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 cloud blanketing the uk across many of the hills and around the coasts. looking very misty off the coast of anglesey and those western facing hills and coasts will be lumbered with that cloud into tomorrow thanks to this warm front bringing in all that moisture. this afternoon some rain to come for the north of england, eastern counties of england but by the evening looking largely dry. but that cloud covering capping the temperatures a couple of degrees below average for the time of year. a largely fine evening albeit cloudy. some rain pushing its way

gci’oss cloudy. some rain pushing its way across northern scotland. it will be across northern scotland. it will be a mild night with lows of 1a, 15 degrees for some. thursday first think not looking sparkling but the cloud up across many eastern and southern parts of england and england and wales and eastern scotla nd england and wales and eastern scotland looking particularly favoured with quite a lot of sunshine. could be the warmest spot in the uk at around 2a degrees. further west some rain around and more cloud thanks to a cold front coming in. cooler air more cloud thanks to a cold front coming in. coolerair coming infor friday so some rain on friday pushing south across scotland and northern ireland. sunnier to the north but feeling cooler and perhaps just 15 degrees. further south 25, 26 across the south—east of england and some decent sunshine for much of england and wales on friday. the cold front takes it time heading

south to the weekend. some questions as to how quickly it moves through. saturday a dry date for many southern counties of england with some light rain coming in as it sinks south. clearing skies to the north and some showers but generally feeling cooler. sunday we may see that front stalling towards the far south—east for a time so it could be a disappointing day on sunday. at the moment a good chance it will clear and certainly more sunshine to come by the time we get to the weekend but i can promise you a heatwave soon. a reminder of our top story... a £4 billion pound cut in vat to kickstart the economy— but there are concerns that not all companies will pass it on. 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.

hello, i'm jane dougall with your latest sports news. the british and irish lions have announced their tour of south africa will go ahead as planned in july and august. the lions will play three test matches against the world champions as well as five tour matches. our rugby union correspondent is chrisjones who joins us now. the original schedule had been under threat not just because the original schedule had been under threat notjust because of the pandemic. can you expand why? yes, there was uncertainty over the coronavirus and that uncertainty of course hasn't gone away with this announcement today. but another angle to this was that rugby authorities have been trying to thrash out this new, global calendar over the past through months. if the calendar had been approved, it could be the case that the lions tour would be moved to later in 2021, two september and october kind of time. but talks over the calendar have slowed and stalled and the lions

really needed some clarity and certainty so they could continue with the planning for the tour and to get the thousands and thousands of lions fans excited as well. so the original schedule, which was announced last december before the coronavirus and everything else, is being kept two for now. july and august, what should be an epic tour and an epic test series against the world champion springboks. as you alluded to, thousands of fans will make the trip, all being well. but does today's announcement give it an element of certainty?” does today's announcement give it an element of certainty? i think it gives an element of certainty, it can't give complete certainty because we just don't know how the landscape will look when it comes to the pandemic and travelling fans across the hemisphere comejuly and august next year, but at least now the lions fans can look forward to knowing when the tour is going to be. all being well, injuly and august and not next september or october. look, the lions are nothing without the fans. it is paramount that the tens and thousands of lions

fa ns that the tens and thousands of lions fans are able to get to south africa next summer. let's hope that's the case. let's also hope the players aren't too flogged from the hectic schedule that is being planned by the english clubs. there are some issues to iron out, a few things up in the air, but as you say, this announcement will just build in the air, but as you say, this announcement willjust build the excitement levels. i've had lions fa ns excitement levels. i've had lions fans getting in touch and springboks fa ns fans getting in touch and springboks fans getting in touch and springboks fans getting in touch to say bring it on because it could be a great test series. chris jones, thank you. the dates for the summer transfer window have been announced. premier league shareholders have agreed it'll open for 10 weekes. it's scheduled to start on the 27th ofjuly and close on the 5th of october. a domestic only window will be added from the 5th to the 16th of october when premier league clubs can trade with efl clubs. it's all subject to approvalfrom fifa. following his efforts to end child poverty in britain, manchester united forward marcus rashford will be given an honorary doctorate from the university of manchester, making him their youngest ever recipient. the player campaigned to allow

