ministers defend the new coronavirus restrictions in england as it emerges their scientific advisers had called for much tougher action. documents show that three weeks ago the scientists wanted a short "circuit brea ker" lockdown. we did take action, but these are balanced judgments and we also have to balance that up against the effect on the economy — people's jobs and livelihoods, on education, which we've made a priority. we'll have the latest from westminster. also this lunchtime: why some businesses that can stay open under the new restrictions would rather be closed down. new figures suggest uk deaths from covid—19 are doubling every fortnight. and there's more evidence of the economic impact of the virus — a sharp increase in unemployment in the three months to august.

police say three young children and a 29—year—old woman from the same family have died in a car crash near oxford. back on the campaign trail — donald trump in the battleground state of florida, after recovering from covid—19. i went through it, now they say i'm immune. i can feel...i feel so powerful. i'll walk into that audience. cheering and applause. i'll walk in there, i'll kiss everyone in that audience. and coming up on bbc news: positive tests at the giro d'italia. two teams pull out of the race and there are worries over whether it can continue.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. ministers are defending their new three tier system of coronavirus restrictions in england after it emerged that the government's scientific advisers recently called for much tougher action. newly released documents show that three weeks ago scientists on the sage adviser committee suggested a short "circuit brea ker" lockdown. it comes as new figures from the office for national statistics show uk deaths from covid—19 are doubling every fortnight. our political correspondent iain watson reports. the prime minister met his cabinet this morning to discuss the coronavirus crisis. but ministers are under pressure to explain why they didn't take more action last month to slow the spread of the infection. opponents say the government has abandoned its commitment to follow the science. last night, minutes from a meeting

of sage, the government scientific advisers, were released. they released on september 21, they were urging ministers to impose an immediate circuit breaker, in other words, a short, sharp lockdown to disrupt the transmission and scientists wanted to close all bars, cafe is, indoor gyms and hairdressers and to ban or contact inside homes with other households. they wanted university and college teaching to take place online unless it is essential and advise those who can work from home to do so. government action fell far short of all that. but ministers say they took a balanced approach, listening took a balanced approach, listening to economists as well as scientists, to economists as well as scientists, to protect livelihoods as well as lives. we did take robust action at that time. if you remember, that's when we clarified the rule of six and brought in, for example, the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants but we have reviewed that an ivor

evidence that contributed to the decision the prime minister made and announced yesterday to introduce the three tier approach, with further measures in those parts of the country where there is a high rate of the virus. last night, the prime minister put liverpool in the surrounding region into the highest, most restrictive tier. that means most restrictive tier. that means most pubs will be closed there from tomorrow. in addition, bookies, casinos and indoor gyms will be shut and the chief medical officer made clear that might not be enough to keep the virus under control. clear that might not be enough to keep the virus under controlli clear that might not be enough to keep the virus under control. i am not confident and nor is anybody confident that the tier three proposals for the highest rates, if we did the absolute base case and nothing more, would be enough to get on top of it. that is why there is a lot of flexibility. i really think moore is probably going to be needed. i thought it was very interesting seeing the chief medical officer being so clear about that underlining more in the spirit of

what sage said on the 215t of september. labour has accused the government of losing control of the virus, though throughout the pandemic they have been supportive of the measures borisjohnson has introduced. but now they are putting a bit more distance between themselves and the prime minister, they are calling for further restrictions. i'm concerned that they didn't go far enough and when you look at a hospital admissions, for example, across greater manchester and the north—east, you can see this virus is out of control. there are more and more people going into critical care. i think they should have gone further yesterday and put more restrictions in place. the opposition and some scientists are urging the prime minister to think about more restrictions but some of his own mps believe even the existing measures are already damaging the economy. protecting both lives and livelihoods is proving politically tricky. iain watson, bbc news. our medical editor

fergus walsh is here. we know scientific advisers wanted the short circuit breaker lockdown, why did they back on that mark yellow they were blunt and said the uk was facing a catastrophic epidemic. with potentially up to 3000 daily hospital admissions. that would take us back to the situation at the peak in early april. they said that would come by the end of october unless swift action was taken and the number one thing they wa nted taken and the number one thing they wanted was a two week, maybe three week circuit breaker. so are pretty much total lockdown. they said that would bring the r number, it is currently 1.2 — would bring the r number, it is currently1.2 — 1.5, would bring the r number, it is currently 1.2 —1.5, it would bring it below one so cases would start to fall. they said that this was needed because no other measure on its own, and they listed all the potential measures, would do enough. for example, closing pubs and restau ra nts example, closing pubs and restaurants they said would maybe just reduce r by 0.1. some other

