good afternoon. millions of people across the uk have begun their first full day of tighter coronavirus restrictions. a so—called firebreak lockdown began in wales last night. south yorkshire moved into england's top level — tier 3 — just after midnight leading to the closure of those pubs and bars not serving meals. the labour mayor of sheffield city region said the government must outline a "clear and transparent" exit strategy from the highest tier

of covid restrictions. john mcmanus reports. in england, 1.4 million people in south yorkshire have moved in to the highest tier 3 restrictions, with households barred from meeting in venues and pubs not serving food. forced to close. absolutely everything we have done complies with covid and we are covid—safe, as people are saying. the general consensus from the public is that they feel safer in a pub rather than going to a supermarket. warrington will follow south yorkshire from thursday. and coventry, stoke and slough are now under tier 2 rules. nottinghamshire, which is also in tier 2, is in talks about whether it should move to the very highest alert level. pulling down the shutters and hanging up the closed sign. wales has become its first full day of a national lockdown, which the cardiff government hopes will slow the spread of covid—19.

all but essential businesses have closed. that means no more indoor exercise for a while. people can no longer meet others they don't live with, either indoors or outdoors, and they are discouraged from leaving home, except to buy food and medication, provide care or go to work. and, although supermarkets remain open, they have been told not to sell nonessential items. over the border, police in gloucestershire say they are going to check that drivers heading out of wales have a good reason to be travelling. meanwhile, the scottish government has unveiled its own five—tier alert system. restrictions will vary across the country. and all parts of the uk are now watching closely to see if any one nation has discovered the magic formula to stop covid—19 in its tracks, or, at the very least, find a way to live with it. john mcmanus, bbc news. over three million people in the whole of wales

are being asked to stay mainly at home for the next 16 days after the country entered a new national lockdown. major restrictions have been imposed on a temporary basis to try and slow the spread of the virus, but there has been confusion over rules banning the sale of nonessential items. our wales correspondent, tomos morgan, reports from caerphilly. there's a sense of deja vu in wales today. as the firebreak starts, the country is back under national lockdown for the next two weeks. caerphilly was the first area in wales to be put under strict local measures at the start of september, meaning it's been illegal for households to mix and for people to enter or leave local lockdown areas without good reason. we need it. if it's going to stop the spreading, 0k, it might hurt the economy but they're doing it for a reason at the end of the day. i think six weeks in lockdown, itjust seems a long time, know what i mean?

it seems never—ending but hopefully now this fortnight will slow the virus down. the rules now are much like in march. all nonessential businesses have been closed but this time around those that are open have been stopped by the welsh labour government from selling nonessential goods. the new rule has brought frustration and confusion on social media from the public, retailers and opposition parties. we've got things like hardware, there's a little bit of gifting, cards, all the usual things you would expect to see in a supermarket and i'm sure that's replicated up and down the country so not only are we possibly not allowed to sell those going forward, it's how we would go about doing that. it's estimated that this firebreak could cost the welsh economy a further £500 million so what retailers, hospitality, cafes, bars and restaurants will want from the welsh government is a guarantee or at least a strategy for reopening so they can make some profits again in the run—up to christmas. tomos morgan, bbc news, caerphilly.

160,000 people in slough in berkshire began life under tougher coronavirus restrictions at midnight, joining london in tier 2. the new rules mean no meeting of family and friends indoors. 0ur correspondent helena wilkinson is in slough now. slough high street just slough high streetjust behind is looking unusually quiet. the people here in the berkshire town, about 20 miles away from london, woke this morning to those tighter restrictions. in the words of the local mp there had been an alarming rapid rise in infection rates and earlier this week there were 153 positive cases per 100,000 people. we also know there had been no major outbreak at a shopper venue so we know that the infection has been transmitted from person to person

within the community. what does it mean? people cannot mix with other households in any indoor setting except if they are in a support bubble and the rule of six still applies outdoors. we have spoken to applies outdoors. we have spoken to a couple of people here. one man who lives alone who feels very lonely and anxious with the new restrictions. another woman who said she lost her mother to covid and she wa nts she lost her mother to covid and she wants tighter restrictions. don't forget, half term here for many schools, meaning children cannot go to each other‘s houses to play. a lot of anxiety and concern about the future months. thank you. and you can find out the restrictions in your area by going to bbc.co.uk/news and entering your postcode in our coronavirus postcode checker. the government's continuing to resist growing pressure to provide free school meal vouchers for children during next week's half term in england. local councils have joined many restaurants and cafes in offering

