the uk economic recovery slowed sharply in august, despite the government's eat out to help out scheme aimed at boosting restaurant sales. the economy grew by 2.1% in august, but remains 9.2% smaller than when the coronavirus pandemic began. the company behind the high street fashion chains peacocks and jaegar is on the brink of collapse, with tens of thousands ofjobs at risk, describing "brutal" trading conditions. the chancellor is to outline more financial support for businesses forced by law to close when coronavirus restrictions are tightened. new restrictions on pubs and restaurants in scotland are due to come into force this evening. it comes as official figures show a "rapid increase" in coronavirus cases in england. also this lunchtime.

baby harry richford lived for just seven days after an emergency delivery. now an nhs trust has been charged over his death. just over a week after being diagnosed with coronavirus, president trump says he might hold an election rally in florida tomorrow. and coming up on bbc news, fog and damp weather prevent a first practice session at the eifel grand prix in germany. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the uk economy recovered more slowly than expected in august, growing by 2.1%.

although this represents the fourth consecutive month of growth, it was considerably smaller than that seen injune and july, despite the introduction in august of the government's eat out to help out scheme, which boosted restaurants. the economy remains 9.2% smaller than before the pandemic struck. it comes as the chancellor rishi sunak is set to announce this afternoon more financial support for businesses forced to close when virus rules are tightened. an announcement of these new restrictions, which could see pubs and restaurants shut in the worst—affected parts of england, is expected on monday. here's our economics correspondent andy verity. in the village of albrighton near wolverhampton is a popular italian restaurant, viable and profitable in the normal times. government grants and the furlough scheme helped it survive the spring lockdown. then in august, taxpayer—funded discounts in the eat out to help out scheme brought relief. it gave people a new confidence. we had new customers, new regulars, we were so busy, we couldn't accommodate everyone.

it was a nice problem to have. but today's figures reveal that, while activity in food and accommodation grew in august, most of the rest of the economy barely grew at all. overall growth of 2.1% was less than half what economists expected, and less than a third as fast as the previous month. just as the economy shrank faster than it ever has in the spring when lockdown was imposed, so it grew back more rapidly than it normally would. but we're still not back up to pre—covid levels, and even if lockdowns aren't reimposed, the knock to consumer confidence may mean we don't get there anytime soon. but since august, businesses like this are struggling again. stricter social distancing means they can only fit in 30 customers at a time instead of 50, and the 10pm curfew means they can only do one sitting for dinner, not two. if a local lockdown were imposed,

its owners fear they could go under, losing everything we have worked for. it's a very scary situation at the moment, because we don't know what's going to happen. i mean, we need to survive, simple as. you know, we are a small family business, we have children, like most people have, who we have to support. we have put a lot of hard work, we have put everything we have into this business. financially, we cannot afford to lose this business. with social distancing rules now tight, and getting tighter, the government has recognised that more needs to be done. undoubtedly 2020 will be a difficult year. the direction of travel is still positive, it's still over 2% growth, but nevertheless, clearly many, many businesses, whether it's hospitality and retail, or aviation, are struggling with the coronavirus, as are many other nations around the world. business and opposition voices say more targeted support is essential to cope with localised restrictions. ultimately, a quarter of the country now is covered by those localised

restrictions, but we have seen a lot of flip—flopping over issues like whether wage support will be provided. really, we need to have much more of a grip on this right now. with the furlough scheme ending in three weeks, the government is expected to announce further measures this afternoon to help businesses being forced to shut again by antivirus measures. it will take substantial assistance to reassure them. the high street fashion chain, edinburgh woollen mill, which owns peacocks and jaeger, is close to collapse, putting 2a,000 jobs at risk. the company has said it intends to appoint administrators to look at the future of the business, but has warned staff of significant cuts and store closures. its sales have been hit hard during the pandemic. i'm joined by our business presenter sima kotecha. what is the company saying? more depressing news for the high street, i'm afraid, edinburgh woollen mill,

who in many high street chains as jaeger and peacocks, all our viewers will have heard of them, they have 11,000 stores, so a lot, and today, and we have only had this in the last few minutes also, it says in response to what it calls harsh trading conditions during the pandemic, it has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators with the high court. to clarify, that does not mean they are in administration but the process is under way. it says by doing this, it gives the company room to breathe and to work out what it can do next. it also says it has received a number of expressions of interest for particular brands of its stores. the group employs 2a,000 people, so those jobs could be the group employs 2a,000 people, so thosejobs could be potentially the group employs 2a,000 people, so those jobs could be potentially at risk. we know the high street has suffered tremendously. it was in distress before the pandemic and post—pandemic, it got even worse. the centre for retail research says as of the 1st of october, almost

