fact that this is a peaceful protest. it wasn't peaceful in the days leading up to last weekend, but it is largely peaceful now, even though there are people there with guns. so i think what this does is it underlines the difference in approach. there are those who are calling for much more dialogue. the president, for his part, is saying that he wants to be seen as a president of law and order and there's only one way to go about tackling this lawlessness and that is to end it. he's been pretty vague, hasn't he, about funding police

training as well? yes, although he is defending the police and he says that the answer lies with not less money, but more money for police training. and the president said today that, true, there were a few bad apples, as he put it, but it would be wrong to brand tens of millions of good american police officers as racists and bigots. well, there are those who have been calling for the defunding of the police. indeed, that has been the main call from the protesters of these last few weeks. indeed, that is something that has been touched on by some democrats here. but it's very interesting, polls here suggest that the majority of americans support the protesters in their demands and disapprove of the way that president trump has been handling all this. i'm joined now by frank langfitt, a correspondent

from npr radio. frank, good to have you with us. another clash between president trump and the authorities in an individual state. they seem to be coming ever more commonplace. do you think that mr trump will go so far as to carry out his threat of sending troops in to take control of this part of seattle? no, i think that's highly unlikely. the fact of the matter is, as here in the united kingdom and other western countries, policing is a local issue in the united states. so it is really up to the mayor big cities how to manage this. unless cities are completely out of control and local officials ask for the national guard to come m, ask for the national guard to come in, it is unusual in modern american history for the president to be able to do that, especially of the troops are not welcome. this seems more frankly a political position by the president more than anything else. certainly if the local officials are able to manage this and it is peaceful, it seems extraordinarily unlikely the president could make a

move like this. this is about optics for president trump, talking tough? i think it is. i think it is speaking to his base. a lot of americans have been upset by the violence they have seen and the looting. this was quite a few days back when this was occurring. they we re back when this was occurring. they were also upset by what they saw about a president trump clearing the area near the white house and the church in washington, so he could have a photo opportunity. that has backfired. a lot of his moves, to position himself as a top candidate for november, are not working out very well. as the correspondence was just saying, the polls are not running in his favour. but he has seized on this idea proposed by some on the left of defunding the police. tell us more about that? what people mean by defunding the police might it's really more about taking money from these budgets and putting into social services and housing to prevent problems before they occur,

and have to have the police come in to solve them. the problem with defunding as it is not a word most americans have heard of reason. and it sounds very ominous. evenjoe biden is against it. he actually does agree with the president. he thinks i needs to be more spending on police. again for the president it works in his advantage. that sort of phraseology will not be very popular with a lot of americans. ok, frank, thank you very much for your thoughts on that story today. barriers have been put up around a number of monuments in london — including the cenotaph and a statue of winston churchill — to try and protect them ahead of further planned anti—racism protests this weekend. meanwhile, 24—hour security has been placed on a statue of scouts founder robert baden—powell in dorset until it can be safely taken down. nick beake reports. a show of strength for the first chief

scout. in poole, admirers of robert baden—powell stop the temporary removal of his statue from the quayside. when anti—racism campaigners put it on a target list, the council had wanted to take it away, fearing it would be attacked. i think whatever baden—powell's beliefs were in the past, he has also done a lot of good and we cannot obliterate history. it is really important we learn from mistakes of the past. by pulling down history, by destroying our history, no—one can learn from that. that is a sentiment shared by one government minister. you cannot escape history and i think it would be fundamentally dishonest of us to, through removing statues and airbrushing out history, to then pretend that all was well. you know, totalitarian regimes do that. the statue of slave trader edward colston is expected to end up in a museum, after it was retrieved from bristol docks, where it had been dumped by protesters at the weekend. but in a city where his name has loomed large for so long, times are changing,

and campaigners say more controversial symbols also need to disappear from public view across the uk. i'm totally for a lot of the other statues in this country being removed and perhaps re—contextualised in museums or somewhere where we actually understand what role they played in society, in a wider sense. the city of edinburgh is now proposing to dedicate the henry dundas monument to those enslaved because of his actions. a new sign would explain that the 18th—century politician helped delay the abolition of slavery by 15 years. across the thames at westminster, there's new protection for churchill's statue, which was defeaced in recent protests, as well as for the cenotaph, as the debate rages over britain's past, present and future. nick beake, bbc news. two statues of people involved in the history of guy's and st thomas' hospitals in london are to be removed.

the figures depicting thomas guy and robert clayton will be taken out of public view due to their association with the slave trade. clayton, a former lord mayor of london, had ties to the royal african company, which transported slaves to the americas, while guy invested in the south sea company, which was also involved in the trade. guy's and st thomas' nhs foundation trust has issued a statement saying it recognises the public hurt and anger generated by the symbolism of public statues. new figures released suggest that 0.06% of the population in england has covid—19, in a downward trend. the office for national statistics says that equates to an average of 33,000 people a week who are estimated to have been infected with coronavirus in the community. i've been speaking to the 0ns's deputy national statistician, iain bell who broke down the numbers. we've released the findings

for the fortnight up to the 7th ofjune, and they show that the number of people with covid—19 continued to decline throughout may and earlyjune. our latest estimate is that 33,000 people in the community in england have covid—19. so that equates to about one in every 1700 of us. that's down, when you look at the period of late april and early may, the equivalent was around one in every 370. so a downward trend. that's obviously a positive trend. how accurate, though, can it be if perhaps some people don't actually know whether they have had coronavirus or not, perhaps have had no symptoms? so our test is based on people who have previously taken part in 0ns research who we got in contact with and asked to take part in this study. therefore, it's a random set of people across the country. that means we test people

whether or not they have symptoms. so if you look over the entire period of the study so far, then what we are finding is around one third of people are showing symptoms around the time when they tested positive for covid—19. however, that means around two thirds of people are showing no symptoms around that time. ian bell from the 0ns. uber has announced that it will make face coverings mandatory for drivers and passengers across the uk from monday. until now, the minicab app firm has been urging people to stay home for their safety and the safety of drivers who've been making essential trips. today the company says measures have been introduced to ensure that every driver can access the ppe. and from monday anyone using the uber app will be required to wear a face covering. london fashion week will be a virtual affair this year. the three day event, beginning today, is being held digitally with no live catwalk shows or collections for buyers to see.

instead it will be the first digital fashion week with online galleries and discussions. caroline rush is the ceo of the british fashion council. thank you very much for your time today, caroline. adapting, as we all are, to the changing circumstances. i'm trying to get my head around exactly what london fashion week will look like. how have you filmed model socially distanced on catwalks, and then people can access those films, or is it something entirely different? it is something entirely different? it is something entirely different. it is open to everybody. it is live macro from midday uk time today, our website. there will be live moments of film premiers, discussions, debates, instagram parties. but it's very much thinking about telling the stories of designers at this time. there will be films showcasing

products. there are designer pages where you can explore, see where you can buy the collections. and create appointments using new technology. but this is very much an opportunity to see some films, be inspired, understand what happens sometimes behind the scenes. there are designer diaries, podcasts and discussions. debates, playlists... imagine it being a hybrid of a netflix, itunes for fashion, imagine it being a hybrid of a netflix, itunes forfashion, that imagine it being a hybrid of a netflix, itunes for fashion, that is our ambition. it is the first one. it has been extremely challenging for the designers. they have only recently been able to get into the studios and be able to fit on models socially distanced etc. it is going to bea socially distanced etc. it is going to be a time capsule on what fashion in the uk today is when we look back at 2020. for our viewers, remind us how important the fashion industry

is here in terms of its contribution to the uk economy? we've just got the figures for 2019. we contributed 35 billion to the british economy. it employs 890,000 people. we are currently looking at the impact that our industry is likely to have had from covid. we should be able to release those figures in the next week or two. we know from talking to businesses it has had a significant impact. that is why london fashion week is so important, to keep connecting the design and businesses with the global trade audience, and also with global consumers. in some territories these doors are open already. and they are able to shop. we are seeing some great content from stores in japan, we are seeing some great content from stores injapan, in the us, in france, who themselves have created content france, who themselves have created co nte nt to france, who themselves have created content to celebrate. london fashion week is about the brilliant creativity of our designers. in some

countries stores have reopened. it is happening imminently in england, on monday, in northern ireland today. scotland and wales, we are still waiting on the dates for nonessential retailers. but given that this is a digital platform this year, are you concerned about the potential impact on sales, given that stores are full of stock that has been sitting there for the last couple of months with no ability to actually sell that stock? yes, you can imagine the conversation in the industry is what happens to that stock, what happens to the deliveries that would have been due during this period? what we are seeing are tiny green shoots coming out of this pandemic, the collections that maybe would have been delivered, autumn and winter, quite heavy coats that would have been delivered in the summer months, will now be delivered much later, to give some more time for the product that it's on the shop floor to be able to sell. we know from talking to our retailers that are planning

to our retailers that are planning to open on monday, or even have a phased plan of opening, because of course for them it is assessing the economic reality of opening a store when you haven't got, particularly in london, the tourism figures that justify the leases that they have. it is not as easy as just opening stores to get the fashion industry moving again. it is going to take time. and of course the support from the consumers is incredibly important, but at this moment in time we are also thinking about all of those thousands of employees in retail that are coming back from furlough and looking to start their role again. and what is going to happen to the fashion seasons this year? perhaps if people are not going to go into stores and buy clothes for a summer holiday, that they won't be taking, for example, is lots of stock going to be left sitting there? and before you know it, we see winter coats in the shops instead ? it, we see winter coats in the shops instead? well, i don't think that's going to be happen. i would hope that if people aren't

going abroad on holidays, that they are going to the fantastic locations we have in the fantastic locations we have in the uk. i do believe there will still be an appetite for the spring summer collections. but of course we will see that autumn winter product. hopefully they will be delivered the season. that has been slightly out of step and something that both the trade and consumers have been challenged with, why swimsuits are delivered in february and march and winter coats in the summer. that readjustment in seasonality is going to be one of the positives that comes from this time and hopefully something that will continue into future years as well. caroline, good to talk to you. caroline rush, the ceo of the british fashion council as london fashion week begins in a digital form. another of europe's biggest football leagues — spain's la liga — has restarted. in the first match, seville beat real betis two—nil. the game was played behind closed doors —

but hundreds of supporters turned up outside the stadium. tim allman reports. the fans were told to stay away, but some of them just couldn't resist. this, the first football match in spain for three months and what a wait it's been. escorted by police, the team coaches arrived one after the other — not just footballers but returning heroes. before kick—off, a minute's silence was held for the more than 27,000 people who have lost their lives in this country due to covid—19. football may be back but the crowds are not. artificial noise was pumped out to try and create more of an atmosphere. creating their own, these fans watching in a nearby bar. face masks as obligatory as their team's colours. translation: when the league was suspended we were wondering

how we could even think about playing the match. these are extraordinary circumstances but the truth is i have had more important things to think about than football. translation: you realise that, in the end, football isn't the most important thing in the world, especially when people's health is at stake. that may be true but football has been called the most important of the least important things. seville won the match 2—0, and perhaps life in spain seems just that little bit more normal. tim allman, bbc news. british airways, easyjet and ryanair have begun legal action against the uk government's new quarantine measures. in a statement, the airlines said they have asked for a judicial review to be heard as soon as possible into what they have described as the "flawed scheme" which requires international arrivals into the uk to self—isolate for 14 days.