to feed those who would otherwise receive free school meals, in response to a campaign by the footballer, marcus rashford. he's said he's overwhelmed and thankful for the support. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker is here. it may be half term, but ensuring some of the most disadvantaged children do not lose out still seems to be topping the political debate. yes, and as momentum grew behind marcus rashford's campaign so that the pressure on ministers. the government says it is providing support including more targeted and effective support so that is the argument it is putting forward but this is an emotive issue and a debate on the political risk is that regardless of the arguments on either side of the government risks looking unkind or uncaring and added to that different parts of the uk are taking a different approach, so in scotland and wales for school meal provision has been extended

until easter, in northern ireland they will be provided over half term, but this is an example that pre—exists covid but has been turbo—charged by the pandemic particularly because of fears about the impact of the economy —— on the economy of covid. thank you. tonight sees the first strictly come dancing live show of the new series — with some radical changes to ensure the programme is covid—safe. but despite the tighter rules, the programme says it's hoping it can preserve the old strictly atmosphere. david sillito reports. # you're free to do what you want to do...# 0n last week's launch show we got a first glimpse of what a covid—safe strictly involved. claudia and tess two metres apart. it has never felt so good to be back. the judges all on separate podiums. and the professional dancers will have to live on their own while they are on the show if they're going to dance cheek to cheek with a celebrity.

one half of the couple will be living on their own, at least one half, on occasion some of them are both living on their own and the other half could remain with their household and they'll be an exclusive bubble, which means they can't come into contact with anyone outside of that bubble. quite a few of the celebrities who lived outside london have moved down to be nearer, so quite a lot of the celebrities are also living on their own. but outside the couples there will be no hugs, no high fives or crowds around claudia. instead there will be a smaller audience, regulartesting and a lot more distance. 0ne contestant, harvey, tested positive just before the show began but has recovered just in time to take part. if anyone else tests positive, they will be off the show and straight into quarantine, but, at a time when so much else has been cancelled, strictly has found a way to keep dancing. david sillito, bbc news.

welcome back. it's been over a year since the current premiership rugby season started, but this evening, finally, a winner will be crowned. exeter chiefs face wasps at twickenham, but build—up to the game this week couldn't have been more different for the sides. exeter were crowned european champions, while wasps' place in the final was put in doubt due to a covid outbreak. austin halewood reports. a historic first european title for the exeter chiefs. the west country side on top of the rugby world. a reason to celebrate last weekend, but not for long. i think the realisation really came the next day when we were saying, "right, guys, this is the schedule for the week, get yourself ready, we've got another big game," and then it was very much all guns blazing towards that. so, for exeter this week has been all about getting ready to go again, but for wasps they weren't sure if they would even be able to play in the final after a covid outbreak in the squad.

and because of that they will be without 11 players who either have coronavirus or they have been in contact with someone who has, so not ideal preparation, but the club are just relieved the match can go ahead. we cannot understate the emotion that has obviously gone with it. it's the pinnacle of the domestic competition in this country. you work so hard to get there. it was pretty hard to take. but it's going to make it even more special when it comes to the weekend. but despite wasps' troubles off the pitch, the biggest challenge of all is yet to come. this exeter team arriving on the crest of a wave. it's taken them from the fourth tier to the very top of the game. ten years ago gareth steenson kicked the points that took them to the premiership for the first time, and in his final match before he retires he is desperate to go out in style. i have been very fortunate to be part of a lot of firsts at the club. to be involved in the first—ever double, it would mean come next week, whenever the boots are hung up, that i could go off very satisfied and know that there was nothing else

i could do with exeter chiefs in terms of a player. the premiership final may have had its fair share of setbacks — even referee wayne barnes has had to pull out because of a positive covid test — but the showpiece has just about come out the other side, with twickenham ready to crown a new champion. austin halewood, bbc news. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5:10pm. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel with sean ley. it's 1:12.