62,000 employees are potentially affected on the high street. that is affected on the high street. that is a lot of people. thank you for joining us. almost a quarter of a million people in england, wales and northern ireland are now estimated to have had covid—19 during the last week of september, that's according to the office for national statistics. the 0ns says that the highest rates were seen in north east and north west england, and yorkshire and the humber. local authority leaders in england are waiting to hear this afternoon what further local lockdown restrictions may look like in their areas, but there's been growing anger among mps and local leaders about the way the government has communicated proposed changes, as our correspondent katherine da costa reports. concern is growing the nhs could be overwhelmed. nationally, hospital admissions are doubling every fortnight. this graph for the north west shows the number of people over 60 needing hospital care for covid has started to accelerate in recent weeks. this is serious. it is getting out of control, and we have to do something to bring

it back under control. we definitely need to work locally, and we definitely need to make sure that the communications are much clearer. in nottingham, new cases have shot up. two weeks ago, it was below the national average. in the week up to monday, there were 689 cases per 100,000 population. local leaders have pleaded for people not to mix this weekend, and are calling on the government for urgent action. district council leaders have agreed that we should put out this message, but it has not got the power that a government restriction would have, and so it leaves nottingham just hanging, really. the virus has increased rapidly in recent weeks. the latest estimates from the office for national statistics suggests one in 240 people in the community have covid in england, double the number for the last two weeks, while it has stayed unchanged in wales and northern ireland at one in 500 with the virus. in an attempt to subdivide

fiery rules, and still in an attempt to simplify the rules, and still rising infections, it is expected a tiered system of measures will be set out in england on monday. the first level is likely to be the rule of six. level two could include a ban on household mixing. while level three could see pubs and restaurants closed in the worst—affected areas. well, you can see that now in brussels, in paris, in madrid and other places, they've taken the decision to close hospitality, andi think that that is partially driven by the fact that what you've got is indoor areas where households are mixing, and that is prompting some of the transmission. it's not ideal, but that is what the data are telling us. this afternoon, regional leaders from cities across the north and the midlands are due to hear more details about how far the government is prepared to go to slow the surge in cases. katherine da costa, bbc news. let's look at those latest figures from the 0ns in more detail now. 0ur health correspondent james gallagher is here. they show —— what do they show?

they show -- what do they show? the simbine headline figure is people in homes in england, is not care homes and hospitals, this is people going about their daily lives, one in 240 people are currently testing positive for the virus so if you scale that up, that is about 220,000 people in england. where is that? it is about double what it was last week and double what it was two weeks ago, there was a bit of interest last week, our cases levelling off but this would suggest that they are probably not and they are continuing to increase. it is also worth stressing that what is missing from this data are university students where we think there is quite a lot of coronavirus going around, so they are not forming part of the data yet, we think. the realfigures may be higher than that. how do these figures fit into the overall bigger picture? you have to remember that friday is a really difficult day because there is so much data that comes at you left, right and centre from countless different sources and by 6pm, i will have another three studies to report on. you have to

build all of them together, not get too fixated on any of the individual details but the big picture is already emerging. cases are increasing since the beginning of september, quite rapidly, and the current pace of that, how aggressively they are increasing, is debatable but in the north of england, things are significantly worse than in the rest of the country. these are the things, this is the data that is in front of the prime minister and his chief medical 0fficer prime minister and his chief medical officer and scientific advisers. they are trying to decide what to do next. it is this data that is feeding into not just next. it is this data that is feeding into notjust the cases but the number of people turning up at hospital. that is going to decide oui’ hospital. that is going to decide our fate for weeks and months to come as we get through the winter. james, thank you. leila nathoo is at westminster for us. later this afternoon, we are going to hear about help for local businesses from the chancellor but we will hear that before we hear what the restrictions are? yes, i think it is interesting that we are getting it that way around. the