cuban healthcare workers have been getting a heroes welcome at home. the team arrived back this week after spending two months in italy helping tackle the coronavirus outbreak there. the fifty—two medics were stationed in lombardy, the worst affected region in italy. cuba's president, paid tribute to what he called intense, risky and heroic work. over three thousand of the country's doctors were sent abroad to 27 countries to help with the pandemic response. here in the uk, trooping the colour is one of the biggest events in the royal calendar, but coronavirus means tomorrow's ceremony will be much smaller than usual. the king's troop royal horse artillery would usually be involved in the parade as the group who fire the salutes. the lockdown meant they gave their horses an extended holiday, but they are now starting to retrain in readiness for a return to ceremonial duties. sarah campbell reports. preparing to get back on parade. for the equine stars of trooping the colour, training is under way once again. when the horses come back

from grass, it's a bit like they've been sat on the beach for a few months eating lots of pizza — they're generally a lot fatter. trooping the colour is an important fixture in the regiment calendar. it's the epitome of precision, pomp and pageantry in front of huge crowds. the horses love it. they love their work, they love the attention they get as well from it all. so you'll all miss it this year? yeah! everyone is going to be upset this year. tomorrow there'll be none of this, no royal family photo opportunity on the palace balcony and no 41—gun salute. guns fire for the last few months, most of the king's troop 140 horses have been enjoying the quiet life in the leicestershire countryside. the decision has now been taken to get them back to the barracks. one of the first to return is 10—year—old equinox. and, in common with many of

us, he needs a haircut. we take their manes off for safety reasons because when they're in harness, it could all get detached and tangled up. units like the king's troop, royal horse artillery exist to take the lead in big ceremonial and state occasions. all of which have been cancelled since march due to coronavirus. in normal times, trooping the colour would be one of the high points of the year. we march past her majesty the queen first. out of all the mounted regiments, who is our captain general, so it's a huge honour, the opportunity to present not only our own guns but the guns of the entire royal regiment of artillery not only to her majesty is a great privilege. a great privilege which new recruits like emma will miss out on this year at least. she has spent lockdown on site, looking after the small number of horses who've been stabled here throughout. i'm looking forward to going

to the parades and just getting out there in front of the public eye. i think it's really important to show off what we can do, and i want to be a part of that. here at the barracks, they are champing at the bit to get back out on parade with humans and horses ready to resume their official duties as soon as it's deemed safe to do so. sarah campbell, bbc news, woolwich barracks. you're watching bbc news. geeta guru—murthy is your next with the news for you from 11 through to one. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello there. most of us will see some sunshine over the next few days and when the sun comes out, what you are going to notice, things turning warmer and increasingly humid, but the problem is that as the humidity creeps up, so does the risk of some pretty nasty thunderstorms around

with some large hail, gusty winds as well. these are the main thunder risk areas over the next few days. today, south wales, south—west england. tomorrow, that risk drifts a little bit further northwards and then into sunday, across in towards northern ireland. even within these areas, though, not everyone will see those severe thunderstorms. and it's all because we have low pressure at the moment swirling around down across the bay of biscay, throwing up one area today of persistent rain, clearing away from the channel islands into this afternoon, so brightening up here but turning wetter for a time across southern england and eventually the south midlands and south wales. another area of cloud and rain in northern england and northern ireland. to the north of that, the best of the day's sunshine. but the sunshine will return this afternoon across the channel islands. some heavy rain with those thunderstorms pushing across south—west england, the southwest midlands and into south wales. brightening after a time after a misty and murky start in central areas but still cloud, outbreaks of rain for some across northern england and northern ireland. the further north you are, the more likely you are to see some sunshine throughout today, particularly in the north—west highlands. again, temperatures here

will peak around 18 or 19. finishing the day with low cloud and rain starting to spread into the east of scotland and then the rain in the south—west and wales just edging its way further north. again there could be the odd rumble of thunder mixed in amongst that. it will turn misty and murky across many north and eastern areas of the country and it's going to be quite a warm night. humidity level starting to creep up into tomorrow. this is how we start the weekend, the best of the sunshine to begin with across the south, more cloud and rain where it has rained on and off over the last 24 hours across parts of northern england and that spreads into scotland and then the first batch of those more severe thunderstorms develop across parts of wales, north—west midlands and potentially north—west england. away from that, in the sunshine, 22 in the north—west highlands, 24, maybe 25 towards east anglia and the south—east. another warm day on sunday but on saturday and into sunday, low cloud will plague some eastern coasts of scotland and north—east england, keeping things cooler here. some further rain at times but on sunday after a sunny start, wales, parts of north—west england, northern ireland, most likely to see those thunderstorms. goodbye for

now.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm geeta guru—murthy. the uk economy shrank by 20% in april — the first full month of lockdown and the biggest fall since monthly records began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies. all sectors were affected, making the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. what we now need to do is get

the economy is starting up again, start reopening businesses, which we will see from next week, but doing that in a way that doesn't risk a damaging second wave. markets in europe and asia start to buck the downward trend sparked in the us over fears about the economic impact of coronavirus. the uk government's expected to drop its plans for full border controls immediately after brexit, with far less—rigorous checks on goods coming in from the eu than planned. president trump renews his threat to intervene in seattle after anti—racist protesters occupy the city centre. a group of 450 bereaved families in the uk are calling for an urgent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. northern ireland becomes the first uk nation to reopen high street stores and shopping centres today. and out to grass — how the horses and soldiers of the artillery have been

responding to the cancellation of this year's traditional trooping the colour. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. official figures have revealed the scale of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus lockdown in the uk. in april, the first full month of the restrictions, the uk economy shrank by 20.4%, the largest monthly contraction since records began in 1997. the fall is three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn. reacting to the figures,

the uk chancellor rishi sunak said the drop was in line with many other economies suffering the impact of coronavirus. he said, "the lifelines we've provided with our furlough scheme, "grants, loans and tax cuts have protected thousands of businesses "and millions of jobs, giving us the best chance "of recovering quickly as the economy reopens." markets in europe and asia have started to buck the downward trend sparked in the united states on thursday over fears about the recovery of the american economy. shares in asia rallied in late trading. despite opening down, the main european markets have turned positive. yesterday, us shares fell dramatically amid concern that it may take years to replace the millions ofjobs that have been lost during the coronavirus crisis. in other news, president trump has dismissed calls for radical police reforms, despite two weeks of protests triggered by the killing of george floyd. speaking in texas, mr trump promised more money for guidelines on the use of force, but said as a whole the force contained only a few bad apples.

and the government here in the uk is expected to backtrack on its plan to introduce full border checks with the eu from the 1st of january over fears of the economic impact of coronavirus. let's get more on the uk economy now. rebecca harding is an independent trade economist. she joins us from eastbourne. thanks for your time today. it's obviously a grim news not overall a surprise, but when you see the numbers out there today, what are your first thoughts? the first thoughts are it's not good news for the uk economy. situation at the moment is reflecting a complete lockdown in april. to some extent, a lot of these figures were expected, but the results we're seeing at the moment arejust but the results we're seeing at the moment are just marginally worse than most economists were expecting.

so it's in line with expectations, marginally worse, i would guess. the key thing is the uk economy is so dependent on the service sector, on hospitality, on tourism and so on, and these are sectors that are going to ta ke and these are sectors that are going to take a while to recover. in terms of how we stand compared with other countries, as part of the reason, obviously, everyone is facing a different proportion of deaths and difficulties from the virus, depending on populations and population density, but it's also about the structure of the economy, tell us a bit more about what the government could do? it is absolutely about the structure of the economy, we have seen eurozone figures today and they are not as bad as the ones we are seeing here for april cooks a a 17% reduction. a lot of that is to do with a stronger manufacturing base in europe and a stronger service is based in the uk,

so asi stronger service is based in the uk, so as i said, i think a lot of this is to do with the service sector economy. a lot of the long—term effect will depend on how we deal with unemployment going forward. the government has done everything it can, ithink government has done everything it can, i think everybody would agree with theirs, to keep people injobs through the furlough scheme. i think it is how people are brought back into the labour market and how long theissues into the labour market and how long the issues of unemployment are still in the economy. in terms of how long the government should put in a really big support, what are your thoughts on that? i think it's fair to say we don't know how long the unemployment situation will continue and we don't know how manyjobs will be lost as a result at the end of furlough. we're seeing some noises coming from the big companies, centric, heathrow, so on, making announcements, rolls—royce as well. i think the danger at the moment is

there are a lot of smaller businesses who are also the pubs and restau ra nts businesses who are also the pubs and restaurants that we depend on, and those jobs, if they go, restaurants that we depend on, and thosejobs, if they go, it's restaurants that we depend on, and those jobs, if they go, it's going to have a very big impact on employment. so i think it's critical we keep some tapering, we keep some support circuitry, that we change skills. we look at the huge structural change happening in the economy at the moment, it's notjust covid, were also altering the way in which we trade with europe, the world is becoming more digital, we're seeing changes in the way we work as a result of covid as well, the government has to think a lot about how it manages this whole process of structural change, because it will be changing the economy and the economic base as well. thank you very much. let's get more from our political correspondent, iain watson. were expecting the numbers to be bad, the question it for many is how can the government kick—start the economy, how much support as it willing to put through as

people fearfor willing to put through as people fear for their willing to put through as people fearfor theirjobs? willing to put through as people fear for theirjobs? that's right, especially with the furlough scheme eventually coming to an end. of course, there is political pressure to see what they can do to extend that and political pressure to ease the lockdown further. for example, revising the guidance on social distancing, perhaps from two metres to one metre, that's what conservative mps are pushing the government to do. borisjohnson says he wants to do that, but has to wait until the scientific advice is right. at the moment, the rate of infections still seem to be higher than he would wish a gutsy but certainly before the hospitality sector can reopen again, the government is going to have to revise that according to some of their own mps and opposition politicians as well. and according to many businesses. if you take the two months together, notjust last month but the month before, as we we re month but the month before, as we were going into lockdown, the economy shrunk by a quarter,

effectively, the last two months, and an 0ecd survey said in the next year, about 11.5% of the economy would be wiped out, slightly worse than some other european nations. today, the health minister edward argar was saying, against this pretty grim backdrop, it was basically a signal that they government need to do more to open the economy up. it's right that we we now need to do is get the economy started up again, start reopening businesses, which we will see from next week, but doing that in a way that doesn't risk a damaging second wave, which would be economically devastating, if we experienced a significant second wave. written it in a measured so, we're doing it in a measured way, protecting public health, and at the same time, step—by—step, opening up different sectors of economy to start getting our moving again. edward argar saying the economy was beginning to open up but we are still doing this and a caraway. as i

say, that pressure is there for the government to go further. the former conservative leader saying we should be in line with other european countries which have got social distancing rules of just countries which have got social distancing rules ofjust one metre rather than two. from labour's point of view, they are putting the focus back on what the government's doing in terms of its broader measures, not just in terms of its broader measures, notjust economic, but health as well and saying how they had a more robust track and trace system in place earlier, perhaps the government could have gone further. this is the shadow chancellor, annalise dodds. we have to get that test, track and isolate system working properly. if we don't have it functioning as well as in other nations, then we risk seeing additional lockdowns and much slower reopening than would otherwise occur. and of course, we risk seeing far lower consumer confidence, and that's critically important now that we push demand up. so really, government needs to get a grip on that system, it's holding us back economically

as well as in health terms. iain, and brexit, we have had a development today? yes, i think we will get the official announcement around lunch time, but certainly for now, it would appear the government is going to take what it calls a pragmatic and flexible approach, effectively, to policing our borders for goods when the transition period with the european union finishes at the end of this year. so, from january the 1st, where you might expect the government, if we are in a no—deal scenario, to start imposing customs checks on many goods coming from the european union, effectively they're same they're going to wave that is, stick with current arrangements to give businesses time to adjust, particularly because of the coronavirus crisis. what some opposition politicians would say, labour being more restraint on this issue at the moment, but the snp and lib dems would say, why doesn't the government extend the transition

period, keep the same rules and give itself longer to negotiate a deal as god save the government seems to be determined not to do so and on monday, borough structure is going to have a virtual meeting with the different pillars of the european union, the european commission and european council and european parliament to try and inject some political impetus into the talks to try and get a deal by the end of the year. but if that is not forthcoming, then the government is not going to start imposing customs checks across the board on all goods coming into britain on day one of a time outside, notjust the eu, but outside the transition. many thanks indeed. how does the uk compare to other countries as economies emerge from lockdown? a few days ago, the organisation for economic co—operation and development released its predictions for the rest of the year. britain's economy is likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020, that's slightly more than italy and france. in what it called a single—hit scenario, with no second peak, italy and france are expected

