a £4 billion cut in vat to kickstart the economy— but not all companies will pass it on. food, drink and hospitality industries benefit — but some companies say they need to keep the cash to stay in business we are looking to pass some of that onto customers but i think we are in survival mode right now. it allows us to comfortably put on a larger descant so we are passing it on. we'll be looking at what the cut in vat will mean for you. also this lunchtime: the biggest easing of lockdown restrictions in scotland is underway — the first minister says it's the riskiest stage to date. facing going back into lockdown — blackburn is given a deadline to deal with a "rising tide" of coronavirus cases. china warns of retaliation over

huawei — as president trump takes credit for the decision to exclude it from the uk's 56 network. the statue of slave trader edward colston is replaced — with a sculpture of one of the protesters whose anger brought him down. and coming up on bbc news: confirmation that the lions‘ tour of south africa will go ahead. three test matches are scheduled against the world champions in july and august. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. a £4 billion cut in vat has come into force across the hospitality sector, allowing companies to cut their prices — but not all of them say they will. the tax, which has been reduced from 20% to 5%

untiljanuary, is aimed at helping to boost the economy and protectjobs. starbucks and mcdonald's are among those saying they will reduce their prices — but some firms are expected to use the windfall to shore up their own finances hit by the lockdown. here's our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz. it's the chancellor's £4 billion giveaway to try to get the economy moving. slashing the vat you pay for going out, including two restaurants and pubs, and to campsites, cinemas and zoos. we need to give these businesses the confidence to know that if they open up, invest in making their premises safe and protectjobs, demand will be there — and be there quickly. restaurants like this one point out there's a big hill to climb to get sales back up to the levels they were before the virus. i don't know how much the vat cut itself will drive sales. i mean, is a 15% discount really going to bring us

the level of revenue we need? the vat cut could mean a £5 saving on a mealfor two normally costing £40, nearly £11 off an £85 room for two at a hotel or b&b or £16 off a family entry to a theme park worth £130 - that's if customers are given it. some businesses — nando's is one of them — have promised to pass on 100% of the saving, but the big worry is that others will hold onto some or all of the benefit, effectively pocketing the tax cut, saying they are struggling and they are the ones who need it. we are looking to pass some of that onto customers but i think we are in survival mode right now and i think it's important that, i guess, the public recognise that this cut will go a long way to help the business get through what will be, i guess, a tough trading period in the months ahead. the treasury says it wants

businesses to give customers the full 15% off if they can but it recognises that firms like this coffee roasting and grinding place in manchester may have been without an income for a long period and it's up to them to decide how to handle the tax break. our approach is to make it flexible, so it wouldn't be a blanket 15% across all our products. what it allows us to do is comfortably put on a large discount so we are passing it on but i would say it's more a flexible approach that was under our control depending on what sales are like in the coming months. bigger chains are more likely to pass on the cut. starbucks says it will on coffees. pubs like wetherspoons face the problem that alcoholic drinks don't qualify so it's using some of the saving on food in order to cut the price of beer. simon gompertz, bbc news. the biggest easing of lockdown restrictions in scotland is underway — with the reopening of indoor spaces including hotels,

places of worship and hairdressers. the first minister, nicola sturgeon, has described it as the riskiest stage of the process to date. our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, has the details. it's the latest kit for hairdressers heading back to work. scotland's salons are the last in the uk to reopen. in this one they're already booked up weeks ahead, and things will be very different to before. we are a small salon, so we just wanted to really take every measure that we could to make things safe. so, the screens, obviously, will give each workstation a safe space. it's different, but i think it's a workable, fun space. you know, it's safe. and it's notjust hairdressers that are reopening. today sees the biggest steps out of scotland's lockdown. some cinemas including this one in glasgow are welcoming back moviegoers while tourist attractions, museums, galleries and libraries can also from today, if they choose to, open back up. worshippers can once again gather

for communal services and prayer as long as congregations maintain strict physical distancing. and holiday accommodation including hotels and b&bs are accepting guests as the tourism industry fully reopens for business. today's steps are, by some margin, and i mean that, by some margin, the highest risk changes we have made since we began the process out of lockdown. and so it is vital, more vital than it has been at any stage of this crisis so far that all of us stick rigidly to the rules and guidance on how to behave in these different settings. because it is only by doing that that as we open up these services, we will stop the virus spreading again. table 823, your drinks aren't free, but they are on the bar waiting to collect. beer gardens, outdoor cafes and restaurants were allowed to welcome customers back ten days ago. now they're also allowed inside, as indoor hospitality reopens. so, there are three stools here that