language coming from the treasury is that the chancellor is going to set out details of what they are calling a safety net for businesses, that may be forced to close in the coming weeks and months. clearly, the fact the chancellor is preparing for that scenario is a strong signal that thatis scenario is a strong signal that that is what the future holds for some of the worst affected areas where infection rates are rising. but there is no detail yet on when that future may arrive. we have had days of speculation now about further restrictions, particularly around pubs and restaurants close m, around pubs and restaurants close in, but there is no clarity this lunchtime from downing street. clearly, conversations within government are still ongoing. we are expecting an announcement about a new framework for managing restrictions early next week. the government has been coming under considerable pressure from local mps and local leaders, not only to clarify what further restrictions are coming into force, but also whether any economic support will accompany them. labour has been calling for a long time for a local

furlough scheme to accompany any local restrictions. clearly this announcement from the chancellor todayis announcement from the chancellor today is designed to address some of those concerns and designed to reassure businesses and employees. we will have to wait and see what the detail is of what he announces and how it compares to the jobs support scheme which is already a less generous replacement for the furlough. ultimately, ithink less generous replacement for the furlough. ultimately, i think any package of measures announced will have to be assessed alongside the restrictions when they are eventually clarified. leila nathoo, there, in westminster. pubs and restaurants across central scotland will be subject to strict new coronavirus restrictions from 6.00pm this evening. all licensed premises in the central belt, which includes glasgow and edinburgh, will have to close until october 25th, although they can still serve takeaways. premises outside this area can serve alcohol, but only outdoors, until 10.00pm. they can, though, open for food and non—alcoholic drinks during the day. the first minister nicola sturgeon said a further steep increase

in cases was a sharp reminder of the seriousness of the situation. lorna gordon reports. covid has changed the way we live. with rising numbers of cases and hospital admissions, with rising numbers of cases and hospitaladmissions, people with rising numbers of cases and hospital admissions, people in scotla nd hospital admissions, people in scotland have already been banned from visiting socially in each other‘s times. now on top of that, restrictions on hospitality kick in at 6pm tonight. i think a lot of it is not for me now making sense whereas i had been listening to nicola sturgeon. i find myself without a job now, and in a serious depleted market, along with many other people. after the latest news, i'm sure that is only set to increase. the new restrictions are tightest in the central belt and will affect more than 3 million people. there, all pubs and restau ra nt people. there, all pubs and restaurant will have to close. cafes can remain open. in the rest of scotland, pubs and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol outdoors, but will have restricted

opening times. i know how desperately difficult this is for people trying to make a living, keep business if they have worked hard to build up colouring and of course, ta ke build up colouring and of course, take care of their staff. the government, all governments are trying to strike right now almost impossible balances between lives and jobs. speaking for the scottish government, we are trying to do that as best we can. £40 million of support is being made available. businesses affected say that does not go far enough. we are a small producer who relies on hospitality businesses like pubs and restau ra nts. businesses like pubs and restaurants. if they can't trade, we can't trade, effectively. so we are losing orders or have lost orders this week. there has to be an extension of the 100% business rates relief, to include supply chain. such as small producers like us, wholesalers and distributors, who are critical to the hospitality industry. the scottish government insists it has no choice but to take

tough action, warning that without it, there is a risk that the virus will run out of control by the end of the month. lorna gordon, bbc news, glasgow. the time is 1.16. our top story this lunchtime — the uk economic recovery slowed sharply in august — despite the government's eat 0ut to help 0ut scheme aimed at boosting restaurants sales. the economy grew by 2.1% in august, but remains 9.2% smaller than when the coronavirus pandemic began. coming up — the dorset cinema hall that's being restored to its heyday. coming up on bbc news, england's matthew fitzpatrick is among the contenders with the second round of the bmw pga championship under way at wentworth. president trump has declared he could hold an election rally in florida tomorrow night,

after a white house physician said the president had completed his course of treatment for covid—19. the doctor said donald trump had responded "extremely well" to medication and "remained stable" since leaving hospital. but there's been no confirmation yet that mr trump is free from the virus and is no longer contagious after he was diagnosed last thursday. 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. since he returned to the white house on monday evening, president trump has asserted he is no longer contagious and has even gone as far as to call himself a perfect physical specimen. the latest memo from his personal physician, sean conley, said the president's condition remained stable and that overall he had responded extremely well to treatment. dr conley went on to say that since saturday will be the tenth day since the president's diagnosis, "i fully anticipate his safe return "to public engagements at that time." whereupon the president revealed in an interview with fox news that he is looking to get back on the campaign trail