measures may only have a negligible impact. they also recognised, though, that if you shut down the economy, you will have an impact on children's education, or mental health. they don't focus on the economy that they recognise if you shut down bars, restaurants, it will be the low who suffer the most. and we have new advice but some of the most vulnerable in england today? yes, you will remember the shielding advice when our earlier this year. for months, about 2 million people, those most at risk, who had vulnerable immune systems, were asked to shield. they are not being told to shield now, even in the top tier, the highest risk areas, though it said that that may come in the very high risk areas. but at the moment, the government says it wants to strike a balance because of the toll shielding can impose on people's well—being. toll shielding can impose on people's well-being. 0k, fergus,

thank you very much indeed. fergus walsh, our medical editor. the government's new tiered system of alert for england comes into force tomorrow. most of england will be put on the medium level, where the rule of six and 10pm hospitality curfew will apply. some areas will be put on the high level — which means there'll be no household mixing indoors — but the rule of six applies outdoors. the most severe level is very high. that means no mixing of households anywhere. pubs and bars will close unless they provide a substantial meal. so far, the liverpool city region is the only area being put on this highest tier. from there, danjohnson reports. among many cruel ironies here is a police themed pub facing its own lockdown. you don't socially distance in shops, everyone climbed the over each other in supermarkets.

i think we've done everything we can to make sure people keep their distance and don't get ill. adding to the sense of unfairness as the restau ra nt to the sense of unfairness as the restaurant opposite which is allowed to stay open but still expected to ta ke to stay open but still expected to take a hit. you have a lack of trade happening as it is, so you are already down on your sales. we are trying to keep the guy' hours in place. and when they are not getting their hours that they run their salary is lower than... they are not getting the money they require. so if we were to actually close and they get 67% of their contracted hours, they are actually better off. from tomorrow, people on both sides of the mersey will live under the tightest of restrictions. of the mersey will live under the tightest of restrictionslj of the mersey will live under the tightest of restrictions. i think it should just be totally closed down for a fortnight because it's just not going to work at all.|j for a fortnight because it's just not going to work at all. i think it's changed a lot of people's lives. do you worry about it happening again? yes, we understand

because we thought it was getting better but it seems to be going backwards. friends and family i think are the one for me. i love them coming, grandchildren and everything, so that's horrible. but you have got to follow the rules, haven't you ? you have got to follow the rules, haven't you? what worries me is that the north west and other places as well, they were a cigarette paper difference between tier two and tier three, is it's going to then happen to them. without any sort of real strategy about how we're going to cope with that and what we are going to do. and there is a warning it may have to further. i think we will ultimately have to have more restrictions was that we were expecting worse over the weekend, given all the rumours there had been. the fact we still have our restaurants open is something positive. obviously we have no money coming in but we still have money going out, we still have to pay the bills and pay their staff and while there is some funding coming available from the government, it's not the same as it was last time. you can't expect people on minimum

wage two and 67% of their salary. life here gets harder tomorrow and there is no telling how long this lockdown will last. danjohnson, bbc news, liverpool. new figures suggest the number of coronavirus—related deaths across the uk are doubling every fortnight. the office for national statistics says that in the week to 2nd of october, 3113 deaths involved the virus. in the previous two weeks, the figure was 158. our health correspondent richard galpin reports. the stark reality of coronavirus cases now increasing across the whole of the country means, inevitably, the number of deaths is also going up, and significantly. according to the latest figures from the office for national statistics, deaths were registered in the uk in the week up to october 2nd were nearly 600 above average for this time of year. 3113 of those deaths involved covid—19, an increase of almost 50%

on the previous week. over the course of a month, the number of deaths quadrupled. but despite this, today's numbers remain a fraction of what they were in the first peak earlier this year, when they reached 9,500 per week in april. numbers are still small. but even though numbers are still small, the trend is rapidly upwards. we need to play in all these figures at a local level, and we do need transparency from the government to understand how we weight for different figures on how we then weight the policies dependent on those figures. meanwhile, another important development in the pandemic. this time in the united states. where a 25—year—old man has been infected by coronavirus twice. the second infection more severe. but experts are playing down the significance. there will always be cases of people