to take a hit of 11.3% and 11.4% respectively. and for the world's largest economy, the united states, the oecd predicts a drop of 7.3% for the year. germany's decline in gross domestic product is forecast to be 6.6% for the whole of 2020. president trump has renewed his threat to intervene in seattle, where hundreds of anti—racist protesters have ta ken over the city centre and declared it an autonomous zone. he said he was ready to go in if the governor of washington state failed to act. after two weeks of national protests triggered by the killing of george floyd, mr trump promised more money for police training, but dismissed calls for defunding the police as an extreme agenda. our north america correspondent david willis reports. on the streets of one of america's most liberal cities, peaceful protesters are posing a major challenge to the authorities. in the wake of the death of

george floyd, hundreds of them have moved into seattle's capitol hill district and set up camp, declaring the police department a place of the people and the area itself a cop—free zone. officials have said the occupation has to end, but haven't said how they plan to deal with it. they can't afford a repeat of the scenes in washington, dc, where a peaceful protest against police brutality led to more of the same. at a roundtable event in texas, president trump denounced those who have called for defunding of the police. he said more money, not less, was needed for police training and added later that if local officials were unable to sort the situation out in seattle, he'd do it himself. no, no, we are not going to let this happen in seattle. if we have to go in, we are going to go in. the governor is either going to do it... let the governor do it. he's got great national guard troops, he can do it. one way or the other,

it's going to get done. these people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city. we do not need anyone, including the president, to try and sow further divide, further distrust and misinformation. the threat to invade seattle, to divide and incite violence on our city is not only unwelcome, it would be illegal. elsewhere, the appetite for confrontation appears to be diminishing. america's top military officer, general mark milley, says he was wrong to join president trump in that controversial walk to a damaged church last week. dressed in military fatigues, general milley said it's sending the wrong message and that the military shouldn't involve itself domestic politics. cheering. across this country, protests against racism and police brutality continue with the toppling of statues erected in honour of confederate generals. president trump seems determined

to stick up for the police and stay true to his self—defined role as the president law and order. northern ireland will become the first of the uk nations to reopen high street stores and shopping centres as coronavirus restrictions start to ease today. the number of people from different households allowed to meet outdoors will also increase from six to ten. in england, nonessential shops can reopen on monday. so far, no date's been set for scotland or wales. our ireland correspondent emma vardy is at an independent retailer in belfast city centre for us. in the city centre, you just get that feeling it's starting to come back to life, shutters going up, doors opening, shoppers in town, but in true balfour style, it's chucking it with rain. —— true belfast style.

lets not have a look at one of the shops and have opened in the last hour, and a is caving here, pretty much anything you could want for a bohemian lifestyle. —— and aladdin's cave in here. this is alana, has been welcoming customers back, how does it feel? so good to be open again we have been looking forward to it for so long. how are you been surviving during the lockdown, what effect has it had? we have been doing a mail order service where people phone up and tell us what they want, and we take contacts —— co nta ctless they want, and we take contacts —— contactless payments. we had to do something, really. you are a cozy shop, you going to make it work with social distancing and make sure people feel comfortable to come in? it is quite a small shop and people are generally banging into each other usually, but we have spaces marked out at two metres and hand sanitiser, only allowing four people in at the time. we will

do everything we can to maintain its social distancing and keep customers safe. a lot of shops in belfast were calling to be allowed to reopen when the republic of ireland also reopened and they wanted to not give any economic advantage to shop over the border place, do you think the timing was right? we think so, we didn't want to reopen until we were sure it was safe. how is business been so far? any good, a lot of regular customers, most of them in at this morning, there are glad to see a shop reopen and we've missed them. best of luck with the business. it does feel nice to be having a browse around a shop, we're not just having a browse around a shop, we're notjust coming in for a few groceries. but this isn't a complete return to reality, the virus is still out there, there is coach and urge for people who are shielding, social distancing must be kept up, evenin social distancing must be kept up, even in cosy shops. but it is good

news for the people of belfast and northern ireland which has seen a fall and coronavirus deaths in the last few weeks. it feels like reality is slightly returning. 450 uk families who lost a relative to coronavirus are demanding an immediate public inquiry into how the government managed parts of the pandemic. ministers insist the priority right now is responding to the crisis. michael buchanan has been to meet the family of tony brown, who died in march. tony brown became ill in mid—march. the 65—year—old father of two took advice from the nhs111 service who told him to treat his high temperature with paracetamol. his condition fluctuated but one morning he woke up with chest pains. within minutes of him getting to hospital, he had a cardiac arrest and died shortly afterwards. he tested positive for coronavirus after his death. when you have gotten ill, when is the appropriate time to go to

hospital? it wasn't clear. no—one knew that. we were trying to wait it out, everyone was trying to wait it out, he was trying to wait it out. and if you wait too long, it turns out it kills you really quickly. the covid—19 bereaved families forjustice group say an immediate public enquiry will prevent more deaths. decisions on everything from easing the lockdown to a possible second spike will be improved, say the group, if they are exposed to external scrutiny, given they are likely to be subject to scientific disagreement and unreliable data. one of the real problems is that the government has lost the trust of the public and what that means is people are not really following the lockdown rules even if they understand them and what that means is more transmission and more deaths that can be avoided. the families highlight the taylor review, following the hillsborough disaster, as an example of what can be done. it prompted immediate improvements into safety at football grounds,

while broader questions were answered later. a similar approach to the pandemic, they argue, would prevent immediate mistakes. british airways, easyjet and ryanair have begun legal action against the uk government's new quarantine measures. in a statement, the airlines said they have asked for a judicial review to be heard as soon as possible into what they have described as the flawed scheme, which requires international arrivals into the uk to self—isolate for 14 days. the world health organization has warned that the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating in africa. there are now more than 200,000 confirmed cases in the continent, but the actual figure is likely to be much higher. in some countries, there's not enough testing to get an accurate picture. in others, governments are reluctant to acknowledge the spread of the virus. in tanzania, for example, the government has stopped publishing case numbers and insists that the pandemic there is over. andrew harding reports.

secretive night—time burials in tanzania — evidence, it's alleged, of an official coronavirus cover—up. for over a month now, the government here in the capital, dar es salaam, has refused to publish any data about infections or deaths. instead, its populist president is actively urging people to socialise and claims the virus has almost disappeared. but we have heard from several tanzania doctors, all too scared to be identified, who insist the virus is spreading fast. this silence, the misinformation is killing people? yes. and how does. i can hear a note of frustration in your voice. how are you feeling about all this?

opposition politicians in tanzania accused the government of stifling dissent. this comedian, for example, was arrested simply for posting an image of himself laughing at the president. we are in a state of fear. very difficult to have tanzanians speaking out freely. the president has decided that people's lives should not be protected. he has decided that let a few people die and others survive. some people have suggested that tanzania, indeed all of africa, might enjoy special protection from the virus because of hot weather or an exceptionally youthful population, but the experts say that's dangerous talk. i would be highly surprised that african countries don't suffer

the same sort of fate as what's happening in the northern hemisphere. so it's just wishful thinking basically? without question, it's a disservice to the citizens of that particular country. a disservice to the citizens in the meantime, tanzania's neighbours are taking action, tightening borders, warning that tanzanian truck drivers are spreading the virus abroad, fearing that a government in denial is endangering an entire region. a week on from the murder of two sisters in a wembley park in london, detectives are now confident nicole smallman and bibaa henry were killed by someone who was a stranger to them. police have said nicole smallman and beeba henry had been celebrating a birthday with a group of about ten people on june 5th. they were both reported missing the next day when they did not return home, and the were found dead two days later. three men and a 13—year—old boy will appear in court today charged with assaulting emergency workers, following an alleged attack on two

police officers in east london. a video of the incident was widely circulated on social media, showing an officer pinned down on the ground and being kicked, while his colleague appeared to be pushed when she tried to intervene. both officers suffered minor injuries. suffolk police have apologised after two officers stopped a black couple for driving a motor vehicle on the road. in footage of the incident that took place in ipswich on tuesday, the officers can be heard accusing the couple, who were in their driveway, ofjumping on the bandwagon of the black lives matters protests. suffolk police said they will do everything they can to learn from the incident. uber has announced that it will make face coverings mandatory for drivers and passengers across the uk from monday. until now, the minicab app firm has been urging people to stay home for their safety and the safety of drivers who've been making essential trips. today, the company says measures have been introduced to ensure that every driver can access the ppe. and from monday, anyone using the uber app will be required

to wear a face covering. british tabloid, the sun has issued a statement in response to its front page today, which features an interview with the first husband of the authoij rowling under the headline — i slapped jk and i'm not sorry. a spokeswoman for the newspaper said "we were disgusted by the comments oij rowling's ex—husband. "it was certainly not our intention to enable or glorify domestic abuse, "our intention was to expose a perpetrator‘s total lack "of remorse." the article comes after the author of the best—selling harry potter series revealed her personal experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault. the uk government insists that it has no intention of extending the post—brexit transition period beyond the end of this year, even though negotiations on a future relationship with the eu seem to have reached stalemate. this morning, the scottish and welsh first ministers wrote to borisjohnson requesting an extension. ministers have been holding talks

with their eu counterparts today and the prime minister will talk to leaders on monday. negotiations step up next month, but will that be enough? here's our reality check correspondent, chris morris. the whole point of the transition period was to give both sides a bit of breathing space to negotiate new agreements after brexit, and avoid an abrupt and possibly damaging change in the way this complex relationship works. but so far, negotiations haven't gone well. and if the transition isn't extended beyond december 31st, as the government insists it won't be, then businesses, citizens and governments are going to have to plan yet again for no deal. that doesn't mean quite the same thing that it did last year, because brexit has now actually happened — a withdrawal agreement was ratified and legally speaking, the uk is no longer part of the eu. but on a practical level, almost nothing has changed yet. so, this time no deal would mean leaving the transition period with no trade deal in place and potentially no agreements on,

for example, police cooperation, aviation, nuclear safety and other matters that were covered by eu membership. let's look at one obvious example — even with a deal, the management of a new trade border with the eu would be a big logistical challenge. without a deal, well, many export businesses who trade with europe say they don't know what to plan for. so, the government appears to have changed its tune and it now plans to take a light—touch approach initially to new border checks, especially in places like dover, where thousands of lorries arrive from the eu every day. the government says it will eventually need 50,000 new customs officers to handle a new bureaucracy, but most of them haven't yet been recruited, let alone trained. then there's the added complexity of trade between the eu, northern ireland and the rest of the uk and how border checks will operate there. all this just deals with the trade in goods — negotiators have also got to sort out the hugely important cross—border trade in services,

including financial services. uk service exports to the eu increased to £72.6 billion in 2018. all of this was going to be a massive task even before the coronavirus pandemic began to dominate the attention of ministers, business leaders and civil servants. the government says businesses who are complaining about a lack of preparation time have just got to get used to a new reality. and negotiations in are now going to intensify next month, some kind of deal could still emerge, covering at least some of these issues. but time is really short and either way, the uk and the eu are going to have to be negotiating the detail of their new relationship for years to come. barriers have been put up around a number of monuments in london, including the cenotaph and a statue of winston churchill, to try and protect them ahead of further planned anti—racism protests this weekend. meanwhile, 24—hour security has been

placed on a statue of scouts founder robert baden—powell in dorset until it can be safely taken down. nick beake reports. a show of strength for the first chief scout. in poole, admirers of robert baden—powell stop the temporary removal of his statue from the quayside. when anti—racism campaigners put it on a target list, the council had wanted to take it away, fearing it would be attacked. i think whatever baden—powell's beliefs were in the past, he has also done a lot of good and we cannot obliterate history. it is really important we learn from mistakes of the past. by pulling down history, by destroying our history, no—one can learn from that. that is a sentiment shared by one government minister. you cannot escape history and i think it would be fundamentally dishonest of us to, through removing statues and airbrushing out history, to then pretend that all was well. you know, totalitarian