people will be able to sit at and drink at the bar, but that'll be the only place someone can sit. in this bar—restaurant restrictions mean they will only be allowed half the numbers they had before, but are hoping people will quickly return. from opening the garden last week, we have been swamped with customers, and if we could have fit more people in, we would, however i'm not sure if the same will stand for inside. but i think the more we can show that we're adhering to the rules and the social distance guidance, the more comfortable customers will feel coming back. hoping confidence, customers and business will return, as more restrictions ease in scotland and many more aspects of normal life resume. lorna gordon, bbc news, glasgow. health secretary matt hancock says the government will not be recommending that people wear face masks in offices. there was speculation that rules for work places could follow shops where people will have to wear face coverings from 24th july. mr hancock said that the government

rejected the idea on the basis that if people spend a long time together, face coverings do not offer protection. new measures to stop the spread of covid—19 in blackburn with darwen have been introduced after a spike in cases. for the next month, people living there must limit the number of visitors to their homes, and wear face coverings in all confined public spaces in a bid to avoid a lockdown like leicester. sophie hutchinson reports. blackburn with darwen, where they have seen a spike in covid—19 cases. 114 people have tested positive in the past two weeks, in what public health experts have described as a rising tide of infection, particularly in the south asian community. what we think is going on is one person is asymptomatically infected, they are then going back to their own households, other household members are infected, that only becomes visible once somebody has symptoms. they go and get tested, then the household is tested and then we get a cluster in that household of four orfive members.

and that's happening across the bame, the south asian community, in significant numbers and that is what is driving our rising tide event. the tighter new measures include limiting the number of people who can meet to one household plus a maximum of two people from a second household, face coverings to be worn in all enclosed public spaces, increased ventilation in small shops, and no handshaking or hugging — only elbow bumping. officials say the problem is centred on terraced housing with large multi—generational families. but compared to leicester, where a local lockdown has been imposed due to a substantial rise in cases, blackburn with darwen is some way off. while we had to take the action nationally in leicester, i announced that to the house of commons, in blackburn, the council have taken the lead and done what they think

is the right thing to do to tackle the problem in their area, and i applaud them. officials in blackburn are hoping to avoid a full lockdown, but with additional testing in the at—risk communities, they expect the numbers of confirmed infections to rise over the next few weeks, and there are fears about other parts of lancashire, where infections are also on the increase. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. gill dummigan is in colne in the district of pendle in lancashire — where people have also been warned to stay alert after an increase in covid—19 cases. also been warned to stay alert what also been warned to stay alert is the reaction the? would what is the reaction the? i think it would be safe to say here that people are very worried. this is the second highest infection rate in the country although still some way down from leicester. blackburn the third. we had about specific request for the people of blackburn wearing face coverings in enclosed public spaces, a limit on the number of people that can visit families. there is a

meeting here today to discuss what to do here but it would be safe to say they are hoping people will follow similar behavioural patterns. there is particular concern for the south asian community for the reason she had outlined there. the community has been very quick to respond and have been producing videos in a variety of languages, leaflet drops, and the mosques have been involved trying to get this infection rate down because the worry is, specifically in blackburn, if it isn't down by the end of a fortnight, limited lockdown measures may have to be reintroduced. thank you. meanwhile, the lockdown in leicester is taking a toll on its economy. the prolonged shutdown caused by the city's coronavirus infection rate has forced one business to permanently close. and there's a warning that, unless urgent government support is on its way, it might not be the only one to go under, as navteonhal reports.