1.3 million children to claim free school meals through the summer holidays, with the government footing the bill. it's the highest honour the university can bestow with the likes of sir alex ferguson and sir bobby charlton having also received the accolade. and there's live tennis going on right now. it's the return of competitive women's tennis at the progress tour championships in roehampton. katie boulter and emily arbuthnot you can watch it all live via the bbc sport website and app. that's all from us, more for you in the next hour. the uk's inflation rate rose to 0.6 percent last month as the coronavirus lockdown began to ease. but how have the big retailers been doing since their doors reopened? dixons carphone put out its financial results this morning which showed that profits roughly halved when the decision to close its carphone warehouse shops is taken into account.

speaking to my colleague, annita mcveigh, the chief executive of dixons carphone said that while trade has been good this financial year, he is cautious about the outlook for the business. in the ten months, the first ten months of the financial year, the business was nicely on track. we were on track with our transformation programme, all five legs of it was showing good progress reflected in increased customer satisfaction, improved market share, and we are on track to keep ourfinancial promises. so we are on track for around £210 million of profit as well as growing sales and growing profits in our electricals businesses. so, the business was on track. obviously, the crisis has hit that performance, but what i would say is that the crisis has also seen at the business pivot very fast and i am indebted to my tens of thousands of colleagues the great work that they have done to keep each other save to continue helping millions of customers and to secure the business's future. so, what was customer behaviour

like in the months of lockdown? you say that the staff enabled the business to pivot. what were they responding to in terms of customer demand? they were responding to a big spike in demand online. we had to turn ourselves overnight into an online platform essentially, we're seeing black friday levels of demand was completely unplanned for. this is why appraise my colleagues because they responded to that brilliantly. everything from the it platform to the colleagues going out in delivery vans. they coped with it. just to give you a sense of it, in april, our online sales were 166% up on the previous year, so these were big levels of demand. i think what that shows is the important role that technology has played in customer's lives to help them through this crisis, whether it is keeping them connected with loved ones, entertaining the kids, home—schooling the kids, working from home and that is a trend

we expect to see continue. i think i listened to an interview with you earlier and i believe you said that 98% of your shops have now reopened. so what has trade been like since that happened? we have reopened 98% of the big stores and trade has been good. we have started the new financial year continuing the strong online progress but also trading well in our stores. i should say that we are cautious about the outcome. people in scotland are able to eat in restaurants and drink in pubs again from today. hair salons, cinemas and the tourism sector are also reopening. nicola sturgeon has described this easing as the ‘highest risk‘ change to the lockdown so far. speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, the first minister explained why she was nervous about the decision. these changes are long—awaited and they have been very hard earned by everybody across the country. but i have to say that i am even

more nervous about today's changes than i have been about earlier changes in previous phases of coming out of lockdown. that's because, as i covered yesterday, today's steps are by some margin, and i mean that, by some margin, the highest risk changes we have made since we begun the process out of lockdown. many of these changes, as you have just heard, involve indoor activity and we know that the risk of the virus spreading indoors, in a pub for example, is significantly higher than it is outdoors. that's why we have deliberately waited until infection levels were very low before allowing the services to restart, that gives us the best possible chance of managing the risks that reopening indoor services creates. but it doesn't remove those risks 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 the services, we will stop

the virus spreading again. so, give your contact details when you're asked for them. that means that you can be contacted if you go to somewhere which is linked to new covid—19 cases and the ability to contact you will be essential to breaking the chains of transmission that i spoke about earlier. keep a two metre distance and where you are in a one metre zone, comply with all the necessary mitigations. wear a face covering in indoor environments and remember that they are mandatory in shops and on public transport. continue to wash your hands regularly and thoroughly. all of these steps, as i said before and will continue to say, are more important now than they have ever been. for people running these premises and work places and attractions, please follow all of the relevant public health guidance. it has been put in place to keep you, your staff, your customers and visitors safe. it is also there to minimise the risk of us having to close any of you down again in future