regimes do that. the statue of slave trader edward colston is expected to end up in a museum, after it was retrieved from bristol docks, where it had been dumped by protesters at the weekend. but in a city where his name has loomed large for so long, times are changing, and campaigners say more controversial symbols also need to disappear from public view across the uk. i'm totally for a lot of the other statues in this country being removed and perhaps re—contextualised in museums or somewhere where we actually understand what role they played in society, in a wider sense. the city of edinburgh is now proposing to dedicate the henry dundas monument to those enslaved because of his actions. a new sign would explain that the 18th—century politician helped delay the abolition of slavery by 15 years. in london, guy's and st thomas' hospital say they will remove at westminster, where churchill's

statue was defaced in recent protests, new barriers have been brought in, as debate rages over britain's past, present and future. we arejust we are just getting some tweets from prime minister boris johnson we are just getting some tweets from prime minister borisjohnson on this very subject. i just want to show you what he has said. it is a series of eight. he starts: "the statue of winston churchill in parliament square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country, and the whole of europe, from a fascist and racist tyranny. it is absurd and shameful that this national monument should today be at risk of attack by violent protesters. yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable expressed opinions that were and are u na cce pta ble to expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero and he fully deserves his memorial. we cannot now try to edit or censor our past. we cannot pretend to have different history. the statues in our cities and towns we re the statues in our cities and towns

were put up by previous generations. they had different perspectives perspectives, different understandings of right and wrong, but those statues teach —— mektic is about our past with all its faults. to tear them down would be to lie about our history and impoverish the education of generations to come. as for the planned demonstrations, we all understand that it written that feelings of outrage at what happened in minnesota and the legitimate desire to protest against discrimination fast. discrimination whatever desire to protest against discrimination whatever progress this country has made in fighting racism, and it has been huge, we all recognise there is much more work to do. but it is clear that the protests have been hijacked by extremists intent on violence. the attacks on the police and indiscriminate acts of violence which we have witnessed over the last week are intolerable and they are abhorrent. the only risk responsible course of action is to stay away from these protests." that is the last of his eight tweets that he's just posted, literally in the

last few minutes. that's the first intervention we think he has made quite so publicly, certainly on the question of these protests and the statues that have been taken down. of course, he is known to be a big fan, ifi of course, he is known to be a big fan, if i could put it like that, of winston churchill. winston churchill isa winston churchill. winston churchill is a very controversial figure to anyone who has studied the history of empire, even though of course he is also much revered for the role he played during the second world war. we will bring you much more reaction on that. i'm sure there will be political reaction to that in the reaction from the british prime minister. this is bbc news with geeta guru—murthy. the headlines. the uk economy shrank by 20% in april, the first full month of lockdown and the biggest fall since monthly records

began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies. all sectors were affected making the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. markets in europe and asia start to buck the downward trend sparked in the us over fears about the economic impact of coronavirus. the uk government's expected to drop its plans for full border controls immediately after brexit, with far less rigorous checks on goods coming in from the eu than planned. president trump renews his threat to intervene in seattle after anti—racist protesters occupy the city centre. a group of 450 bereaved families in the uk are calling for an urgent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. northern ireland becomes the first uk nation to re—open high street stores and shopping centres today. and, out to grass, how the horses and soldiers of the artillery have been responding to the cancellation of this year's traditional trooping the colour.

here in the uk, new analysis by the office for national statistics, of nearly 47,000 deaths, which mentioned the virus on the death certificate — in england and wales between march and may show that the most deprived areas had covid—19 death rates nearly twice that of more affluent areas. a separate study shows that across england the coronavirus infection rate continues to fall with around 4,500 people contracting the virus per day. with me is the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe. robert, thank you forjoining us. tell us more about what we can learn from these numbers. the first thing is we see a very clear pattern with covid—19 deaths that most deprived people are hit hardest and we see that in all death figures normally but the pattern is even worse. we can show those data to the audience. we have a set of figures that show... these are the infections today. we can come back to the

deprivation in a second. we will start with the good news. what we have seen as the number of infections in each of the last three sets of data that have come from the office for national statistics and they say they continue to fall, falling consistently over time and this includes the period after we have moved out of lockdown from stay at home to stay alert and we see the number of infections continues to fall. there is a margin for error around these figures so you wouldn't wa nt to around these figures so you wouldn't want to lend yourself too hard on any numberand want to lend yourself too hard on any number and say, look, they have clearly gone down to one third of their size on the basis of the last set of figures so it could be a bit higher or it could be a bit lower but the trend is downwards. community infections, to be clear, don't include care homes or hospitals. or prisons. we know there has been a higher rate more recently. absolutely, but in terms of the most people in england are living in the community and so this describes your risk if you go shopping, if you go out. probably

about one in 1700 people are infected at the moment is the estimate to take from this. the fact it is quite rare and personal risk might be low doesn't mean it is time to go out and start hugging everyone again, as you said a couple of seconds ago. there are maybe 4500 new infections we are seeing every day, that they estimate are taking place every day, underlined the scale of the challenge for contact tracing because what we are seeing is about 1000 —ish new cases confirmed every day, which means you know who they are and can follow them up so you are missing about 3000 people but we don't know who they are, because this is a server that looks at a small number of people and estimates how many infections are happening every day. in order to trace those people you would have to know who they are and find them first, so there is still a way to go before contact tracing can keep the lid on the epidemic. we rememberfrom february keep the lid on the epidemic. we remember from february and keep the lid on the epidemic. we rememberfrom february and march how quickly things moved when we didn't have a lid on it. let's go back to the deprivation stats, because the numbers have shown a difference in location, basically come in terms of the population in terms of who is

being hit hardest. the hardest-hit areas has in london, so nine out of ten local authorities with the highest rates of covid—19 deaths during march, april and may were in london and the same pattern in wales, around cardiff in scotland and in glasgow in scotland. this underlines two of the dangers of covid—19. one part is cities, cities tend to get hard, because that is where respiratory viruses get passed around most quickly. and talking a couple of seconds ago about the pattern with deprivation, we see deprived areas being hit hardest, you often see more deprived areas clustered in big cities and those are the two big parts of the risk from coronavirus. the risk of catching it and then the risk of dying once you have it. it is hard to unpick all of those things but you see these clear trends emerge in the data. robert cuffe, bbc head of steps, thank you very much. the prime minister boris johnson steps, thank you very much. the prime minister borisjohnson has said it was absurd and shameful that the statue of sir winston churchill

in parliament square was at risk of attack from antiracism protesters after it was covered up, adding that, "we cannot now try to edit or censor our past." let's get more from our political correspondent iain watson. an extraordinary set of tweets from the prime minister. that's right, full thread of tweets from borisjohnson that's right, full thread of tweets from boris johnson ahead that's right, full thread of tweets from borisjohnson ahead of expected demonstrations this weekend. black lives matter of course saying as far as the london demonstration is concerned, given the possibility there would be a far right counterdemonstration, perhaps people should stay away but some demonstrations nevertheless are expected and planned and the prime minister has intervened ahead of that on two fronts, first of all on statues. he defends winston churchill. he says they may have expressed opinions that would not be a cce pta ble expressed opinions that would not be acceptable today but he was a hero that saved the country from a fascist and racist tyranny and it is absurd that the statue should be under threat this weekend. they are also making it very clear that he didn't believe we should be rewriting history and editing and censoring the past. but also he had

a warning about people who may well wa nt to ta ke a warning about people who may well want to take part in some of the demonstrations this weekend. he said they were being hijacked by extremists and he also said that the only responsible course of action was to stay away from those protests. there has been lots of conversations about how those protests might be policed. there has been a lot of disquiet amongst some of his own mps, conservative mps, about whether the police didn't take about whether the police didn't take a robust enough response in bristol where the statue, where the colston statue was toppled, and indeed there has been some concerns about the violence we saw after a major demonstration in london last weekend. so the prime minister has intervened on social media today, a warning in his view to stay away from the protests, but also weighing in on the question of winston churchill and his statue. boris johnson, of course, was one of churchill's many biographers. absolutely. iain watson, this debate definitely set to continue in the

coming hours, ithink. thanks very much indeed for now. whilst tackling the coronavirus has been preoccupying whilst tackling the coronavirus has been preoccu pying most whilst tackling the coronavirus has been preoccupying most asian countries, myanmar‘s government is fighting another battle, against armed insurgents in rakhine state. you will probably remember the terrible scenes there three years ago when a military campaign killed thousands of muslim rohingyas and drove many more into bangladesh. now the central government's hold on the state is being challenged by the rival rakhine buddhist community. a warning this report from our south east asia correspondentjonathan head contains images of violence. explosion gunfire for more than a year, much of rakhine state has been at war. the myanmar military has been using air power and artillery against a relatively new and powerful insurgent group. entire communities have been uprooted. hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded.

with most muslim rohingyas now expelled or contained in camps, it's the rakhine buddhist population that's at the heart of this struggle. inflamed by the historical grievances against what they see as an occupation, and by the actions of government forces. the group which is claiming to fight in their name is the arakan army. in their name is the arakan army. it was founded 11 years ago by rakhine migrants far away along the border with china, funded by smuggling and backed by other insurgent groups, they're now capable of challenging, and at times, defeating the myanmar armed forces back in their home state of rakhine. it's a much younger organisation than pretty much any of the other insurgent forces in burma. it's an educated leadership, it's a tech savvy leadership. they use social media in a way that we simply haven't seen in burma before.

and they have tapped into a very young following in rakhine state. this rough video taken only last month by arakan army volunteers shows what appears to be the aftermath of an ambush of military vehicles close to the main road. they're well armed, and despite some evident jumpiness, confident. these incidents are now frequent in rakhine. that ambush took place just a few hundred metres from this village, let kar, which sat alight, and army drone photos show, was largely burnt only the week before. its residents had already fled from a military operation last year. each side blames the other. but human rights groups say this kind of destruction is a well—known military tactic against rebellious villages. the army's unpopularity here wasn't helped when this video emerged in april showing soldiers kicking and beating suspected arakan army supporters on a boat that was taking them for questioning.

the battle for hearts and minds in rakhine is being lost by the government. the myanmar military is incapable of any sophisticated counterinsurgency campaign. they simply don't have the training and they don't have the mentality. so you see the same sort of pretty brutal responses that we saw writ large with the rohingya expulsion in 2017. three years ago, many rakhine communities supported the military‘s scorched earth campaign against their rohingya neighbours. but in this complex and tragic corner of southeast asia, they now find themselves drawn into conflict with a burmese state which is still struggling to impose its authority on myanmar‘s vast and remote border regions.

jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. here in the uk, around 25,000 patients were discharged into care homes without being tested for coronavirus at the height of the pandemic. that's according to a report by the national audit office which found that the nhs policy to discharge without necessarily testing lasted nearly a month before it was changed. by the middle of may, one in three care homes had experienced an outbreak of covid—19, with more than 1,000 homes dealing with positive cases. let's speak now to graham hallworth. his father died after contracting the virus in a care home weeks after a woman was transferred to the home who it later turned out tested positive for covid—19. thank you forjoining us. i'm very sorry to hear your family news. thank you forjoining us. i'm very sorry to hear yourfamily news. can you tell is what happened to your family? yes, both my

mother and father in the same care home albeit on different floors because my father has... had vascular dementia. some time in broadcast interrupted by interference. lady transferred for what we were told end—of—life care from a local hospital into the home. and only three days later were the home informed by the hospital that the lady was cove —— covid positive. by the lady was cove —— covid positive. by this time she had been put on the dementia floor, which is full of people who find it difficult, if not impossible, to socially distance, and also the staff had been looking after this lady, and as i said, for end—of—life care, and from there on in the virus swept

through the home. when was your father struck by the virus? it would be the second week in may and he passed away on the 18th of may after around a week in hospital. were you aware or talking to any of the authorities about any concerns, because we obviously knew by that stage what had been happening elsewhere? well, yes, the first we heard of it was when my mother went to see my father on a different floor and she was not allowed on that floor. it had been segregated. i called the care home immediately. the staff explained what had happened, that they were furious about it and they had had to segregate that floor and also segregate that floor and also

segregate the staff on that floor, find them a different way in and a different way out. as far as i'm concerned, the home handled it very well. they reacted really quickly. but by that stage it's too late. what do you want to see now? first of all i would like an explanation andi of all i would like an explanation and i have written to my local mp to see if he can help me get some explanations covid positive to be transferred. i heard your lead in just saying people were transferred regardless of a test. but in this case, unfortunately that was exacerbated by the fact that somebody had made an error and not told were actually ready for people who had developed covert within

the home to have them segregated. so there was a system in place in the home. but it wasn't put in place because they weren't informed by the local hospital. so i'd just like some explanation who took that decision. was it central government, was at the local nhs? i'm frankly just left with a feeling that my father has died, he is contracted the disease and died, and was it to avoid bad pr of hospitals being overwhelmed and people suffering on hospital trolleys? clear the hospitals out to avoid that adverse pr and shove it onto the care homes. graham hallworth, sorry to interrupt you, i'm sure it has been incredibly distressing, as it has for many families. but thank you very much indeed for talking to us today.

thank you. we have been very much completely focused on the virus coverage. but the politics of brexit continues. the uk government insists that it has no intention of extending the post—brexit transition period beyond the end of this year, even though talks on a future relationship with the eu seem to have reached stalemate. ministers have been holding talks with their eu counterparts to try and emphasise that the transition will end on december 31st. no extension, in other words. mark francois mp is chair, european research group, a research support group for the conservative members of the uk parliament which campaigned to leave the eu. hejoins us from rayleigh in essex. thank you for your time, mark francois. are you disappointed at the idea of a softening on what the government might have to do on imports? there isn't a softening. but very quickly... i will answer your question, but can i entirely endorse everything the prime

minister said about churchill's statue. winston churchill led this country in a war of national survival against a wicked nazi tyranny led by adolf hitler that murdered 6 million jews, tyranny led by adolf hitler that murdered 6 millionjews, and to attack churchill's statue is ludicrous, and anybody who wants to do that should be made to sit down and watch the darkest hour first to understand how winston churchill save this country, and indeed the world. that said coming back to your question. no, we will need some kind of checks, but if they can be done quickly and efficiently that's no bad thing. what we really want is to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement with the european union so that we can trade with them successfully to our mutual economic advantage, with a lower, in some cases even no tariffs at all, which would mean you would only need minimal checks anyway. ok, iwill possibly come back to churchill if we have got time. but on the

tariffs, the government, as reported in the ft, the government will apply less rigorous border checks than planned. well, we want a free trade agreement to govern that trade. we already have a deal. it is not true to say that we left with no deal, we have a deal which was the revised withdrawal agreement. the question now is can we agree a further deal which would be a comprehensive free trade agreement? and i believe it is perfectly possible to do that. the government have made absolutely plain there will be no extension of the transition period, and therefore, we have got until the end of december to come up with an agreement. i believe we can do that because we managed to get them to change the withdrawal agreement and drop the backstop in three months. the prime minister did that. even though michel barnier swore blind that he would never do either of those things. so they blinked

once andi those things. so they blinked once and i believe if we hold our nerve they will blink again. we have heard today reports that the scottish first minister and welsh first minister are asking for an extension. well, they always do. we heard from the head of the cbi saying that actually things have changed so much in the last few months that this is notjust a political argument, it is about businesses struggling for livelihoods, people worried about their jobs, livelihoods, people worried about theirjobs, that livelihoods, people worried about their jobs, that anything politically that happens that makes the economic hit worse is perhaps, it is wise to give everyone more time, no new —— more negotiating time. no, we have plenty of time, what we need is political will. the head of the cbi recently said she didn't wantan head of the cbi recently said she didn't want an extension of the transition period because that would provide further uncertainty to business and i absolutely agree with her. the snp have never accepted the fa ct her. the snp have never accepted the fact that the people of this country democratically voted to leave the european union and they never will. michel barnier ludicrously wrote to

ian blackford, their westminster leader, to try and persuade him to force us to extend the transition period. that clearly has not worked. i'm afraid someone needs to quietly explain to michel barnier that we have left the european union, we will not be bullied or told what to do. we do mutually and fairly wish to negotiate a reasonable free trade deal. if they don't take us up on the offer then we will trade on australian terms. the ball is in their court and to use his own phrase, the clock is ticking. so if any businesses say we are already massively struggling, brexit is just going to make it harder, what would you say to them? i would say firstly that 17.4 million british people voted to leave the european union and they massively endorse that decision overwhelmingly in the general election. and it was in the conservative party's manifesto that we would not extend the transition period. indeed, we have put it into law that we would not and

we won the general election hands down, so that's what i would say to any business, michel barnier, ian blackford and nicola sturgeon, with my compliments. mark francois mp, many thanks for your time today. we will have much more on the economic news that has come out today with the oecd making forecasts on how global economies are going to be hit. the numbers looking pretty bleak as expected. we will get more reaction on that and the latest going on in the us as well. let's catch up with the weather first with matt taylor. hello there. most of us will see some sunshine over the next few days and when the sun comes out, what you are going to notice, things turning warmer and increasingly humid, but the problem is that as the humidity creeps up, as does the risk of some pretty nasty thunderstorms around with some large hail, gusty winds as well. these are the main thunder risk areas over the next few days. today, south wales, south—west england. tomorrow, that risk drifts a little bit further northwards

and then into sunday, across in towards northern ireland. even within these areas, though, not everyone will see those severe thunderstorms. and it's all because we have low pressure at the moment swirling around down across the bay of biscay, throwing up one area today of persistent rain, clearing away from the channel islands into this afternoon, so brightening up here but turning wetter for a time across southern england and eventually the south midlands and south wales. another area of cloud and rain in northern england and towards northern ireland. to the north of that, the best of the day's sunshine. but the sunshine will return this afternoon across the channel islands. some heavy rain with those thunderstorms pushing across south—west england, the south—west midlands and into south wales. brightening after a time after a misty and murky start in central areas but still cloud, outbreaks of rain for some across northern england and northern ireland. the further north you are, the more likely you are to see some sunshine throughout today, particularly in the north—west highlands. again, temperatures here will peak around 18 or 19. finishing the day with low cloud and rain starting to spread into the east of scotland and then

the rain in the south—west and wales just edging its way further north. again there could be the odd rumble of thunder mixed in amongst that. it will turn misty and murky across many north and eastern areas of the country and it's going to be quite a warm night. humidity levels starting to creep up into tomorrow. this is how we start the weekend, the best of the sunshine to begin with across the south, more cloud and rain where it has rained on and off over the last 24 hours across parts of northern england and that spreads into scotland and then the first batch of those more severe thunderstorms develop across parts of wales, north—west midlands and potentially north—west england. away from that, in the sunshine, 22 in the north—west highlands, 24, maybe 25 towards east anglia and the south—east. another warm day on sunday but on saturday and into sunday, low cloud will plague some eastern coasts of scotland and north—east england, keeping things cooler here. some further rain or drizzle at times but on sunday after a sunny start, wales, parts of north—west england, northern ireland, most likely to see those thunderstorms. bye for now.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk economy shrank by 20% in april, the first full month of lockdown and the biggest fall since monthly records began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies. all sectors were affected, making the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. what we now need to do is get the economy starting up again, start reopening businesses, which we will see from next week,

but doing that in a way that doesn't risk a damaging second wave. the uk prime minister has condemned protestors who ta rgetted the statue of winston churchill and said the anti—racism protests had been hijacked by extremists intent on violence. the uk government's expected to drop its plans for full border controls immediately after brexit, with far—less—rigorous checks on goods coming in from the eu than planned. president trump renews his threat to intervene in seattle after anti—racist protesters occupy the city centre. a group of 450 bereaved families in the uk are calling for an urgent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. northern ireland becomes the first uk nation to reopen high street stores and shopping centres today. and out to grass — how the horses and soldiers of the artillery have been responding to the cancellation of this year's traditional trooping of the colour.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. official figures have revealed the scale of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus lockdown in the uk. in april, the first full month of the restrictions, the uk economy shrank by 20.4%, the largest monthly contraction since records began in 1997. the fall is three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn. reacting to the figures, the uk chancellor rishi sunak said the drop was in line with many other economies suffering the impact of coronavirus. he said...

markets in europe and asia have started to buck the downward trend sparked in the united states on thursday over fears about the recovery of the american economy. shares in asia rallied in late trading. despite opening down, the main european markets have turned positive. yesterday, us shares fell dramatically amid concern that it may take years to replace the millions ofjobs that have been lost during the coronavirus crisis. in other news, president trump has dismissed calls for radical police reforms, despite two weeks of protests triggered by the killing of george floyd. speaking in texas, mr trump promised more money for guidelines on the use of force, but said, as a whole, the force contained only a few bad apples. and the government here in the uk is expected to backtrack on its plan to introduce full border checks

with the eu from the 1st of january over fears of the economic impact of coronavirus. the health minister edward argar said the government was reopening the economy in a cautious way due to the continued threat posed by covid—19. it's right that we we now need to do is get the economy started up again, start reopening businesses, which we will see from next week. but doing that in a way that doesn't risk a damaging second wave, which would be economically devastating, if we experienced a significant second wave. so, we're doing it in a measured way, protecting public health, and at the same time, step—by—step, opening up different sectors of economy to start getting our moving again. labour have called for a more cautious approach for

kick—starting the economy. the shadow chancellor anneliese dodds said the government needs to focus on establishing a more robust track and trace system before reopening shops. we have to get that test, track and isolate system working properly. if we don't have it functioning as well as in other nations, then we risk seeing additional lockdowns and much slower reopening than would otherwise occur. and of course, we risk seeing far lower consumer confidence, and that's critically important now that we push demand up. so really, government needs to get a grip on that system, it's holding us back economically as well as in health terms. let's get more reaction now from kate bell, head of economics at the trade union congress, shejoins us from south london these shejoins us from south london numbers are predi: what these numbers are predictably bad, what do you think the government should be doing in response to this? everyone wants to see the economy kick—started, but only in

a safeway. absolutely toxic these figures are bad, but they're also inevitable response without the government widely sucked down much economic activity to protect public health. —— shutdown much economic activity. it also includes the steps taken in thejob it also includes the steps taken in the job protection scheme, it also includes the steps taken in thejob protection scheme, so now we need to prevent these figures been followed by unemployment. silicon for me to start investing in economy, we know things will need to do to transverse to a zero carbon economy, lots of projects that can be invested in. we need separate support packages for the sectors hit ha rd est by support packages for the sectors hit hardest by the economy, retail, creative industries, for example, and there we need individual support for those who do lose theirjobs because of webbing calling for a guarantee so that everyone who faces a period of unemployment has a funded, government—guara nteed a period of unemployment has a funded, government—guaranteed job to return to. that is obviously expensive as the funding has orally been and there is bound to be a

limit on what government can do. is a choice not just limit on what government can do. is a choice notjust austerity or much higher taxation? what we have to do is get the economy moving again, thatis is get the economy moving again, that is the best way to get money circulating through the economy gets people able to spend in the shops in the best way to get people paying taxes and that is ultimately what will public finances. unemployment is awfulfor individuals will public finances. unemployment is awful for individuals and awful for the economy. to the government has to step up to the plate. have you done any figures in terms of your own forecasting on how that unemployment could be, that is the big fear at the moment? there is a range of estimates out there and the 0ecd are saying it could go to 11% and figures today saying it could go to 10%. these are figures we haven't seen for decades in the uk, but there aren't inevitable to confront action now. it could make sure that eve ryo ne action now. it could make sure that everyone who does get unemployed has