who do get reinfected, and i'm quite optimistic that after almost a year now of covid, i think we would have seen if there had been a strong signal that people can get reinfected in the short term. the concern remains, though, that some people may not be developing the immunity that would normally be expected after being infected by covid—19. richard galpin, bbc news. the first minister of wales, mark drakeford, has threatened to ban people from covid hotspots in england from travelling to wales, if borisjohnson refuses to impose the measure himself. our correspondent hywel griffith is in cardiff. how close are we to some sort of ban? well, i am told that may nowjust be days away. the first minister mark dra keford has days away. the first minister mark drakeford has written again to boris johnson offering him one last chance to change the rule in england. this isa to change the rule in england. this is a row that has been brewing for

weeks and the welsh and labour governments here want the uk to adopt the same travel restrictions we have in wales. in wales, lockdown is also a lock in, no one should go in or out without a good reason but that doesn't apply to people in lockdown areas in england. so someone from nottingham, where there isa someone from nottingham, where there is a case rate of 830 per 100,000 can freely go to pembrokeshire, where there are rates of less that 30 per 100,000. that is the kind of concern that is brewing in wales, people from high prevalence there is going to low prevalence areas. if borisjohnson doesn't going to low prevalence areas. if boris johnson doesn't respond, going to low prevalence areas. if borisjohnson doesn't respond, and so far he has not answered the letter, then the welsh government say they have the powers, they have had the legal advice, they have the public health measures potentially to bring in a band. how would it work, would it depend on the local case rate or postcode? they haven't revealed any of that but they do say they already have hard evidence that coronavirus has been imported into

wales by people coming from lockdown areas in other parts of the uk. ok, thank you very much indeed. and wherever you are across the uk, if you want to know the rules in your area, you can search by your postcode on our website — bbc.co.uk/news or via the bbc news app. the time is 1:15pm. our top story this lunchtime. ministers defend the new coronavirus restrictions in england as it emerges their scientific advisers called for much tougher action. coming up — the radical plan to reshape english football — championship clubs meet to discuss controversial proposals from liverpool and manchester united. coming up on bbc news: arsene wenger in his own words. we will hear from the former arsenal manager as he reflects on his 22 years at the club and how football comes through the pandemic.

there's more evidence today of the devastating economic impact of coronavirus. unemployment in the uk has surged to its highest level in more than three years, as the pandemic continues to hitjobs. it grew to 4.5% in the three months to august, compared with 4.1% in the previous quarter. our economics correspondent andy verity reports. for sophia royle losing herjob as a project manager at an e—learning centre could hardly have come at a more awkward time. she and her partner had just bought a new home near gloucester with a hefty mortgage, supported by two salaries. after lockdown, she was furloughed, then she found out she was pregnant, then she lost herjob. it has been quite demoralising. in a sense that i'm not able to play my part as i had almost committed to do when we took on the house. you make these plans and you don't ever for a second think that things will fall apart as much

as they have done. sophia's tried unsuccessfully to find new work to help pay the mortgage after the baby's born. but with unemployment rising to 4.5% in the three months to august and redundancies doubling to 227,000, it's not easy. i would like to see the government have some kind of a review for that bracket of people that have found themselves fallen through the cracks a little, those people that have already been made redundant that are struggling to find another job because of the flooded market. the government's job support schemes after the furlough scheme ends include thejob retention bonus which pays £1,000 for each employee brought back from furlough and kept on untiljanuary. the job support scheme, which pays up to 22% of salary where employees are put

on two shorter hours. and last friday the government promised to cover up to two thirds of wages where firms are forced to shut by local lockdowns. but the progressive think tank the ippr says those measures are poorly targeted, and unless they are revamped will help barely a tenth of the 2 million people at risk of losing theirjobs. a lot ofjobs could be saved, and by taking the wasteful part of the current scheme and focusing it on those jobs it would actually mean we wouldn't spend more money, it would just mean targeting the resources more narrowly at those who really need it. self—employed people from cabbies to electricians haven't been offered the same level of support as employees. they can't claim up to two thirds of their income if they're in a lockdown area. and many have already been excluded from support schemes simply because they are set up as limited companies. over the past year, nearly 250,000 self—employed people have lost their livelihoods.