if the virus starts to spread. borisjohnson has announced there will be an independent public inquiry into the government's response to the coronavirus. speaking at prime minister's questions he said ministers would seek to learn lessons from the pandemic but he believed it was not the right moment to devote "huge amounts of official time" to holding an inquiry now our assistant political editor, norman smith is at westminster. all hail ed davey, acting leader of the liberal democrats. not often you get to say that but today i do because today he is the key question which is that borisjohnson has committed to an independent enquiry into the covid—19 crisis. not a massive surprise. i guess all those at westminster assumed they would be some form of enquiry, but he has now committed to it and the genie is out the bottle. i assume there will be

huge pressure 110w the bottle. i assume there will be huge pressure now over the timing of the enquiry, when it will be held, sort of enquiry it would be, its remit and sort of enquiry it would be, its remitandi sort of enquiry it would be, its remit and i suspect he will be pushed remorselessly into something like an iraq enquiry, given the scale of the covid—19 crisis. let's see if my guest today agree with me. they were watching pm cues as well. iamjoined by they were watching pm cues as well. i am joined by the conservatives laura trott and labour's... and the snp kirsten oswald. what are your thoughts on an enquiry into coronavirus? i think the government has consistently said that they want to look back and learn from this, but my personal view is that it isn't now the time to be discussing the ins and outs of what i would look like in the process it would take. we are in the midst of this and we need to carry on fighting the pandemic and getting economic recovery u p pandemic and getting economic recovery up and running. isn't there an argument for saying that this virus is likely to be with us some time and therefore, now is precisely the time we ought to be looking at

what lessons are to be learned, rather than in three or four years time or whatever, once the virus has been dealt with? i'm a member of the health and social care committee and what we are looking out at the moment is things that we can change to prepare ourselves for a second wave. that was what the report that the government received that was referred to in pm cues today was about. but i think that when we are talking about a full—scale enquiry, this is something that will need careful consideration. i don't think now is a time to discuss it. and what sort of person or body do you think should lead the enquiry? because you can go all the way up to a judge led enquiry or you could have something done by a select committee or an academic?” have something done by a select committee or an academic? i don't think this is the time we should be discussing the ins and outs of enquiries. we need to be focusing on what we need to do right now to get the economy up and running and make sure we prevent a second wave. that is what the government is doing and thatis is what the government is doing and that is what we should be doing right now. justin, the danger of enquiries that it generates an awful

lot of political heat. it can take yea rs lot of political heat. it can take years and years and at the end of the day, what do they actually achieve? well, i think it's important we do have an enquiry. there are thousands of people in this country have lost loved ones and they will rightly want to know whether those deaths could have been avoided, we have one of the highest death rates in the world may know there has been problems from the start with the pandemic preparations, with the access to bb, with the disregard of social care. the issues with testing. there are lots of things that probably could have been done better and are best explored in a full, independent enquiry. in terms of the timing, obviously the royal academy report that has been discussed at pm cues todayis that has been discussed at pm cues today is probably where the focus should be at the moment, because thatis should be at the moment, because that is talking about where we need to go to avoid a second spike in the winter and to go to avoid a second spike in the winterandl to go to avoid a second spike in the winterand i think to go to avoid a second spike in the winter and i think it was slightly remarkable that the prime minister didn't actually confirm he had read it all, because that is really where

the next couple of months preparation would be absolutely vital to minimise problems. preparation would be absolutely vitalto minimise problems. what about the scope and nature of the enquiry? would you like the sort of enquiry? would you like the sort of enquiry which does entail people being questioned under oath by barristers? i think that's operably where we will end up. we saw yesterday in one of the parliamentary select committees, health minister admitting that the first time he had read the sickness report which was talking about pandemic preparations was when it was published in the guardian. that's the kind of revelation about the shocking state of preparations that will probably only come out through cross and questioning of all the relevant key witnesses. kirsten, isn't there an argument for saying that, yes there are lessons to be learned, but we kind of know, don't we? where those lessons are in terms