the support they need, financially, so we need a big increase in universal credit. in terms of preventing and implements, give me an example of a sector where they could make a difference in how much more do they need to do and how fast? taking the retail sector, we haven't been going shopping for obvious reasons it hasn't been safe to do so, and we hope shops can now start to reopen safely. but retail six parenting challenges even before the crisis hit, we are talking about the crisis hit, we are talking about the crisis hit, we are talking about the crisis in the high street, we think government should bring together business workers in that sector and government and local authorities to design a plan for the retail sector to give them a sustainable future with a decent jobs. thank you very much. pauljohnson is the director of the institute for fiscal studies, hejoins us from north london. paul, what is your take on the figures that came out

today? in a sense, not terribly surprising. they are dreadful in that they are by far and away the worst in history, ten times worse than the worst ever fall in economic output previously, but given that we closed on a large chunk of the economy — we know 9 million workers have been furloughed and therefore aren't active in the economy — seeing a reduction in the size of the economy about 20% is, astonishingly, not anything we're surprised by. how has the uk fared with other european counterparts? germany notably seems to be doing better. again, the uk is not so different from most other european countries, germany and one or two others have done rather better, they seem to have got the virus under control more effectively, and i think that's the driving force behind the economy. if you have the virus under control effectively, then you can open up more of the economy. so for so long as we have to continue with success being

locked down and substantial social distancing, then we're going to continue having a large impact on the economy. that is going to be vital going forward if the virus disappears and we keep it under control in the coming months, then the economy ought bounced back really quite fast. but we get second peaks or we really quite fast. but we get second pea ks or we have really quite fast. but we get second peaks or we have to keep social distancing for a long period of time, there will be elements of the economy which aren't coming back at all fast, as you are hearing from kate bell there, that would lead to substantial levels of unemployment. watch come in your view, is to treasury looking at is now to try and avoid unemployment and to mitigate the effects of it?|j and avoid unemployment and to mitigate the effects of it? i think they will be looking hard at possible policies. i think we are expecting a statement in earlyjuly which will be very focused on unemployment, and i suspect that will include centrally funding

additionalfunding for will include centrally funding additional funding for helping people back into jobs and also, i hope, programmes for young workers and those coming out of school and university, getting them into training withjobs university, getting them into training with jobs with training and probablyjob training with jobs with training and probably job subsidies, as training with jobs with training and probablyjob subsidies, as we saw in the last crisis, alongside probably additional investment to. there are none of these things at work by themselves and we have lots of experience schemes that don't work, soi experience schemes that don't work, so i hope they are using the information that we got from history to design schemes that will be actually effective. looking further down the track in terms of funding any similar programme that the government puts out and that supports, what are their choices? because you can spend, you can borrow, you can cut. the government's been spending astounding amounts of money over the recent months, borrowing this year looks set to be

£300 billion, that's 250 billion more than last year. it's an astonishingly high number, the highest in peacetime history by a long distance. but even so, in the short run at least, i think they're going to be looking at spending more in order to support the economy out of this, but in the medium term, i don't think there's going to be any choice but to be raising taxes to cover some of the increased deficit and to help with what is a massively expanded debts. south are glad to be very careful to distinguish those, there is not going to be an increase in taxation or a cut in spending this year, and possibly not even next, but in the coming years, there will have to be that increase in tax to ta ke will have to be that increase in tax to take account of the massive amounts of additional money we're borrowing at the moment. thank you. how does the uk compare to other countries as economies emerge from lockdown? a few days ago, the organisation for economic co—operation and development released its predictions for the rest of

the year. britain's economy is likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020, that's slightly more than italy and france. in what it called a single—hit scenario, with no second peak, italy and france are expected to take a hit of 11.3 and 11.4% respectively. and for the world's largest economy, the united states, the oecd predicts a drop of 7.3% for the year. germany's decline in gross domestic product is forecast to be 6.6% for the whole of 2020. the uk prime minister has been tweeting this morning about the national debate taking place regarding statues and monuments. borisjohnson, who is a well known fan of sir winston churchill, having written a book about him, started by saying the churchill statue in parliament is a permanent

reminder of his achievement in saving this country — and the whole of europe — from a fascist and racist tyranny. he went on to say... speaking about planned protests he said...

our political correspondent, iain watson, has been studying the prime minister's tweets. a full threat or tweets from boris johnson ahead of expected demonstrations this weekend, black lives matter saying, as far as london demonstrations are concerned, given the possibility there will be afar right given the possibility there will be a far right counterdemonstration, perhaps people should stay away, but some demonstrations nonetheless are expected and planned and the prime minister has intervened ahead of that on two france. first will come on statues, he defends winston churchill and says his opinions may not be acceptable today, but he was a hero that saved the country from a fascist and racist tyranny and it's absurd that that statue should be under threat this weekend. but also making it very clear that he didn't believe we should be rewriting history and editing and censoring the past. but also had a warning

about the people who may well want to ta ke about the people who may well want to take part in demonstrations this weekend. he said they been hijacked by extremists and that the only responsible course of action was to stay away from those protests. there has been lots of conversations about how these protests might be policed, there has been a lot of disquiet amongst some of his own, conservative mps about whether the police didn't take a robust enough response in bristol, where the statue was toppled to. and indeed, there has been some concerns about there has been some concerns about the violence we saw after a major demonstration in london last weekend to. so the prime minister has intervened on social media today, warning, in his view, to stay away from protest but also weighing in on the question of winston churchill and his statue. borisjohnson, of course, was one of churchill's many biographers. iain watson there with the reaction

to the prime minister's tweets. we can see the statutes completely boxed up at the moment, it had been scrawled upon and, of course, churchill was acknowledged for his role in, as the prime minister describes, is also controversial for many, given his role and comments on empire and that is why protesters have also made their views known in recent days. but, of course, this debate on what should happen to historic figures is set to run. and it is running right across the world, of course. two statues of people involved in the history of guy's and st thomas' hospitals in london are to be removed from public view. the figures, depicting thomas guy — seen here — and robert clayton, are being boarded up due to their association with the slave trade. clayton, a former lord mayor of london, had ties to the royal african company,

which transported slaves to the americas, while guy invested in the south sea company, which was also involved in the trade. guy's and st thomas' nhs foundation trust has issued a statement saying it recognises the public hurt and anger generated by the symbolism of public statues. bringing you up to date another political tub elements here in the uk, michael gove has tweeted saying he just shared uk, michael gove has tweeted saying hejust shared a uk, michael gove has tweeted saying he just shared a constructive eu joint committee meeting with a representative of the european commission. mr goh said, i have formally confirmed that the uk will not extend the transition period and the moment for extension has now passed. on the 1st of january 2021, we will take back control and regain our political and economic independence. so michael gove, firmly confirming the government's position they will not extend the transition period, which ends at the

start of next year and they are not allowing any more time, despite calls for them to do so, for example, by the scottish first minister and welsh first minister here and warnings from some in business about the difficulty of dealing with brexit, with or without a deal, certainly with no deal, given the pandemic affects. but the government absolutely committed to delivering the end of this whole brexit saga by the end of this year. that tweet has just come in from michael gove. moving to the united states. president trump has renewed his threat to intervene in seattle, where hundreds of anti—racist protesters have ta ken over the city centre and declared an autonomous zone. he said he was ready to go in if the governor of washington state failed to act. after two weeks of national protests, triggered by the killing of george floyd, mr trump promised more money for police training, but dismissed calls for defunding the police as an extreme agenda. our north america correspondent david willis reports. on the streets of one of america's most liberal cities, peaceful protesters are posing

a major challenge to the authorities. in the wake of the death of george floyd, hundreds of them have moved into seattle's capitol hill district and set up camp, declaring the police department a place of the people and the area itself a cop—free zone. officials have said the occupation has to end, but haven't said how they plan to deal with it. they can't afford a repeat of the scenes in washington, dc, where a peaceful protest against police brutality led to more of the same. at a roundtable event in texas, president trump denounced those who have called for defunding of the police. he said more money, not less, was needed for police training and added later that if local officials were unable to sort the situation out in seattle, he'd do it himself. no, no, we are not going to let this happen in seattle. if we have to go in, we are going to go in. the governor is either

going to do it... let the governor do it. he's got great national guard troops, he can do it. but one way or the other, it's going to get done. these people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city. we do not need anyone, including the president, to try and sow further divide, further distrust and misinformation. the threat to invade seattle, to divide and incite violence on our city is not only unwelcome, it would be illegal. elsewhere, the appetite for confrontation appears to be diminishing. america's top military officer, general mark milley, now says he was wrong to join president trump in that controversial walk to a damaged church last week. dressed in military fatigues, general milley said it sent the wrong message and that the military shouldn't involve itself domestic politics. cheering. across this country, protests against racism and police brutality continue with the toppling of statues erected in honour

of confederate generals. president trump seems determined to stick up for the police and stay true to his self—defined role as the president law and order. here in the uk, around 25,000 patients were discharged into care homes without being tested for coronavirus at the height of the pandemic — that's according to a report by the national audit office, which found that the nhs policy to discharge without necessarily testing lasted nearly a month before it was changed. by the middle of may, one in three care homes had experienced an outbreak of covid—19, with more than 1000 homes dealing with positive cases. we can speak to chris hopson, the ceo of nhs providers, which represents nhs trusts. thanks forjoining us. we have known that the care homes decisions were

very controversial and it caused many problems. are you confident that all has been done now to ensure safety in ca re that all has been done now to ensure safety in care homes or hospitals in their procedures are rightly in place? can i start by saying, i think it's incredibly disappointing at the bbc is actually saying something that is factually incorrect. the national audit office report does not say that all 25,000 patients were discharged without a test, it specifically doesn't say that, what it actually says is not all patients were discharged with a test. and the words are completely different, what that effectively means is, the vast majority of patients probably were discharged with a test and there were only a very few that weren't. that's the arguments we have been making over the last six weeks, it's been an argument endorsed by the national audit office. it is really

disappointing the bbc can't get its fa cts disappointing the bbc can't get its facts right, despite the fact that we have been making the point that, actually, trusts were doing everything they could to support the ca re everything they could to support the care sector and to ensure that is precisely the opposite, that patients were discharged safely to where they were going. so, if i may say, it really is important to bbc gets its facts right. ok, we will ta ke gets its facts right. ok, we will take that point on boards, absolutely. we do know, we have heard from people likejeremy hunt and others that patients were moved into ca re and others that patients were moved into care homes without testing and it is still the case that the numbers in the uk and in england are still higher than many would like at this point. we've said very clearly that there were a small number of patients who are immediately after the instruction was issued to hospitals to discharge patients, there probably were some patients and litter in fact there were some patients who were not

showing symptoms who were discharged to care homes. and the trusts did that unwittingly. we have set again, we've acknowledge this publicly, three orfour we've acknowledge this publicly, three or four weeks we've acknowledge this publicly, three orfour weeks ago, we've acknowledge this publicly, three or four weeks ago, there were some patients who did have a covid symptoms who were discharged without a test because the care home had agreed to take them. what we're saying again is, and this is why we need to be precise here, the national audit office wording is absolutely correct. what it says is, not all patients were tested, and there were some good reasons as to why they weren't tested. so i think we all recognise that where we would have liked to have been was when we got to on april the 15th, which was that every single patient was discharged with a test. but in early march, that simply wasn't possible. i have got that piece you are referring to, what it says is, therefore, it is not known how many we re therefore, it is not known how many

were discharged to care homes had covid—19 at the point they were discharged from hospital, that is the key thing? what we are saying is, part of the problem is, we simply don't have the data. what the trusts are saying to us is that the vast majority of patients they discharged were tested for. ok, i'm sorry, we're out of time, we're coming to the top of the hour, but hope they will speak to you again soon. thank you very much. now it's time for a look at the weather, with matt taylor. hello. northern scotland best favoured today for staying dry and reasonably sunny. we should all see some sunshine over the next few days but there will be some heavy rain around as well. today, the worst of the ring in the channel islands clears to sunshine but that rain spreads into southern england, south wales and the south midlands through this afternoon, so rumbles of thunder,

flashes of lightning with it. still a bit murky through some central areas too. but the rain we have seen so far today will start to ease off a little bit. for all, quite a windy day. you will certainly notice that as the heavier downpours push through across the south west and through south wales. something a bit brighter this afternoon in mid—wales and the midlands. further north, staying cloudy through northern england, particularly east of the pennines and towards the southeast of northern ireland. further rain at times also affecting parts of the borders. much of the north—west of northern ireland and a good parts of mainland scotland into orkney and shetland, dry and sunny day in store. highs of around 19. low cloud and rain pushes in towards the east of scotland through this evening and overnight. rain then spreads its way northwards and we are going to see some more in the way of thundery downpours developing through this weekend. but when the sunshine comes out, it will feel humid.