as early as this weekend. we want to do a rally in florida, probably in florida on saturday night. might come back and do one in pennsylvania on the following night. this interview will only raise further questions about the state of his condition and whether he is still suffering from symptoms of the virus. oh, and i think the first debate... he coughs yeah... 0n the first debate, they oscillated the mike. the house speaker nancy pelosi believes president trump is in an altered state because of the medications he's on and plans to talk later today about the rules for succession, should the president, under what is known as the 25th amendment, proving incapable of his duties. do you think it is time to invoke the 25th amendment? i will talk about that tomorrow. i will talk to you about that tomorrow. i'm not going to talk about it today except to tell you, if you want to talk about that, i'll see you tomorrow

but to go back to my point. mr president, when was the last time you had a negative test before you tested positive? and she's not the only one concerned about safety at the white house. in what amounts to a withering critique of the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus, a senior member of the president's own party had this to say. i can tell you i have not been in the white house since august the 6th, and i personally didn't feel that they were approaching protection from this illness in the same way that i thought was appropriate for the senate. following the unsavoury spectacle of the first presidential debate, the debate organisers had called for the next one, due to take place next week in florida, to be a virtual affair, given mr trump's recent diagnosis. he has dismissed that as a waste of time, and says he has no interest in taking part. the two campaigns are currently in agreement over a final debate on the 22nd of october, less than two weeks from election day, although, like everything else to do with this election, that too could change. david willis, bbc news, los angeles.

gary 0'donoghue is in washington. gary, do we really know at what stage of his illness the president is at? we don't. and there is a simple reason for that, which is that they want to tell us. they want to tell us when he was actually properly diagnosed with the virus itself. they want to tell us when his last negative test was. she decided they won't tell us. and his position said last night he will be clear to do more public engagement from saturday, that being the tenth day since the diagnosis, he said. but he was actually diagnosed on the thursday night, as far as we know, and that is when it was made public at any rate. by my maths, thursday night to saturday night is nine days, not ten days, as the cdc guidelines require. and we hear he will be making another television appearance tonight. yeah, he has

done a couple of long interviews, telephone interviews come fox news in the last day or so. tonight he is going to appear on a show in vision, the tucker carlson show, there will be able to on how he looks. 0bviously he had to cough and clear his throat a couple of times during that phone interview last night, which has raised fresh questions about how well he is. but bear in mind, the only kind of a video appearance he has done this week have been pre—recorded, and he has been heavily made up for them. 0k, gary, many thanks. gary 0'donoghue there in washington. a group of alleged people—smugglers accused of organising a lorryjourney across the channel last october, in which 39 vietnamese people died, may have tried to do "two loads in one," a jury has been told. the migrants died because of a lack of oxygen in the lorry trailer they were concealed in. it was discovered on an industrial estate in grays in essex. daniel sandford is at the old bailey.

daniel, tell us more about what happened in court today. the jury have had over the last two days about two previous trips using similar routes, and on one occasion, the identical trailer, both of which had about 20 migrants on board. today, for the first time, they will give an explanation as to why these 39 migrants may have died. the prosecutor said, you may well conclude that this time, the criminals were simply too greedy. this time, they simply had too many people in the trailer. we suggest these people smugglers were under pressure to double up. he suggested that he had been under pressure to do two loads in one. thejury that he had been under pressure to do two loads in one. the jury have had harrowing stories of how it was that the migrants, having been loaded into the trailer, left unaccompanied port of zeebrugge, then travelled across the channel, and the temperature sensor inside the trailer rose higher and higher and higher, eventually picking at

38.5 celsius, and the migrants were recording final messages on their phones to their relatives. 125 recorded on audio file saying, i'm sorry, i can't take care of you, i'm sorry, i can't take care of you, i'm sorry, i can't agree. i want to come back to my family. have a good life. when they were eventually discovered on an industrial state to essex, still in the back of the lottery, many of them had stripped to their underwear. they had tried to use a metal pole to bash their way out of the lorry. the prosecutor told the jury, on that boat in the night, there was nobody to hear them and nobody to help them. the jury also watched cctv of the moment that the lorry driver, who had picked the trailer up from the port, openly back of the trailer, and there was a puff of vapour as the door open. he looks inside, stand there for 90 seconds, gets back into his trailer and then goes off and drives around for a few more minutes while he made some phone calls. eventually, when