of advice given to care homes, the speed and the roll—out of testing, the importance of test and isn't it the importance of test and isn't it the danger that an enquiryjust turns into an elongated westminster blame game? i think that there is probably a number of angles to that. i would say that that would be really unfortunate if everything became polarised because it's such a serious topic. it has such found implications for people have already been affected but as we look forward to the potential for a second spike as well, the responsibility that all of us have is to be responsible, evidence led in everything we are doing, rather than be evidence led in everything we are doing, ratherthan be pushed evidence led in everything we are doing, rather than be pushed down a particular road. i am struck that nicola sturgeon all the way through the coronavirus period today has been clear that this is something that will be looked at in the future when she thinks that that is a sensible thing to do as part of our

preparation for how we might deal with a second spike. but really looking into the future, how we deal with pandemics and i think that that proper, analytical approach is one thatis proper, analytical approach is one that is to be april applauded. we will go forward in a way that tries to preserve life and maximise our ability to do that. but you raise an interesting point when you note how many people have died. should this enquiry notjust be about lessons being learned but actually, be a moment almost, i don't know, of atonement or some moments where relatives can feel that justice atonement or some moments where relatives can feel thatjustice is being done. i think that the focus oi'i being done. i think that the focus on the relatives is very important. when i talk about coronavirus, we cannot for a second take ourselves away from the perspective of people who have been directly affected. the numbers that we hear about every day

are individuals with families, with loved ones, who are obviously grieving and hurting terribly. but i do think that the focus must be on how we move a responsible and thoughtful way forward. that will be about looking, as we are doing, about looking, as we are doing, about the emerging evidence and making sure that our course of action is quoted and with that is our absolute photo because —— focus. the exchanges between keir starmer and johnson seem to be a familiar pattern. keir starmer asked a question and he it is accused of not backing the government. but the clue is in thejob backing the government. but the clue is in the job title, he backing the government. but the clue is in thejob title, he is backing the government. but the clue is in the job title, he is the leader of the opposition.” is in the job title, he is the leader of the opposition. i think kirsten is right in saying that what we need to do right now is work together across the united kingdom together across the united kingdom to tackle its pandemic. it's incredibly disappointing, when you look at something like test entrees, we now have a world leading testing

system and what we need to do is build confidence in that system and consider taking the opportunity to do that at pm cues, what keir starmer did isjust do that at pm cues, what keir starmer did is just bashed do that at pm cues, what keir starmer did isjust bashed him. of course i understand the political imperatives that keir starmer is trying to achieve but we need to act in the national interest. justin, is keir starmerjust looking around for something to oppose?” keir starmerjust looking around for something to oppose? i found it quite remarkable that boris johnson's answer to most questions seems to be a bit of indignation in shock that he would be challenged on anything. we will always support the government where they are doing things right but where there are problems, and there are problems, we will point those out, so on the test and tray system, there are still far too many people who are waiting too long to get the test results back. there are too many people who are not being contacted once they have had a positive result and we know that their contacts are also not getting traced either, so there is a lot more that need to be done in that system and it needs to be much

more effective because as the report that was discussed at pm cues today said, that system has got to be absolutely tiptop before we get to winter otherwise we will have a much more dangerous situation. but it is pa rt more dangerous situation. but it is part of the team johnson strategy to try and paint keir starmer is a clever lawyer who will argue one thing one week and another thing the next week. he had that dig about more briefs than calvin klein. do you think that will stick with voters that keir starmer is actually just a lawyer arguing any case? well, i thought that joke was just a lawyer arguing any case? well, i thought thatjoke was in particularly poor taste when we are talking about thousands of people dying in this country but if the contrast is between someone like keirstarmer contrast is between someone like keir starmer who has attention to detail, does a thoroughjob keir starmer who has attention to detail, does a thorough job and keir starmer who has attention to detail, does a thoroughjob and is actually prepared to ask the pertinent questions against someone who clearly has a lack of grasp on detail and resorts to sound bites, i

know which lady i would put there to be behind. one of the big issues this week —— be behind. one of the big issues this week -- i know which leader i would be behind. do you think it is necessary to have compulsory facemasks given the high compliance we have seen from people, would it have been better to let people wear masks of their own accord? no, i don't think that would have been better. it's actually been part of the regulations in scotland and the compliance levels with people wearing masks in shops are extremely high, which is really helpful and encouraging andl high, which is really helpful and encouraging and i think it is fascinating that retailer is also are seeing the benefit of that because people are more confident to go and use their local shops when they see that everybody around them is taking responsibility for themselves but also for others and i think that nicola sturgeon is lead

