for those missing getting into theirfinery, a charity campaign has been launched encouraging you to do this at home and share photos, and many have been doing just that. in this hallowed part of berkshire, the performances on the track will take centre stage over the next five days. the occasion will be simplified and surreal, but there will be no forgetting this royal ascot. laura scott, bbc news, ascot. it is certainly going to be memorable, but although there will be the smallest ever crowd size, it is actually the biggest race card, with 36 races crammed into five days. we just had the first one, won by the 40—1 horse, trained by richard hannon and ridden byjim crowley. as with most sports taking place over the next few weeks, it will certainly have an unusual feel.

thank you, laura scott at royal ascot. prince charles and camilla have visited a gloucester hospital to thank people involved in responding to the covid crisis. strict social distancing was in place throughout the visit in which the royal couple met a range of healthcare professionals in the grounds of gloucestershire royal hospital in their first royal engagement with the public since the coronavirus outbreak began. time for a look at the weather, here's chris fawkes. the weather continues in an u nsettled the weather continues in an unsettled and showery mood. there will be someone sunshine over the next few days, heavy afternoon thunderstorms capable of bringing localised flooding, often it will feel warm and quite humid. today we have seen plenty of showers, slow—moving once event greater manchester. some pretty big storms this afternoon across south—west england and some nasty storms in wales stretching from cardigan to be with wells. we will see storms pushing into north—west england, around the greater manchester area, some storms will break out across

south—west scotland. there will be a greater chance of seeing showers and thunderstorms for a time across the midlands and south—east england, including the greater london area. but aside from those storms that will pop up over the next few hours, it will be warm and humid. overnight tonight, the showers will take a while to fade and a few could work gci’oss while to fade and a few could work across the irish sea into northern ireland. otherwise it will be cloudy because eastern areas and a warm, muqqy because eastern areas and a warm, muggy night. temperatures ii to 14 at most. potentially showers to start tomorrow. a dry starter to the day for many, though clouded the east ta kes day for many, though clouded the east takes a while to thin and break. we are looking at further showers, probably the biggest thunderstorms will be across wales, the midlands and southern england tomorrow. showers capable of bringing localised surface water flooding on thursday could be a real day to watch because the wind patterns look something like this. hopefully you can see there will be

a zone when the wind splashed together and along this convergence zone we will get a line of heavy, thundery, slow—moving showers. these storms on thursday capable of bringing 20 or 30 millimetres of rain injust one hour, some areas will get more than that, potentially a good chunk of a man's worth of rain over two or three others. there isa rain over two or three others. there is a risk of localised flooding but the amount will value from place to place —— will vary. apart from those heavy showers in southern england, a band of rain pushes northwards. some uncertainty where it will be but it will continue to feel warm and humid. humid on friday, showers around, there could be right for a time over the weekend but eventually it is likely to become fresher, quite breezy for a time, next week it might become drier, sunnier and quite a bit warmer across parts of southern england. a reminder of our top story... after pressure from footballer marcus rashford, the government u—turn on free school meals over the summer holidays.

that's all from the bbc news at one, so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. good afternoon, i'm chetan pathak with your latest sports news. one of the highlights of the british sporting summer is looking a whole lot different this afternoon. flat racing's biggest meeting at royal ascot has got under way in the last 15 minutes — with 14—1 shot mota—kail winning the opening race. racing is taking place with no crowds and for the first time in 68 years without the queen in the stands. it is very different to other sports like football because when we get on

the horse, you have to concentrate on the horse and keep the horse nice and calm and if you don't take in the atmosphere the time that you really embrace it as if you win the race. and then, obviously, you soak up race. and then, obviously, you soak up all the glory. before hand i do not think it will make any difference whatsoever. —— before and during. next to concerns racism around football matches may increase on social media when the premier league returns tomorrow. that's the fear of troy townsend — he's the head of development at kick it out — which campaigns for equality and inclusion. players are going to wear black lives matter on the back of their shirts instead of their names — following anti—racism protests around the world. but there are worries there'll be a rise in online abuse from fans watching at home: not having fans on the ground creates a massive amount of problems, but also will create platforms who continue to allow the hate and the racial hatred to exist on the platforms. i think it will