i have been running for two years now, or ran for two years, and it means the world to me. i am devastated having to close. i have put all my time, effort and love into it and created something that i want to go into work to every day. getting ready to say goodbye. arti chudasama's cafe and deli will not be reopening when leicester's coronavirus restrictions are eventually lifted. she says the local lockdown has forced her to close. i was 50—50 on it and then as soon as that happened that was it. it was like my decision was made, because if there is no one around — you can see there's nobody here — i could open but there's nobody coming in, so if nobody is coming in i don't really have a business to run. i'm just sitting there because i love it and that's not enough. herfate is unlikely to be unique — at least according to an organisation which represents businesses in the city centre. it says many of them are crying out for more help. it's a very simple message that we need grants or support directly to our businesses if they are going to survive. what impact will it have on the city if businesses don't

get that extra support? if that support doesn't arrive urgently we will see the shutters coming down and the doors closing and a lot of businesses, particularly in our nonessential retail, food and drink sectors, closing. but leicester's mayor believes help may be on the way after speaking to the health secretary this week. although we still haven't got the absolute commitment that that is going to happen i think there was certainly an indication that the secretary of state understood the importance of that and i very much hope that we will soon be able to give good news, at least to the businesses of the city. either way, any support will come too late for arti. how are you feeling today? upset, sad. it is sad. it's emotional. you don't expect to close a business after two years, especially in the situation that we are in. the government says the circumstances of individual local lockdowns continue to be carefully assessed and that its support package is one of the most comprehensive in the world. but it's clear that many businesses here in leicester believe that

extra help is needed if they are to continue to survive. navteonhal, bbc news, leicester. we've just heard from boris johnson answering prime minister's questions. our assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. and norman, borisjohnson said there will there be an independent inquiry into the pandemic? i think it is quite a significant moment because although everyone here assumed there would be an investigation into the covid crisis borisjohnson has connected to a full independent inquiry and we know from inquiries we have seen, whether it is the iraq inquiry or the leveson inquiry or bloody sunday, they have the potential to shape and shatter the reputations of the most powerful and to probe in a most thinking and calculations in crisis which it is often hard to do through the normal scrutiny ofjournalists 01’ the normal scrutiny ofjournalists

or politicians. but there are an awful lot of unanswered questions. we still do not really know what the prime minister meant when he talked about an independent inquiry. that could be a judge inquiry or a lower calibre investigation led by an academic or maybe as a select committee. we do not know the timeframe. the prime minister has indicated he doesn't think we should hold the inquiry while we are still grappling with coronavirus but that means it could be months or years away if we are having to wait to eliminate the virus or get a vaccine. we do not know the remit of the inquiry or the authority it will have. will it be the sort of inquiry where witnesses are questioned under oath by barristers led by a judge? my oath by barristers led by a judge? my guess, and it is only a guess, is that it will have to be of similar stature and authority to the iraq inquiry. why? because of the number of deaths from coronavirus. because

of deaths from coronavirus. because of the catastrophe it has inflicted on care homes and because it has involve the government imposing restrictions on as never seen before in peacetime, so my senses it will have to be a similar sort of inquiry to that into iraq. thank you. our top story this lunchtime. a £4 billion cut in vat to kickstart the economy — but there are concerns that not all companies will pass it on. from hundreds to 30 — how weddings in some communities have had to downsize their guest list because of the pandemic. coming up on bbc news. manchester united striker marcus rashford will become the youngest person to receive an honorary doctorate from the university of manchester for his campaign against child poverty. china has said it will take all neccessary measures to safeguard its interests — after britain decided to exclude

the telecoms giant huawei from its 5g mobile networks — on national security grounds. president trump welcomed the move and took credit for personally persuading "many countries" not to use huawei. he also widened the gap in relations between the us and china by dismissing any resumption of trade talks — and cutting hong kong's preferential trade status. peter bowes reports. the us has long been campaigning for britain and other countries to ban equipment from the chinese tech giant. the about—turn follows months of pressure from washington, including imposing tariffs on china. huawei posed a national security threat, said the trump administration. the company denied it. at a news conference in the rose garden at the white house, ostensibly to announce actions against china over hong kong... thank you very much, everybody. ..donald trump let it be known that he felt vindicated. we confronted untrustworthy chinese technology and telecom providers. we convinced many

countries, many countries. and i did this myself for the most part, not to use huawei, because we think it's an unsafe security risk. it's a big security risk. i talked many countries out of using it. china's ambassador to the uk has criticized the british government's decision, describing it as disappointing and wrong. he said it was now questionable whether the uk could provide a fair business environment for foreign companies. huawei is unlikely to be surprised by the us response. what happens next may hinge on the result of america's presidential election in november and future tone of us—china relations. right now, the country's leaders are not on speaking terms. and a second phase trade deal is in doubt. president trump has moved to hold china accountable for its actions against hong kong, signing a bill that passed unanimously in congress. today i also signed an executive order ending us preferential treatment for hong kong.