sport centre, here'sjohn. hello. plenty to bring you from the bbc sports centre this lunchtime. it's a busy day in the premier league with manchester united up against chelsea later plus champions liverpool in action too. two brilliant games to come. we begin with the game already under way. it's approaching half time at the london stadium as west ham host manchester city. it is west ham who lead by one goal to nil, that coming from their last match where they drew 30 with totte n ha m. match where they drew 30 with tottenham. —— 3—3. and that game is being shown at a local cinema in london as fans remain locked out of stadiums. and at norwich‘s carrow road later —

fans will be allowed in, but only to the hospitality areas to watch their game against wycombe wanderers on a tv. the game, which will be meters away, will be blocked out of vision by covers across windows. and it will only add to calls for fans to be permitted back into stadiums. as fans, we need our social networks, we need ourfriendships and it's part of the routine and whilst health is obviously the most important thing, this particular ruling seems totally illogical. it feels like a bit of discrimination against football supporters. personally i find it extremely difficult to sit in the ground enjoying a meal watching the game on television and knowing thatjust the other side of the curtain there was the real game. it's a very bizarre situation. as you saw a bit earlier — it's a huge day of rugby union action. after over a year, the premiership

season draws to a close, as exeter chiefs take on wasps at twickenham.. in what has been a dramatic week for the sport with this match under threat and the cancellation of sunday's international between barbarians and england because of a breach in covid rules. exeter are going for what would be a historic double. a week on from being crowned the kings of europe after victory in the champions cup — they're aiming to become champions of england. it's a remarkable rise for the club who were only promoted to the top flight ten years ago. gareth steenson was in their side that day — today he makes his final appearance. i've been very fortunate to be part ofa i've been very fortunate to be part of a lot of firsts at the club and i feel incredibly lucky but to me to be involved in the first ever double asa be involved in the first ever double as a player it would mean everything to me and it would mean come next week whenever the boots are hung up that i could go off very satisfied and know that there was nothing else i could do in exeter chiefs in terms a player. as for wasps — they'lljust be glad to be playing at twickenham after their place in the final was thrown into doubt following a host of postitive covid tests within the team,

which means four key players are out of the final. we cannot understate the emotion that has gone with it. it's the pinnacle of the domestic competition in this country. you work so hard to get there, to have it taken away when you feel everything is out of your control is pretty hard to take but it will make it even more special when it comes to the weekend. meanwhile — the longest six nations in history will finally reach its conclusion this month, 273 days after the tournament began on the 1 february. the first of the re—arranged games today, sees ireland — who are one of four sides with a chance of winning the tournament — taking on italy in dublin ahead of the final round of fixtures next weekend. there is obviously a sense that the whole country will be watching us. most of the time we're very lucky that we're always

being looked at but i think it's an even bigger responsibility. we need to win the game first and foremost, putting on a show is something we spoke about but putting in a good performance is something we are very conscious of and want to do. ireland also welcome italy, in the women's six nations later this evening live on the bbc iplayer and red button. valtteri bottas will be hoping to turn his domination of practice into pole for the portuguese grand prix. the finn completed a clean sweep by topping the time sheets in all three practice sessions at portimao. but it was close — he was just two hundredths of a second quicker than his mercedes team mate lewis hamilton. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more at 3:15pm. look forward to it. john watson that

the bbc sport centre. the metropolitan police are appealing for witnesses — after a 17—year—old boy was fatally stabbed in east london last night. officers were called a little after 9pm to an address in walthamstow. paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene — there have been no arrests made yet. headteachers in england say they're "bitterly disappointed" that the number of laptops they're given for deprived children has been cut by 80%. the government says the devices will be sent to the areas of greatest need. it blames, in part, international supply. 0ne school says it will receive 13 computers, rather than the 61 it was promised. we got an e—mail at six o'clock last night from the lovely guys at the dfe, at the start of half term, which has been such a challenging — the most challenging half term probably on education record — celebrating the fact that the government have secured another 100,000 laptops but they were changing the way they were allocating them. so, excitedly, i've logged