he called the ambulance and police officers and ambulance staff arrived, all of those inside the trailer were dead. maurice robinson has admitted 39 charges of manslaughter, but the men on trial deny 39 charges of manslaughter. two more men deny charges of conspiracy to assist illegal immigration. daniel, thank you. daniel sanford there. an nhs trust is to be prosecuted over the death of a baby seven days after being born by emergency delivery at a kent hospital. the care quality commission has charged east kent hospitals nhs trust with two counts of providing unsafe care to baby harry richford and his mother sarah richford. harry died a week after he was born at margate's queen elizabeth the queen mother hospital three years ago. michael buchanan reports. harry richford should be approaching his third birthday next month,

but a catalogue of serious failures at his birth meant little harry died atjust seven days old. today, the nhs trust that should have delivered the baby safely has been charged with failing to provide safe care and treatment. i think we are really happy with the cqc decision. itjust shows that from day one, that we were really in a pretty terrible situation with the trust and the care that sarah and harry both received was completely inadequate at the time. the problems occurred at this hospital in margate. staff failed to spot harry's heart rate was fluctuating, delayed arranging a cesarean section, and then failed to carry out the operation correctly. an inquest injanuary concluded that harry's death had been contributed to by neglect. we both blamed ourselves and we did not know why this had happened. the more we realised the trust were at fault, the less we blamed ourselves and the more we can look at them as an organisation that has failed us. today's charges relate notjust to harry's treatment but also to the care his mother sarah

received, the first time maternity problems have led the care quality commission to take such action. i think it is monumental and i am glad they have recognised that. um... i think it's good to hear that i was, we were right in thinking that how i was treated wasn't right and it was not just harry as well. the trust say today it had admitted to the cqc that it had failed to provide safe care and treatment to both harry and his mother, and apologised unreservedly. for tom and sarah, today marks another step in a three—year campaign to get justice for their son. we had so much information that the trust had failed with us in our case, that we couldn't sit silently with that, knowing that if it happened to someone else in the future, we would be partially responsible for not sharing this information. harry richford's death has been the catalyst for an independent inquiry into maternity care at east kent, giving real hope

of lasting improvements. michael buchanan, bbc news, east kent. this year's nobel peace prize has been awarded to the world food programme. it was praised for its efforts in combatting hunger, its work for improving conditions for peace in war—torn regions and for preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war. the un organisation helped 97 million people last year, distributing 15 billion meals in 88 countries. for more than 100 years, cinemas have provided entertainment and a sense of community for people. but, coronavirus aside, many old film theatres have fallen into a state of disrepair. the regent centre in christchurch is no exception, but now it has been restored to its former glory after a major refurbishment during lockdown. duncan kennedy has been for a look. power, projector, picture. this is one cinema opening during a week

when many others are closing. easter parade is just one of the classics they're testing at the newly refurbished regent cinema in christchurch. the taming of the shrew was the first movie ever shown at the regent in 1931. but over time, the auditorium became jaded. now, though, it's been brought back to this, a lavish recreation of the original cinema. the restoration is as detailed as a hollywood period drama. from the carpets... ..to the paint colours on the walls... ..to the seats, it's as close to the 1930s design as they could get. for those that run it, this is a cinematic time capsule. what are the major changes that you brought here in terms of your refurbishment? we've brought back a slice

of the 1930s, really. it just wasn't really making sense any more, visually or in terms of comfort. and often with these heritage buildings, actually rewinding and bringing them back to the way they were meant to be originally is what makes sense. comedies from ealing are just one of the genres being tried out for the new roster of films here. gary trinder, who led the renovations, says whilst other cinema chains are being closed by covid restrictions, here, they're determined to stay open, using their cash reserves and 200 volunteers. as we're all aware, this really has been a dreadful week for cinemas in this country, with many of the multiplexes having now closed. we'd decided upon an opening date, and we wanted to stick to that opening date, and i think to welcome people back into this building, to put the kind of heart back into this building, to make it live again, we need the patrons back in.

from its sepia beginnings to its modern makeover, the regent has stood here for nearly 90 years, and will reopen fully next month, somewhere to escape life's dramas for a darkened moment of make—believe and dreams. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in christchurch. the beatles legend john lennon would have turned 80 years old today. he was murdered in new york 40 years ago, but his legacy as one of the 20th century's great cultural icons lives on. there are a number of events to mark the occasion, including the display of the piano on which he wrote imagine at liverpool's strawberry fields near his childhood home. time for a look at the weather. here's sarah keith—lucas. we have had some blue sky, a bit of sunshine out there so far today, but also plenty of heavy downpour. so scenes like this one for many of us, this is the picture in cumbria taken

a little