hong kong will now be treated the same as mainland china. no special privileges, no special economic treatment, and no export of sensitive technologies. thank you all very much. but overshadowing everything, the coronavirus, with president trump again saying that he holds china fully responsible for unleashing the virus upon the world, ratcheting up the rhetoric even more. peter bowes, bbc news. researchers say declining fertility rates — that is, the average number of children a woman gives birth to, means nearly every country in the world could have shrinking populations by the end of the century. 23 countries including spain and japan are expected to see their populations halve in the next 80 years. india's population will still be over a billion, sub—saharan africa's however will triple in size to three billion. a convicted paedophile has lost a supreme court challenge over

using evidence in court gathered covertly by so—called paedophile hunters. mark sutherland brought the case after being caught by a group called groom resisters scotland, arguing his right to a private life had been breached. let's speak to our legal correspondent clive coleman. just how significant is this case? just how significant is this case? just to explain the background can in 2018 mark sutherland believed that he was communicating with a 13—year—old boy on a dating at but it was in fact 48—year—old paul devine from the group groom resisters scotland. he sent an indecent image and agreed to meet with the boy but when he got there he was confronted by two members of the group or film then counter and broadcasted online and it was used ina criminal broadcasted online and it was used in a criminal prosecution. sutherland was convicted and given two years sutherland was convicted and given two yea rs in sutherland was convicted and given two years in prison for attempting to communicate indecently with an older child and other offences in this morning the supreme court

rejected his claim that the decoy operation and use of the material had infringed his right to a private and family life and private correspondence. they did that because they will do children have privacy rights as well and the state has a particular duty to protect those rights and also there was no reasonable expectation of privacy, any child receiving this kind of communication is likely to go and ask an adult about it. but it is a real issue for police because there are around 90 of these groups operating in the uk and prior to they carried out a right 100 of these operations per month. i think that they will be encouraged by this but the police are worried that what they want really is the information and they do not want them to broadcast the material. i think that the groups will now feel they can do that. thank you. cancer treatment can be incredibly gruelling — but how risky is it to reject conventional therapies? sean walsh was a young musician

from liverpool who had blood cancer, but turned down chemotherapy and believed he could cure his cancer through alternative treatments. now, his family have spoken to a bbc3 documentary to warn others not to follow the same approach. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. # how was i supposed to know that'd you'd walk out that door... #. sean walsh, well—known on liverpool's music scene, was first diagnosed as a teenager with hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. you just don't imagine that your child's going to have cancer. it just doesn't enter your head, does it? sean endured the rigors of chemotherapy. and at first it looked like the treatment had worked. but less than two years later, some devastating news. the cancer was back. he had to undergo chemotherapy with a stem cell transplant.

so obviously it was just not what sean wanted to hear. didn't want to do it all over again. why would you poison yourself back to good health? sean decided to treat the cancer himself through alternative therapies. he was also having scans at a clinic run by philip and rosa hughes, medical thermal imaging, which sean believed were monitoring his cancer. it's legal to offer these scans, but the nhs warns there's no evidence that thermography is an effective way to test for cancer or monitor its treatment. sean's scans did carry a disclaimer from the company stating thermography does not see or diagnose cancer and recommended further clinical investigation. but the scan results seemed reassuring and sean believed his cancer had gone. we asked cancer specialist professor andrew wardley of manchester's christie hospital to review secret filming in which rosa hughes, who provided scans for sean, makes some troubling medical claims to our reporter. they've referred you to a breast

clinic, haven't they? when you go to a breast clinic, what i want you to do is have an ultrasound rather thana mammogram. not a mammogram? not even a mammogram, because you're going to get radiated and it's going to squash. and that the amount of women that have their tumours, if a tumour bursts, that spreads cancer. that's preposterous. you don't burst tumors. they're solid. you do squash the breast down to do a mammogram. it is unpleasant, but it's a short term thing. and you do not spread cancer by doing a mammogram. that's complete fallacy. rosa and philip hughes say they utterly reject the allegation that they gave sean walsh inappropriate advice. but sean's family believe the scans gave him false hope. he thought he'd cured himself. in reality, he was dying. he had a tumour the size of a grapefruit in his stomach. he had tumours all in his chest and stuff. just got on the bed with him and just said, come on, son.