on to see if my allocation had gone up from 61 — i actually needed 168 — so i logged on expecting to hopefully see my 61, and it destroyed me, it flattened me when i seen that it's actually been cut to 13. 13 laptops for, in the worst—case scenario, to share amongst 380 children. i thought it was absolutely scandalous. i mean, there's be no phone calls, there's been no communication, it's another algorithm that the government are running out to work out how many laptops you actually need. when i actually got my 61 laptops, i did a questionnaire among students and parents and found that i actually needed 168. now, obviously 61 is still a nice little number to work with, but to cut down to 13 and, significantly, what has really frustrated all the head teachers and other such people is that the day before on thursday it became statutory that all schools must provide remote learning in the case of a lockdown,

so if we've got to be able to produce remote learning for the most disadvantaged children, and then the following day they're taking away 80% of the laptop allocation, it's nothing short of a scandal and robbery. that was chris dyson is back in school in leeds. dr mary bousted is joint general secretary of the national education union. shejoins me now. thank you very much for being with us on thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. when did you in the union first become aware of this? this morning. it was friday nights last night, beginning at half term, they quite rightly had switch their computers off and when they put them on again this morning they found that the allegations had been slashed. the government explanation is, it talks a lot about significant global demand so presumably there is a shortage worldwide of laptops to

meet the demands of this year. it says it's adapted, it put it, in its own world updating an allocation process to more accurately align orders with a number of students schools typically have the self—isolating. in other words, there is a limited supply, we've got to make them spread thinner. this is an inevitable consequence of that, isn't it? it is hard to blame it on inefficiency and the government part or not planning. we in pandemic, those things happen. if that is the case, there would be a logical reasoning position to put the government hasn't suddenly become aware that there is a global pandemic and shortage of laptops, that has been evidence of the start of the pandemic, and just two weeks ago the government voted into law that if children are at home they have to be given remote education, made a huge point about online learning so our calculations are that the government, there are now something like nearly half a million

children and young people at home who either don't have access to the internet with a device which can support learning like a laptop or a ta blet support learning like a laptop or a tablet and 60,000 don't have access to the internet at all, so the one hand we have the government making it into law that, you know, remote learning must be provided and then giving the directive with one hand and taking away the means to fulfil that directive particularly for schools in poor areas with the five pupils that makes the requirement that they provide learning and takes away the means to do it. it's just another example of the chaos and ineptitude surroundings government's education policy. and i suppose from your point of view coming in the week when so many teachers have been involved in the campaign to persuade parliament to extend the free school meal vouchers for the most disadvantaged children in england through half term, i mean, the timing is particularly striking? well, you know, that is a government

that says it's levelling up, and it refuses... conservative mps, some of them have suggested that you don't give children free school meals because their parents will spend on crack cocaine. i thinki because their parents will spend on crack cocaine. i think i properly to step there because ben bradley was on bbc news this morning and he said his remarks have been taken out of context, as he put it, you can argue about that but he said effectively, that his suggestion was that because vouchers can be used in ways other than giving a child, you know, somebody can cash in the voucher and use it for other purposes, that was, i suppose, the implication his remarks. well, they can only be used for school and when politicians make absolutely inane, asinine remarks they often say, oh, you know, it was taken out of context. i have seen the tweet that he did and you can't really ta ke a ny the tweet that he did and you can't really take any other conclusion than that from the tweet so i am afraid i'm not going to let them get away with it was taken out of context away with it was taken out of co ntext a nd away with it was taken out of context and i didn't mean it. you get away with it when a child, not when you're an idol and particularly

when you're an idol and particularly when you're an idol and particularly when you are not a politician. what about, then, particularly the practical questionnaire which faces head teachers in a situation. -- you get away with that when you are ever a child, you do not get away with that when you are an idle and particularly not a politician. how do head teachers make the choice presumably as we go into winter when you're expecting more schools to go into that adult presumably live and smolensk evidence in the bubble has the symptoms to have self—isolate. that is absolutely vital. the issue is if you look at the attendance figures for the last week in deprived areas like mosley the school attendance figures were 61% so that was 39% of the pupils having to stay at home and isolate because either they got co—or they have been in contact with someone else who has covid. so, calderdale, very very high figures of children isolating.