escalate because no longer do you have a period of time that you are inafit have a period of time that you are in a fit for the ground, the period of time that you are travelling to venture anger of time that you are travelling to venture anger as of time that you are travelling to venture anger as such —— in a football ground and no doubt that anger will go on to the social media platforms. women's football in scotland's been gifted £250,000 to help it through the pandemic from a philanthropist in edinburgh. it's been described as the biggest single investment in the women's game, with hopes the figure will rise to over £300,000 through gift aid. james anderson, who made the donation, has also given over £3 million to the 42 professional mens clubs in scotland. tennis, and world number a0 nick kyrgios has described the us open organisers as "selfish" for intending to hold the grand slam at the end of august. it's expected to be announced later how the event will take place without fans. but kyrgios says he'll need a hazmat suit for travelling and then be in quarantine for 14 days after returning to australia. the us has the highest reported number of deaths in the world from coronavirus, with rafael nadal and novak djokovic

saying they might not travel to the event due to saftey concerns. the 2020 cricket world cup is "unlikely" to go ahead — that's according to cricket australia. the country was set to hold the 16 team tournament in october: i'd say it is unlikely. what has been formally called off this year or postponed, getting 16 countries into australia by most countries are still going through covid spiking i think it is unrealistic, it would be very very difficult. we have put forward a number of options. and jamie chadwick says she's aiming to compete in formula one by 202a. the 22—year—old british driver is hoping to become the first women's driver in the sport since 1976 after securing substantial financial backing. ifi if i did not have financial backing, and even to that level, because even ifi

and even to that level, because even if i had and even to that level, because even ifihada and even to that level, because even if i had a smaller percentage of this, i would if i had a smaller percentage of this, iwould not if i had a smaller percentage of this, i would not necessarily be able to race with a team like mine and not giving myself the best opportunity to perform and justify being in formula 1, ultimately so this is exactly what every driver wa nts this is exactly what every driver wants and hopes and dreams for and yeah, ithink wants and hopes and dreams for and yeah, i think for it to actually come off and turn into a reality is a dream come true, really. i'll have more for you in the next hour. get more on that breaking study of the government looking to set up... children in england will get a six—week voucher which is a u—turn by the government and reflected very much by reaction to it. this is the

reaction of keir starmer. marcus rashford has tweeted within a minute of the breaking news and said, this is england. remarking on the change of mind by the government. we will have plenty more reaction and get the latest from westminster through the afternoon on what is a busy day in westminster this afternoon. human trials for a potential vaccine for covid—19 will start in the uk this week. 300 healthy people will be given two doses, and if it's successful the trial will be widened. it's been developed by scientists at imperial college london, and is separate to the work being done at oxford university. professor robin shattock is leading the research — he explained how it worked and the potential timescale we ta ke we take just the small instructions from the genetic code of the virus

for that surface protein you see on all the pictures and we use that as our vaccine, we put it into tiny microscopic fat particles and when it is injected into the muscle, the muscle cells take those particles up and receive the instructions to make that protein. they literally become miniature factories that start expressing the poetry and get the immune system —— expressing the protein and get the immune system to make the anybody. timescales are difficult to predict because we need to get through the safety part first and test any large trial against a placebo vaccine and it is a numbers game. we need to see more infections in the placebo arm to the vaccine i'm and we will not start that and if the number of infections in the uk is low, it will take is a long time to get an answer. if we see a second wave effect, we might see an a nswer very second wave effect, we might see an answer very quickly so it is... it isa answer very quickly so it is... it is a guessing game to say when we will get that answer, but when we do

get the data, it is important to get the data that shows it works and we will know that we have got something thatis will know that we have got something that is really worth while rolling out across the uk. for some children, lockdown has meant quality time with their family, and a welcome break from school. but there's a warning that the pandemic has severely affected some young people's mental health. new research from the university of oxford says primary school children have been most badly impacted. it comes as the charity childine says the number of children visiting its website has quadrupled. hannah gray reports.