sean died injanuary 2019, aged just 23. you're vulnerable when you've got cancer. and you are going to believe certain people who actually are making money out of the cancer industry through vulnerable people. you can watch the full investigation, ‘false hope: alternative cancer cures', on bbc three on the bbc iplayer. the compiling of any wedding guest list is difficult — but when, because of covid—19 — it's limited to 30 guests.. well, that can be a huge problem. it's causing particular anger in communities where large guest lists are key to their tradition and customs. sima kotecha reports. it's just the community, the culture, the way that we've been brought up. everybody is close and tight—knit and the culture is really strong.

and it's really important to have all of the traditional elements to the wedding and have everyone there to be part of it. rajni and ahmet‘s engagement in september last year. their wedding was supposed to be in march, but then came lockdown. we kind of decided the best thing, the safest thing to do was to postpone everything. and for us, it was just it was a really hard decision to make. hundreds were invited. a common feature of south asian weddings. she says her future plans are now in limbo. we don't know how many guests we're going to be able to invite. unfortunately, the registry offices are also not open yet. and i can't book a notice of a marriage appointment. the notice of marriage has expired from last year. the reason weddings are small at the moment is for safety reasons. for health reasons, to protect your guests. why is it so important to have hundreds of people at a south asian wedding? weddings are really important days, and so coming together to celebrate that is part of who we are. like i said, indian weddings are really big and everyone's close—knit and connected.

and so you can'tjust invite some people, not others. it doesn't really work like that in our culture. the government says weddings in england can have no more than 30 guests. we could have invited 2,000 people. but offering hospitality at a time of celebration is integral to particular faiths and cultures. if you've been invited to weddings from their children and their grandchildren, and then you don't return the favour, it does create a bad feeling amongst the community, and the friends and family. and there's a belief the larger the guest list, the more good wishes for the couple. one priest told us in india it's been a tradition for generations. the whole entire village will come gather, watch, witness as the ceremony was done, as the couples were making their vows. so the whole idea is that may

there be their blessings, and may all these people be also witness. it's unclear when the government guidelines will change. ministers say safety is their priority. rajni and ahmit hope by the end of next year, they'll be able to have their big dream wedding. sima kotecha, bbc news. the statue of slave trader edward colston — torn down in bristol last month — has been replaced by a sculpture of a black lives matter protester — but without the approval of the city council. the figure ofjen reid with her fist raised was installed in secret at dawn. jon kay has more. undercover, before sunrise and without permission. artist marc quinn and his team arrived in bristol this morning to erect their statue in secret. on the plinth where slave trader edward colston stood until last month, they installed a resin replacement of local woman jen reid. she was there as it went up.

it's great to see, obviously, me as a statue, but the bigger picture is why i am up there. it was inspired by this photo, whenjen climbed on top of the empty plinth last month after colston‘s statue was toppled. for me, i think it is out with the old and in with the new, and i think that statue there, putting aside it being myself, it is definitely colston is no more and it is time for change, it is time to move on and, you know, it's inspiring, people of my colour walking past that statue and knowing that change is happening and it will continue to happen. when crowds pulled down colston‘s statue and threw it into the city's docks, it prompted an international debate about the slave trade and the way we memorialise those involved. the artist behind the new work told me he was relieved to have erected the replacement in the dead of night. some people in bristol

were angry in the way the colston statue came down, some might be angry at the way this one has gone up — without permission, cranes coming in in the middle of the night. what do you say to them? i think sometimes you have tojust do something, because otherwise nothing ever gets done. and ifelt like if i had done it officially it would have taken five years to get here, the conversation would have moved on. this is a temporary installation, it is not saying this is what should be on the plinth forever, it is saying this conversation is in the public realm and i want this sculpture to be part of the conversation. the mayor of bristol had already said he wants the people to decide what should happen in the future to this plinth. what happened today will only intensify that debate. jon kay, bbc news, bristol. time for a look at the weather. susan powell good afternoon. all a bit gloomy at the moment with a lot of