these are children and young people who disproportionately will not have access to the internet or won't have access to the internet or won't have access to the internet or won't have access to a laptop or won't have somewhere where they can work effectively at home and as the crisis gets worse it's likely because we now know that secondary age children can transmit the virus it is likely that schools are going to have to move to a voter operation. in fact, we are saying move to vote a of creation, have all your lessons taught was if you're working from home can access the lessons of mine. —— moved to rotor operation. the government are saying that you have to make plans for every lesson to be accessible via remote learning. you can't mandate that not provide the resources to make that happen. to make your mind up. if you want remote learning and you're not going to get control of the virus in the rival numbers, then provide the means by which schools can do it but don't tells people to do something, leaders and teachers don't tell people to provide remote learning and don't give us the means to do it. leader of the national

education union, thanks very much. 35 of the uk's leading cultural organisations and venues will be the first to receive grants between £1—3 million from the government's £1.57 billion coronavirus culture recovery fund. £75 million will protect some of the nation's most significant stages including shakespeare's globe, newcastle theatre royal and birmingham hippodrome. dan bates is the chief executive of sheffield theatres which includes the sheffield crucible and is one of the organisations to have been awarded funding. i spoke to him earlier. so to wake up to knowing that we have got, received, just over £2.2 million from the government's culture recovery fund is absolutely fantastic news. so that will enable us — we have started to reopen very slowly, and this will enable us to, kind of, grow and sustain us now through till march, the end of march. what does it mean in terms of people, when they do get the opportunity to come into your venues, how different that experience has been for those who've been coming back, as you say, to some of the events

you've been holding already? yes, we've been working really hard with sheffield city council and public health england and the dcms, actually, and trying to work out about a safe way of opening theatres. we've been doing this now for a few weeks now in sheffield, and, yeah, we feel confident that we can keep people safe. the auditorium capacity has reduced from just under 1,000 seats to 230. people are sat in bubbles of four, three, or twos or ones and there's lots of kind of measures put in, like wearing masks as well when you're watching a performance, really. so we felt it was really important that theatres, our theatre particularly should do something and not ride this out but to make sure that people are getting some kind of live entertainment, really, and i think people need to... you know, we all need a little bit more, kind of, joy in our lives, particularly at the moment. yeah, i think everyone would say you can say that again. but in terms of being inside the auditorium, people are having to wear face masks, they're sitting in groups depending

on who they've come in with. i mean, how has that affected the atmosphere of performances? every day we're kind of learning and we're refining the kind of experience really and it is different. we set some kind of parameters for ourselves to make sure that the shows were quite short, that there wasn't an interval as well, but we are... the events that i've been at, people have been so excited about coming back into the theatre, really. yes, you've got to have your temperature taken, yes, you've got to wear a mask, and you've got to perhaps sanitise your hands and all that kind of stuff, but i think all of that makes people feel more confident about coming into a theatre which is essential. and that is important because presumably not withstanding this welcome additional support from the taxpayer, from government

money, you still must have seen a phenomenal reduction in your income. yeah, i mean, it's not... it's been a challenge is an understatement, really. it's a terrifying time for everyone. well, covid's been a terrifying time for the world. let's think about the industry as you're talking to is now. 85% of our income comes from our audience so on march 16 that was turned off so we have had a huge challenge really. the furlough scheme, the emergency funding and the culture funding as well because that has really kept us going. our business model has dramatically changed and we are only opening one theatre at the moment. we have the lyceum and our studio theatre sat kind of empty and this money is going to help us, gives us some time and some space to start to develop and to start to look at practices about how those theatres could open under social distancing as well, but, yeah, it's been a terrifying time but people have also been missed in our industry. we know our freelancers —

we employ hundreds and hundreds of freelances every year, and we haven't been able to do that for some time. that is why we're really excited with the season of work that we have started here in sheffield, the together season, has enabled us to at least start working with freelancers again so it's small steps, not huge, it's small steps to kind of get us open again and, you know, it's of enabling us to see a future and beyond march which, some weeks ago, if you asked me that you might have got a different opinion. now on bbc news, when bury football club collapsed last year, a group of locals made it their mission to bring football back to their town against massive odds. bury fc is one of the oldest clubs in english football. cheering. but in august 2019, it was expelled from the football league. we were heartbroken. bury till i die! just gutted. one group of fans decided to do something about it.