these are examples of the kind of calls helen has been hearing since march. she works for childline and she's really concerned about child ren's well—being. i think children are the hidden victims of this coronavirus and for many children home isn't a safe place. and, you know, we haven't got community eyes and ears, schools, health services, looking out for children, so that is a real worry. people are dying, people are getting ill, and you can't see your friends, your relatives. sara is 11 years old. during lockdown she's done a survey asking 16 children —— asking 162 children in south yorkshire how they have been coping. lots of people are actually worried, scared, and concerned about coronavirus. that was 82%. it was a very big thing to go through as a child. and, yeah, it affected me quite a lot because i was worried what it could do to my family. her dad is a doctor at the local hospital and he inspired her to talk

to others about their feelings. it's very important that we, as children, get our voices heard so that we feel calm and we know that it's safe, because when you are very young you can get very worried about things that completely change your life. a new survey from the university of oxford asked 10,000 families across england to report on their child's mental health. secondary school aged children say they're less stressed and behave better out of school, but primary school aged children seem to be finding it more difficult. parents are reporting that over the course of lockdown children's emotional difficulties, so being clingy or worried or unhappy and behaviour problems, so having tantrums, getting into arguments, or maybe not doing what their parents are asking them to over that month, those things have actually got worse. even before the pandemic, the children's commissioners said that the current system is far away from meeting the needs of all the children who have mental health conditions. psychologists now suspect there will be an even greater number of children who will need support

after being isolated for so long. it's ourjob as professionals, government, schools to make sure that there is enough support available. you know, these effects don't have to be lifelong and it's important that we all take account of what children and young people are telling us, believe them, and give them the right support to emerge from this intact and able to go on and enjoy their childhood and adult lives. in the meantime, children like sara try to find their own ways of coping as they watch the adults around them deal with the biggest change to our world in a generation. hannah gray, bbc news. just before no 10 made the announcemnt that free school meal vouchers would be extended in england, scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, announced an extra £12.6 million for councils in scotland to fund free school meals through the summer holidays. free school meals are currently being made available to around

175,000 children across scotland. either within local authority and early years premises, which are still open, or more often through direct cash payments, supermarket vouchers or the direct supply of food or meals. i can confirm today that this provision will be extended right throughout the summer holiday period. we know families are under considerable financial pressure just now and a free school meals are a vital help to many, but they are also really important to the health and well—being of children. so we will provide £12.6 million in funding to local authorities to enable the continuation of free school meals during the period from the end ofjune to the start of the new term in august. the funding will be allocated in a way that allows councils, as many of them currently do, to coordinate school meal provision with wider support that they make available to families. in addition to that, we are making £15 million available to councils to maintain some of that wider support,

in particular the support for food, which is currently available for people in severe poverty, people who face other barriers to getting fit and people who are being asked to isolate under the new test and protect system —— getting food. support from those who are shooting, comes from a different budget but is of course be maintained. —— from those who are shielding. tape we are going to the house of commons. let's cross now to the house of commons where the prime minister is making a statement on global britain. let's hear from let's hearfrom him. let's hear from him. she spoke for us let's hear from him. she spoke for us all when she urged everyone to rememberjoe by pulling together with compassion and kindness —— jo. i was concerned to learn the honourable member for its dumbartonshire is now in hospital and we'll send her best wishes. mr speaker, with permission i will make... we are living through a

daily demonstration of how events on the far side of the world influence not only british security and prosperity, but something as elemental as the state of our health and whether we can go to work, go shopping. this crisis offers vivid proof of the seminal importance of international engagement and exactly why our country must perform its global role. i have begun the biggest review of our foreign defence and developing policy since the end of the cold war, designed to maximise our influence and integrate all the strands of our international effort and the overriding aim is to bring the country's strength and expertise to bear on the well‘s biggest problems. seizing the opportunities of britain's presidency of the g7 next year and the un climate change conference the cop26 which will host in glasgow.