the way on that and done absolutely the way on that and done absolutely the right thing, taking responsibility for making sure that we protect ourselves and those around us. i do contrast that with the toing and froing of the westminster government which michael gove was saying at the weekend that we should apply common sense when thinking about whether to wear a mask, which isn't a clear instruction, again from the uk government. then, we saw him coming out of her shop himself without a mask on, not applying common sense. then we have another u—turn, where the uk government are now accepting that it the uk government are now accepting thatitis the uk government are now accepting that it is really very important for people to do that. they are going to do that with effect from the 24th of july, so i'm slightly mystified as to why it would take until the 24th ofjuly for that to be brought into play, it's a pretty straightforward thing. a face covering of some sort of description is something that is easily accessible to pretty much everyone. if they can make announcements as they have done in the past which are profound and serious implications for people's

work and expect them to be in place overnight, i can't understand why it can take so long to put into place that face covering to be won in shops. the reason for it is to keep people safe. we are going to have to leave it there we are out of time. thank you very much indeed. simon, i am going to make one little prediction that when this enquiry does take place, it won't report until well after the next election. i suspect that's a safe bet. thank you very much. working from home means millions of people have taken to video calling in the past few months but for some members of the british armed forces, their recent calls have had a rather special guest. the queen has been speaking to people who are stationed around the world about their life and work during the coronavirus pandemic. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. she normally meets her servicemen and women face—to—face, butjust now it has to be done via a conference call. no reason to forget protocol, though. watch the top right of the screen. good morning.

yes, if you're a general, chief of the defence staff, no less, you begin with a bow. and then to business. first to a sailor, speaking from a royal fleet auxiliary ship in the caribbean. and where are you at the moment? i'm currently in curacao at the moment, ma'am. well, i would think the last time i saw you, you wouldn't have imagined that this is what you'd be doing now. in holyport, we met. yeah, it was, ma'am, in 2014, i believe it was. then to west africa, and a soldier from the yorkshire regiment who's been there since last year. the covid crisis has meant that the rest and recuperation flights have been put on hold, so i'm afraid my wife has been slightly abandoned with our two young children. and she works for the nhs? she's training nurses and other health care professionals. finally, to a member of the queen's colour squadron of the raf, who has rather

an unusual sideline. so i'm the pilot for the jamaican bobsleigh team. gosh! the queen laughs. sounds a very dangerous job. it can be quite dangerous. so how do you train? i've been pushing a car up and down the street. i've had to make... the queen laughs. they all laugh. well, i suppose that's one way to train! that's definitely one way to train, ma'am. well, i'm very glad to have been able to meet all of you, and the best of luck. nicholas witchell, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. grey has certainly been the order of the day today. tomorrow, hopefully we will see something a little brighter, particularly for central and eastern parts of england and wales and eastern scotland. plenty of cloud out there at the moment. keeping is

all tucked in like a blanket overnight. it will mean it is quite a moggy in humid night, overnight lows no lower than 1a or 15 degrees. a bit of patchy rain to the far north of scotland. first things first, it doesn't look too promising. a lot of cloud around but through the course of the day, unlike today, we should see the cloud breaking across much of england and wales, away from the hills. eastern scotland looks like a favoured spot, some decent sunshine and with the fail effect we could see 2425 degrees. western scotland with more cloud and rain around, the first signs of a cold front moving in bringing some wet weather to scotland, northern ireland and northern england on friday. scotland, northern ireland and northern england on friday.

this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines... a £4 billion cut in vat to kick—start the economy — but some companies say they need to keep the cash to stay in business. we're looking to pass some of that on to customers, but i think we are in survival mode right now. what it allows us to do is comfortably put on larger discounts, so we are passing it on. the health secretary says the government has ruled out making masks compulsory for office workers in england. borisjohnson confirms there'll be an independent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic — but not now. china warns of retaliation over huawei, as president trump takes credit for the decision to exclude

it from the uk's 56 network. the biggest easing of lockdown restrictions in scotland is under way — the first minister says it's