with big employers like the owner of all bar one and harvester now consulting on large—scale job cuts, the risk is that many will move on to benefits and see their incomes drop sharplyjust weeks before christmas. with harsh effects on them, their families and the wider economy. andy verity, bbc news. our business editor simon jack is here. simon, what do you think these unemployment figures tell us? well, they are the highest in three years, they are the highest in three years, the number of people on work—related benefits has rocketed from 1.2 million in march up to 2.7 million ounces has almost doubled. although these are still quite low numbers by long, historical measures if you look back to the financial crisis, most people expect we are in the middle of a sharp trajectory upwards and actually the impact is being felt most keenly by younger workers, the unemployment rate among young workers is 13.4%. i'm afraid that can only get worse because the most affected areas we have seen,

hospitality and retail, have high concentrations of younger workers. what is business making of these new three tiers of restrictions that have been announced in england?m isa have been announced in england?m is a complexity picture. it was meant to be simple but in fact there is some unexpected complexity. for those in the highest band, tier three, where they are forced to shut down bars and pubs unless they are serving substantial meal, some confusion about what that actually means. remember that support for those wages of those workers doesn't apply for things like the supplies of food and drink to those places which are forced to shut so those people are going to suffer as well. and perhaps the most complicated area is the tier two, where households cannot mix indoors at all. that really puts a hole in the business model of many pubs. some of them are saying they are in the curious situation where they would almost rather be in tier three because at least then their staff would be supported. simon, many thanks. simon jack, would be supported. simon, many thanks. simonjack, our business editor. four members of the same family —

including three young children and a 29—year—old woman — have died in a car crash near oxford. it happened on the aao to the west of the cityjust before ten o'clock last night. the victims, who were all from oxfordshire, included two girls, aged four and eight, and a six—year—old boy. a 30—year—old man and an 18—month—old girl who were with them in the car, are in a critical condition in hospital. president trump has held his first election rally since testing positive for covid—19 less than two weeks ago. he told supporters in the battleground state of florida that he could "kiss everybody" as he was now immune. more than 10 million americans have cast their ballots in early voting ahead of november's poll. nomia iqbal reports from the united states. they queued for hours to witness the return of their homecoming hero. covid precautions in place, but most in the crowd were maskless.

as was their commander—in—chief, a beaming president tossed out maga themed masks to a crowd — a retrospective gesture from a leader still recovering from the virus. one thing with me, the nice part, i went through it, now they say i'm immune. i feel so powerful. i'll walk into that audience. cheering and applause. i'll walk in there, i'll kiss everyone in that audience. i'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and the...everyone. i'lljust give you a big, fat kiss! president trump landed in florida only hours after his doctor had said he had tested negative on consecutive days, despite questions about the validity of the test. regardless, he was keen to show strength. you know, the risk groups, you know, the older people? see, fortunately, i'm not an old person. i'm very young and i'm in such perfect shape. cheering and applause. it was a bravado performance that

dwelt more on his own recovery, with few reminders that the pandemic has led to more than 211,000 deaths in america. all chant: four more years! inevitably, he took time to go after his opponent, joe biden, who's consistently ahead of him in the polls. these people are crazy — we have to win. the most important we've ever had. biden has made a corrupt bargain exchange for his party's nomination. he's handed control to the socialists, the marxists and the left—wing. in the hour—long speech, his voice was hoarse at times, but his performance was a crowd—pleaser. very happy to know trump's back and doing well again. trump is a good president. he knows what this country needs. this was classic donald trump — back in the environment he feels most comfortable in, on stage, speaking directly to his faithful supporters.

the question is — with just three weeks to go before election day, can he attract enough new voters to get back into the white house? nomia iqbal, bbc news, orlando. our correspondent gary o'donoghue is in washington. trump is back on the trail, but actually millions of americans have already voted. upwards of 6 million already voted. upwards of 6 million already having cast their vote in various ways, already having cast their vote in various ways, some already having cast their vote in various ways, some in person with early voting, some by mail, across the united states, and that will only increase over the coming weeks, of course, because lots of states are doing that. meanwhile, the president is planning to do some kind of campaign stop on every day up kind of campaign stop on every day up until polling day three weeks away. joe biden doing it slightly differently, having a couple of slip—ups yesterday, suggesting at one point that he was running for the senate rather than the presidency, and also appearing to forget the name of mitt romney, the