the uk possesses the third biggest aid budget and diplomatic network in the world. and we owe it to our people to make best use of these assets which are scarcely any of our peers can match. the british taxpayer has a right to expect that we will achieve the maximum value for every pound that we spend. one had no messing of the pandemic is that distinctions between diplomacy artificial and outdated. to protect ourselves against another calamity, the uk will need to work alongside our friends to strengthen international bodies like the world health organization and help vulnerable countries to improve their health systems and achieve greater resilience. it makes no sense to ask whether this amounts to aid orforeign sense to ask whether this amounts to aid or foreign policy. sense to ask whether this amounts to aid orforeign policy. they are one

under the same endeavour. and they are designed to achieve the same goals which are right in themselves and serve our national interest. on the 4th and serve our national interest. on the 11th ofjune, i chaired a virtual summit of the global vaccine alliance, which raised enough money to immunise 300 million children. i doubt whether any other occasion will save more lives and avoid more suffering or produce a better example of the good of this country can do by its international engagement in the true and broad sense alongside our friends. and yet, today, as anybody who has nxp and cinematic ammo, a dividing line aid and foreign policy —— anybody who has any experience in the matter. with the department working independently for the foreign office and our foreign aid independently for the foreign office and ourforeign aid budget independently for the foreign office and our foreign aid budget split

between different arms. the foreign office spends more than a third back, yet now single person is able to ta ke back, yet now single person is able to take a comprehensive overview. we give as much aid to zambia as we do to ukraine, though the latter is vital for european security. we give ten times as much aid to tanzania as we go to the six countries of the western balkans, who are acutely vulnerable to russian meddling. and regardless of the merits of these decisions, no single department is currently empowered to judge whether they make sense or not. no single department is empowered to judge whether they make sense or not. and so we whether they make sense or not. and so we tolerate an inherent risk of our left and right hands working independently. faced with this crisis today, and the opportunities that lie ahead, we have a

responsibility to ask whether our current arrangements dating back to 1997 still maximise british influence. those well—intentioned decisions of 23 years ago were right for their time. they pave the way for their time. they pave the way for britain to meet the un target of spending 0.7% of national income on aid which was a by the coalition government in 2013... they were silent on that bit, went the? it had been maintained ever since and that is our commitment. those judgments come from a relatively benign error urban china's economy was still much smaller than italy's anti—west was buoyed by victory in the cold war. —— and the west was buoyed by victory in the cold weather. we must make sensible changes and so i have

decided to merge dfid with the foreign & commonwealth office to create a new department, in your department, the foreign and commonwealth and development office. this will unite our aid with her diplomacy and bring them together in our international effort. dfid has amassed world—class expertise and all of its people can take pride in how they have helped to transform the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the world. to select but a few examples, they have striven to protect millions of children across the world from polio, which is now on the verge of global eradication, they have paved the way for millions of girls to attend school for the first time in countries such as pakistan, as i have seen for myself. they have done their utmost to ease the suffering in syria and in sierra leone, they we re in syria and in sierra leone, they were central to the defeat of an outbreak of the ebola virus. all of

this amounts to the finest demonstration of british values, following in the great tradition of the country that ended the slave trade and resisted totalitarianism. it is precisely that ambition, vision and expertise that will now be at the heart of a new department, taking forward the work of uk aid to reduce poverty and that will remain central to our mission. the foreign secretary will be empowered to decide which countries receive or cease to receive british aid while delivering a single uk strategy for each country, overseen by the national security council, which i chair. there strategies will be implemented on the ground by the releva nt implemented on the ground by the relevant ambassador, the relevant uk ambassador, who will lead all of the government's work in the host country. and then there is, we are following the examples of australia, canada, and new zealand, all of whom

are under development programmes from theirforeign are under development programmes from their foreign ministries. are under development programmes from theirforeign ministries. and we will align other tish assets overseas, including our trade commissioners, who will come under the authority of the uk ambassador i the authority of the uk ambassador ——, bringing more credence to our presence. this house may ask why this is the right moment —— if this is the right moment. but the crisis had audit impose fundamental changes on the way we operate and if there is one further lesson, it is that the whole of government approach, a whole of government approach, getting maximum value for the british taxpayer is just as important abroad as it is at home. so this is exactly the moment when we must mobilise everyone of our national assets, including our aid budget and expertise to safeguard british interests and values overseas. this the best possible arrangement for doing that would be