the uk economy shrank by 20% in april — the first full month of lockdown and the biggest fall since monthly records began. the government says the fall was in line with many other economies — all sectors were affected making the economy around a quarter smaller than it was in february. the uk prime minister has condemned protesters who targetted the statue

of winston churchill and said the anti—racism protests had been hijacked by ‘extremists intent on violence'. the uk government's expected to drop its plans for full border controls immediately after brexit — with far less rigorous checks on goods coming in from the eu than planned. president trump renews his threat to intervene in seattle — after anti—racist protesters occupy the city centre. a group of 450 bereaved families in the uk are calling for an urgent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. now for more on that. 450 uk families who lost a relative to coronavirus are demanding an immediate public inquiry into how the government managed parts of the pandemic. ministers insist the priority right now is responding to the crisis. michael buchanan has been to meet the family of tony brown, who died in march. tony brown became ill in mid—march. the 65—year—old father of two took advice from the nhs111 service who told him to treat his high temperature with paracetamol. his condition fluctuated but one morning he woke up with chest pains. within minutes of him getting to hospital, he had a cardiac arrest and died shortly afterwards. he tested positive for

coronavirus after his death. when you have gotten ill, when is the appropriate time to go to hospital? it wasn't clear. no—one knew that. we were trying to wait it out, everyone was trying to wait it out, he was trying to wait it out. and if you wait too long, it turns out it kills you really quickly. the covid—19 bereaved families forjustice group say an immediate public enquiry will prevent more deaths. decisions on everything from easing the lockdown to a possible second spike will be improved, say the group, if they are exposed to external scrutiny, given they are likely to be subject to scientific disagreement and unreliable data. one of the real problems is that the government has lost the trust of the public and what that means is people are not really following the lockdown rules even if they understand them and what that means is more transmission and more deaths that can be avoided. the families highlight the taylor review, following the hillsborough disaster, as an example of what can be done. it prompted immediate improvements into safety at football grounds, while broader questions were answered later. a similar approach to the pandemic, they argue would prevent immediate mistakes. michael buchanan, bbc news. let's cross live to edinburgh now for the daily coronavirus briefing from the scotland first minister

nicola sturgeon. and i were national clinical directorjason leitch. let me begin with an update on the key is this the stakes in relation to covid—19. as of nine o'clock this morning there have been 50,709 positive cases confirmed through our nhs laboratories, and that is an increase of 27 from yesterday. a total of 914 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected covid—19. that represents an increase of five overall from yesterday. however, the number of confirmed cases within that has reduced by 20. a total of 23 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected covid—19, and that is an increase of two since yesterday. i can confirm that since the 5th of march a total of 3873 patients who had tested positive and needed hospital treatment have since been able to leave hospital, and i wish all of them well. in the last 24 hours,

three deaths were registered patients confirmed a test as having had the virus. that takes the total number of deaths in scotland under that measurement to 2442. even as we see these figures decline, tha nkfully see these figures decline, thankfully so, it is nevertheless really important that we do not lose sight of the fact that they are not just this they all represent unique, loved individuals, whose loss is a source of grief to many people. once again, my condolences are with eve ryo ne again, my condolences are with everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness. i will also express again my thanks to our health and ca re again my thanks to our health and care workers. again my thanks to our health and ca re workers. your again my thanks to our health and care workers. your efforts are enormously appreciated and again, even as we see numbers in hospital and in intensive care reducing, we know you are still working incredibly hard in difficult circumstances, and you have our deepest gratitude for that. there are two items i want to update you on today. the first relates of course to the

economy. today's gdp figures show that in april, the uk economy contracted by more than 20%. that is by some distance the largest decline on record, and it confirms the scale of the economic crisis that has inevitably been caused by the health crisis that we face. i have previously welcomed the uk government's interventions, especially the furlough scheme which has helped to preserve jobs during this period. in my view, it is now time to signal a further extension of treasury support. other countries have already made this move, including france, where plans are being put in place for a long—term partial activity scheme covering possibly as long as the next two yea rs. possibly as long as the next two years. the alternative to extended support being put in place is either that businesses are forced to reopen before it is safe to do so, and that of course could damage health

and cost lives, or businesses have to ta ke cost lives, or businesses have to take an even bigger hit and that will costjobs. in my view, neither of those alternatives is acceptable, soi of those alternatives is acceptable, so i hope we will see further action from the uk government and we look forward to working constructively with them, playing ourfull forward to working constructively with them, playing our full part in making all of that happen. the following gdp is something we discussed at this morning's weekly meeting of the scottish cabinet economic subcommittee. we also looked ahead to the publication of the latest statistics on scotland's labour market next tuesday. those figures will cover fairly to april of this year, a period that includes the first full month of lockdown. i do not want to create that publication and i cannot do that, but we do expect to see a significant impact on employment and a rise in unemployment. sadly, despite all of our best efforts, that the situation is likely to remain challenging in the period

ahead. of course, all of that is before we factor in any potential impact on the economy from brexit, and that is why i have todayjoined with the first minister of wales in writing to the uk government, calling for an extended brexit transmission period, to take away the risk of a no deal outcome and also to make sure that all of us remain focused on supporting business through the post covid recovery and not making the challenges that the economy and our businesses face any worse than it already is. so, that is the action i believe we need from the uk, but i am acutely aware of the responsibility i have as first minister and the scottish government has, to make sure we are doing everything within our power and resources . everything within our power and resources. and that is relevant to the announcement i am making today, because we are incredibly focused on making sure we are taking action to protect jobs, making sure we are taking action to protectjobs, and making sure we are taking action to protect jobs, and hopefully making sure we are taking action to protectjobs, and hopefully in the future, to create jobs as we

lead our economy through the post covid recovery. the impact of this crisis is of course felt across our whole economy. i had discussions yesterday with the tourism sector, a sector particularly ha rd with the tourism sector, a sector particularly hard hit, and we know there are other sectors that are particularly badly affected, too. for example, scotland's energy sector faces a massive decline in global demand and that is having a very serious impact on our economy. the scottish government wants to do everything we can to support the energy sector through this crisis, we wa nt energy sector through this crisis, we want to protect the jobs and businesses in the north—east of scotla nd businesses in the north—east of scotland and across the country, and in doing that, we want to make sure that the sector is able to continue to beat and benefit from a scotland's necessary transition to a net zero economy. that is why today iam announcing net zero economy. that is why today i am announcing a new £62 million energy transition fund. over the next five years that fund will support key energy projects which will help scotland's moved to

a net zero. for example, one project, the global underwater hop, brings together engineering expertise from academia and industry, and it will help our oil and gas sector use its existing subsea and underwater expertise in new areas such as marine renewables. another project receiving support will be the energy transition zone, a new business park adjacent to the aberdeen south harbour. that will provide state—of—the—art facilities for the manufacture and development of renewable and low carbon technologies. almost inevitably, given the focus of the fund is the transition from oil and gas to renewables, the projects which directly benefit from this fund are currently based in the north—east of scotland, but by securing scotland's place as a world leader in key technologies for the future, they will help businesses right across the country to diversify, attract new investment, seize new opportunities and both protect and create jobs. we

know opportunities and both protect and createjobs. we know that opportunities and both protect and create jobs. we know that the energy transition will shape our country's economic future, that was true before the covid crisis and remains during and after the covid crisis. but through these investments, not only will we shape that energy and future and economic future, we will help with the economic recovery from the crisis that is currently afflicting so many businesses across scotland. now, the second issue i wa nt to scotland. now, the second issue i want to touch on today concerns the scottish government's approach to easing restrictions. as i am sure many of you know and will be eagerly anticipating, the current restrictions will be reviewed again on thursday of next week. our considerations will be informed, as they will always be, by the scientific evidence and advice, and the clear principles we have set out. however, i have been acutely aware throughout this crisis that it is not and never will be enough for me simply to tell you what i want you to do it. i also have a duty to explain to you on an ongoing basis

the reasons behind what we are asking you to do. in fact, the reason i conduct these press briefings daily is to ensure that you get clear and direct information on the impact of covid—19 and on the country's response. that is vital to ensuring that people understand the threat that the virus poses, but also how we can all work together to reduce and mitigate that threat. now, i have spoken before about some of the research we undertake to check that the messages we are trying to convey our getting across. we are going to publish the latest research today so you are able, if interested , research today so you are able, if interested, to read it for yourself. it shows, amongst other things, that the vast majority of people in scotla nd the vast majority of people in scotland continue to support a careful and gradual easing of the restrictions. but the aspect of the research i wanted to particularly highlight today as around public attitudes to our new test and protect system. research shows that 90% of people say that

they would be willing to isolate for 14 days if someone they had come into contact with had symptoms of the virus. 90% say they would be willing to undergo coronavirus testing if asked to do this and 88% are happy to provide details of people they have been in contact with if they develop coronavirus symptoms. that is important, and it is really encouraging, because as i have said to you before, test and protect is going to be a vital tool in keeping the virus suppressed, as we ease more restrictions. but test and protect ca n more restrictions. but test and protect can only work if all of us across the country are willing to comply with the measures that it sets out, if we are willing to get tested when we have symptoms, if we are willing to isolate when we have the virus, and if we are willing to self—isolate if we have been in close contact with someone with the virus. these findings show that willingness to make personal sacrifices for the common good are really encouraging, and i want to thank everybody for that spirit of collective endeavour, that i think

we all still have. i want to conclude today with the key point about the critical juncture conclude today with the key point about the criticaljuncture that conclude today with the key point about the critical juncture that we are at in fighting this virus. i know that as cases, hospitalisations, numbers in intensive care, deaths and they are 12810/12 all decline, many will think that that means we should speed up the exit from lockdown. —— r number. i understand that. we are all deeply anxious about the impact on the economy. but the fact is this, the reason we are making such good progress now is that we are carefully following a plan. and if we depart from that plan, we will risk the progress we are making. on the other hand, if we are prepared to stick with the plan, i believe we will keep making further progress, and the more we suppress this virus, the more lives will be saved and the fewer people will suffer the

long—term health consequences that increasingly we fear that it might leave some people with. but also, if we suppress this virus efficiently, we suppress this virus efficiently, we will be able to restore a greater degree of normality to all of our lives. so, while i understand the desire for speed of recovery, the sustainability of our recovery also really matters. the simple fact is, if we go too fast now, we risk a resurgence of the virus that will then set us back, and that is a risk, in my view, we must be careful not to take. so i hope that we can and will take more steps forward at next week's review, but i want to be very clear that we must continue to do that carefully and cautiously. and if we do, we will continue to suppress this virus, and it will mean that we will get back to more normality than we otherwise would. you can all help us in moving in the right direction with sticking, by sticking to the rules. as we head