current senator from utah who was the presidential candidate in 2012. that drew a tweet from the president saying that obviouslyjoe biden had dementia and that it was getting worse. i think it's worth noting that dementia is a serious clinical condition affecting tens of millions of people around the world. the president appears to be using the word here is a casual political insult, and of course the president is not a doctor. and in the opinion polls mr biden has had a pretty substantial lead for quite awhile now. that continuing? yes, and it is widening. it is widening nationally, although they are of less significance as you get closer to polling day, and it is also widening in some of the key swing states, when you look at places like pennsylvania, you look at the other parts of the upper midwest, wisconsin, michigan, he is running the president pretty close in some of the states where the president won by eight points last time like

ohio, he is competitive in iowa, north carolina and florida is also close. there is three weeks to go and of course last time around we had the bombshell of james and of course last time around we had the bombshell ofjames comey, the director of the fbi, stepping into the election campaign a week before polling day, something that the clinton campaign at the time believes cost them dear. anything could happen in the next three weeks. trite thing to say but it can change the weather and the president has a long way to make up. ok, gary, think you very much indeed. gary o'donoghue there for us in washington. fourferry companies have been given government contracts worth a total of £77 million to provide extra freight capacity when the brexit transition period ends. the deal has been reached with brittany ferries, dfds, p&o ferries and stena line. ministers said they needed to ensure medical supplies and other vital goods could still get to the uk, if checks were causing significant delays at the border. championship clubs are meeting to discuss controversial new proposals for reshaping english football.

there's been growing criticism of the so—called project big picture put forward by liverpool and manchester united. it would see the premier league cut to 18 clubs — and efl clubs getting extra tv revenue. our sports correspondent andy swiss reports. it's the proposed shake—up that's dividing english football. to some, it's a power grab led by the giants of liverpool and manchester united. but to others it's a potential lifeline. part of the plan is to give £250 million to clubs in the lower leagues. teams in the championship, including derby county, are discussing it today and they're in favour of spreading the wealth. this is not about a power grab. this is actually about how we try to protect the pyramid, as far as i can see it. we need financial stability throughout the whole pyramid. this actually means there will be more of a case of clubs being able

to focus more on making them more financially sustainable, put more into the infrastructure of clubs, into coaching, into grass roots, into the academies. but there are, of course, more pressing reasons. commentator: dayton with a chance. and it's in! covid is pushing many lower league clubs to the financial brink. the chairman at leyton orient has warned some good go bust in the next five to six weeks, and one of the premier league's greatest ever managers says he understands why a plan which offers them so much money is so appealing. we have to see how this project develops to find a compromise. but what we see, if we don't do anything, the lower league clubs, many clubs will die. they are in need today of £250 million. but it cannot only be one go. they need continued support. the premier league, though, have criticised the proposals. their clubs will discuss them tomorrow, with west ham already understood to be against.

the plans by liverpool and manchester united would see the league reduced to 18 teams and would also give greater power to the so—called traditional big six over a range of issues. and that is causing concern. in terms of the negatives, i think the mid—tier premier league clubs, the ones which are known collectively as the other 1a, they stand to lose out. i think their opportunity to compete on the field will be diminished, which again, beneficial to the big clubs because it puts less stress on their players. he's put one on for mata here. juan mata! the controversy is clear, then, but at the moment little else is. the clubs behind what they are calling project big picture have some big persuading to do if they're to get the thumbs up. andy swiss, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here is ben roach.

thank you very much, good afternoon, it isa thank you very much, good afternoon, it is a chilly day out there across all parts of the uk and in terms of what the weather looks like there is quite a lot of variety out there. some places have had some outbreaks of rain, some hefty downpours. in other spots we have been looking at blue skies and sunshine. this picture came from a weather watcher in lancashire early on. cloud actually creeping in here across parts of north—west england at the moment. on the satellite picture you can see this hope of cloud bringing rain across the south—east and northern england, southern scotland. this area of cloudy and damp weather moving very slowly through the afternoon, perhaps getting down into parts of wales as well, some showers clearing from the south—west, turning increasingly wet for east anglia and the far south—east. brighter skies for northern ireland and scotland, though, particularly across northern scotland, one or two showers here, quite windy in the north of the uk. those temperature struggling a little bit, 11—13 . through this evening and tonight we continue following these different areas of cloud and rain around the

map, this one is still