in your department charged with using all the tools of british influence to seize the opportunities ahead and, mr speaker, i therefore recommend a statement to the house. i now call the leader of the opposition, keir starmer. thank you, mr speaker. can i think the premise of early sight of his statement and for the telephone call we had earlier today. as the prime minister has noted, today is the fourth anniversary of the tragic murder of ourfriend and anniversary of the tragic murder of our friend and colleague jo anniversary of the tragic murder of our friend and colleaguejo cox. anniversary of the tragic murder of ourfriend and colleaguejo cox. i do not need to remind the house of jo's commitment and dedication to international aid. how highly she valued dfid. as a powerfor good. and i'm sure that the whole house will want to send best wishes to jo's friends and family on this difficult day. can also join the prime minister and sending our heartfelt best wishes for the honourable member for east dunbartonshire, to her friends, family and her colleagues here and

in scotland. it must be very distressing. mr speaker, we should see the statement for what it is, the tactics of pure distraction. jo cox would have seen right through this. a few hours ago, the ons figures showed a fall of 600,000 people on the payroll. the economy contracted by 20% in april. and we could be on the verge of a return to mass unemployment, something we have not seen for a generation. we have also one of the highest death tolls from covid—19 in the world. at least 41,700 deaths. and likely to be far greater than that. in the last hour, the government has you turned on free school meals. can i put on record my thanks to marcus rashford for the part that he has played on this issue and leave victory for the

1.3 million children affected. mr speaker, the statement is intended to deflect attention from all of that. can i assure the prime minister that it will not work. the prime minister spoke about global britain. i want to take that head—on. i passionately believe in britain. iam proud head—on. i passionately believe in britain. i am proud of this country. i want to see it play a leading global role again, a role that we frankly have not played in the last decade. i want to see britain as a model good in the world, a force for globaljustice. —— model good in the world, a force for global justice. —— a model good in the world, a force for globaljustice. —— a force for moral good. leading the world and global security, leading the global search for a vaccine, leading the global fight against poverty, climate change, and gender inequality. we do not achieve that by abolishing one of the best performing and most important departments. a department

that has done so much to tackle poverty and injustice. labour created dfid and i'm proud of that. until now, there has been a cross— party until now, there has been a cross—party consensus about dfid. at the rate on your member for sutton coldfield, the former secretary of state for international develop and said last year, dfid is the most effective and respected engine of development anywhere in the world. and a huge software asset for britain. today, he said, in relation to the and —— a soft asset for britain. he said at a stroke it would destroy a key aspect of global britain, his words. i have worked with both the fco and dfid across the world on rule of law projects, anti—corruption the world on rule of law projects, anti—corru ption projects. the world on rule of law projects, anti—corruption projects. i have seen anti—corruption projects. i have seen first—hand the value of its work globally. the prime minister says at the 0.7% will not be avoided, he will understand our

scepticism. —— not be eroded. can you confirm if the dfid budget will be ring fenced in the your department? will there be no mass of dfid staff now and expertise and how much will this reorganisation cost in this crisis? —— no loss of dfid staff. abolishing dfid diminishes britain's play in the world. the premise should stop these distractions and get on with tackling the economic crisis we face —— health and economic crisis we currently face. if the right honourable gentleman does not want a statement in the house, about an important white reform, then i think he has misrepresenting the view of the house also it is important that we make this limit and i'm very proud of what we are doing. anybody had any experience of the matter will now that at the moment, uk overseas does not. . . will now that at the moment, uk overseas does not... we are less

than the sum of our parts. if you travel to imported foreign capital is where we need to make points to our friends is where we need to make points to ourfriends and is where we need to make points to our friends and partners, is where we need to make points to ourfriends and partners, you have your key diplomat saying one thing and finding that their message is the message from overseas aid, you cared, from dfid is different. that undermines the coherence, that undermines the coherence, that undermines the coherence of our foreign policy. he will know that. it is absolutely vital that we had a coherentjoint up message for our international partners and we speak with one voice. at the time when the uk is spending £15 billion on overseas aid, 0.7% of gdp, i think the british people will want to know what we're doing right now make that spending more efficient and they will want to know what we are doing to ensure that the uk is supporting the campaign to develop a vaccine against coronavirus. i am very proud of what the uk is doing. i think it

fantastic that we have secured