into the weekend, i want to briefly reiterate again the key public health guidance that is in place for now. we should all remain at home most of the time and meet fewer people than normal. if your life feels like it is getting back to normal, think about whether you are complying with the guidance as you should be. when you meet people from another household, you must remain outdoors and you must remain two metres apart from them. do not meet up metres apart from them. do not meet up with more than one who —— one household at a time or more than one each day, and please keep to a maximum of eight people with any group. wash your hands often, wear a face covering when any shop or on public transport, or within any enclosed space where it is more difficult to physically distance. avoid touching hard surfaces and clea n avoid touching hard surfaces and clean those that you do touch, and asi clean those that you do touch, and as i have already said, if you have symptoms of covid—19, ask for an immediate test, go to the nhs inform website and follow the advice on self isolation. above all else, we must all remember that we

are still ina must all remember that we are still in a situation where our actions as individuals have an impact on the health and well—being of everybody. soi health and well—being of everybody. so i want to end again today by sincerely thanking you for your patience, yourforbearance sincerely thanking you for your patience, your forbearance and for making the sacrifices you are making so that collectively, as a country, we continue to get through this crisis. my thanks to all of you and i will now hand over to the economy secretary to see if you words before handing over to professor leitch. as the first minister has said, we are dealing with the significant economic effects from the continuing health crisis. the scale of the challenge ahead is substantial, and we do not underestimate the scale of the impacts on gdp and unemployment. and we recognise the effects on our communities, and especially on our society's most vulnerable people. the impact of the covid—19 pandemic has had a big impact on the economy, demonstrated by the figures released yesterday. there are around 628,000

scottish jobs that have been furloughed and a further 146,000 are using the self—employment income support scheme. we welcome the support of the job retention scheme and the scheme's extension to october. as other countries has done, the uk must look at continuing the scheme in some form to deliver a firm foundation of keeping people in work as a better option than funding mass unemployment. if the uk government continues to reduce support it is important that there is continued recognition that public health guidance is devolved and so progress in easing the lockdown may be different in each nation. the scottish government is doing everything we can to respond to the economic impact of covid. we have developed a package of measures that reflects the scottish economy is different to the rest of the uk and continues to support scottish businesses by passing on every penny re—received from the uk government for this purpose and more directly

to business. —— every penny we receive. our package of business support, including to be unique to scotla nd support, including to be unique to scotland scottish tourism fund now totals over £2. 3 scotland scottish tourism fund now totals over £2.3 billion. we have formed an advisory group on economic recovery to provide independent and expert advice on our response to the long—term impacts of coronavirus. the group will report its recommendations this month and these recommendations this month and these recommendations will inform the approach to setting the course and direction of scotland's economic recovery. we a re direction of scotland's economic recovery. we are forming a cross— party foru m to recovery. we are forming a cross—party forum to create an opportunity for representatives of each party in the scottish parliament to engage, give build consensus and focus on economic recovery. we a re consensus and focus on economic recovery. we are doing everything we can to support the scottish economy. this morning we announced town centres will benefit from £2 million of funding to support the

recovery of funding to support the recovery of local communities as coronavirus measures are gradually and carefully eased. the towns and business improvement districts resilience and recovery fu nd improvement districts resilience and recovery fund is open to local authorities as well as community development trusts, chambers of commerce and town centre partnerships to address immediate concerns. in addition to this, as the first minister has just announced, the multi—million pound energy transition fund will support inclusive and sustainable economic growth and will contribute to climate change commitments underpinning the regions of the north—east‘s ambitions to become a world leader in the transition to a zero meet its ambitious targets on climate change. the funding will support businesses in the oil, gas and energy sectors over the next five years as they grow and diversify into low carbon and renewable sectors. a number of projects will be considered for funding, including a global

underwater hub, net zero solution centre, a hydra in her hub and energy transition zone. —— a hydrogen hub. the investment will also benefit the wider scottish energy sector and broader supply chain, working with local businesses to maximise the economic benefits, support sustainable jobs and contribute to e, growth across the country. i would like to announce a funding package for the edinburgh fringe festival society to enable its return next year. this has been an extremely worrying time for people whose livelihoods, careers and well—being have been affected by covid—19 and the cancellation of festivals such as the fringe. as pa rt festivals such as the fringe. as part of a commitment to support cultural, social and economic recovery, the festival will receive a£1 recovery, the festival will receive a £1 million interest—free loan from the scottish government. it will also benefit from £149,000 from the

pivotal and enterprise resilience fund and £100,000 grant from the city of edinburgh council. the money will be used to mitigate the significant losses incurred as a result of the cancellation of this yea r‘s festival result of the cancellation of this year's festival due to coronavirus and to invest in future years of the fringe. as we know, the fringe is one of scotland's greatest cultural exports and this funding package will help ensure the world festival can bounce back in 2021.|j will help ensure the world festival can bounce back in 2021. i will hand over briefly now to professorjason leitch before moving on to questions. we are starting to think about how scotland will come out of lockdown in the coming weeks. that's an anxious time for many. many of us have begun to get used to the safety of staying at home and keeping away from public spaces to reduce our chances, rightly, of contracting coronavirus. as we open up everyone wa nts coronavirus. as we open up everyone wants information about how to protect themselves. but there is a great deal of wrong information out

there, so much so that the world health organization we are going to pull out of the update from scotland and we want to bring you back down to the uk economic figures, which of course have come in, we have had more on april's gdp figures which saw the uk economy shrink by 20%. in the last few minutes the prime minister boris johnson has been giving a reaction to these numbers. we have always been in no doubt this would be a serious public health crisis but also have big, big economic knock—on effects. i'm afraid i'm not surprised by the figures we have seen. the uk is heavily dependent on the services, we are a dynamic, creative economy, we depend so much on human contact. we have been very badly hit by this. but we are also amazingly resilient and creative. we will bounce back. i think one of the things that the uk has got right in this crisis has been the way we have

tried to handle the workforce, tried to make sure people are protected with the furlough scheme and many other schemes we have put in place. but what i want to do now is work slowly to get the economy back on its feet. you will have seen the measures that we announced for monday. there will be more coming, as you know, onjuly the 4th. and i think slowly, confidence will return and you will see a bounce back in the uk. but what we are going to do is government going beyond is really, very simply, and i'll be saying a lot more about this obviously in the next few weeks. but we are going to be doubling down on our agenda of uniting and levelling up, infrastructure, technology, education, investment in our future, building the platform that business needs for growth. that's the programme the government is embarked on. but we will be saying an awful

lot more in the next few weeks. so from monday it is shops, a lot more on hospitality from the beginning of next month, and then really trying to get things moving again. the prime minister speaking about those economic numbers and the government's plans going forward. he was also asked about the recent wave of antiracism protests across the uk. what i would say to everybody thinking about this issue, i totally understand why people feel outraged, certainly about what happened in minnesota and the death of george floyd. everybody understands people's legitimate right to protest against discrimination, against racism in our society. i think this isa racism in our society. i think this is a country that has made huge progress in tackling racism. and you know, we should look sometimes at the positive stuff. we have more young black and minority ethnic kids

going to university than ever before, more black kids doing the toughest subjects at school, doing better than ever before at school but we don't hear enough of this positive stuff. what makes me sad about what is happening today is that you have a situation in which the statue of winston churchill, who isa the statue of winston churchill, who is a national hero, has had to be boarded up for fear of violent attack and that to me is both absurd and wrong. you should not have a situation in which people who are protesting on one basis are violently attacking the police or public property. and i'm afraid what's happened with these demonstrations is that a tiny minority, or a growing minority, u nfortu nately, have minority, or a growing minority, unfortunately, have hijacked them and they are using them as a pretext to attack the police, to cause violence and to cause

damage to public property. so unfortunately my message to everybody is that, for all sorts of reasons, they shouldn't go to these demonstrations. and whatever our feelings about the cause, we should not support a demonstration that is in all probability, looking at what's happened before, going to end in deliberate and calculated violence. so, i'm afraid that is my message. but we will continue to make progress as a society in tackling racism, and that is the substance of the issue. boris johnson there with that statement, a couple of clips that statement, a couple of clips that have just come in to us. lots more coming up on what the prime minister is saying and doing today. british airways, easyjet and ryanair have begun legal action against the uk government's new quarantine measures. in a statement the airlines said they have asked for a judicial review to be heard as soon as possible into what they have described as the ‘flawed scheme' which requires international

arrivals into the uk to self—isolate for 14 days. northern ireland has become the first of the uk nations to re—open high street stores and shopping centres as coronavirus restrictions start to ease today. the number of people from different households allowed to meet outdoors will also increase from six to ten. in england, non—essential shops can re—open on monday. so far, no date's been set for scotland or wales. our correspondent emma vardy is in belfast. )british tabloid, the sun has issued a statement we are not going to bring you that quite yet. the british tabloid, the sun has issued a statement in response to its front page today which features an interview with the first husband of the author jk rowling under the headline: ‘i slappede and i‘m not sorry.‘ a spokeswoman for the newspaper said, "we were disgusted by the comments oij rowling‘s ex—husband. it was certainly not our intention to enable or glorify domestic abuse, our intention was to expose a perpetrator‘s total lack

of remorse." time for a look at the weather. there is a fair amount of sunshine and some cloud around as well. this was east sussex. we have some big downpours and thunderstorms and over the next few days there will be some sunshine breaking through but as those temperatures turn increasingly warm, humidity rises and we expect some thundery downpours. the areas most likely to see thunderstorms today are across the south—west of england into wales, and by tomorrow the thunderstorm risk pushes further north, particularly through parts of north wales, the midlands as well, and by the time we get to sunder it as north wales and northern ireland are most prone to seeing heavy showers and thunderstorms. but nowhere immune to a few heavy showers over the next few days, down to the fact that this area of low pressure centred around the bay of biscay at the moment is pushing its way northwards across the uk. pretty warm out there so temperatures this afternoon quite widely

around 17-21d. a afternoon quite widely around 17—21d. a little afternoon quite widely around 17-21d. a little bit afternoon quite widely around 17—21d. a little bit cooler around the east coast is where we have more cloud and also some rain that‘s been persistent across northern england. this evening to deny the rain pushes across eastern scotland. further south, heavy, thundery showers putting across southern england and into wales and by the early hours of saturday morning those heavy showers will sit across the north west of england, south—west scotland and northern ireland. drier to the south of that, quite a warm and humid night with mist and murk around first thing tomorrow. tomorrow there will be sunshine across the bulk of england and wales, a little cloudier for scotland and northern ireland for scotland and northern ireland for a time. later in the afternoon is when we start to see the heavy and thundery showers developing, particularly heavy showers and thunderstorms for the channel isles, the south—west of england, southern england, wales, the north west of england, wales, the north west of england and some of these fairly hit and miss but potentially thundery downpours. some sunshine between the showers, drier day tomorrow for northern england compared to today. northern ireland and much of scotla nd northern ireland and much of scotland as well, particularly towards the north—west, it could be

quite warm with temperatures in the mid 20s. into saturday evening we will keep those heavy showers, the odd rumble of thunder, particularly across parts of england and wales. heading through into the second half of the weekend, another warm and humid day with some sunshine and heavy showers. thunderstorms are possible for parts of wales particularly, into northern ireland and temperatures fairly widely between 18—24d. bye—bye.

the british economy shrank by a fifth in april, because of the coronavirus lockdown. the contraction was worse than economists predicted — a result of the first full month of shops and businesses being closed. we‘ve always been in no doubt this was going to be a very serious public health crisis, but also had big, big economic knock—on effects and i‘m not, i‘m afraid, surprised by the figures that we‘ve seen. we‘ll ask our economics

editor what this means. also this lunchtime: less rigorous checks of eu goods are likely after brexit, to help uk businesses struggling with the impact of coronavirus. borisjohnson says it is shameful that statues are having to be boarded up because of concerns they‘ll be vandalised. families of more than 400 people who have died with coronavirus demand an urgent public inquiry into the government handling of the pandemic, to try to prevent more deaths. and the paralympian who‘s the only black board member of britain‘s major sports tells us much more needs to be done. target does not mean anything. i think, to me, what is important is bringing the black people on board and giving them a voice and listening to them. and coming up on bbc news... another blow to the formula 1 season, as three

races